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General discussion (archive)Do you think GOG need to up their game?(56 posts)(56 posts)
(56 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 01, 2013
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Iain: wondering what the rest of the community think
I bought Rise of the Triad and Dracula 4 (both very new) and I'll be buying Jack Keane 2 as soon as I can buy Jack Keane 1. I also have the Witcher 1, 2, and will likely buy CDP's future games here as well. The kickstarter games I have backed all appear to be coming here. I won't be re-buying them, but the games I have backed are all from well established studios meaning GOG will be dishing out some AAA titles in the near future.

So there are definitely examples of new launch games here.

Now, as for what I think...

They need to be less picky about what a "quality" game is. They appear, based on my limited knowledge, to be too subjective. IMHO, a game should have reason to NOT be here. I'm all about keeping the junk away... but I think some pretty decent games may have been turned away based on personal opinions that we all wouldn't hold the same. Better examples are the games that they DID allow, which are rubbish by many folk's standards which proves even better how subjective "quality" can be.

So with a limited release schedule, decent games appear to be turned away in lieu of games that many of us don't think are decent. I'm not bashing the acceptance of games I don't like... I"m more after the games that I do like that get refused.

I generally also complain about the lack of newerish games showing up here. But the last few months have had some very good titles from that time frame, so I can't complain about that here.
Posted August 01, 2013
It's a tough balancing act trying to cater for both fans of modern indy titles and people like myself who see Gog as more of a place to restore older titles to their former glory. There's a good interview on Destructoid (linked in another thread) where Gog makes the argument that the only way to stay in business now that all of the 'easier to convince' publishers are already on board is to diversify and sell new stuff too. I accept that argument as if gog stops making profit and is forced to close then neither side get what they want!

I'm not sure that gog's good reputation or greater cashflow is the problem when trying to convince the microsofts and zenimaxs of the world to sign up, I'd guess it's more likely to be stubborn executives insisting that only with intrusive DRM can piracy be stopped, despite seemingly no evidence suggesting this is actually true. Hopefully gog is still plugging away though, and a greater market share thanks to the indy expansion can't hurt!
Posted August 01, 2013
Nvm, it was said above... Hope GOG staff is reading it carefully (about the pros and contras)
Post edited August 01, 2013 by tokisto
Posted August 01, 2013
would be nice to see some more Japanese made games come out on GOG

other than that, i have no complaints.
Posted August 01, 2013
I'm genuinely bored with GOG. While I absolutely enjoyed discovering the nostalgia that the old classics gave me, it all seems to have dried up and instead been replaced with amateurish garbage (IMHO). While fine that GOG diversified and included indies, not all indies are worth supporting if they are to take over the releases that GOG used to put together. Seriously, I'd be overjoyed if they put together a pack that included Alley Cat, or even a smidgin of the billions of the shareware titles that used to make the BBS circuit back in the day.

The site is broken, amateurish and it seems that they have stopped spending money on developing it any further. There are massive holes in the game search, the idiocy that is the right pane that fades out as time goes on (and I miss news posts). The gogmix that they once pushed to encourage othesr to share interests with the community of Good 'ol Gamers is now neutered and totally dead without as much as a whimper. The fact that one can't actually publish their wishlist publicly. The forums are a complete chaotic mess. The fact that they now support Mac sans Linux is a true kick in the nards etc. I feel that GOG's time has passed, and no other real solution actually exists.

So, I'm bored and certainly don't visit as often as I once used to. These issues I talk about, others have brought up many many many times in the past. I've given them plenty of my money, I now have zero reason to continue to do so. As far as I see it, GOG is languishing and needs much more attention in the areas I've mentioned.

I hope they listen to the others who have posted in this thread and have much better worded posts than I and really take some of the suggestions to heart. It's time to wake up GOG and go back to your roots, where you cared about 100% of your users. I feel no loyalty any longer.
Posted August 02, 2013
I don't know what's going on behind the scenes @ GOG either, but I find it a bit odd that the thing with "new big publisher coming on board" hinted at the end of 2012 hasn't gotten any follow ups so far and it's been more than half a year now.

