chasewystone
Barely Literate
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2023
- Messages
- 1
I've been playing through the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons gold box games. I started with Pool of Radiance, transferred my party to Curse of the Azure Bonds, then to Secret of the Silver Blades and finally to Pools of Darkness. Even with how dated the games are, I have enjoyed the experience... until now.
In Pool of Radiance, you had a clear basic objective of "you're adventurers, and this town has need of adventurers," which eventually evolves into something more. You have some freedom to move and do things in whatever order, but you get pretty clear hints on where to go and what to do.
In Curse of the Azure Bonds, I had some drive through the story on what to do. Whenever I felt "lost," the game had ways of dropping hints on where to go, what was going on, and what needed to be done.
In Secret of the Silver Blades, I felt like the story was really slow to get started, but when you eventually met a specific NPC and got the ball rolling on the plot, it had a good, overall cohesive feel to the story and the maps.
In all three of the above games, the story progression mixed with leveling and finding equipment really kept me engaged and going. The issue I'm facing right now is that the story in Pools of Darkness feels really really dull. It feels like your whole drive boils down to "evil bad... bring good to land!". Am I alone in this assessment? Does anyone feel? Can you explain why (hopefully without involving spoilers?)
NOTE: I will point out that the graphical increase in PoD is fantastic, and I really enjoy the updates to the spells, sounds, etc. It's just feels like that's all that was really done.
In Pool of Radiance, you had a clear basic objective of "you're adventurers, and this town has need of adventurers," which eventually evolves into something more. You have some freedom to move and do things in whatever order, but you get pretty clear hints on where to go and what to do.
In Curse of the Azure Bonds, I had some drive through the story on what to do. Whenever I felt "lost," the game had ways of dropping hints on where to go, what was going on, and what needed to be done.
In Secret of the Silver Blades, I felt like the story was really slow to get started, but when you eventually met a specific NPC and got the ball rolling on the plot, it had a good, overall cohesive feel to the story and the maps.
In all three of the above games, the story progression mixed with leveling and finding equipment really kept me engaged and going. The issue I'm facing right now is that the story in Pools of Darkness feels really really dull. It feels like your whole drive boils down to "evil bad... bring good to land!". Am I alone in this assessment? Does anyone feel? Can you explain why (hopefully without involving spoilers?)
NOTE: I will point out that the graphical increase in PoD is fantastic, and I really enjoy the updates to the spells, sounds, etc. It's just feels like that's all that was really done.
