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To arms, my noble Saxon knights!

Defender of the Crown, a 1986 turn-based strategy classic, originally launched on the Commodore Amiga, is available in all it's pixelated glory on GOG.com, for $5.99!

We are happy to announce a new partnership with Cinemaware that will bring plenty of mouth-watering classics in their best available incarnations. Starting with Defender of the Crown, more classic titles from Cinemaware will release on GOG.com with both PC and emulated Commodore Amiga versions. Yes, the graphically superior, awesome, beautiful and shiny Amiga versions!

Today's release is a wonderful gem straight from the 80s. Back in the day, Defender of the Crown set a new standard for graphical presentation and innovative, fresh gameplay. As the leader of an initially sparse pack of Saxon knights, building up your army and influence as you proceed, you'll have to stick it to the Normans in an effort to gain control of the war-torn medieval England. Your strategic prowess as well as your sword fighting skills will be severely tested. This turn-based strategy classic will have you saving damsels in distress with your blade, jousting with fearsome knights, and besieging Norman castles - all the while reveling in the Amiga quality sound and beautiful graphics.

Defeat those pesky Normans and unite England in Defender of the Crown, for $5.99 on GOG.com.
Post edited September 09, 2014 by JudasIscariot
See, this is an example of why I don't trust GOG reviews. The game is now rated five stars, with nineteen votes, and three gushing reviews from people who might or might not have actually played the product GOG is selling, and meanwhile we have a poster in the forum going, "OK guys, but that actual game that you can buy from GOG is poorly emulated." So what am I supposed to make of that? Are the reviews useful pieces of information from gamers who didn't experience the problems Wishbone did, or just nostalgia?

But let's not be too negative. Although I don't have a history with the Amiga, it's obviously great that GOG can bring some of its games to the site, and Defender of the Crown, from what I've read, is a real big-name title, the first that GOG has had in a while. So congrats guys, and if this release does have problems, hopefully they're the type of problems that a quick patch can resolve.

Also, I've always been curious about It Came From the Desert, so I'm happy that we're one step closer to seeing that here.
Post edited September 09, 2014 by BadDecissions
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Vythonaut: 1986? Are you kidding? WOW, it has gorgeous graphics for its age! Of course I'm referring to the amiga version.. it seems like a nice game but I read it's too short.. but how short is it really?
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andysheets1975: From what I remember (haven't played in years), you can win a campaign in less than an hour if you know what you're doing. The thing is, don't think of the game as "short" - it's meant to be something you replay over and over, and what it lacks in deep strategic gameplay (this was not an Avalon Hill/SSI experience), it gains in being breezy and fun.
Thanks for the briefing!
Didn't know they included the Amiga version. If the gameplay is too slow change the filter. It maybe using a scaler. The Amiga version included would be emulated, try F12 if it uses WinUAE to change settings. You could probably get far better results by just emulating it yourselves and changing certain settings.

Turrican 2 is not done by Cinemaware so I wouldn't expect it. Wings, Rocket Ranger and It Came From The Desert might be included at some point, but...don't play the PC version, awful. PC Speaker anyone?
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BadDecissions: See, this is an example of why I don't trust GOG reviews. The game is now rated five stars, with nineteen votes, and three gushing reviews from people who might or might not have actually played the product GOG is selling, and meanwhile we have a poster in the forum going, "OK guys, but that actual game that you can buy from GOG is poorly emulated." So what am I supposed to make of that? Are the reviews useful pieces of information from gamers who didn't experience the problems Wishbone did, or just nostalgia?
You're leaving negative response saying that noone played the GOG version but it seems that you didn't played the GOG version too. You can choose between the Amiga or the DOS-Version. The DOS-version runs quite fine on DOS-Box, unlike the versions for mobile devices. I only have to slow down cycles in catapult sequence. Don't know how the Amiga version is emulated yet.
Post edited September 09, 2014 by Silverhawk170485
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BadDecissions: See, this is an example of why I don't trust GOG reviews. The game is now rated five stars, with nineteen votes, and three gushing reviews from people who might or might not have actually played the product GOG is selling, and meanwhile we have a poster in the forum going, "OK guys, but that actual game that you can buy from GOG is poorly emulated." So what am I supposed to make of that? Are the reviews useful pieces of information from gamers who didn't experience the problems Wishbone did, or just nostalgia?
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Silverhawk170485: You're leaving negative response saying that noone played the GOG version but it seems that you didn't played the GOG version too. You can choose between the Amiga or the DOS-Version. The DOS-version runs quite fine on DOS-Box, unlike the versions for mobile devices. I only have to slow down cycles in catapult sequence. Don't know how the Amiga version is emulated yet.
Huh?

