POOLS of RADIANCE 2 - The Ruins of Myth Drannor

              Review and hints by Brian Burke

POR2 is the long awaited, and unexpected sequel, to the old SSI
Gold Box game from the mid 90s. I, and many other readers of
SynTax I'm sure, cut my RPG teeth on the Gold Box series. We
didn't care too much about the graphics, absolutely unrecognisable
by today's standards, gameplay was everything, a fact that seems
to have been lost somewhat in the interim. It's not that you don't
get value for money with POR2, it's just that it's a mighty long
and often lonely slog through the repetitive dungeons that vary
not a jot from one level to the next. Catacombs are the same as
Dungeons are the same as Prisons are the same as..you get the
picture. 

This is in contrast to the very pleasant exterior where the 
landscapes are a positive pleasure after being below ground.
But below ground is where the action is and that's where 90% of
the game occurs.

I won't deal with a walkthrough here, there are excellent guides
and maps on the Internet and a SynTax reader is writing some notes
too.

There's a limited choice for your party, just the usual suspects.
I followed a hint and started with a Fighter, Cleric, Dwarf, Thief
and a Paladin. I can't say the latter was all that useful as you
pick up loads of healing salves and potions. Use the potions for
your character and the salves to cure another member of the party.
I picked up a Sorcerer on the first or second level.

You do need some beefy characters to finish the game, magic users
alone won't do it. You can't cast any spells when standing next to
an enemy, they just cut you up and there's your Cleric laid out on
the floor. Spell casting has to be done out of range of enemy
weapons. It is possible for a Cleric to move forward from an
out-of-range position to heal characters, but when casting
Resurrection be sure that the body is free from enemy presence.
As ever the Fireball (and similar) spell is a game winner, you can
place the centre of the spell in such a position as to avoid your
party receiving damage - characters and enemies turn red when
they're in range.

There is an enormous amount of treasure to be found. Obviously you
keep the various Cleric and Sorcerer wands, scrolls and potions
but frankly, apart from replacing your current weapons and armour
there is absolutely no point in keeping the rest. There's nothing
worth buying. You just simply end up with a load of money and
nothing to spend it on. Maybe the multi-player game is different
and you do need cash, but I doubt it.

Each of the lower levels has an access point back to the surface
to allow you to sell (i.e. get rid of) your treasure. The surface
trading point is by far the easiest place to find. There are a
couple of other places but they're in the Dungeons (a generic term
for the lower levels) and too difficult to find, although I
suppose you could mark the map if you feel inclined. There are
also teleportation points that are opened up reasonably early in
the game for ease of travel. Generally I preferred the doors to
the surface and the cave tunnel route back to the appropriate
level.

Each level is strewn with rocks, furniture and barrels which you
can destroy, the point being that if you smash everything then at
least you know which areas you've covered. I always left doors and
chests open too. Some doors and chests are trapped. Use your Thief
to search for traps and disable them for bags of experience. He
will be a level higher than your other characters pretty soon.
Your character will max out at Level 16. You just start a
different discipline then. I gained a further three or four levels
in my new trade before I finished the game.

Fighting is quite cool. I adjusted the timing to the maximum to
allow me to dither around selecting weapons (well swords and bows
actually) and to decide which spell to cast. Once you've had your
turn hit the Space Bar to go onto the next character. Bows become
quite useful for all characters able to use them later in the game
when the stats improve. There are places early in the game where
the baddies will be too powerful for your party, you can't just
clear out each level and move onto the next. In these instances
just move down a level or two (whilst gaining character
progression) and return later to polish off the enemy.

Overall the game is not quite the coaster that Computer Gaming
World said it was but you do need the patch. This was at Version
1.4 as I write. You'll need to download Version 1.1 to uninstall
the game otherwise I gather you may have problems with your
system.

If you're a die hard RPG fan - go for it. If not - play Morrowind.








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