Pool of Radiance Board Update

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(Originally posted by Darien)

Well, the Official Pool of Radiance message board is getting busier every day. Here are some of Garrett Graham's comments from the last few days.

Economics of Game Making:
The distribution thing is fair point - and one I can't address since we only use legitimate retailers.

Interplay can hardly be considered a maker of hardcore (vs. mainstream) games. They make excellent games and their games sell very well by any standard. Sirtech games are a little less mainstream, but still, very few companies have survived long enough to make *eight* games in a series. I have to believe that they were doing something right all those years.

You are correct that EA and Blizzard are big enough to easily survive pirating (and hacking). But would you be happy only playing games by those companies? I happen to like a lot of the niche games that smaller companies put out. And as a gamer I am dismayed that so many good companies are going under or are making their games more mainstream. Pirates aren't the cause, but they are one contributor.

Ten dollars is a bit low (don't forget that the Cost of Goods is fixed for each unit sold), but if you can wait to buy a game (any game) it will eventually end up in the bargin bin and probably bottom out at around 20 bucks. I believe that someone pointed out that the lower price doesn't attract enough new buyers to offset the loss a company would take on the copies it would sell anyway at the higher price. But I had trouble staying awake during my economics class in college, so don't quote me.

Romances:
Something about fighting for your life as you're attacked by hoards of undead, orcs, drow, cultists and other nasty creatures precludes most romance.

Hard Drive Requirements:
The hard drive requirements are:

Min Install - 505 MB
Regular Install - 860 MB
Full Install - 1.2 GB

Things Left Out of the Game:
Actually, this is a discussion that's been had many times over the last two years. I've only been on the game since last November, so a lot of this is second hand. Also, the games division that I'm working with has been sold four times during the life of this game. And lastly the people responsible for making these decisions have all left the company (mostly *because* we've changed hands so many times).

The original concept for the game was 2nd edition, and I believe it was not the same "adventure" style it is now. After the initial concept and programming was done, WotC announced 3E rules. The decision was made to switch to the new rules set. The big problem was that the engine was pretty set and it was very difficult to change a lot of things. The other problem was that the 3E rules were still being designed and play tested, so it was tough to program a game to match a changing set of rules. Oh yeah, the original concept didn't call for all the races and classes. Despite what many people have said, this was done soley for monetary purposes - the comapany that owned us at the time didn't have the cash to do more. After we were bought (the first time), the producer at the time was able to convince the new company to pay more and we added Paladins, Monks and models for Halflings (which were using Dwarf models). When I was put on the game, I was told that it was too late to add anything major, because, at the time, we were going to ship in the Spring. We had some programming issues to iron out and now its fall.

Unfortunately at this point, there's no one left here who I can walk up to and say "what were you thinking?" (or even kick in the shins ). All I can say is that the feedback on this Forum hasn't been lost on me.

NPC Info:
There's a stategy guide coming out that will have detailed lists of the NPCs. Or you can wait for people to post it here.

You can play a Monk/Sorcerer (I recommend starting as the Monk)

You get the same HP, the difference is in what feats you'll start with. (Edit) I'm wrong! you start with max hit points, so you'll get 4 extra for starting as a fighter (end Edit) And with 3E rules you can mix up your multiclassing however you like.