D&D General Classic Gold Box D&D CRPGs coming to Steam

[Demetrios1453]

They hold up surprisingly well if you can put up with the somewhat janky controls and looking stuff up in books because it's not in the game itself.

The games assume you know 1e D&D rules. Which at the time made sense. Not so much now lol.

There are some guides online that aren't just walk-throughs, but also go over the edition's rules for those not familiar with them.

 

[Rystefn]

The games assume you know 1e D&D rules. Which at the time made sense. Not so much now lol.

There are some guides online that aren't just walk-throughs, but also go over the edition's rules for those not familiar with them.

The rulebooks that come with the games explain the rules they are using in significant detail. Not quite to the degree that BG1 did, where you could pretty much just play AD&D 2nd edition out of the video game manual with no other books, but more than enough to understand what's going on in the game. I know that the idea of reading a manual for a video is kind of alien to most gamers now, but the game absolutely does not assume you know the rules. It comes with the rules because it assumes that you do not.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I sometimes find it difficult to go back and play old games. Fallout 1 & 2 were great games, but last time I made an attempt to reply them I gave up because the gameplay just didn't age well in my opinion. How are the Gold Box games?

I partially answered your questions in the post I just posted, but beyond that they hold up as well as 30+ year old games can. The Steam versions come with a DOS emulator as well as Gold Box Companion, which is an originally fan made UI enhancement and editor that does smooth out some of the rougher edges.

Also, since there seems to be some interest, I'll be starting a Let's Play here soon, so you can see for yourself.

 

[Count_Zero]

I sometimes find it difficult to go back and play old games. Fallout 1 & 2 were great games, but last time I made an attempt to reply them I gave up because the gameplay just didn't age well in my opinion. How are the Gold Box games?

Also, they are as close to Rules As Written a game designed for DOS can allow - complete with coinage having weight. (Unfortunately, there isn't really a bank in the games you can use to stash some of your cash in, like Bethesda would later use in Arena & Daggerfall.)

 

[Demetrios1453]

Also, they are as close to Rules As Written a game designed for DOS can allow - complete with coinage having weight. (Unfortunately, there isn't really a bank in the games you can use to stash some of your cash in, like Bethesda would later use in Arena & Daggerfall.)

There actually are in some of the games - Secret of the Silver Blades and the Dragonlance games all have vaults for you to stash extra money and equipment. SotSB even has a convenient "switch your coins out for gems" service at the vault, and a magic item shop around the corner (mostly ammo and other consumables, but that's still pretty helpful). The Dragonlance games have similar magic shops (no gem exchange though), but they are in different areas of the map from the vaults, so you're stuck walking back and forth with massive amounts of coin across the map, which is a pain when random encounters occur and you're stuck with the minimum move speed due to the weight you're carrying. You can even store stuff with Elminster in Pools of Darkness, but he's hardly conveniently located out there in Limbo.

Despite the game's other faults, the base town in Secret of the Silver Blades has by far the best set up of all the Gold Box games when it comes to useful amenities all being in one location, all right near each other.

 

[Demetrios1453]

OK, started up a new game of Pool of Radiance, and got to the point where everyone is equipped and rested, and the real adventure begins. I've taken a ton of screenshots, mainly just to show character creation and game setup (I'm assuming there will be a lot fewer screenshots necessary once the game is underway - I'm certainly not going to screenshot every fight, although obviously there will still at least be a few). It's just a matter of typing up introductory stuff for the Gold Box games as a whole, info on Gold Box Companion, character creation, and basic start-out gameplay (getting quests, buying and equipping items, spells and rest, and so on). Should hopefully have the new thread up and a few posts in the next few days!

 

[Seramus]

OK, started up a new game of Pool of Radiance, and got to the point where everyone is equipped and rested, and the real adventure begins. I've taken a ton of screenshots, mainly just to show character creation and game setup (I'm assuming there will be a lot fewer screenshots necessary once the game is underway - I'm certainly not going to screenshot every fight, although obviously there will still at least be a few). It's just a matter of typing up introductory stuff for the Gold Box games as a whole, info on Gold Box Companion, character creation, and basic start-out gameplay (getting quests, buying and equipping items, spells and rest, and so on). Should hopefully have the new thread up and a few posts in the next few days!

Don't forget, you can make a grand campaign importing from Pool* > Gateway > Curse > Treasures > Secret > Darkness.

You are overleveled for Gateway, but it's a lot of fun taking one party through all 6 games.

 

[SteveC]

Oh I have so many happy memories of these games. I played them on the Commodore and I think they stopped supporting them before Pools of Darkness, so I never completed the series. Pools of Radiance is one of my all-time favorite games.