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Pool of Radiance, Eye of the Beholder, and others on GoG (soon)!

VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,457
WELP! This hype!
http://www.pcgamer.com/forgotten-realms-the-archives-brings-13-dd-classics-to-gog/

Considering I just played through PoR I wouldn't mind getting the full set that works without me using Dosbox. Hopefully it doesn't require Dosbox.
elminsterAstroBryGuyShapiroKeatsDarkMageJuliusBorisovkcwise
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Comments

  • NaveenNaveen Member Posts: 81
    edited August 2015
    GoG games are fully integrated with Dosbox. You don't need to do any tinkering. The most complex thing I've had to do has been Runnin as Administrator or perhaps downloading some patch.

    The games are already on the topsellers list on gog.com.

    PS: However, those are really old games. I'd read the gog forums first to see any possible problems, compatibility issues and so on.
    VallmyrJuliusBorisovkcwise
  • ShapiroKeatsDarkMageShapiroKeatsDarkMage Member Posts: 2,428
    Crom bless GOG. Long live GOG.
    VallmyrJuliusBorisovkcwise
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    I'm hoping they are staggering the releases. First pack is the Eye of the Beholder Trilogy (though why they didn't name it that is beyond me). Second is all the Forgotten Realms Gold Box games plus Unlimited Adventures. The third is rather lackluster, containing only Menzoberranzan and Dungeon Hack.

    Obviously they got the license for all this stuff, but only released the Forgotten Realms related titles. Major titles from SSI that are still missing are the Dragonlance Krynn Trilogy of Gold Box games, both Dark Sun games, and the two Ravenloft games that are very similar to Menzoberranzan in every respect. Unless somehow they managed to NOT get the rights to those titles, which would be odd indeed.
    kcwise
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    The Dark Sun and Ravenloft games where pretty good.
  • NaveenNaveen Member Posts: 81



    Obviously they got the license for all this stuff, but only released the Forgotten Realms related titles. Major titles from SSI that are still missing are the Dragonlance Krynn Trilogy of Gold Box games, both Dark Sun games, and the two Ravenloft games that are very similar to Menzoberranzan in every respect. Unless somehow they managed to NOT get the rights to those titles, which would be odd indeed.

    And the old Stronghold, right? It may be nostalgia, but I loved that game.

    image
    kcwise
  • dwilliams1966dwilliams1966 Member Posts: 41
    This is fantastic news! I started a thread about this a couple of years ago and GoG finally managed to get the license to carry these great games.

    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/21327/vote-for-gog-to-carry-the-ssi-gold-box-games#latest

    ProTip: If these games run a little too fast or slow on your PC, use Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12 to slow down or speed up the game.
    FinneousPJJuliusBorisovkcwise
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    Wait. I don't see Hillsfar on the list? How can I possibly play the Pool of Radiance story completely without a stop off in Hillsfar?

    atcDave
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    Hillsfar has to be a candidate for worst computer game ever!
    atcDaveWandering_Minstrel
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,146
    @Fardragon, yet its funny how I can be nostalgic for something so bad!
    the_spyder
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    Hillsfar was a pretty awful game, it's true. But there are other contenders that far outstrip it. Pool of Radiance, Ruins of Myth Dranor far surpassed Hillsfar for crapiness, as for example.

    But just in case anyone missed my 'sarcasm' tag, yes. I put that comment in to be snarky. I am finding that sarcasm is a language all it's own and not everyone speaks it.
    atcDave
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    Sarcasm is a cultural thing, it does not transfer across international boundaries.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    I'm sorry, but was that sarcasm? Because I think I missed it.
  • kcwisekcwise Member Posts: 2,287
    For those interested in how this happened: http://www.pcgamer.com/how-gog-rescued-13-forgotten-realms-games-from-licensing-hell/

    [spoiler=Rescuing_Gold_Box_Games]With the trail running cold, GOG tracked down SSI’s original President and founder, Joel Billings. “As a huge fan of D&D he was willing to help walk us through a detailed history behind SSI mergers and narrow the search down to two potential candidates: Mattel, or Gores Technology Group (who had acquired The Learning Company). The latter was a hit. We had found the actual rights owners to the Forgotten Realms games, and after several more months of negotiations, they agreed to sell them to us outright.”

    GOG managed to recover thirteen games this way. They are: the party-based RPG Pool of Radiance; its sequels Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades and Pools of Darkness; C&C creators Westwood’s minigame RPG Hillsfar; the RPG construction kit Unlimited Adventures; Westwood’s first-person Eye of the Beholder Trilogy; the roguelike FPS Dungeon Hack; the two Savage Frontier games; and the Ultima Underworld-like Underdark exploration game Menzoberranzan.

    Then it they had the not-so-small matter of getting all thirteen running and bug-free for modern systems including Windows 10. Considering these were huge games—and not bug free in their release versions—that’s a massive task that the GOG team has been working on since April.

