I played this as a teenager, and enjoyed it enough. It's kind of a Bard's Tale on "Low Reward" mode, so you level and gain items and power, but in small increments. You never really stop feeling broke and trapped, which I really liked. I've never forgotten it, so the plot is good enough. Where this game excels is in the final battle. I figured it out without any hints, which is why I think I liked it so much. I won't spoil any, but the final boss is not just one more hack-n-slash. End bosses in games like this are always supposed to be all powerful and super awesome, but they just never pay off. You're always like "why did this weak guy wind up in charge?". Well, the boss in this should be in charge. I think after the ending, most of my party was dead and I used up all my disposables. I am one of those gamers who never uses up disposables unless it really hits the fan. So yeah. I think it took me a few hours to figure it all out and get it done. To this day, I consider this the best end battle I've ever experienced in any game anywhere. Have fun!
So I love these games, and I originally thought I had defeated the big bad guy at the end of Pool of Radiance. But the ending didn't seem to happen, didn't feel right. Meh, it was a ton of fun, so whatever. Years later, with the assistance of the clue book, I realized I missed a key detail. That's all I'm going to say to avoid a spoiler here. Well, that plus this series is what turned me into a hard core gamer. Pool of Radiance is my game zero and I strongly recommend the whole gold box series. Besides, I bet it's more fun now that you don't have to use 5.25" floppy disks!
