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[firehawk12]

Wow, what the heck is Gorky 17?

 

[British Monsoon]

Wow, what the heck is Gorky 17?

Awesome and overlooked CRPG that is, at times, very, very challenging. Only downside is that the 3d looks a bit dated, but other than that it really is an excellent RPG with fantastic atmosphere and well worth the asking price on GOG.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

Yeah, it's pretty good. It's a strategy rpg with a tactics type battle system. I bought it a couple years ago and enjoyed it.

I think it's Russian so some of the writing and dialogue suffers from a shitty translation.. I think it might even be voiced as well, if I remember right. But it's still a good ride if you enjoy the type of game it is.

Video with the opening and the first battle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l39sKjCGxyM

 

[Rufus]

The only thing it does really wrong is be boring.

Really, really boring. The writing is also bad and the plot jumps and sputters ahead in weird way. Also the characters are kinda eh.

 

[Sinatar]

Wow, what the heck is Gorky 17?

It's what would happen if someone sat down and turned Resident Evil into a tactical RPG.

Unfortunately the GOG version is pretty broken, it doesn't work right on modern hardware.

 

[Minsc]

Unfortunately the GOG version is pretty broken, it doesn't work right on modern hardware.

What in particular? Ran fine when I checked it out.

 

[firehawk12]

Hrm, yeah, I'd be curious to know if it actually works?

I'll probably pick up that Jack Orlando thing as well.

 

[Sinatar]

What in particular? Ran fine when I checked it out.

In HW mode the character models don't appear, in SW mode the sound constantly pops and if you try to watch the intro all the way through the game crashes.

All 3 of these are acknowledged by GOG and they say they are working on it.

 

[Minsc]

In HW mode the character models don't appear, in SW mode the sound constantly pops and if you try to watch the intro all the way through the game crashes.

All 3 of these are acknowledged by GOG and they say they are working on it.

That's strange, that definitely wasn't the case for me, you're on an nVidia card though? Maybe it's related to that? If GOG's on it, and it's documented, at least there's that. I'll double check tonight and update, but iirc, I was able to max the game and run it perfectly at 60fps w/ v-sync, played through the first 30-45 minutes a while ago.

I played through all of Gothic 1 without the icons loading for inventory, it sucked at first, but I got used to it (ATI bug, think it may have even been fixed since), but the character models not appearing is a pretty tough one to play with.

 

[DSmalls84]

I haven't used GOG before, but was thinking of picking up Baldurs Gate and had a couple of questions. Does the GOG Downloader keep track of your game library like Steam does? I just picked up an Alienware m11x, any compatibility issues with new video cards?

 

[SturokBGD]

I haven't used GOG before, but was thinking of picking up Baldurs Gate and had a couple of questions. Does the GOG Downloader keep track of your game library like Steam does? I just picked up an Alienware m11x, any compatibility issues with new video cards?

GOG doesn't work like Steam, the downloader is just a little download client (one that's pretty cheesy but kind of cool when it works), it's like one of those old download managers you used to get back in the 56K modem days. Your GOG library is stored on an account that you can log into and download from on any web browser you damn well feel like! You don't need to use the downloader at all.

Almost all GOG games work fine on any modern hardware out there, and for those that don't, the GOG community is awesome for fixes and workarounds, and GOG themselves are really good about helping make sure your games work.

You have nothing to worry about if you're interested in Baldur's Gate, the base game installs and runs fine, and the GOG forums are full of info on mods etc.

 

[Sinatar]

That's strange, that definitely wasn't the case for me, you're on an nVidia card though? Maybe it's related to that? If GOG's on it, and it's documented, at least there's that. I'll double check tonight and update, but iirc, I was able to max the game and run it perfectly at 60fps w/ v-sync, played through the first 30-45 minutes a while ago.

I played through all of Gothic 1 without the icons loading for inventory, it sucked at first, but I got used to it (ATI bug, think it may have even been fixed since), but the character models not appearing is a pretty tough one to play with.

I have an ATI card (5870). It's certainly playable in SW mode, it's just ugly(er) and has that annoying sound popping thing that doesn't happen in HW mode.

Cool game nonetheless. Hard as all hell though.

 

[DSmalls84]

GOG doesn't work like Steam, the downloader is just a little download client (one that's pretty cheesy but kind of cool when it works), it's like one of those old download managers you used to get back in the 56K modem days. Your GOG library is stored on an account that you can log into and download from on any web browser you damn well feel like! You don't need to use the downloader at all.

Almost all GOG games work fine on any modern hardware out there, and for those that don't, the GOG community is awesome for fixes and workarounds, and GOG themselves are really good about helping make sure your games work.

