Pool Of Radiance for Commodore 64

[drawswithcrayon]

I thought it was much earlier than 1988.

[mrsparkle001]

@drawswithcrayon Before 1988 there was SSI' Wizard's Crown and The Eternal Dagger, the forerunners of the gold box series. Both of those games are great in their own way, and their turn based combat is vastly superior to the gold box series. They simplified combat with the gold box series (oversimplified in my opinion; if you know those two games you know what I mean).

Not many are familiar with those two games though.

[drawswithcrayon]

@mrsparkle001 nope. i just remember buying pool of radiance for $50. i was already starting high school at that point, but $50 still seemed like a massive amount of money.

[mrsparkle001]

@drawswithcrayon I got mine as a christmas gift, that and The Bard's Tale which I also love.

I started high school in 89.

Try to find the c64 version of Wizard's Crown, for an emulator. It's out there, I have it. You need to see just how dumbed down the gold box combat was.

[ImoenOfTelengard]

Baldur's Gate II is probably the ONLY modern AD&D game which can top old-school games like this.

[sonedts]

@ImoenOfTelengard As far as combat goes, it doesn't. The Gold Box turn based combat was was superior to the RtwP mess of a combat system that the IE games had. Shame really, those would of been great if they had turn based combat like in Gold Box games and Temple of Elemental Evil.

[ImoenOfTelengard]

I miss the negative armor class.

[AAVista]

I have played countless games on the Commodore 64 but this badass RPG game totally rocks!  It sports among the greatest graphics the Commodore 64 cam pump out from its 6502 CPU and its VIC-II chip! The music, sound effects, game play - and especially the graphics - are down-to-earth cutting edge! An epic game that will keep you coming back for more! Insanely addictive!

[EstigiaSDTK]

Excellent RPG! This game, Curse of the Azure Bonds and Ultima V are the RPG that I remember more than C64.

[TheZenek9]

0:00-1:50 EPIC!!!!!!!!!

[TheRadical42]

Kewl Beans! They don't make 'em like this no more!

[truesivad]

I didn't even know they made this for the commodore 64.....classic

[TheTuita]

I still have the PC version of this game! I bought it in the AD&D Gold Pack thingy after nostalgic memories of playing it on C64 as a kid. I even remember Ohlo was the name of the guy in the old rope guild in the slums XD

Hehehe, I think I've played through it like 10 times (between C64, Amiga and PC versions)... and then transferred the characters to Hillsfar (one by one), then to Curse of Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades and Pools Of Darkness :P)

[LomLom1975]

It was such a great game...you can't compare it with today's "role-playing-games"...it was much much better...really difficult ...like a chess game!

[MikeBra99]

Hmmm, I wish the DOS version had the music and sfx, but I kind of prefer the DOS graphics. These don't really gel as well for me. A little too blocky. I guess it works out, since the in the youtube playthrough I'm doing of the DOS version I'm just playing some music in the background to make up for the deficiency.

[ncry]

OMG this was the first RPG i played, i LOVED it !!

[HardWarUK]

25 years actually.....!!! Gulp!

[ErizotDread]

this is probably my 2nd favorite video game music theme of all time, behind beyond shadowfire...I love this one!

[HardWarUK]

Beyond's Shadowfire is my favourite too!!!!

[tarkka2006]

i was too dumb to get far in this game, but the opening music always killed me.

[Doommaster1994]

David Warhol did the music for this game. I talked to him via e-mail and he said he composed the music by entering in the notes in a sheet of paper to feed to the Commodore 64. If anyone wants his e-mail just PM me.

[JoshLucas5]

These games are nothing compared to Baldur's Gate.

[400SA]

I still have this one for my C64 and C128 in the closet. I remember my dad paying over $200 for the C64 in 1983!! Quite a bit at the time and an Atari 2600 was $100. My did picked up the 128 at garage sale about 10 years ago for like $10 LOL. I think this is the best C64 game of all time, the later series were very good, but this one was simply legendary, great story line.

Why won't someone make a major movie of THIS story? It would be huge if done well!!

