GameSpy talks about Gold Box series

[Vault Dweller]

<a href=http://www.gamespy.com>GameSpy</a> has posted a 3-page <a href=http://www.gamespy.com/articles/539/539214p1.html>overview</a> of the famous <b>Pool of Radiance</b> games that started the <b>Gold Box</b> series. It's educational and informative for youngsters who've never had a chance to play these games. Now you can claim that you did, as chicks totally dig guys who can tell the difference between a pool of darkness and a pool of radiance.

<blockquote>Pool of Radiance started you out as a first-level adventurer in the city of New Phlan. New Phlan is a struggling community built in the ruins of a much older city that had been destroyed by a cataclysm. Now, the residents of the town are struggling to reclaim the city from the wandering tribes of monsters that infest the decrepit buildings. ... What was remarkable was the sense of "reality" the game gave you. For the first time you weren't traveling through some random dungeon. The town of New Phlan felt like a real place, with a consistent street pattern that you would eventually learn. You weren't killing just to be killing; you had a purpose in mind and a goal to be reached. As your party went up in levels and could take on more powerful creatures, you also uncovered more of the story, working your way to a final confrontation with the UBG (Ultimate Bad Guy). True, it was the same "Kill Foozle" plot that's been used countless times before, but this time it felt fresh because you felt like you were actually living a D&D adventure. </blockquote>
What's also remarkable is that GameSpy called <a href=http://nwn.bioware.com/>NWN</a> a classic that "managed to give players close to an authentic Dungeons & Dragons experience on a video screen" instead of a game loosely based on DnD concepts.

 

[EEVIAC]

Its good to see how far the genre has progressed. In the same vein as the foozle :

Since players could import their characters from Azure Bonds the game really ran into an issue with game balance thanks to badly overpowered characters. In order to combat this, SSI resorted to a number of cheap gameplay tricks to bring the characters back in line. First, the party lost all of their equipment at the beginning of the game thanks to a badly worded wish.

About as cheap as having it teleported by a drow, I guess.

They should bring back splash screens as well.

 

[4too]

Memories, And "Being There"

Memories, And "Being There"

Is this rememberance like the old cliche about the '60's ? ... not being "sure", ...

... "not" remembering, - 'proved' - you were there.

Gamespy: how many pop ups, disguised as ad pages does one have to negociate to be reintroduced to the boredom factor. What is the RATIO of ad verbage to editorial content, 1 to 1 ? And every hit will be seen as a 'vote' for the boredon factor.

Boredom factor: endless battles, mindless passages, fed ex packages, the big PC rat running the maze, killing little AI rats on the experience point treadmill, but that's the rpg tradition in some 'eyes of the beholder'.

Endless battles: this is where experience point farming was indocrinated into the game playing psyche. MUST KILL MORE - MUST REACH - LEVEL UP - TO GET - MORE !!!!

'The song remains the same.'

Body count means a - booty - count. Material satisfaction means sexual grace and spiritual bliss in the commerce of RP game culture.

Boredom factor: only finished, maybe, half of the many "Gold Box" games I started, no matter if they were C64/Amiga/PC.

And,the only ones I recall playing twice and finishing were the "Buck Rodgers" pair.
Robots, rockets, needle guns and lazers, Power Armor, ... hardly the D and D icons of yore.

But hey, the fantasy of fairies sells, not 'space' aliens , so cut out those lines of glamor from that big heap of glimmer, and snort till the sinuses bleed, and party, till the NPC mules, puke.


4too