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kai2: From what I've read Grimoire is actually quite good but very difficult and... players actually need to read the manual. This is an old-school game.

Seeing the developer's pedigree (earlier Wizardry games) and the fact that the current Wizardry is having issues getting curated here, maybe GoG no longer likes the genre?

All I can say is that from now reading extensively about the game (but not having played it), it's quality would seem to be on par with many games here already.
What have you read? From everything I've seen it's a mess. The only outright positive reviews I've seen were user reviews that were suspect cause they gave it perfect scores, and when you look at the general user reviews it doesn't even crack a 5 out of 10.

The reviews from actual critics were mixed to bad. Usually when I see reviews they tend to skew to being overly generous, where an 8 or 9 should really be a 7 or an 8. If that's the case for this than the best case scenario based on it's ranking is a 6 and the worst case is a 1,

I'm not saying there's no place for the game, just that I've seen very little positive said about this game.
I read everything I could find on the game... including (but not limited to) watching video reviews and a lot of Steam reviews.

I'm not arguing Grimoire is a perfect or even great experience, but I am hearing over-and-over again that it's a rewarding experience if you're willing to accept it's an old school game (not a retro game as much as a game that started life 20 years ago "old school!") with a definite / steep learning curve and some clunky systems. My point would be... how would a game like this (that does work), not get curation when some games on GoG don't even run on most modern systems without outside tweaking and patches?

I'm not saying GoG has to curate Grimoire, but at the same time it doesn't make much sense to me -- from outside the process -- why Grimoire has been rejected for curation. As I've brought up before, if GoG is no longer curating modestly to poorly reviewed games, they have a lot of games from their catalogue to de-list. The same if it's a political issue or even a genre issue.

Could Zork make it through the current level of GoG's curation review? My gut feeling says "no."
Post edited May 25, 2019 by kai2
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rjbuffchix: It seems to me that media backlash is actually what gets GOG to make decisions. In fact I highly suspect that they anticipated media backlash if they DID accepted Grimoire due to the developer being controversial (because weak-minded people can't separate art from the artist). Hence it was rejected. This is just my personal theory but given what has been shown as "form letter" rejection, we really can't have anything but personal speculation as to what goes through the decisionmaking process.
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firstpastthepost: That's an interesting theory, but it's not based on anything.
Yes, I said as much, lol. How can it be based on anything? The rejection letters that we are aware of are as generic as generic can be.

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firstpastthepost: I can't think of a single game that GoG has turned down due to being controversial, outside of some games that were pretty much straight up trolling.
How about "Hatred"? I would personally assume that was the case there. To be fair, though, from what we have been able to see so far, we don't know for a fact that games are turned down specifically for being "too controversial".

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firstpastthepost: On the other hand though, what would be wrong with GoG turning down a game for being controversial? There's nothing wrong with them wanting to not associate their brand with controversial things.... that's brand protection and it's a legitimate form of curation to protect their business interests.
I didn't say it was wrong of them (even though I personally believe it is not the right course). I am saying that without further details in explanation or evidence, it appears to me that the decisions made by "the curation team" are largely based in politics and/or avoiding controversy in the media and/or among some users. I'm sorry, but I do not buy "too niche" as a reason when I am actively seeing multiple "niche-er" games get accepted on here. Logical, no? For what it's worth, many of my comments in this forum consist of me attempting to advocate that GOG make their brand clearer, because I continue to support this store.
Post edited May 25, 2019 by rjbuffchix
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RWarehall: snip
Takin' a page out of the Vainamoinen guidebook for internet discussion, I see - fucking around with quotes and all. A simple "snip" would suffice (see above for an example).

The price has been perma-lowered to $19.99 in October '18. It certainly wasn't $39.99 in Feb '19 as you claim. The Winter Sale price point ($9.99) coincided with the release of V2. Whether Cleve submitted it to gog asking for $19.99 or $9.99 is up for debate, but it certainly wasn't $39.99. But I guess that Gamergate freeloader ShitAlpha forgot to mention that, so how could you know.
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RWarehall: snip
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fronzelneekburm: Takin' a page out of the Vainamoinen guidebook for internet discussion, I see - fucking around with quotes and all. A simple "snip" would suffice (see above for an example).

The price has been perma-lowered to $19.99 in October '18. It certainly wasn't $39.99 in Feb '19 as you claim. The Winter Sale price point ($9.99) coincided with the release of V2. Whether Cleve submitted it to gog asking for $19.99 or $9.99 is up for debate, but it certainly wasn't $39.99. But I guess that Gamergate freeloader ShitAlpha forgot to mention that, so how could you know.
I see that you will twist the facts however you want which clearly shows your lack of character.
We do not know when it was submitted, we do know the price was either $39.99 or $19.99. We do know that the game had been released for at least a year and a half. We do know that the Steam reviews for the game are abysmal, falling into the bottom third of all Steam games. Only 67% people give it a thumbs up where the average game on Steam receives a high 70's percent. (~78% and that is an average middle of the catalog game). Good games receive high 80's and low 90's. Okay games low 80's. This is neither of those.

