Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[mondblut]

I had control of the character, there's just never a move option during combat. I think she got permanently stuck by a Giant Mantis or something. Even emptied her inventory, but since her movement was shown as 6, I think it was bugged. Tried remove curse, restoration, dispel, etc to no avail.

Check the "effects" or something tab in spellcasting/memorizing submenu, it shows which buffs and ailments affect party members.

Edit: it's encamp/magic/display.

For trolls, you can buy a lot of flaming oil flasks and use those to finish them.

 

[Thrasher]

Right, I am not referring to Ruins of Myth Drannor.

Hmm, this game is so old is doesn't have a readme with a version number. It is the Dos version packaged within the silver boxed "Forgotten Realms Archives Collection".

My party is getting reamed in the 3 wave Kobold cave battle. My fighter mages aren't high enough level to cast fireballs. I may have to resort to scrolls and wand of magic missiles to make it through this one. Trolls are a pain, even with stinking clouds...

Has your character become "unstuck"?

The battle that you are referring to can be a pain. And without fireball, a further pain. I would have taken all single class characters apart from perhaps a fighter thief (though it is sometimes easier to just hire a thief for the Cadorna Mansion area. The rest of the game does not really need a thief who perhaps comes in handy for a few other areas).

With Trolls, once they go down, get a character to stand where they were standing. I have found this stops them rising again (though this was in the C64 version).

I had to give up and go back to previous save to unstick the character. Now I make sure evertme a character is hit with an effect like that that he/she can move before ending combat.

The party is all multi-classes except for the fighter. So the fighter/mages are used mainaly as archers and disablers. But they can fight in melee in pinch, but not so well against trolls. imay go ahead and get them plate armor even though it reduces their mobility from their chain mail+1. it's only an increase in AC by 1, so I'm not convinced it's worth the loss of mobility.

 

[Thrasher]

I had control of the character, there's just never a move option during combat. I think she got permanently stuck by a Giant Mantis or something. Even emptied her inventory, but since her movement was shown as 6, I think it was bugged. Tried remove curse, restoration, dispel, etc to no avail.

Check the "effects" or something tab in spellcasting/memorizing submenu, it shows which buffs and ailments affect party members.

Edit: it's encamp/magic/display.

For trolls, you can buy a lot of flaming oil flasks and use those to finish them.

Good call! I forgot about those flasks! I think it's time to go back to Phlan to do some shopping!

Yep, checked the display tab. It was <none> for the character that was stuck. So it really looks like a bug.

Could be related to closing the the DosBox window in th middle of a badly going battle...

BTW is there any use forthe huge ammount of gold you acquire? It would be nice to be able to buy some consumables like potions and wands, but the shopkeepers only seem to carry mundane items.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I had control of the character, there's just never a move option during combat. I think she got permanently stuck by a Giant Mantis or something. Even emptied her inventory, but since her movement was shown as 6, I think it was bugged. Tried remove curse, restoration, dispel, etc to no avail.

Check the "effects" or something tab in spellcasting/memorizing submenu, it shows which buffs and ailments affect party members.

Edit: it's encamp/magic/display.

For trolls, you can buy a lot of flaming oil flasks and use those to finish them.

Good call! I forgot about those flasks! I think it's time to go back to Phlan to do some shopping!

Yep, checked the display tab. It was <none> for the character that was stuck. So it really looks like a bug.

Could be related to closing the the DosBox window in th middle of a badly going battle...

BTW is there any use forthe huge ammount of gold you acquire? It would be nice to be able to buy some consumables like potions and wands, but the shopkeepers only seem to carry mundane items.

Only paying for training really, and perhaps identifying. Apart from that, there is only a few areas where you can bribe.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

As I recall, there's a shop with very expensive Long Bows (25,000 gp, if I remember right); they're called Fine Long Bows. I think they allowed you to use your strength bonus for damage. The shop has a few other items (eg. a Silver Dagger), but I'm pretty sure they're not really useful. I also thought you were able to convert cash to jewelry, if you don't want to carry all the weight, but that may have been one of the other games.

 

[dragonbait]

The only bug I ever came across was that at the end of the game I had 10648064 Gold Pieces and 61000 pieces of Jewlery. Sadly, the money did not transfer over into Curse Of The Azure Bonds.

The jewelery bug was great wasn't it? Besides that, I never had any other bug issues with PoR. Here's a nice picture of the loot.

 

[Jasede]

Those stats are ridiculously good. o.o

 

[Jasede]

I have a few questions. Tried the game before, got distracted.

I want to play all the games in the series in order with importing. But I also want to play the best platforms they are on.

So here's the question:

Does the FRUA version of PoR let me import my characters into the second game?
Are there Amiga versions of all four games? I looked at three amiga disk sites and couldn't find PoR, but I did find Secret of the Silver Blades.

 

[Thrasher]

It's very easy to cheat this game, but I refrained from it so far....

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Pools of Darkness is available on the Amiga, as are the other three games in the series.

But I'll bet you money you won't finish all four of them. The last game has that effect on people...

 

[dragonbait]

I have a few questions. Tried the game before, got distracted.

I want to play all the games in the series in order with importing. But I also want to play the best platforms they are on.

So here's the question:

Does the FRUA version of PoR let me import my characters into the second game?
Are there Amiga versions of all four games? I looked at three amiga disk sites and couldn't find PoR, but I did find Secret of the Silver Blades.

