Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: DragonStrike (NES)

DragonStrike on computers was a pretty novel idea - a D&D-licensed flight and aerial combat sim.  The NES did have a few such games like Top Gun and Airwolf, but they were all pretty primitive, held back by the limitations of the hardware.  So rather than trying to adapt the PC version of Dragonstrike, Westwood chose to make an entirely new game - in this case, a top-down free-roaming shooter.  Given a choice of three dragons to control with slightly differing stats, you fly around large maps, shooting down enemies with projectiles.  One can fly low to attack enemies on the ground by pressing the B button, then switch back to aerial combat to engage other flying enemies like beholders, dragons and wizards on flying carpets.  Every couple of stages you're pitted against a boss, ranging from a giant squid to a fortified castle to a heavily armed ship, and the final battle pits you against big-time D&D baddie Tiamat, the five-headed dragon queen.  The game does look quite nice on the NES, with detailed environments and little sprite flicker, and the music is provided by Westwood alumnus Frank Klepacki, who would become famous for composing the soundtrack to Command & Conquer only a few years later.  A decent if not amazing experience, though it is commendable that they decided to make an entirely new game rather than trying to adapt the computer version onto hardware it wasn't suited for; more than I can claim for some other NES games, for sure.

Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Strategic Simulations
Released: 1990
Platforms: NES

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: DragonStrike

DragonStrike (not to be confused with the similarly-named D&D board game) is certainly an odd take on Dungeons and Dragons, exhuming RPG design in favor of an aerial flight and combat sim game.  The player is put in the role of a knight riding on the back of a dragon, and over the course of numerous missions they shoot down enemies with dragon breath or defeat them in melee combat using their dragon's claws, teeth or their lance.  There's quite a few of them too - dragons, manticores, wyverns and beholders all attack at various times, and flying too low will put you in range of enemy archers, so that's something to avoid.  Per Westwood standards the game is quite impressive visually with its smoothly animated (albeit undetailed) 3D environments and enemies, and the 2D artwork on display between stages is quite beautiful to behold.  While not a particularly deep game it is fun while it lasts, and if nothing else it's probably the only flight sim that will ever be attached to the D&D license. 

Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Strategic Simulations
Released: 1990
Platforms: Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, PC-9801, Sharp X68000

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin

The second Dungeons and Dragons licensed game on the Intellivision.  But whereas the first game was a very loose adaptation of the subject matter with an arcadey bent, Treasure of Tarmin draws far more inspiration from earlier D&D-inspired games like Wizardry, Ultima and even the old mainframe clones like Oubilette and DnD.  With a first-person perspective, monsters to vanquish, traps to avoid, some inventory and equipment management, and six stats to keep tabs on, it's an archetypal dungeon crawler.  Melee weapons and spells you find are single-use, while bows and spellbooks can be used repeatedly (the former as long as you have arrows, the latter as long as you have Spiritual Power), but nevertheless have a chance to break on each use.  Potions appear to restore war/spiritual strength and some special spellbooks can allow you to glance through walls, teleport through them, or power up equipment.  One can also find treasures like coins, crowns, lamps and golden chalices, though these are only used for points.  There's a surprising amount of depth and nuance for a game released where and when it was, and as probably the first game of its time to appear on a console, it's worth checking out from a historical perspective.

Developer: APh Technological Consulting

Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Released: 1983
Platforms: Intellivision, Mattel Aquarius

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Cartridge

The first official D&D-licensed game to appear on a console and the third made by Mattel overall, with the first two being an electronic board game and a handheld LCD game.  Some sources I've seen (including Wikipedia) also give it the subtitle "Cloudy Mountain", though as far as I can tell this was never included on any actual printings of the game.  As one would expect of an early '80s game console it's not too much to look at and the core gameplay is rather basic arcadey fare.  AD&DC has a fair degree of depth and complexity for its time, however - there are algorithms in play to randomly generate dungeons and the world map, so the experience is a bit different each time you play it.  Several monsters hinder you in the dungeons, each with a distinct audio cue and taking varying numbers of arrows to kill - a lowly rat, bat or spider takes only a single arrow, while tougher monsters like demons and dragons can take two or three (and one, the slime blob, cannot be killed at all).  Your arrows can also ricochet off walls to damage enemies around corners, which comes in handy for dealing with the faster, deadlier critters that can quickly overtake you, though they can also harm you if you don't aim carefully.  In fact, it's often a good idea to take blind shots into rooms or around corners if you hear a dangerous enemy's audio cue, so this can be considered a crude stealth mechanic.  Other twists include having to find keys to open gates, axes to chop down trees, boats to cross rivers, and your ultimate goal once you reach Cloudy Mountain is to find two halves of a crown, each guarded by a winged dragon, which wins the game.  There are also four difficulty settings, though the only major difference between them is that you find fewer arrows in quivers and monsters move slightly faster with each step up.  A simple, but nevertheless fun game that should provide a few minutes of entertainment to die-hard D&D fans and/or retro game enthusiasts.

Developer: Mattel Electronics
Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Released: 1982
Platforms: Intellivision

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

The sequel to Tower of Doom, and as one might expect, it retains the core gameplay of the original while expanding on it in several ways.  For one, there are now six playable characters - a Thief and a Magic User join the fray, and each character also has two unique sets of sprites when multiple players select the same class, effectively expanding the roster to 12 playable characters.  The Thief is a comparatively weak but fast-moving character who can attack at range with an unlimited-use sling, steal items from enemies and open chests without requiring keys, while the Magic User gets a wider variety of offensive spells to use than any other character and is the only character who can wield the game's most powerful weapon (the Staff of Wizardry).  One can also find temporary rings, boots and helmets to bolster their abilities (though they break after sustaining several hits) and while the overall story remains the same, the player is given a choice of branching paths throughout, giving some more stages and replay value to the experience. It's also a deceptively deep game - the sheer amount of hidden moves, secret items and tactics in the game ensures that it has plenty of replay value for die-hard RPG fans as well as beat-em-up enthusiasts.  An overlooked classic if ever there was one.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1996, 1999, 2013
Platforms: Arcade, Sega Saturn (as part of the Dungeons & Dragons Collection), Playstation 3/Wii U/PC/XBox 360 (as part of the Chronicles of Mystara collection)

Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom

 If you know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of classic arcade games and beat-em-ups in particular; from the early ones like Double Dragon and Golden Axe to more complex examples like the Kunio games and Guardian Heroes, they're one genre I can reliably have a good time with no matter my mood.  Tower of Doom was the first of two Capcom-produced beat-em-ups based on the Dungeons & Dragons license, and it was a remarkably faithful adaptation, representing several of the game's character classes as one would expect - the Fighter has high health, range and attack power, the Elf casts several offensive spells, the Cleric can heal, stun enemies and cast Sticks to Snakes (always fun), and the Dwarf has short range but can combo relatively quickly.  In addition to that there are variety of spell scrolls and items to collect, purchase and use as the game progresses - throwing knives, arrows, healing potions, thrown hammers that stun enemies, bottles of flaming oil and so forth.  There are even some surprising nods to D&D rules worked in, like the troll boss not truly dying until you down it and then burn its body.  A good beat-em-up by one of the best names in that field, and for my money, a very fun and faithful D&D experience as well.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1994, 1999, 2013
Platforms: Arcade, Sega Saturn (as part of the Dungeons & Dragons Collection), Playstation 3/Wii U/PC/XBox 360 (as part of the Chronicles of Mystara collection)

Baldur's Gate III (Review #300!)

