GOG News and Updates 2013

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mantidor said:
God damn at Homeworld, I can't still believe my disc got stolen :( and those screens aren't even in the most beautiful scenarios of the game.
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Is there any chance GOG will pick them up? I played the first game back in the day and really enjoyed it.
 
jb1234 said:
Is there any chance GOG will pick them up? I played the first game back in the day and really enjoyed it.
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We've been talking about this in great length in the other treads about THQ's auction. The state of the IP is currently as follows:

  • Sega didn't pick up the IP from THQ's studio auction yesterday, but it is scheduled to be sold off on the coming THQ's legacy IPs auction.
  • If no one picks up the IP and does something with it, Homeworld 1, Cataclysm, and 2 will probably be stuck in IP limbo.
  • Even if the IP is picked up, there's the question of how to collect and distribute the games - do you use the source code and all of the assets? Do you just use ISO's of the CDs and wrap them into an installer? And so on.
I would love a GOG release and I have lots of original artwork, soundtracks, prototype videos, and widescreen fixes that I would love to contribute with, but it remains to be seen what will happen to Homeworld and the preservation of them. You're probably best off just getting a used copy from Amazon.
 
I thought the problem was that Sierra (now Activision) owned parts of Homeworld. Not the IP but the games themselves, which was why we never see it on Steam and GoG etc.
 
Minsc said:
Defender's Quest is 60% off today, down to $6. It's really an incredible game (I'm working through new game +), and even if you don't normally like tower-defense games, it's got a fun story (best in the genre) and a bunch of rpg elements to it that are very well done. You earn gold from the battles as well as experience, and each level has 4 difficulty settings, you get special bonuses for perfectly clearing them on normal through the hardest, and the game has a nice variety of units that allow for various strategies. After battles you can recruit additional units or purchase better weapons/armor. The levels are a lot of fun and mix it up a bit as they go on and even the boss fights are well done.

If you ever found yourself enjoying Plants vs Zombies, Defense Grid, Kingdom Rush, or any other of the top-tier TD games, for $6 you can't go wrong with this one.
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Thanks for letting us know about this game. Tried the demo and im hooked. Consider it bought.
 
I run Homeworld recently and it looks quite bad most of the time in my opinion. Low poly planets, paper crafty ships that seem to be flat shaded, visible warp points in the skyboxes, etc. I guess if I squint it can all look like a fantasy space blur... Like in this screenshot where one might assume it's just some weird/cool space background but in reality it's just... something... weird... warped polygons that don't look good when you're rotating the camera and playing as normal.
homeworld2011-03-3110-wnwj.png
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Alextended said:
I run Homeworld recently and it looks quite bad most of the time in my opinion. Low poly planets, paper crafty ships that seem to be flat shaded, visible warp points in the skyboxes, etc. I guess if I squint it can all look like a fantasy space blur... Like in this screenshot where one might assume it's just some weird/cool space background but in reality it's just... something... weird... warped polygons that don't look good when you're rotating the camera and playing as normal.
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Hey, I actually kinda recognize that effect; Spyro the Dragon on the PS1 does the same thing with its skies. Instead of a textured skybox, it tints the vertices to kinda look like a really smudgy, indistinct texture. YMMV on how well that's pulled off, of course, but I don't think it looks that bad.

Oh, and a sale on a bunch of stuff I don't care about but you might.
 
Alextended said:
I run Homeworld recently and it looks quite bad most of the time in my opinion. Low poly planets, paper crafty ships that seem to be flat shaded, visible warp points in the skyboxes, etc. I guess if I squint it can all look like a fantasy space blur... Like in this screenshot where one might assume it's just some weird/cool space background but in reality it's just... something... weird... warped polygons that don't look good when you're rotating the camera and playing as normal.
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Eh, it's a game from 1999 and the colorful sci-fi art style more than makes up for the technical limitations. The textures on the ships are incredibly detailed despite the low resolution, the amount of polygons fit the concept designs, and the skyboxes look sufficiently like the nebulas they are supposed to emulate. I mean, you really think the below looks "bad"?

homeworld2011-03-3111hsk1q.png
homeworld2011-03-310057k1e.png
homeworld2011-03-3111glj7d.png
homeworld2011-03-312147jo0.png
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Compared to the other games in 1999:
55421_fullmbkg7.jpg
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descent3on5000pciwin2j2jn0.png
soul3j1kzf.jpg

000023abjom.jpg
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Just saying that you have to consider the context of the particular game and its contemporary standards. Personally I still think Homeworld 1 holds up, but I am also a kid of that 90's era, so I might be more accustomed to putting myself in that particular context.
 
