Gold Box Never played them seriously, so... what's the best Gold Box game?

[glass blackbird]

I know this is a dumb question but I've been really wondering about the Gold box stuff from way back when. These are way before my time but people always look back on them so fondly. Is there one that really stands out that's worth checking out? And is there some way that's the best system to play them on (DOS, etc)?

 

[Safav Hamon]

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, although it technically isn't Gold Box. Otherwise Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday.

 

[moleman]

I'd recommend starting with the first one (Pool of Radiance). You can then transfer your characters to Curse of the Azure Bonds and play through the series with the same party.
All Gold Box games run with Dosbox. Be sure to use Gold Box Companion.

 

[Gregz]

start with

Pool of Radiance

 

[octavius]

Best one is Dark Queen of Krynn.

Best series is the Krynn series.

Best game to start with is Pool of Radiance. It has a bit clunkier UI than the rest of the games, though, so it's a bit harder to get into, but OTOH it makes you appreciate the UI improvements in the other games even more.

Most newbie friendly is Gateway to the Savage Frontier.

 

[Strange Fellow]

My personal favourite is Pool of Radiance, and the consensus in the GB megathread suggests the same. I'd recommend you at least start with the first game in one of the series, which would be Pool of Radiance (for the Forgotten Realms series), Champions of Krynn (for the Krynn series), Gateway to the Savage Frontier (for the Savage Frontier series) and Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (for the Buck Rogers series). The only reason why you might not want to start with PoR is that it lacks some of the quality of life features of later games, such as automatic spell selection and a "rest until fully healed" command. If these things sound too valuable to live without, I'd go with Champions of Krynn, which is better than Gateway to the Savage frontier in my opinion (I haven't played the Buck Rogers games). Really, though, if I had to recommend one it'd be Pool of Radiance. I see the people who beat me to it have the same recommendation. Don't listen to Safav Hamon.

The DOS versions are a safe bet.
Edit: I suppose the Pool-to-Pools series and the SF series are both Forgotten Realms, but that's the way they're classified in my head.

 

[Sherry]

Hi!

gosh do you heard about Realms Beyond it will be in a gold box and you can get it shipped if you supported the kickstart it is based a lot on ultima series of games like u6 and u7 style where you can pick up items and move them and find hidden keys beneath flower pots or chest or bush for secret stash have you heard about it right? Super excited about it and Josh is going to write the Lich King and design a dungeon and encounter so you know it is going to be a tough encounter after all the experience they gathered from the icewind dale series and pillars 1 and 2 series so suggest you look into this one it is the next big release to follow and be part of okay? Okay!

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Serus]

glass blackbird

I'd recommend starting with the first one (Pool of Radiance). You can then transfer your characters to Curse of the Azure Bonds and play through the series with the same party.
All Gold Box games run with Dosbox. Be sure to use Gold Box Companion.

For Pool of Radiance an alternative to consider is using Amiga 500 emulation (a copy preinstalled on HD for best results). Choose it only if you care about the slightly superior visuals and significantly superior sound. The big advantage of PC version is the mentioned Companion, but that forces you to play in a window. Really depends of what you care more about, PC+companion is probably overall the superior choice for all the added utility of Companion but I feel obliged to mention the version that has superior presentation. Also IIRC Amiga version has mouse support which PC lacks but that's also not a big issue.

 

[Erebus]

If you're going to play only one, I would suggest Dark Sun : Shattered Lands. (Technically not part of the GB games, but close enough.)

 

[Safav Hamon]

Why the Buck Rogers hate?

 

[Strange Fellow]

Hate to break this to you, but I think it's actually Safav Hamon hate.

 

[Safav Hamon]

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

How could anyone group the Dark Sun games in with gold box stuff? DS:SL plays like a clunkier version of the infinity engine games. It created the RPG-adventure game hybrid that’s since become the standard for the genre.

It has very little in common with the Gold Box games (sure, it’s turn based with full party creation, but if that’s your rubric you might as well recommend Temple of Elemental Evil).

I have no gold box recommendations. I played PoR as a kid, but I think I’d have trouble getting back into it now. I booted up the first Buck Rogers game a couple of days ago and the modern world has clearly depleted my attention span because just the process of distributing loot to each character was enough to sap most of my patience.

