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This is the old Good Old Games thread. Fine the new Good Old Games thread. [GOG.com]

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Posts

  • The_TuninatorThe_Tuninator Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Also, as to why Heroes III is the best-there's a few reasons.

    #1-Faction variety. HoMM III has 9 factions, and while 2 of those factions (Conflux and Necropolis) are stupidly broken in the hands of a player, the AI doesn't abuse what makes them OP too badly, and so for all intents and purposes HoMM III single-player has 9 viable factions. Each of these factions plays completely differently from the others. How many other strategy games can claim that?

    #2-The art is fantastic. HoMM III's adventure map and town screens still look gorgeous, even today. The battle graphics have aged a bit, but they're not an eyesore by any means. HoMM's townscreens are (imo, of course) some of the most memorable sights in gaming, and HoMM VI leaving them out was nothing less than an outrage.

    #3-Great gameplay. HoMM III expanded on the already-great base provided by II by adding more spells, skills, heroes, units, abilities, and adventure map features. You can easily pour hours into the game and never get tired of it, with its excellent blend of tactical combat, turn-based strategy on the adventure map, and the RPG elements of leveling your heroes. Additionally, the game has literally hundreds of pre-made maps, most of which feature a funny or engaging story, a RMG if and when those become tiresome, and a community which has churned out hundreds more amazing high-quality maps thanks to the inbuilt and fantastically easy-to-use editor.

    #4-Great atmosphere. The HoMM series always had a fantastic sense of humor, and the little message boxes that would pop up (up until NWC died, anyways) were filled with charm, wit and soul. Even the individual "skirmish" maps typically have legitimately interesting or gutbustingly hilarious stories. There's an engaging story featuring all-out war between more or less the entire roster of D&D's Monster Manual. Ever wanted to see efreeti battle basilisks? This is your game. Additionally, the HoMM III OST is quite literally the best I've ever heard in any game, ever. Even the ambient themes are a joy to listen to, and the town themes are nothing short of magnificent. People talk about Zelda and Final Fantasy OSTs, but there's no competing with the HoMM series when it comes to amazing music. It always gets overlooked in favor of the notable console series' OSTs when it comes to music discussion, which is a goddamn shame.

    The_Tuninator on
  • MulletudeMulletude Registered User regular
    Been playing HOMM3. As great as I remember it...But it keeps crashing to desktop. Gonna have to start saving every other turn I think. Or maybe every turn. :?

    XBL-Dug Danger WiiU-DugDanger Steam-http://steamcommunity.com/id/DugDanger/
  • The_TuninatorThe_Tuninator Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Mulletude wrote: »
    Been playing HOMM3. As great as I remember it...But it keeps crashing to desktop. Gonna have to start saving every other turn I think. Or maybe every turn. :?

    Really? That's very weird, HIII almost never CTDs for me, and certainly not that often. Are you running any mods or anything?

    Also, there should be an autosave feature.

    The_Tuninator on
  • CorpekataCorpekata Registered User regular
    The GOG support page for HOMM3 says to try running the game through the exe found in the game folder rather than the shortcut (as well as trying different compatability modes if that doesn't work).

  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    whats this free copy of the witcher 2 if you own the witcher 2 thing the title is talking about?

    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • TertieeTertiee Registered User regular
    If you bought of Witcher 2 from somewhere else like a retail box or from Steam you can register the code at GOG.com and get a free DRM copy of the game.

  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    I am not good at picking fights in HoMM 3. Some vampires are sitting on a gem resource next to my starting city. "They're only two levels above me," I thought.

    Famous last words.

  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    Drake wrote: »
    Big Isy wrote: »
    Mblackwell wrote: »
    Effective April 17th if you own any version of The Witcher 2, the GOG.com version is now available for free download/backup.

    i should have bought it of steam :(

    What would be the difference? It's the same game. It won't change your experience at all.

    I honestly cannot comprehend why people are upset about this.

    its no big deal at all tbh but I am a little miffed because I miss out on the achievements and general ease of access through steam.

  • The_TuninatorThe_Tuninator Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    emnmnme wrote: »
    I am not good at picking fights in HoMM 3. Some vampires are sitting on a gem resource next to my starting city. "They're only two levels above me," I thought.

