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Playing Pool of Radiance (NES)
Posted by Cybergoth,
in
Playing...
21 November 2009
·
54 views
Playing... NES
Hi there!
The only 'Gold Box' game from SSI that hit the NES:
Well, it got the two horrible Dragonlace action games, also Dragonstrike and Hillsfar, but this is the only full blown AD&D RPG that got converted to the NES. Of course I had to check this version out
It is surprisingly close to the computer versions, although the graphics certainly suffered. They're even more iconized here and also lost a lot of color. On the plus side you get background music - that is if you like NES muzak
The whole user interface got streamlined to work on the NES and some areas of the game also got simplified, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think most changes were even for the better, offering some convenience that later entries in 'Gold Box' series would introduce just as well. (The PC version of the game doesn't even support a mouse!
)
As you might remember, SSI had three different RPG series running on their turn-based AD&D engine: Savage Frontier, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. With Pool of Radiance being the first of the bunch, most of the development energy apparently went into the engine, while the upcoming games had much more story and depth to offer.
Here you really start on level 1 with 8 hitpoints, empty pockets and a lone magic spell in your book
Still, I had an enjoyable first night with the game. I mostly explored 3-4 districts of the city Phlan and upped my 3 starting characters to levels 3-4 with a few early missions you get assigned to from the city council.
Greetings,
Manuel
The only 'Gold Box' game from SSI that hit the NES:
Well, it got the two horrible Dragonlace action games, also Dragonstrike and Hillsfar, but this is the only full blown AD&D RPG that got converted to the NES. Of course I had to check this version out
It is surprisingly close to the computer versions, although the graphics certainly suffered. They're even more iconized here and also lost a lot of color. On the plus side you get background music - that is if you like NES muzak
The whole user interface got streamlined to work on the NES and some areas of the game also got simplified, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think most changes were even for the better, offering some convenience that later entries in 'Gold Box' series would introduce just as well. (The PC version of the game doesn't even support a mouse!
)As you might remember, SSI had three different RPG series running on their turn-based AD&D engine: Savage Frontier, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. With Pool of Radiance being the first of the bunch, most of the development energy apparently went into the engine, while the upcoming games had much more story and depth to offer.
Here you really start on level 1 with 8 hitpoints, empty pockets and a lone magic spell in your book
Still, I had an enjoyable first night with the game. I mostly explored 3-4 districts of the city Phlan and upped my 3 starting characters to levels 3-4 with a few early missions you get assigned to from the city council.
Greetings,
Manuel
While my characters now slowly reach their 5th levels, the AD&D system kicks in little by little. The fights now start to get really tactical and interesting. I guess the real fun begins once my magician is able to cast fireballs
I managed to complete two more missions, one was just fighting back and forth through a spooky keep, but the other was quite fun, as my party had to disguise themselves as monsters so they could sneak unscathed through the territory.
The night ended with halfway exploring a robber's den, with traps and thieves all over the place. I'm having a hard time here managing all the loot