[SD78]

@400SA

In New Zealand, a new C64 cost well over a grand and a half in 1988.

Then the Amiga cost close to two grand in 1990.

I bought a new PC with 6gigs a year ago for less o.O

[Rayvyn007]

I never played this game, now I guess I will one day. There are so many old games for the C-64 and Amiga and other old computers out there, I'll never run out of RPGs. Most of the RPGs these days are FPS games with RPG elements. This game series was one of the best but I got a job and never had time to play it. I will also go back and play the Wizardry Series and The Might and Magic Series all from the first one.

[HardWarUK]

And as I am already doing what you are going to do, I can tell you are are going to have a whale of a time!!!! :) I now say seriously, 'who needs modern PC gaming', when I used to jokingly say that! Between the C64, Amiga and DOS games you can play in emulation you have a wealth of great gaming - from Telenguard and Bards Tale to Gabriel Knight and Age of Empires!!!!

[Doommaster1994]

If you're going to play this game, play the NES Verison. Its the best verison (IMHO.)

[kaladost]

"see every city, castle, camp, and dungeon in BEAUTIFUL 3d point of view"

Nice vid :)

[Ronin0975]

This brings back many memories. And I would also have to say that this game may have contributed to my less than stellar performance at school. So worth it though.

[jmth1974]

lol! So happy I found this vid. To this day, in games shops I look for rpg games with Forgotten Realms trademark. This game caused so many bad grades in school back in the day :P

[Ardenwolfe]

Wow ... this takes me back. :)

Wolfe

[FreewareReviewer]

If it was not for games like this, the original Bard's Tale Series (not the crappy remake, that bared no reseblance to the original), and Wasteland, we would not have games like the Final Fantasy games, like Fallout 2, Kingdom Hearts, etc, etc, etc.

[Ghostwolf2244]

If thats not the definition of "Classic", I don't know what is!

Wish I had a Commodore 64 lol

[marceloyanez111]

have you checked goodwill?

[HardWarUK]

I still have my 64 and this game (along with many others!) and still play it! They are easily as looking looking and playable as any EGA PC game! Also note there are really good C64 emulators out there.

[Doommaster1994]

I'm sorry in my first comment I kind of sounded rude when I said the NES version was the best. That was just my opinion. ^_^

[Doommaster1994]

One other thing is that there is no music wherever you go except the intro to the game.

[rollicker]

I may be wrong, but it's probably due to the sheer size of the game and the huge amount of 3d graphics taking up all that memory...

The title music, on the other hand, is awesome!

[Doommaster1994]

My favorite version of this game is the NES version. I don't know why people are being racist about it. Maybe I like it more because its easier than the PC, C64, Amiga and Mac version. I could neve rget past the slums in the PC version. Also, you get all that silver, copper, and electrum that you can't just trade in for platinum or gold. Also, the options were more complicated. In the NES version its WAY more easy to use. I'm not saying the other versions suck, just that the NES one is the best.

[mrsparkle001]

It's the easiness that makes it bad in comparison. Graphics aside, the NES version is inferior. It's similar to today's debates between console and PC gamers.

[Doommaster1994]

Well the reason why I hate the PC version is because of these reasons:

1. You get copper, electrum etc that you can't trade for gold or platinum.

2. Battles are WAY tougher.

Other than that, it beats the NES version any day.

[AAVista]

@Doommaster1994 Though the NES version appears to be the easiest to play because of the simpler controls, it lacks in graphics compared to other versions. Like Legend Of Zelda, though, the NES Pool Of Radiance may have a backup battery and saving capability.

[mouimen]

thats my childhood :(

[boilerplate]

MMmmmm....memories.

I played the first two (this and Curse) on the C64. Good times.

If only I had a time machine.

[luccaskunk]

a time machine? why do you need one of those? just find an old copy of the game and get a Commodore 1, which is basically a seriously updated Commodore64. Worlds faster than the real C64 and 100% compatible. Even has an underclock switch to make games run at the proper speed.

[boilerplate]

Not the same when I was playing it at the age of 15. A lot of the "magic of the time" is gone.

