Gold Box Gold Box & other SSI D&D classics released on Steam & GOG

[LESS T_T]

Coming to Steam via SNEG (the publisher behind rereleases of Blade of Darkness, Siege of Avalon, Witchhaven)

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Angelo85]

Nice. I wonder if the price on Steam will differ from GoG.

 

[LESS T_T]

Heh, Steam releases come with Gold Box Companion and The All-Seeing Eye?

©2022 SNEG LTD. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, their respective logos, Gold Box, and all other Wizards trademarks, titles, and characters are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. ©2022 Wizards. The All-Seeing Eye is licensed from Joonas Hirvonen. Thanks to DOSBox for their years of support.

©2022 SNEG LTD. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, their respective logos, Gold Box, and all other Wizards trademarks, titles, and characters are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. ©2022 Wizards. Gold Box Companion is licensed from Joonas Hirvonen. Thanks to DOSBox for their years of support.

 

[Infinitron]

Heh, Steam releases come with Gold Box Companion and The All-Seeing Eye?

©2022 SNEG LTD. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, their respective logos, Gold Box, and all other Wizards trademarks, titles, and characters are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. ©2022 Wizards. The All-Seeing Eye is licensed from Joonas Hirvonen. Thanks to DOSBox for their years of support.

©2022 SNEG LTD. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, their respective logos, Gold Box, and all other Wizards trademarks, titles, and characters are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. ©2022 Wizards. Gold Box Companion is licensed from Joonas Hirvonen. Thanks to DOSBox for their years of support.

Press release: https://www.gamespress.com/en-AU/Du...-Classics-to-Bring-Dungeon-Delving-to-Steam-L

Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Classics to Bring Dungeon Delving to Steam Later This Month

Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Eye of the Beholder, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun….for fans of Dungeons & Dragons and PC RPGs, these names immediately evoke fond memories of fantastic adventures in dangerous dungeons, vampire-infested lands, and post-apocalyptic worlds. The Gold Box PC games, based on these worlds and others, are, decades after their original release, still seen as quintessential RPG gaming experiences, and today, publisher SNEG has some great news for fans of the Gold Box series — they will be coming to Steam later this month! Not only that, but many of the games will be enhanced to feature companion apps, a unified launcher and character party transfer tool, and customized DOSBox updates.

Launched in 1988, the Gold Box series of computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are beloved by millions of players worldwide. Veteran Dungeons & Dragons players and CRPG newcomers alike enjoyed these games and their variety of unique settings and challenges. Whether it’s exploring the high-fantasy worlds of the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, surviving the brutal hellscape of Dark Sun, or battling a supreme vampire in the Ravenloft games, there was a Gold Box game for everyone! Grab your sword, spellbook, or Bag of Holding, and get ready for a return to nostalgia-laden adventures later this month!

“Even decades after their original release, the Gold Box games are seen by many as iconic Dungeons & Dragons digital experiences, and they practically defined computer RPGs, ” said Oleg Klapovskiy, Director at SNEG. “Now, I’m overjoyed that we get to fulfill our dream of bringing these RPG gems back to PC gamers on Steam while introducing them to a new audience!”

The following collections of games will be available via Steam on March 25, 2022

• Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection One (Eye of the Beholder I, II, and III)
• Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Two (Curse of the Azure Bonds, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Hillsfar, Pools of Darkness, Pool of Radiance, Secret of the Silver Blades, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, and Unlimited Adventures)
• Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Three (Dungeon Hack, Menzoberranzan)
• Krynn series (Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, The Dark Queen of Krynn)
• Dark Sun series (Shattered Lands, Wake of the Ravager)
• Ravenloft series (Strahd's Possession, Stone Prophet)
• D&D Stronghold: Kingdom Simulator
• Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse

SNEG will be adding some extra bonuses to the games, including:

• A special Gold Box launcher, making it easier to manage your Gold Box games, and transfer your adventuring parties between games
• Enhanced DOSBox support to offer the best performance possible for these games on modern PC hardware
• Companion apps for Eye of The Beholder Series (All-Seeing Eye) and the majority of other Gold Box Classics (Gold Box Companion) that manage dungeon mapping for you, provide easier access to journal entries, let you access spellbooks, and much more!

SNEG will release the Gold Box Classics via Steam for PC on March 25, 2022. To keep up with the latest news and updates, please visit the official Steam page here.

Is it March 25th or 29th?

 

[LESS T_T]

Oleg Klapovskiy, Director at SNEG.

Heh, he's one of the people who started GOG, did business development there over 12 years. https://www.linkedin.com/in/olegklapovskiy/

He joined SNEG as director in December., along with another ex-GOG manager guy: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12997834/filing-history

The founder and owner of the company, Elena Roor, she is also Senior Business Development Manager at QLOC at the same time? https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaroor/

No mention of SNEG on her page though.

Funny company.

 

[Null Null]

Oh, they licensed the Gold Box Companion? Congratulations Joonas!

