Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance

"Best damn game ever made, period."

What constitutes a great game? Inovation? Originallity? Presenation? Many games have accomplished many great feats. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the only game I've ever played for 4 hours non-stop. Final Fantasy VII is the only game that has actually made me cry. I have played several hundred games on many platforms since I got my first NES in 1989. Among the games that I have played Pool of Radiance towers above the others.

Its been about two years since I first played Pool of Radiance. During this time the game has not lost its hold on me. I still find as much enjoyment in it as I did the first time I played it.I have never found another game so appealing.

What does Pool of Radiance offer that no other game can? Pool of Radiance is an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game (It should be noted that I despise AD''&D) and has enherited some of its traits. However, PoR sets itself apart in many distinct ways. First, this is a Strategy/RPG. Yeah, Pool of Radiance is one of the father's of the genre.

The game itself is non-linear to an extent. You create characters and are thrown into the City of New Pahln, which has an issue with monsters right now. You become the mercenary for the city, completing tasks (such as clearing monsters out of areas, rescuing people, etc) for large amount of cash, jewels and experience. You may complete these tasks in any order that you chose, in fact, you can ignore them and just head to the end of the game if you so choose. However, you need the experience, equipment and money to get to up to the battle with the Final Encounter with the evil reincarnate, Tyranthraxus. There are over a dozen missions to complete, most can be completed in many diffrent ways (such as simply bribing an enemy or fighting their entire army).

The AD&D influence is mostly found in the spells and attributes system. You characters only have about 7 or 8 levels, depending on their class. As you increase in levels your THAC0 decreases along with your AC. You gain HP, but your relative strength, dexterity, etc stay the same. There are no Magic Points (MP). Instead you memorize spell ''charges''. You can memorize spells any place you can rest. Clerics get their spells automaticly, Magic Users must learn them through spell books or at level ups. There are three spell levels, each of which have about a dozen unique spells, ranging from restoring HP, to sheilding characters to decimating the entire battle feild with a fireball. The magic system works very well and offers much in the way of strategy.

Much strategy goes into developing youtr party. You are given a list of about 20 character types, each have diffrent abilties. You can have a maximium of 10 characters created at any given time (only 5 may actually be in your party though). They way you create and use your characters will effect you later in battle. When you encounter an army of 15 undead creatures and you have an evil Cleric that cannot use the ''Undead'' command, you will have a problem. Creating a Magic user with 18 dexterity and 4 intelligence will doom you later on. It takes some time and understand to get your party right. Don't worry though, you can kill your characters and through their body off into the river or something. Its a do-anything world after all!.

If you are a creative person you might have some fun your your story. You basicly create who your characters are. You create their personaities. For example, fighting a difficult battle, your Cleric Reea may die. Then your fighter Viator kills himself in his saddness. Well, that's not the best example, but you get the idea.

The game is presented in a 3D navigation mode with encounters on a 2D battle feild. There is music, some of which is catchy (and some of which is not). The graphics are about as decent as the NES's power permits.

The major emphisis in Pool of Radiance is role-playing and realism within a fantasy world. You can get mugged in bars and get into bar fights. You can start slaughter the people of New Pahln, hire people to fight with you...you can do just about anything you want.

The game is very open-ended. It is designed for those that want to use large amounts of strategy to defeat their enemies, both on and off the battle field. Pool of Radiance is for those that want to spend countless hours slaughting Lizardmen, Boars, and the many enemies in the forgotten realms. If you crave the ability to do whatever the hell you want and play a very decent RPG, Pool of Radiance will be a most welcomed edition to your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/27/02, Updated 04/27/02