Can you believe I've been doing this for six and a half years now?  Neither can I.  Ah well.  For my 300th Full Review it's time to look at a revival of a classic CRPG franchise.

A beloved PC RPG classic, Baldur's Gate fell off the map for a long time as Interplay went bust, only recently coming back to prominence with some Enhanced Editions and, later on, being revived under a different company's banner; not unlike the similarly-beloved Fallout series.  But does Baldur's Gate III prove to be a worthwhile return for the franchise despite the major change, or is this just one comeback that never should have happened?

The early 2000's was definitely a tumultuous time for western RPGs; Interplay's closure meant that Fallout - regarded as a savior for the genre by many - would go dormant for nearly a decade, controversially being revived by Bethesda in 2008.  Baldur's Gate, while developed by BioWare, ran on the Infinity Engine owned by Interplay, so it too fell victim to their financial troubles.  Bioware and the newly-formed Obsidian would continue to develop original games with new engines and publishers, and a decade later the offshoot studio Beamdog (and their division Overhaul Games) would develop Enhanced Editions of several of the Infinity Engine games, reviving interest in seeing the series return.  Despite Beamdog teasing a third entry for the series, though, it would eventually come to be developed by Larian Studios - a company hot off the success of their Divinity: Original Sin games and using the engine from them.  That meant the series' gameplay changed up, going from pausable real-time combat to a turn-based style, and like Fallout 3 before it, it would discard all the work done on a canceled early version of the game (Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound) in favor of telling an original story.

Of course, Dungeons and Dragons itself has also undergone some heavy changes since the '90s, so the gameplay itself is also changed up a lot from the earlier Baldur's Gates, being based around Fifth Edition rules rather than Second Edition.  Later revisions of the ruleset are in numerous ways geared much more toward roleplaying and storytelling than simple monster smashing (and indeed, I've criticized other D&D games based on Third Edition and later rules for focusing so heavily on combat to the exclusion of everything else, since so many other mechanics go completely to waste).  Baldur's Gate III does it right, though - you're afforded a surprising number of options to deal with almost every situation, and while it of course makes sense to stay in line with your character's pre-built stats and skillsets, you're by no means bound to them.  You can bluff, intimidate, use stealth, arcane knowledge or just brute-force your way past almost any obstacle, favorable stats or otherwise.  Indeed, you can avoid nearly all combat with successful skill rolls, or at the very least find creative ways to turn things to your favor ahead of time.  Staying in line with a given character's principles as you complete puzzles also earns you "Inspiration Points", which allow you to redo failed rolls - always a nice thing to have when you get the notorious Natural 1 on what should be an easy roll (or just want another crack at a particularly challenging obstacle).

As mentioned, the game utilizes the same engine as the Divinity: Original Sin games, so combat here bears a strong resemblance to those - gridless turn-based action with a heavy focus on field control and elemental effects.  Spells can lay down effects like acid, poison or fire that will damage enemies passing through them, while ice or grease can make anyone who passes through them slip and fall and water can be used to conduct electricity, damaging all enemies inside it.  Grease and oil can likewise be lit on fire to damage all enemies standing in it (and ignite them for further damage in subsequent turns).  One also gets a height advantage shooting down at enemies from above and a penalty for attacking enemies above them, and oftentimes you can lure enemies into a narrow corridor or run around a corner to shield yourself from ranged attacks.  Barring that, you can also create clouds of steam or smoke to obscure their view, though this can also work against you as well.  At other times you can also weaponize the environment in creative ways, like knocking over braziers full of burning coals or even collapsing bridges to cause enemies to tumble to their doom, though you lose our on any treasure they may have been carrying.  In short, it's the first tabletop RPG inspired engine that actually lends itself well to that style of improvisation and creative thinking; indeed, it's very hard to survive without employing creative tactics whenever possible, as you're always at the whim of the dice to land hits with your weapons and most spells, so every advantage you can give yourself is a worth taking.

Character creation is something I always tend to dread in western RPGs, mostly because it's very easy to hose yourself unless you're intimately familiar with both the rules of the game itself and what the game is going to throw at you in advance, which results in a lot of tedious rerolling and frustrating game sessions where you're setting yourself up to fail and not even knowing it.  You may not think it given my choice of genre to review on this site, but I detest tedious overdone stat crunching and inane micromanagement in games.  It's certainly not necessary for a good RPG experience, especially since the genre (ostensibly) began as a means of storytelling rather than a dopey math lesson. Original Sin 2 largely averted inane stat-crunching by being a well-balanced game, but also by allowing you to respec your character at almost any time by finding the nearest magic mirror if your current build was just not working out.  Baldur's Gate III does a good job avoiding it as well, offering a solid explanation of all the skills and stats each race, background and character class provides, as well as giving you a pretty well optimized starting stat loadout by default (and when you level up); of course, you're also free to customize at your leisure if you're a die-hard min-maxer. Fifth Edition also largely does away with the issue of "Dump Stats" present in earlier D&D versions, mostly tying characters' abilities to stats and proficiencies they're expected to have.  So Bards, Paladins, Warlocks and Sorcerers cast from their Charisma rather than superfluously relying on Intelligence, for example, and having knowledge of a particular field gets bonuses based on a character's background and learned skills (and the subsequent roll bonuses they grant) rather than a bare stat roll.  All of this stuff contributes in various ways to letting you focus on enjoying the gameplay and the story rather than obsessing about the number crunching going on under the hood, which earns it a lot of points in my book.  Of course, even if you still dislike your current build, you can visit a character at your camp named Withers and pay him a small fee to respec any or all of your characters.

Something else the game gets down (after so, so many failed attempts in previous western RPGs) is that the roleplaying element actually feels natural and well-done.  Rather than having a predetermined chaotic/lawful/good/evil scale that you're rigidly glued to the entire game, your choices throughout all feel valid, all have palpable consequences, and any of them can make you new friends or enemies depending on how you handle them.  Your party members all have their own personalities, backstories and motivations as well and will react accordingly to your actions, and may become offended or even leave entirely if you do too many things they dislike; though you may be able to mitigate this to a degree with successful skill rolls, peoples' patience will inevitably run out, so every choice on your long journey feels weighty and requires careful consideration.  Getting them to change the ways they're rooted in is no easy task either; it requires a long and subtle commitment and not just one dice roll at a pivotal moment.  All good stuff, though as ever, the attempt to fit character romance into a largely open-ended RPG experience feels very shoehorned and cringey, with characters trying to get in your pants mere hours after you meet them.  Considering Fallout and Star Control were already actively mocking badly-written nymphomaniac characters in the '90s and yet devs like BioWare and CDPR roared ahead with it anyway with no trace of irony, I don't think it's a problem that will be resolved anytime soon either.  The final act of the game gets pretty messy too, with far too many extraneous subplots tangled together and even trying to tie it back to the first two games with nothing indicating the story would go in that direction before that point, so it becomes a bit of an overblown mess, and I definitely don't recommend trying to go for anything resembling full completion in it.

