Hi guys,

I am making this topic in advance. I am going to earn some extra money by sidewalk salting etc etc. during Holidays, so I will probably be able to buy some more GOGs.

Here is my short wishlist:

Starflight
Star Control 1+2
Battle realms
Stronghold
Capitalism Plus
Total Annihilation Kingdoms
Silver
Darkstone

I will probably be able to buy 4 of them, because I want to save some money to buy gifts for my famlly.

What should I pick? I don't mind old graphics, interfaces, etc. I would gladly apprecieate your help :-)

ALL OF THEM! Your family will love you anyway.

Darkstone
TA: Kingdoms
Stronghold

Those would be my picks

Well, probably... :P Can you elaborate? I'm of course familiar with Stronghold, but what about Darkstone and TA: Kingdoms?

Battle Realms is underrated as fuck. If you like RTS games plz plz plz get it.

But I need to know why :P I know it's title, I've probably read a review of it few years ago, but now I'm rather unfamiliar with that title.

What's the best in it? :-) I would be glad if you answered me :)

LOVE Battle Realms! As stated above, very underated, maybe because it's kind of unconventional.

On the opposite spectrum, and I'm going to be burned at the stake for this, I don't get TA...any of them. God forgive me, have mercy on my soul, I try and try and try to enjoy those games and I fail and fail and fail.

Oh and Stronghold is great if you are smart, which I've never been accused of being, so I'll give that one a pass. For Battle Realms I think you can still find the demo, which I would. It's just fun. It's fast and very different for an RTS but in a good way. Plus watching your swordmen do all sorts of far out 'Solid Gold Dance Fever Danney Terrio' moves when they attack is worth the price of admission!

Ok, and what about Star Control and Starflight? They seem pretty like some sort of "the original / primal Mass Effect" - and this is the main reason I'm interested in them.

Any thoughts on them?

I loved Darkstone when it came out and played the hell out of it, but the last time I reinstalled it (a few years ago, before it came on GOG) it had aged horribly. Maybe others will feel differently, but this was my experience.

Get Ur-Quan Masters for free (sorry GOG). It's a remake of SC II.

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Star Control has a free source port (Ur-Quan Masters) that's available and works pretty well, so there's honestly not much reason to buy it here unless you just want to support GOG. I haven't played Starflight, though.

Oh, thanks :-) It crosses out one game from my wishlist. I'll download and test it tomorrow.

Starflight games still look quite awesome, especially the premise of exploration.

Well, you say in your original post that you're only getting four games, so I assume you want the most value/playtime for your money.

Stronghold is a game that can pretty much keep you endlessly entertained.

TA: Kingdoms may not be able to keep you playing it for hours on end, but you'll probably never leave it alone for long. It's the type of game you keep coming back to for one or two quick games once in a while. Even 5-10 years from now you'll probably still go "hey, I haven't played TA in a while, I'll grab a quick game".

My Darkstone pick is mostly due to nostalgia on my part. I played it at some point in my early teens and loved it. I'm afraid that, as others have said, it may have aged really badly. But if you're not hung up on graphics, it will still provide many, many hours of entertainment.

So yeah, all my picks were basically based on playtime vs. dollars spent, and getting the most bang for your buck.

Thanks for your answer. Stronghold and TAK are the strongest candidates. I will probably take starflight 1+2, out of curiosity... I am not sure about the last title yet, but it's probably gonna be Battle Realms.

I still have couple days to pick, so, if anyone is willing to say something more about these games, I'd be very glad to read them. Especially about Silver, because nobody told anything about it so far :-)