Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection One

For the most people the EOB-Serie is one of the best. Indeed it is a good series but with many flaws. 1. Unimplemented There are 6 mainclasses in EOB Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Thief, Cleric and Mage. Unfortunatly the Thief- and Rangerclass ist barely implemented in the game. Thiefs can´t backstab, hide in the shadow and can only pick a few locks. So the class is nearly useless. Also there are alot of useless itemslots in the game. There is no useful item for the footslot or neckslot. They are only decorativ. Helmets doesn´t work in EOB1-2. There is only one item for forearm/handslot in EOB1-2 and this item is only useful for mages. Basically half of the itemsslots are useless. 2. Unbalanced You can play the whole series with one party which is great but unhappily the items in EOB1 are extrem imbalanced. You get alot of +5 items in EOB1 which are the best items in the game. For example you get an +5 long sword in EOB1 and you won´t get any better or even equivalent weapon in EOB2-3 exluding one sword in the last area of EOB3. 3. Food There is a food mechanic in the game but it is nearly useless. First of all the hungermeter depletes in real time that means you can rest for 100 hours and are only slighty more hungry than before. Second the mandatory group cleric gets at low level a spell that creates food on demand. 4. Ranged Weapons There are ranged weapons in the game like bows and darts but you won´t use them because you have to pick up every single arrow/dart from the ground after using them. This is so annoying that most people avoid to use any ranged weapons. 5. No Automap There is no automap for the wohle series. This can be very frustrating especially in EOB1 and EOB3 because the leveldesign isn´t very good in this games. EOB2 has a good leveldesign with lots of decorations for orientation. 6. No Traders It is just a minor complain but some traders would be nice because there are only 2 parts in the game where you can choice between diffrent equipment.

Eye of the Beholder (EotB) is a reaction to the classic game Dungeon Master: like that game, EotB is a real-time, first-person-perspective dungeon exploration game. As such it is inherently fun, but it does suffer in comparison to Dungeon Master and its sequels. Fun stuff: - EotB features a dungeon that is interactive in first-person perspective: you find secret doors by spotting concealed switches, levers, and (most often) buttons. You can pick up items and throw them at opponents. You can use pit traps to drop enemies onto deeper levels, sometimes killing them. You can equip items onto models of the PCs' bodies, and their carrying capacity is measured by a number of slots as well as the normal weight limits of AD&D. - Monsters are not identified as "goblins" or "orcs" or anything else. You see a creature, and you have to decide whether it's hostile or not. Should you attack that dwarf, or try to strike up a conversation? Not so fun: - EotB uses the AD&D2 rule set. This was designed for turn-based tabletop play, not real-time. As a result, your PCs will die. A *LOT.* HP are low for a real-time game and the interface makes healing slow. Spells that should take one turn can take 3 or 4 (all while a monster is attacking every turn). - You can get stuck and need to restart your whole game if you do things in the wrong order. - Food depletes in real-time (per DM), but HP and spells regenerate only when you rest (per AD&D2). Food is plentiful, but this is still annoyingly unbalanced. I enjoy EotB, but be aware that you may have to restart multiple times to finish it and the UI is frustratingly obtuse, particularly if you've played DM or other games that use both mouse buttons to handle inventory management and have spells on the same page as attack buttons. Tabletop RPG fans should play this only after they've played all the Gold Box games, and video game fans should play this only after the Dungeon Master series.

I remember playing these on my Amiga 500 in the early 90's and then i bought them when i got my first PC in 1992. I stayed up most nights with a pencil and graph paper making maps. All i can say is download them and relive the glory days of computer RPG's. You will not regret it. Also buy all the Forgotten Realms collections from GOG. The gold box series has a special place in my heart as well. Enjoy

The grid-based real-time first-person dungeon crawler is a small but beloved genre, and the original Eye of the Beholder is one of the best entries within it. Yes, you will need your own graph paper to make your own map. It's that kind of game. (Or if you don't care about mapping, there's an included cluebook in the GOG release with exhaustive maps, although that's not quite the intended experience.) If drawing your own maps doesn't turn you off, this is absolutely the game for you, though. The environments are atmospheric, the puzzles are interesting without being punitive, the art is lovely, and combat is dynamic and satisfying. It goes for just the right length, finishing in time to leave you wanting more. EOB 2 delivers more of the same, albeit with a much higher difficulty. Anyone who finished EOB and doesn't feel like they're done yet will find a lot to love in the sequel, but the original is a marginally superior game. EOB 3 is a bit of a disaster, which is why it's basically free here with the first two games. Built by a different team, it looks ugly, it sounds ugly, and the level designs are amateurish and frustrating. On the plus side, the GOG release includes the post-release patch that many contemporaneous gamers never had access to, which means that the lag and sound glitches that plagued the original are gone. EOB 3 still isn't good, but this release is the best that it can possibly be. Modern audiences who've never experienced this genre before may be better off starting with the exceptionally good Legend of Grimrock games but for everyone else, get out your grid paper and prepare to enjoy!

At last GOG embraced it! The first two are epics, especially the II is remarkable. Fine graphics and music brought by Westwood Studios. Dungeon Master introduced the genre, Eye of the Beholder popularized it. Legend of Grimrock tried to resurrect it, but gameplay and look & feel fell short. I will not even wait for deals to put my hands on it!