"You get more experience from finding treasure than you do for fighting enemies." That is by design, based on the original rules of D&D which the game tried to adapt faithfully. Remember that the table top game does not have a reload function by which players can "savescum" their adventure. All of those "save or die" attacks like a basilisk's gaze or an evil cleric's Slay Living spell actually encouraged characters to think their way around encounters rather than simply charge into battle. Games like Pool of Radiance tried to emulate this with the ability to parley with a lot creatures and avoid senseless combat (at least among random encounters), but -- being a computer game and given the less-O.G. audience -- eventually the series ceased to be about much more than one battle after another. Which isn't to say the combat is bad -- because it's quite entertaining -- but that's why monsters are not the primary means of leveling-up, like they are in things like Final Fantasy and JRPGs.
I really want them to preserve the decorations and frames around the screen though... I miss these little frames that surrounded the screen on older games, they were charming... and please big UI with Big Buttons and big readable fonts
6:53 - Not just any NPC, that's Shal Bal from all the games novels. I just love how the games add those little touches from the book universe, as well as adding characters from previous games.
I always loved the 'stylish' fonts. They added an amazing about of feel to the games. But yeah, they were harder to read. I guess they were best for lower resolution gaming. To me, they added a nice polish to the game.
Excellent review, i'm just playing the game right now, and on a side note, bracers, rings and cloaks of protection armor bonus does not stack if you are already wearing any kind of armor, leather, chain etc, its on the rules, i have been playing AD&D since 1985, not too much these days cause of the pandemic.
@@dfortaeGameReviews yeah, try to imagine if all those armor bonus stack, somebody with DEX 18 wearing all the best armor he/she could get... we would be talking Bard's Tale kind of AC... and for this game, it would be insane xD
Hi dfortae. Thanks for posting a video of this game. I'm a big fan of..well..some of the goldbox games. I played them all on amiga as I didn't have a pc back then. Curse of the azure bonds was just magical for me. When Champions of krynn was released it was a big leap forward in terms of how fast the game and combat was and also they also put in a selection of good looking characters instead of the old ones. Then Buck rogers was released. After that I felt like the gold box games got worse. It was just so hard to go back to the system without all the skills. It just seemed incredibly sloppy. I gave up after I played Secrets of the savage frontier. It seemed like it ran in the same way as Curse of the azure bonds. I just dug up my amiga from my basement and started playing Champions of krynn again. I expected to not really like it but I'm actually having just as much fun as I had back in 1990.
The amiga was not really a thing in the states for some reason. Quite a shame as a lot of the games on there had amazing sound compared to the pc versions. I recently played the only game from the goldbox series that was released on console - Buck Rogers. I didn't expect much but it was actually pretty good. They didn't bring over all of the skills and it is a little clunky but it "kinda" is the same as the amiga and dos version.
1:32 I have owned the Gold Box games for years. I have never gotten past the beginning of Pool of Radiance, for one reason alone: I could not read the text even if my life depended on it! I see on the Interwebs that there's now a program that switches the font style in PoR to the one in Pools of Darkness. I suppose I'll have to try that out sometime...
Was not my favorite either, but seemed like a fitting way to end the series.The upgraded graphics were a breath of fresh air from this series, and some of the quests you find yourself involved in are just so out there. Walking inside of a God's heart... hahaha. Like most Gold Box games, quite memorable.
1991 - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (in the Forgotten Realms, by Stormfront Studios) 1992 - Treasures of the Savage Frontier (in the Forgotten Realms, by Stormfront Studios) EDIT: I know you know all this, as I am watching your review of those :P, but I don't understand your first sentence here claiming that Pools of Darkness is the last... I guess you meant the last game of this specific saga starting with Pool of Radiance.
How did you get the sound to work like that-- In some portions of the video i noticed that its crunchy as opposed to the obnoxious "eeagh" kill sound... and I would like to be rid of it.