No, I haven't played the GOG version. I am trying to decide whether I want to buy the GOG version, which is traditionally what reviews are used for.
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Hillsy_: Didn't know they included the Amiga version. If the gameplay is too slow change the filter. It maybe using a scaler. The Amiga version included would be emulated, try F12 if it uses WinUAE to change settings. You could probably get far better results by just emulating it yourselves and changing certain settings.
The game uses Cinemaware's own proprietary emulator, and there are no settings to change. You also can't emulate it yourself, because the actual Amiga disk image is not included. (No, the disk image is not hard to find online, but this is a legal product).
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I bought the GOG version this morning. I haven't read all the posts regarding the Amiga emulation yet, but based on personal experience (I owned the original version for my Amiga 500), it runs exactly as it did on my original Amiga 500 hardware. The game did originally mess up the music a bit when the game was loading info from the disk. So, if you notice that a note plays a bit longer than it should when the screen transitions after the loading icon changes, well, that's exactly what I experienced all those years ago, too.

I can't speak for the PC version as I never played it, though.

I hope this helps people regarding any worries about emulation. Personally, I got used to the sound issues in the original. In a weird way, I actually was relieved when I experienced them as it meant my game was properly loading from disk (I was always paranoid about floppy disk corruption back then ;D).

Have fun! :)
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BadDecissions: I am trying to decide whether I want to buy the GOG version, which is traditionally what reviews are used for.
Well, my review is up now. Make of it what you will. It seems that all the other reviews that are there right now are nostalgic reminiscences of the time they played the game 20+ years ago. None of them mention anything specific to the GOG release, so my guess is that those who wrote them haven't tried it yet.
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Hillsy_: Didn't know they included the Amiga version. If the gameplay is too slow change the filter. It maybe using a scaler. The Amiga version included would be emulated, try F12 if it uses WinUAE to change settings. You could probably get far better results by just emulating it yourselves and changing certain settings.
The Amiga version is emulated with a custom emulator from Cinemaware that is apparently not customizable and you are not provided an adf of the Amiga version to emulate yourself.
Post edited September 09, 2014 by yyahoo
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jalister: That was the power of an Amiga back then. It was superior in graphics and sound over PC and Mac.
I think it's more that they put that much work into the game. Consider VVVVVV which was made quite recently....

No it's that the developers put as much into it based on the limitations vs what was 'good enough'.
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jalister: That was the power of an Amiga back then. It was superior in graphics and sound over PC and Mac.
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rtcvb32: I think it's more that they put that much work into the game. Consider VVVVVV which was made quite recently....
It's probably both, but the Amiga was the technically superior machine by far. On this topic, "The future was here" by Jimmy Maher is a fascinating read.
Post edited September 09, 2014 by Erich_Zann
When is GOG going to sell the superior Atari ST version? ;-)
low rated
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karnak1: THANK YOU, GOG!

Now, if some time later, we manage to get Playstation, Genesis, SNES (and other platforms) classics here on GOG, I strongly support this new idea of yours.

I confess that, some years ago, I was against the idea of selling emulated games here. I've now changed my mind. Old computer and console classics have the right to be brought from oblivion and restored so that all may learn and play with the past.

Thumbs up!
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JudasIscariot: Well, this is a special case for Cinemaware as they did the legal and programming legwork to get the Amiga versions running :) So let's not get all too excited alright? :)
So Barry did got in contact with Cinemaware, and they did the compatibility and legal thingy.... what exactly did gOg do in this deal? except getting credit and the 30% cut?
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Hillsy_: Didn't know they included the Amiga version. If the gameplay is too slow change the filter. It maybe using a scaler. The Amiga version included would be emulated, try F12 if it uses WinUAE to change settings. You could probably get far better results by just emulating it yourselves and changing certain settings.
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Wishbone: The game uses Cinemaware's own proprietary emulator, and there are no settings to change. You also can't emulate it yourself, because the actual Amiga disk image is not included. (No, the disk image is not hard to find online, but this is a legal product).
The Amiga version is an added bonus. Hopefully Cinemaware and GOG will correct any problems soon. Shame it doesn't use the adf as @yyahoo mentioned. I take it the screenshots are from the Amiga version(They look like they are) on the game page and not the PC version. Good marketing by GOG...sell it on the Amiga release, whilst the emulation is still in a WIP.

PS: At least it isn't the Wings Remastered Edition, awful.
Post edited September 09, 2014 by Hillsy_
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JudasIscariot: Well, this is a special case for Cinemaware as they did the legal and programming legwork to get the Amiga versions running :) So let's not get all too excited alright? :)
How about GOG buying out Cloanto?

Simple solution, and don't tell me that GOG can't use some $ to bring us many Amiga games. It's not like Cloanto is worth what Diney paid for Lucas.