| Pools Of Darkness |
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''Pools of Darkness'' is the fourth in a four-part series of Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box adventure Computer Games , published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. . The game was released in 1991 . The story is a continuation of the events after Secret Of The Silver Blades . STORY The party starts their adventure in the city of Phlan, charged with the task to safely escort Council Member Sasha on a diplomatic mission. Upon leaving the city, Lord Bane, along with four of his lieutenants, claims the entire land of Faerûn as his own, and magically teleports, destroys, and removes many cities off the face of the land. The goal of the task is to systematically restore order to the realms by destroying Bane's minions one by one, and returning light and order to the land plunged in darkness. GAMEPLAY To play Pools of Darkness, one simply needs to create characters and form a party. The gameplay basics are identical to all games in the series. The game does come with a pre-designed party, but many players prefer to create their own characters. One can modify the appearance and some colors of the character's combat icon and then name the character. A maximum of six characters may be added to the party and it's highly recommended to use all six spaces as the game does not give any handicaps for smaller parties. NPCs sometimes join the party in the game, making it possible to have more than six characters. Characters can also be transferred from Secret Of The Silver Blades . For more information, see the Gold Box Gameplay article. PLOT OVERVIEW The game is fairly straightforward. The party's objective is to defeat Bane's lieutenants Thorne (an ancient red dragon), Kalistes (a Tanar'ri Marilith), and Tanetal (a Tanar'ri Glabrezu) and acquire the items they possess. The ultimate goal is to reach Bane's Land and face off against Bane's last and greatest lieutenant, Gothmenes (a Tanar'ri Balor). All of the lieutenants are found in other dimensions, which can be reached using portals known as Pools of Darkness. Travelling through the pools can cause many types of items the characters are holding to be permanently destroyed and lost. The party may opt to leave these items in a vault to save them. Naturally, any items from the dimensions will suffer this same fate when travelling back to the realms. Some items that will survive include the Vorpal Long Sword and composite bows. There are also many side quests the party can do along the way, which is a good idea for gaining experience and items, especially early on. There are a lot of invisible areas on the overworld the party can enter, so it's a good idea to look around the open fields for any such places. This is true of all the overworlds. The mandatory quests involve:
It is also recommended to do the quests in this order, while doing any desired side quests. GAME DIFFERENCES ''Pools of Darkness'' differed from its predecessors in a number of ways. Unlike the other gold box games where the party always stayed in Faerûn, the quests that the party have to endure traversed many dimensions to do battle with Bane's lieutenants. These include Thorne's Cave, Kalistes' Land, a visit to the sleeping god Moander, and finally Bane's Land itself. The game was by far the most extensive of any of the gold box series, in storyline depth and possibilities of advancement and equipment. The game also featured better graphics at the time as it supported 256 colors instead of 16. Mages have the ability to get up to level 9 spells (the maximum). A popular spell available in this game is the Delayed Blast Fireball, which can cause damage to many targets at once. Unlike Secret Of The Silver Blades , the fireball cannot be delayed and is cast immediately. Another minor difference is the font used in the game is less stylish, but easier to read. COMBAT VICTORY BUG One way to win a combat without killing the monsters is to have the party run to an out-of-the-way spot where none of the monsters can see it. This can only be done indoors and cannot be done on the overworld. The only feasible places to hide are behind walls. The monsters will typically not be able to find the party if it is positioned far enough behind a wall. Just stay put and keep guarding and the game will eventually declare the party the winner and give experience. If a monster locates the party during the process, the bug will not work. GAME CREDITS
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