Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Cael]

There's nothing connecting Kitiara to the blue dragons in the game, though. She doesn't complain about how her dragons couldn't grab the stone or anything like that. She just

Spoiler

shows up and tries to kill Soth

.

I get Dragonlance fans would have thought blue dragons=Kitiara, but it didn't seem obvious to me at the time--there are tens of Blue Dragons swooping down on you by the Dragon Pit, are they all working for Kitiara? If they were, wouldn't they get out of your way so you can dispose of Soth?

Looking too hard for plot holes in these games is always a little silly (if the Dreadlord had hundreds of 14th level fighters and mages at his disposal, why hadn't he conquered the whole Realms by now? why are we still unable to visit Waterdeep at the end of Treasures after our names have been cleared?), but that one threw me for a loop.

Because there isn't? Dragon Pit is full of Undead Dragons, Skeletal Knights, other undead, Nightmares and one captive Red Dragon. No Blue Dragon.

 

[DavidBVal]

Disintegrate? Theoretically they should have to fail a magic resistance check and a saving throw to be affected by that, so I think you have found a bug. But a useful one.

I may have been unbelievably lucky, but I've used it around 6-7 times and it was resisted only once.

 

[Cael]

Disintegrate? Theoretically they should have to fail a magic resistance check and a saving throw to be affected by that, so I think you have found a bug. But a useful one.

I may have been unbelievably lucky, but I've used it around 6-7 times and it was resisted only once.

Did you know the Mace of Disruption do double damage to skeletal warriors? And there are about 4 Mace +4 and a Mace of Disruption in DKK and an early Flail +4 in DQK (and another Mace of Disruption later)?

A Kender Cle/Thi is a trap.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

 

[DavidBVal]

Disintegrate? Theoretically they should have to fail a magic resistance check and a saving throw to be affected by that, so I think you have found a bug. But a useful one.

I may have been unbelievably lucky, but I've used it around 6-7 times and it was resisted only once.

Did you know the Mace of Disruption do double damage to skeletal warriors? And there are about 4 Mace +4 and a Mace of Disruption in DKK and an early Flail +4 in DQK (and another Mace of Disruption later)?

A Kender Cle/Thi is a trap.

Yeah, she's been reliable and strong during CoK and part of DKK but I may drop her in favor of a F/C/M for DQK

And indeed I got those weapons now, I'm already near the end of the game. It's been rather fun, with the overland map exploration. I wish Gold Box Companion didn't show labels for all the map locations though, kind of a spoiler; made me turn the map off for most of my playthrough.

 

[octavius]

Disintegrate? Theoretically they should have to fail a magic resistance check and a saving throw to be affected by that, so I think you have found a bug. But a useful one.

I may have been unbelievably lucky, but I've used it around 6-7 times and it was resisted only once.

Did you know the Mace of Disruption do double damage to skeletal warriors? And there are about 4 Mace +4 and a Mace of Disruption in DKK and an early Flail +4 in DQK (and another Mace of Disruption later)?

A Kender Cle/Thi is a trap.

Unless you meta game or intentionally delay the main quest, you are not likely to have those weapons when traveling through the catacombs of the High Clerist Power.
A Kender Cle/Thi is rather useless in DQK, but is useful in DKK.

 

[Cael]

Disintegrate? Theoretically they should have to fail a magic resistance check and a saving throw to be affected by that, so I think you have found a bug. But a useful one.

I may have been unbelievably lucky, but I've used it around 6-7 times and it was resisted only once.

Did you know the Mace of Disruption do double damage to skeletal warriors? And there are about 4 Mace +4 and a Mace of Disruption in DKK and an early Flail +4 in DQK (and another Mace of Disruption later)?

A Kender Cle/Thi is a trap.

Unless you meta game or intentionally delay the main quest, you are not likely to have those weapons when traveling through the catacombs of the High Clerist Power.
A Kender Cle/Thi is rather useless in DQK, but is useful in DKK.

One of them is on the pirate ship, I believe. And another is on the kuo-tao ship, which you can run into when crossing any river, IIRC.

To be honest, I can't remember where everything was. I did remember going, "Another Mace +4???"

