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Yes it was. What I liked most was the ability to mess up and/or outright miss certain party members and quests. I remember my jaw dropping when I read about potential party members because I was positive I had been thorough.

Nephologist said:

They were my favorite of the Goldbox series as well.

Also missing are the two SSI Ravenloft games. Stone Prophet in particular was excellent.

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PegasusOrgans said:

Edit: I wonder if they could make the Dark Sun MMO playable somehow… I really wanted to play it, but my internet speed prevented that… or was it bugs. Can't remember now.

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I doubt it would be much fun. DSO didn't use a server/client model but peer to peer. So the game didn't run on a server but on the player's PC instead. As a result, it was highly vulnerable to manipulation like cheating.

Pegasus: I actually only barely remember the second Dark Sun game. I do remember it had a game ending bug which would make passing it impossible. Apparently there was a way past it but I never looked it up.

I really enjoyed the first one. The Arena escape, finding the Defilers lab below the city past the sewers.

I dont remember the story for the second one at all.

The second Dark Sun 2 was mostly recognized as catastrophy.
It was a buggy mess, and the content wasn't on par with the first game.
The only score comparison I could find in a minute of research is the one from Moby though (75/100 press and 3,9/5 playerscore for the maingame and 67/100 press and 3,6/5 playerscore for the second part)

While I finished the first, something made me stop playing the second.
The first one I loved though and I'd love to see another game in that setting.

Honestly, these games are so old - they really should have them all in a single collection for that price.

DArtagnan said:

Honestly, these games are so old - they really should have them all in a single collection for that price.

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I don't think it's too bad. The EotB series isn't that old, especially compared to the rest of their catalogue, and you get three games. The Gold Box collection's got a hell of a lot in it, so no problems there. Compare that to buying Ultima 1-6.

It's the third one that doesn't make much sense. It's almost like they had two lesser-known games left over, but didn't want to throw them in with the first set.

Menigal said:

I don't think it's too bad. The EotB series isn't that old, especially compared to the rest of their catalogue, and you get three games. The Gold Box collection's got a hell of a lot in it, so no problems there. Compare that to buying Ultima 1-6.

It's the third one that doesn't make much sense. It's almost like they had two lesser-known games left over, but didn't want to throw them in with the first set.

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If you're actually going to play them all from start to finish and you can forget how archaic the Goldbox games are and enjoy them as if they were new, that's very true. In that case, they'd be worth much more.

Personally, I've already bought most of these full price ages ago - and I'm not likely to play any of them to completion again. It would be more of a nostalgia trip.

So, as with all things, it's all down to how you perceive value.

I'm probably strange, but I think the main reason I'd buy these would be for the manuals and journals

DArtagnan said:

Honestly, these games are so old - they really should have them all in a single collection for that price.

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That is pretty much where I was at, and why I am reading this thread. None of these 25-30 year old game sets screams 'buy me' at the current configuration/price. I'll wait for a sale.

DArtagnan said:

I'm probably strange, but I think the main reason I'd buy these would be for the manuals and journals

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I have to admit, I did get a thrill looking through the PoR manual.

I picked up the Gold Box set because I love those games and know I'll get a lot of play out of them once I get into them. The others I'm happy to wait for a sale to get.

Menigal said:

I have to admit, I did get a thrill looking through the PoR manual.

I picked up the Gold Box set because I love those games and know I'll get a lot of play out of them once I get into them. The others I'm happy to wait for a sale to get.

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I never actually played the Savage Frontier games. I was getting a little tired of the formula and I remember the Amiga ports ran like crap.

PoR and Champions of Krynn remain my favorite in that collection. However, I also have a very special place in my heart for Countdown to Doomsday. Never played Matrix Cubed, though.

Still, the thought of those endless battles with 30 Orcs in that clunky combat engine......

DArtagnan said:

I never actually played the Savage Frontier games. I was getting a little tired of the formula and I remember the Amiga ports ran like crap.

PoR and Champions of Krynn remain my favorite in that collection. However, I also have a very special place in my heart for Countdown to Doomsday. Never played Matrix Cubed, though.

Still, the thought of those endless battles with 30 Orcs in that clunky combat engine……

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I loved PoR, obviously, but was lukewarm on the rest of that series. It's the old high-level content problem. I really liked the Savage Frontier games, though, and I imagine they're probably going to be easier for modern gamers to play. I may be wrong, but I think they might actually contain all of the text in the game itself.

Menigal said:

I loved PoR, obviously, but was lukewarm on the rest of that series. It's the old high-level content problem. I really liked the Savage Frontier games, though, and I imagine they're probably going to be easier for modern gamers to play. I may be wrong, but I think they might actually contain all of the text in the game itself.

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Curse of the Azure Bonds was great as well, in my opinion. But I also found SotSB and PoD rather dull. I don't think I even bothered to complete the latter.

Milking formulas was always a thing, I guess

Now that gog is publisher I hope we could potentially see features added for the older games. i.e eye of the beholder games could use an automap feature integrated into the game. The old gold box games could use some serious interface improvements in terms of inventory management and combat control.*

I think there is modern precedence for this in the fact that games no longer have final versions these days and continue to be updated as long as financially viable.

*As long as the original unaltered games continue to be available.

Loved (almost) all of the games in this latest GoG feature. Sad to say, but I pirated EoB 1 and 2 back in the early 90's, and bought that collection in part to make up for it. I feel no such guilt over the third game in that series, though, since I was actually able to afford games on my own by the time that was released.

Will also admit to feeling a certain qualm regarding the second collection, the Gold Box offerings, but only because of the picture they use for Pool of Radiance. That pic is actually from Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, the somewhat ill-fated reboot from the early 2000's, rather than the first game in the Gold Box series of games.

Bought that collection, too, though, once I'd reassured myself that the pic wasn't representative of what I'd end up getting.

the Menzoberranzan collection... passed on that one. Strahd's Possession and esp. Stone Prophet were easily the games I enjoyed most out of that gameplay style (first person, real time), and they're nowhere to be seen here. Doubt I'd have gone for them anyway; I didn't enjoy them all THAT much, and i've still got them on disk around here somewhere, should I feel the need.

After playing The Witcher 3 for the last month or three, or however long it's been since it came out, I find myself on something of a nostalgia kick at the moment. Fired up The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown, and was just about to see if I could find The Destiny Knight when I saw this sale.

Good timing on GoG's part, I suppose.

Crap .. well, nostalgia / curiosity got the better of me and I grabbed the EoB set. Never finished any of them, but played a bit of #1.

Wow, what a release! I have no nostalgia for these games as I never played them, but I will gladly pick these up and play them on a rainy day.

Ah, the good 'ol days, when Forgotten Realms was an expected occurrence. Can I motivate myself to start one though? I wish I could, that's for sure

Menigal said:

I don't think it's too bad. The EotB series isn't that old, especially compared to the rest of their catalogue, and you get three games. The Gold Box collection's got a hell of a lot in it, so no problems there. Compare that to buying Ultima 1-6.

It's the third one that doesn't make much sense. It's almost like they had two lesser-known games left over, but didn't want to throw them in with the first set.

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Maybe they are planning to add the Ravenloft and Darksun games to that third bundle. I'd pay that much for Menzo, both Ravenlofts, both Darksuns and Dungeon Hack.

But Dark Sun is Dark Sun, it's not part of the Forgotten Realms, is it?

Of course that doesn't mean it's not coming to gog anyways.