crpgaddict
When the Gold Box engine was created for
Pool of Radiance in 1988, it was perhaps the best RPG engine that could exist at the time, in particular for the specific adaptation of
Dungeons & Dragons rules. Its primary rival in my mind is
Ultima V, which is better for world-exploration and NPC interaction, but nothing through 1990 exceeds the Gold Box for combat. Little in the 26 years
since has exceeded the Gold Box for combat, and I honestly wouldn't mind if the greatest hits of 2000s and 2010s regaled us with their graphics and sound during the exploration phase but tripped over to the familiar oblique angle and customizable icons of
Pool of Radiance for the combat engine.
I've said several times--and I probably sound like an old man--that my primary problem with modern games is that I don't understand what's happening half the time in combat. My wife was just recently joking that my final words will probably be, "What?! Why did I just die?!" because she hears me shout it so often from both my couch and the my office chair
. I never shout that in a Gold Box game. The system so perfectly incorporates physical attacks, ranged attacks, spellcasting, item use, and skill use in a top-down, carefully-controlled environment that not only do I know why I died, I can usually see it coming and identify what steps I could have taken to prevent it.
More than any other RPG engine of the era, and more than only a few since, the Gold Box encourages complex tactics and strategy in combat. You rarely just reload, try again, and hope for better dice this time. Instead, you learn about your foes' strengths and weaknesses and respond accordingly. It's like chess in an RPG.