 

[Rincewind]

I don't think this has been posted before; apparently the whole SSI Gold Box catalogue is going to be available on Steam from 30 March, so in just a few hours:

The Steam editions are being remastered by SNEG, a small publisher founded by former GOG employees that focuses on remastering and re-releasing old games. They'll feature a number of enhancements including a special Gold Box launcher that will simplify the process of managing the games and moving parties between them, enhanced DOSBox support, and various companion apps.

(source)

Also here:
https://www.dicebreaker.com/series/dungeons-and-dragons/news/dnd-gold-box-series-steam-release-date

Well, if just check out the release list, technically speaking it's not just the Gold Box games, but also the Eye of the Beholder trilogy, Dungeon Hack, etc.

It's interesting that they're going to sell them as collections, and then you can buy the individual games as DLCs. FRUA is also included, probably with no user-made content.

About the "remaster" and "enhanced DOSBox support" parts... Judging by the screenshots, they didn't even bother getting the aspect ratio correction right, and I highly doubt they will configure the games for Roland MT-32 sound (the ones that support it). I would bet on it that they will just bundle them with the Gold Box Companion and the All Seeing Eye and call it a day.

Seems like a low effort cash-grab operation, if you ask me, I'm not even sure what to think of it.

Otherwise, well done, Steam:

 

[Viata]

Who gets the money from buying them?

 

[Darkwind]

Jesus you link to the article and don't even pull out the best part of it. The SJW trigger warning from the neckbeard that wrote the article related to a 25 year old game universe.

"The Krynn series collection will include the titular Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn and The Dark Queen of Krynn, while the Dark Sun collection will offer the turn-based game Shattered Lands and its sequel Wake of the Ravager - neither of which used the Gold Box engine - set in the highly problematic setting inclusive of slavery, bioessentialism and racism."

hIgHLy pRoBleMaTiC sLaVeRY & rAcIsM

Because these NPCs simply cannot under any circumstance evade their rigid programming. Nuance, time and place, fantasy universe setting, none of it matters. They truly are robots in a very real sense of the word.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I highly doubt they will configure the games for Roland MT-32 sound (the ones that support it).

I've brought this up before, but I highly doubt anyone would ever do this. Roland would probably want money, more money than any company cheaply putting out these releases would ever be willing to pay.

Also, haven't played any of the titles yet, but have any of these digital releases removed the code wheel protection? Yes, I know there's a page on the internet that imitates it, but I would greatly enjoy not having to deal with that whenever I get around to the series.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

set in the highly problematic setting inclusive of slavery, bioessentialism and racism."

bioessentialist means you think men and women are different because you have eyes, btw.

 

[nlfortier]

I would buy these provided they come with automapping and they remove the need to reference the manual for in-game dialog. I am too spoiled by modern games to break out the graph paper.

 

[Butter]

I highly doubt they will configure the games for Roland MT-32 sound (the ones that support it).

I've brought this up before, but I highly doubt anyone would ever do this. Roland would probably want money, more money than any company cheaply putting out these releases would ever be willing to pay.

Also, haven't played any of the titles yet, but have any of these digital releases removed the code wheel protection? Yes, I know there's a page on the internet that imitates it, but I would greatly enjoy not having to deal with that whenever I get around to the series.

On GOG you just slap Enter whenever the copy protection screen comes up.

 

[Rincewind]

I've brought this up before, but I highly doubt anyone would ever do this. Roland would probably want money, more money than any company cheaply putting out these releases would ever be willing to pay.

Yeah, true. Same for Roland Sound Canvas VA for SC-55 emulation. Well, that's actually a paid product you can buy now... oh wait, you actually need to join the "Roland Cloud" then rent it on a monthly basis. No thanks, cracked version just works fine over here (but I'd honestly buy it if they sold it for a normal one-off price, like less than $50 USD or something).

Using correct aspect ratio just happens by default when using DOSBox Staging, though; it's a shame they can't even do that much.

Also, haven't played any of the titles yet, but have any of these digital releases removed the code wheel protection? Yes, I know there's a page on the internet that imitates it, but I would greatly enjoy not having to deal with that whenever I get around to the series.

I'm guessing they would simply use the cracked versions to get rid of it. I highly doubt they have access to the original sources, or to a guy who can remove the protection from the original binaries...

Btw, for all your codewheel needs:

https://archive.org/details/code-wheels

 

[jebsmoker]

Jesus you link to the article and don't even pull out the best part of it. The SJW trigger warning from the neckbeard that wrote the article related to a 25 year old game universe.

"The Krynn series collection will include the titular Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn and The Dark Queen of Krynn, while the Dark Sun collection will offer the turn-based game Shattered Lands and its sequel Wake of the Ravager - neither of which used the Gold Box engine - set in the highly problematic setting inclusive of slavery, bioessentialism and racism."

hIgHLy pRoBleMaTiC sLaVeRY & rAcIsM

Because these NPCs simply cannot under any circumstance evade their rigid programming. Nuance, time and place, fantasy universe setting, none of it matters. They truly are robots in a very real sense of the word.

if i were to guess, anyone who is going to buy this game isn't gonna give a shit about this inane alphabet soup because they grew up in a era in which this kind of dogshit wasn't propagated on a massive level

 

[curds]

I feel like anyone who would be even vaguely interested in these games likely already owns them, either from GOG or in their original, physical form.