I am not sure about the FRUA version of PoR. I have only ever played the original version. & I believe all 4 games were released on the Amiga. Check herel for the amiga version of PoR

 

[Jasede]

Yep, found it as you posted that.

God, I forgot how much rolling characters randomly sucks. I want my Fighters to have 18 Dex and Con and 17 Str at least, but I'm about to give that up.

 

[Thrasher]

Yep, that's why apparently a lot of people just cheat in the statistics, using the alter menu on a character before starting the game.

However, I've read the monsters scale to your stats.

 

[dragonbait]

modifying your characters stats at the beginning helps out allot. Otherwise it gets frustrating at times when it takes 4 or 5 swings and misses before you finally hit something.

 

[Thrasher]

Yes, like my tank taking 4 swings before he hits a troll, in the meantime taking 40 points of damage. Talk about irritating...

 

[Frau Bishop]

However, I've read the monsters scale to your stats.

They do in PoR? Never heard about that, wow.

 

[Thrasher]

That's what I've read. No actual experience since I'm playing only one run through with one set of characters.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

I have a few questions. Tried the game before, got distracted.

I want to play all the games in the series in order with importing. But I also want to play the best platforms they are on.

So here's the question:

Does the FRUA version of PoR let me import my characters into the second game?
Are there Amiga versions of all four games? I looked at three amiga disk sites and couldn't find PoR, but I did find Secret of the Silver Blades.

The FRUA version of PoR lets you import characters into other FRUA modules. You cannot import them into the non-FRUA versions. There's also a FRUA Curse module, but I'm not aware of ones that have been made for Secret of the Silver Blades or Pools of Darkness. Also realize that if you plan on using the same characters through all 4 games, you won't have access to the Paladin or Ranger classes, as these aren't available until Curse. If your stats are up to snuff, you can dual class them, though, or you could just drop some characters and add new ones. You may just want to plan ahead for that eventuality. Also, you're probably not going to want to use demi-humans, as the level limits really start to become a problem later (a little in Curse, more so in Secret, but its especially bad in PoD).

Yep, that's why apparently a lot of people just cheat in the statistics, using the alter menu on a character before starting the game.

However, I've read the monsters scale to your stats.

I'm almost positive they don't. Why would the developers go to so much trouble trying to emulate the PnP rules for everything else, and then make a rather significant change to the rules likes this? It wouldn't make any sense.

 

[dragonbait]

Well everyone that I know that has played the gold box series always used the modify option at the start of the game. But I don't consider that cheating though. It would be cheating if the modify option was not an option. Cheating would be using a hex editor to max the stats up to 25.

Also concerning transfering characters...It's actually better to start fresh with a new team. A new character using the modify option starting in Curse will have higher hitpoints than any transfered character from Pool of the same level. Granted when you transfer the character from Pool to Curse they will be level 8 (fighter) while a new fighter in Curse will only be level 5 but in the long run, the new character modified in curse will have the higher HP.

oh and @Flux_Capacitor........88 Miles per hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I just couldn't help it.

 

[Thrasher]

However, I've read the monsters scale to your stats.

I'm almost positive they don't. Why would the developers go to so much trouble trying to emulate the PnP rules for everything else, and then make a rather significant change to the rules likes this? It wouldn't make any sense.

LOL! In REAL Dnd the Dungeonmaster would frequently scale the difficulty of the encouunters to the party. If even says that in the rulebooks and campaigns. Really the only way to know for sure is to run some empirical tests.

But I'd rather trust the guide which presumably has done so. See page 54 of the below....

http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.1485

 

[dragonbait]

That is super interesting. If that really is true, that's pretty sophisticated and intriguing. In case you don't feel like downloading and viewing the cluebook, here is what it says regarding the matter.....

The characters in a party do not need
such amazing scores to win the game. In
fact, any well played party should be able
to win. The computer is smart enough to
gauge the power of the party and it often
modifies the number of monsters in an
encounter to give the party a good fight
regardless of their power. Beginning characters
with very high ability scores look to
the computer like high level adventurers .
This may put them at a disadvantage
because the party does not have the HP,
spells or the magic treasure of high level
adventurers.
A balanced party needs at least four characters
with good fighting capabilities, at
least two characters that can throw clerical
spells, at least two characters that can
throw magic user spells, at least two characters
who are equipped with bows, and
at least one character who has thieving
abilities. As this is more than six characters,
some of the characters will have to
have multiple capabilities . Once you have
these bases covered, mix and match the
party's capabilities to match your style of
play.

Regardless of what it says, I still recommend maxing out your characters with the modify option at the beginning of the game. I have beaten all 4 games in the gold box Forgotten Realms Series, and would not play them without modification.

 

[jaylittle]

Poo of Radiance is bugged out the ass. I wouldn't suggest playing it unless you're prepared to start over many, many times.

Codex Rule #1783: All posters should know what the term Gold Box refers to.

What the fuck is your excuse?

 

[Thrasher]

It would be interesting to run some tests to really understand this scaling....

 

[dragonbait]

Poo of Radiance is bugged out the ass. I wouldn't suggest playing it unless you're prepared to start over many, many times.

Codex Rule #1783: All posters should know what the term Gold Box refers to.

What the fuck is your excuse?

Is that really Codex Rule #1783? Shouldn't it be Codex Rule #1?

But seriously, no need to be so harsh on the guy. A good stern warning of "Play Yer Damn Gold Box Series before making comments!" should suffice.

 

[Thrasher]

Note that it doesn't say if character levels are part of the scaling equation. How are MC characters treated? Is total XP looked at, total levels, or just stats....