I signed up for the classic games and while we had some important releases in the past it seems to me that this part of the GOG business is shrinking at a steady pace with Indie games taking their place. I've been guessing that it would be going that way when GOG announced their name change and brought indie games to the site. Unfortunately I can't say that I was totally wrong about this. Also, classic games nowadays are mostly released in bundles when before games like Sim City or Populous all got their own release. Are those classics only profitable when sold in bundles now? All of a sudden? I'm really wondering if a lot of (often hard to find in working condition) games that I'm waiting for (Sims from Microprose, Janes, Dynamix or games like Railroad Tycoon, Warlords 2, Carriers at War etc...) are possible releases anymore given their niche appeal and the new GOG strategy.

A week ago or something like that someone wrote on the forum that a company bought the rights to an Amiga gaming library of more than 300 titles with the goal of releasing those games on PSN etc.. Since this topic has been brought up by GOG users for quite a while now I was hoping that GOG was actually considering offering Amiga games here. Or maybe trying to get arcade/NeoGeo games. That would be my idea of getting new folks to buy on GOG. But all that's visible to the ordinary user here are efforts that concentrate primarily on Indie games which puts GOG in direct contest with all other DD platforms while they could be doing stuff where no one else is able to compete.

But maybe the classic gaming nerd has become a small minority even here on GOG.
Post edited August 02, 2013 by Dragonfly2012
Posted August 02, 2013
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Dragonfly2012: I signed up for the classic games and while we had some important releases in the past it seems to me that this part of the GOG business is shrinking at a steady pace with Indie games taking their place.
Again, the classic part hasn't shrinked. Check the numbers here. So far in 2013, out of 97 releases we had 26 pre-2K releases and 39 releases that were 10+ years old when released on GOG. We also had 25 Day 1 releases, not counting the 2 games that are on pre-order status.
For comparison, in 2010 we had 79 releases of which 35 were pre-2k and 36 were 10+ years old.
In 2011 we had 85 releases, 48 of them pre-2K and 57 10+ years old, and also 1 Day 1 release (The Witcher 2).
So, we already have had more releases in total than those two years, we should have more pre-2K releases easily (9 more needed to reach 2010 number) and we should have as many pre-2K as in 2011 as well (assuming an average of 1 pre-2K release per week).
Posted August 02, 2013
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blackjudas: I'm genuinely bored with GOG. While I absolutely enjoyed discovering the nostalgia that the old classics gave me, it all seems to have dried up and instead been replaced with amateurish garbage (IMHO). While fine that GOG diversified and included indies, not all indies are worth supporting if they are to take over the releases that GOG used to put together. Seriously, I'd be overjoyed if they put together a pack that included Alley Cat, or even a smidgin of the billions of the shareware titles that used to make the BBS circuit back in the day.
Since you mentioned Alley Cat... I, on the other hand, feel that sometimes people are too kind to old games, as if any game becomes golden, as long as it is old.

GOG has released "classics" that I personally felt were mediocre, boring and cheap already back when they were released. Or, then they simply have aged very badly. I'd take the Catacomb games as an example, or Superfrog, or Hocus Pocus, or the 2D Duke Nukem games.

Many of those were the low-end "indie"/shareware games of their time, yet people act now as if they shook the world back when they appeared. I'd much rather see GOG release modern (indie) platform games like Trine 1-2 and Giana Sisters here, than shareware EGA platform jumping games or lazy Amiga-to-PC ports (like Superfrog) from the late 80s and early 90s.

Having said that, I am not saying GOG shouldn't release also the lower end "classics". I don't want to deny people the ability to rebuy them, even though I personally don't see much of value, even historical or cultural, in them..