    Famous last words.

    Were they Vampire Lords? If so, be warned, Vampire Lords in any significant numbers are an incredibly difficult stack to deal with. They lifedrain the full damage dealt back as health, and any excess health will go toward raising dead members of the stack. Vamp Lords are probably the best L4 in the game.

    That said, here's the criteria you should use for picking fights:
    1) Level. Generally, if the neutrals are at least 2 levels above the highest-level creature in your army and you don't outnumber them by a very considerable amount, you should take a step back and seriously evaluate whether the fight is worth it. If you're fighting Level 7s, you really should take a step back and seriously evaluate whether the fight is worth it. Remember, there's always other areas of the map you could be clearing, and you can come back later with more troops.

    2) Hero stats and skills. If I'm a level 15 Tazar with 12 DEF and Expert Armorer, I could probably take a stack of Dragon Flies (Level 3) and mop the floor with pretty much any Level 5 stack you'd care to name. Equally, magic such as Blind and Berserk can have the same effect. Generally, the more powerful your hero is, the more lopsided fights you can take on.

    3) Ranged ability. Many melee neutrals can be wiped without any losses on the part of the player as long as you employ some basic tactics, which I will detail for you later when I've got time. This will not happen with ranged neutrals; you will lose troops, and quite possibly considerable amounts. As such, ranged neutrals are best avoided early game unless a) they are in very small numbers, b) they are guarding a vital resource/artifact/pass, or c) you have a means of blocking them or minimizing casualties from their fire.

    4) Speed. A decent player can kill far larger slow neutral stacks than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate. The quintessential example of this in the Heroes series is the Zombie. It's tough as hell but incredibly slow. You can easily rip zombies apart by the score with just a week or two's worth of low-level ranged units, as long as you have a means of baiting the zombies away. If you've got a fast no-retaliation unit such as the Sprite, you can literally kill infinite numbers of slow stacks.

    Conversely, fast stacks such as Vampire Lords, Serpent Flies or Thunderbirds are going to be much harder to handle, because they will get up in your face immediately and minimize both your ability to deal ranged damage as well as your ability to mitigate casualties. Fast Level 7 stacks (and most of them are) are an absolute nightmare. Expect to lose many troops, often before you've had a chance to do anything.

    5) Special abilities. Some creatures (the classic example being Vampire Lords or, in HoMM II, Ghosts) have special abilities that make them a serious threat even in neutral stacks. You need to get a feel for everything's special abilities; the manual is great for this. Alternatively, you can just get your ass kicked for a while ingame, but you may potentially find that less fun.

    Anyways, if you have more specific questions, feel free to PM me! I learned so much about this series simply by talking to other fans online, and I'm glad to do the same service for a new player.

    The_Tuninator on
  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Big Isy wrote: »
    Drake wrote: »
    Big Isy wrote: »
    Mblackwell wrote: »
    Effective April 17th if you own any version of The Witcher 2, the GOG.com version is now available for free download/backup.

    i should have bought it of steam :(

    What would be the difference? It's the same game. It won't change your experience at all.

    I honestly cannot comprehend why people are upset about this.

    its no big deal at all tbh but I am a little miffed because I miss out on the achievements and general ease of access through steam.

    Yeah, like how Steam had to redownload the entire game for a patch until Steam just recently updated their patching service for incremental updates. Your bandwidth cap would have loved that Isy. :)

    I still think the GoG edition of the game is the quintessential edition. And now everyone who has the game has access to this version. That's amazing. I applaud GoG for the move, it's super cool, even if I personally get nothing out of it.

    Drake on
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    I'm not knocking it, given three chance to buy it all over again knowing they'd give it free a year later, I would still buy it direct from them. They deserve the money.

  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    I wish I could register the original game on GoG. I don't have a DVD drive any more... :(

  • DoctorArchDoctorArch Curmudgeon Registered User regular
    Darkstone is the new release today. Good hack'N'slasher.

    Switch Friend Code: SW-6732-9515-9697
  • anoffdayanoffday To be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it. Registered User regular
    I've never played Darkstone, but it sounds and even looks fantastic. Has anyone ever played it? I was about to pick up Alpha Centauri, but now I'm eyeing this one.

