It is good news, but they could have already had it perfect if they went with WinUAE instead, but anyway... Hopefully they will fix all the nuts and crannies soon enough.

That's indeed more or less what I wanted to know. Judging from this information there's a good chance that they will fix the problems in the future.

from the "about" box:
Windows Internet Explorer 9
version: 9.0.8112.16421
update version: 9.0.29

Part of the problem (the black boxes) happens at the zoom setting I am using (180%). This is "full page zoom", not a "text only zoom", and seems to work perfectly with all non-gog sites as far as I have seen -- I've been using that zoom setting for years. (gog.com seems to be broken for anything at 163% or greater on my 1920x1080 monitor with a windows DPI setting of 144.) I use "text only zoom" in firefox, and that tends to break other things -- like promo pages which completely flip out. (You can see an example of that here.)

Even at standard zoom (100% - which is still unusable for me because it's then too small for my eyes) the "menu" bar is transparent, making a mess of overlapping text (see 1st attachment).

And then there's the promo announcement page which also doesn't work right (even at 100% zoom) -- there's no links on the page (e.g., the "6th Birthday Promo page" does not link to http://www.gog.com/promo/6th_birthday_promo_year_two_090914 -- it's just plain text -- see 2nd attachment) I have to click on the "see comments" box and then use the links in the copy of the announcement in the forums (because those still work -- I'm assuming you'll be breaking those as soon as you get around to "improving" the forums).

And I don't really care about fixing these issues because they are just on top of all the stuff gog broke on purpose (e.g., searching, flipping through screenshots), and usability problems (e.g., having to scroll way down the front page just to get to the newest announcement), and the ugly crap (e.g., intentionally washed out images), and gog keeps changing stuff introducing even more problems, so fixing the existing ones isn't worth the effort. It's like someone's trying to drive gog into the ground.

And there's probably more, but that's the last I'm going to say on it for now. I have better things to do with my time. If GOG would like further help in fixing their site, my standard consulting fee is $150/hour, with 2 hours tacked on to cover my having to file a 1040 Schedule C.

So I'm guessing you're limited to 9 because of Vista? No idea what to say about the zoom settings though... *checks* Top bar tabs vanish for me (IE11, 1280x1024) at 144%, the headlines end up below the bestsellers at 149%, but seems like it's actually designed that way (possibly with the exception of the top bar tabs), assuming it's a mobile? Because elements change around as I play with the zoom in ways that won't normally happen.

Same thing in latest FF at 150%. (Er, can you do custom zoom in FF? Don't use it much... But assume the values are the same and there are points where the site switches to a different style.)

It never looks anywhere as messed up as what you showed though, actually holds up remarkably well even at high zoom values, barring the top bar thing and the fact that featured games scroll off screen (and there's no horizontal scroll bar) if it can't fit even 4 in.

Hello there!

Thanks for taking the time to play Defender of the Crown and post your review, we appreciate all the feedback and criticism we get and will always try to improve on our games. Our emulator will also keep on improving and future updates will be posted for our games here on GOG.com!

However, keep in mind we are making it clear we are providing the original games through emulation, and in no way claiming we made improvements to them (which is not the goal of these emulated releases, and not possible either). Accurate emulation is a difficult process and something we will keep improving over time, especially with the support of our fans. Your review makes it seem we promised improvements/changes to the game's experience, which we didn't deliver, and expecting such a release to have modern features or control schemes is something we have never led our fans to believe.

Thanks again!
Team Cinemaware

Always great to hear from the people behind the games, thanks!

Hello there Hillsy_!

We noted you made a comment in this thread that you felt that our upcoming project, Wings! Remastered Edition, was "horrible". We are not sure why you feel this way given the project is still under development, and anything you might have seen (or played) was work-in-progress. We are very proud of the work we have been doing on Wings!, especially because it has been exclusively supported by a great community of Cinemaware fans and retro gamers, and we will do everything possible not to disappoint them. We are running the game through Beta testing and most of the feedback from our fans has been overwhelmingly positive. Most importantly though, we do listen to our fans and try to implement as much as their feedback as possible.

We feel sorry that you might have had a negative impression of our work, and invite you to check our latest updates concerning the progress of Wings! at:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/850516062/wings-remastered-edition/posts

and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cinemaware

Indeed we invite all Cinemaware fans to join our community and help us move forward with the goal of releasing more of our classic titles as well as brand-new games we have planned!

Team Cinemaware
Actually, a big "thank you" is in order from us here at Cinemaware. Thank you for all of those who have been supporting us on Kickstarter, buying our mobile emulated releases, and now this latest release of Defender of the Crown via GOG. We have been planning this for quite a while, and have tried to make it a complete package that recreates the original experience as faithfully as possible. None of this would be possible without the great support of all of you, and we have several more titles scheduled to be released and coming soon - so stay tuned! We will also be improving our emulator over time, noting your feedback and doing the best we can to deliver the best experience possible.

In the meantime, we would also like to invite all our fans to join our community on Facebook, interact with other fans and keep up on all the latest news about our projects!
www.facebook.com/cinemaware

Thanks again!
Team Cinemaware

Likewise, in your free time please take a look through the sub-forum - http://www.gog.com/forum/defender_of_the_crown#1410307065 - and see if issues crop up, please see what you can address. :)

I got the Amiga disk from Cinemaware when it was giving it free :) Not sure if that is a legal copy now? :)
Now things have changed. Argh how strange.

Anyhow... It is a great game in my opinion. I'm not sure what to say exactly of the gog version.
I think everyone into Good Old Games should give it a spin, just for the history lesson's sake :)

Nice one!
Thing is, isn't Cloanto the owner of the Amiga roms these days?
So what would happen to those...?
Amiga development is still doing quite fine. There is a thriving demo scene, and they are also making games sometimes.
Also software is being developed.
Also all kinds of strange models are sold.
So my guess is, unlike George, Cloanto is not selling :p

(end of amiga rant hih)

No. Cloanto has licensed the kickstart roms and classic versions of the amiga operative system to sell in their products. They have done the same with the commodore 64 roms. ATM the owner of the kickstart roms and classic amiga OS is Amiga Inc. (which has as much to do with commodore as nowadays atari has with the 2600 game console).

Now you're learning. :)

This is one of the reasons why I wish it would say if the person actually owns the game on GOG or not. There's even one basically complaining that GOG is engaging in questionable business practices by showing images from the Amiga version, because those don't reflect the product being purchased! m-/ (<-- facepalm emoticon)

But yeah, pinch of salt with reviews (and star ratings) in general.

So anyone tried playing/buying this yet? Is the emulation nice and smooth?

Both DOS- and Amiga-versions are included. While Dosbox is not an issue in Linux, the Amiga version is, which is why GOG didn't release it for Linux. The Cinemaware-made emulator and the game are all bundled together in a Windows executable, so there's no .adf files to use with an emulator. And then there's the whole kickstart ROM licensing issue too, when using emulators like UAE.