I completely understand where you're coming from and, to a degree, I stand by what you said, but do bear in mind Interplay lost the rights to the old classic Fallout games to Bethesda, the publisher of the new ones, and Bethesda is not DRM-free friendly, plus, they seem to enjoy a pretty solid partnership with Steam, not releasing their games on any other platform. It should be noted, too, that Bethesda is not consumer/community friendly at all, as well; they know people crave their games and will buy them under whatever conditions and clauses Bethesda so chooses; so, don't expect the classic Fallout games to be receiving much love from their new rights' owner, all they care about is how much money the next Elder Scrolls/Dishonored/New Generation Fallout will make them under the all mighty Steam.

For a while, a few years ago, there was a time GOG and Fallout 1 and 2 were pretty much synonyms. If you wanted to buy those games digitally, optimized to run under modern OSes, GOG was the only place to do it. Of course, you can still buy them physically, via e-auctions and, provided you're lucky enough, local store sales. While I would agree the price people ask for physical copies is more than fair for the quality and legendary status of the games, the truth is most people -- myself included -- simply can't afford a disc copy of a classic Fallout game at $150,

I don't see this promo as disrespectful towards the games and their quality, I prefer to see it as a farewell and a big thanks, giving people the chance to get these amazing games for free because, you know what?, the classic Fallout games are part of the video game history and heritage and every one that calls themselves a gamer should be entitled to play them without having to resort to piracy. So, yes, I stand by what I said: kudos to GOG for making the Fallout games available for this many years -- and after so many years, as well -- and for, before Bethesda craps all over them, letting them go out with the DRM-free glorious bang and hype they truly deserve.

awesome post, +1

Totally agree that the giveaway promo is a great way to say farewell even though the games do deserve full admission price.

Bethesda, like Blizzard, are a far cry from what they were 10+ years ago and I'm sure they won't be doing anything constructive with the older Fallout titles either. Might as well get them into the hands of as many people as possible before Bethesda gets em. Just as Blizzard ruined Starcraft, Bethesda also ruined their own Elder Scrolls series so I'm not optimistic about Fallout being in their hands.Still haven't played FO3 though so I'm hoping I'm wrong.

I do as well, now I never had played any Fallout game expect Fallout 3, and I wasn't for sure I should've got them. But they were free so I was told myself, "Why not? If they're not my type of gaming, it won't matter because they were free!"
I was glad I downloaded them, for those games were great (expect Fallout Tactics, didn't like it)! I just started to play them earlier and couldn't stop because of the fun from those two CRPGS (Fallout 1 & 2). And yes, I did feel amazed after getting them for free, because they are great games. And that ends this post!

I actually had Fallout Tactics - in Polish. Suffice to say that the translation and the dub feel terrible. Getting it in English = awesome. :)

It sucks I was just a little bit late. Darn it.

Just in case ZeniMax/Bethesda decides to remove them from the GOG store, buy them while you can. They're well worth their price.

[EDIT] I'm aware blaming it all on Bethesda isn't fair, even if Bethesda lets GOG keep selling the titles, GOG's legal department will have them remove the games from the store until further negotiations and confirmation from the new rights owner of whether Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics will be available again or not. Either way, it's not likely Bethesda will re-enable the selling of the classic Fallout titles over here, since they have a very solid relationship with Steam and, again, they're far from being DRM-free friendly. So, buy the games over here while you still can.

i cant remember why i got a gift key for all three games, but anyway, for those that missed it, here's the gift key i got.

8WLY-NMS9-43BL-ZWZS

Bnoski Thanks! I used the code and it gifted me the series! Youre a new hero of mine!

i say thank gog for giving it away, i must have been sleepy when i mistakenly got it as a gift, though i don't know how that would happen to be honest :D

I'm sorry, I had written it before I knew about the license running out and it switching to Bethesda. I can see more clearly GoG might be trying to get these games out there before Bethesda messes with their availability.

Since Bethesda owns them now can GoG be held accountable for making them free?

Btw, I'm downloading them today. I know they're not perfect games. I'm not even sure if I'll enjoy this because I tend to like games where I can go down my own path. I know that Fallout series games are supposed to allow the player to do what they want, but I'm concerned there'll be heavy consequences for making uninformed choices that will make me rely too much on loading old save games. Old games, bless their heart, do lean in the direction of making you load save games too much when things go wrong. Another thing I worry about is how intuitive are the quests? Will I feel like I'm forced to use a walkthrough just to complete quests?

At this stage, i can't say what my impression will be when I play these games for the first time. If I manage to play for any real length of time, I'll make a thread in these forums and review my experience like I did with Eschalon Book 1.

Btw, I love Jagged Alliance 2. I wonder how Fallout 1/2 will compare? And yes despite the love affair even Jagged Alliance 2 has places where it forces you to rely too much on loading old save games when unexpected lethal misfortune happens. Other than the high degree of difficulty and tactical minutia which is too much for some, the "quests" never made me feel much like I had to read a walkthrough. However, the technicalities underneath the gameplay can get cryptic and I've felt the need to read a few guides here and there. It never bothered me, but it might bother some players if they don't like technicalities. JA2 is a game I've played off and on for a long time and is one of the most rewarding games I've played, so I honestly can't say any of its negatives matter much.

i'm sure gog and interplay had a deal for the giveaway that obviously ended before the license transfer to bethesda or whatever legal crap goes on.

as for choices on the fallout games. i say stick with what you choose and stick with it. its hard to do, and it took me a while to get that going [not just on the fallout games, but any game that had big choices] and its actually pretty neat one you let go of the "what if" mentality. but its hard, because i always want to see everything and do everything :D

i somehow deleted a bigger reply with more "in-depth" comments, dont know how that happened. maybe i need a break from the pc for a while... :D

I missed getting them as well, such a pity..

I got retail versions of the three games, and also I bought them here long time ago, with this promo I "gifted" them for free to one of my friends that doesnt use gog.com. So I been an evangelist of GOG with this :P

It's pretty great, I always wanted to get into the franchise. The giveaway gave me an opportunity to do just that!

I love the game so far but I suck at it. 80 days in and I'm still running around with the 10mm.