Pool of Radiance

TDBauer 2013-10-25
(10/10)
Played it first on the C64 and won it. Later got it for my Amiga, played and won. Loved it.
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mike_tyson 2012-06-04
Pool of Radiance is one of the first (but not the first) licensed conversions of AD&D into a computer game, the first title in the Gold Box series, with ports to all relevant 8 and 16 bit platforms of days gone past. Although somewhat old school, this is a very good,atmospheric and deep game.

PoR stays very close to the AD&D pen & paper RPG with respect to setting, rules and artwork, which is a good thing. Several authors who contributed much to the pen & paper AD&D game, like Zeb Cook and Steve Winter, have also worked on this game.

Party creation is a bit long winded, but allows for a lot of configurability. You can select the the looks of the character portraits as well as the sprites used in battle. Characters can be exported into other Gold Box engine games.

Most of the movement in this game is done in a stepmode engine similar to Bard's Tale, though this movement can also be done on a 2D map. Other representations of the game world are an overworld map and encounters (still images to which you need to read passages in an accompanying game book - I love this!). What I like most about PoR is the battle engine, it's tactical battle very similar to what nowadays are called tactical RPGs.

If you like modern tactical RPGs in the style of Disgaea, do yourself a favour and play this! And if you liked PoR do yourself a favour and play Disgaea.
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coze 2009-12-26
This was a great beginning to GoldBox titles, I believe Ubisoft did much a better job than micromagic (which cought up with the last installments). The title music was great, this would have been a great hit, if there was continous music during gameplay (different titles for each area)
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Haywire 2009-12-09
(8/10)
I just played this to the end for the first time on the Amiga. The graphics and sound was enhanced compared to the 64 but the game play is basically the same. The ending is a little anti-climatic. This is a good starting point as the series only gets better. I'm giving this one a 8/10. Haywire
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Torquemada 2008-12-25
EdgarStiles - You are probably talking about the HUGE battle at the plaza where you faced like 100+ orcs. That only happened if you blew your cover though.
Although I do seem to recall the battles lasting a bit longer in this game than in the later games, probably due to the lack of the fireball spell
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Kai 2006-12-05
(7/10)
One of the best D&D games for the Amiga IMO. Very tough puzzles and quests, so no game for beginners.
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EdgarStiles 2005-03-11
There was something about the old SSI D&D rpgs that I still find appealing today even with the latest BioWare games and the JRPG's. Radiance was one of those games which even though you could see the graphics were rubbish and the battles lasted for hours - having to sit through loads of enemies individually doing their turns is etched in my memory, the game was still utterly compelling. Getting your characters to level up was immensely satisfying - as much as any RPG I can recall. 9 out of 10.
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