    Steam: offday
  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    anoffday wrote: »
    I've never played Darkstone, but it sounds and even looks fantastic. Has anyone ever played it? I was about to pick up Alpha Centauri, but now I'm eyeing this one.
    It's a somewhat mediocre Diablo-clone. It does a lot of things that Din's Curse does now, but a LONG time ago. It has procedurally generated dungeons with procedurally generated quests (much more randomized than Diablo, but it's only something like 22 quest options total). The armor appearance changes as you equip bigger/better armors, and the top level armors look pretty ridiculous. It has low res 3D and textures (but on par with the technology available at the time). The main distinguishing feature is the fact that you control a pair of characters, and you can switch between the two at will (the other is AI-controlled). It's neat, but I think I like Din's Curse better (and Din's Curse does most of what Darkstone does much better).

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  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Darn you GoG, it's past noon in Europe, give me Grimrock! I spent yesterday playing Wizardry 8 just to stave off the anticipation (man I love the male loner 2 voice)!

    Glal on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Glal wrote: »
    Darn you GoG, it's past noon in Europe, give me Grimrock! I spent yesterday playing Wizardry 8 just to stave off the anticipation (man I love the male loner 2 voice)!

    You've got another 18000 seconds to go there man.

    http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/preorder_legend_of_grimrock/post503

    http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?msg=Legend+of+Grimrock+GOG+release&day=11&month=04&year=2012&hour=17&min=00&sec=00&p0=0

    Or 5 hours from now, assuming it releases on time.

    subedii on
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    Welp, I know what I'm watching for the next +4 hours.

  • StraygatsbyStraygatsby Registered User regular
    Damn, I was sifting through GoG.com after debating whether I had a rig that could run Grimrock (I sold my gaming rig, so I only have a test lab machine with onboard video right now), and I stumbled across all these lovely patches and mods for Planescape. Amazing! I'm not firmly stuck in a replay on my laptop. I love this site! I almost wish I didn't already own the discs for most of the games they sell. =P

  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    Well, there's always Lands of Lore. The first game is very much a Dungeon Master/Eye of the Beholder type affair, with decent voice acting, lovely pixel art and enough of a story to hold it together. I played through most of it last week in anticipation, had a good time.
    Not played the second yet, but I definitely prefer the pixel art of the original over the (admittedly higher resolution) FMV nature of the second's narrative.

  • grouch993grouch993 Both a man and a numberRegistered User regular
    ooh, Dungeon Master/Chaos Strikes Back style? I played EoB, but it didn't entertain me as much as those previous two. Probably the D&D rules versus work a skill to train it, guess combos to get potions and spells.

    Steam Profile Origin grouchiy
  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    So I bought LoG even though I have a cheap laptop that I'm running Windows 8 on with crap drivers because ATI hasn't gotten around to releasing drivers for this anemic onboard graphics card. I figured I wouldn't be able to play LoG anytime soon but I wanted to support it.

    The game runs totally fine. Well, even.

  • KrathoonKrathoon Registered User regular
    Really, the retro approach is probably the best way for indie developers to start up. The projects are way more manageable and you will always have a niche market.

  • CatshadeCatshade Registered User regular
    FUCK YEAH THEME HOSPITAL!

  • CorpekataCorpekata Registered User regular
    Sweet. First game from EA in a while since they joined. Wonder if we'll see a few more from their camp shortly.

  • Quake MattQuake Matt Registered User regular
    Finally! Been waiting for that for ages now.

  • Lord_SnotLord_Snot Живу за выходные American ValhallaRegistered User regular
    Catshade wrote: »
    FUCK YEAH THEME HOSPITAL!

    Aw yeah. I love this game, and it's rare to find a physical copy, so this should give more people the chance to play it.

    And they should. Everyone should play Theme Hospital.

  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    I've only played a couple of hours of Theme Hospital. Always wanted to get a copy to play more.

  • anoffdayanoffday To be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it. Registered User regular
    I've only played a couple of hours of Theme Hospital. Always wanted to get a copy to play more.

    Same. I played way more Theme Park, until RCT came out and then I played the crap out of that.

    Still gog has been on a roll lately.

    Steam: offday
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    THEME HOSPITAL IS AWESOME!

