The Series

The games this blog covers are divided into three series, with a few games in each series:

• Forgotten Realms

1. Pool of Radiance
2. Hillsfar
   
3. Curse of the Azure Bonds
4. Secret of the Silver Blades
5. Pools of Darkness

• Dragonlance

1. Champions of Krynn
2. Death Knights of Krynn
3. Dark Queen of Krynn

• Savage Frontier

1. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
2. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Of these, I know the Forgotten Realms series very well, having completed each of them at least twice (I think I've completed Pool five times, but it might be just four). The other ones, not so well, but the general principles on combat tactics work pretty much the same in all of them.

As the number of times I've played these shows, I also like the Forgotten Realms series the most. Well, Hillsfar is extremely boring, but since completing it gives a pretty nice hit point increase, I consider it something to slog through. I'll post more detailed reviews later, but of the individual games I think Pools is the best, followed by Pool, Curse, and Blades in this order. Curse and Blades are hard to put in order because they are such different games: Curse is a group of mid-level characters out of their depth, whereas Blades is a straightforward and not too difficult hack-and-slash, but the backstory in Blades is pretty good.

I don't much care for the Dragonlance series. Mostly the reason is the lack of really epic battles. Even the final battles are somewhat anticlimactic, especially the one in Dark Queen, considering how that is the culmination of the whole series (at least when compared to Pools). Kind of a pity, since the concepts in Dragonlance are nice, and the stories in the games are very well crafted.

I haven't actually played Treasures, but Gateway was, I thought, above average. What I most liked about it was how well the side quests worked, in contrast to Death Knights where I didn't even get to the side quests until after I'd completed the main storyline. But as I recall, combat-wise Gateway was too easy.