Sorry I missed this but, a scratch, you say? On which side of the disc is that? You know, the plastic that goes against the 'eye' of the reader is there to protect the metal and give the disc rigidity. They can be pretty deep before they damage the actual metal underneath it BUT it is all too easy to scratch the top/text side of a dvd/cd (bd too I guess) and make it unreadable as there is often no other protection there than a bit of paint (which might even damage the metal over the years.) My point is that you can fix many deep scratches and make the discs readable again. How to? Sorry you will have to ask elsewhere as I just gave my discs to a pro to be fixed.

Yeah, I know.

But at this point I tried everything except taking a buffing wheel and smoothing it off... it can be done, but the problem with that is that you unbalance the CD itself, which can lead to further nasty starches as you're using it or even a grand'ol explosion in the unit if you affect its structural integrity too much.

Overall I don't think it's worth to even try saving them, especially since these are very deep, track-aligned scratches. The worst kind you can come across really.

OK. A head that touches the disc is baaad. To the rubbish bin with it. Just did not know whether you were knowledgeable about this as well.

That guy in the shop said something about a liquid they pour over the disc. Memory coming back a bit but it was quite long ago.

Is anyone ready for some INTENSE action? I know I am.

Got this untouched vintage pack today and, as expected, it contains both the DOS and Windows versions of the game. Wohooo!

Beside the game, the box set contents were really what I'd expect to find in a time capsule of this sort... the old-school manual. A Virgin Interactive game catalog from 1996. A free Virgin computer game lottery form with 90s flavored questions. Ah, the good times.

I'll probably share these as well, they're too good to keep just for myself and I'm sure old(er) farts such as yours truly will appreciate them!

And today I received the final piece of the puzzle: Kohan: Ahriman's Gift.

The CD is protected by an early version of SecuROM, but I was able to create a backup disk that I can use while playing the game.

For anyone struggling with directdraw issues (scroll and motion lag) on Windows 7+, check out the solution provided here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/97110/discussions/0/541907867776799740/

The files check out and while I haven't cross-checked them against a Wine build, the solution itself makes sense. Never thought I'd see the day Wine dlls help fix issues with native Windows games, but that just goes to show you how important alternative implementations are.

I also received a Strategy First 2001 game catalog along with everything else... talk about another blast from the past!

Many years ago, when I decided to start a collection of retail games which are otherwise stuck in legal hell or simply unavailable through digital distribution, I thought I'd be finished with Kohan: Ahriman's Gift.

Turns out I'm not. I just placed an order for a second hand copy of Freelancer today. I always said I'd play it again (for probably the 5th or 6th time) before I kick the bucket, and you never know when that's gonna happen these days...

Moral of the story: While I like what GOG is doing and prefer to buy things here, I won't wait forever for some stuff to show up here and neither should any sane person that has alternatives. Of course, if GOG does manage to get a hold of MS games at some point, I'll buy a copy of Freelancer from GOG as well. If I'm still alive...

I also found myself re-buying Torchlight on Humble Bundle, because they offer a DRM-free Linux build there... GOG and its support for Linux - will it ever get any better, I wonder?

Wasn't that one of the Linux ports that was notoriously bad? I seem to remember reading something to that effect a few years back. I think there was speculation that GOG might've just refused to offer that port because it sucked so hard.

Possibly. I mean, definitely at first at least, according to some quick search results. Whether anything changed with patches, a quick glance gives some mixed impressions. But at least GOG's not alone in not having it for linux, since Steam doesn't either.
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/10hx4h/torchlight_in_linux_a_great_gesture_but_a_really/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/864959336555136803/
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/whatever-happened-to-torchlight-on-linux-updated.3942

(But eek, Torchlight. Still say that game's like somebody took the daily grind quests out of a F2P MMO and thought hey, let's make those into a game...)

Kohan, on the other hand, yeah, played 2 and that sure is a case of doing something differently in a good way in a genre and doing it well.

More on topic, last physical game (actually package) I purchased was the Divinity Anthology, in late 2012. Probably will remain so.

HUE HUE HUE I HAVE THAT ONE I also know where you can get backup copies but I'm NOT ALLOWED to make actual links but use your browser bar and type in DUNE PC GAME ISO DOWNLOAD and you should find it!
(yes I know that post is 1000 years old everyone before you smartasses start with your "we're the ones laughing at you because that post is a million years old") fucking shit, Then you down rate me to oblivion, Your lives that boring you have to pick on a disabled (asperger's syndrome) brain damaged (physically assaulted / skull shattered) person

My numb leg is what is giving me the shits!

I haven't run into any bugs so far... well, I did have to link an older SDL build for my mouse to work properly in the game, but that's something I'm used to addressing by now (though GOG does a good job of it with its Linux installers).

That being said, does this native port perform worse than the Windows version running on Wine with DXVK? Yes, it does.

It's a run of the mill hack and slash in what some consider to be a nice setting. It never aimed to be more than that. Takes the edge off a long day when that critically-acclaimed story-heavy RPG doesn't quite sound that appealing.

Maybe I should buy some game discs as the games usually show up here after that...

Buy all the MS classics, especially Age of Mythology. Kinda miss playing that one :P.