You have nothing to worry about if you're interested in Baldur's Gate, the base game installs and runs fine, and the GOG forums are full of info on mods etc.

Thanks, Although I already have the ID Super Pack on Steam there are still some nice exclusives on GOG that I wanna pick up. Mostly, Blood and Baldurs Gate 2 since my pc couldn't handle those way back when.

 

[Minsc]

I have an ATI card (5870). It's certainly playable in SW mode, it's just ugly(er) and has that annoying sound popping thing that doesn't happen in HW mode.

Cool game nonetheless. Hard as all hell though.

Strange, 5870 here too. HW mode looks much nicer, even in the menu you get the lighting around the cursor. SW mode is pretty ugly.

Don't get a popping sound in HW or SW mode.

A far shot, but did you try disabling desktop composition in the compatibility tab? I also threw it in D3DWindower and had mixed results getting the game to start (always worked in software mode, sometimes in hardware), but it may be worth a shot too, to see if it gets rid of the popping sound.

 

[Sinatar]

Strange, 5870 here too. HW mode looks much nicer, even in the menu you get the lighting around the cursor. SW mode is pretty ugly.

Don't get a popping sound in HW or SW mode.

A far shot, but did you try disabling desktop composition in the compatibility tab? I also threw it in D3DWindower and had mixed results getting the game to start (always worked in software mode, sometimes in hardware), but it may be worth a shot too, to see if it gets rid of the popping sound.

Yea I've tried all that, no dice. No biggy though, I beat it back in the day.

EDIT: Funny out of curiosity I tried setting up a radeonpro profile for it disabling all the things I normally have on (AF, mip map quality and whatnot) and the game runs fine now. =p

 

[Minsc]

Yea I've tried all that, no dice. No biggy though, I beat it back in the day.

EDIT: Funny out of curiosity I tried setting up a radeonpro profile for it disabling all the things I normally have on (AF, mip map quality and whatnot) and the game runs fine now. =p

Good to hear! One of these days I have to actually install Radeon Pro, just have had no need for it so far! I still haven't even upgraded to the MLAA compatible drivers yet either...

 

[Catshade]

New release: Return to Zork

 

[DiscoJer]

They really need to get the various Infocom novels and put them up as e-books.

(Am I the only one that liked those?)

 

[mclem]

New release: Return to Zork

I didn't play this, but if I remember right it wasn't well-recieved. I did play Zork Nemesis, and thought it was great, but not very Zorky. I have no idea how Grand Inquisitor wound up.

 

[BluWacky]

I didn't play this, but if I remember right it wasn't well-recieved. I did play Zork Nemesis, and thought it was great, but not very Zorky. I have no idea how Grand Inquisitor wound up.

Grand Inquisitor is fantastic. Genuinely funny and lots of entertaining puzzles. Builds on what was good about Nemesis but goes much, MUCH sillier.

Return to Zork is mostly memorable for the immortal dialogue - "Want some rye? 'COURSE YOU DO!". It was a very early CD game and immensely irritating due to the ease of screwing yourself over - (end game spoiler)

Spoiler

the penultimate puzzle involves you throwing every item you've collected in the game into a vast chasm in order to raise a bridge and cross it. If you've accidentally left something somewhere... you're buggered.

.

 

[Minsc]

Nice adventure game kick GOG's had going lately, maybe they'll get LucasArts on board too at some point this year.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Nice adventure game kick GOG's had going lately, maybe they'll get LucasArts on board too at some point this year.

They said in their letter to Santa that Activision, LucasArts, and EA were their big targets. I suspect it'll take 'em a while to burn through the portion of the Activision catalogue that they've secured (Spycraft and Zork: Nemesis being two that I think would be great on the service). So I'd say if they're going to get LucasArts it'll probably be later in the year.

 

[mclem]

They said in their letter to Santa that Activision, LucasArts, and EA were their big targets.

Squeenix, not Activision. Presumably because they have Activision already, they just need to work through the collection. That would presumably lead to Eidos stuff as well?

Edit: Except they already have Commandos. Or did the rights to that get transferred? It's down as "Kalypso" on GoG.

 

[Versipellis]

I'd suggest that 9:05 is *not* a good choice for a new player...

Spoiler

...because the 'whoa' moment is somewhat predicated on the player being so used to the 'menial tasks' required in the opening section that they focus on those tasks and miss the big hints as to the real nature of what's going on, whereas a player who's just starting out and exploring naturally may well stumble on a giveaway.

