Five Games That Narrowly Avoided Being Lost To Time
Vložit
- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- Following the recent news of Alpha Protocol's return to digital store fronts, I thought it would be fun to discuss a few other games saved largely by GoG and mods.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:28 Alpha Protocol
02:27 Neverwinter Nights 2
03:42 Fable 2/3
06:26 Temple Of Elemental Evil
07:56 Icewind Dale 2
09:22 Games Preservation
10:46 Wrap Up
Intro Music By Juan Andrés Matos, www.juanmatosmusic.com/
Merch Shop: mortismal-gaming.creator-spri...
Info On Reviews: • What Is A 'Review Afte...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support The Channel By Becoming A Member!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Become A Member!: / @mortismalgaming
------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow Me On Various Social Media
------------------------------------------------------------------
Steam Profile: steamcommunity.com/id/Mortism...
Steam Curator Page: store.steampowered.com/curato...
My Facebook: / mortismalgaming
My Twitter: / jessebabcock18
My Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/mortym.bsky....
#gaming #gamereviews - Hry
Imagine a piece of art like the Mona Lisa being inaccessible because Da Vinci forgot to pay the “paint brush license” and it is forever lost to time.
But then also imagine that if you downloaded a screenshot of the Mona Lisa you could get sued and / or fined for preventing the people who are not allowed to show you the Mona Lisa from accruing money by showing you the Mona Lisa.
AKA Nintendo capitalism
No reason to imagine, we lost a fuckton of art because the commisioner never bothered to preserve it.
The entire Imperium of wh40k is exactly what happens if it is allowed. Everything in irreversible decline.
Or because a bunch of so called environmentalists decided to throw some paint on it. But I digress, go on.
Mona Lisa is worth approx. $860 million so, whoever owns so you will not be allowed to forget about. It is the under appreciated works of little monetary value that are always in danger of being extinct. A lot of films/paintings/music is lost, because there was no financial incentive to preserve them.
And GOG saved 80% of these. They are invaluable.
Games preservation is essential. Thanks for covering these games, Mort.
bit janky but definitely underrated specially for its time
I’m a big defender of alpha protocol. Love to see it talked about
Bought it again for GoG, its just worth the effort and money.
I'm tempted even if just to support these kinds of efforts
@@evilmiera I think I'll do the same even though I still have the CDs. Such a great game despite its flaws and I'm happy to see it available for others to experience. Story and dialogue still holds up
It's still absolutely amazing! Characters and writing are top notch, in my opinion. Steven Heck might be my second favourite Nolan North character, only surpassed by Nathan Drake. Then there's Conrad Marburg, Scarlet Lake and SIE. Interacting with people like that is just so much damn fun! This really needed a sequel sooo bad
I mean every Obsidian game aside from like, Dungeon Siege 3 needs sequels.@@CalamityCain
GoG saved Warhammer Mark of Chaos. It's not popular, it's not even really that good but it got the nostalgia goggles for sure. Plus, that trailer is pure gold
I actually played it there first time (remember playing it at GamesCon a long time ago) and liked it well enough. Solid game.
Yeah. Indeed. I recently replayed it.
should really be stated, try to "support" GoG when you can. not only do they save games like this. and actively put work into making sure they are playable. Their storefront is actually usable.. unlike most of the other steam competitors.
They have videos, screenshots. The platforms library/installed game UI is useable. They provide forums to discuss the games in question.
They are the only Steam competitor I actually like, most games being DRM free is also a huge plus and aids in preservation.
Which competitors ?
@@EXiLExJDIs Itch not valid ?
@@FineWine-v4.0 It's a lot better than EGS.
I consider Itch its own thing.
Honestly, "piracy" does more for preservation than the publishers.
Yeah and piracy is usually the only way you can "play a demo" since most publishers don't release them anymore. I know you can buy and refund on Steam but that's a commitment.
if buying isnt owning, piracy isnt illegal.