When did I say it looks bad for 1999 or worse than the others? This is 2013. I was responding to a discussion about it holding up well visually with my opinion. I can point to pre-1999 games that hold up better for me, mostly 2D of course, but also some faux 3D that use sprite scaling well. Most polygonal graphics look outdated and don't hold up unless they got stylization right (Motorhead I guess, Tobal 2, other abstract titles or generally games that avoided using texture mapping and other at the time modern techniques that enabled them to look cleaner, etc). It's unfair to compare it to games that have actual terrain to render. I think Freespace 2 holds up a bit better. Arcade games like Daytona USA 2 too of course, but that's unfair. Driver looks alright too. Anyway, there's something about how Homeworld has aged that I found offensive to the eye, contrary to some of the games you think look worse and others like Duke Nukem 3D, One Unit Whole Blood, etc, which I find to have a certain charm even though they're obviously technically inefficient and you can easily point to all sorts of flaws in their screenshots.
 
Haha. Don't make me compare Freespace 2 and Homeworld - my brain might implode from balancing such quality games. In any way, my comparisons above still stands as the engine back then had to accommodate many, many units simultaneously on screen, so I don't think your "actual terrain to render" objection holds up.

But to each their own, I guess. I don't think HW looks bad, even from the point of view of pure technical graphics. The only thing that I would change would be the draw distance. Otherwise, I think it holds up very well, and it shows how art style can compliment 3D graphics, and vice versa.
 
kswiston said:
It requires vanilla to run as Minsc said, but you can start the MotB campaign without having touched the vanilla campaign first if that is what you are asking.
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Yes that is what I mean. I hear how good MOTB is, but I always heard that I have to play NWN2 to "get" MOTB. NWN2 is way too long from the sounds of it.
 
Can someone help me out.

Being pretty new still to stuff like Might and Magic, what's better to get, the Might and Magic 6 pack or Heroes of Might and Magic?
 
G-Fex said:
Can someone help me out.

Being pretty new still to stuff like Might and Magic, what's better to get, the Might and Magic 6 pack or Heroes of Might and Magic?
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They are completely different genres. Might & Magic 6 is a first person dungeon crawling RPG. Heroes of Might & Magic is turn based strategy.
 
Sinatar said:
They are completely different genres. Might & Magic 6 is a first person dungeon crawling RPG. Heroes of Might & Magic is turn based strategy.
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I love first person dungeon crawling (I have Ultima Underworld)

Hmmm...I'm terrible at turned base stuff but everyone says it's great.

Think I'll get six pack for now.
 
Last Baron said:
When have they ever been?

I'm trying to recall that huge flub they had a year or two ago but it escapes me.
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Are we not counting the "WE'RE SHUTTING DOWN" (to relaunch our site!) fiasco?

Edit: Also, Minsc, is Defender's Quest really that good? I remember playing the demo on Kongregate, and one thing that bothered me immensely was how it felt that all of the characters aside from the main didn't matter after their initial chapter, as you could buy generic mooks with the same abilities. Plot seemed all right, but it wasn't a big incentive for me back then.
 
RPG Wizard said:
Edit: Also, Minsc, is Defender's Quest really that good? I remember playing the demo on Kongregate, and one thing that bothered me immensely was how it felt that all of the characters aside from the main didn't matter after their initial chapter, as you could buy generic mooks with the same abilities. Plot seemed all right, but it wasn't a big incentive for me back then.
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You can buy extras of all the characters (and will want to), but they level up separately and you choose skills for them individually, so they will each have their own build. Since most characters have a variety of roles they can play in battle, you will end up experimenting with different skillsets for the extras. For example, you are going to want to have a Berzerker who is specialized in doing moderate damage to lots of enemies and another one specialized in giving the effect "bleed" to all the enemies it meets. One Ice-mage who focuses on slowing the enemies, another who does area of effect damage, etc. This is true even more so in New Game+ since
you get unique weapons and armor that add special abilities
. Since the price of each additional unit increases with every unit you buy, I ended up buying only a few at the beginning, so those were obviously at a higher level than the ones I bought later on. I ended up a with a few tiers of each type of unit, where I would put the ones with a higher level in a more critical spot.