> EXAMINE BED in the first scene, if I remember rightly, gives either a massive clue or a giveaway, I forget which. Someone bogged down in the menial goals may miss that.

edit:

Spoiler

LOOK UNDER BED. So maybe it's obscure enough after all, I just generally drop broad hints about searching relative to scenery whenever introducing anyone to IF, which may be why I assume new people will have the same guidance.

When I have a friend try the game, he/she usually goes all the way to the end without too much questions.

Spoiler

Since it's very straightforward and it gives a false sense of urgency (the phone call) you tend not to examine the rooms as throughly as you usually would do)

Father and son playing 9:05

 

[Zachack]

Return to Zork is mostly memorable for the immortal dialogue - "Want some rye? 'COURSE YOU DO!".

Also it had the older brother from The Wonder Years in it. But I'll take WANT SOME RYE COURSE YA DO to the grave. Much like commercials that have ultra-penetrating jingles (My Buddy comes to mind), Infocom managed to hit the perfect series of tones to force a permanent memory (plus you hear it so often at the beginning because the game is ridiculously difficult, or was to me at that age).

I'd hold off until a sale. Nemesis and Grand Inquisitor are more worth buying.

 

[Minsc]

Space Rangers 2: Dominators released today, one of those cross-over genre games, action/rpg/simulation/etc. I have never played it, but I remember there was some discussion over the game when the original was released on GOG (this one has been available on Impulse for some time now), and I believe it was said the sequel was the better game, and actually quite a good game if I'm not mistaken. Might pick it up at some point if I read any impressions that interest me here or at GOG.

Edit: It gets a little confusing, because impulse is selling Space Rangers 2 Complete, which includes Space Rangers 2 reboot, which according to GOG comments is an enhanced version of Space Rangers 2 that also includes Space Rangers One. Impulse calls Reboot an expansion pack of Space Rangers 2... so right now it's a little unclear if you are getting shafted w/ GOG's version of the game (though it is $10 for SR2 from GOG, and $40 from Impulse, so I'm not sure it ends up being worth the extra money).

 

[Grayman]

Space Rangers 2: Dominators released today, one of those cross-over genre games, action/rpg/simulation/etc. I have never played it, but I remember there was some discussion over the game when the original was released on GOG (this one has been available on Impulse for some time now), and I believe it was said the sequel was the better game, and actually quite a good game if I'm not mistaken. Might pick it up at some point if I read any impressions that interest me here or at GOG.

Edit: It gets a little confusing, because impulse is selling Space Rangers 2 Complete, which includes Space Rangers 2 reboot, which according to GOG comments is an enhanced version of Space Rangers 2 that also includes Space Rangers One. Impulse calls Reboot an expansion pack of Space Rangers 2... so right now it's a little unclear if you are getting shafted w/ GOG's version of the game (though it is $10 for SR2 from GOG, and $40 from Impulse, so I'm not sure it ends up being worth the extra money).

the early reviews do seem very glowing even if GOG ends up being the wrong place to buy it.

Space Rangers 2 is an Adventure game. It's a Turn-Based Space-Flight Combat game. It's a Real-Time Strategy game. It's a Trade Simulation. It's everything we've been told can't work in a PC game : a mishmash of genres that plays great in all different modes.
In Space Rangers 2, you play as a pilot and choose yoour alliance by what you select as your beginning class and by what missions you take and whether you succeed at them. You're missions might be violent assassinations of other pilots or trade ships, peaceful ship escorts, planetary jaunts (which play out in brilliant text adventures!) or militaristic assaults against the titular Dominators, which take place in both space and on planets as a simple but fun RTS game.
You can buy a fast, nimble fighter bristling with weapons or a lumbering cargo ship with tons of space to transport goods (both legal and illegal). You can choose from thousands of different ship parts with which to outfit your ship, including guns, lasers, missiles, engines, shields, sensors, radar, and alien artefacts. You can be a vicious pirate, a peaceful trader, a noble protector of other ships, or a soldier fighting against the evil Dominators. There is practically no limit to what you can do and how you cna choose to do it. Everything you do has consequences.
On one planet I decided to buy some (iilegal) drugs to sell at another planet for a tidy profit. When I got there, I was arrested for selling items on the Black Market. Game over, right? WRONG! I was taken to a nifty text adventure of my stay in an alien prison, where I could choose to escape, behave and work for the warden, be a noble prisoner fighting against the man, become a bruiser, be an intellectual idealist ... just in this one adventure, I couldn't believe the range of choice I had. And there are dozens of these throughout the game.
This is the easiest recommendation I can make - anyone who likes games will find something to like in this stellar but criminally-underappreciated masterpiece. Buy it NOW.