    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
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  • CorpekataCorpekata Registered User regular
    Theme Hospital looks like it'll scratch my itch after burning out on Evil Genius. Only thing that worries me is that screen says "Blah bal to beat the level."

    I tend to like my building games long form (like Evil Genius). How's the average level size in Theme Hospital.

  • RamiRami Registered User regular
    Long enough, and there's quite a few to get through.

    Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
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  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    Yeah, don't worry about it. The good thing about separate levels is that you don't get fucked if you don't make a perfect layout in the first few hours.

    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
    camo_sig2.png
  • ShimshaiShimshai Flush with Success! Isle of EmeraldRegistered User regular
    The levels get really long toward the end, which was a good and a bad thing for me. Good because long levels are fun, bad because weird bugs would crop up in long levels.

    Like sofas appearing in the Operating Theatre, staff becoming unclickable and eventually just crashing.

    Anyway, once you've met the victory conditions for a particular level, it will ask you if you want to move to a new hospital so you can stick around for a lot longer if you want to.


    I spent so much time playing this game, even tried playing it lately but found it very unstable on newer hardware. Hopefully the GOG version sorts that out.

    Steam/Origin: Shimshai

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  • TheKoolEagleTheKoolEagle Registered User regular
    Shimshai wrote: »
    The levels get really long toward the end, which was a good and a bad thing for me. Good because long levels are fun, bad because weird bugs would crop up in long levels.

    Like sofas appearing in the Operating Theatre, staff becoming unclickable and eventually just crashing.

    Anyway, once you've met the victory conditions for a particular level, it will ask you if you want to move to a new hospital so you can stick around for a lot longer if you want to.


    I spent so much time playing this game, even tried playing it lately but found it very unstable on newer hardware. Hopefully the GOG version sorts that out.

    This.

    I own a copy of theme hospital but its such a pain to get it running on new hardware, I'll likely pick it up and see if gog has it sorted out

    uNMAGLm.png Mon-Fri 8:30 PM CST - 11:30 PM CST
  • anoffdayanoffday To be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it. Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    I have an Alpha Centauri question for the civ fans. I got it last night and looked up and had been playing it for like 4 hours. Oops. It's pretty complex, but I'm learning. But something I don't get is building new units. For example I have a base set for conquer so it builds fighting units, but can I select which ones to build or is it random? I can't figure it out and I've been getting some random units like ships and then scouts.

    anoffday on
    Steam: offday
  • ShimshaiShimshai Flush with Success! Isle of EmeraldRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    anoffday wrote: »
    I have an Alpha Centauri question for the civ fans. I got it last night and looked up and had been playing it for like 4 hours. Oops. It's pretty complex, but I'm learning. But something I don't get is building new units. For example I have a base set for conquer so it builds fighting units, but can I select which ones to build or is it random? I can't figure it out and I've been getting some random units like ships and then scouts.

    Basically you don't want your cities set to build stuff automatically. It's better to pick and choose everything you want yourself, as the city governors are usually pretty bad at deciding what to build.

    Edit: And now I want to play Alpha Centauri. This always happens when people talk about it.

    Shimshai on
    Steam/Origin: Shimshai

    steam_sig.png
  • anoffdayanoffday To be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it. Registered User regular
    Shimshai wrote: »
    anoffday wrote: »
    I have an Alpha Centauri question for the civ fans. I got it last night and looked up and had been playing it for like 4 hours. Oops. It's pretty complex, but I'm learning. But something I don't get is building new units. For example I have a base set for conquer so it builds fighting units, but can I select which ones to build or is it random? I can't figure it out and I've been getting some random units like ships and then scouts.

    Basically you don't want your cities set to build stuff automatically. It's better to pick and choose everything you want yourself, as the city governors are usually pretty bad at deciding what to build.

    Edit: And now I want to play Alpha Centauri. This always happens when people talk about it.

    Ohh, so I shouldn't choose anything for the governor to do? How do I know when something can be built then?

    Steam: offday
  • IvanIssacsIvanIssacs Skull Leader SDF-1Registered User regular
    I just need Theme Park and my childhood will be complete.

  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    Shit, I still have my old copy of Theme Hospital somewhere, but I'm tempted to give GoG $6 for the convenience of not fucking around with Dosbox...

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