But even with a few minor missteps and the baked-in frustration factor of having everything being built on random all-or-nothing rolls, Baldur's Gate III is a stellar experience.  The engine lends itself well to not just intense and strategic combat with a lot of subtle nuance, but to actual role-playing - creating a character, thinking how they would think, forging alliances with other characters, bluffing your way out of trouble, and seeing the consequences of your actions unfold in a surprisingly organic way without making every action feel like a trite good-or-bad pull on some overarching moral compass that determines which boolean endings you'll get.  The strong narrative, surprisingly good voiceover and never once having to rely on a dopey plot codex to get you caught up on what's occurring also speak well to its quality.  It's a game about playing a role first and foremost, and for that reason it's one I'll eagerly be playing it for a good, long while.  Hell, it easily ranks among the finest western RPGs I've ever played.

Developer: Larian Studios
Publisher: Larian Studios
Released: 2020 (PC early access), 2023 (Full release)
Platforms: PC, macOS, Playstation 5, XBox Series

Recommended Version: Only available on Steam Early Access as of this writing.

Eye of the Beholder II

The first Eye of the Beholder was a pretty well-received game, taking the familiar first person dungeon crawling format of numerous earlier games (particularly the genre classic "Dungeon Master"), adding a dash of real-time action and a heavy focus on puzzles, though it was pretty minimal in terms of storytelling, with its very abrupt ending being heavily criticized by many reviewers and fans.  The sequel (released the same year) utilizes the same engine and makes few changes to the overall gameplay, but puts significantly more focus on the storytelling element.  There are now substantially more NPCs to interact with and dialog options to pick from, and a larger variety of areas to explore from forests to caverns to temples, which adds quite a bit of variety visually.  Its more streamlined and linear design overall may be a turn-off to some, but even with that it's a fine dungeon crawler that showed off Westwood's talents as a developer.  It's a shame that the third Eye of the Beholder would be farmed out to SSI, who were on the verge of shutting down at the time and ended up rushing it out just to try and make a quick buck...

Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Strategic Simulations, Cybille, Capcom
Platform: MS-DOS, Amiga, FM Towns, PC-98
Released: 1991, 1992, 1993

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow Sorcerer

The third and final game in the Dragonlance adaptation trilogy, the only one to never be ported to consoles, and a stark departure from the first two games in terms of style.  Indeed, it does away with the sidescrolling element completely to focus on real time tactical combat.  You lead a point team of four units (picked from a roster of about twenty) and attempt to escort refugees to a safe haven, traveling across a sprawling map and encountering various events as you go; mostly in the form of battles with bandits and monsters. In battle you can select a unit's general (automated) strategies as well as temporarily pause the action to pick individual actions for them to take, and after winning a fight you can simply select a command to fully heal up any injuries you sustained.  There is some light dungeon exploration, NPC interaction and item management involved too, though the main focus is on keeping your refugees alive, keeping morale up and getting them to safety, earning a higher score the more you keep intact; sort of like an early take on the Banner Saga. It's overall a bit repetitious and not especially deep, but for taking the action-driven D&D experience in a fresh new direction (one that would be replicated in later games like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights to much greater success), Shadow Sorcerer is easily the best of the trilogy.

Developer: US Gold

Publisher: Strategic Simulations, US Gold
Released: 1991
Platform: Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Dragons of Flame

Heroes of the Lance (the first adaptation of the Dragonlance novels and tabletop modules) was decently received on computer platforms while its NES incarnation was heavily maligned; both for its much worse graphics and just being an underwhelming game in general, providing nothing satisfying to RPG fans nor comparing favorably to other action-oriented titles on the system.  Strangely, that didn't stop them from trying again, though the sequel game would only be released in Japan for the Famicom.  Still, those who played it saw a marked improvement within only seconds of starting - there are now dialog scenes advancing the story at key points and a top-down world map (with visible monsters rather than random encounters!).  The presentation is much improved - still not great, but the graphics are much cleaner and the music isn't nearly as grating to listen to.  Even the action has seen much improvement, doing away with the dice rolls and having actual hit detection based combat, as well as the ability to jump and duck to evade attacks.  That said, it's still a very short game (beatable in roughly an hour once you know where to go), and the exploration element is still overly tedious, with both monotonous side-scrolling and top-down maps to make your way through.  Dragons of Flame is worth a brief look as a much-improved sequel to a notoriously awful game, but still far from matching up with other top-tier action-RPGs on the platform.

Developer: US Gold, Atelier Double (Famicom)
Publisher: Strategic Simulations, US Gold
Released: 1989, 1992
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, FM Towns, Famicom, MS-DOS, PC-9801, ZX Spectrum

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of the Lance

Released on computers as part of SSI's "Silver Box" line, Heroes of the Lance is a loose adaptation of the DragonLance series of novels inspired by the eponymous D&D modules, and a relatively unique take on the D&D format, focusing on real time action rather than turn-based strategic combat.  It's decent enough for a 1988 computer game, especially in a period where computers were still generally considered "business machines" and thus side-scrolling action gameplay like this was pretty novel (if not particularly well-suited to the hardware), but its 1991 NES port is a heavily derided game on the platform.  The ugly graphics, irritating music and stiff controls didn't endear it too much to fans of side-scrolling action games like Super Mario Bros, while RPG fans were let down by the absence of narrative and the general lack of depth to the game's combat and dungeon crawling.   Despite being an action game everything is still centered around dice rolls, so it's not a matter of skill-based attacking and evading; instead, you mostly just stand toe-to-toe with your enemies and hold down the A button to swing at each other until one of you dies.  You can attack at range with a bow and arrow or spells, but they're also governed by dice rolls and pretty ineffective besides, so there's little point.  Disarming traps is solely a matter of having the right character in the front of your party (or taking the hit - they rarely do much damage anyway), and the only real variety comes when you have to cast Protection From Evil to defend yourself from particularly spammy enemies.  Oh, and it's also possible to make the game unwinnable - if Goldmoon (or another character carrying her staff) drops into a pit, you're done; that staff is the only thing that can kill the final boss.  But most insulting of all is its length - while it takes place in a fairly large and convoluted maze, once you know the route to go through and how to counter the few curveballs it throws at you, you can beat the whole game in under ten minutes.  Even for masochistic fans of bad games, it's too short, easy and lacking in nuance to even provide any ironic entertainment value.  Hell, it hardly even seems worth the effort to pan it on my nerdy site about RPGs; everyone who knows of the NES port is already aware it's a sucky game that's widely regarded as one of the worst on the platform, and I don't have much to add other than to confirm it really is bad, but not in any interesting way; it's just another very lackluster port of a semi-popular computer game.  Unappealing, lame and entirely forgettable, NES Heroes of the Lance is a lousy experience no matter what angle you come at it from.

Developer: US Gold, Natsume (NES)

Publisher: Strategic Simulations, US Gold, Pony Canyon
Released: 1988, 1991
Platform: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, FM Towns, MS-DOS, MSX2, NEC PC-8801, PC-9801, NES, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum

Secret of the Silver Blades

The third in SSI's Dungeons and Dragons series makes some modest improvements to the engine and continues the running storyline once again. But is the third time around still fresh and new enough for discerning fans, or is this a sequel that can safely be skipped?