Unless you already know you love old DOS games with first person dungeon crawl design and lots of menus, I recommend taking some ADD medication before you get started. Buck Rogers was a joy once I borrowed some Ritalin from a good friend. IIRC Pool of Radiance was better, but I played that on the NES like 25 years ago, so who knows?

 

[glass blackbird]

Thanks, I will check out Pool of Radiance for sure

 

[Safav Hamon]

How could anyone group the Dark Sun games in with gold box stuff?

Because it's a 2E turn-based RPG with full party creation made by SSI.

 

[Luzur]

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I know this is a dumb question but I've been really wondering about the Gold box stuff from way back when. These are way before my time but people always look back on them so fondly. Is there one that really stands out that's worth checking out? And is there some way that's the best system to play them on (DOS, etc)?

The Gold Box mechanics work better for lower-level play, so you might as well start with either Pool of Radiance (the first of a series of four games in the Forgotten Realms setting) or Champions of Krynn (the first of a series of three games in the Dragonlance setting). For each series, you can import your characters into each successive game. The Forgotten Realms series has some poor design decisions in later games (Curse of the Azure Bonds drops overland exploration and reduces towns to menus; Secret of the Silver Blades is dominated by lengthy, tedious dungeons), while the Dragonlance series is relatively strong. Personally, I'd recommend starting with Pool of Radiance (the single best Gold Box game), then switching over to Champions of Krynn and continuing through Death Knights of Krynn and Dark Queen of Krynn.

 

[Black Angel]

I'd recommend starting with the first one (Pool of Radiance). You can then transfer your characters to Curse of the Azure Bonds and play through the series with the same party.
All Gold Box games run with Dosbox. Be sure to use Gold Box Companion.

I'm vaguely remembering hearing that GOG version of the Gold Box games work straight out of the box, or something. If I install those, should I use Gold Box Companion anyway?

 

[Fowyr]

One of the best Goldboxes was PoR. Champions of Krynn is also good for starting series, GttSF had a lot of eye candy and very short game.

DS:SL plays like a clunkier version of the infinity engine games. It created the RPG-adventure game hybrid that’s since become the standard for the genre.

Created my ass. It was already present for years, take for example Ultima 7, Ultima Underworld or The Summoning.

 

[moleman]

I'm vaguely remembering hearing that GOG version of the Gold Box games work straight out of the box, or something. If I install those, should I use Gold Box Companion anyway?

In GOG version dosbox is already configured to run them out of the box.
Yes, you should use Gold Box Companion anyway. It is a third-party application, that is not included in the GOG version.

 

[Fowyr]

I'm vaguely remembering hearing that GOG version of the Gold Box games work straight out of the box, or something.

...as regular cracked version from any abandonware site. Just write path to the game in the its config file.

 

[moleman]

 

[Black Angel]

In GOG version dosbox is already configured to run them out of the box.
Yes, you should use Gold Box Companion anyway. It is a third-party application, that is not included in the GOG version.

...as regular cracked version from any abandonware site. Just write path to the game in the its config file.

Noted. Will do when I get around to play the games.

Other than that, what's the best order to play them? I know now I'm to start with Pool of Radiance from Forgotten Archives 2, and I also planned to buy Forgotten Archives 1 and the Dark Sun Series (thinking about ditching Forgotten Archives 3 since the games I'm going to get from it seemed rather underwhelming, unless I'm convinced I have to get them anyway). Any other that I need to pay attention to, like maybe Ravenloft and Krynn?

 

[Fowyr]

Noted. Will do when I get around to play the games.

Other than, what's the best order to play them? I know now I'm to start with Pool of Radiance from Forgotten Archives 2, and I also planned to buy Forgotten Archives 1 and the Dark Sun Series (thinking about ditching Forgotten Archives 3 since the games I'm going to get from it seemed rather underwhelming, unless I'm convinced I have to get them anyway). Any other that I need to pay attention to, like maybe Ravenloft and Krynn?

Dungeon Hack was pretty great, finished it probably twice or thrice back in the day.
Krynn series was good.
Ravenloft is buggy, but still fine series.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Any other that I need to pay attention to, like maybe Ravenloft and Krynn?

Krynn - yes, absolutely. As for the order, Zed Duke of Banville's advice to start with PoR and then switch to the Krynn games is solid, but IMO you should just keep going into the sequel. Curse of the Azure Bonds is also a strong entry, and that way you'll get to keep developing your characters from PoR, rather than start over from level 1.