Pool of Radiance
| Pool of Radiance | |
|---|---|
| Studio |
 SSI
|
| Publisher |
SSI
|
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1988 |
| platform | Amiga , Apple II , Commodore 64 , DOS , Mac OS , NES , PC-88 , PC-98 , Sharp X1 |
| Game engine | GoldBox |
| genre | Computer role playing game |
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Mouse & keyboard , joystick |
| medium | Floppy disk , cartridge |
| language | English |
Pool of Radiance is a computer role-playing game by the US game developer Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) from 1988. It is the first of a total of 35 games that SSI released until 1996 under an exclusive license agreement with TSR , the manufacturer of the RPG rules Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ), published. Pool of Radiance also formed the prelude to a four-part series of interrelated games, which was referred to as the so-called gold box series due to the same technical basis and produced further offshoots with an independent storyline, including the first graphic MMORPG Neverwinter Nights . Pool of Radiance was released for the Amiga , Apple II , Commodore 64 , DOS , Mac OS , NES , PC-88 , PC-98 , Sharp X1 platforms .
action
The city of Phlan, located on Lake Mondsee in the Forgotten Realms , suffers from numerous attacks by monsters. The player's group of heroes is supposed to support the city council in fighting the creatures and to get to the bottom of the cause of their increased occurrence. It turns out that the reasons for this are to be found under the city, where the remains of an old elven city called Myth Drannor are, over which Phlan was built.
Gameplay
The game combines a turn-based exploration of the game world from a first person perspective with tactical, also turn-based battles from a gentleman's perspective . The basis is the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons RPG set of rules , which the game has implemented close to the original. At the beginning, the player creates a group of six heroes, whereby the class (fighter, magic user, cleric, thief), race and gender can be determined for each character.
development
The game is the first product to emerge from the exclusive license agreement between AD&D manufacturer TSR and the computer game developer SSI, which specializes in tactical war games. The cooperation arose from TSR's efforts to gain a foothold with its product in the computer games sector , which until then had been dominated by the Ultima series. After discussions with several manufacturers, the company decided to partner with SSI. In contrast to earlier D&D implementations , such as the games from Mattel Electronics , SSI endeavored to implement the rules in a way that was true to the factory. This was made possible, among other things, by the significantly increased performance of the 8-bit home computers for which the game was originally published. They allowed the implementation of the numerous combat rules and the complex character system and also enabled the integration of high-quality graphics at the time, most of which were implementations of the original graphics from the rule books for the pen & paper. The cover motif was designed by the American illustrator Clyde Caldwell , who was also responsible for the design of other D&D products.
Republication
On August 20, 2015, GOG.com re- released many Goldbox games after years of non-availability in digital distribution , including "Pool of Radiance" in the second "Forgotten Realms: The Archives" collection.
reception
After its release, the game won the Origins Award for “ Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988 ”. In the readers' choice of D&D magazine Dragon for the Beastie Awards 1989, Pool of Radiance received the most votes in the category "Most popular fantasy role-playing game of the year" before Ultima V. The main reasons given were the compliance with the rules, the graphic quality and the simple user interface .
Pool of Radiance is considered to be a major turning point in the history of computer role-playing games. In its special issue on role-playing games from 1992, the Amiga Joker described Pool of Radiance as "a breakthrough in terms of complexity" and emphasized, among other things: "The role-playing community was particularly enthusiastic about the tactical battle screen with its many options for action".
In a 2004 retrospective, Allen Rausch from the US online game magazine GameSpy described Pools of Radiance as the first true-to-the-factory implementation of the AD&D rules. Although the game, like so many other games, follows the same repetitive pattern of “Kill the bad guys to save the world”, the playful possibilities were much more extensive than with similar products, and by adopting the locations and creatures from the rules, there was an increased feeling of realism emerged.
The game laid the foundation for a series with three immediate, thematic successors that followed annually until 1991 (so-called Forgotten Realms Fantasy Role-Playing Epic , continued by Curse of the Azure Bonds , Secret of the Silver Blades , Pools of Darkness ), and ten other games that used the same technical foundation of the game ( gold box series ). At the end of the 1990s, SSI commissioned Stormfront Studios again to develop a game that was to tie in with Pool of Radiance . In 2001 Ubisoft , which SSI had taken over in the meantime, published the title Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor , which, however, had major quality problems and could not match the success of the original game.
novel
- James M. Ward, Jane Cooper Hong: Pool of Radiance . TSR , 1989, ISBN 0-88038-735-1 .
The novel is based on the computer game and forms the prelude to a novel trilogy called Heroes of Phlan , with the other volumes Pools of Darkness (James M. Ward & Anne K. Brown, ISBN 1-56076-318-3 ) and Pool of Twilight ( James M. Ward & Anne K. Brown, ISBN 1-56076-582-8 ).
Web links
- Pool of Radiance at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Allen Rausch: SSI's "Gold Box" Series ( English ) In: GameSpy . News Corp . August 16, 2004. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ↑ a b Matt Barton: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993) ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM TechWeb. February 23, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ↑ Forgotten Realms: The Archives brings 13 D&D classics to GOG on PC Gamer Jordan Erica Webber (Aug 20 2015, English)
- ↑ Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Two on gog.com (English)
- ↑ 1988 List of Winners . In: Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design . Origins Games Fair. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
- ↑ Hartley, Patricia and Kirk Lesser: The Beastie Knows Best . In: Dragon . No. 151, November 1989, p. 36.
- ↑ http://amr.abime.net/issue_2949_pages