By John Walker on May 5th, 2011 at 11:46 am.
Do you ever get that feeling where a memory is almost too strong? I’d entirely forgotten about Dragonsphere, and just a glance at the screenshots sent me reeling. How peculiar.
This is all via Good Old Games‘ latest update, that sees improvements to their downloader, as well as a free copy of Dragonsphere for absolutely everybody. Free!
The downloader was, I had thought, ditched in their recent overhaul, but it turns out I’m wrong. And now they’ve rewritten it to provide much more stable support for downloading larger files. You can safely pause and resume downloads – it’s true – I just tried it.
I am now going to continue to freak myself out by remembering Dragonsphere, and wonder how it can be that a game I loved so very much in 1994 can have never reappeared in my life since. I imagine I’ll have something to say about that in a bit.
05/05/2011 at 12:02 Urael says:
This looks charmingly like something I’d actually want to play. Nice one, GOG.
05/05/2011 at 12:05 Lars Westergren says:
Another win for GoG. Speaking of dragons, they also released the D&D:Dragonshard RTS set in the gameworld of Eberron, for $10. The game got pretty mixed reviews at its original release, but I bought it on a whim then and thought it was enjoyable. Not very difficult, at least on normal difficulty levels, but since I’m not a hardcore RTS player that suited me fine.
05/05/2011 at 12:24 Anthile says:
Dragonshard is a pretty terrible game with cheating AI, atrocious voice acting and a story that is about as engaging as filling out tax forms. I wouldn’t recommend it even if somebody held a gun to my head. Even though in that case I would ask myself just where the hell I went wrong.
05/05/2011 at 12:30 Alexander Norris says:
It’s also “set in the gameworld of Eberron” the same way that DDO was, which is to say it isn’t. It’s set in a generic fantasy setting with names borrowed from Eberron and a few concepts like dragonshards and warforged stolen, but none of what actually distinguishes Eberron from other settings and makes it awesome.
I do so wish they’d do a proper Eberron game. :(
05/05/2011 at 13:03 Lars Westergren says:
Me:
>The game got pretty mixed reviews
>it was enjoyable
Anhile:
>terrible game
And history repeats itself….
Voice acting I agree with you. Story I don’t remember to be honest, but apart from Blizzard games do RTS games ever give more throught to the story than as a paper thin vehicle to bring more levels to you? And even Blizzard are in a rut here, you know even before the game has started that at some point an ally will betray you shockingly so you have an excuse to fight units from your own faction.
What I did enjoy about Dragonshard was that some levels felt like a RPG campaign, with puzzles to solve and every unit was important to keep alive. Others were traditional big base building affairs.
Alexander:
Glad to see I’m not the only person who like Eberron. Seems to be a lot of online hate against it from old grognards “WE WANT MORE ADVENTURES IN THE SWORD COAST! MORE DRAGONS!”.
I like the Arcanum-like steampunk feel, the departure of races being automatically evil and fair game, and wish more would be done with the “noir/detective meets fantasy” theme they hint at.
05/05/2011 at 13:27 Stompywitch says:
I got stuck on like the third or fourth campaign level, where you’re in the jungle and I think you first get access to fliers.
Every time I assaulted the enemy, I just got wiped out straight away.
Enjoyable, though.
05/05/2011 at 19:08 Alexander Norris says:
Eberron is pretty much the best fantasy setting ever specifically because it’s a mix of post-Napoleonic Europe, the Wild West, the Cold War, 30s pulp and l’Entre-deux-Guerres.
Basically, because it’s everything that shitty Forgotten Realms isn’t.
05/05/2011 at 19:28 Matzerath says:
I just want to say that sometimes, while out in the real world, my brain will suddenly whisper to me:
“Lars Westergren”.
05/05/2011 at 21:07 Lars Westergren says:
I have that effect on people.
06/05/2011 at 02:42 KaL_YoshiKa says:
Dragonshard is part of the rarely utilised subgenre of RTS titles – RTS RPG’s which I think took off after Blizzard poplurised Heroes in Warcraft 3. There aren’t many games in this category with Spellforce being the most well known and Heroes of Annihilated Empires being a ridiculously underrated title.
For what it was though Dragonshard was pretty good, tough to complain about its length and it had a decent amount of stuff to do including a lot of quests in the undergrounds.
06/05/2011 at 20:21 Ergonomic Cat says:
Was Dragonshard the one where you would go underground with a party of characters to get resources from time to time? If so, I remember that game being interesting, if not great.
Also, OMG, how did I forget the existence of Dragonsphere?!
05/05/2011 at 12:07 DeepSleeper says:
A point-and-click adventure game I actually haven’t played. This gets loaded up as soon as I’m done bungling through Gray Matter, then.
05/05/2011 at 12:20 thepaleking says:
Also, Syberia is on sale. A truly sublime adventure game.
05/05/2011 at 13:19 Tunips says:
Agreed. It meant as much to me as TLJ did to John. (If for rather different reasons)
05/05/2011 at 14:23 phlebas says:
Ahh, Syberia. A fairly sublime set of cut-scenes but a very mediocre adventure game. Highly influential in the straight-to-walkthrough genre.
05/05/2011 at 14:52 Berzee says:
Agreed — I played most of it with a walkthrough because I am weak and stupid, and it was *still* one of my favorite games. =)
05/05/2011 at 12:20 Nallen says:
What’s the game where you have to raise dragons from eggs, and the things you do to the eggs determins the quality (and qualities) of the dragons that hatch. Then I expect you have to fight with them.
All I can really remember is Bunsen burners…but they may have just been adjustable fires.
Please halp!
