GOG Rolls a 20: Adds Gold Box D&D Classics

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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GOG Rolls a 20: Adds Gold Box D&D Classics


GOG and Wizards of the Coast have teamed up to re-release a whole slew of classic Dungeons & Dragons games.

As The Escapist <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/goodoldreviews/12248-The-History-of-Dungeons-Dragons-in-Video-Game-Pt-1>has demonstrated in <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/goodoldreviews/12287-History-of-D-D-in-Video-Games-Part-2>the past, the history of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/dungeons%20and%20dragons?os=dungeons+and+dragons>Dungeons & Dragons in video games is one that's long, storied and, perhaps above all else, impressive. Pretty much since the moment video games became a thing there have been people trying to adapt D&D into an electronic experience. Sadly, due to the advancement of time and technology, many of the earliest games to come out of those efforts have been almost impossible for modern gamers to enjoy. Now however, thanks to GOG, gamers interested in dipping their toes into D&D's video game past will find the process much easier.

Beginning today, GOG, in association with Wizards of the Coast, will be adding Forgotten Realms: The Archives to its digital library. A trio of D&D RPG collections, The Archives will include an impressive range of games including Eye of the Beholder I-III (Archives: Collection One), SSI's Pool of Radiance Gold Box games (Archives: Collection Two), Dungeon Hack, Menzoberranzan (Archives: Collection Three) and more. Speaking to The Escapist about the announcement, Wizards of the Coast communications manager Greg Tito expressed excitement about the opportunity this re-release represents. "It feels great to be able to play games like Pool of Radiance and Eye of the Beholder," he said. "I didn't play these games when I was a kid even though I vividly remember seeing them on game store shelves... I always thought I would get to them someday but that sadly became less of a reality as the years wore on. Now here we are, almost 25 years later, and I can jump into the early Forgotten Realms once again. It's wonderful."

Today's release will represent the first time that any of these titles have been available as digital products. Gamers interested in purchasing them, in turn, will be able to pick up Collection One and Collection Two for $9.99 each. Collection Three will only cost $5.99. To help celebrate the release, GOG has also announced a special sale on its catalog of D&D titles, complete with discounts up to 80 percent. The sale will run until Tuesday, August 25th.

To see the full roster of new D&D games, head over to GOG.


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L3D

New member
Jul 15, 2008
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Needs a disclaimer that Greg Tito used to be the editor-in-chief of Escapist.

Édit: oh, and I will be definitely checking those games out.
 

Namrok

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Mar 10, 2015
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Man, this is awesome news. I had just gotten out my old Forgotten Realms Silver Edition cd and played through Pool of Radiance again. It broke my heart the games couldn't be legally purchased. Glad to see that's been rectified.
 

Thaluikhain

Elite Member
Legacy
Jan 16, 2010
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Hope they get Spelljammer working on modern computers. Actually, that's something that could really do with a modern remake, it was really let down by the limitations of the era.
 

Arnoxthe1

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Dec 25, 2010
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Honestly? I think Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition is the best buy out of all of these. Neverwinter Nights 2 I'm still playing through but it's pretty good so far. Starts off slow. Fair warning though. It's got some performance issues on slower modern systems. (Yes, even now. It was a very badly optimized game.) And it's a little buggy.

Then, of course, there's the old Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale. Those might be a little old though for some in the graphics and gameplay department, so I would recommend just getting Pillars of Eternity if you wanted to play those games.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

Henchgoat Emperor
May 15, 2010
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I hope they bring Dark Sun and the Dragonlance games to the forefront real soon. My two favorite campaign settings. I don't hate Forgotten Realms, but I started with Dragonlance and Dark Sun from SSI, may they RIP. I died more times playing Dark Queen of Krynn than I ever did in Demon's Souls/Dark Souls and their successors, and yet somehow found the will to push on.
I don't think many who weren't alive and conscious of that era of gaming will enjoy these gems as much as I did because they may not have aged well but the few who do will find a lot of depth to those games. Static, pixel images + imagination really fueled my creativity when making my own pen and paper campaigns. SSI did so much to bring the PnP version to PC it was magical, though still hampered by the limitations of processing power and programming. It makes me want to bust out the AD&D books and roll up a new campaign, and put people through the tortures of THAC0.
 

Jake Martinez

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Apr 2, 2010
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So basically, all the games in collection 2 are the games that I played as a kid. I was a religious collector of these titles. In fact, 90% of my youth from ages 10 to 20 could be described as a combination of Ultima, SSI Gold box games, Might and Magic, Bards Tale and Master of Orion. I'm pretty excited by this actually and I can guarantee that I'll play Curse of the Azure bonds again for sure.