We also know that based on Steam concurrent players, that the game is not very popular at all, even in it's new iteration. Everything about the game says it deserves to be rejected.

1) Poorly reviewed. (And NO, the reviews have NOT been better in version "V2")
2) Poor sales. It has had a year and a half. It is clearly not selling.
3) No opportunity for "Release" money. Most games make the majority of their profit the first week of their release. That ship has sailed as this developer did not submit it to GoG at that time.

Instead we get you trying to shift the narrative for a crap game that no one was buying. Grimoire was an easy rejection.

If only 67% of people are giving it a thumbs up, that's 1/3 clear "NOs" and a whole bunch of "mehs".

But you go trying to associate me with some random Youtuber. I TOLD YOU that I watched Let's Plays. I did so because I was interested in the game. But after watching them, I saw exactly what a trainwreck this game really is.

I highly doubt GoG rejected this game for anything to do with "politics". It was rejected because it's a clear money loss. It's a bad game. Uninspiring. Now that Cleve has responded though, if
I were GoG, I would never do business with the man. He's a homophobic nutjob who seems to see "SJWs" everywhere and cannot accept that his game is objectively mediocre. Instead he has to blame the messengers...
Not that they're not fair grievances, but, you know, there are other topics for these discussions...
CD PROJEKT RED: The Past, Present and Future | E3 Coliseum 2019 Panel
Schreier's audio interview (covering crunch [again], the nontroversy over the ChroManticore in-game ad, the other nontroversy revolving around the Voodoo Boys, etc) with Marcin Iwiński from yesterday:
Mirror (Mediafire)
Post edited June 15, 2019 by Swedrami
PC Gamer's latest article on GOG Galaxy 2.0:
https://www.pcgamer.com/gogs-quest-to-unite-all-game-launchers-just-might-work-and-microsoft-is-already-on-board/
Godot engine: How to prepare your game for Steam and GOG

Particularly interesting bit here:
"GOG

To get the GOG SDK you will have to get in touch with their business team and register as a GOG partner. Having done so, the SDK needs to be downloaded for each platform separately.

For now, GOG only supports Windows and macOS. We are eager to get our hands on the soon-to-be Linux integration. Godspeed."
Hmm is GOG working on Linux after all silently in the background, right now many think they have completely abandoned it and i can't blame them as we rarely get to know what happens in the future until it's already here.
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/announcing-the-escapist-indie-showcase-premiering-on-june-11/

Announcing The Escapist Indie Showcase, Premiering on June 11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN3pq8Nvy8s

The Escapist is proud to announce that we’ve partnered with GOG.COM to host our very first Indie Showcase event from June 11 – 14.

Our completely digital event will begin on June 11 with a “direct”-style showcase on YouTube , where we’ll be showing off over 70 different indie games from developers all around the world. The showcase will include new reveals and lots of gameplay, and we even had developers create short little developer diaries so you could meet the passionate people behind the games you’ll be playing.

Following the Indie Showcase, from June 12 – 14 we will be providing post-show coverage on YouTube and Twitch featuring many of the games you saw in the showcase via in-depth hands-on demos, pre-recorded gameplay videos, and interviews with the developers.

We have also created a landing page for the entire showcase where you can watch the livestreams and find every game that we’re showcasing. The games will be added to the page after the showcase premieres on June 11.

We’re very excited to put on this event to bookend another year of The Escapist’s rejuvenation effort as we work to provide a positive and fun atmosphere for our viewers to escape to, all while supporting the independent developers that have lost out on many opportunities to showcase their games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you’d like to support this event, we are taking on further sponsors and donations. If you’re interested in sponsoring, please get in touch via email. If you’d like to donate to support the creation of this event, please follow the link.

Schedule of Events

JUNE 11 | The Escapist Indie Showcase (3 p.m. – 5 p.m. ET) on YouTube.
JUNE 12 – 14 | The Escapist Indie Showcase Post-Show (11 a.m. ET – 7 p.m. ET) on YouTube and Twitch
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Swedrami:
Well, this seems possibly interesting... Just that, as always, I'd much prefer articles instead of videos. As it is, I'll probably leave it at "seems interesting" and basically ignore it when it happens.
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ChrisGamer300: Hmm is GOG working on Linux after all silently in the background, right now many think they have completely abandoned it and i can't blame them as we rarely get to know what happens in the future until it's already here.
It seems like Gog are trying to under-promise and over-deliver on Linux, then. "It's done when it's done" might work for some developers but evidently it has a heavy cost, too.
Here's a nice Podcast

Adam Ames and Phil Cordaro talk with Marketing and PR Manager for GOG.com, Trevor Longino about all things digital distribution.

TPG Cast Episode 9 - Good Old Games (GOG.com) - True PC Gaming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsH1Fbkz5hk