Another entry in the prolific Gold Box series, and while not too much has changed from its predecessors, there are some marked improvements apparent right from the get-go.  The intro itself shows this off in fine form, with some gorgeous, detailed artwork that shows off some genuine talent and makes you forget that there are still only 16 colors being displayed at a time.  It's accompanied with a surprisingly decent musical track by John Halbleib, though sadly there is still no music during the actual gameplay.

The UI has seen some overhaul too.  This was one of the first Gold Box games to implement mouse support, though it's largely academic; while you can click menu options at the bottom or select characters during the navigation screens by clicking their names, it's still more efficient to simply use the hotkeys for this purpose.  Moreover, it is unfortunately not possible to quickly target enemies in combat with the mouse, which largely defeats the purpose of even having the cursor onscreen there.  The keyboard interface has also been somewhat reworked; rather than using the archaic method of pressing PageUp or PageDown to cycle through menus, you now simply use the arrow keys, having to enter and leave a dedicated Move mode to maneuver around dungeons; not a big deal once you're used to it, but it took some adjusting after playing the first two games.

As with the previous game (Curse of the Azure Bonds), one can still import characters from the previous titles, allowing them to carry over their stats and experience points but disappointingly none of their equipment.  There is a slight bug with this, though - equipping an item that boosts a character's stats before transferring them over will cause that stat boost to become permament, which is more than a bit exploitable; passing the Gauntlets of Ogre Power around among your party before transferring will give them all 18/00 Strength and a significant advantage for the rest of their careers.  The series' common problem of giving you far too much money is still present here, with even random encounters granting enormous amounts of gold and gems.  The latter are necessary to a point, being required to activate the Well of Knowledge to get your mission objectives, but you'll still be leaving quite a few magical items and piles of platinum coins behind as you travel.

Still, at least some attempt to mitigate this is introduced; the hub town you revisit frequently throughout the game allows you to spend quite a lot of money to get some powerful magic items (Darts of Hornets' Nest, magic scrolls, wands, et cetera), and any particularly valuable things you find that you don't want to use right away can be put in storage in another building for later retrieval.  While a relatively minor feature, it nevertheless comes in handy for keeping your party's encumbrance down and maximizing their move range in battle.

Silver Blades definitely ups the ante for challenge, too.  Many maps can no longer be "cleared" of enemies, so you'll still be getting random encounters no matter how many you've faced before.  Some maps you encounter (particularly the mines) are staggeringly huge and will basically require you to make your own maps.  The level of challenge picks up right where the previous game left off too, pitting you against high-level Clerics, Magic Users and Dragons right from the start, ensuring that you'll have to make good use of your resources right from the get-go.  There is a fast-travel system in place, though as is common for video games, you must venture through a lot of dangerous territory to unlock the portals going back to the Well.

In closing, Secret of the Silver Blades is another standard sequel, with much the same gameplay as its predecessors but some slight improvements to its UI and presentation, a new set of enemies appropriate for the game's recommended level, and some minute tweaks here and there.  There are a few clever callbacks to earlier games, and though its narrative may not be the most gripping the series has seen, it's nonetheless a logical continuation and a pretty good tale to be told, especially for 1990.  If you enjoyed the first two, you'll probably continue on with this one and not regret a thing.

Developer: Strategic Simulations
Publisher: Strategic Simulations, WizardWorks
Released: 1990
Platform: Amiga, C64, MS-DOS, Mac, NEC PC-9801
Recommended Version: I have only personally played the DOS version, but they all seem to be pretty comparable in quality.  The Amiga and NEC PC-9801 versions contain some slightly higher-res graphics, sounds and short musical cues, however.

Eye of the Beholder

Westwood's third attempt at a Dungeons and Dragons game, taking on a more traditional format after attempts at an action-driven design with Hillsfar and Dragonstrike.  But does Eye of the Beholder prove to be a worthwhile dungeon crawling adventure, or is this just another forgettable effort from Westwood?

Westwood took a couple of experimental turns with the D&D format, attempting to create something that would, at the very least, make their contribution to the franchise distinct.  Hillsfar was an interesting idea with a lackluster execution, while Dragonstrike opted for a more action-oriented style of gameplay, becoming something more akin to a medieval flight simulator.  It was better received than Hillsfar but not a strong seller for SSI, so it didn't really do much for either company involved in it.

Eye of the Beholder went for a more traditional format in many ways, being a traditional first-person dungeon crawler like many popular RPGs from the 80s, many of which were directly inspired by D&D itself.  Taking cues from the earlier dungeon crawling classic "Dungeon Master", the game uses a similar UI and moves in real time for the most part, though combat is still broken into distinct "turns" with players and enemies' actions locking the other out until the current animation is finished.  It also largely uses a mouse-based interface, so getting good at manipulating spell/equipment menus and clicking icons efficiently is a very essential part to winning battles.

Make no mistake, however; Eye of the Beholder is an old-school dungeon crawler in every other respect.  It's viewed from a first-person perspective and largely based around solving puzzles in between battles - finding keys, searching for hidden walls and scarce equipment to utilize and solving a plethora of puzzles to advance.  Traps come in many forms, from tiles that discreetly rotate your party's facing to pit traps (which damage you and can dump you into further danger) and, of course, enemy ambushes, which can be dangerous even for a very well equipped party.  Saving frequently is highly advised, as is utilizing basically any equipment you find - even a humble sling, dart or dagger can save you from some damage by taking out an enemy from afar, or press a switch you can't walk to by throwing it through a window in a gate.  There is no automap feature, however, so it would be wise to either have the hint guide handy or make your own on graph paper; it's very easy to get lost among the mazes of similar-looking walls.

Of course, the game is still quintessential D&D at its core.  You can create up to four characters at the start, with the usual class/race restrictions applied.  Most non-human classes have far fewer options than humans for classes, but often get bonus stats and resistance to some effects to compensate - Dwarves are more resistant to poison, for example, while elves are resistant to charm and sleep effects.  As usual, having a variety of classes will quickly prove essential - fighters or paladins or rangers for the front line, Clerics to heal and turn undead, Magic users to kill enemies, and Thieves to disarm traps and pick locks (which can skip some puzzles).  Amusingly, the generator also includes a Modify command that lets you tweak your characters' stats however you like with no repercussions.  Allegedly this is included as a way to import your characters from the tabletop game, but let's face it, nobody ever used it for that.   Experience is earned through combat, but the majority of it is gained by completing objectives and solving puzzles.  Each floor also has "Special Quests" that grant some bonus XP and useful items; these are often quite obscure and may require a guide (or a lot of trial and error) to figure out, but are very often worth doing.

This isn't always strictly enforced in-game, though.  Clerics can wield non-blunt weapons with no repercussions, for example, and almost any class can utilize throwing knives, darts and slings to attack from afar (useful as at least two of your characters are always relegated to the back row and out of direct attacking range).  You're also allowed to do things like change equipment mid-fight or pick up used projectiles and use them again, which is pretty uncommon for games of this type.  It's somewhat necessary given that the game gives you very limited resources to work with, but still a strange thing to see, especially in a D&D game.