@@relishcakes4525it was never illegal in the first place
Well a lot is shades of grey here.
There is a ton of old MS DOS game you cannot buy, establishing IP ownership is close to impossible and they get the abandonware status.
There are games that were delisted due to licensing (racing games, alpha protocol or recently spec ops the line) but their IP ownership is clear we know who published it we can get information who owns IP. In this case this is copyright infringement BUT the IP owner cannot prove at all that this hurt them from the monetary perspective (they do not sale the game there is no means to give publisher money to get the game)
And the last case new games getting cracked. Like Horizon Forbidden West. Here the IP owner is known (Sony), the game can be bought, and there is argument about *potential* loss of money from piracy. The key word here is *potential* as the publisher cannot prove that person who got they copy without paying for the license would even consider buying it. What is more some research done by EU concluded that there isn’t a clear link between copyright infringement (I believe the research was done on music and film) and loss of income.
With that said I strongly believe games should be preserved. In their original form as well as any re-release remaster/remake, meaning if game has the remaster/remake the original should not vanish.
Since you cover mostly RPG games for the list, I am gonna put my not yet/hopefully preserved strategy games on GOG instead:
+ War Front: Turning Point
+ Universe At War
+ Armies of Exigo
+ LOTR Battle for Middle Earth 1 & 2
+ Black & White 1 & 2
I am sure there are many more that I completely forgot.
ooh man LOTR battle for middle earth was the GOAT, I really hope GoG gets to preserve it, because I dont think you cant even get it from legal means
Sadly the chances for LOTR are probably the worst of all of these. Licensing management in general is already a mess, but add EA to the mix and an older title like this is _highly_ unlikely to ever return - especially on GoG, as, historically speaking, EA is absolutely not a fan of that platform - as great as that would be.
I'd assume the most likely scenario there would be some kind of "remaster" down the road at some point, if EA ever feels like it would generate enough money to justify the hassle.
I love GOG, their work bringing back games from the past is remarkable. It is my favorite store on PC, if a game is available on GOG and the price is the same as Steam, my preference is GOG.
Gog is gift that keeps on giving :-) they saved KKND series for me
I knew that my boy Mort will make a video to inform us in some or another form, that Alpha Protocol is saved.
P.S. If you are rpg fun or gaming enthusiast please give Alpha Protocol a try and show some love and support to GOG. It doesn't metter whether you are loyal to steam or epic or some othe bundle stores, and where are you prefer to buy your games. People in GOG try to preserve old games it's very imoprtant for our hobby.
I didn’t realise Red Chimera Group released their enhanced edition mod for Icewind Dale 2! Will need to download that.
Another game GOG saved was Homeworld: Emergence aka Homeworld: Cataclysm. They lost the source code but somehow GOG got it to work somehow.
The end of gog video about alpha protocol gives me hope - about publishers creating teams actively maintaining old games. Long way from japanese devs (final fantasy 9 i think) destroing all materials and code minutes after shipping game.
They did something infuriatingly similar with the official strategy guide for FFIX, too. It was a hybrid-format guide. Almost all the actual information about hidden events and specific activities was locked behind a code you had to put in on their PlayOnline site. That site? They cannibalized it for Final Fantasy XI.
Another one to add: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 and 2 are both on GOG and Steam. These two games never got PC ports until they went onto GOG and Steam, iirc.
Addendum: Mort, are you going to try out the GOG release of Alpha Protocol? I'd be curious to see whether any of the bugs were ironed out or not and how it holds up to the version you played last year.
Dark alliance 1 and 2 are on steam as well, over priced as they are just bare bones ports so I have been waiting for a deep and I mean deep sale to but them considering all I need to do is hook up one of my two ps2's to play them. I am hoping we may get the champions of norrath games ported some day as I preferred those games to dark alliance (still own those as well).
Oh and I just added the steam part so that if anyone saw your comment but would rather get them on steam they would know they can, I use both but some people only use one store.