On the other hand, I do applaud System Shock 2 and Wizardry series to appear here, for example. That's the kind of classics I like to see here, even if I had the retail versions of them already. Not any crap just because it is old.
Post edited August 02, 2013 by timppu
Posted August 02, 2013
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timppu: Since you mentioned Alley Cat... I, on the other hand, feel that sometimes people are too kind to old games, as if any game becomes golden, as long as it is old.

GOG has released "classics" that I personally felt were mediocre, boring and cheap already back when they were released. Or, then they simply have aged very badly. I'd take the Catacomb games as an example, or Superfrog, or Hocus Pocus, or the 2D Duke Nukem games.

Many of those were the low-end "indie"/shareware games of their time, yet people act now as if they shook the world back when they appeared. I'd much rather see GOG release modern (indie) platform games like Trine 1-2 and Giana Sisters here, than shareware EGA platform jumping games or lazy Amiga-to-PC ports (like Superfrog) from the late 80s and early 90s.

Having said that, I am not saying GOG shouldn't release also the lower end "classics". I don't want to deny people the ability to rebuy them, even though I personally don't see much of value, even historical or cultural, in them..

On the other hand, I do applaud System Shock 2 and Wizardry series to appear here, for example. That's the kind of classics I like to see here, even if I had the retail versions of them already. Not any crap just because it is old.
I don't think we often see eye to eye, but I have to agree with you here. Looking through Abandonia for potential GOG games, a good chunk of the early to late '80s ones look like they were drawn in MSPaint and have very limited or very uninteresting gameplay. I've certainly come across some that I think deserve a place on GOG (mostly nice-looking platformers), but even more that probably should remain "abandoned".

However, I'm also glad GOG has released some of the classics (Catacombs, etc.) mentioned above that you don't like, even though they haven't sold as well as others, because it shows that GOG isn't just after money. I'm someone who buys into the idea of having certain games here because of their historical significance, so I believe significantly old titles like Zork or Ultima have a place here. Daikatana, well, you can at least finish it, right? Big Rigs ... okay, you probably have me there. :-P

So while I want to see more old games come here (more than we've been receiving in the past month or two), I do want GOG to use good judgement about what has aged well, and see if it is still fun and worthy of being sold or "preserved" here. However, I think that should also be true for indie titles; Slender and Omerta are two titles that, if they stopped being sold here, I would be okay with that. (not leaving people's accounts, though, of course) :P
Post edited August 02, 2013 by tfishell
Posted August 06, 2013
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timppu: Since you mentioned Alley Cat... I, on the other hand, feel that sometimes people are too kind to old games, as if any game becomes golden, as long as it is old.

GOG has released "classics" that I personally felt were mediocre, boring and cheap already back when they were released. Or, then they simply have aged very badly. I'd take the Catacomb games as an example, or Superfrog, or Hocus Pocus, or the 2D Duke Nukem games.

Many of those were the low-end "indie"/shareware games of their time, yet people act now as if they shook the world back when they appeared. I'd much rather see GOG release modern (indie) platform games like Trine 1-2 and Giana Sisters here, than shareware EGA platform jumping games or lazy Amiga-to-PC ports (like Superfrog) from the late 80s and early 90s.

Having said that, I am not saying GOG shouldn't release also the lower end "classics". I don't want to deny people the ability to rebuy them, even though I personally don't see much of value, even historical or cultural, in them..

On the other hand, I do applaud System Shock 2 and Wizardry series to appear here, for example. That's the kind of classics I like to see here, even if I had the retail versions of them already. Not any crap just because it is old.
You sir are correct in your views. On the other hand, how hard would it be to add access to these games? I understand that GOG is a business and not a museum but the main reason I signed up was anti-DRM and access to old classics. I signed up despite the Windows-only aspect as I have been running Linux since... well the 90's. All this because I wanted to pay to have a copy of my old games back (GOG has done things right with ScummVM and DOSBox). I think at this point GOG has simply evolved and left people like me behind.

