Ar1
3622
Quitch, they made clear they prefer selling thru GoG. If you prefer buying from Steam, drop the rationalization to justify your choice and just do it.
Personally, I was planning to buy a cheap physical copy, given my huge backlog and that I still have to finish the first game.
Seeing the lengths CDP went to address gamers peeves - free content and removing DRM from the first game, releasing the AAA sequel DRM free, even offering a rebate to compensate us Euros traditionally screwed from regional pricing - I now lean towards preordering from GoG. Those guys are gold.
Fabio Volta
Update: Two years later, they’ve got a limited catalog. I’ve got more games on 5.25 and 3.5 disks than their catalog (some still work). When I’ve gone to their site, most every page load takes 15 secs. and freezes up all my tabs. Alternatives are too easy.
I had the Black Isle catalogue on 5¼" floppy and it literally filled my entire home, driving my wife completely insane and possibly poisoning my cat (she liked to chew on them). Anyway, GoG getting that catalogue has been a real blessing.
So…it sounds like you have a crapload of old games (most of which don’t work), and a crappy computer/internet connection. Sounds to me like you’re exactly the demographic they’re trying to reach.
I’ve been playing a fair bit of PG2 recently – I’ve wanted a game that was turn-based (truly turn-based, not pausable real time) and thoughtful but not extremely tedious to play on those times when I’m watching the kid, and can devote some attention to something, but need to be able to stop at any time. Digging up an old classic has fit the bill, and done a nice job of scratching my tactical itch.
The nice thing about PG2 over PG1 is that it has a great amount of user-developed content. As with many of these old games, a lot of the information is spread around fora and websites with various degrees of bitrot, but it’s there. There are a number of actively mantained alternate equipment files and lots of new maps, scenarios, and campaigns to play if you get tired of the out-of-the-box game.
There’s also OpenPG2, an (almost) fully compatable remake that plays all the original PG2 campaigns, and all the user-generated ones, plus adds some more features (and better AI) on top, while playing much more nicely with modern Windows. I’ve not messed with it yet, as I’m currently enjoying the original campaigns, but I’ve got my eye on it.
One thing you will want to check out is D3DWindower. Getting that set up will allow you to play PG2 in windowed mode, and at something other than 640x480.
You are funky. Alternatives like GFWL, huh? :D
For my firefox, every page including main one loads in 1 second and I never got my tabs freezed. Something’s wrong on your end I’d guess.
Quitch
3628
I’m not disagreeing, I’m answering Paul’s question and then the follow-up comments.
Then stop trolling here and don’t buy games from them. Easy peasy.
No to pile on with this, but yeah, to pile on: it’s kind of hard to hate GoG for about anything these days. Sure, they had a real nasty stretch (and I’m sure they’ll do it again) where they were shitting out nothing but eurotrash shovelware. And sure, they like really retarded PR stunts, but hey, I got a free game out of it.
I’ve got more games on 5.25 and 3.5 disks than their catalog
And I’ve got a TOSEC distro that has 85% of GoG’s games already (in their original format, non GoG format). Shrug.
Well, lots of news today. First, they’ve got a partnership with Nobilis Games, which has led to a new release, Moto Racer (as well as Moto Racer’s 2 and 3 on the way). Never played the MR games, but I heard they were good. They’ve also released Chaser, which, IIRC, is a lackluster FPS.
Paul_cze
3632
I played demo of Chaser back then and liked it, never played full game though.
And I played demo of Moto Racer about hundred times back then on my pentium 100. I think I will buy both after there are reports on gog forums that both games work correctly.
If you snag 'em, please let us know how you like 'em, especially Moto Racer. :)
Pogo
3634
MotoRacer was good fun. #2 is probably the better buy, but it’s the only actually fun dirtbike and streetbike racer in-one. The streetbike portion is certainly nowhere as intricate as MotoGP2, but it’s a good arcade game that has sorta sensible physics.
I prefer 1 to 2, honestly. A lot of it is that I disliked 2’s aesthetic. PG had this great map that was attractive, but simple and stylized and very functional. PG2 tried to keep the hexes but tried to paste this pseudo-3D map that was zoomed in to what felt like more of a tactical scale, which seemed weird to me. It was nicely painted, but also rather busy, and could sometimes be hard to read. I liked the addition of leader units, but most of the other gameplay changes were unnecessary. PG1 has a better UI.
For example:
Pretty map, but with the units pasted on top of it, it’s rather muddled. Making the units face different directions serves no real purpose and makes them harder to identify at a glance. The scale of the map doesn’t really suit the game–those are supposed to be battalions and each hex is supposed to be about 2 km across, but it looks more like 100 feet.
I think PG1 is just a whole lot more attractive, and more functional. It feels more like a cohesive whole. The map scale is more clearly meant to be abstract, so you don’t get that weird disconnect like you do in the PG2 shot above, where they are trying to make it look like the units are sitting in the landscape, but the soldiers are as tall as two-story buildings. The units are always kept in profile, which makes them a lot easier to identify at a glance. They also keep the underlying map fairly low in contrast, which helps the units “pop” out, and makes them easier to see. The UI provides a lot more information about selected units.
rezaf
3637
That’s not really true - there’s LOTS of user-content for PG1 as well.
It doesn’t usually go as far as the PG2 user content, like the total conversions that turn the game into a Civil War or Napoleonic game, but there’s WW1 conversions and tons of WW2 related stuff.
rezaf
Tim_N
3638
Wow i’m glad I wasn’t the only one who did that. I was obsessed with the moto racer 1 demo when I was very young, must have played it a hundred times like you said. This might be my first ever nostalgia purchase on GoG, looking at the screenshots really took me back.
peterb
3639
ok, now THOSE sound interesting. Do they actually work?
rezaf
3640
What do you mean by work?
I had no problem installing and running them.
Otherwise … well, there’s some gamplay mechanics that don’t really lend themselves to those other time periods.
Mainly, those TCs are based on the People’s General engine, which was an update to the PG2 engine and messed around with some stuff.
For example, People’s General had helicopters instead of airplanes, which worked slightly differently, and there then was a different screen to issue airstrikes with actual bombers.
Since the TCs are based on that engine, each of them has also access to this screen, so they shoehorn in some mechanic - the ACW game for example uses them as cavalry strikes.
This can be extremely annoying, as the AI has a tendency to spend these at once in quick succession, so there’s a good chance the AI will single out one of your units (or more, depending on the amount of points available) and it’s impossible for you to save it.
That also happens in the modified WW2 campaigns, and it’s just annoying there. Escorting bombers, for example, is then almost pointless, as the airstrikes are unaffected by fighter cover.
Other than that, I liked the TCs - they do work and sometimes even work different enough to feel like a seperate game. For example, in the ACW TC, there’s TONS of auxilary units, deadly artillery fire etc, it’s really hard to keep a core force alive.
rezaf
Ben Sones, thanks for posting the two screenshots. I definitely prefer PG’s aesthetic to PG2, and the maps were a big part of that. Here’s hoping GOG can release PG one day.
