dtgreene: Is healing your party as annoying as it is in Pool of Radiance?
Gudadantza: I you mean the lack of proper "fix" command, yes, it is the same but I don't know why the system is more straighfrward being even more complex. Anyway it has a button for eal everything or something like that, so i'd say it is a fix of some kind with the difference that it does spend energy used to cast spells, combat etc... It is not free.
Now you need to cure bleeding and wounds as different entities, not counting the classic poison. and every one has low, medium and hard levels. So in the last notes of the manual (manal not available in the GOG version, please OOG fix this) the developers encourage you to maintain in your eight people party at least two priests, healers and double classes everywhere. With priests the healing options in the camp menu are expansive, giving you more flexibility than in Pool of Radiance.
But basically the micromanaging, inventory, markets, trade and coins system is like a proto Pool of Radiance, but less polished. So if anybody loves that micro, will love the game the same as Pool of Radiance.
And the same with the combat system, but expanded and even more detailed. Facing Combat Based, Three or four types of attack, each one with its advantages and disadvantages depending the situation (attack, defensive attack, attack to kill, mark the target to attack later) three possitions (guard, stand, prone...) A system of a point person leading at the start of the combat to evade ambushes, to ambush or to detect the facing and the possition of the enemy.
And more. The options available in combat are very detailed.
For a 1985/86 game it was more tactically advanced than a lot of modern examples.
Greetings
It's not just the lack of a proper "fix" command; Pool of Radiance has other issues that contribute to it.
If using magic to heal:
* Cure light wounds is extremely weak. It only heals 1-8 HP, and it's quite possible that you might get only 1 HP. When fighter-types can realistically reach tue upper double digits, this is so weak it's practically 0.
* So, maybe try using a stronger healing spell? Except that you *can't*, as CLW is the *only* healing spell in the game.
* Now that you've cast the spell, getting it back isn't as simple as resting. No, you have to explicitly go and re-memorize the spell (side note: why should I have to memorize a spell more than once? Shouldn't "memorizing" mean learning the spell permanently? (33 D&D changed this to "prepare", which is a much better term for this)). Hence, this means more menuing.
* And that rest? No, you don't get a full heal. Rather, you get like 1 point of healing for your whole party.
* As a result, the fastest (real-time) way to heal your party is to rest for weeks at a time, and that's just ridiculous.
Even Wizardry, with its weak healing until MADI and its trap option of resting at the inn (except in the stables) was better than Pool of Radiance, because at least Wizardry would eventually give you a good healing spell; Pool of Radiance did not. (Then again, Wizardry 6 and 7 have major healing issues in the late game.)
Gudadantza: Anyway it has a button for eal everything or something like that, so i'd say it is a fix of some kind with the difference that it does spend energy used to cast spells, combat etc... It is not free.
That's OK (assuming there's a way to reagain that energy in a reasonable amount of real-time, at least in a safe space). What's not OK is having to spend lots of real-time going through the cumbersome process of casting an absurdly weak healing spell because it's the only option, remembering to re-memorize the spell, and then resting to get the spell back.
There's a reason Dragon Quest (and Might & Magic) made it so that a single rest brings you back to full strength.