You and I could bicker about quality, why gameplay is important and graphics are secondary ad nauseum, this is not the point. I only brought up Alley Cat merely for the fact that I enjoyed it, was a fun quick-to-play game and I certainly remember the bad pink CGA graphics. This still has value for me, but is not the only game I would want to see, who knows, maybe I'm the only one. If so, then how I feel about this service doesn't matter.

On an positive note, I see that GOG has finally released some site updates, we shall see if the work on it continues.
Posted August 06, 2013
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tfishell: In a way, GOG upped their game when they started bringing in modern indie games, showing that they could compete with the big guys. While I was definitely a bitch about that in the past (and I do apologize for some of that), I had hoped and expected that by bringing modern titles (and after the release of System Shock 2), and getting a greater cashflow, GOG would be able to put some of that money back towards securing long-lost classics, and/or perhaps be able to wave their reputation around more with the "Big 3" we have remaining: Take 2, Microsoft, and LucasArts.

That doesn't seem to have happened, unfortunately. (although obviously I don't know what's going on behind the curtain) I don't know what's going on, perhaps I shouldn't care, but while Steam gets FF7, Worms Armageddon, and the Duke 3D expansions (not to mention better deals for Apogee and 3D Realms compilations; 5.99 for individual games here vs. a 9.99 bundle with 3 or 4 games on Steam), GOG gets ... good indie games, but imo nothing quite in the league as what we were getting back in 2013's early months. (aside from the Wizardry titles, of course). That depresses me.

I do also think there are many improvements that could be made. I like the overall look of the site, I think it still looks good enough to stay the way it is. However, with over 500 games in the catalogue, I think it could probably use a redesign and perhaps better search criteria; I feel like a good deal of games are getting "lost" at the bottom of the catalogue because it takes a while to get down there (due to loading and what not). And spam needs to be dealt with. Linux and Amiga support would be fantastic, too. (not for me, but I know many people want a Linux option here)

However, as I stated earlier, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, and I may just be basing this on the summer months. Maybe GOG is spending all their time getting games to work, securing titles, etc., and don't have time to make major improvements around here. (although a recent article mentioned something launching next spring that was suppose to appeal to us) I just hope they aren't satisfied with the status quo, and don't leave behind the fans of classic games.

Perhaps we'll see what fall brings.
I pretty much agree with this point-for-point. Also I'm sympathetic to what blackjudas aired (albeit he was a little blunt). I would argue since the GOG "re-branding" I've been rather underwhelmed with GOG, and I don't think it's a coincidence it coincided with GOG dropping the "Good 'ol Games" moniker.

This is still the only DD site I'll use because I love GOG's philosophy and approach, and I'm still buying games, albeit a slow rate. I'll happily take a chance on an indie like The Cat Lady, Miasmata, or Waking Mars when presented with a sale but most of the indie releases splashed on the top page come release day leave me wanting and my wallet closed. I was overjoyed when the old Tomb Raider & Thief games finally hit GOG's shelves, as well as other cult classics like System Shock 2 and Clive Barker's Undying, all of which I've happily paid for. But I'm still waiting for the "gaps" of the back-catalog of EA and other publishers, for old(er) gaming is why I came here and I stay here, circa 1995-2005 (as was originally GOG's focus as a DD site). From a business standpoint, obviously they just can't cater to tastes like mine. Diversify, expand target demographics, compete with GG/Steam etc. I totally get that. But I can't help but invariably sigh every Tues/Thurs when I click on GOG's homepage.

The forums could use an overhaul definitely, as General Discussion is a traffic congested mess. I and many others have opined about this in other long buried threads.

I'm never going to like the "new" front page either. I much preferred the old blog style of stacking news stories with a sneak-peek of the writing next to each story. I wish there was a way to return to that as a site preference.

Still, I'm always going to be a customer here and spend money accordingly...how much is up to the path GOG goes, of course.
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General discussion (archive)Do you think GOG need to up their game?(56 posts)(56 posts)
(56 posts)