You probably have a different version. This is the original version that came on floppy diskettes. I think there was a newer "compilation" type of the Goldbox games where the audio was changed. The other possibility is for you to change the sound type. I think Soundblaster causes the annoying voice kill sounds, so you may be able to change that in the setup EXE.
@@dfortaeGameReviews Yeah, I got mine from the collection on GOG. I suspected the soundblaster settings had something to do with it but I was unsure. Thanks though!
all your reviews seem to be quite negative, i was interested in buying the original boxed copies, as i did like Pool of Radiance played the gog version, but now i dont know what one to buy - and pool of radiance itself is a quite pricey
All the reviews from the time seemed to disagree, but I actually really enjoyed Secret of the Silver Blades. A fairly straight-forward adventure, hacking your way down, then up, through levels of a variety of monsters. Also, you get to kit up with +5 gear. No overland map though, if you like those.
The black gentleman was an actual portrait of our warehouse coordinator. Its a real person.
"You get more experience from finding treasure than you do for fighting enemies." That is by design, based on the original rules of D&D which the game tried to adapt faithfully. Remember that the table top game does not have a reload function by which players can "savescum" their adventure. All of those "save or die" attacks like a basilisk's gaze or an evil cleric's Slay Living spell actually encouraged characters to think their way around encounters rather than simply charge into battle.
Games like Pool of Radiance tried to emulate this with the ability to parley with a lot creatures and avoid senseless combat (at least among random encounters), but -- being a computer game and given the less-O.G. audience -- eventually the series ceased to be about much more than one battle after another. Which isn't to say the combat is bad -- because it's quite entertaining -- but that's why monsters are not the primary means of leveling-up, like they are in things like Final Fantasy and JRPGs.
I really, really want a remaster of the Goldbox SSI/TSR Games.
I really want them to preserve the decorations and frames around the screen though... I miss these little frames that surrounded the screen on older games, they were charming... and please big UI with Big Buttons and big readable fonts
Thanks for detailing this legendary Gold Box conclusion, 'cause I know I'll never have time to play it in the rest of my life.
When I played this game the manual I had was in French. It was quite the quest even getting into the game.
6:53 - Not just any NPC, that's Shal Bal from all the games novels. I just love how the games add those little touches from the book universe, as well as adding characters from previous games.
Yeah, that is a really cool aspect of the game!
Ah yes, when I hacked the eq system to give our entire party every protective item and vorpal swords.
I played the Gold Box games for years. I think one enemy failed their save against the Poison spell.
If I recall the 1e rules, CofP do only grant AC if one has no armour, but do always give saving throw bonuses to something or other.
Cloak of Protection does work with armor, as long as it's not magical.
I always loved the 'stylish' fonts. They added an amazing about of feel to the games. But yeah, they were harder to read. I guess they were best for lower resolution gaming. To me, they added a nice polish to the game.
Excellent review, i'm just playing the game right now, and on a side note, bracers, rings and cloaks of protection armor bonus does not stack if you are already wearing any kind of armor, leather, chain etc, its on the rules, i have been playing AD&D since 1985, not too much these days cause of the pandemic.
Thanks Ramiro, glad you enjoyed the review! You're right about the armor class rules!
@@dfortaeGameReviews yeah, try to imagine if all those armor bonus stack, somebody with DEX 18 wearing all the best armor he/she could get... we would be talking Bard's Tale kind of AC... and for this game, it would be insane xD
Hi dfortae. Thanks for posting a video of this game. I'm a big fan of..well..some of the goldbox games. I played them all on amiga as I didn't have a pc back then. Curse of the azure bonds was just magical for me. When Champions of krynn was released it was a big leap forward in terms of how fast the game and combat was and also they also put in a selection of good looking characters instead of the old ones. Then Buck rogers was released. After that I felt like the gold box games got worse. It was just so hard to go back to the system without all the skills. It just seemed incredibly sloppy. I gave up after I played Secrets of the savage frontier. It seemed like it ran in the same way as Curse of the azure bonds. I just dug up my amiga from my basement and started playing Champions of krynn again. I expected to not really like it but I'm actually having just as much fun as I had back in 1990.
