ToddMcF2002
SasqWatch
I think the design goals for POR are quite a bit different than most modern games. SSI was trying to deliver a automated DM with as full a rule set as possible even at the expense of micromanagement (rest+healing+learning for example). I’m sure some of it was because of technical limitations but it’s pretty unapologetically a module simulation of PnP. Modern games with some exceptions (maybe Kingmaker) have other overriding priorities including graphics, cinematic story telling, multiplayer and experience streamlining. That doesn’t make them worse but they can’t be good at everything. Sometimes I prefer simplistic graphics so I can fill in the look with imagination vs. what the game designer chose for the esthetic anyway (Aka Original Sin). I think the closest modern game to Gold Box is probably ToEE which is criticized for being largely a combat simulation. I’d call it a true old school PnP simulation because when I played DND as a kid it was 99.99% dungeon crawl just like ToEE.