Despite a few rules tweaks, though, this is a quintessential D&D experience in computer game form - you're put into a dungeon, given an objective, and the rest is a bunch of solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles in your path until you achieve just that.  Those who are accustomed to top-down perspectives or more action-driven design may not find a lot to appeal to them here, but for fans of old-school RPGs with a lot of emphasis on the journey rather than the overarching story, Eye of the Beholder has plenty to enjoy.

Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Strategic Simulations, Capcom, Sega, Pony Canyon
Platform: MS-DOS, Amiga, PC-98, SNES, Sega CD
Released: 1991, 1992, 1994
Recommended Version: Most editions of the game seem to be relatively similar, though the computer versions are considerably easier to play with a combination of mouse and keyboard inputs.  The Sega CD version is notable for having an exclusive soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro that, while not really fitting the mood of a medieval adventure, is of high quality and worth checking out in itself.  (This version can also be run in ScummVM with some setup).

  The Game Boy Advance game called "Eye of the Beholder" is actually a loose remake based on 3rd Edition rules, with combat taking on a top-down perspective and tactical gameplay slightly similar to the Gold Box games.  It's also not particularly fun, so I'd say skip that one.

Curse of the Azure Bonds

The sequel to Pool of Radiance, which worked in some improvements from a gameplay perspective and introduced some engine improvements to the formula.  But do several months of work show off in the final product, or is Curse of the Azure Bonds just a disappointment compared to what came before?

The first game in the franchise was a success (selling over  250,000 copies across all platforms), so naturally a sequel would soon follow.  Curse of the Azure Bonds, released the following year, was a relatively standard sequel, introducing a few improvements and new features but, being based on the same engine, was almost identical in terms of design.  It is also loosely based on a book simply named "Azure Bonds", with two of the heroes of that story making a cameo at one point as temporary allies.

Some improvements do quickly show, though.  While the option to create custom portraits for your characters is gone, the game otherwise features slightly improved graphics (though still limited to 16 colors), animations and sound effects, making it a bit more visually interesting than its predecessor.  The interface is also marginally improved, most notably with the addition of a "Fix" command that causes the party to automatically use any healing spells they may have, then rest to restore them; using this once or twice is usually sufficient to heal the entire party back to full without having to manually cast all those spells yourself (though, of course, you do run the risk of being attacked while resting as per usual).  Finally, the world map has been reworked, having you travel between preset waypoints via a menu interface, though you may get attacked on the road by brigands or bounty hunters; you can sometimes avoid this by choosing to travel off the path, though this carries some risks in itself (like being attacked by monsters).

Some of the D&D rules present in the engine were updated too.  Most prominently, one can now create a Paladin or Ranger as a playable character, and each gets some innate abilities - The Paladin can Lay on Hands to heal once per day, cast some low-level Priest spells beginning from Level 9 and gets an inherent Protection from Evil effect, which gives nearly every enemy in the game a penalty on their rolls against them.  Rangers, on the other hand, get a bonus against giant enemies (more than one tile big), plus they can cast some low-level spells like Detect Magic, Faerie Fire and Invisibility to Animals.  If one is playing as a half-elf, they can also be multi-classed with the Cleric class if one wishes (though due to the old D&D1 level restrictions for all non-human classes, this isn't recommended).  Ironically, both of these make the basic fighter class all but obsolete, having basically all of their advantages and then some with no real drawbacks.  One can also "Dual-Class" human characters - essentially giving up one class for another, though regaining the abilities of the class they abandoned once their current classes' level exceeds the previous one.

Another cool feature is that one can import characters from Pool of Radiance and Hillsfar (if for some reason you played that game).  Though you unfortunately don't get to keep any equipment you earned, you do retain your stats, abilities and experience total, which, if you earned enough, can allow you to level up almost immediately as soon as you dig into this game.  The level cap is raised, letting you reach 12 with most classes (11 for mages, 10 for Clerics) and cast spells up to level 5.  As in the previous game, some are virtually useless (Protection from Good - there are very few, if any, good-aligned enemies) while others are absurdly useful (Hold Monsters, Cone of Cold and Slay Living).

Of course, being a higher-level campaign than the first, the game is significantly more challenging than Pool of Radiance was.  You'll encounter more than a few enemies that can poison you (death until they are revived by a Stop Poison spell), enemies love to spam Hold Person to disable your party and leave them vulnerable to an instant takedown, and some encounters are just downright nasty.  The most iconic representation of this to me was a scripted fight with a Beholder - always a nasty customer in D&D, and it's no exception here, as they get four attacks a turn, at least two of which will always cause instant death or petrification if you fail a saving throw.  The latter may actually be worse, as I found no way to counter that effect other than to return to a town, visit a temple and pay a hefty amount of cash to undo it.

As in the first Pool of Radiance, I never once found myself wanting for cash; enemies drop rather ridiculous amounts of gold, jewels and jewelry, and I quickly found myself having to leave behind large amounts of it just to keep my party unencumbered.  However, later in the game, one does finally get the opportunity to put some of that cash to use for things other than healing.  You can actually buy spell scrolls, wands and potions at some shops, which can prove very useful for longer dungeons where you're likely to run low on spells and not have a safe place to rest.  These can prove quite handy as well in one of Azure Bonds' new features; namely that nearly every town in the game has an optional dungeon to visit, each of which has a semi-randomized quest to complete in it.  While not nearly as complex or engaging as the main story, they nonetheless have some quite useful rewards and give a lot of XP, making them useful for powering up before the player attempts the final gauntlet.

In short, Curse of the Azure Bonds is a standard sequel, making some subtle improvements, providing a bit more in terms of gameplay and depth and telling a pretty decent story that carries on where the first left off.  The first game was lauded for its groundbreaking design, and while the sequel may not carry that same prestige, it's a well-made and worthy followup for anyone who enjoyed the original.

Developer: Strategic Simulations

Publisher: Strategic Simulations
Released: 1989
Platform: Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64, DOS, Macintosh, NEC PC-9801
Recommended Version: I've only personally played the DOS version, but from what I've seen, all of the various versions are comparable in quality.  The Amiga and PC-9801 versions have added music and improved sound effects,  but the latter is only available in Japanese.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

The second game in BioWare's Baldur's Gate series, which made several tweaks to the original's design and, after an expansion was released, concluded its running story. But does Baldur's Gate prove to be a worthwhile adventure for D&D fans, or is this simply a lackluster sequel to a game that hasn't aged particularly well?

The original Baldur's Gate was a game renowned among PC gamers and D&D fans in general for its interesting storyline and strict adhesion to second edition rules, making it a classic to both camps.  It was not without its faults, however - the overall slow progression and some downright cheap encounters with enemies that could spam various debilitating effects (charm, stone, web, etc), paired with an extremely long duration for all of them, made combat downright frustrating at times and frequently all but forced the player to cheat in order to get by.

Baldur's Gate 2 continues this trend, adding some new effects to the mix like confusion and level drain (and my personal least favorite, psionic attacks from mind flayers that leave the player stunned for an extremely long time and vulnerable to their instant-death brain eating attack).  However, the game does show some improvement in this regard too, shortening the duration of many of the nastier statuses and taking care to give the player tools to counter most of them (like a Level 4 Lesser Restoration spell to counter level drain which did not exist in the tabletop game).  Many pieces of equipment also grant resistance or immunity to particular effects, and several class kits do as well, so there are tools to counter a lot of the nastiness one encounters.  Still, some fights are extremely cheap and all but require the player to use some underhanded tactics to succeed, so the big overarching issue from the first game is mitigated to a degree, but by no means eliminated.