You're welcome! I never had an Amiga! Sure wish I had, but then perhaps I wouldn't be reviewing DOS games today! o-o Thanks for sharing your memories.
The amiga was not really a thing in the states for some reason. Quite a shame as a lot of the games on there had amazing sound compared to the pc versions. I recently played the only game from the goldbox series that was released on console - Buck Rogers. I didn't expect much but it was actually pretty good. They didn't bring over all of the skills and it is a little clunky but it "kinda" is the same as the amiga and dos version.
1:32 I have owned the Gold Box games for years. I have never gotten past the beginning of Pool of Radiance, for one reason alone: I could not read the text even if my life depended on it! I see on the Interwebs that there's now a program that switches the font style in PoR to the one in Pools of Darkness. I suppose I'll have to try that out sometime...
Oh, i remember how much i hated the "pet of kalistes" spiders...
(1:32) I thought I recognized the font. Reminds me much of _Alternate Reality: The City_ on IBM Compatible.
Was not my favorite either, but seemed like a fitting way to end the series.The upgraded graphics were a breath of fresh air from this series, and some of the quests you find yourself involved in are just so out there. Walking inside of a God's heart... hahaha. Like most Gold Box games, quite memorable.
I agree!
Only Gold Box I couldn't finish.
1991 - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (in the Forgotten Realms, by Stormfront Studios)
1992 - Treasures of the Savage Frontier (in the Forgotten Realms, by Stormfront Studios)
EDIT: I know you know all this, as I am watching your review of those :P, but I don't understand your first sentence here claiming that Pools of Darkness is the last... I guess you meant the last game of this specific saga starting with Pool of Radiance.
33:16 Moander "was an ancient god of rot, corruption, and decay" so yep, those three dots are likely flys or something.
22:07 Can we cast monster summoning on Medusa and use her gaze? Thank you for the video!
You could potentially use Charm Monsters spell and do that, yes.
@@dfortaeGameReviews Thank you!!!
In the Commodore 64 Version of Curse Of The Azure Bonds, the cleric Spell "Heal" heals only 1w4 points of damage.
Wow, that's rough! Only 1 to 4 damage?!?
@@dfortaeGameReviews
There was a Scroll of Healing I used, it was worthless. Never used the "Harm" Spell in Curse of the Azure Bonds.
dfortae, where have you been?! can't wait to watch the vid
Tell me about it... Watch my other video (from yesterday) on WHY it takes so long to create a game review.
12:58 - I laughed pretty hard there.
:P
Iron golems are healed by fire.
How did you get the sound to work like that-- In some portions of the video i noticed that its crunchy as opposed to the obnoxious "eeagh" kill sound... and I would like to be rid of it.
You probably have a different version. This is the original version that came on floppy diskettes. I think there was a newer "compilation" type of the Goldbox games where the audio was changed. The other possibility is for you to change the sound type. I think Soundblaster causes the annoying voice kill sounds, so you may be able to change that in the setup EXE.
@@dfortaeGameReviews Yeah, I got mine from the collection on GOG. I suspected the soundblaster settings had something to do with it but I was unsure. Thanks though!
0.11 game name please?
Propehecy: The Fall of Trinadon. I reviewed it on my channel.
I'm also doing a "Let's Play" on Prophecy for my $5+ Patreon subscribers at the moment.
thanks
all your reviews seem to be quite negative, i was interested in buying the original boxed copies, as i did like Pool of Radiance played the gog version, but now i dont know what one to buy - and pool of radiance itself is a quite pricey
All the reviews from the time seemed to disagree, but I actually really enjoyed Secret of the Silver Blades. A fairly straight-forward adventure, hacking your way down, then up, through levels of a variety of monsters. Also, you get to kit up with +5 gear. No overland map though, if you like those.
00:03 game name please