It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
I am wondering what reviewers of these games talked about them when these games were originally released. In particular, I am interested in reviews written within a few years of the original release, typically before the Internet became widely accessible.

Does anyone know of any such reviews that have been posted online?

(Also, old reviews of the other SSI games would be appreciated.)
I should have known this thread also would degenerate into a discussion about "sexism".
Post edited April 10, 2016 by PetrusOctavianus
I'm not aware of any pages that have already collected these together, but the wikipedia pages of the games often have excerpts from contemporary reviews, from there you can do further searches to find the full articles.

For example, the Pool of Radiance page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_of_Radiance) mentions Dragon Magazine #143 (among others), and Dragon Magazine #143 can be found here: http://annarchive.com/archive.html.
Just to add to this, there is a Pool of Radiance review in CGW #54. There's also a preview of it back in issue #49.
Post edited April 10, 2016 by shponglefan
Just some thoughts from reading a couple of the reviews of Pool of Radiance:

The one in Dragon Magazine in #143 makes a comment about the game not letting you choose the languages you know. Does the game even implement that mechanic? Known languages are not something I think of as a game mechanic. (Well, Daggerfall *did* have language skills, but I am not sure if they even worked or not.)

The one in CGW #54 is written by Ken St. Andre, who wrote his own TRPG, Tunnels and Trolls, and also did game system design for Wasteland. He liked the game, but criticizes spell memorization and the automap. There is then a counterpoint review by Tracie Forman Hines, who did not like the game. Her review does mention the "apparent sexism" of limited female strength, as well as the fact that the game gives portraits with beards when you choose a female character.

(I use the term TRPG to mean Tabletop RPG, as opposed to CRPG, which means Computer RPG.)

Edit: Looking more closely, CGW #54 has two reviews, and the comment about sexism is actually from the second reviewer. Will edit again soon after more reading,

Edit 2: Fixed the post to not put words into Ken's mouth.
Post edited April 10, 2016 by dtgreene
avatar
dtgreene: Just some thoughts from reading a couple of the reviews of Pool of Radiance:

The one in Dragon Magazine in #143 makes a comment about the game not letting you choose the languages you know. Does the game even implement that mechanic? Known languages are not something I think of as a game mechanic. (Well, Daggerfall *did* have language skills, but I am not sure if they even worked or not.)
in por there is some elvish you use in sokal keep. you have to manually translate it using a straight 1 -> 1 table though, even with elves in the party.

the guy who made tunnels and trolls did a lot of trash talking dnd, tnt was a parody of it in a way, and he also hated vancian spell casting, so he would have written the same things without the game existing. the sexism thing is also a general complaint against 1st edition adnd in general and not really por.

some of the complaints were that por was supposed to be adnd, but there were no paladins, rangers, or druids, clerics had a low level cap, etc. then a big complaint of curse was that they stripped your items and that made a lot of people mad.
avatar
dtgreene: Her review does mention the "apparent sexism" of limited female strength, as well as the fact that the game gives portraits with beards when you choose a female character.
Beards on women, and men who can look like ladies? We've come full circle! Pool of Radiance is now greatly ahead of it's time!
avatar
dtgreene: Just some thoughts from reading a couple of the reviews of Pool of Radiance:

The one in Dragon Magazine in #143 makes a comment about the game not letting you choose the languages you know. Does the game even implement that mechanic? Known languages are not something I think of as a game mechanic. (Well, Daggerfall *did* have language skills, but I am not sure if they even worked or not.)

The one in CGW #54 is written by Ken St. Andre, who wrote his own TRPG, Tunnels and Trolls, and also did game system design for Wasteland. He liked the game, but criticizes spell memorization and the automap. There is then a counterpoint review by Tracie Forman Hines, who did not like the game. Her review does mention the "apparent sexism" of limited female strength, as well as the fact that the game gives portraits with beards when you choose a female character.

(I use the term TRPG to mean Tabletop RPG, as opposed to CRPG, which means Computer RPG.)

Edit: Looking more closely, CGW #54 has two reviews, and the comment about sexism is actually from the second reviewer. Will edit again soon after more reading,

Edit 2: Fixed the post to not put words into Ken's mouth.
Yeah, the portraits with beards when you choose a female character are for female dwarves, apparently. :D