Class kits are a new addition to Baldur's Gate II, adding much to the game's flavor and replayability.  Essentially, each of the generic D&D classes now has one of several variants the player can choose from, granting them some new abilities in exchange for others. For example, the Cavalier kit for the Paladin is completely immune to fear, charm and poison, gets innate fire and acid resistance and can cast Remove Fear once a day to aid the party, but cannot use any missile weapons.  Some offer a relatively reasonable balance of advantages and drawbacks (like the Kensai kit for the Fighter, which can deal out massive damage but cannot use any armor or ranged weapons) while others are virtually straight upgrades (nearly all of the Thief, Cleric and Bard kits).  One even has the option to retroactively apply them to characters imported from the previous game, which is a nice touch (though it comes with the drawback of averaging out their HP if the player employed savescumming to maximize their HP gains).  It can also allow for some amazingly powerful Dual Class combinations, like the Kensai dialing to a Mage and getting several spells to offset his weak defense, or a Cleric that gets the high weapon proficiencies and special abilities of a Berserker.

Some other significant improvements quickly show themselves too.  There is a much greater focus on party member interaction now, with each character one encounters being tied to their own questline and having several unique dialogs with the player and one another.  This can be interesting at times (like Viconia's character arc which, played properly, can convince her to change her alignment), and at other times it can be deterimental; some characters outright hate one another and will fight to the death if kept in the same party for too long.  One even has romance options with many of the female characters (though only one male character if playing as a female character yourself, disappointingly).  It ultimately doesn't have a huge effect on the overall gameplay most of the time, but it is nice to have the option and for characters to have alternate endings depending on the player's choices.  The antagonists in BG2 are significantly more nuanced too, proving to be effectively well-written and with a legitimate strong element of tragedy to them instead of the rather cartoonish ones of the first game.

The gameplay is much more focused as well. The world map is no longer nearly as expansive, with more interesting areas than just "woods with slightly different enemy sets" and fewer random encounters with generic goons on the way to a destination.  Sorely lacking from the original game, the player is now properly rewarded for completing quests with a large sum of experience for each character, not just a lump sum spread across the entire party.  Another nice bonus is that the player is afforded a unique questline depending upon their chosen class - thieves get to run a thieves guild, bards can run a playhouse, fighters get a castle (and must keep their peasants safe and taxes reasonable, lest they revolt), to name a few.  The rewards for these tend to be pretty useful and worth undertaking, as well as satisfying from a storytelling perspective, and it's another nice element of depth and replay value for the game.

Like many D&D games, Baldur's Gate doesn't offer a lot in terms of player alignment roleplaying choices.  There are only a small handful of times when being "evil" causes a storyline to change significantly (mostly in the form of your allies leaving the party), and there is very little benefit to choosing an evil character.  A few quests may yield useful alternate rewards, but for the most part, you're just doing more harm than good to your own experience by playing an "evil" character, as letting your reputation drop too low will cause you to constantly be attacked by bounty hunters and result in much higher prices in shops.

Baldur's Gate II is a logical extension of the first in every way, proving to be a much better experience on a storytelling and design front but every bit as frustrating as its predecessor managed to be in a lot of ways.  Combat still requires you to exploit loopholes to win at times, the roleplaying element of the game is stronger but still not amazing, and a general lack of balance and polish leads to a game with some very uneven difficulty and a lot of save-scumming being required to succeed, as well as some pretty game-breaking exploits for the player to abuse once they're aware of them.  Still, the game's stronger elements shine through to make it an entertaining experience, and in my book, still the finest game Bioware has ever created.

Developer: BioWare, Black Isle Studios, BeamDog
Publisher: Interplay, Atari
Platform: PC, iOS, OSX, Android, Linux, Switch
Released: 2000, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019
Recommended version: The 2013+ update (dubbed "Enhanced Edition") makes some quality of life improvements like widescreen resolution support and a much-improved AI, as well as programmable party AI and some enhancements like new characters (most of whom can be romanced), quests and kits to play as, which only adds more depth and replayability to a game already swimming in it.  It also includes an alternate story mode (The Black Pits II), the original expansion and bonus disc content packed in, making it a definitive release.

Hillsfar

Developed by Westwood and released by SSI not long after Pool of Radiance made a big splash, Hillsfar tried to go for a more arcadey role-playing experience.  But did it succeed in doing so, or is this a poor attempt to mesh RPG elements into an action format?

With the advent of the NES and the runaway success of Zelda, RPGs proved they could successfully work in a more action-oriented design, providing just as much depth and storytelling potential as any slower, menu-driven experience.  In the years that followed, numerous other games would attempt to mesh action elements into RPGs with varying degrees of success, and a lot of them would become groundbreaking classics in their own right.

One of the earliest attempts I can think of at combining action and RPG elements on home computers was Hillsfar.  While it does retain some elements of its Dungeons and Dragons roots (you get to create a character and select their class, and your choice determines what guild hall you accept quests from throughout), the game for the most part does its own thing, being a largely open-ended adventure reminiscent of a very early Elder Scrolls.  Indeed, between missions you're allowed to basically do whatever you like - fight in the arena, practice archery, visit bars, visit areas outside of town or break into buildings to search for gold and items.

That all sounds awesome on paper, but unfortunately Hillsfar isn't nearly as captivating as one might expect from that description.  It does make a strong first impression with its detailed graphics and smooth animations (particularly as computers of the time weren't exactly known for such), but the gameplay itself is relatively basic, being primarily comprised of a handful of simple minigames.  Combat takes place only within the city's arena and has the player block and attack with keys on the numpad (three each for left, right and "special" maneuvers).  Customers in bars and random townspeople on the street will occasionally dispense clues for particular opponents, though I generally had more luck just mashing left and right attacks constantly than trying to employ any kind of strategy.  Horseback riding is equally simple, having the character run down a short path leaping obstacles or blowing them away with "Wands of Blasting"; each fall will cost them some HP and may injure or kill their horse, which they will then have to pay to replace.  Archery is a little more involved (though it requires a frustrating amount of precision), getting tougher as the game progresses with swinging and vanishing targets that award more points, as well as the ability to shoot a rat or bird instead of the target for bonuses, earning you some gold if you manage to rank on the scoreboard.  Probably the most inspired of these is the lock-picking minigame, used to break into buildings and the chests therein - you get a selection of eleven lockpicks (each with two shape patterns) and have to match 3 or more of them to the locks' tumblers before time runs out.  Messing up too many times will break your picks (requiring you to pay to repair or replace them) and tumblers will frequently "jam", which just wastes time as you have to use the right pick on it multiple times to force it open.  Still, it conveys an effective sense of tension and puzzle-solving and is actually a bit of fun for a short while, though before long I started forcing locks open with Strength and using Knock Rings for particularly stubborn ones as it was much more expedient to do so.