 

[Sacibengala]

Jesus you link to the article and don't even pull out the best part of it. The SJW trigger warning from the neckbeard that wrote the article related to a 25 year old game universe.

"The Krynn series collection will include the titular Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn and The Dark Queen of Krynn, while the Dark Sun collection will offer the turn-based game Shattered Lands and its sequel Wake of the Ravager - neither of which used the Gold Box engine - set in the highly problematic setting inclusive of slavery, bioessentialism and racism."

hIgHLy pRoBleMaTiC sLaVeRY & rAcIsM

Because these NPCs simply cannot under any circumstance evade their rigid programming. Nuance, time and place, fantasy universe setting, none of it matters. They truly are robots in a very real sense of the word.

if i were to guess, anyone who is going to buy this game isn't gonna give a shit about this inane alphabet soup because they grew up in a era in which this kind of dogshit wasn't propagated on a massive level

"if i were to guess, anyone who is going to buy this game isn't gonna give a shit about this inane alphabet soup because they GREW UP."

 

[Daemongar]

I feel like anyone who would be even vaguely interested in these games likely already owns them, either from GOG or in their original, physical form.

Well, if they did some things like add the Journal entries in game - but they ain't going to do that. If the games still require DosBox - they didn't do shit. Probably added that Gold Box Companion - you know so people wouldn't have to rest to get back HPs and spells.

 

[BruceVC]

Jesus you link to the article and don't even pull out the best part of it. The SJW trigger warning from the neckbeard that wrote the article related to a 25 year old game universe.

"The Krynn series collection will include the titular Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn and The Dark Queen of Krynn, while the Dark Sun collection will offer the turn-based game Shattered Lands and its sequel Wake of the Ravager - neither of which used the Gold Box engine - set in the highly problematic setting inclusive of slavery, bioessentialism and racism."

hIgHLy pRoBleMaTiC sLaVeRY & rAcIsM

Because these NPCs simply cannot under any circumstance evade their rigid programming. Nuance, time and place, fantasy universe setting, none of it matters. They truly are robots in a very real sense of the word.

It wouldnt be the year 2022 if their wasnt some irrelevant, irritating, politically correct and attention seeking comment from some SJW who thinks the majority of gamers are concerned about settings that are about " slavery, bioessentialism and racism "

It makes me think of a game about the American Civil War where some SJW would say " this game is highly problematic because its set in a world where slavery was real "

 

[octavius]

It wouldnt be the year 2022 if their wasnt some irrelevant, irritating, politically correct and attention seeking comment from some SJW who thinks the majority of gamers are concerned about settings that are about " slavery, bioessentialism and racism "

It makes me think of a game about the American Civil War where some SJW would say " this game is highly problematic because its set in a world where slavery was real "

The sad thing is the already 20+ years ago slavery was dropped in Colonization (or was it Conquest of the New World?). Sure, it would have been an actual (and profitable) game mechanic instead of just part of the setting, but still...

 

[BruceVC]

It wouldnt be the year 2022 if their wasnt some irrelevant, irritating, politically correct and attention seeking comment from some SJW who thinks the majority of gamers are concerned about settings that are about " slavery, bioessentialism and racism "

It makes me think of a game about the American Civil War where some SJW would say " this game is highly problematic because its set in a world where slavery was real "

The sad thing is the already 20+ years ago slavery was dropped in Colonization (or was it Conquest of the New World?). Sure, it would have been an actual (and profitable) game mechanic instead of just part of the setting, but still...

Historical realities should never be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness and SJWism

Thats one of the reasons I respect East European games and RPG. They arent that concerned with these things and just make the game to be fun and realistic

 

[Aemar]

Please recommend the best of the bunch aside the Dark Sun games.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Please recommend the best of the bunch aside the Dark Sun games.

Pool of Radiance and Death Knights of Krynn, though if you want to play the Dragonlance trilogy you should start at the beginning with Champions of Krynn. The Gold Box games were designed for lower-level play, but the second game in the Krynn series managed to improve on the first one in various ways, whereas Curse of the Azure Bonds dropped wilderness exploration despite being for higher level characters than Pool of Radiance.

 

[Butter]

Pool of Radiance, while good, is vastly overrated. The encounter design is terrible, there isn't enough experience without grinding duels, it has fewer classes than the other GB games, and it lacks various QoL features from the subsequent GB games. It's worth playing for its scale and ambition, and for some of the late game quests like the Pyramid and Graveyard. Curse of the Azure Bonds is like the BG2 to Pool's BG1. It's higher level, it cuts out the boring wilderness, it has better encounters, and it's overall more fun. But it feels more hand-holdy because the unimportant locations are all menu towns.