Whilst I haven't personally tried the games you mention...I can pretty much assure you that the problem is the optical drive. Modern optical drives stopped being able to read many copy protection technologies from the old days- simply to save money since the industry went digital anyway. So you can install, but there's no way for the game to know it's a legit disc, so it won't start. The weird thing is some versions of Securom will work then another won't. Same for other techs. It's very hit and miss. If you have a working legacy optical drive, try that and look after it! Otherwise, you download no-cd cracks...or rip the CD image and mount it in a virtual drive. There's always a way, it's just not very convenient.

Edit: Actually the image file idea would also need a no-cd crack as well, if your drive cannot read the copy protection then it is also not going to be able to copy it into the image.

Thank you for your answer. Even though I'm not knowledgeable to do the actions you mention, at least you've kept me from throwing these CDs! I'll keep them as something of old times.

Saints Row 2

After owning it in my library after more than 8 years I finally finished it. Looking back it was given out on the 21st of April 2017 to celebrate the final Saints Row release, Saints Row 4. Tried it on my old PC back than but just couldn't get around the controls and feels of the game. Even now it was installed almost a year ago and still only now I could get the hang of it.

Completed the main storyline, Hitman and the Chop Shop. The only Activities that I missed was Mayhem. Ironically it was the first one that I tried, but I feels it was a PITA and not really much fun. Not into the racing either, can't get the hang of the plane racing controls. Which is weird because the attack helicopters is so much fun.

The game plays great and smooth, with only 1 crash that makes me push my PC reset button. Kinda surprised about it after many reviews calling it a terrible PC port. Sure the control is weird (Lshift and Lctrl, line come on) but I get used to it. The driving around is weird though, because the cars are not responsive but the motorcycle are snappy. The cars feels delayed and understeered a lot.

The storylines missions are fun, but because I complete the mayhem activities that gets unlimited amos it makes it too easy on normal difficulties. Not much dying and retying is needed.

I didn't write anything about Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps, for people to know. It is a tactical strategy game with an Axis and an Allied campaign, having missions undertaken back to back in the story mode (16 missions in total). There is a story taking place in the missions, as they are connected to each other to form a continuous narrative. The story is interesting, and made me wanting to know what’ll happen next. The game takes place during WW2, specifically at the region of North African countries in the years 1941-1943. The story isn’t only about the war though, but also includes the relations of an odd group of five, participating in the war. There’s also a history timeline, at the briefing screens, where you can learn some historical facts of those battles.

Since it’s a tactical strategy game, there is no base building, units creating, or resource gathering. Before each mission you are given a selection of units (soldiers, tanks, etc.) to form your squad from, which you will be using in the mission. The surviving machinery units of each mission rise up in ranks (up to 3 ranks), which makes them stronger. There is also an optional blitzkrieg mode, before some specific missions, which allows you to take with you, onto the next mission, only the surviving units of the previous one (and not select new ones from the briefing screen, atop the surviving ones), which will make the next mission surely more difficult to accomplish.

What I really like in this game is that, in contrast with other games of the genre, your machinery has infinite fuel and ammo, so no need to resupply your vehicles (or fearing that you’ll run out of fuel mid-battle!). I also liked the sound in the missions, especially the squealing sound of the tanks while they were moving.

As a negative I would mention some issues with the pathfinding, the most important being that your vehicles can’t step over destroyed vehicles (while they can drop trees down by just touching them)! They have to go around them! And this is a very important issue/hindrance in narrow passages, where you’ll have to pass through!

Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Jun 2, (Xbox Game Pass)-Beat this a few days ago but was encouraged to play a bunch of the end game optional content. The end game stuff was ok, the rest of the game is really good. It's difficult even on normal but I was able to beat it without grinding. Gameplay-wise Act 3 and the endgame were a bit of a letdown. You're basically left to your own devices until you want to fight the boss but with very little narrative development. High level endgame bosses will certainly appeal to some but I was really just interested in more story. But other than that the story and voice acting were very good. One of the top two games I've played so far this year.

Full List

Does replays count as finished? lol

Monopoly (PC Game for Windows)(Not sure where you can buy it now)
- I play this regularly on Medium difficulty and it's still fun. I end up playing this 4 or 5 times a week.
- It's one of my go-to games when I'm eating my meal, before I play the main game I play for that day.
- It can be played with up to 4 human players or 1 human vs up to 3 AI players.
- This particular version has nice 3D graphics and lots of animated pieces, cards, etc. Pretty nice music also.
- It's basically a quick casual 30 to 45 mins or so of play.
- I look at it as a nice warm-up game, before getting into the longer games.
- Gives the same feeling of playing the tabletop version if you've experienced that in the past.

Rick II (PC Game for Windows)(Not sure where you can buy it now)
- Another game like Monopoly, but takes longer to finish. I end up playing this at least once a month.
- This one has lots of customizability and can have up to I think 8 or so AI players I think.
- I think it also has LAN options, but I play solo vs AI, so no idea of the details or if it works.
- This version has animated battle scenes when it's the players turn, with characters shooting it out with the roll of the dice.
- It's a game that could take up to 2 hours, depending on how quickly the AI players conquer each other.
- This is also another nice warm-up game if you've played the tabletop version in the past.