By far the most common mini-game is entering various areas to search for chests and items - whether breaking into buildings and houses or simply burgling sewers and a handful of areas outside town.  These are somewhat randomly-generated mazes full of chests and traps, and you're given a short time limit to go searching for your objective or loot chests for money.  Once your time hits about 1/3 of the total, the exit appears in a random place and you must get to it to escape.  Being touched by a guard causes your time to drain faster, and if they make contact while your time is at zero, you get booted out and the guards take any money you've collected (and may force you into an arena battle).  However, you can find randomly-placed scrolls to temporarily stun the guards and slip past them, which can buy you a few extra seconds to escape.  Again, this is fun for a bit, but disappointingly shallow - NPCs seen in the buildings pose no hindrance to you whatsoever (in fact, you can't interact with them in any way), the only traps that exist are "sleep traps" that knock you out for a few seconds or teleport traps that send you to a random location, and there simply isn't much to it beyond that (aside from occasionally having to locate a hidden passage in a wall as part of a quest).

More problematic is the fact that the numerous minigames throughout Hillsfar are not really tailored to your choice of class at all.  Regardless of who you're playing as, you'll probably end up doing all of these tasks at some point as part of your questline, often multiple times.  Clerics and Magic-users don't get any unique minigames at all; in fact, they don't even get to cast spells outside of doing tricks at taverns, which is pretty disappointing.  There are also very few weapons and no armor to find; most that you do use are simply provided for a particular quest or minigame and then taken away immediately after.  If you pick any non-Thief class, you'll still have to do a lot of breaking and entering even though you don't have lockpicks - meaning you'll either have to spend tons of money on Knock Rings, force every lock or hire an NPC thief who takes half the gold you find as a fee.

Beyond the questlines for each guild, there really isn't a lot to do either.  As mentioned, it's fun for a bit to challenge yourself with arena combat or archery or plundering random houses, but there is very little variety in what you can find, and the few items there are only exist to aid you in further minigame sessions.  Interactions with townspeople are minimal, primarily consisting of bar events (few of which serve any real purpose) and random encounters where they will sell you clues, healing potions or Knock Rings for a bit of gold.  There's just a staggering lack of variety overall, which is more than a little disappointing for D&D-based RPG, let alone an action game.

So why does the game exist if not to tell a good story or at least provide some engaging gameplay?  Well, that's the interesting part.  Your character does still gain experience and levels through arena battles and completing the various tasks set before them, and Hillsfar is compatible with two of the Gold Box games (Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds), letting you import your characters from those games into this one and export them back out.  Essentially, it's a way to let you power up your characters a bit more, either because you've run out of substantial quests to do in Pool or you want to gain a bit more experience and HP before starting up Curse.  It's basically what would be a handful of mini-games or short sub-missions in a modern game, except that back in its day it was a full-priced, boxed piece of software in its own right.  Ouch.

Hillsfar was at least a relatively ambitious game for its time period, attempting to introduce some mini-games and action elements to create a unique, less dice-oriented Dungeons and Dragons experience.  But with only four barely-adequate questlines, a lack of substantial RPG elements beneath the hood and very little variety in what it does have to offer, it gets tiresome to play rather quickly.  Even the developers seemingly knew this, as once you get some skill at the various minigames you can go through an entire questline in only a couple of hours and then move on to something else.  So while it may not be especially good, Hillsfar is at least aware of its shortcomings, being built as a brief experience that doesn't overstay its welcome.  If you want to gain some extra experience and a little more HP for your Pool of Radiance/Curse of the Azure Bonds characters this is a less tedious alternative to farming random encounters in those games, but only to a point.  Hillsfar may also be worth a look on its own merits as an interesting experiment and because it has some nice visuals for its time, but if you're looking for a more substantial minigame-driven RPG experience, you have plenty of better options.

Developer: Westwood Associates, Crosstalk

Publisher: Strategic Simulations, US Gold, Pony Canyon, FCI
Released: 1989, 1993
Platform: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, NES
Recommended Version: The NES version is a lackluster port overall, having less-detailed and muddier graphics, awkwardly stiff movement and speeding up the time limit for the lock-picking minigame, making it significantly harder.  This version also lacks any ability to import or export characters (to say nothing of the fact that Curse of the Azure Bonds never had a console release at all), making playing it at all rather pointless.  The most easily-found version now is the DOS version available through GOG, which is also compatible with the Gold Box games on the same platform, so that's the one I'd suggest playing.

Pool of Radiance

The first in SSI's famous "Gold Box" series, a short-lived but prolific franchise of RPGs that ran on a common engine and quickly became famous for their very faithful implementation of Dungeons and Dragons rules.  But is Pool of Radiance still an adventure worth undertaking today, or is it simply too dated to provide fun for D&D fans and RPG gamers in general?

As the company's name implies, Strategic Simulations was known for producing quite a lot of in-depth simulation games spanning any number of topics - wars, presedential elections, pinball games, and a numer of fictional scenarios like a post-apocalyptic battle for territory and, of course, turn-based fantasy adventures.  The last of these are best-known to RPG fans, in particular their "Gold Box" franchise (named as such because of the boxes they came in) and the surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons rules it provided.  Despite the franchise's relatively short run (lasting from 1988-1992), it spawned over a dozen games and continues to be highly regarded among fans of both D&D and computer RPGs.

It isn't hard to see why, either.  As Ultimas 4 and 5 were already out and set a staggeringly high bar for design and storytelling, they naturally had a tall order to compete with.  Thankfully they do a surprisingly good job of that, even if many of the plot's elements are relegated to a paper manual owing to disk size restrictions.  The player controls a party of six adventurers as they arrive in the city of New Phlan, which faces all manner of threats and dangers.  Naturally, they are commissioned by the local government to do things like clear slums of monster, find documents from before the fall to find out exactly what they're up against, and even perform a stealth mission or two to discover their enemies' plans.  Through all of this, they slowly unravel the mystery of Phlan and seek out the source of the evil that plagues it.

Not amazing stuff by genre standards, but it certainly gets the job done and keeps the player motivated toward completing the game.  D&D fans also found themselves right at home with its gameplay, as the engine strives to replicate almost every minutiae of the tabletop experience.  Completing quests and finding treasures gives far more experience than simply fighting mundane monsters, which sets it apart from most D&D adaptations (and RPGs in general) and discourages grinding, as there are only so many quests to complete in the game and encounters in most areas are finite.  Additionally, fighting doesn't have to be the solution to every scenario - often one can avoid battle by parleying with enemies, and their tone and spoken words can often cause them to leave peacefully.  When one must fight, combat is honestly very fun, with a top-down view, turn-based combat and surprisingly faithful adaptation of many of D&D's iconic spells, monsters and status effects, for both good and ill. 

