Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Butter]

Which is the best according to codex consensus? I can't see the poll results without voting myself, and I haven't played enough of these games to in good faith cast any vote. What are the top three?

Most would say Pool of Radiance is best (or at the very least it's in the top 3). It has an impressive bestiary, ambitious world, varied quests, and an interesting slow burn story. I think Curse of the Azure Bonds is better for its improved UI, expanded classes, better encounter design, and higher level spells, but it's also a more on-rails experience. As the series progresses the entries are less and less memorable, but Champions of Krynn is a highlight for its unique Dragonlance mechanics (Kender race, Knight class that has to tithe, etc).

 

[Arrowgrab]

I'm currently composing a long write-up for Countdown to Doomsday. There's nothing that accurate out there -- the documentation and clue book both have a significant number of errors and omissions, Gold Box Companion doesn't handle it or Matrix Cubed gracefully for many reasons, the new guide on GameFAQs that appeared ~2 months ago does not have up-to-date information, and the Genesis version is too different to be compatible.

I for one will certainly want to read it. Here's something you might want to investigate, seemingly a bug I've run into on a playthrough of Matrix Cubed a while ago.

Early on on Venus, you can get a whole bunch of Venusian Polearms as loot from a fight. Sometime later I noticed that if I gave one to the first PC on my roster (the one at the top in the list on the right), equip it, save the game, then reload the game, the polearm seems to get downgraded to a Martian Polearm.

 

[Harlin]

Early on on Venus, you can get a whole bunch of Venusian Polearms as loot from a fight. Sometime later I noticed that if I gave one to the first PC on my roster (the one at the top in the list on the right), equip it, save the game, then reload the game, the polearm seems to get downgraded to a Martian Polearm.

That's an odd bug. Martian Polearms don't normally appear anywhere in either game, I think. You can get plain, Venusian, or Mercurian, but not Martian. It'd be trivial to put one in, it just doesn't exist anywhere I can think of.

Unlike just about every other game, the Gold Box games allow what an item actually is and what it is called to be completely different. It's possible for the developers to either screw that up, or for bad code to write arbitrary data anywhere.

The former happens in Pool of Radiance, with the Shaman's drop of "Bracers AC 2" (actually Bracers AC 4). (Nope, nothing stopping you from adding a Ring of Fire Resistance that claims to be a Glaive-Guisarme +4.) A quick check of Matrix Cubed (which has only one version to my knowledge) shows that isn't happening; Venusian Polearms have the correct coding. (They're dropped by Lowlander Warriors.)

For the latter, It's very unlikely you got a Martian Polearm that both says it's one and acts like one; one can happen fairly easily, but both is much less likely.

 

[octavius]

Hmm...for some reason when playing PoR 1.3 with GBC (with a Paladin in the part) the hirelings start off under player control. I don't know if it's due to 1.3, GBC or the Paladin, though. But if I accidentally hit Quick, I can't get them under control again (unless I use the GBC editor to temporarily make them PCs instead).

Incidentally the Quick Combat AI is bizarre. It insists on re-equipping the characters with their weakest weapons, and if a character has less than 15 Dex it equips a missile weapon. It's truly retarded. The only thing it does right is to not charge into melee with pure mages.

Just fought the three waves of kobolds [no, spell checker, not cuckolds] and their friends, so I've gone past peak difficulty now. I'm always nervous about the second kobold fight, since I remember that the game would often crash when the Wild Boars rise up again after "killing" them. But it went without a hitch this time.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Hmm...for some reason when playing PoR 1.3 with GBC (with a Paladin in the part) the hirelings start off under player control. I don't know if it's due to 1.3, GBC or the Paladin, though. But if I accidentally hit Quick, I can't get them under control again (unless I use the GBC editor to temporarily make them PCs instead).

The paladin. Isn't that a Knight of Solamnia feature from the Krynn trilogy?

 

[octavius]

I don't know. And even if it is, it doesn't explain why I can't regain control of hirelings.
Come to think of it, even with a Paladin in the party I could never control companions in Curse, so maybe the Paladin is a red herring.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Could be a bug or something, I was just thinking maybe the Paladin implementation in PoR picked up a knight feature since it doesn't actually exist in PoR. Just spitballing though.

 

[RPK]

I thought I read somewhere that paladins have a chance to command NPCs based on their charisma and it's rolled before each fight. Not sure which games (if I'm even remembering correctly) have this functionality.

 

[Ladonna]

I thought I read somewhere that paladins have a chance to command NPCs based on their charisma and it's rolled before each fight. Not sure which games (if I'm even remembering correctly) have this functionality.

FRUA had it as a possible thing that could be implemented. I don't recall it happening in other games, apart from Knights in the Krynn series, but I haven't replayed the higher level games for a while now.

 

[Cael]

I thought I read somewhere that paladins have a chance to command NPCs based on their charisma and it's rolled before each fight. Not sure which games (if I'm even remembering correctly) have this functionality.

Paladins and Knights both have that ability and it is based on level and Cha. Paladins have a much higher chance because of their inherent 17 minimum Cha.

 

[octavius]

Completed Pool of Radiance again. 4th time? According to LaunchBox I used 36 hours.
Using the auto-map of the GBC spoiled it somewhat, but also sped up the process.