Monster Train (with DLC)(GOG version)
- I play this almost daily as a pre-game to other long-play games. So I play it at least once per day if I'm on my gaming SSD.
- I really like the train mechanic and like how choosing which cards to play on each floor can make a huge difference in the outcome.
- Also important is which track path you take after each battle, the left or the right. This will determine what you can select for the next battle.
- Umbra has my favorite Champion, the one that has a chance to Eat, Trample and a few other ability choices.
- It's a card game of strategy and certainly some luck when it comes to what cards you get, what opponents you face in what order.
- This kind of game has a sort of organized randomness, if that makes sense lol. But fun to play over and over.

I haven't finished any other games, cause I keep starting and pausing so many various reasons lol.

I wanted to finish Outward DE, so I can start No Man's Sky (which I won in a giveaway recently). Other games on pause are Divinity Original Sin EE, Pillars of Eternity DE, Bound by Flame and so many others I just can't seem to get far before I get distracted with a different game lol. These are all GOG versions on an offline Windows 7 system.

I hope to one day list a game I managed to finish that isn't one of the ones I mentioned above lol. (Now I'm playing a round of Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion, so it seems hopeless for a little while longer lol)
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That's probably Risk II? :)
Seems to have been delisted, elsewhere, back in 2010...
Recall playing the Win 3.x one way back, probably on the first computer.

That might be the one, I'll have to double check.

I didn't get mine from GOG since I only joined back in 2015. I tried to find a place to buy it and Monopoly properly, but there was only one place available for it unfortunately. If it ever shows up, I'll fork over the $$ (discount or not). Both have brought me so much casual fun.

I hate to see some of these good oldies just disappear into the void. They deserve better. =P
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Well, there are physical copies still floating around, but from what I see they're being sold at new-game prices.

I hear ya, those are a tough sell indeed. Even if I grew up loving these table-top games (which always brought the family together), those prices cause me to avert my eyes lol.

I hate to get them from places for abandoned games, but it's hard to get them any other way (without emptying your back account lol). I wish there were better alternatives to feel more peace of mind. =P
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Bastion

One of my worst gaming habit is abandoning games after 1 or 2 hours into it. Leaving it still installed thinking probably I'd get around and finished them at some point. As with Saint Row 2, Bastion was installed more than a year ago and I finally have the will to finished it.

Got all of the achievement. The four dreams with all the idols on were the hardest part with Strangers Dream the most annoying of it all.

While the gameplay is still solid for an almost 14 years age, the graphic shows its age. Really blurry and feels upscaled. A remake or remastered is unnecessary, but I hope they update only the graphics if they want to celebrate a milestone or something

A really solid debut by Supergiant Games all in all.

I'm very much the same. Got a bunch of games installed and pending me returning and finishing them.

I'm also the same, too many games installed and never getting to epilogue or ending to any of them lol.

Short repetitive games like Monster Train I can finish, but I don't really count these. They're meant to be replayed and don't have much story to them, if at all. It's mainly the ones that have main quests, side quests and many interactions, those that's likely to take 5 to 40 hours (sometimes even over a 100 hours!).

Some games like Grim Dawn are pretty much endless (I think it has an ending, but never got to it, I always start a new character lol), especially with mods like Dawn of Masteries extending the gameplay even more.
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Atlas Fallen Reign of Sand, Jun 11 (Xbox Game Pass)-It plays like a budget God of War (2018) but not a particularly good one. Story, voice acting, and combat were all pretty bad. Combat was especially annoying requiring targeting of enemy body parts but after you destroyed the armor covering those parts the enemy did not become vulnerable in those areas. Instead the enemy was immune to further attacks there. Flying enemies were also particularly annoying. Exploration was fun until you found a secret area with a chest but all that the chest contained was 50 gold or the equivalent value in 'artifacts' which were loot only useful in selling to merchants. One thing I did like about the game were the environmental graphics. I really liked the desolate castles and barren plains. The NPC and enemy graphics on the other hand weren't great.

Full List

Yeah...

Not installed, but dropped way back, saves kept and hoping to continue someday:
- Gothic 2 (last save in 2012)
- Morrowind (2012)
- Divinity 2 (2013)
- Fate of the World: Tipping Point (poked around a little more in 2022, but no headway, otherwise 2013)
- The Witcher 2 (2015) [questionable entry, since I just started it, ensuring that the import worked, and that was it]
Not installed and may not continue, but saves kept and not sure I really want to call them abandoned:
- Baldur's Gate (2012)
- Beyond Divinity (2013)
Not installed and most likely won't continue, but nevertheless saves kept so far:
- BorderZone (2020)
Installed and definitely plan to continue, but that was also the case for the first three so long ago:
- Bound By Flame (2021)
- Lords of Xulima (2021)
- Phoning Home (2024)
- Siege of Avalon (2024)
- Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom (2025)

But do note the very definite cutoff there, mainly 2013, after that I generally made a point to finish what I started... Eventually. Some games took me years, on and off, but I regularly tried again, sometimes just to remember what it was about, sometimes only making marginal headway, sometimes for longer stretches, until I eventually finished them. NWN: HotU is notable there, started in 2010, finished in 2016, and if you take the whole package, started the original campaign in 2007 and finished all the things in Kingmaker in 2020. But I'm looking at the dates for BBF and LoX there with some concern now.