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mrkgnao: You "forgot" something in the middle (I assume you do not have that game)...
I'm tempted to buy that game just for the sake of completely annihilating the order of my Ultima collection!
Maximum entropy for the win!
What they should really do for optional re-bundling support is group games based on the compilations they used for source material.

For example, if you bought King's Quest 4+5+6 and chose bundled view...

1. you'd see the cover for the appropriate version of The King's Quest collection (It's very obvious that their KQ game manuals are sections from the combined KQC manual sitting on my shelf right now.)
2. If you expanded it, you'd see the box covers for the games you bought as well as some kind of "...plus X games you don't yet own" link which takes you to a catalogue search for the remaining entries.

Not only would it feel more satisfying to me, it'd help them too because it'd entice people to buy more to complete their compilations.
Well, the last round of unbundling has been less of a screw up than the previous ones (no major bloating like Heroes: Chronicles, but there has still been an inflation of installer sizes), expect once again for the covers and other items that have already been pointed out.

By now I sincerely hope that Galaxy and the new account system will be akin to the second coming of Christ (at least it has been hyped like that), because GOG has not exactly been gaining brownie points with its core community during the past year (imagine if we had to wait over a year for the spectacular release of D:OS?).
I sure hope I'm not the only person who doesn't like this being forced upon us. It should be a choice, and per game not just for the whole damned library.

What would've made more sense is to simply have games of a series be allowed to share a single slot on the shelf, preferably in chronological order or at least custom order (for silly inbetween-quels), and then simply have the individual game installers show when you click on the game.

I think one or two had already done that, but I don't remember anymore.

Also, since I recently got a new computer and downloaded every single one of my GOG games.. does this mean I'm gonna have to go and redownload them all as individual games now?

I just don't think this is a good idea. I certainly was never alerted to a questionnaire or something.

Also, I just noticed that I now appear to have a crapton of very similar covers which is confusing as hell. Did The Incredible Machines, to pick one at random, REALLY need to be split up? I mean, you guys don't even have official covers or anything, it's just the loony professor guy in front of gears on them all.
Post edited April 26, 2015 by HiroshiMishima
Please, the new covers for the games are EXTREMELY hard to read. I can barely make out WHICH Leisure Suit Larry game I'm supposed to click on. The fact that all the covers look the same makes things worse.
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l3l3l5l: Also, King's Quest 2 has a wrong cover. The one that's put into an unbundled package is a more modern cover of King's Quest 3. On the real King's Quest 2 cover Graham walks through multiple coloured doors into a drugged out dreamworld (image taken from 'Giant Bomb' site).
Wow, so the covers for both KQ2 and KQ3 are wrong. Both say KQ2 and both have artwork for KQ3. The mind boggles and the face palms.
Is it just me, or does anyone else still have Duke Nukem 1 + 2 bundled together?
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QuintSakugarne: Is it just me, or does anyone else still have Duke Nukem 1 + 2 bundled together?
It has been unbundled over a month ago.
You might want to refresh your account: https://www.gog.com/account/refresh
There are of course many small issues, and some bigger issues remaining, but on the whole I am very satisfied with the service GOG have provided over the years to give us the best versions of the games we have bought here. I don't think you can find a more user friendly digital games store. They listen to their customers and are willing to make changes, but of course there is a limit to their time and manpower. Another issue altogether is the changes in policy that have happened in the later years, especially regarding regional pricing.

I like the unbundling of games that has been done. It will make archiving and installing a little more time consuming, but as a collection it will better looking and tidier (when it is sorted!). I can understand that many don't though. But as of now the bookshelf is a horrible mess. There was a lot to be done before the unbundling, and now it would be hour upon hour of work, which would be a waste. I expect that the GOG Galaxy client will make the bookshelf more or less obsolete, but it would be nice if the bookshelf was improved for those that for that for their own reasons do not want to install the galaxy client. A way to select more than one game would help sorting the games enormously. That combined with a "small thumbnails view" would solve most of the problems.

I hope the GOG Galaxy client will keep the ability to sort the games ourselves, since I like sorting the games by my self-defined genres. I also hope that we will get higher resolution artwork for the game boxes. What about striking a new deal with MobyGames? They have a great hi-res artwork collection.

Good luck in this year and beyond and thanks for all the great games and hard work!
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Sargon: They listen to their customers and are willing to make changes, but of course there is a limit to their time and manpower. Another issue altogether is the changes in policy that have happened in the later years, especially regarding regional pricing.
We all do understand that there is limited manpower, but this does not explain that the GOG grew a deaf ear or a blind eye to complaints from users which contradict more recent business decisions, especially regarding regional pricing and the inconsistent packaging of their installers.