[luccaskunk]

a time machine wouldn't do much good then... you'd probably need a lobotomy to have the magic there again by now :P

[boilerplate]

That makes no sense whatsoever ^_^

[luccaskunk]

It makes perfect sense... If you use a time machine, you're going back in time. You're not getting any younger, you're just as old as you are now, but back in the 80s. The lobotomy is to cause brain damage back to a child like state. What makes no sense is thinking that a time machine would magically make something as amazing to you as it was when it first happened.

[LeoMaheo]

Did nothing but playing this when I was 11-14 years old (took long completing it; didn't know that much English). One of the few games I really love. But!! I should have spent those... years... with friends instead, not my computer. --- Rated this video 5: Awesome :-) Love the intro music.

[400SA]

I spent SO many hours in high school playing this, sometimes until the sun came up! Good times! I wish someone would make an updated version true to the original story line, still the best storyline around to me. I still have this and my C128, but it's hard to be patient after being used to modern PC speed. But I'd be first in line for a modern faithful repro of this game.

[HoldenMacRoin]

I still play this regularly on my c64 emulator.

I've played through it dozens of times in the past twenty years.

[joefaria]

Hello.

I downloaded "Frodo" C64 emulator, and Pool of Radiance. I want to play, but when I create a character it asks for a "save game disk"

Would you tell me what I can do at this point? I REALLY want to play this game again. It's been 20 years.

Thanks

[HoldenMacRoin]

I'm not sure how to do this in Frodo. The VICE emulator I use has a command to attach an empty disk with a filename of my choosing. If Frodo does not, try copying any c64 disk file (like pool disk 5 or something), renaming it save.d64 or whatever, and attaching this file when it askes for a save disk. The game can format it if necessary.

[MikeSol99]

Love that intro song. Thanks for posting the video.

[Adventurestud]

1:41 title screen!? Too long. Perhaps there was some narration I missed cus I'm here at work and not audio...but still...get on with it please. Enjoyed the rest of it though. Thanks!

[mrsparkle001]

It's music. I guess when you have no audio it's really bad.

[DJStry]

@mrsparkle001 as a digital musician myself I enjoyed hearing this awesome tune :D thanks for letting it play!

[mrsparkle001]

Hmm, now that you mention the PC I seem to remember that back then PC versions were typically worse overall. I think the PC had better graphics (marginally, until Pools Of Darkness) but the sound and music were much worse. And that's typical of games of the day.

[mrsparkle001]

NES is too japanese for me. I've never liked japanese console RPGs, and while POR on the NES isn't quite the same as a JRPG, it's enough for me. It's POR with a JRPG look and feel.

[EugeneEWE3RD]

Cool. I played both Pool Of Radiance for PC, C64 & NES but I love the C64 version espically for the intro song, it's really a great song.

[makeda8]

Ah yes this was the best game ever when I was young! Even with the gold old days of having to swap out each one of the half dozen or so floppies every time something happens and then having to wait over five minutes for shit to 'load.' Long live the C-64 and pool of Radiance! The first 'Bards Tale' was pretty bad ass as well.

[mrsparkle001]

Yep POR and The Bard's Tale were my two favorite games back in the day.

[SD78]

*takes three steps*

"OMG...another random battle?????"

My favoutite part of the game was the Kobold Caves wehre I'd manuveure a high level fighter into the middle of a big Kobold group:

*Fighter Sweeps*

...CLUNK...CLUNK...CLUNK...CLU­NK...CLUNK...CLUNK...CLUNK!

[TheCrusaderKIng]

Oh man i remember how played this game 20 years ago.. Im playing WoW but i just cant get the feeling of adventure like when i played POR for the first time :)

[Adventurestud]

Just as long as you have plenty of sleep spells and strong cleric and you'll clean up well.

[sokolkeep]

yeah! the original PoR! definitely the best. Actually all of SSI's gold box games were excellent.

[VeiledHeathen]

took so long to load... but so worth it :)

[freakyfatdog]

Best RPG ever

[anwest]

Agree!