Of all the potentially controversial decisions GOG curation could made, this doesn't seem unreasonable.

I'm all for old-school graphics, but then you need to price your game accordingly. The same goes for gameplay mechanics or outdated user interfaces. If they are not up to nowadays standards, you shouldn't charge 21 € for the game.

Adding "inspired by beloved classics" to the description doesn't make the game automatically good. Those old-school beloved classics are remembered as classics because they were amazing at their time. You need to earn your own reputation. I haven't played the game so I can't tell if it's good or not, but just saying it's comparable to past games is not enough. Let's remember that GOG offers a refund guarantee if the game doesn't work, so they need to test it and support future customers, so releasing any game in the store has a cost in man-hours.

Also, the game is on Early Access because there hasn't been enough testing and they want to wait for feedback from early buyers (admitted by the developer on Steam). GOG can always reconsider when the game is officially finished, updated, balanced and bugs are fixed.

Even if the dev could conceivably prove that was the actual response from GOG.com. (Headers and other mailer damon nonsense), this is still their word vs a group of people who have learned very well to keep their traps shut.

Bluntly put, this game looks worse than games designed in the early 90s, such as Drakkhen, the aformentioned Might & Magic, and even Mordor the Depths of Dejnol. It is as if there is a good reason nobody makes games like this anymore.

I doubt the suspected number of patches really makes a big difference. IME GOG hardly gives support, and IME they don't test things too much. VNs do include some sort of gameplay elements, and they do get patched, or not, just like any other game.

https://www.gogdb.org/product/1880016212#changelog

https://www.gogdb.org/product/1532671653#changelog

https://www.gogdb.org/product/1387720706#changelog

https://www.gogdb.org/product/1907193220#changelog

Just last night I installed a VN and the first thing I had to do was download a patch :)

Please notice that the game is in Early Access so it's not actually out yet. And for the most part GOG waits till a game is actually finished before selling it here.

Hm? I did say that VNs with gameplay elements get patched. It's pretty common. Usually, VNs without any are fine but I guess non-Japanese versions can bring their own set of problems.

Full release is August 1, so only a couple of weeks.

Or, it's a more polite way of saying "MM3, released in 1991, has obviously superior graphics, including character animations and shadows, so your claim that it's to emulate the style of the 90s is bullshit." Without bringing up that the monster sprites would've been called ugly in the 80s, or the fact that the English is broken from the get go (admittedly common when the devs aren't native English speakers).

I do agree with the sentiment. Legends of Amberland does seem like one of those games, where the devs have confused the use of far too big pixels as a sign of their grasp of 90s graphical aesthetics, when the games already had begun to utilize a bit more higher resolutions, leaving bigger, but albeit still smaller, pixels than what they use here, to the 80s.

Not that the size of pixels affects the quality of actual gameplay. But those chunky pixels do make the game a bit less appealing than say, something like Might and Magic 3.

*grasp*

I think the game looks good and it should have a place here. I also agree the graphics look minimal effort, Dungeon Master came out in 1986 and it looked better plus had animations.

Presentation is important, a few animation frames and a little more effort on monsters and backgrounds would have made all the difference in the world.

FTFY

You might, but some might like it.....this is how subjectivity works, after all.

The times when gog staffers would make video apologies/interviews and connect with customers & generally treat the forum/store users like kings have passed, as well as the transparency. Now it's business as usual once they got big enough.

Then GOG should wait to test the finished build BEFORE choosing whether to reject it or not.

1. Are you honestly trying to say everyone saying GOG is giving out copy-paste vague bs replies to devs are all lying?

2. I like such looking/playing games....:\

Daikatana is decent enough, without the AI NPCs getting stuck in things and saves turned on.

Daikatana is only decent these days thanks to fan mods. At release it was a disaster. I say that as someone who likes Romero and respects what he was trying to accomplish with the game.