Some less savory elements appear too.  D&D's high difficulty is evident from the get-go, with any number of things can instantly kill your characters - missing a roll for poison is immediate death, and being disabled by Hold Person, Sleep, et cetera leaves you completely helpless for an immediate killing blow.  Level Drain quickly becomes a problem too once undead enemies show up, with the only way to cure it being a spell scroll (which are in limited supply throughout the game).  Battles are staggeringly huge in scale at times (with over 50 enemies in some), so even well-equipped parties can be overwhelmed without a significant amount of luck on their side.  Other complications not implemented in many later RPGs apply too - money has weight and comes in five different values (Copper, Silver, Electrum, Gold and Platinum), which quickly makes buying jewelry, gems and so forth a necessity to free up inventory space for other items.  The game operates off of 1st Edition rules, which severely limits the level growth of non-human races in everything but the Thief class, and some iconic D&D classes like Paladins  and Rangers are not implemented in this game but would appear in the sequels (requiring the player to create new characters instead of import them from this game if they wished to use those classes).  The UI can also be somewhat unwieldy, particularly at first (utilizing the numpad, several letters and the Pageup/Pagedown keys to cycle menu choices), but it becomes second nature before long.  Finally, the game does still use a first-person, grid-based perspective for much of its navigation, which may be a turn-off to some; particularly those who dislike drawing their own maps out on graph paper.  However, there is a third-party mod called the Gold Box Companion that adds an external HUD and map to the game for easier use among many other features, so this isn't as much of a problem if playing on a modern system through DOSBox.

In short, it isn't hard to see why Pool of Radiance is a beloved classic and the Gold Box engine remains so highly regarded.  There is a staggering amount of content for discerning D&D fans and RPG players alike, and the fact that it's still quite a lot of fun to play today despite its more frustrating elements speaks to its quality.  And of course, its emphasis on telling a story over endless, brain-dead combat and skill micromanagement makes it hold up much better than most games bearing the D&D license.  Definitely worth a look, especially as you can get almost the entire Gold Box series on GOG now for a token sum.

Developer: Strategic Simulations/Marionette

Publisher: Strategic Simulations, Pony Canyon, FCI
Released: 1988, 1989, 1992)
Platform: Amiga, Apple II, C64, DOS, Mac, NES, PC-9800
Recommended Version: I've only personally played the DOS and NES versions, but most of the computer platform releases seem to be comparable in quality.  The NES version is somewhat simplified in its interface and UI design and lacks some features (like certain character class creation elements), but does a surprisingly good job retaining the feel and challenge of the computer versions.

Icewind Dale

Black Isle takes the helm for another adventure in the Infinity Engine, made famous by Baldur's Gate and its sequel.  But does Icewind Dale's greater focus on combat ultimately help or hinder its playability?

Black Isle (later rebranded "Obsidian" after Interplay's financial troubles) is a name synonymous with many beloved RPG franchises, having worked on games like Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Planescape Torment and a few others like Alpha Protocol and Dungeon Siege III.  They also contributed to the Baldur's Gate franchise, and would later take their own crack at the Infinity Engine without Bioware's support in Icewind Dale.

Like virtually every prior video game both licensed and inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, Icewind Dale largely exhumes the device of a tabletop role-playing game as a storytelling vehicle and instead focuses almost exclusively on combat.  This is even more apparent in this game's case, however, as encounters in the game are frequent and massive in scale compared to Baldur's Gate - one can easily walk into any room in a dungeon and face a small army of roughly twenty monsters bearing down on them all at once.  Similarly, virtually every spell in the game is geared toward combat, removing many of the utility spells from Baldur's Gate in favor of adding more elements, enchantments and healing spells to give the player more tools for the battles they will face.

All of that said, Icewind Dale is at least one of the better-polished games in this format.  Combat, while frequently challenging, feels far less "cheap" than Baldur's Gate, with considerably fewer instances of spells that debilitate one's party and scarcely any foes that feel overly "broken" and all but require the player to use underhanded tactics (and savescum) in order to succeed.  This is aided in part by having numerous new equipment choices that allow the player to resist many status effects that neither Baldur's Gate ever allowed them to, but also by having a more linear progression to the game that ensures they won't stumble into, say, a Beholder lair before it's something they can reasonably handle.

The more linear format, as well as a lighter focus on story, comes into play in other tangible ways as well.  Most notably, since the story is no longer focused on a single character but now on the party as a whole, there are no longer immediate game overs when the lead character dies.  Loot is no longer fixed as it was in Baldur's Gate, but now somewhat randomized - most encounters have at least one item drop that is picked randomly from a list each time one begins a new game, which helps prevent "powergaming" with one's party to a degree.

Icewind Dale also takes many efforts to better balance the class and alignment choices afforded to the player, unlike its predecessor.  Bards, for example, now have many exclusive abilities that can buff the party in battle, help them resist (or cancel) negative status effects, as well as unique pieces of weaponry and armor.  Druids, Paladins and Rangers, as well as Multi and Dual classes, are considerably more viable choices as the low level cap of Baldur's Gate 1 is no longer in effect.  Furthermore, many good pieces of equipment are restricted to particular alignments, encouraging the player to mix them up among their characters - a stark contrast to the Baldur's Gate games, where characters of alternate alignments would violently conflict with one another.  This unfortunately means that alignment has little impact in terms of storyline or player choice, but does allow the player to take advantage of spells and abilities they might not otherwise see in a pure "good" or "evil" character playthrough.

Efforts are made to give higher-level parties something to do as well.  There is an expansion that adds in a fairly large optional quest to undertake, recommended for parties at level 9 or higher, as well as an extra quest included in the final patch called "Trials of the Luremaster" recommended for even higher level parties.  One can also begin a second playthrough by enabling the "Heart of Fury" difficulty setting, which gives all enemies the player encounters a large boost to their HP (multiplying their default total by 3, then adding another 80 on top of that to be exact), but to compensate for this, they give out far higher experience totals as well.

High-level play is not without drawbacks of its own, though  Those who have played Throne of Bhaal can attest that it was a fairly long slog, with the player having little in the way of challenge to face aside from some foes that required cheesy tactics to defeat, not aided by the comically overpowered high-level abilities they were granted (such as turning every attack they fired into a critical hit, or summoning exceptionally powerful monsters like Planetars to aid them).  Icewind Dale does not have any such abilities and is thankfully much more of a well-planned experience; however, Baldur's Gate's hard experience cap of 8,000,000 is handled in an equally inelegant way here - by giving every class a hard level limit of 30.  This applies to each class for a Dual/Multiclass character, which means that single-class characters ultimately fall by the wayside in a high-level game in favor of Fighter/Mages or Fighter/Thief/Mages or Fighter/Cleric/Mages - effectively the opposite of Baldur's Gate 2's high-level power dynamic.

At the end of the day, Icewind Dale aims for a combat-driven Infinity Engine experience and ultimately realizes it quite well.  Those looking for a deep storytelling experience probably won't find much to enjoy here, but fans of large-scale tactical combat with a D&D bent and a heavy emphasis on dice rolls (and more than a little savescumming/rolling back to earlier saves) should have quite a lot of fun with Icewind Dale.

Developer: Black Isle Studios, Overhaul Games
Publisher: Interplay
Platform: PC, iOS, OSX, Android, Linux
Released: 2000, 2014
Recommended version: The 2014 "Enhanced Edition" updates the game into the Baldur's Gate 2 EE engine, allowing for a much greater number of class choices, reduced spell durations on many effects (most prominently Charm and Sleep) and a much less clumsy interface.  Higher resolutions are also supported, updating the title to modern standards, and party AI is much improved over the original releases, with many new options for adaptive AI that make party management significantly less cumbersome.  Add an extra half-star for that version.