@@KrocxigorOh, I didn't realise they were also on Steam.
I've updated my post to avoid any confusion.
@@cmdr.jabozerstorer3968 Lol, I guess my comment was useful in informing the moment I sent it.
@@Krocxigor Another one to hope for, if you like that era of isometric hack'n'slash ARPGs is Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes from the XBox. It's one that seems largely lost to the sands of time, though, as most any time I mention it or try to search for it, I get results that are cluttered with references to almost every other entry from that IP than that game.
@@RedGryz My brother had an xbox and never let me use it or I would have played it. Looked up a video and those CG cutscenes looked really good for the time. And microprose, been a LONG time since I have heard that company mentioned!
❤GOG
I never buy a game anywhere else if GOG has it as well.
Also. No DRM.
No need for a launcher.
And the most consumer-friendly rules on any platform.
And then we have all the old games they save
10/10
Will buy from again
Due to a Never Winter Nights fatigue I never got around to play Storm of Zehir back in the day but purchased the game last year and ended up enjoy it plenty, right after playing Mysteries of Westgate. While Mysteries of Westgate is your traditional short adventure style module without much new going for it, Storm of Zehir brings a whole new engine and a lot to do, making it feel more like a full game with it's own unique mechanics that sets it apart from other RPG's of the time (and today). I really wish they would have gone further with that engine.
Yeah, Storm of Zehir tanked upon release but it definitely changed things up with the isometric map traversal and the building up your stronghold.
Zehir was a pretty forgettable campaign story-wise but gave the possibility to use any party member in conversation (at last !), new classes and races, and especially the overland map was great - and the precursor for the Pillars 2 open world map
@@armelior4610 Yeah, I incidentally played those two in tandem. When playing it I got the feeling that it introduced many concepts that could and should have been expanded upon further. But sadly that was about when such CRPG's died for awhile.
If you're interested there's a Baldur's Gate 1 remake for Neverwinter Nights 2 and it's really good and complete. There's also one for Icewind Dale.
Also Mysteries of Westgate is a hidden gem. The Arena fights especially can be really challenging.
@@JemyM NWN2 was Obsidian, wasn't it? That means some of Josh Sawyer's colleagues may have worked on Storm of Zehir. Josh himself also worked on Icewind Dale 2 before later being the creative lead for Pillars of Eternity.
So glad to see one of the very few games where choices actually mattered. Plus how broken the balance, and general jank is, you can have some truly hilarious moments.
Yesterdays Raycevick-Video offers a ton of additional background information on Alpha Protocols revival
Oh wow, I had no idea the icewind Dale 2 thing was finished, going to have to add that to the list now. Thanks for yet another great video.
GoG is good for this. They brought back Diablo when Acti-Blizz left it for dead. There are many games I cannot find (legally) anywhere else.
OH NICE, I've always wanted to play Alpha Protocol, actually all of these games are on my to do list.
God, I loved Alpha Protocol.
Go Modders! Go GOG! I was just enjoying Disciples II earlier this month. 22 years later, it is still a fun game on a system far exceeding the recommended PII 300 MHz with 64 MB of RAM. Love the artwork and atmosphere of Disciples II.
YES!
Alpha Protocol is back!
Driver San Francisco next,
and The Simpsons Hit and Run straight after?
Thanks for your videos!
It melt my heart seeing AP this morning on gog's first page
TOEE is THE BEST D&D game ever made. Why? Because its feels the most like when you are playing at a table.
1. No other D&D game follows the system mechanics as closely as Toee. I can use the PHB word for word as a game manual.
2. Your alignment matters. It affects your main quest, your party composition, class choices...
3. High replay-ability. The length of the game can vary drastically. You can get trough it in a matter of minutes or you can explore every nook and cranny of the game over tens of hours.
