Some good ole titles on sale at GOG and thought I would see what's on everyone's must buy list. Here are a couple of mine:
- Eador: Genesis
- Silent Storm: Gold Edition
- Alpha Centauri + Alien Crossfire
- King of Dragon Pass
- Neverwinter Nights: Diamond
PE
Neverwinter Nights:Diamond
Icewind Dale 2
Baldur's Gate 2
Are on the top of my list for GOG.
I'm taking a little time off from wargaming to get an RPG fix.
Eador: Genesis
I was going to get more but blew my Christmas gaming funds on Steam's sale of Anno 2070 and CK2 DLC.
Alpha Centuri + Alien Crossfire (already have the CDs, just want this for convience)
Nexus The Jupiter Incidient
..and maybe Freespace 2
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on December 24, 2012, 09:51:23 AM
Neverwinter Nights:Diamond
Icewind Dale 2
Baldur's Gate 2
Are on the top of my list for GOG.
I'm taking a little time off from wargaming to get an RPG fix.
Did you see the big D&D Collection at Gamersgate, for $10?? Looks like it would knock out most of those.
Quote
Bundle Includes:
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 + Expansions [Average Metacritic: 91%] "...reigns supreme over every RPG currently available, and sets new standards for those to come" – PC Gamer Developer: Bioware
Icewind Dale 1 & 2 + Expansions [Average Metacritic 85%] "Once in a while, a game comes along that completely takes over your life. " – IGN
Planescape: Torment [Metacritic 91%] "Is it possible for a computer game to have the intellectual heft and emotional impact of a good book while remaining as captivating as a well-paced film? If so, the first candidate may well be Planescape: Torment. . " – New York Times
The Temple of Elemental Evil [Metacritic 71%] "A rock-solid RPG that faithfully re-creates a classic adventure." – Gamespy
http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-DBAMC/dungeons-and-dragons-anthology-the-master-collection
If anyone is into them, GOG.com currently has a City Builder's Special (http://www.gog.com/promo/city_builder_s_special) that includes:
Zeus + Poseidon (Acropolis)
Pharaoh + Cleopatra
Caesar III
Lords of Magic: Special Edition
Lords of the Realm III
Lords of the Realm: Royal Edition
It's one of those buy all for 75% off or individual games for 50% off specials.
So far, I've only grabbed Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire. However, I thinking I might pick up Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition as well.
Here's what's on my GOG wish list right now:
Miasmata
The 7th Guest (for nostalgia only, but my lady missed it and she'd probably like it)
Fahrenheit
Swat 3
Battle Isle Platinum
Planescape: Torment (for the convenience of not having to use 4(!) discs)
Neverwinter Nights
Arx Fatalis
I love computer games.
I just bought Neverwinter Nights: Diamond, Ghost Master, Sanitarium and one other title whose name escapes me from GOG. Got the four titles for about 16.00 :)
Greybriar I was interested in Lords of Magic but know nothing about it...have you played it? I love GOG because a lot of the titles are games I missed the first time around, and what could be better than getting a new game for ~4.00?
Oh, yes, Gus. I've played Lords of Magic. I purchased it in digital format from Good Old Games awhile back and it runs on my Windows 7 PC, but the controls while on the map are a bit erratic as I recall. So after the first effort or two, I gave up on playing it.
I played the game when it first came out and there were mixed feelings back then as to whether or not the game was worth the money. Personally, I enjoyed it to a certain extent. You might want to have a look at a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NKn7wSYzQU) to help you decide whether you want to give it a try.
Hope that helps you out.
^Thanks man, will do.
There's another thread dedicated to the game on these forums, but on the theory that good word-of-mouth is a great thing, I'll put in a very enthusiastic plug for Eador: Genesis. What feels like a very simplistic HoMM3 clone at first turns out to be a very deep and complex mix of the HoMM series, Dominions, and maybe a dash of the TW turn-based strategy game thrown in for good measure.
I would add FTL to the list, but I bought that one a bit longer ago!
Planescape-Torment
The Witcher EA
Still Life
Silent Storm
Myst V End of Ages
A New Beginning
Nexus, Jupiter Incident
and IL2 1946 (to avoid looking for my disk version)
I'm still waiting for GOG to do the Gold Box series by SSI.
Quote from: Sir Slash on December 24, 2012, 11:30:15 PM
I'm still waiting for GOG to do the Gold Box series by SSI.
YES! PLEASE!!!
Quote from: Sir Slash on December 24, 2012, 11:30:15 PM
I'm still waiting for GOG to do the Gold Box series by SSI.
Who has the rights to them at the moment?
Quote from: Nefaro on December 25, 2012, 02:25:52 AM
Quote from: Sir Slash on December 24, 2012, 11:30:15 PM
I'm still waiting for GOG to do the Gold Box series by SSI.
Who has the rights to them at the moment?
From looking at some of the former SSI titles GOG.com has, I would hazard a guess that Ubisoft (http://www.gog.com/catalogue?search=Ubisoft) does.