 

[Stumpokapow]

OH BY THE WAY, the new Steam client beta has a screenshot function built in. You might think "why is this maniac talking about Steam in our GOG thread?", but the screenshot function works in non-Steam games + when you take screenshots, they're automatically used on a rotating basis as the background image for the game in your client. So if you're like me and you've got a stack of GOG games that you launch through Steam, this function really improves the integration. I haven't tried it with any GOG games yet so I'm not sure which games are compatible with the function and which aren't, but could be neat.

Also it had the older brother from The Wonder Years in it. But I'll take WANT SOME RYE COURSE YA DO to the grave. Much like commercials that have ultra-penetrating jingles (My Buddy comes to mind), Infocom managed to hit the perfect series of tones to force a permanent memory (plus you hear it so often at the beginning because the game is ridiculously difficult, or was to me at that age).

I'd hold off until a sale. Nemesis and Grand Inquisitor are more worth buying.

Zork: Nemesis is one of my top three or four adventure games of all time. I really loved Myst (and Riven) but I felt like they were a bit tonally weird; the stories were very dark, but all of the places you visited were so lustrous. I never felt like they were able to successfully juxtapose a dead society with such a vibrant, living, exciting world.

Nemesis definitely corrected this. Much like Myst, you are dumped into the middle of a dead world, but unlike Myst it is actually gruesome and violent and disturbing at times. Like Myst, you're forced to consider who is good and who is evil. Like the best parts of Myst and Riven, a notebook is near-essential to play it.

That being said, I picked up Activision Value's 3-pack (Spycraft, Time Commando, Zork: Nemesis) a few years ago and it is very hard to play Zork: Nemesis now. The gameplay window is awkwardly small and the fidelity of the images isn't quite good enough to express all of the details in the design. I haven't fiddled with it to try to make the game window bigger and I'm sure if there are any solutions the GOG team will find them for their release.

Squeenix, not Activision. Presumably because they have Activision already, they just need to work through the collection. That would presumably lead to Eidos stuff as well?

Edit: Except they already have Commandos. Or did the rights to that get transferred? It's down as "Kalypso" on GoG.

I guess it wasn't Activision then (odd, because Activision's back catalogue is very poorly represented on GOG up until these recent releases started digging a bit), but yes clearly Square Enix refers to Eidos.

 

[Minsc]

the early reviews do seem very glowing even if GOG ends up being the wrong place to buy it.

Yea, I'll be keeping an eye out on what is the deal with SR2 Reboot vs SR2 Dominator, I'm reluctant to bold it if the Reboot expansion improves the game and is missing from GOG.

OH BY THE WAY, the new Steam client beta has a screenshot function built in. You might think "why is this maniac talking about Steam in our GOG thread?", but the screenshot function works in non-Steam games + when you take screenshots, they're automatically used on a rotating basis as the background image for the game in your client. So if you're like me and you've got a stack of GOG games that you launch through Steam, this function really improves the integration. I haven't tried it with any GOG games yet so I'm not sure which games are compatible with the function and which aren't, but could be neat.

That could be pretty neat. I always used steam in the expaned list mode, so I'd see the screens. I'm not in the habit of using it to launch games yet though (desktop shortcuts, helps keep me focused on 2 or 3 games).

 

[Catshade]

This weekend's deal is Apogee games:

• Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
• Blake Stone: Planet Strike
• Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition
• Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
• Rise of the Triad: Dark War

 

[Minsc]

Here's what I got from the GOG forums:

Space Rangers (2003)
Space Rangers 2 (2004) (AKA Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators)
Space Rangers Reboot (2008) (expansion)
Space Rangers Complete (2009?) (includes SR1 SR2, Reboot)
Space Rangers Revolution (2010) (informal, non-commercial release, Russian only

So no Reboot expansion with GOG's copy, and Space Rangers 2 has been on impulse/steam for $5 before, so this looks like a no-buy imo @ $10.

I generally don't like to invest time in older games (which I guess Reboot barely even counts for, since it's '08), unless it's the final version with all the bug/fixes enhancements / expansions.

So I'll be keeping an eye out for a Space Rangers Complete Sale (which includes Reboot) on Steam/Impulse/Gamersgate this time around, unless GOG gets Reboot bundled in which seems very unlikely since it's still selling for $20 by itself it seems.

 

[Dead Man]

a) I've never even heard of DotEmu before now. I can't believe there are competing European retro PC game websites.

Same!

