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Those who, like me, remember playing Pool  of Radiance and its sequels as first published in the mid-'80's by SSI (alias the "Gold Box" games) on 5 1/4" floppies were among those undoubtedly most eagerly awaiting the release of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, purportedly a sequel to the original games with a 3-D engine. Well, the game didn't quite live up to the hype. I played a demo soon after its 2001 release, which convinced me to stay away. I couldn't quite figure out (and the demo didn't help much) what was going on with the interface. Two years later and at a much lower price, I decided to pick up the game and give it another chance.

My ranger shows off her stats (obviously tweaked somewhat ;->)

Character creation is fun, although, as others have remarked, a peculiar selectivity in rule implementation (explained by the fact that the 3rd edition AD&D rules were still "in press" at the time the game was being made) has led to some odd limitations. For example, one can create a sorcerer, but not a standard mage. The fact that feats are selected by the computer automatically from a limited list is rather annoying. I was expecting more classes to be available, like specialist clerics and mages. While I'm on the subject of the rules, I have to make a comment about armor class. This is one of those things I don't like about 3rd edition; contrary to some opinions, I had no trouble understanding THAC0 or negative ACs and I don't see why this was changed. But, I digress. . . . Parties consist of up to four player characters (two NPCs may join later). Smaller parties advance faster, but have trouble staying alive.

Forewarned is forearmed, and I feel I should point out that I found myself at approximately the halfway mark in the game and discovered that my party was too fighter-heavy. By the time you begin encountering drow enemies, you'd best have a party that's balanced with strong fighters and strong arcane and divine spellcasters or you'll wind up outclassed in every combat situation.

My party of five looking for a table (to smash).

The much-ballyhooed environmental interactivity in the game consists almost exclusively of smashing tables, chairs, benches, and other assorted items of furniture that seemingly pose no threat either to you or the former inhabitants of Myth Drannor. Go figure.

The graphics are attractive, for the most part. The character and monster models are well-done, but there are so few of both that the lack of variety in the former leads to confusion of  similar-looking party members, while the lack of variety in the latter ensures that you'll be doing battle with the same seven to ten types of monsters ad nauseum. There is an overland map included in the box, but I guess it's just to show off the art team's skills, because you'll be spending most of your time in dungeons that look very similar (see the graphic above).

Sound is average for this type of game. There are the requisite footsteps, door creaks, and grunts. Battle is still somewhat understated; I kept anticipating sword slashes and death rattles that never came. The music in the game is good--short martial themes announce an imminent fight, while ambient mood pieces are brooding and give the game a sense of mystery and foreboding.

To get from Point A to Point B in this game, expect to do a lot of walking and walking and walking.  .  .  .

Few reviewers have mentioned what I consider to be the single greatest flaw in the user interface. Since the coming of Icewind Dale in 2000, RPGers have been able to move parties on maps using waypoints or at least being able to click to a remote location. In Pool of Radiance: RoMD, you can only move your party as far as you can see on the screen that you are presently viewing. There is no option for map movement, so getting from one end of a map to another is tedious in the extreme. This wouldn't be so bad except that several of the game's quests require you to travel across several maps to complete your objective. I found that I could tolerate every one of the game's many shortcomings but this one.

There is an interesting story behind the somewhat monotonous gameplay about a couple of sinister and evil figures who have figured out how to reactivate the long-dormant Pool of Radiance in Myth Drannor and are causing no end of trouble for the residents of New Phlan. However, I didn't really get to find out how it ends. Roughly 70% of the way through the game, I realized it had ceased to be fun and I was working my way slowly forward only for the sake of getting to that next segment in the storyline--and it wasn't worth the wait.