From: aa706@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Keith Arner)
Subject: Higher Gear: SSI Games
Reply-To: aa706@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Keith Arner)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 01:04:15 GMT


As per the request for favorite/least favorite games:

I am into role playing games, and most of the SSI AD&D games have been
top notch.  The entire Gold Box Series will always be among my
favorites. (Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the
Silver Blades, Pools of Darkness, Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of
Krynn [plus, I am looking forward to playing the newer games that are
advertised as being mroe interactive]).  The Eye of the Beholder Series
is also great.

I fell in love with the Gold Box Series because of the battle system.
You fight monsters on a battle field viewed from overhead.  All the
obstacles that are in the walking map are there (things like walls,
trees, rivers, rocks).  Although the background adds to the visual
effects, the best part fo the system is the strategy of the combat.  You
must place your characters on the field so that you can get the best
advantage over your foes.  TO do this, you must make good use of the
natural barriers, such as trees and walls, to protect your flanks.  You
must also keep your weaker party members behind the lines for
protection.  From the back, these characters can lob spells at your
enemies to help you out.  Of course, if there is a breach in your line,
it could spell the end of your party, for you could be overwhelmed
quickly.

In Pools of Darkness, the computer got MUCH more intellagent.  It has
better battle tactics, such as being able to decide where to cast spell
to their best potency.  The enemies also have a tendancy to surround you
quickly.  Oftentimes, this cannot be avoided, as you enter combat with
monsters on four sides.  It takes stratigic placement of your party
members in order to keep everyone alive.  These advances make the game
much more challenging.

The only drawback to the battle system, is the load time.  Since the
battle is in great detail, it takes a long time to set it up.  If you
are running on an older system (like a commodore) or from a floppy
drive, you are going to have to do a lot of waiting.  Even from a hard
drive, you must wait a bit, butthe time is reduced greatly.

The Eye of the Beholder Series presents a different way of looking at
things.  Everything is seen first person.  There is no load time for
battles, as the monsters simply walk down the same corridors that you
do.  Everything is controlled by the mouse (you can use a joystick or
your keyboard, but I do NOT recomend it).  You have icons for all of
your possessions, and click on them to use them.  So when a Margoyle
comes down the hall, click on your daggers and bows to pelt him with
missles.  Everything is resolved in real time, so if you are looking
down to map a dungeon level, you could look up into the eyes of a giant
spider who is busy poisoning your party!  

Although the battles are intense, combat is not what wins these games. 
Thought power does.
In order to progress to higher (or lower) dungeon levels, you must solve
many puzzles.  These puzzles include finding levers to move walls,
depressing floor tiles in the proper pattern, figuring out your heading
in spinnign passages, and finding the correct keys for doors.

There are two thigns I do not like about this series, both have to do
with combat.  FIrst, you can only have two people in the front line.
So, you can only attack in meele with two people at a time - the rest of
your party has to sit in the back with spells and missle weapons. (Of
course, if you know how, and are quick enough, you CAN attack with four
people in the front rank, but it is rather difficult.)  Second, there is
no way to attack to the side, or back.  Your mage in the back rank can
eaisly be slaughtered by a monster behind you, and you have no way of
getting rid of them.

Although I love most of SSI's AD&D games, there is one exception:
Shadow Sorceror.  This game is set on Krynn (from the Dragonlance Saga).
You must help the slaves escape successfully from Pax Tharkas.  To do
this, you command your heros (the characters from Dragonlance, Tas,
Raistlin, Sturm, Flint, etc), moving them around the map.  You can order
the slaves to move in certain dirrections.  Your heros can enter battle
scenes to fight foes.  At first glance, the battle scene is awesome.
It resembles a chess board, viwed from one of the corners, and a bit
higher than the board.  The characters and monsters move around the
field, and can pass in front of, or behind each other.  The problem
comes along when you find out that this is a real time game, and you
have to controll four different people with one mouse, by
point-and-click on buttons that are not very clear.  You are supposed to
be able to coustomize the fighting style of each character, so that if
he gets low on HPs, he will run or stay, as you like, etc.
Unfortuanalty, it is never made clear exactly what the options DO.  When
you enter battle, your characters sometimes move seemingly of their own
volition.  You don't have any way of telling them which enemies to
attack, you just say 'Attack' and they try to find someone to kill.
When you cast spells, it is not very easy to hit yoru foes.  FOr
example, you can aim a fireball at a Draconian, and by the time the
spell gets there, the Draconian will have moved out of the way.  Now,
you could try to aim it at where you THINK the thing might move, but
good luck - it could move an entierly different dirrection, or you might
get one of your own party in the blast.

Out of combat, as I said, you are supposed to be able to tell the slaves
what to do.  Well, I read the manual about four times, and followed the
directions, but I could NOT figure out how to command them.

All in all, the graphics to Shadow SOrceror are great, the controls
however leave EVERYTHING to be desired.  And who wants good graphics if
you can't survive long enough to see them, except by chance??

Kieto/Kraven
-- 
                    Define:  The Undecided Major.
Definition:  What a College Freshman opts for, once he realizes that
 the Ultimate Cumulation of his Primary and Secondary Education is,
                          "Duh, I dunno."
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