My Pool of Radiance Quest Comes To An Unexpected End
I was just starting to really get into it. I was originally worried about how much grinding would be needed - I mean, the D&D ruleset doesn't exactly let you level up quickly. My mage with 3hp was always a sitting duck as well. However, I made it in and out of several treks through the slums, and even completed a fetch quest for a wizard named Ohlo.
I levelled up my fighters and clerics (I had 2 of each in my party), and only needed a few XP more for my magic user. I decided that my Fighter/Thief was just a bad choice, because those dual class characters take so long to level up. It only took a few play sessions to get almost everyone to level two, and I only had to restart a few times. That's not bad. I also started getting some nice magic items - a Bracers of AC 6 and Ring of Protection +1 - perfect for the mag -and a few enchanted swords and bows. Good times. I like the fact that you don't really know what you have right away. It adds some mystery and suspense.
I also like how the map view doesn't really show you everything. I stumbled on that wizard by chance, and had to find my own way to the rope guild based on his instructions (it's SE of here). Most modern games would put a waypoint marker on the map, or show the door to his room in a different color or something. The fact that you don't see details is kind of a plus in some ways because it makes you explore. You can't just look at a room and say "that floorboard is a slightly darker brown, of course there's something in there." In PoR you just have to walk around, search, and see what happens. In a way, the lack of detail makes for a more realistic game.
On the downside, the interface still seemed clunky after a couple weeks. You can't just cycle through your players when at a shop, to see what each one has, you have to back out, pick the new guy, then go back into his "view" screen. And of course, it hits the disk every time it has to load a player picture. If they had an option to not see the pictures by default, it wouldn't be nearly as bad.
Another frustrating aspect is that if you're in a hopeless encounter (like a half-dead party getting attacked by 20 orcs), there's no option to quit. You either have to reboot (ugh) or bide your time while all 20 orcs attack your party, and hopefully kill them quick so you can reload.
On that topic, I do like how you can save anywhere you can camp. It's a long enough process that you don't just save every few steps, taking the consequence out of exploration (like trying to bash down the door I should have left alone), but it's convenient enough that I don't have to sit there and tool around trying to find a save point. I'm busy, I don't have tons of time for gaming, so when I'm done I need to be able to save, quit and stop playing.
Anyways, I trekked back into the slums, killed a few more kobolds (including one big party that was a great strategic battle) and got enough XP for Wyzria to hit level 2. I sold a bunch of stuff, levelled her up, got my new spell, and started walking back to the slums to explore deeper.
*beep*
Guru Meditation Error.
Huh? Crap, game crashed. Well, it wasn't that long since I saved - I think I did it right before I levelled up my mage. So I power cycle the Amiga.
*unexpected disk error 103 - unable to load program*
Huh? Let me try again.
*unexpected disk error 103 - unable to load program*
Well, apparently my disk is fubar'd. I can no longer boot the game at all. The internets say error 103 is "out of memory" but I'm not sure how that could be booting from the PoR disc. Something got really screwed up. I don't think the boot disc was in the drive at the time, so I'm pretty confused... I may keep poking around with things - if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. But for now, my adventure has come to an end. Too bad, since the game was just getting good.
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