GOG.com

[catfood]

Hey guys guess what. Good Old Games released a good old game.

https://af.gog.com/game/ignition?as=1649904300

 

[Baron Dupek]

Published by Interplay no less
Front page worthy news

 

[Mikeal]

It was propably already posted , but "Akalabeth" is available for free on GoG.

 

[Astral Rag]

Ignition

And of course it doesn't work properly..

Cars keep exploding forever?

 

[catfood]

There's a fix apparently

If you have PERSP. POLY option ON try turning it OFF and see if the cars still explode

 

[Endemic]

Ignition is the toy car version of Whiplash, a decent enough arcade racer to waste a few hours on.

 

[Old One]

I have a little more to say about GRID, even though it's no longer on GOG for now.

I removed the file allegedly responsible for the rubberbanding AI wyork mentioned earlier (conspicuously named "catchup.xml"). First of all, the game runs just fine without it. Second, is there a difference without it? I think so. I saw a few people claiming the rubberbanding made the races easier for human players because it helped them catch the lead cars. This has not been my experience. Removing it makes the races easier for the human because the leaders tend to separate from the pack. If you're hanging with the lead cars near the end, the trailing cars fall so far behind that you can focus on the two or three other cars you have to pass to win. It's a lot more realistic and a lot more fun, IMO.

Second, keyboard control is difficult for a couple of reasons. The main problem is that the accelerate key is either on or off with no in-between. You've either got the go pedal mashed all the way to the floor, or all the way off. The only way to fake a gradual acceleration is to tap the key over and over. If you don't do that, it's very easy to find your front wheels spinning so fast the car goes sideways instead of straight. This is a problem if you crash or something and need to get back up to speed. Turning has a similar problem.

All that being said, it is workable even if it's frustrating at times.

I imagine GRID would be pretty sweet with a full wheel-and-pedals setup. I'm not willing to make that kind of commitment, but if you're a big racing game fan, it could be fun. Hopefully it'll come back to GOG at some point.

 

[tuluse]

Old One

Wheel and pedals would be overkill for GRID, just grab a controller with analog triggers and you're all set.

 

[CreamyBlood]

'Old One' is so old that he predates computers and hasn't yet learned the difference between these old things like 'analog' or newer things such as 'digital'.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I see Konung 1+2 is on sale. Judging by the screenshots it looks good enough, but the reviewers give average ratings.
So what's wrong with it?

Nothing, it's a good RPG. The combat is, well, interesting. It's basically real-time, party-based combat, but there isn't really much you can actually do in the combat. It's weird, but you sort of have to manage the area, space and character health rather than any sort of active abilities. So, you swarm an enemy or two, be careful not to get surrounded, heal when necessary and move your group accordingly. Repeat until the enemies are dead.

That may not sound that great but the rest of the game is quite interesting. There is a simulation aspect of the game, in that you can capture villages and protect them with mercenaries and/or leave party members there to protect them. You can also invest in towns, build new buildings, etc. Marauding bands can raid a village and if you lose the village you can't use their services until you recapture it. It's not all that fleshed out but it adds another element to the game.

As for the basic RPG stuff, it's quite good. There are hidden treasures on each map and you get special one-use items to discover them. Often you can find some really nice stuff but the items are somewhat rare so use sparingly. It's got an interesting story and progression, very large map to explore in any way you choose (open-world I guess you could say), loot and somewhat tight econoy, several characters you can play as that have different storylines and backgrounds, party members to recruit and quests to do. It's worth a play, IMO, just to check out something really different yet still an RPG and won't be confuseed with another genre. I played it some 40 hours or so before I got distracted with another game, and will go back someday to finish it. I also have a Konung 3 as well as a boxed copy of the original Konung (which also looks really intereresting, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.)

Here's a review/thing I wrote awhile back for Konung 2. Please excuse whatever silly writing errors, etc., I made as the article is a few years old.

https://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=246

 

[Baron Dupek]

https://af.gog.com/game/tachyon_the_fringe?as=1649904300
first NovaLogic game? P. cheap, might grab it. Another nice trophy from THQ Nordic hunt.

 

[Old One]

'Old One' is so old that he predates computers and hasn't yet learned the difference between these old things like 'analog' or newer things such as 'digital'.

I have a set of Atari 2600 paddle controllers in pristine condition. Will those work?

 

[CreamyBlood]

I don't remember the 'paddle' controllers for the 2600 but the joystick probably won't work because I'm pretty sure the 2600 used digital inputs even though it felt like it was analog (they might have been using some trickery, don't know). I suppose if you could figure out how to hook it up to a Soundblaster game port or USB it might feel okay but I suspect that would be a lot of work.

I've never had a modern gamepad thing and am useless at them when using a console as I'm reduced to a few decades of keyboard/mouse muscle memory. A console gamepad might just be your best bet for a cheap analog solution though.

I'll tell you a quick story about my recent experience that might help. A few years ago I got into Racing Games/Sims for the first time since Pole Position. It was TOCA3 then Dirt 2. I used the keyboard for both and eventually got really good at it and yes, tap, tap, tap. Gotta figure it out for each game, each car, each track.

Then I bought a mid-tier wheel (F430) as I started checking out everything from Flatout to Rfactor. I didn't want to blow a tonne of money if I wasn't going to stick with it but wanted something half decent.

