Very interesting article... I admit to only playing Pool of Radiance briefly, but here's what I enjoyed about it:
1) The turn-based Battle System was very nice because you had to make tactical decisions of where to move your party members, instead of the usual "Fight/Fight/Magic/Item" formula of most fights. Pool of Radiance's fighting engine is a precursor to what we see in "Final Fantasy Tactics" and other similar "Tactics" games. A turn based RPG fight with movement of NPCs takes longer to finish, but are often more rewarding to the player. Of course, all turn-based RPGs' battle systems are based on one of the oldest games of all: Chess.
2) I really like your point about micromanagement. In the older CRPGs and VRPGs, the kinds of weapons you could buy were fairly limited, but it made it feel more special to get an upgrade. To go the Weapons Shop and upgrade from a Dagger to a Broad Sword, for instance, required a lot of work to gain enough gold to buy it. In the older games, you actually got a sense of accomplishment ("Yeah, I finally can afford the Platinum Armor") that you don't get in modern games with 230 different armor types.
3) Modern games are much easier than than older ones, true. Still, I appreciate not having to draw maps by hand anymore!
Thoughts on Pool of Radiance
Very interesting article... I admit to only playing Pool of Radiance briefly, but here's what I enjoyed about it:
1) The turn-based Battle System was very nice because you had to make tactical decisions of where to move your party members, instead of the usual "Fight/Fight/Magic/Item" formula of most fights. Pool of Radiance's fighting engine is a precursor to what we see in "Final Fantasy Tactics" and other similar "Tactics" games. A turn based RPG fight with movement of NPCs takes longer to finish, but are often more rewarding to the player. Of course, all turn-based RPGs' battle systems are based on one of the oldest games of all: Chess.
2) I really like your point about micromanagement. In the older CRPGs and VRPGs, the kinds of weapons you could buy were fairly limited, but it made it feel more special to get an upgrade. To go the Weapons Shop and upgrade from a Dagger to a Broad Sword, for instance, required a lot of work to gain enough gold to buy it. In the older games, you actually got a sense of accomplishment ("Yeah, I finally can afford the Platinum Armor") that you don't get in modern games with 230 different armor types.
3) Modern games are much easier than than older ones, true. Still, I appreciate not having to draw maps by hand anymore!
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=- Mat Tschirgi =- Armchair Arcade Editor
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