[Mongoose]

Feel like all I do recently is make GOG topics, but their annual summer sale is up and running, with all of the requisite wallet-clutching that implies.  This time around they've added a bit of a Steam-esque XP system that can earn you free games for buying stuff and doing simple tasks around the site.  Plus for the first 48 hours, if you sign in via the Galaxy client, you can score a free copy of System Shock 2.  I already owned it myself, so if for whatever reason you want the game but don't want Galaxy, just PM me for the spare key.

[Klaustrophobia]

Tempted to add that star wars "blaster pack" to the backlog of games to probably never actually play...

I'd actually play rouge squadron I'm sure.  But that wouldn't be new.  That's the game that wore out my N64 controller.

[Det. Bullock]

My spoils:
Freespace 2
Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut
Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis
Grim Fandango Remastered
Loom
The Dig
Outlaws + A Handful of Missions
Wings of Prey Special Edition

Thus unlocking all three free games, for once they were all stuff that more or less interested me.

I already have the Freespace 2 CDs but I bought it since I'm lazy and installing freespace open is a bit less convoluted with the GOG.com installer.

I was always curious about Strike Suit Zero, and I tried the demo of Wings of Prey some time ago and liked the arcade-y approach, Grim Fandango I bought quite obviously because running the original CD on win7 tends to be a nightmare, Outlaws because I wanted to try it and the others are all games that at the time I couldn't have legally.

[deathspeed]

Thanks for the heads-up on Wings of Prey!  After I checked my Steam library to make sure I didn't already have it, I got it here.

[Klaustrophobia]

I bought most of the Star Wars pack (cut out the RTS/railed shooters) and the Metro Redux games.  I think that should have got me all the freebies, but I didn't really pay attention.  When I first looked at what they were they didn't really interest me much.  Almost got FS1/2 at that price also for ease of install, but then reminded myself that would be a literal waste of money.  I have the CDs, and haven't even played either game in years.

[Mongoose]

I'd picked up one or two random things earlier, but I think I went a bit hog-wild with my final overall purchase:

Shattered Steel
IL-2 Sturmokiv: 1946
Bloodrayne 1+2
Blood: One Unit Whole Blood
Alone in the Dark 1+2+3
Zork Anthology
Machinarium
Samorost 2
Carmageddon 1+2
The Dig
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

That should tide me over for the next 10 sales or so.

[Klaustrophobia]

I didn't see some of those in there.  Might go back and look at MoH.  Never played it, supposed to be one of the best shooters (of its time at least).  Wasn't that the one on Gamecube though?  Was it ported to PC, or am I remembering wrong?

[AdmiralRalwood]

I didn't see some of those in there.  Might go back and look at MoH.  Never played it, supposed to be one of the best shooters (of its time at least).  Wasn't that the one on Gamecube though?  Was it ported to PC, or am I remembering wrong?

Well, you could always look it up.

[CP5670]

I got plenty of stuff as well. I still have my original SS2 copy installed but it doesn't seem to work properly on Windows 8.1. Hopefully the GOG release fixes this. I'll certainly want to check out Vampire Bloodlines (anything remotely like Deus Ex is a must play for me) and Dreamfall Chapters (have held off on it until the full game was done).

MOHAA was an excellent game for its time, but it has largely been copied and refined by many other games like the COD series.

[jr2]

I got plenty of stuff as well. I still have my original SS2 copy installed but it doesn't seem to work properly on Windows 8.1. Hopefully the GOG release fixes this. I'll certainly want to check out Vampire Bloodlines (anything remotely like Deus Ex is a must play for me) and Dreamfall Chapters (have held off on it until the full game was done).

MOHAA was an excellent game for its time, but it has largely been copied and refined by many other games like the COD series.

GOG is usually pretty good about making older games work with modern Windows OSes.

[AdmiralRalwood]

Even with an original SS2 install disc, making it run on modern operating systems has been fairly trivial for years. NewDark just made it even more trivial.

[Mongoose]

and Dreamfall Chapters (have held off on it until the full game was done).

I got the freebie copy of Chapters, but is the original Dreamfall something worth playing?  I've seen nothing but lavish praise heaped on The Longest Journey, but reaction to Dreamfall seems far more mixed, so I've held off on it up to this point.

[Det. Bullock]

and Dreamfall Chapters (have held off on it until the full game was done).

I got the freebie copy of Chapters, but is the original Dreamfall something worth playing?  I've seen nothing but lavish praise heaped on The Longest Journey, but reaction to Dreamfall seems far more mixed, so I've held off on it up to this point.

They are very plot-heavy games so worthy or not you must play the original Dreamfall anyway, I have the whole saga on gog.com thanks to the freebie but I haven't had the time to play beyond The Longest Journey, and sincerely I'm a bit scared to.

[CP5670]

Dreamfall has some great moments, but the story has too many subplots that are underdeveloped and don't fit together well, with lots of things unexplained by the end (more than even FS2). You play as Zoe for most of the game; April's personality is completely different from the first game (with little justification given for it), and the third character is an afterthought who barely gets any play time. It's still fairly good overall and as said earlier, is worth playing just to see the continuation of the story.

[Dragon]

Dreamfall feels, in many ways, like a prologue to Chapters. It's a good game, but it ends in a way that leaves much to be desired. Chapters just pick up right where it left off. Also, it was a rather bone-headed move on part of the devs to include combat and stealth sections into the game (although the former are, in most cases, avoidable). The bad reviews it gets are often due to that.

[Det. Bullock]

Dreamfall feels, in many ways, like a prologue to Chapters. It's a good game, but it ends in a way that leaves much to be desired. Chapters just pick up right where it left off. Also, it was a rather bone-headed move on part of the devs to include combat and stealth sections into the game (although the former are, in most cases, avoidable). The bad reviews it gets are often due to that.

They probably had to, it was the time when Lucasarts introduced that stupid keyboard-only control system and Broken Sword became a pseudo-platformer.

[Dragon]

Well, they learned from their mistakes, at least. Chapters have no combat and minimum (and rather forgiving) stealth sequences. They do get annoying, but less than in Dreamfall. You even get an achievement if you fail enough times.

[CP5670]

Yes, stealth sequences (as well as quicktime events) were a fad in many adventure games around that time. I don't have a problem with that in itself, but these parts are usually poorly designed and lack any of the depth of actual stealth games. The only adventure game I've seen with a good minigame was Mission Critical, which had a space RTS game in it.

[Dragon]

Well, there was the original Dune, which turned into an RTS in the later part of the game. But I agree, "action-y" elements are hard to do right in an adventure game. They often feel clumsy and usually present a frustrating change to what is otherwise a slow-paced, largely cerebral game. I prefer stealth and such being done with clever puzzles, like in classic adventurers.