Pool of Radiance-Unsafe at Any Price?

Thanks to all for the advice, links and answers to my questions. I feel like I have an Angel whispering in one ear and the Devil in the other
I'll download the demo and see what it's like before throwing my twelve bucks out into the wind. It's not like there are dozens of single-player dnd games out there that I haven't played.

If you find the combat too slow keep in mind there is a community speed patch. I've never used it and I don't know if it works with the demo but it is out there.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I have unistalled POR2 retail twice without issue. The bug was patched long ago!

With or without patch ?

I mean - what do people do without any patch ?

Nowadays it's relatively easy to download numerous patches via the internet, but back then … you actually had to look whether a gaming mag's CD-ROM carried the patch, or you had to endure quite a long time with downloading via Modem.

I think the one significant patch caveat is that there is a special downloaded installer that you have to use to correctly install it without invoking the overly-hyped "deletes your operating system" bug.

And just to make certain no one ever pays attention to anything I ever say again: I really enjoyed the game. Granted, my opinion was biased by having just uninstalled NWN out of disgust at how it butchered so many D&D rules and wouldn't even let you have a party. Then PoR2: party-based, turn-based, etc. After NWN, it was a wonderful experience.

Of all the reputed bugs with PoR2, the one thing I really took issue with was a design decision: SSI (or one of the two other completely different teams that took turns making the game) decided to bias the die rolls. Expect to have your party roll 1-5 on a d20 about 50-75% of the time, while monsters will hit you half of the time, even if they need to roll 18s better. That was annoying.

Dec 2001 - the game is not THAT old. Come on Quake 2 had internet patches in 1997.

The Demo is actually not as bugged as the released version and they both had the same version number.

For the first week it went on sale it was the best selling game.

Honestly, I really liked my copy. I got the Collectors Edition.

It was $20, came with the PnP module, a bag of d20 dice and a music CD and cool looking box. All in all a great buy. One of these I might install the game.

Still, its probably better than the Gold Box version even if it does corrupt my OS.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
Yeah well ToEE is also 4x shorter and I was left wanting more. So if you want turn based DnD, lets see… POR2 or… POR2?

I understand and don't disagree - I just am saying that playing ToEE then starting PoR2 and finding it similar yet slower and uglier made it hard to persevere, so I didn't … and have never gotten back to it.

Originally Posted by Stanza
Of all the reputed bugs with PoR2, the one thing I really took issue with was a design decision: SSI (or one of the two other completely different teams that took turns making the game) decided to bias the die rolls. Expect to have your party roll 1-5 on a d20 about 50-75% of the time, while monsters will hit you half of the time, even if they need to roll 18s better. That was annoying.

You should trying playing Buck Rogers:Matrix Cubed by SSI. Even with a -10 armour class you still get hit by even the weakest monster ALL the time. Your rocket launchers(5d10) and plasma throwers(4d10) nearly always seem to hit for around 20 damage or under while the enemies will nearly always hit for over 30. A little bit annoying but the rest of the game and the fact that it is a pretty good turn based combat system make up for it.

Played that game YEARS ago, when it first game out!! Had a lot of fun once I caught on to the tactics you needed to use!!

Yay! Another POR2 thread!

Considering that i played POR2 more then both Gothic 3 and NWN 2 this autumn not everybody hates it. It is a thread somewhere here where there is some positive points at this game.

Well, ToEE may be shorter, but has great replay value with all the mods out there (never actually managed to get to them really, so I have a lot of catching up to do)! Especially Co8 mod pack.

Get the Co8 mods, they are really good!!

I actually did, but for some strange universe, even though I adore ToEE, I was not in the mood to play!

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
Honestly, I really liked my copy. I got the Collectors Edition.

What actually made me really angry was that at first Europe shouldn't get no Collector's Edition at all. And THEN Europe got a totally different content as "bonus".

The wiping-your-harddrive thing was overplayed. As I recall (and it was a while ago, so a grain of salt for all these details), it only occurred when you installed to a different partition and had Norton Systemworks (or something like that) installed.

As mentioned, SSI has a couple of different teams and also attempted to get the latest D&D revision rules incorporated before they were finished (the rules, that is) and clearly without the team having the resources to tie everything together properly.

In the end, a number of things were poorly conceived. First, only a small range of Feats were included and these were automatically applied on leveling, which really destroyed the character development. Second, the combat was a poor implementation, lacking both the tactical depth of ToEE (tripping, charging …) but also the pace with very slow animations over large areas with repetitive mobs. Biasing the die rolls just took a bad system and made it ridiculous.

Finally, the first levels were dreary, including a looooooong dull-as-dishwater dungeon with the excessive slow combat against menial, dull mobs.

I quit well before any sign of an engaging tale turned up.

Originally Posted by Arma
I actually did, but for some strange universe, even though I adore ToEE, I was not in the mood to play!

Know what you mean Arma. As much as I enjoyed many parts of this game I've never made it back. It may be the memory of the god-awful lag in the Nodes near the endgame--some subconscious avoidance, or something.

Well, actually I love the mid to end game. It's just the awfully slow beginning that I usually can't cope with.

yes i've tried two seperate times and as much as i love troika i've never gotten past the intro part. i can over look the d&d and isometric aspects but coupled with the lack of the story makes it less enticing than cleaning bathrooms.

Seems like the opinions on this game really differe in may areas. Strange, I have always considered it one of the worst RPGs ever and so I've never even though about trying it. Now I see that some people really enjoyed it…

Danicek: My motivation playing the game come halftime as i understood where the game really picked up. Its somewhat slow in the beginning, but as i wrote elsewhere i got such a wonderful old school feeling playing this game. I do love it and think the game is great, much for the same reason many people "despise" it. Its a different tastes I guess.

I played the demo after a dry spell of rpg. And found out that this game was not as bad by a long shot as the reviewers let it sounds like. (I never bought it at release and decided to let it pass me when it was released).

But i think the motivation to play the game must be you like exploration, you must like doing fights (that might feel slow) and you must like doing some time in the game before it picks up. But when it does its a blast.

The strangest thing i understand the critics and that people loath it. But i think this is on the top of my playlist as far as RPGs goes. So, if you like the demo, and you can live with the not full implementation of the rule, that wizards (or sorcery or whatever) not is a correct class. Then this might be enjoyable. (The fights are more fun in POR2 than in NWN2 which i gave up on … slautgher/click fests isn't my way to like a game anyhow!)

Will be fun if you decide to try out the demo or even the full shebang! Let us know, we might be three on this forum that like the game.

Oh, if you want to read more check out the official forums and read some. Its not that many left there yet, but you get inspiration during the beginning…