Does this mean the Exile series is coming to GOG? I never played Geneforge, but I did play Exile 1 - 3 and had a great time.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile_(video_game_series)]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile_(video_game_series)[/url]

Thats a tricky question. I played exile, avernum 1, avernum escape from the pit and couldn't get into any of them or later games. I could see how someone would really like that though. I would say jeff will probably put both series on to be honest. He's got nothing to lose.

I also loved the Exile series, but it might be considered too old, especially the first one. It might be enough of a problem getting them to work in later Windows versions, that it wouldn't be worth it.

But even though I already have the games, I'd love to see them on GOG. Might even buy them again just to show support. Or find someone to gift them to.

Exile 1-3 are Win16 games. Do to decisions on Microsoft's part, Win16 games will not run on a 64 bit Microsoft operating system. GOG does not have a work around for this yet at least. I would not expect to see them here on GOG.

You can get Exile 1-3 on a CD for $15 + shipping direct from Spiderweb these days. If you phoned/emailed them you could likely talk them out of the CD part, and consequently the shipping. (You would need to have installed the games and give them the registration numbers.)

Blades of Exile was made open source and ported to Win32. The project page is here. So Blades of Exile is available for free and works on 64 bit Microsoft operating systems.

It would be rather impressive if some recreated Exile 1-3 as scenarios in Blades of Exile. It would be very time consuming though and Spiderweb might make a stink.

Avernum 4-6 are on Steam (and available for $4 at the moment via an indie sale) as I would expect to see them on GOG too.

Apparently there was some problem with Avernum 1-3 that kept them off Steam. I suspect GOG will have a look at that and we may see Avernum 1-3 on here as well.

Additionally, considering the prices Spiderweb has been accepting on Steam, we might see Avernum: Escape The Pit, Avadon: The Black Fortress, and maybe Nethergate.

Another good reason to keep a legacy copy of 32-bit Windows around. Perhaps one day there'll be a WinBox to go with DosBox.

You can already install Win 3.1 in DosBox

That works fine for some users. GOG can't deploy it though. Microsoft doesn't sell Win 3.1 licenses any more. Further the copyright on Win 3.1 doesn't expire for another 70 or so years. GOG can't legally distribute Win 3.1.

I know and I never tried it myself, I just wanted to say that you wouldn't need a "WinBox" since you can already do that.

At this time, you can run the Exile series in Windows XP, so there's no need to go back that far (and it might work in XP compatibility mode in Win7 -- I haven't tried). I was thinking about what happens farther down the road, when something like "WinBox" might be needed.

I would say that if i were jeff, i would test the waters and put avernum 1-3 onto gog. That way its easier chance of success and then he can release avernum4-6 when thats done. I would do exile last, but thats just me.

To be completely honest, im not really sure which is better regarding exile and avernum. Some people swear by avernum and i can see that. But just as many people swear by exile. Many people really like nethergate but it sold bad. Very strange.

Reread my post. GOG won't take the Exile series. It's 16 bit and won't run on 64 bit machines.

As for Avernum 1-3 vs 4-6, I suspect 4-6 will come to GOG first. Those games are already on Steam. I'm not sure if 1-3 will come to GOG or Steam actually. Avernum: Escape The Pit is the same story as Avernum 1. Jeff may treat 1-3 as obsolete and not sell them anywhere other than his personal site.

I'm in the Exile camp. Sure there where a lot of design mistakes. Avernum 1-6 made the same mistakes and more though.

Avernum: Escape The Pit seems to have gotten a lot right though from what I've played so far. Maybe we'll see it too on GOG.

That makes sense. Im thinking as 1-3 are so old, they might just put 1-6 on for $9.99, might even throw nethergate on there as well. They did it for geneforge. I still dont think jeff will put avernum escape from the pit on there by itself. They will probably wait until the other remakes are done and then put them on. Then again, im not jeff.

I'm firmly in the Exile camp, as well - although I do appreciate the increased usefulness of missile weapons in Avernum.

Exile had far more options (particularly in terms of spells) and I liked having a party of six characters. Character building is a very rewarding part of the game to me, so two more characters to develop = fun.

Thanks for the link to the article where he talks about design mistakes. As an old-school gamer, I have to disagree that they're 'mistakes' - rather a differing set of preferences - but they're his games, I guess. I *like* the kind of system he's putting down! I never could get very far into Daggerfall (it felt far too repetitive, and I'm not a fan of hack-and-slash gameplay), but I'll be damned if I didn't have a blast with the character creator. I probably created two dozen characters.

If he truly believes that Avernum's character development was "mean-spirited and unnecessarily punitive", well, I have a list of games on GOG alone that he should try (Realms of Arkania, I'm looking at you!).

I believe that Avernum: Escape from the Pit is the first of his games that I didn't buy. Partially because, let's face it, I've played through that game at least a dozen times already between Exile and Avernum - and partially because I wasn't fond of Avadon's simplified skill system. (I mean it, character development is a big deal for me!).

All that said, I'd just like to close by saying that I've long since lost my Nethergate CD, so I'd love to see that one come to GOG.com!

Nethergate was deemed by many on the forums to be one of jeff's best games.

The Exiles have been (edit: Free Demos -- I need to read better) on Jeff's pages for a long time.

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/productsOld.html

Only work on 32-bit OSes, though. No Win7-64 (or any other 64 bit).