Customer Reviews

Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

For those having problems getting many of these games to work on modern computers-- Go to Google or Yahoo and do a search for two things- DosBox and D-Fend. They're both freeware.

Many of these games won't run properly on modern computers but that's where DosBox comes into play. It's a program that pretends it's an old DOS machine and exists only to run other programs (old games like these). It even simulates old sound cards and video modes almost perfeclty. I could go on and on. D-Fend is an excellent front-end for DosBox. If you're going to try DosBox, you'll want D-Fend. Trust me. D-Fend is easy to learn and simlifies things tremendously.

On to the main subject, these old RPGs. Before the days of the massive multiplayer RPGs we had RPGs that were centered around the sole experience of one player.. you. You would create your character or party of characters and off you'd go unto the dark unknown. No petty flame war going on in a general chat or someone discussing the latest movie while you're off in some supposed dark wilderness. It's just you, danger, strange things and nobody else. Although I do play and do like massive multiplayer RPGs, sometimes one just gets more of a feeling of adventure and mystery from some of the RPGs that were intended for the individual rather than a massive audience. If you've played Eye Of The Beholder for any length of time, then you know what I'm talking about. After all these years they're all right here. DosBox and D-Fend makes them all work. The price is worth it for the Eye of The Beholder series alone, but they're certainly not the only goodies in the package.

This pack has it all... I remember when I played "pool of radience" on my Apple ][ e. If you like roleplaying games will not so spectacular graphics...but a tight storyline "unlike more sophisticated rpg's aka Baldor's Gate" I think this is for you..

I bought this set several years ago, I no longer have it - but let this review explain why.

I got into the Gold Box series via Gateway to the Savage Frontier, which had copy protection (go to page # paragraph # line #, what is word #?), and for many of the plot points, you are told to refer to a Journal entry. Now this is important.

I bought it, brand new, and found that it came with no manuals, not even on the CDs themselves (which would do little good if it's been included like that unless you constantly alt-tab, which is risky considering how old and how finicky these games are). It did include three decoder wheels for the three games that needed those for copy protection.

I luckily still have the Gateway manual so I could play that, but for Eye of the Beholder, Blood & War etc., I was completely clueless on how you're suppose to do anything - and with Treasure of the Frontier, using the Gateway manual (since Treasure is it's sequel) - I managed to get in about 25% of the time, but I got horribly lost on what I'm suppose to do after the first twenty minutes.

Now if they had included any manuals with this collection, I would've kept it and treasure it, but instead I was disappointed and frustrated.

I remember playing Pool of Radiance on my Tandy 1000 HX. I love these games even more than some of the new high power games of today! If you are a true RPG fan than these games are for you.

Most of these games are oldies but goodies, but anyone born past 1985 will find them umm well ya, you get the point. However, if you are someone of the present gaming generation and want to see the RPGS that your parents or older brother who now graduated from college played, well this is your chance. If anything you can later make fun of them for how old your parents or brother who graduated from college really are. As a matter of fact these games are so old that you can find them floating around the internet for free (there being no Interplay anymore and all). So I encourage anyone to look there first. I know, because thats how I got all of mine originally, then I did a system restore and bought this instead because I didn't want to take the time I find them all again.

In 1991 I started playing the Pool of Radience and messed with the Pirates in the Bar. The computers back then could not handle the battle and always locked up. I wanted to finish this game and so I bought the package.

ok... i have this game pack, and i bought it at a gaming boutique in the mall for 14.99, so why is it so much??? it really shouldn't cost this much!! it doesn't even include the book with all of the journal entries and passwords and such..... which still wouldn't cost you more than twenty some dollars...... just thought i'd put my 2 cents in......... cause i saved much more than that at the mall for this game!