Saved the Graveyard to last, so when returning to Phlan the Clerk was gone and I didn't get any rewards. I guess you are meant to do all the other commissions before facing Big T.

Stajenow Castle was much more of a chore than I remember, with alarms going off all the time alerting endless numbers of patrols. I guess it can all be avoided if you refrain from attacking the Priests of Bane insisting on offering you a blessing, though.

Another great thing about eXoDos is that it makes the transfer of characters to Curse of the Azure Bonds much easier. The Ranger and Paladin didn't have their special abilities, though, so I had to use the editor to add them. But I noticed that a newly created Paladin would only have a regular Protection from Evil effect, and not the one with a 10' radius, so I added the improved version instead. All these years I've been playing under the assumption that it was a good idea to really around the Paladin, but if the GBC is correct, it was all a waste of effort.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

How did you add these? I’m glad transfer is easy as I haven’t looked up the GOG transfer. Failing any of that I guess GBC could just re-edit characters each module? Isn’t Monk also an option through GBC? I think I barely tinkered with GBC resetting SET encounters I cleared for fun.

Yeah, do Graveyard before you kill the big T.

 

[octavius]

Tried to watch this video about Pool of Radiance.

But after the intro, the very first thing they start talking about is grinding, of all things. I don't understand this mindset...why is grinding even a subject in a CRPG? I understand JRPGs are built around the concept, and the only RPG I had to grind (Wizardry Chronicle) was one of the two or three JRPGs I've played and completed.
This annoyed me so much that I couldn't bother watching the rest of the video.

 

[newtmonkey]

octavius
It's because people don't understand how to play RPGs. The story games they're used to playing have infected their minds, so that they think the purpose is just to coast through never in any danger, and if they encounter something that requires anything more complex than "keep attacking and heal" they automatically assume they "need" to grind levels to get through it.

I've played through dozens of RPGs including a ton of JRPGs, and the only ones that required grinding were Dragon Warrior (NES), Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PCE), and Dragon Warrior II (NES). Even then, the grinding was minimal, just a bit in the middle (DW), beginning (DS:TLoH), and end (DWII). Other than that, I didn't have to grind for a single EXP point or gold piece, even in alleged super grindfests like Mother (FC) and Phantasy Star II (MD).

I've been reading through a lot of US video game mags from the mid 80s to early 90s, and this is where this attitude comes from. Every single review or "strategy" article of an RPG tells you that you "need" to grind and that you should never use consumables because you might need them later.

 

[The Jester]

What's the best way to play Pool of Radiance?

 

[ProphetSword]

What's the best way to play Pool of Radiance?

Completely blind, ignoring any and all advice you will find on this forum or anywhere else. Roll up characters you like, explore the city, save often.

This is how we all experienced it back when it was new.

You do not need specific builds, perfect party configuration or any kind of special help to beat the game. An understanding of AD&D helps, but isn't required, as all information can be found in the books that come with the game.

 

[octavius]

Not all the information can be found in the manuals. Missing is the fact that if you want to transfer your party to later games, demi-humans are almost useless. I use a Dwarf or Half-Elf as a Fighter/Thief, but that's all.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Blind is good. I don’t recall if later I took my party that completed the game, started a new game with them and just stealthed to big T and finished him. Does that prevent the rest of the quests? I want to say yes.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

But after the intro, the very first thing they start talking about is grinding, of all things. I don't understand this mindset...why is grinding even a subject in a CRPG?

Especially bizarre to recommend grinding in a game with tight level limits, which the player can easily reach even while leaving a substantial portion of the content untouched.

 

[Modron]

I've never gone straight to Black Root and killed all the Void creatures at Liam's Workshop to windup in the low 40s in Arcanum, no sir.

 

[Cael]

What's the best way to play Pool of Radiance?

Completely blind, ignoring any and all advice you will find on this forum or anywhere else. Roll up characters you like, explore the city, save often.

This is how we all experienced it back when it was new.

You do not need specific builds, perfect party configuration or any kind of special help to beat the game. An understanding of AD&D helps, but isn't required, as all information can be found in the books that come with the game.

No, it isn't.

Elves get to cast mage spells in armour. Dwarves get to use battleaxes as one-handed weapons.

Those are just two things that I can think of off the top of my head that was in no GB manual.

 

[octavius]

No, it isn't.

Elves get to cast mage spells in armour.

And so can dual class Ranger/Mages, but not dual class Fighter/Mages.

Dwarves get to use battleaxes as one-handed weapons.

Really? Then I learnt something new today.

 

[janior]

shit

 

[Cael]

No, it isn't.

Elves get to cast mage spells in armour.

And so can dual class Ranger/Mages, but not dual class Fighter/Mages.

I believe the Ranger/Mage thing is in the manual somewhere. It was explicitly mentioned as the exception to the rule as Paladin/Mages also can't cast in armour.

The dwarves thing is something I only found out when observing the dwarf companions in DKK and DQK who come with a battleaxe and a shield equipped.

 

[The Limper]

But battle axes are weak compared to long swords, which can be used with shields. Not much of an exception except for as a Dwarf Aesthetic. Why do people always feel sorry for the Stunties anyway? Dirty, grumpy little bastards the lot of ‘em. I say, when one steps on them by accident, eff em! Grow taller ya little bastard!