Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition

by Interplay

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001QEP7
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,534 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons has inspired more computer games than any other. You can get 13 of them in one package with the Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition. Like most collections of this size it has its share of hits and misses, but if you don't require cutting-edge graphics and modern interfaces to have fun, you'll find many hours of enjoyment in this vault of role-playing game history.

All the famous Gold Box games are included, from Pool of Radiance, the game that started it all, to the high-level adventure Pools of Darkness. It takes some doing to get them running properly, but the rewards are worth it for old-school role-playing fans that never had the chance to complete these great games. The ground-breaking Eye of the Beholder series--three terrific games--is also included. "Newer" games include the acclaimed Underdark adventure Menzoberranzan and Blood & Magic, a poor real-time strategy game that is by far the most disappointing title in this package. Even hardcore players likely won't get much satisfaction from the boring Dungeon Hack or Hillsfar, which has too much combat and too little depth.

Don't expect too much from the graphics in these games. Some are more than 10 years old, and they can be cranky on newer, faster machines running Windows 95 or 98. If you have the patience to get them running, however, this collection is one rewarding time machine. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Plenty of classic role-playing games
• All titles are set in the popular Forgotten Realms

Cons:

• The uninitiated will balk at the poor graphics and outdated interfaces
• Can be difficult to get these older games running properly on a modern system

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These are the best of the best of the old RPGs, June 12, 2003

By 

Richard Veysey (South Portland, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition (CD-ROM)

When I was younger, first getting into RPGs, my mom got me Might and Magic: Darkside of Xeen and a set of AD&D games with Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and Secret of the Silver Blades (3 of the 13 games in this set). Unfortunately I was too young to understand the complexities of all of the games, and never ended up getting very far, except in Might and Magic. A few years later I rented Eye of the Beholder (it and its two sequals are in this set) for SNES. I instantly became immersed in the enourmous environment provided, the Sewers of the city of Waterdeep provided great entertainment, and frustration, since there were no people to sell me potions, rations, or weapons. Once again I didn't make it very far, and always had to return the game before I got to the last battle.

Then, about a year ago I was in a certain store when I spoted a shelf of $10, two for one games. I looked through them while waiting for my mom to come from shopping and spotted this set in a smaller box, no instructions, only the decoder for entering some of the games included. But I instantly grabbed it, eagerly anticipating my mom's return so that I could purchase it. I bought it, brought it home, set it up on my older PC, and got right to Eye of the Beholder.

It is now one year later and I have gone through the entire Eye of the Beholder Series, completed Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure bonds, and am now working on Secret of the Silver blades. These are great games if you have an older computer (these may be the best games you can buy AND run on it), or even if you don't.

I have to admit, I wasn't happy with Blood and Magic and Hillsfar, but those are only two out of thirteen games (actually, Menzobaranzan doesn't seem to work with my computer, so that brings the total games I won't play to three out of thirteen). These games represent a wonderful range of styles. Eye of the Beholder is mostly like Baldur's gate, except first person (like the old Shadowgate games, or, I suppose, Myst) and with no shops, everything you use is found. Secret of the Silver blades is first person in the same way, untill you get into a battle. Then it goes to an overhead view with true turnbased combat. Blood and Magic is mostly like a strategy game.

If you like modern AD&D games, then this is probably a nice set of games for you. However, if you are new to the series, you should try some of the newer games, such as Baulder's gate and Icewind Dale.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Back in the day...", May 18, 2000

By 

Brian Smith "criacow" (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition (CD-ROM)

I can actually remember playing Eye of the Beholder 2 when it first came out, and Pool of Radiance when it was released for the 8-bit Nintendo system... When I heard this was released (actually, the original Archives), I was excited to see all these games back again. As a matter of fact, my Eye of the Beholder 2 characters are camped and resting as I write this. The games are in their original condition, and just as fun to play as ever. There's definitely enough here for months of fun, and something for everyone. People who are newer to computers might have a little trouble getting used to the interface at first -- it isn't given on a silver platter, and does require some use of the keyboard -- which, personally, is how I prefer a game to be.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent games, but todays PCs are way too fast, May 7, 2000

By 

"crix" (Tasmania, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition (CD-ROM)

I have loved these games since I played some of them on a C64 years ago. As they were written for slower PC's, if you have a PC faster than a 486 I would suggest using moslow or something similar, especially in combat. If you can put up with that, there is enough here for months of happy RPGing.