 

[Stumpokapow]

This weekend's deal is Apogee games:

• Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
• Blake Stone: Planet Strike
• Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition
• Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
• Rise of the Triad: Dark War

This reminds me that it's pretty damn stupid that Apogee sells all of their games through their stupid website that no one visits, but only a small handful on DD services.

http://www.buy3drealms.com/
Balls of Steel - $10
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure - $6
Crystal Caves - $6
Duke Nukum - $6
Duke Nukem 2 - $6
Hocus Pocus - $6
Math Rescue - $6
etc

 

[Ranger X]

Strange, 5870 here too. HW mode looks much nicer, even in the menu you get the lighting around the cursor. SW mode is pretty ugly.

Don't get a popping sound in HW or SW mode.

A far shot, but did you try disabling desktop composition in the compatibility tab? I also threw it in D3DWindower and had mixed results getting the game to start (always worked in software mode, sometimes in hardware), but it may be worth a shot too, to see if it gets rid of the popping sound.

What's this game? Looks like an SRPG!!

 

[Minsc]

What's this game? Looks like an SRPG!!

Gorky 17, I guess it is a lot like an SRPG (see youtube video here), haven't gotten around to it yet, but it does look good!

 

[charlequin]

This reminds me that it's pretty damn stupid that Apogee sells all of their games through their stupid website that no one visits, but only a small handful on DD services.

Oh huh. I might actually drop $6 on one or two of these someday. (Though I'd certainly be more likely to do so if they put them on GoG.)

 

[DSmalls84]

Finally placed my first order with GOG and got:

Baldurs Gate 2
Blood
Duke Nukem 3d
Fallout 1+2

Can anyone tell me how to change the controls in Duke 3d to a more modern configuration. I tried using the High Res Mod but kept getting crash errors, and then I tried
altering the controls via the config file but kept getting an "Access Denied" error. Besides that problem I really like the service, and the extras that come with the games are pretty nifty as well.

 

[Sinatar]

Finally placed my first order with GOG and got:

Baldurs Gate 2
Blood
Duke Nukem 3d
Fallout 1+2

Can anyone tell me how to change the controls in Duke 3d to a more modern configuration. I tried using the High Res Mod but kept getting crash errors, and then I tried
altering the controls via the config file but kept getting an "Access Denied" error. Besides that problem I really like the service, and the extras that come with the games are pretty nifty as well.

I'm pretty sure you can rebind Duke's controls within the game itself. That might be an EDuke thing though since it's been so long since I've played without it.

EDIT: Also if you're planning on playing Blood, I'd get One Unit Whole Blood

 

[DSmalls84]

Yeah I was able to rebind the keys in Blood within the game, and it defaulted to widescreen for me. Duke 3d doesn't have an in-game key option so I tried the High res pack and eDuke32, but both would crash before they would boot up.

 

[Ranger X]

I wish there was Transport Tycoon on GOG (

 

[epmode]

Every time I see this thread bumped, I get a little excited about possible EA news. SIGH.

Can anyone tell me how to change the controls in Duke 3d to a more modern configuration. I tried using the High Res Mod but kept getting crash errors, and then I tried
altering the controls via the config file but kept getting an "Access Denied" error. Besides that problem I really like the service, and the extras that come with the games are pretty nifty as well.

This is only a wild guess but if you're using Vista or Windows 7, don't install games to the Program Files folder. Access permissions are all banged up in there.

 

[DSmalls84]

Will give that a try when I get home later because i'm on Windows 7 64.

 

[Catshade]

24-hour promo: King's Bounty: The Legend for $2.49

 

[Captain Tuttle]

24-hour promo: King's Bounty: The Legend for $2.49

Bought! Thank you!

 

[Dynoro]

I wish there was Transport Tycoon on GOG (

I know its not exactly TT/TTDLX but have you tried OpenTTD?

 

[Gully State]

24-hour promo: King's Bounty: The Legend for $2.49

So I'm a bit confused from reading the reviews. You always fight with an army or are there points where you fight as your avatar and points you fight with your army?

 

[vocab]

So I'm a bit confused from reading the reviews. You always fight with an army or are there points where you fight as your avatar and points you fight with your army?

Always fighting with your army. Your character is just a way to interact with the world. You never fight with him.

 

[Minsc]

Police Quest: SWAT 1 & 2 released today, never even heard of them before! I guess the first is like a live-action adventure game and the second a real-time strategy/tactical game. Not terribly exciting, I think.

 

[firehawk12]

Police Quest: SWAT 1 & 2 released today, never even heard of them before! I guess the first is like a live-action adventure game and the second a real-time strategy/tactical game. Not terribly exciting, I think.

Wow, that's fucking awesome.

SWAT1 is the FMV game which is sort of interesting. SWAT2 is an turn-based tactics game which is kind of janky, but still... not many SWAT based tactics games out there for us to choose from!

 

[epmode]

SWAT 4 pls!

..which is what I would say if I hadn't already caved and grabbed it from D2D.