Make sure you read JMich's explanation, he's willing to go in-depth well. ;)

If the music is to the quality of Cuphead for example, I don't mind shelling out for it. That soundtrack is real music and not game music or chip tunes I think people call. For that synthetic plinky plonky stuff, well it should come with the game.

Yes, i am bothered. I am considering a boycott off any publisher who tries to pull of this crap. I noticed it this sale while i was browsing deals and i am pretty pissed. Some publishers think that we are cows that are to be milked.

What i want to know is, who was that idiot on GOG's side that decided this can even be allowed. I thought that they were claiming the high ground and were going to leave greed to the others. If you are going to leave greed to the others and take the high ground how about you don't allow nickel and diming on your store platform?

OldFatGuy is wise and has a point. There is a reason behind the good old saying: "Patience is the queen of virtues". Few people, let alone gamers, can muster enough of that, if any, at all. Same applies for doing something manually, like micromanaging game files (save files for example) or having strong self control (in order to avoid/boycott a game whose company/distributor practices really pished you off). Even i who HATE steam, was misled (by my impatience) into buying something less than 10 games total on it, in fear they would never come here (but they came and i insta re bought).

In fact, gamers even NAGGED at GOG, for it to bring in steam like models (of selling games, it wasn't only publishers' demand) and features, like client, achievements, cloud saves, etc etc etc. Heck, there are even negative reviews to great games, giving one star and saying "no achievements hurr durr".

This is what "minorities" (certain gamers' groups) can do. They sour the milk of everybody under the same roof and they are never satisfied with what they already have or somebody gives them. At the very end, it is all about your own priorities, do s, don't s and willingness to let something go, over getting it in a terrible state (from your standards/values/priorities).

Those things you are talking about were not created by the ''minorities'', publishers and their business model experts supported by industry psychologists is what brings us this cancer. It is the ''minorities'' that are a result of gamer brainwashing and cultivation.

It is so easy for them, i mean most people are introduced into gaming at a very young age and get behind those models and practices without a single thought as to what they are supporting. I've been gaming for 25 years so i know better.

How do we teach the kids of today not ruin gaming for themselves and us in the future?

I mean it in the most practical of sense. Here on GOG for example, "Steam-lovers" and people who demand steam-like features and models to be established in here too, are the minority...

Let us hope they stay a minority.I am all for GOG growing but if they turn into Steam i will have to leave.

Exactly the same here.

Song writers like to make money on their work. I'm OK with that. If the game maker can (or does) make it part of the game. Awesome. Nice little bonus. But if they make it a separate charge. It's understandable.

Only issue I have with OSTs being separate is I have to own the game to get it. Sometimes I want the soundtrack and not the game. Luckily, Bandcamp has normally been an option for cases such as that.

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Isn't that historically how that worked? Unless a game was some sort of deluxe edition, the sound track tended to be available separately.

But, I think the other issue in terms of re-releases is that the CD audio isn't necessarily under the same licensing terms as the game itself especially in cases where it wasn't originally distributed with the game.

I think the point people are missing is that it is the old games that have soundtracks included with the main game, and newly added old games also still have soundtracks (depending on availability, of course) included.
New (usually indie) games will have their soundtracks separately more often than not, because that depends on the devs.

What? Considerably more effort using actual musicians and money go into making a 3 hr soundtrack of swing and jazz music. One person with a cassio keyboard does not need to charge extra for their twinkling pap.

Not really. I feel it serves two purposes:

1. The publisher can potentially get more money out of the game, by people who care about separate soundtracks.

2. People like me who care only about the game and less about extra fluff like soundtracks in FLAC/MP3 format, or making-of videos, or cartoons inspired by the game... can get the game (and the game only) cheaper. I mostly just want the content that is needed to play the game, including manuals (if needed).

I much prefer publishers trying to get more income this way, than by e.g. including microtransactions and such into games. At least this way I know what I am paying for.

Back when I had Amiga 500, I recall buying some Amiga game (I think it was some kind of 3D space shooter) that came with a separate C-cassette, containing music for the game.

The music on the cassette was some kind of synth pop (it sounded kinda cool, but meh...), and IIRC didn't sound anything like the actual game music within the game. I recall thinking it was kinda odd to add such a cassette to the game with one tune in it, when it didn't really seem to have anything to do with the game anyway.


EDIT: Googling for it, apparently quite many Amiga games actually came with a separate C-cassette with one song in them. Quite odd, but I guess some people then wanted them...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUYKauCcutw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFvmVHgK3j0

etc.