On the other hand, the extra units don't effect the plot at all. The main ones are the only ones to show up in the cut scenes. So there is a bit of plot/gameplay dissonance, but it's not a bit deal.
 
Does Alpha Centauri hold up and if so, is it worth playing over something like Civ V (which I haven't put nearly enough time into)?
 
Zia said:
Does Alpha Centauri hold up and if so, is it worth playing over something like Civ V (which I haven't put nearly enough time into)?
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Yes and no. I beat it for the first time last year and it's still a very good game although at this point I would prefer to play Civilization IV or V.
 
archnemesis said:
Yes and no. I beat it for the first time last year and it's still a very good game although at this point I would prefer to play Civilization IV or V.
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I actually beg to differ. I played Civ IV first, and then found out about Alpha Centauri. While some of the mechanics are clunky due to age, not only does the game hold up, but I'd say the game is simply more compelling that Civ IV ever was. (including expansions)

Alpha Centauri has a quality of setting that really hasn't been seen since in the Civ series, as far as I can tell.

As far as Civ games go? Eh, don't know about that. Stack of doom is still pretty prevalent there, if you don't care for it.

But as far as TBS 4X games go? Absolutely fantastic. Expansion adds some new fun tweaks as well. (...and Artillery life forms...ugh)
 
mclem said:
Releases:

Omerta: City of Gangsters (they've been doing a prerelease promo for a while, so this was inevitable)

Balls of Steel (Pinball sim. Most notable for the fact that it includes a Duke Nukem table.)

Newspost's up for BoS although it seems to be actually 404ing right now.
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BoS page is working again now, and the release includes a handful of tables, and they're for the most part all actually really good pinball tables, definitely recommend grabbing it if you like pinball games. It'll be nice that I can finally replace my discs since I believe it used a 16-bit installer so it was a pain to get running, had to use VMs and there were sometimes graphic issues to work around. It's more in the line of fantasy pinball like Zen Studios' Pinball FX than authentic simulation like the Pro Pinball games or Pinball Arcade, but good fun either way.
 
Finally getting to play NWN2! I bought it a long time ago on D2D but couldn't get it again because Gaemfly, who bought D2D, no longer had it in its inventory (they gave me $40 in credit for it though).

Anyway, I love this game!! Back when it first came out I couldn't get a playable framerate but now with my GTX 670 I'm smashing it. The gameplay is amazing, the music is amazing, and the graphics really, really, hold up! Sure, the companion AI kind of sucks and some of the loot gathering is antiquated, but the game play is top notch. The game so reminds me of my D&D days back in the late 80's and the awesome sessions that my friends and I used to play. THACO, +5 Holy Avenger, and Saving Throws!!!
 
Strategy First weekend sale, 60% off:

Jagged Alliance
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
Jagged Alliance 2

Sacred Gold

Patrician 3

Ghost Master

Disciples: Sacred Lands Gold
Disciples 2 Gold

Port Royale 2

FlatOut

Darkstar One

Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord

Strategic Command: European Theater

Pro Pinball Big Race USA
Pro Pinball Fantastic Journey
Pro Pinball Timeshock

Comanche vs. Hokum
Apache vs. Havoc

Combat Chess



... it amuses me slightly that, through buying IPs and stuff, a company named "Strategy First" ends up owning the rights to a pinball game.
 
Will get Port Royale 2, didn't know it was on gog! I take it all 3 JA games are good as well?
edit: Say I were to get only JA game, which should I get?
 
Maybe I'm just not paying close enough attention, but it honestly feels like this specific company's games go on sale every month.
 
1) It's a bad port. Zero options including resolution.
2) It's a bad port of a bad version: The PS1 version with missing frames and shit. Has the original arcade music, at least.
3) Why would you want to just play SFA2 against the computer?
 
Dice said:
1) It's a bad port. Zero options including resolution.
2) It's a bad port of a bad version: The PS1 version with missing frames and shit. Has the original arcade music, at least.
3) Why would you want to just play SFA2 against the computer?
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Eh I could always play offline with friends when they visit~
A shame its a bad port though.
 
Well you have Patrician 3, Port Royale 2, or Ghost Master for the same price. I am very tempted by Patrician 3.
 
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