![]() ![]() Where the original Pool of Radiance was filled with groundbreaking innovations, this latter-day sequel is more of a slave to convention. While the game may be much more stable with the version 2.1 and 2.2 patches installed (we didn't experience any of the more serious reported bugs), it still isn't worth playing, for a number of reasons.įor starters, there's the lack of inspiration. Two bug-fixing patches-the first to correct the install program problems and the second to repair a number of serious gameplay issues-have done nothing to change the unalterable fact that Ruins of Myth Drannor is a dull dungeon crawl with numerous core design flaws that no patch could clear up. It's probably just arrogance in action, but I approached this piece with something of a "Those other guys don't know what they're talking about!" attitude. If anything, however, these negative notions reinforced the idea that I really needed to get into this one before submitting the review. Patches soon arrived, but the disappointment lingered.īeginning the review process after the commotion had already started, I had acquired some very strong impressions of Ruins of Myth Drannor long before the game was installed. Newsgroups filled up with protests, dozens of people complaining about everything from an install program bug that could supposedly delete their Windows directory to the linear plot that was nothing like the expansive adventure that had originally been promised. For despite taking well over two years on the development of the game, the designers at Stormfront Studios signed off on a product that was clearly rushed to stores by Ubi Soft before its completion. One short day later, those same formerly impatient fans were openly wishing that Ubi Soft had taken more time with Ruins of Myth Drannor. ![]() The game released and the wait was finally over for those impatient fans. The younger set that knows of nothing prior to Baldur's Gate has been doing the same thing since the development of this alternative to Bioware's award-winning franchise was first announced in 1999. Old-timers like myself, who fondly remember the original Pool of Radiance and the rest of the classic SSI Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons games, have been sitting on their hands for 13 years in anticipation of a sequel. The original game soundtrack comes with the package, on a separate audio CD.We've waited a long time for Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. The Collector's Edition also offers a novelization of the Pool of Radiance story by Carrie Bebris. A Forgotten Realms D&D module based on the game let's gamers play through the story pen-and-paper style, and a full set of dice and cloth carrying bag are included as well. The special Collector's Edition of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor offers a few extras for fans of the series and table-top role-players. Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor supports single-player and multiplayer games, allowing up to six players to take their characters online and adventure together. Players can create and control up to four characters in a six-character party and guide them through random encounters and non-linear adventures, raising their experience as high as level 16. This 2001 release features an isometric view of 3D rendered characters in hand-designed, interactive environments. The game's success encouraged sequels, including Curse of the Azure Bonds and Secret of the Silver Blades which continued the story introduced in the Pool of Radiance. Computer gamers were impressed by the smooth, engaging play while conventional AD&D players relished the title's faithful rendition of the complicated pen-and-paper rules. SSI first brought Advanced Dungeons & Dragons gaming to the home computer in the late 1980s with the release of the original Pool of Radiance. There will be no safe escape if the ancient dangers that the Pool represents are allowed to grow unchecked. It seems that a newly found Pool of Radiance has become active, deep beneath the ruins of Myth Drannor, and it is having strange and unsettling effects on the good inhabitants of New Phlan. Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor features a new story set in the world of the Forgotten Realms, which may be familiar to pen-and-paper gamers as well as to veterans of earlier SSI titles. Top on the title's list of features is an accurate employment of the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons system, as the game allows several of the new character classes and spells and accounts for new rules as defined in the updated core guide books which were released near the end of 2000. ![]()
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