Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

"Ultimately, this game is just boring."

Like some of the others who've reviewed this game, I didn't have many issues with bugs. I normally install to my C: drive, so that wasn't a problem, and I read enough comments to know that certain save game issues might arise with certain areas of the initial dungeon. In fact, I'd read quite a bit about this game before I bought it, and most of what I'd read was extremely negative.

So, when I installed without much of a problem, and got it running after only a few tweaks to my video card settings (anti-aliasing ''off'') I was pleasantly surprised. The combat was a bit slow, since I'm used to the real-time style of the BG series, but it's an interesting change of pace. Once I got the hang of tactics, and picked up a few weapons and items, I was having a decent time. Sure, there's no story to speak of, but I figured that it was designed as a dungeon crawl and by God that's what it is.

That was after around 20 hours. 20 hours more, and I started to wonder whether I'd ever get to fight anything other than zombies, orogs, and the occasional lizard man or wraith. I cleared the first dungeon level (which is freaking huge), and opened entrances to multiple other levels, only to discover that I was faced with more of the same. I kept at it for a few more hours, maybe another half dozen or so, but that was 2 weeks ago, and I haven't felt tempted to fire it up since.

The other criticisms are valid, of course. Not picking your feats is just silly -- this is a very selective implementation of D&D all the way around, not to mention 3rd Edition. But again, that's not what doomed this game to my closet.

What did that is that this game is just mind-numbingly boring. With a wife and baby at home, as well as a full time job, I don't want to feel like I'm performing menial tasks when I game. I don't have the free time to spare. I'd like my games to either be as deep as the Baldur's gate series, or as action-oriented as Myth: Soulblighter (just to note two of my recent favorites). This game, to me, was neither.

Maybe I didn't give the game enough time. Certainly the map that came with the game suggests huge outdoor environments. The problem is that I don't really care to devote any more time to the brownish-grey (or greyish-brown) dungeons and the zombies they contain to get to the ''good'' stuff.

Woo.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/08/01, Updated 11/08/01