I also recall I killed quite a few skeletal knights (including the very first fight at the outpost) using the plain old Mace +1/+2 I got in Champions.

 

[Joonas]

I wish Gold Box Companion didn't show labels for all the map locations though, kind of a spoiler; made me turn the map off for most of my playthrough.

Press "T" on the map window to toggle world map titles.

 

[Null Null]

FWIW I did delay the main game in DKK for exactly that reason when playing with my K,C/T,R/C,R/C,WM,RM party--wanted to build up some levels so I could turn away all the wights. I actually played the game straight through the first time and had a really hard time in the Clerist's Tower.

Go ahead and toss your Cleric/Thief, but I'm not sure a C/F/M is your best choice--they'll really start falling behind in levels in DQK.

By prior posts, your party stands at:
1x Human Knight
1x Qualinesti? Fighter/Red Mage/Thief
1x Human Red Mage
1x Kender Cleric(Kiri-Jolith)/Thief
1x Qualinesti Fighter/White Mage
1x Qualinesti Fighter/Cleric (Majere)

Giving the kender the boot, you have four characters who can fight, three mages (though Jack of All Trades is going to start falling behind in Dark Queen), a thief, and one lousy cleric. My first thought is Qualinesti Ranger/Cleric--probably Mishakal for the healing bonus, cause a ranger will be handy against the fire giants in the tower. If you're fireball-happy you can go with a Qualinesti Cleric/Mage instead.

 

[DavidBVal]

Amazing game! Very fun exploration. It has its weaker points when comparing it to PoR, but thanks to the open map and the variety of locations I certainly enjoyed it more than CotAB. Encounters were still a bit repetitive, but improved from CoK. At this point I'd place it as my #2 favorite Gold Box game, although I'd need to replay PoD to assess which is better.

BTW, there's a bug that allows you to get as many gauntlets of ogre power as you want, as well as infinite experience, when defending Cerberus. The kind of thing I'd have loved to find when I was a kid! Once you get the reward in the Armory, instead of getting out just walk inside. Every time you return to the tile where the reward is gained, you get it again. I stopped at two, heh.

Go ahead and toss your Cleric/Thief, but I'm not sure a C/F/M is your best choice--they'll really start falling behind in levels in DQK.

By prior post, your party stands at:
2x Human Knight
1x Human Red Mage
1x Kender Cleric(Kiri-Jolith)/Thief
1x Qualinesti Fighter/White Mage
1x Qualinesti Fighter/Cleric (Majere)

My first thought is that two knights should be taking care of your combat needs easily, and you're pretty well-maged as well. I'd go with Qualinesti Cleric/White Mage, perhaps Mishakal for the healing bonus.

I already replaced one of the Knights at the end of CoK with a F/M/T; I wanted to backstab to make combats feel a bit more varied and tactical.

I'm going to replace the Kender, but with what? Definitely a Cleric+something, maybe the C/M is a good option to level up quickly and maybe I could just pass on the Fighter then. Or a F/C/T for more arrows and backstabbing. Or I could go back to a Knight... I'll think about it while I take a break (and this time I mean it, heh).

 

[octavius]

Ranger/Cleric is a very solid option.

 

[Null Null]

So I found the original post where he had two knights, wrote out a response to that, scrolled through and noticed the post where he had swapped out the knights, revised my response...and in the interval he had responded to my original post! OOPS!

I stand with octavius here; R/C is pretty good given the revised party.

C/F/T and C/M/T don't exist in these games; you're a F/M/something, whether that's F/M/T or C/F/M.

 

[DavidBVal]

Ranger/Cleric is a very solid option.

I stand with octavius here; R/C is pretty good given the revised party.

Oh, I always wondered about rangers. but never tried them. Besides what I see on the XP tables (weak spellcasting, similar thac0 and 3 of attacks, etc) is there any other advantage rangers get? I really would like to have some variety instead of another MC fighter so I might just pick a R/C

 

[Dorateen]

is there any other advantage rangers get?

Rangers get a bonus against giant classes of monsters.