Yeah, it should be Ubisoft. The problem is, it also ends up involving Wizards of the Coast and Atari (since they have the current rights to D&D computer games), and it's tied in to AD&D as well. The good news is that all of the above are already on GOG. The bad news is that they have to convince ALL of them to agree.
And there's also the strong possibility that the code is long gone.
How do they lose a code?
The original uncompiled code to many classic games has been lost over the years. It's kind of like building a house but then losing the plans afterward.
You can live in the house as long as you want but you can't build another one based on the same design. I know it's a weak analogy but it's the first one that came to mind.
Apparently these things can't always be reverse-engineered, or so I've been told by those who actually know something about writing code.
Quote from: Nefaro on December 24, 2012, 10:06:38 AM
Did you see the big D&D Collection at Gamersgate, for $10?? Looks like it would knock out most of those.
I had not seen that, thanks very much, Nefaro!
I wonder if those older games on gamersgate are as Windows 7 friendly as the ones purchased on GOG. Any idea?
To elaborate on how one "loses the code" to a game, let me try to give a plain English explanation that hopefully makes up for in clarity what it lacks in precisions. If anybody has clarifications or corrections to offer, feel free to, as I really can barely play a developer on TV and never sling my own code, but I work with lots of people who do...
The games that run on our machines (and all apps, really) are basically binary code--all 0s and 1s. Those 0s and 1s get created by something written in a programming language (you may have heard of languages like C++, COBOL, etc.), but that programming language isn't intelligible to a PC in a stand-alone sense.
After you're done writing your program, you have to run a compiler to generate a binary code base that will actually run on the machine. That binary code is nothing but 0s and 1s--don't ask me how a PC can translate 0s and 1s into World of Warcraft but it does.
So the discs that we get don't contain the stuff written in C++ or Java or whatever programming language is used. They just contain the binary code, all in the format of 0s and 1s. Figuring out which 0 and 1 to tweak to alter the program is extremely complicated--I have no idea if it's impossible, but it's so complicated as to be pretty close to impossible, I think.
When you hear people talk about "source code", they're talking about the code written in a programming language that some other developer could look at and understand. That's what's lost.
The binary code that runs on our machines is still around, and can be (in theory) mass-produced. It just can't be altered.
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on December 26, 2012, 12:35:22 PM
The binary code that runs on our machines is still around, and can be (in theory) mass-produced. It just can't be altered.
Not that it would be legal, but aren't there ways to decompile software back into source-code, from the finished product? Many EULA's talk about this being against usage policy, so I'd reckon this would be possible?
Quote from: Arctic Blast on December 25, 2012, 03:10:43 PM
And there's also the strong possibility that the code is long gone.
I'm pretty sure the code is still around. The problem is Ubi. They know in theory they have several IPs which are worth their weight in gold. But in practice it isn't valued nearly has highly as when they bought it. I don't think they want to take that hit to the value so they just sit on it.
At least, that's the story as I remember it. I can dig around for more info if folks really want to know.
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on December 26, 2012, 11:29:54 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on December 24, 2012, 10:06:38 AM
Did you see the big D&D Collection at Gamersgate, for $10?? Looks like it would knock out most of those.
I had not seen that, thanks very much, Nefaro!
I wonder if those older games on gamersgate are as Windows 7 friendly as the ones purchased on GOG. Any idea?
Gamersgate is usually pretty good about placing warnings in the System Requirements listing, for each game, if something doesn't work under a specific OS. It'll says something like, "NOT WINDOWS 7 compatible!" or thereabouts. But you should still practice common installation procedures when using (especially older) games such as installing them to a location other than one of the "Program Files" folders and setting the shortcut/exe to 'Run as Admin'.
There are quite a good amount of Win98 & XP games that work in Win7. A quick google search will usually give you any title-specific details. I expect those games to run if each individual title's ReqSpec listing doesn't say.
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on December 26, 2012, 11:29:54 AM
..
Daily Deal at GOGFor that same package
plus NWN Diamond and a couple others, for ~$21.
http://www.gog.com/promo/dungeons___dragons_deal
You may still be able to get out cheaper, if pick & choose, but that's a pretty wide assortment. Plus, I think the GOG installers are the easiest (and best) to handle. So here's another offer to consider. If you just wanted to skip the few extras, the GG deal plus the GOG NWN Diamond one is probably the most cost-effective.
Only 17 hours left!!
Quote from: LongBlade on December 26, 2012, 01:23:08 PM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on December 25, 2012, 03:10:43 PM
And there's also the strong possibility that the code is long gone.
I'm pretty sure the code is still around. The problem is Ubi. They know in theory they have several IPs which are worth their weight in gold. But in practice it isn't valued nearly has highly as when they bought it. I don't think they want to take that hit to the value so they just sit on it.
At least, that's the story as I remember it. I can dig around for more info if folks really want to know.
That's often true when one studio buys another...they weren't interested in all of it.
And the thing is, are those old school D&D games worth a ton? Hard to say. Sure there's a market for them, but it is going to be limited. We're talking AD&D 1st Edition rules here.
Pulled the trigger on Icewind Dale 2 and Neverwinter Nights: Diamond last night, so that leaves only Baldur's Gate 2 still on my list.