this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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PC Gaming

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Command & Conquer – The Ultimate Collection
SimCity 3000 Unlimited
Populous
Populous 2: Trials of the Olympic Gods
Populous: The Beginning
Dungeon Keeper Gold
Dungeon Keeper 2
Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack
The Saboteur
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

A game they looted from Westwood's corpse, a game they looted from Maxis's corpse, five games they looted from Bullfrog's corpse, a game they looted from Pandemic's corpse, and... Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

This is the trophy room Arnie finds in The Predator.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I guess we'll never see the likes of carbon or most wanted... Let alone underground 2.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Alright I guess it's time for another populous replay

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Will it be like with mass effect, where starting the game from steam causes origin to start up in the background? If so, I won't buy any of them out of principle.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

As an old guy, it's still profoundly weird to me that this is the same company that made Deluxe Paint.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Or in the beginning released beautiful boxes, with lots of information on the developers, they were a piece of art. Hence the name Electronic Arts.

They started as a great little company.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

Yay, another chance to give EA money. Let me jump right on that.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 8 months ago (2 children)

All of these were already on GOG.

Buy them there instead.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Gaben himself came here to downvote you.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Maybe if they ever bother to implement a Linux client and start investing in Linux gaming like Valve has.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

You download from their website like a proper storefront

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

There are open source clients like Heroic that download and install GOG games.

I'm more bothered about getting a good deal and DRM free than whether they have a Linux client.

I like Steam but I'm not using them exclusively just because they have a Linux client and Proton.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Numerous publishers have refused to put the native linux version of their games on GOG because of the lack of Galaxy for linux, citing feature parity of things like Galaxy's cloud save feature.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Well, most of these run on Dosbox and you can download DRM free installer packages directly from their website, so there's that.

But the Linux gaming crowd here keeps telling me how well Lutris and Heroic are supposed to work when I explain to them that I use a Windows handheld while my Steam Deck is gathering dust, so I'll point them to this next time instead of just telling them those don't quite do it for me.

All joking aside, yeah, I'd love GOG having a better client overall, including a Linux port, but the quality of the packages and the lack of DRM easily trump that, so still buy these on GOG.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

It’s just Steam fanboys

You’d like to think the Linux crowd was an escape but it seems like they’re paid

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It may work great, but that store has given me significantly less for my money than Valve has.

For me the investment in a top tier Linux experience is worth the risk of maybe someday (if there's even DRM in the steam version of these very old games -- probably not) I won't be able to play something I purchased. Which is also true of GOG unless you're downloading and backing up every game you've bought from them.

I don't tend to play my older video games much at all anyways, so yeah for me the store experience is way more significant than "does this game have DRM?"

Now when it comes to music (ideally movies and shows would also fall into this category but that's not happening anytime soon)... I agree with you 100% DRM free is very important to me there but that's a completely different beast.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It is exactly the same beast. The beasts are the same. It's the same picture.

I mean, respect to your extremely wrong preferences, friend. Not everybody has the same use case. I'm not too sure who feels the need to come all the way out to do PR for a multibillion dollar corporation specifically on the basis of not being super into playing the stuff they buy from them, but you guys are clearly out there and I hope you are living your best lives. I'm not gonna say the cultish vibes one sometimes gets from the Valve apologia aren't concerning, but if it works for you it works for you.

For the record, I don't even dislike Valve. They're just a gaming first party like any other gaming first party. I buy stuff on Steam just like I buy stuff on PSN. It's all good. And I do like most of their first party stuff. If they ever decide to get back in the business of actually making games I'll probably check them out.

Also for the record, I do download and back up everything I buy on GOG. It all goes to the same backup space where I dump my BluRays and my CDs. And I absolutely have purchased most of the 2000+ games I own on GOG through sales, so I don't know about the value part either. Just today I played a 30 year old game and bought a brand new game from 2024 on GOG, so...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I mean more power to you. I'm not out here to defend Valve. I'm here to say "giving GoG isn't giving me the return on investment giving Valve money is."

Linux gaming and a stable Linux desktop is my #1 priority. Valve has put a lot of effort and money into making that happen. They also do have (as I said) DRM free stuff in their system.

I don't backup my games because most of my games are multiplayer games that (for me) are play for a while then (fairly) throw away. My favorites right now are Hunt Showdown and Last Epoch (if the servers shut down I'm out of luck).

You started this conversation with "buy them on GOG" (market for a large company ... CD Projekt Red ... yourself) and I'm saying, "no thanks, if they did these things I'd consider it".

"Good for you, not for me." applies here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

It absolutely does.

I do take issue with the idea that shilling for Valve versus GOG is on the same level, though. CDPR's entire market valuation is like 20% of Steam's revenue for one year. Based on best data available CounterStrike loot boxes make more money than all of GOG's store.

I'm not shilling for GOG. I'm shilling for DRM free stores in general. GOG just happens to be the one that has these EA games, but if you can find what you're looking for in a different place with a DRM free mandate go for that!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Battlefield 1942 would be great

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (6 children)

I'm not familiar with any of these. Which ones are worth getting?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

The Saboteur is an excellent game. It's set in German occupied France during WW2, mainly Paris but also the surrounding countryside. You can also cross the border into Germany to Saarbrucken which is cool. It's open world and is like a combination of GTA and the older Assassins Creed games.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

SMAC for sure.

Go Gaian and rule the world with your mindworm army.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Not familiar with SimCity?? Excuse me while I get back in my room at the retirement home.. 😭

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Well I am familiar with Sims and I did play one briefly as a kid, but not enough to have an impact. Maybe you're not old, I just might not be cultured.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Populous The Beginning was amusing and way ahead of it's time. Used to play it in simpler times. I would build up the economy and my friend would do the warring

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The Beginning got TONS of crap when it came out. DK2 as well, although a bit less so because it's less of a departure.

I've gone back to both since and I agree with you that Populous was way ahead of its time and holds up much better than other strategy games of the time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Still waiting for that fan remake to be released :(

(it will probably never come)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I liked the saboteur a lot

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I second this notion, I also liked the saboteur a lot. Basically GTA-like WWII Paris, what's not to like?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

GTA 3D , but somehow even less serious! But more serious than the likes of saints row, that's plain ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I quite enjoyed the dungeon keeper games back in the day

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Dungeon Keeper 2 for $2? Yes please.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Nice to see the saboteur in there, never got to finish it due to the red ring of death on the 360 🍾 (pour one out). I hate EA but its good that people have a chance to play these old titles.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

That game is fun. I got it from GoG awhile ago

E. Never ran into any controller issues with it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

If it's the same build that's on Origin, it takes a little work to get controllers working. Hopefully it arriving on Steam will alleviate some of that with community profiles!

I still revisit this game every few years. It's so damn good. It'd be cool to see Mercenaries 2 join Steam as well (with Steamplay!!! I can dream, right?).

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I instantly picked up SimCity 3000 there, it's literally the first computer game I've ever played! It was practically free and runs well. Might grab the C&C collection too, I didn't play those back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I didn’t spend much time on Sim City 4 and didn’t get the reboot after the reviews were so bad, but I always felt Sim City 3000 was the best one. Maybe a few things I liked better in Sim City 2000, but as an overall game I’d go with 3000.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

3000 was the only one I never played so I'm definitly going to grab this

[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Worth noting that (at least for Red Alert 2) , they aren't requiring you install whatever their launcher is.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

Same thing for C&C Generals. Amazing to see these games being released digitally without Origin!