    One of the stranger challenges has been to get the Code Wheels working—the nostalgia-inducing cardboard security devices that came in the SSI Gold Boxes. “We considered trying to remove the need to use these codes during gameplay (much like we've done with several of our games in the past) but instead decided to opt for leaving that mechanic intact for the sake of a cooler, more authentic old-school experience.” So each game has a printable DIY code wheel for players to construct and a software version as well.[/spoiler]

    From the sounds of it, it might be just as difficult to recover the Dragonlance titles, and other SSI games. But, now that they have some help from Joel Billings perhaps it will be a bit easier. I imagine the folks at Beamdog can sympathize with the legal hurdles of getting the rights to older titles.
    atcDaveFardragonJuliusBorisov
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,457
    I actually just bought the whole set today. Though I'm playing NWN2 currently I'm also playing Eye of the Beholder on my laptop between college classes. I should probably grid it but didn't have any paper on me today when I played it XD

    Tons of fun, though! I'm going to restart and re-build my party next time though and have some grid-paper with me to map things out n_n
    JuliusBorisovkcwise
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    It would be awesome if after going through all that legal hell someone would come out with an idea of making a new Forgotten Realms game and get some help from WotC.
    kcwise
  • kcwisekcwise Member Posts: 2,287
  • ShadowdemonShadowdemon Member Posts: 80
    I'm hoping they get the Dark Sun games too. They were buggy, but were still very fun to play. Two of my favorite games of that time period.
    kcwise
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850

    I'm hoping they get the Dark Sun games too. They were buggy, but were still very fun to play. Two of my favorite games of that time period.

    I have to imagine the Krynn Trilogy, the Dark Sun games, and the two Ravenloft titles are going to appear sooner than later. This batch essentially took the Forgotten Realms Archives commercial release and split it into 3. I find the way they decided to package them odd, but I don't doubt we'll see 3 more packs in the near future.
    kcwise
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    I have a save spot in Curse of the Azure Bonds right now but I can't make any progress past that point. Despite having an original code wheel for that game--yes, I still have the original ones--when the old man guarding the bridge asks me three questions (yes, a Monty Python reference) I line up the runes but my answers are always marked as "incorrect" and the game quits. As far as I know Simmeon Pilgrim never finished his project to recode the game and there is no tool to bypass the code-wheel questions so until GOG manages to publish these games I'll just have to abandon my in-progress game.

    I also have Secret of the Silver Blades but it works normally. Caveat: the overland maps outside New Verdigris and the Ice Crevasses are a *pain* to map or explore. "oh, look--I took five steps and got attacked by yet another group of ogres...or hill giants...or Banite Clerics...or Black Circle mages...or frost giants and mammoths". Yes, everyone is 12th or 13th level and the fights are easy but making progress towards my destination is really s...l...o...w...

  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018

    Yes, everyone is 12th or 13th level and the fights are easy but making progress towards my destination is really s...l...o...w...

    Sometimes game developers forget that s..l..o..w and EPIC are not synonymous.
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    Exactly. Curse of the Azure Bonds does have epic fights, though--slowly making your way through the drow caves beneath Hap and Dracandros' Tower when, suddenly, a wild *dracolich* appears! What the--?!

    It *is* possible to beat the 14 black dragons on top of Dracandros' Tower. It isn't easy, but it is definitely possible.

    Pool of Radiance doesn't have much in the way of "epic" fights, being a low-level game, but making it through the sneak attack at Sokol Keep without losing any party members feels pretty epic.
    Vallmyr
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,146
    The ogres and trolls in the slums will always be the FIRST epic fight in an AD&D CRPG to me.
    the_spyderVallmyr
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    I remember fondly (??) my first encounter with the Trolls in the slums. But equally I remember what I always thought of as an EPIC battle against Orcs and hobgoblins in Sokol Keep. That was more monsters than I had remembered encountering to date.
    atcDave
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @Mathsorcerer You can find maps for the areas between the town and the well online. I recall a fight with a dragon in the northern reaches that is also pretty epic,

    image
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    The dark blue spot is the Dragon fight.
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,457
    So I had intended to play Pillars of Eternity after beating NWN2:SoZ but somehow ended up playing Menzoberranzan. I have Drizzt in my party alongside my Elf Cleric and Gnome Thief! DRIZZT IS SO COOL EVEN IF HE IS AN OP MARY SUE!
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    That's a game that I actually own but have never played. I remember loading it up, but there were some bugs or something and I just never went back to it.

    @Vallmyr Is it worth going back and playing?
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,457
    Well, I haven't run into any bugs yet. It's combat reminds me of Eye of the Beholder. I realllyy enjoy the exploring though despite the graphical style. The gameplay seems to involve so far: Enter area, explore, look at map, find all the items on the ground, bring items to a person or whatever. You make your primary 2 characters but you can have 2 more npcs, so far I found a human fighter, a centaur ranger, a drow ranger (Drizzt), and a Tengu (It's a bird person, idk their race) Fighter/Mage/Thief.
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    edited September 2015
    Thank you, @LadyRhian--I already had maps for SotSB (some of which were ancient and on graph paper because that is how we old-school gamers roll). I was merely commenting on the fact that back in the day--no, farther back than that--we didn't have access to online resources because there weren't any online resources. That made mapping much more time-consuming and haphazard--one mistake and you might have to redo four pages of maps.

    Whether you are 15 or 55 you should get the old Gold Box games when they come out just so you can say that you have been there and done that. Some of the fights can be a little challenging in Pool of Radiance because you probably won't be ready for them--spectres in the library? really? with level drain? really?!--but once you get a 5th-level mage it gets easier because Fireball is so over-powered compared to the foes you will face. Healing is problematic--you have access only to Cure Light Wounds and perhaps some potions, otherwise you have to save your money and head to the temples in New Phlan.

    Curse of the Azure Bonds is probably the most difficult of the Gold Box games because your party is at the most difficult portion of the level-up curve from 7th to 11th level. It isn't as linear as SotSB after you clear Hap/Dracandros' Tower and by the time you get to Zhentil Keep the money is pretty Monty Haul-ish, especially if you search the surrounding area in every town to find the caves with the mini-quests. erm...be careful poking around the caves in the vicinity of Dagger Falls--there is an area down there with some special and *very* difficult set encounters. In fact, without the proper preparation you *cannot* win against these encounters.
    atcDave
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