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Sargon: I like the unbundling of games that has been done. It will make archiving and installing a little more time consuming, but as a collection it will better looking and tidier (when it is sorted!).
From an archivist point of view, many of the installers of the older games are in reality cd rips from compilation CDs and were sold in one or two parts. Now they get further divided up into their single games with the easiest route instead of providing the original single game installs

I structured my game archive around GOG due to the DRMfree format and I hope this is now understandably that I am really angry that I have to rebuild my game archive again around my original copy-protected game images. Not Fun. The GOG installers were an acceptable solution for many games, but it seems they are mostly valid only more for newer games.

Most frustration originates from their classic DOS gaming catalogue, you see.

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Sargon: I expect that the GOG Galaxy client will make the bookshelf more or less obsolete, but it would be nice if the bookshelf was improved for those that for that for their own reasons do not want to install the galaxy client.
I can only comment on that the Galaxy Client is in early development.

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Sargon: I also hope that we will get higher resolution artwork for the game boxes. What about striking a new deal with MobyGames? They have a great hi-res artwork collection.
As other people mentioned here, Wikipedia images would also be an acceptable solution.
BTW, why are the EGA and VGA versions of Quest for Glory still bundled? I hate that stupid menu, I'd like to be able to start the version I want by clicking on the icon. It's not a hassle programming wise; I've easily done it myself, so why, if you're already unbundling games, can't you do the same, GOG?
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QuintSakugarne: Is it just me, or does anyone else still have Duke Nukem 1 + 2 bundled together?
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mrkgnao: It has been unbundled over a month ago.
You might want to refresh your account: https://www.gog.com/account/refresh
Oh, there we go. Thanks.

What does refreshing do, anyway?
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coffeecup: We all do understand that there is limited manpower, but this does not explain that the GOG grew a deaf ear or a blind eye to complaints from users which contradict more recent business decisions, especially regarding regional pricing and the inconsistent packaging of their installers.
One could always wish for a greater presence in the various forum threads where GOG policy is discussed, to answer questions that can be answered or provide a yes, no or a "We do not wish to make at statement on this issue at this time." But I can't see anything positive coming out of lower-tier employees arguing with customers about larger policy changes that have already been decided by management. I'm sure they follow these threads closely and past changes in policy seem to indicate that user opinion and protests are taken into account, and sometimes lead to changes.

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coffeecup: From an archivist point of view, many of the installers of the older games are in reality cd rips from compilation CDs and were sold in one or two parts. Now they get further divided up into their single games with the easiest route instead of providing the original single game installs
I think the best solution for the customers would have been to have two separate installs for most games where one was as close to the original released medium as possible with patches and other addons as extras in a separate zipped archive. The other of course a ready to install and play version like that we have today optimized for the current operating systems. I don't think GOG will provide the first and seem to remember that they have said that this is not their focus (or something similar) which I can understand since that would be a lot of work. The problem of course is that the Vista\Seven\8\10 technology won't last forever and neither will GOG. Will GOG still be around when these optimized versions are so outdated that the original games will be easier to get to work?

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coffeecup: I structured my game archive around GOG due to the DRMfree format and I hope this is now understandably that I am really angry that I have to rebuild my game archive again around my original copy-protected game images. Not Fun. The GOG installers were an acceptable solution for many games, but it seems they are mostly valid only more for newer games.

Most frustration originates from their classic DOS gaming catalogue, you see.
I'm sorry but I don't really understand this part.


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Sargon: As other people mentioned here, Wikipedia images would also be an acceptable solution.
Wikipedia images would be better than the thumbnails used now (but can WIkipedia lend them out to a for-profit company?) but they are incomplete and have too low resolution in my opinion. MobyGames game artwork are watermarked, but if they kept an archive of non-watermarked artwork, perhaps they would be willing to lend it out?
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Shieru-sensei: BTW, why are the EGA and VGA versions of Quest for Glory still bundled?
I think for the same reason why Sam & Max games, Back to the Future (both episodic, just as Wallace and Gromit) or the expansions of Wing Commander I and II are still bundled (Wing Commander V got its expansion unbundled): GOG probably didn't have access to stand alone installers ;)

I'm glad they couldn't unbundle the expansions of TIE Fighter and X-Wing ;P
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real.geizterfahr: I'm glad they couldn't unbundle the expansions of TIE Fighter and X-Wing ;P
Don't worry. They just unbundled (or they were unbundled right from the beginning, to be precise) the different versions themselves for those two games. Unlike, say, Heroes of Might and Magic 2 which still has both DOS and Windows versions in one digital box.
Post edited April 26, 2015 by Grargar