4. No walls of text when talking to NPCs.
5. IMO the graphics hold up even today.
6. You will remember the music.
7. Get the GOG+Circle of Eight Mod and play the hell out of it.
Ah Neverwinter Nights 2, Icewind Dale 2, Dungeon Siege, Gothic, Sacred and Diablo started my love for RPGs.
Alpha Protocol is one of my favorite games. I am glad for what GoG did.
Just wanted to say thanks for introducing me to Showgunners. I bought it in the sale and I absolutely love it. Completely understand why you liked it so much.
For me I generally try to get GoG game copies if available because I like their no DRM policy - and offline installers.
I had Alpha Protocol for PS3 and it had no bugs there. A little clunky but that was it. Also it had multiple ending including different villains depending on your choices
It's almost sad seeing this knowing what is happening to Adult Swim published games.
I really hope those devs manages to self publish or find a new publisher so all of those games don't become lost media too.
This type of video is why I like this channel.
The Fable situation is interesting but makes sense. The Xbox was x86 hardware so porting was probably significantly more straightforward than would be with the 360s PowerPC architecture. Speculation of course. Great channel sir, keep it up
Dude I just yesterday rewached your Alfa Protocol video!! So hyped for this game to reaper again in steam!!!
Nwn 2 is my favorite game of all time. So glad I can still play it all the time
Awesome and important video, thank you! ❤
Alpha Protocol cannot ever leave my favourite games' top 10. I replay it at least every three years or so.
A chance to play Fable 2 and 3 also seems intriguing. Never got around to play them, since I've always been a Playstation kid.
Now if only GoG would save *Drakan: Order the Flame* I'd be so, so happy!
Super cool you did a video about this. I think alot of people are excited by this and if it generates sales it might actually bode well for a sequel (maybe)
Neverwinter Nights 2, its expansion Mask of the Betrayer and Icewind Dale 2 are some of the best WRPGs around.
I loved Alpha Protocol. Sounds like I have a replay in my future
I love Alpha Protocol, and I've wanted my friends to play it for so long! Thanks for the info, now they can experience the masterpiece! :3
There were SEVERAL years there where Grim Fandango and even more recently umh The Blade Runner point and click were not readily available and you had to download files from abandonware sites and hope and finagle to have a hope of getting them running in a virtual machine. so greatful those both got rereleases.
I just saw that GOG got Alpha Protocol recently which is awesome. I still have it on Steam since I purchased it before it got pulled from sale, but glad to see GOG doing the Lord's work saving some great games.
Spot on with my feelings on all of these games besides Fable 2 and 3 which i've not played. Alpha Protocol was really something that if u put time in I found had some very interesting and unique gameplay elements. Neverwinter Nights 2 yeah never took off like the first did despite better greaphics , the UI Meh not so much :)
Ooof, realizing that three of the games listed here are either by Obsidian or by the folks who went on to make Obsidian stings. They're some of my fav devs and I wish their games got more love.
It really is criminal how few people have played Neverwinter Nights 2 vs 1.
Like, the original campaign is a bit rough with a slow start... but Mask of the Betrayer is frankly one of the best stories in RPGs. And its best moments wouldn't hit so hard, if your farm lad or lass hadn't started back at that simple little harvest fair.
There are a good quarter of games on the 3DS eshop that are digital only and are LITERALLY unobtainable unless you have a modded 3DS because the eshop close down taking those games with it to the void.
I'm lucky enough to have a physical copy of Alpha Protocol, but I am seriously considering getting it on GOG just to see how much bug fixing was done since, as far as I was aware, there were never really fan-made mods that do that.
I am currently playing IWD 1 EE and very excited for the modded IWD 2 EE
Scott Pilgrim came back but I was unawares it was tied to Ubisoft's launcher. "They played me like a goddamn fiddle!"
Great Video!
I already had Alpha Protocol on Steam, but bought it day 1 on GOG.
It might be time for another playthrough. I just love that game so much.