It actually took me a couple of weeks to get as good with the wheel as I was with the keyboard in Dirt 2. The wheel is worth it to me, for sure. I'm not using it as much as I used to but sometimes it's fun to rip around for awhile and sometimes when friends/kids come over we'll do some racing. It adds to 'the experience'. I'm glad I bought it.

So, a few possible options are:

1) Get good at using the keyboard.
2) Convert an Atari 2600 joystick to work with whatever interface you have.
3) Get a $30 console controller and try to adapt to it.
4) Spend $150 or more on a wheel and adjust to that.

Great Lucks to you, man.

 

[CryptRat]

They added Little Nightmares for preorder.
I have been keeping an eye on this one since it was announced, if it's more than a cinematic experience, and I think it is, then it could be fun.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Cryo's other good game (after Dune) is now available on GOG: Lost Eden.

One of its highlights is the cool soundtrack, otherwise it plays like Dune without the strategy element.

 

[Naraya]

Cryo's other good game (after Dune) is now available on GOG: Lost Eden.

One of its highlights is the cool soundtrack, otherwise it plays like Dune without the strategy element.

Ooh, I loved Dune but never played The Lost Eden. Can you elaborate a bit more please?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Remember how Dune played? Move between rooms, travel on an overhead map, talk to people, etc? That's Lost Eden in a nutshell. There are no forces to command to assault occupied regions, which means no need to recruit troops, arm them or issue them commands. It's just you and your companions.

The plot is that Man and Dinosaur co-exist in a fantasy land that is currently under siege by a tyrannical Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it's up to you to stop him.

 

[Melcar]

Oh wow, a tyrannical T-rex.

 

[:Flash:]

https://af.gog.com/game/tachyon_the_fringe?as=1649904300
first NovaLogic game? P. cheap, might grab it. Another nice trophy from THQ Nordic hunt.

Tachyon: The Fringe is the last of the good mission based space combat games, it came out when the genre was practically dead already. Highly underrated in my opinion, definitely worth getting.

 

[Severian Silk]

I don't remember much about Tachyon, except that I enjoyed it.

 

[SCO]

Lost Eden is very simple and not very pretty. But the music on the game transports it into another plane. Definite proof that the right composer can turn shit to gold. Just, uh, don't expect great gameplay. Frankly KGB is a better game by cryo.

 

[Infinitron]

Ah, it's an Interplay game. So Herve still has a few left.

 

[taxalot]

What is interesting is that after Dune, Cryo kept trying to enhance the Adventure + Strategy formula, but seemingly failed to implement it every time. Lost Eden clearly has a story that feels similar to Dune, and some proto "strategy" elements with you needing to help settlements, but it seemed like it was never implemented fully. There is not even a strategic map in the game.

This happened again with Commander Blood which is another Cryo good game. Early interviews showed a huge galactic map we only got a little part of in the final game, and the game design Phil Ulrich mentioning how planets would go to war against each others dynamically, that you could help and interfere with species evolutions, that if they exhaust the food in one planet but are technologically advanced, they would colonize another planet, etc. None of this happens in the game, though story elements and items show it was definitely a plan. Even worse, a "sequel" not made by Cryo but by some of their friends called Big Bug Bang reimplemented the code for this and it turned out terrible and unfinished.

In the end, they couldn't just seem to be able to redo what they did in Dune (clearly one of the best french game ever made). It's a shame, Cryo was a company who was guilty of being far too ahead of their time and of having enormous balls. Do you know how Dune was announced ? They summoned the press and showed them the game. Game magazines did previews saying it was the best thing ever. Thing is, their editor though actually owning the rights to Dune gave the project to Westwood Studios. They had no idea Cryo was working on Dune either, but forced by their awesomeness, they just had to release it.

Cryo kept making artsy games before it was fun to be artsy. Game magazines whined with "duuhhh hurrr it's a game where's the gameplay" and missed the entire point : they were atmospheric, engrossing, beautiful pieces of art. Stephane Picq's music is still the best. They would have been an awesome team in 2017.

 

[taxalot]

Both Imperium Galactica games are also out incidentally. I can vouch for #2 which is great.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

In the end, they couldn't just seem to be able to redo what they did in Dune (clearly one of the best french game ever made). It's a shame, Cryo was a company who was guilty of being far too ahead of their time and of having enormous balls. Do you know how Dune was announced ? They summoned the press and showed them the game. Game magazines did previews saying it was the best thing ever. Thing is, their editor though actually owning the rights to Dune gave the project to Westwood Studios. They had no idea Cryo was working on Dune either, but forced by their awesomeness, they just had to release it.

Cryo kept making artsy games before it was fun to be artsy. Game magazines whined with "duuhhh hurrr it's a game where's the gameplay" and missed the entire point : they were atmospheric, engrossing, beautiful pieces of art. Stephane Picq's music is still the best. They would have been an awesome team in 2017.

Showering praise on Cryo is the last thing I'd do. They hit the ball out of the park with Dune, and Picq's music helped with several subsequent releases. But in general their catalogue is a series of "meh"-level releases, even on established franchises.

It's clear that they were artsy and free-thinking and didn't approach game design from a "by-the-book" approach - which is precisely why they pretty much ducked out of sight as developers by the late 90s and went under in 2002.

They're also responsible for Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure, which is my pick for Worst Game Ever Made.