Pool of Radiance IBM PC MS-DOS 1988 Strategic Simulations

Pool of Radiance IBM PC MS-DOS 1988

Strategic Simulations Inc. released the Pool of Radiance cRPG for IBM PC MS-DOS 2.1 in June of 1988. Pool of Radiance was programmed by Keith Brors and Brad Myers.

Pool of Radiance was coded for i808x and i808286 CPUs clocked a 4.77-20 MHz. PoR does not detect the CPU speed, but there is an in-game option to tailor game-speed. Distributed on 2x 3.5" 720kB DD diskettes, PoR extracts and installs via PKUNPAK archive extraction utility v.3.61 by PKWARE Inc. PoR requires 570K free RAM (640K RAM) and 1.5 megs of HDD space.

Pool of Radiance is not only the first Gold Box game, it is the best Gold Box game. PoR employs flip-screen first-person exploration and turn-based tactical combat.

Set in TSR's Forgotten Realms campaign setting (FRCS), PoR is the first cRPG to faithfully replicate TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition ruleset of 1977-79. However, it does not employ all classes from AD&D.

SSI marketed PoR as having "strictly state-of-the-art graphics" for 1988, but as you can see from my infographic, that is quite a laughable claim. The "3D" perspective is garbage, the 2D battle-graphics were outdated three years before PoR came out, and the 2D images are comically crude even by 1988 standards.

• PoR lacks the icon-driven, mouse-controlled interface of Dungeon Master
• PoR's flip-screen drawspace is a pathetic 88x88px (DM's is 224x138px) [1]
• PoR did not evolve turn-based tactical combat systems; Rebelstar of 1984 is superior
• PoR only displays in 16-color EGA 320x200

On a tech-graphics and mechanics level, PoR could easily have been made three years earlier. As it pertains to game-mechanics, graphics and presentation, there was never anything advanced about the Gold Box engine, which is overrated by those who wear one-inch-thick poindexter nostalgia goggles.

That said, Pool of Radiance is a decent cRPG that crammed a lot of content into its diskettes. It is also a charming and classic cRPG. It is just a pity SSI decided to present PoR in a flip-screen / dimetric combo instead of isometric-only, which is King. In fact, it is a tragedy for the cRPG genre.

The poor design decisions that were made for Pool of Radiance would affect no fewer than 20 subsequent cRPGs that sold well (Gold Box and its derivatives), which resulted in cRPGs being the worst of classic genre until the advent of Fallout in 1997. And while I would not go as far as to say that that constitutes a decade down the drain, the SSI Gold Box cRPGs should have been a lot better than they were. That PoR remained the best Gold Box-era game even after seven years of spam-releases based on its engine -- that says it all.

In short, the Gold Box games should not have featured flip-screen exploration, they should not have employed dimetric perspective -- they should have been isometric cRPGs through and through.

Remember guys: isometric game-coding was mastered in 1984 by Ultimate Play the Game; its supremacy was obvious in 1984.

But since PoR faithfully replicates the AD&D 1st Edition ruleset and party-based adventuring, I give it 6½/10. And that means PoR is definitely worth playing in 2024.

• Pool of Radiance Manual aka Rule Book: 28 pages
• Pool of Radiance Clue Book: 63 pages
• Pool of Radiance Adventurer's Journal: 38 pages
• Pool of Radiance Code Wheel aka Translation Wheel

Pools of Darkness IBM PC 1991

Strategic Simulations released Pools of Darkness for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1991. PoD is the sequel to Pool of Radiance. Distributed on 3x 3.5" 720kB DD diskettes, PoD was programmed by Russ Brown, James Jennings and Kerry Bonin of SSI Special Projects Group.

Pools of Darkness requires 570K free RAM (640K RAM) and 3.5 megs of HDD space. PoD displays in 320x200 16-color EGA or 256-color VGA. However, some of its artwork does not exploit the VGA color palette.

• Pools of Darkness Manual aka Rule Book: 12 pages
• Pools of Darkness Clue Book: 73 pages
• Pools of Darkness Adventurer's Journal: 59 pages

[1]

Flip-screen cRPG active drawspace size comparison (in horizontal and vertical pixels):

• Dungeon Master Atari ST 1987: 16-color 224x136 drawspace
• Pool of Radiance IBM PC 1988: 16-color EGA 88x88 drawspace
• Bloodwych Amiga 1989: 16-color 2x 128x76 drawspaces
• Eye of the Beholder IBM PC 1991: 256-color VGA 176x120 drawspace
• Fate Gates of Dawn Amiga 1991: 32-color 176x107 drawspace
• Black Crypt Amiga 1992: 64-color 208x140 drawspace
• Dark Queen of Krynn IBM PC 1992: 256-color VGA 88x88 drawspace
• Lands of Lore IBM PC 1993: 256-color VGA 176x120 drawspace
• Hired Guns IBM PC 1993: 256-color VGA 4x 140x82 drawspaces
• Perihelion The Prophecy Amiga 1993: 32-color 176x120 drawspace

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