05/05/2011 at 12:47 Colthor says:
@Nallen:
It was called Dragon’s Breath (or, according to Wikipedia, Dragon Lord):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Lord_%28video_game%29
It had a bunsen burner in the spell room, with an interesting spell-mixing system. Although I remember you could make money by casting an empty spell – ie. just entering and leaving the spell room.
05/05/2011 at 14:34 mwoody says:
Why does that entry trumpet the game being pirated? If only someone could delete that filth.
Oh wait, it’s a wiki. Yay! *snip*
05/05/2011 at 14:51 Nallen says:
@Colthor
A thousand thanks to ye, I shall raze your cities to the ground last.
05/05/2011 at 12:26 Dilph says:
I’ve still got my original CD’s and manual (in the nifty folder/bookcover thing) sitting at eyelevel on my desk… I’m probably well overdue for a reinstall!
05/05/2011 at 12:32 Anthile says:
Is there anyone here who can tell me how difficult this is? Pixel hunting, plot stoppers, etc. I don’t really feel like playing a Sierra-style ever again.
05/05/2011 at 12:39 Richard Cobbett says:
It’s a decent, underrated adventure. Not really a classic, but no dead-ends or particularly obnoxious puzzles that I remember*. One really, really nice story moment though, which you should avoid finding out in advance.
(* Though it’s been a long time.)
05/05/2011 at 13:26 ShaunCG says:
I remember this one quite fondly and would say it’s well worth a play. Save regularly though – there are plenty of instant death moments.
05/05/2011 at 14:57 Red_Avatar says:
There’s no real plot stoppers here except for dying and you won’t die that easily. And for me, it IS a classic because I never forgot about this game. I played the demo back in May 1994 when it came on the cover of PC Gamer. When I played the full game some 6 years later, I was blown away. The graphics were still very enjoyable, the amount of stuff you can look at and the quality of writing when examining everything was amazing. Far better than anything Lucas Arts ever made, actually, considering how much Microprose but into this game.
The puzzles are a mixed bunch but not THAT hard – the interface is not as intuitive either – but the amazing plot and atmosphere more than make up for it. There’s also a big plot twist that will send you reeling.
05/05/2011 at 12:41 Popish Frenzy says:
Reviewed in my first ever copy of pcg! Wanted but back then the idea of acquiring more than 2 games a year was utter madness. Now its all mine mine mine :)
05/05/2011 at 12:55 drewski says:
I wish GOG would have freebies that aren’t adventure games.
05/05/2011 at 13:26 ShaunCG says:
Such as when they gave away Jagged Alliance? ;)
05/05/2011 at 13:42 SamIam says:
Or Tyrian 2000
05/05/2011 at 13:43 Shadowcat says:
You mean “Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games”; but yes, certainly not an adventure game, that one.
05/05/2011 at 17:59 Nick says:
Tyrian 2000 has been freeware for years.
06/05/2011 at 12:18 drewski says:
Telling me about games that used to be free but aren’t isn’t really helpful either.
I don’t like scrolling shooters any more than I like adventure games, alas.
05/05/2011 at 13:28 Starky says:
Indeed
A free game from gog?
Yes. a free game for me.
Indeed.
(even if it is pretty bad, and I probably won’t play it)
05/05/2011 at 14:54 Berzee says:
This is one of the most difficult trends to search for, so will someone just tell me whence it cometh?
05/05/2011 at 14:58 Red_Avatar says:
Don’t make me slap you for daring to call this game “bad” without even having played it!
05/05/2011 at 23:39 squidlarkin says:
@Berzee: I believe it cometh hence: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/03/monday-night-combats-update-is-insane/#comment-680263
06/05/2011 at 06:32 Starky says:
@Red
I meant I probably won’t play it after downloading the free GOG version, I did however play it years ago, and thought it was pretty bad.
05/05/2011 at 13:37 lunarplasma says:
I’ve never heard of this game before. Amazing!
05/05/2011 at 13:46 Shadowcat says:
Dare to tread where? Dragonsphere!
05/05/2011 at 16:46 Skystrider says:
Shameless self promotion follows:
You know, anyone wanting to test out the new private messaging system at GOG might want to consider joining the Witcher 2 Countdown Competition. Ten people will win The Witcher 2 when the game enters preload next week, one of them could be you! There are also two other award categories where you can win other games at GOG. Rules and details can be found at the link above.
The contest closes in five days though, so be sure to enter before that time if you are interested.
/shameless self-promotion ends.
05/05/2011 at 19:05 phenom_x8 says:
I’ve entered, strider! Sorry if my english were rubbish ! :)
05/05/2011 at 17:36 phenom_x8 says:
I’ve told you all before to register at GOG! I even got 7 games after 5 days registered.The details are: 4 games for free, 2 games as a gift from their nice and generous community, and one I’ve bought for myself 2 days ago after my paypal account limitation removed!(not yet included this free dragonsphere)
You all won’t regret it!
05/05/2011 at 17:46 Harlander says:
Joke’s on you, I was already registered!
05/05/2011 at 19:00 phenom_x8 says:
Do you want a free copy of gothic 2 gold edition? I ‘ll send the code for you if you agree, just PM me your e-mail address at GOG (I have the same user name there, my recent post was in The Wicher 2 countdown competition, find me there), consider it as a welcome gift from me as a newbie! and I assure you, it’s not a joke! :)
05/05/2011 at 18:52 Shazbut says:
Yayifications!
05/05/2011 at 20:30 Rock Tumbler says:
I got this game at a dollar store when I was a kid and had a ton of fun with it. I’m glad to see it resurface.
06/05/2011 at 04:40 DCCTV says:
This doesn’t mean dumbing down, but dumbing down is, usually, the end effect of going for “broader appeal”. I will be the first to cheer if this is not the case, but forgive me for having little hope.
11/05/2011 at 06:35 kennycrown says:
thnaks for you post! i like