Technology has allowed ports of old games to mobile to be possible. Baldur's Gate dark alliance 1 as well as the enhanced editions of Baldur's Gate icewind dale and planescape torment are available on Android. They play decent too. Dark alliance has full controller support.
Good show sir
Nwn2 stopped being sold? What a crime! It was such an underrated gem.
Thanks for the video. My "addition" to this list would be Black & White. Onward to 300k. All glory to the algorithm.
Not trying to advertise it, but Raycevick made a video in collaboration with GoG about rereleasing Alpha Protocol if you want a bit more context.
Games being removed (often for copyrighted music licence timing out) is an issue that's starting to be more and more frequent, there seems to be something coming early April to push for laws regarding that problem.
I'd highly recommend checking out Accursed Farms (Ross Scott of Freeman's Mind fame) if game preservation is something you care about.
This is an issue he's been very involved with, and recently he has been trying to use the decommissioning of The Crew online servers to get some actual progress through legislation.
I never played Temple but these images give me nostalgia for BG2 mods, a lot of those used environment from the other Infinity games... and Toev
Alpha Protocol and Temple of Elemental Evil are both great games for their era. I remember liking them both quite a bit at the time.
Fable 2 is one of my favorite games of all time and being able to actually play it without getting an xbox 360 and setting it all up with fable 2 is gonna be great I wish they would release the game on steam. I couldn't care less about fable 3 lmao
300k around the corner mate!
I'm lucky enough to have Alpha Protocol on Steam and it's a game I replay every so often. It's got jank for sure, but it's really charming and fun to play.
Nox was a awesome arpg game,also only on gog these days. For all of you oldschool gamers who haven't played it i totally recommend it.
The MMO scene in particular is fascinating to me in this aspect. For example, Ragnarok Online had a complete rework called Renewal awhile ago that is now the standard for pretty much all of the official servers that are still live to this day. If you ever wanted a pre-Renewal experience, your only option now is private servers (which I highly recommend since Renewal ruined the game).
I got alpha protocol today, I was impressed although some floors I.e. break doors, then you turn around and they fixed...
What a coincidence, i just wanted to replay Alpha Protocol!
I suspect viewers of this channel use GOG more than the average pc gamer.
The weird part of digital distribution is it makes preserving games older than a decade or so harder than ever, since those things are bits and bytes, and the company's selling them have reasons to pull the plug.
At the same time though, you'll not be running into the rare RPG problem anymore. Like the .hack collection for instance being worth, if you had all 7 games with bonus materials, well over 1k, simply do to limited release.
The rerelease of .hack/G.U. series though(The last 3 in the set), is under 20 in most shops, and no, it didn't get a huge release, it's just that, thanks to it being digital as well, it will never go up to far in price.
It's a weird sort of paradox of, games, while they're available are far more so to a wider audience than before, but once they go away, they're gone forever. A trade off, but an interesting one...and an unnecessary one from an artistic perspective, though from a business one, it makes sense.
+1 for Temple. Great game.
I wish Sword Coast Legends was still available. I played it once a long time ago for a free weekend on Steam and it seemed fun enough. Then it just disappeared :(
But Alpha Protocol is one of my favourite games. I'm thrilled it got brought back!
Thank you GOG!
Can’t believe 2 of the games are Obsidians and another 1 is basically Obsidians because it came from their previous studio Black Isle. They’ve had some bad luck with getting their games preserved
Alpha Protocol got *bug fixes* and is available to download??? That's amazing!
I really should come around to buying more games from GoG if not for any reason but out of respect for them keeping these old/abandoned games circulating. Most of my games are on Steam but these times are getting rough for keeping old/failed games going. Sure I may still have the original PC discs for Baldur's gate 1&2, Ruins of Myth Dranor, Icewind Dale 2, etc... but I now lack a disc drive now. Keep up the work GoG!
