Pool of Radiance II

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-11-06 07:50pm

i just started to play Pool of Radiance II and wonder if it´s worth continuing. i´ve completed the first dungeon level and checked out the beginnings of the next levels.
now the first level was huge and looked exactly the same everywhere. and what i´ve seen of the next levels looks exactly the same as the first level. does it ever change or is it going to bore me to death.

is there a way to speed up the figths. it takes ages for the damn computer to move his hordes of stupid skeletons and zombies. the fights tend to be the same over and over again.

while the spells look very cool they also tend to take for ever. if you cast a simple weaken undead crap skill you have to wait about 10 seconds until that stupid green fog has finally dissolved until the next character can attack.

will i finally get some good puzzles? that was maybe the most annoying part. i came upon ONE puzzle. that was this mage who´s trapped in a rock who tells you that the rock is unbrakable. he gives me a riddle (something like: i´m what traps animals and chains and end the time, or some crap like that). so you´d think to free the poor guy from the stone you´de have to solve the riddle. no way, more by accident i discovered that the only thing you have to do is to hit the rock with a sword. then you get the message that the ring touches the rock and the rock bursts. what the fuck?

the other "puzzle" was this naga behind a door which was magically locked. you need a special word to unlock it. so you go running around and search for someone to tell you the damn word and don´t return before you´ve got it. of course you never find it and out of accident again go back to the sealed door just to find out that the damn naga will now willingly say the word himself and open the door in order to attack you. another what the fuck???

besides the endless fights there´s also endless running around which tends to get boring. i mean, big levels are cool and all, but you got to fill them with something exciting, gods damn it.

about every item is magical or unique. what´s the point of that? isn´t a magical item supposed to be something special?

the spells the mages cast are totally ineffective crap spells.

the skills the characters are supposed to be able to use are mostly unusable. my thief is supposed be able to sneak up on enemy, hide and move silent. well he´s never done it, and i don´t see any way to tell him to do so. at least in the little character menues you cant choose these skills.

death. what the hell. you die so frequently that it´s not funnay anymore. but the most annoying thing is that it doesnt matter at all. you come uppon so fucking many wands of resurection, in the first(!) level which is inhabited mainly by orks and zombies.

what a shit game!!!

well, this turned out to be more a rant than a question. i think i´ll stop playing it. anyone here who actually enjoyed it?

Damaramu · Post by **Damaramu** » 2003-11-06 09:31pm

You too, huh?

I wish there was a way to switch resolutions........

I'm still in the first dungeon (haven't played much)......is there a way to kill those shadow creatures? So far, all I can do is just haul ass out of the dungeon.

Hmmm......

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-11-06 09:42pm

It's better to get either one of the older D&D games...and forget Pool of Radiance II existed.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-11-06 10:14pm

You should have spent the money you wasted on Pool of Radiance 2: Runs of Mushy Diaherra and bought the Icewind Dale Ultimate collection for $20-30, including Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, and Icewind Dale 2, plus some nifty extras.

PoR2 is a PoS. Any review should have told you that.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-11-07 06:14am

Damaramu wrote:You too, huh?

I wish there was a way to switch resolutions........

I'm still in the first dungeon (haven't played much)......is there a way to kill those shadow creatures? So far, all I can do is just haul ass out of the dungeon.

Hmmm......

shadow creatures are fucking annoying since they´re bodyless. to see if you´re able to hit them turn on "show dice" with, i think, the right alt button. the text will then tell you that you´re not able to hit bodyless creatures with you´re punny little weapon. ignore it. you can. if you keep hitting it, (and keep reloading) you´ll be able to beat it. since they have attacks which robs you streangth which is not restored by simple sleeping you have to drink a potion of "genesung" (i´ve got the german version and have no clue what genesung is in the english version) to restore your strength.
in case you still can´t beat it go elswehere, train your characters and come back.
another way is using some of the magic wands and scrolls. waste them on stronger enemies at will since they´re not rare and lie around about eveywhere.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-11-07 06:17am

Hotfoot wrote:You should have spent the money you wasted on Pool of Radiance 2: Runs of Mushy Diaherra and bought the Icewind Dale Ultimate collection for $20-30, including Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, and Icewind Dale 2, plus some nifty extras.

PoR2 is a PoS. Any review should have told you that.

so true, so true.

what´s a PoS?

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-11-07 06:22am

salm wrote:what´s a PoS?

Pice of Shit

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2003-11-07 07:10am

Although PoR II is not my favourite game I played it to the end with a single character. It was an orc warrior/barbarian.

Some answers:

You were able to smash the rock which were holding the sorcerer because you found somewhere a certain gold ring and it was still in your inventory.

The naga is opening the dooor automatically if you have a certain necklace part in your inventory.

Fights can be done quickly you just have to push the space button if you want to move to the next character and you can also adjust the speed of the game.

You need a strong machine for this game.

The dungeon part was really boring. Later you will go up to the surface, that will be much-much better.

Coaan · Post by **Coaan** » 2003-11-07 08:54am

Lets put it this way....PoR2 is the 'enterprise' of the D&D gaming world...we try to forget it was ever made...it really is that bad...though..with the patch (that's a hefty size iirc), the game becomes semi playable...I say semi because you'll be so bored out your fucking skull that you'll be planning your own characters deaths in the absolute nastiest way possible.

If you were smart...and like myself...bought the game...copied it and returned the stinking pile of refuse to spend the precious currency on a real game (and incidently still have por2 (albeit a copy)...why...do not ask me..) Then you'd probably find out that this game...is...yes..mediocre at best...when free...it is good enough to be able to pass the time when you really have nothing else to play.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-11-07 01:51pm

Boba Fett wrote:Although PoR II is not my favourite game I played it to the end with a single character. It was an orc warrior/barbarian.

Some answers:

You were able to smash the rock which were holding the sorcerer because you found somewhere a certain gold ring and it was still in your inventory.

The naga is opening the dooor automatically if you have a certain necklace part in your inventory.

i found out about the ring in a walkthrough i downloaded. it says that you can use ANY ring. you just have to wear one while hitting the rock with a weapon.
even dumber is the fact that the mage gives you this riddle which worth exactly nothing and does nothing to improve the game.
it´s still beond my understanding what the ring, the sword and the trapped mage in the rock have to do with each other.

the walkthrough also said which necklace you need. well, the puzzle remains stupid. you get told nowhere the you need to find this necklace, only that the naga likes necklaces so the only way of discovering that you have to bring exactly this necklace (and the game has tons of them) is by chance.

Fights can be done quickly you just have to push the space button if you want to move to the next character

what? i press space if i want one of my characters to do nothing during a fight round. but pressing space while the computer is moving his undead dumbfucks is useless. nothing happens.

and you can also adjust the speed of the game.

really? how? i thought i´d checked every single menue and wasn´t able to find a way to speed it up.

You need a strong machine for this game.

well, my 800 athlon is fine during the normal game. the fights are the problem. they take forever.

The dungeon part was really boring. Later you will go up to the surface, that will be much-much better.

hmm... maybe on a really rainy day...

Damaramu · Post by **Damaramu** » 2003-11-07 06:06pm

Man, I'm glad I only spent $5 on this game. And from the sounds of it, I might have paid $5 too much.