 

[Null Null]

Rangers get bonuses against giants (who have a lot of HP) and other humanoids of 1 point of damage per ranger level...for high-level games this can turn out to be quite a bit. When they get high-level enough the third level druid spell, Protection from Fire, completely absorbs some fire damage if cast on self and turns out to be the one druid spell that's actually useful that they bothered to code in here. Mirror Image can be handy as a front-line fighter too.

Advancement's a little slower and you don't get a full 2 attacks until level 15 rather than 13, but I never noticed really.

 

[Cael]

FWIW I did delay the main game in DKK for exactly that reason when playing with my K,C/T,R/C,R/C,WM,RM party--wanted to build up some levels so I could turn away all the wights. I actually played the game straight through the first time and had a really hard time in the Clerist's Tower.

Go ahead and toss your Cleric/Thief, but I'm not sure a C/F/M is your best choice--they'll really start falling behind in levels in DQK.

By prior posts, your party stands at:
1x Human Knight
1x Qualinesti? Fighter/Red Mage/Thief
1x Human Red Mage
1x Kender Cleric(Kiri-Jolith)/Thief
1x Qualinesti Fighter/White Mage
1x Qualinesti Fighter/Cleric (Majere)

Giving the kender the boot, you have four characters who can fight, three mages (though Jack of All Trades is going to start falling behind in Dark Queen), a thief, and one lousy cleric. My first thought is Qualinesti Ranger/Cleric--probably Mishakal for the healing bonus, cause a ranger will be handy against the fire giants in the tower. If you're fireball-happy you can go with a Qualinesti Cleric/Mage instead.

One cleric is all you need with the Knight as backup. Throw in another mage, and you will waltz through most encounters.

 

[Cael]

Rangers get bonuses against giants (who have a lot of HP) and other humanoids of 1 point of damage per ranger level...for high-level games this can turn out to be quite a bit. When they get high-level enough the third level druid spell, Protection from Fire, completely absorbs some fire damage if cast on self and turns out to be the one druid spell that's actually useful that they bothered to code in here. Mirror Image can be handy as a front-line fighter too.

Advancement's a little slower and you don't get a full 2 attacks until level 15 rather than 13, but I never noticed really.

The problem with a R/C is the XP requirements, which is far more onerous than even a Knight of the Rose.

 

[Jason Liang]

Very nice!

 

[Ladonna]

Very nice!

Well, he killed big T, but there is still plenty of the game left to do, and the original quest was "freeing Phlan from the evil infestation". After you kill T, any quests that you haven't completed are still up for grabs at the Council office. The first time I finished PoR, I never did clear the slums, and this quest was still available after I came back victorious from Vallejo Castle. Still a fun video to watch.

 

[The Avatar]

Why is using he NES version? It looks like using a gamepad would be a determent to speed running.

 

[Jason Liang]

Why is using he NES version? It looks like using a gamepad would be a determent to speed running.

He doesn't abuse it too much but the NES version can be RNG manipulated easily. Obviously a NES speedrun and a PC speedrun can't be directly compared.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Currently playing Pool of Radiance and I am surprised by how approachable the game is despite its age, with that said I miss the 2E ruleset that I am use to. I made a four member part with Fighter, Cleric, Fighter/Thief, and Magic user but I might restart and replace the fighter with Paladin if I can figure out how to do that with Goldbox Companion.

 

[newtmonkey]

Denim Destroyer
I played through PoR just last year and had a blast. I was also surprised by how approachable it is. I hope you'll stick with it, it only gets better and better right til the end.

 

[Mustawd]

Currently playing Pool of Radiance and I am surprised by how approachable the game is despite its age, with that said I miss the 2E ruleset that I am use to. I made a four member part with Fighter, Cleric, Fighter/Thief, and Magic user but I might restart and replace the fighter with Paladin if I can figure out how to do that with Goldbox Companion.

You’re not Barabus .

 

[ProphetSword]

Currently playing Pool of Radiance and I am surprised by how approachable the game is despite its age, with that said I miss the 2E ruleset that I am use to. I made a four member part with Fighter, Cleric, Fighter/Thief, and Magic user but I might restart and replace the fighter with Paladin if I can figure out how to do that with Goldbox Companion.

Any particular reason you went with a four person party instead of a six person party?