Definitely go to GOG, I buy games there whenever I can. I've always loved the games could be played without internet access and not through the store launcher. This way if it's a single player game my husband and I just buy one copy of the game on one account and don't need 2 copies per household.
I need to use GOG more
Never winter 2 is awesome for me the original felt like a toolkit with levels created it felt very rigid but the sequel to me felt more organic
I’m currently playing this game rn 😊
GOG are doing a great jobs. I started buing stuff on GOG more and more. I wish they 'revived' more games.
Vietcong please.
Commandos Strike Force please (I played this one several times and I like it so much).
Contract J.A.C.K. please.
Just to name a few.
I love GOG.
alpha protocol was a underrated gem for me, loved it so much on xbox 360
The games from the Xbox 360 era seem to be the most neglected out of the generations in regards to preservation. Fortunately, all of those consoles can be modified and it's not too hard to find a games for them. Most even developers and publishers aren't going to go the extra length to preserve these games since it is a time money investment. These consoles being able to be hooked up to HDMI just makes it easy for me to set up when I want to play something from that era.
Spec ops: the line :( I'm so glad that I've got it back in the day
Infamous series comes to mind.
The fact that these are almost always due to some kind of licensing issue has honestly hardened me against the entire concept of licensing laws alltogether. They seem to solely exist to screw over the customer and don't even really benefit creatives in any tangible way at most they benefit megacorps and even then it seems to be less of an actual benefit and more just enabling them to be spiteful.
I always found it very strange that Fable 2 was never released on PC. But at least it's backwards compatible on Xbox. Hell, if you've got a Series X you don't even need Game Pass. Just go buy a used physical copy for $10 and pop the disc in, that's what I did. Also, speaking of backwards compatibility, the original Prey from 2006 is supported. It's not available on Game Pass, but you can buy it on the digital storefront or buy a used copy. I was lucky enough to find a collectors edition at a game store and immediately bought it.
The whole situation around that game is just bizarre. Bethesda delisted it because they didn't want it confused with Arkane's game (Arkane didn't even want to name it Prey but Bethesda forced them to), and it's not even available on GOG, but for some reason Xbox is still willing to sell it on their console and support backwards compatibility. That's about the only thing Xbox really has going for them. They actually do seem to care about letting people play older games. In fact, that's the only reason I have a Series X. I don't have the space for multiple consoles, so it's nice being able to play games from every Xbox generation all on one console.
I came here expecting bloodlines 1. But this was still a good list.
I hae both Alpha Protocol' and the Fable games for the 360. There is a big differenace between the two. If I put in the Fable 2 or 3 disk on my modern console us it just works. And works extremely well. The Alpha Protocal disc however (last I checked) is unplayable on the Xbox Series X.
i just wish prey 2006 could be brought back on stores... and american mcgee's alice... and wolfenstein 2009... and the silent hill games... and the operative no one lives forever...
Thanks for the video
Commenting for that algo
Now only for them to bring the Riddick games back..
We NEEEEED a way to buy Nocturne.
Let alone a remake.
Huzzah for MOTB!
In 20 years from now we will probably see the preservation of BG3 and Pathfinder and play it on a holo deck
is the Nwn2 version on GoG fully updated and working on a modern PC? cause i really miss it. i used to play it but my old PC broke and i couldn't install my physicle copy on modern windows without constant crashing every 5 minutes. i never got to finish it...
Yeah I played it like a year ago without any issues
a hill ill die on, Alpha Protocol was well before its time. Its janky af, but till this day i fuckin love it! glad i have my copy on steam lol
So wish someone would put out a NWN3 with the latest Unreal5 engine & D&D ruleset say...and then create a complete ToEE reboot with it - I have a dream!
I just hope they didn't have to cut 'Turn Up the Radio" from Alpha Protocol. It was used in a hilarious way in a boss fight in the game, very iconic.
They said they got all the licensed music back in, but that is the song that got it pulled from stores I believe
Mortim + Racyevick = Alpha Protocol