SSI Gold Box Games

[Rayfer]

I've tried to install and play these games through DosBox before, and the only issues I had were my PC making the characters move way too fast and it would sometimes lock the game up. I can only assume and hope they've fixed all that for this release. Otherwise I know what I'm getting into...you must buy it, Bison.

This was a problem with numerous old games running in DOSbox, since the processing power needs to be throttled.

Not sure if you guys have discovered this yet, but DOSbox has hotkeys for throttling it up and down.  Ctrl-somethingFuctionKeys IIRC.  I recall having to use it with the original Silent Hunter, along with entering a cd loading command that was a pain to get working.

I would imagine that the good people at GOG set DOSbox to run these games at a more appropriate processor throttle speed for modern PCs so you may not have to worry about it.  Of course, you can still adjust further after looking up the specific hotkeys.


I'm debating picking some of these up before long.  May have to just start with one set at a time, however.  I just picked up WH40K: Chaos Gate not long ago and I'm still in the middle of that.  Still - I'm really looking forward to these, especially the Eye of the Beholder-engined ones since I didn't play those very much back in the day but really enjoyed them.

I would do the same with the Eye of the Beholder trilogy if I could find some print-friendly level maps. They don't come with an auto-mapping feature and I have no desire to dig out the old graph paper and do it by hand.

[Rayfer]

Anyone else try Gateway to the Savage Frontier? I can create characters but as soon as I try to play the game it asks me to insert disc 3. Nothing seems to work to get past this....anyone succeed?

[Nefaro]

Anyone else try Gateway to the Savage Frontier? I can create characters but as soon as I try to play the game it asks me to insert disc 3. Nothing seems to work to get past this....anyone succeed?

This kind of thing seems to happen sometimes with GOG hosted DOSbox games.  I see it posted in their game forums sometimes, for various stuff.  Something with DOSbox probably needs patching so I recommend posting it on the appropriate forum for the game.

There are commands you can manually enter in the DOSbox command window (when you're running with it up) that can force it to load specific disk-related files.  The commands & hotkeys are in a readme file inside the DOSbox install location IIRC.  But I imagine GOG should have all this stuff scripted out in a game specific file for it, normally.

[Bison]

I just installed to check.  Made a character, added to party, and began adventuring.  Sorry no errors here Rayfer.  Perhaps re-install?

[Rayfer]

I just installed to check.  Made a character, added to party, and began adventuring.  Sorry no errors here Rayfer.  Perhaps re-install?

Thanks....I wonder why though? A Windows 10 thing?  Regardless...I posted on the GOG forums to see if there is something other than a reinstall to fix this.

[Bison]

Not sure, but I'm running Win 10 too. 

[Rayfer]

Not sure, but I'm running Win 10 too.

Here's the answer from GOG support....You probably tried to save the game directly after creating a party. To avoid the error, save only after starting an actual game. There was supposed to be a support article about it... Looks like someone forgot about it, but it will be up tomorrow.

[Toonces]

Ok, are these games really good or is this just nostalgia talking?

I mean, I have a plethora of unplayed RPGs, from Morrowind to Might and Magic 1-6, to Drakensang, to Baldurs Gates 1 and 2...

So do these SSI games usurp all of these or am I ok holding off until I've finished, say, the Baldurs Gate series?

[BanzaiCat]

I think the Gold Box games are excellent.

To answer your question, Toonces, I think a lot of it IS actually nostalgia. I think you could wait but you should definitely give it a shot at some point. For $10 for all those games in the Pack 2 collection, that's a great price. I remember buying it from Babbage's for 49.99 back in the day, and that was hard on 3.15 an hour.  :-[

[Bison]

I think it's worth trying, BUT I also suspect that anyone who isn't moved by nostalgia to replay the games may find the graphics and UI off putting.  Watch some YouTube videos and remember no mouse support.

[Toonces]

Yeah, some YouTube videos are a good idea.  Thanks for the suggestion...seems kind of obvious. 

[Sir Slash]

Yeah, I think it's mostly nostalgia. The games are really showing their age with the graphics and music but still they have a simple charm all their own. The pacing is just about perfect and there's never too much or too little of anything like loot or money. The games don't feel like they're letting you win or trying to keep you from winning. Plus they're AD&D man. Pool of Radience you begin with a handful of HP's and an Armor Class of a marshmallow and by Pool of Darkness, you're helping Elminister foil Bane himself with your God-like powers. Except for POR they are very much on rails though. But the stories are pretty good with some surprises and, most importantly, they are FUN.

[Bison]

Pool of Radiance is IMHO the best D&D game ever made.  It just does everything right.  The 1st person exploration, the actual turn based combat w/ friendly fire, and the loot scaling.  I cannot imagine a game made today where people would be "HOLY SHIT!  +2 Longsword and +2 Platemail!!  My fighter is going to ROCK!"  The game is brilliant in it's implementation.

[JasonPratt]

If PoR was made today by an indie dev team of two or three people who were promising and delivering retro gameplay with as close to authentic AD&D 2.0 rules as possible on a computer, they would be selling the hell out of it.

And probably still in late alpha, asking people to pay for Early Access.  >:D

[BanzaiCat]

So, those of you that remember...why can't I equip my human thief with a short bow or long bow? I thought both were acceptable. Maybe I'm thinking of another Gold Box game. I bought a sling just to be safe but haven't had a chance to use it yet, as the *#$**% final encounter in the Slums keeps cheatin'...

Fighter 1: miss
Fighter 2: miss
Fighter/Mage: miss
Thief: miss
Cleric: miss
Hired fighter: miss

Troll everyone was trying to hit: THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD everyone dies.