Unplayable without going to some random github page and downloading something. Not worth the effort.
One of the games in this pack, Pinball Fantasies, causes a blue screen when installing and reboots the computer. The other two install but won't even run - Dosbox simply CTDs. This isn't a big deal, because with most games I can just run dosbox manually, but in this case I can't because the .exe files that would run the game don't seem to exist. There's a .bat file, but running it just causes the same CTD. Avoid this pack at all costs, there are other pinball games on here.
"There is no physical game manual! That means many of the information you found in the manual and had to keep referring to on your computer desk is now available in the game - find hints and tips throughout the game to help you start out." I wish I'd read this before spending $13.49 on this thing. Part of the appeal of old computer games are the manuals they came. If you buy the 2005 Bard's Tale on here, which contains the original Bard's Tale games, the manuals are included in PDF forms. Is editing a PDF beyond the skill of these devs, or are they just too cheap to buy an Adobe Acrobat license?
As someone of Italian ancestry, this game makes me ashamed of my heritage.
The game opens with about a dozen unskippable logos before the menu is reached. As others have noted, the only graphical option is to switch between windowed and fullscreen, and we're probably lucky to get that. The controls are laid out in a bizarre order, which I assume is supposed to mimic the arcade cabinet but on a keyboard is just irritating, and of course, can't be changed. I could get past this if the game was fun, but it's not. It's an arcade game, and you must remember that arcade games were not designed to be fun - they were designed to suck as much money out of the player as possible. It was actually an early form of microtransaction if you think about it. And so, the CPU pretty much balls out cheats. Arcade games may be old, but most of them ain't "Good". Do yourself a favor and leave this one buried.
I really wanted to like this game - it showed a lot of promise, what with being able to play an intelligent villain rather than just the murderous moron like other games and making choices that actually have an effect on the story. Well, to be blunt, this is probably the last time I pre-order. What killed it for me, (SPOILER ALERT) was the forced choice between factions. I knew, of course, that there would be a choice. But I wasn't expecting it to be binary. Early on (around 3 hours for me, iirc) the game literally forces you to choose which faction of Kyros' empire to side with - the roman legion-esque Disfavored or the chaotic, sneaky Scarlet Chorus. I had assumed that there would be a third option, manage to get the two sides to stop bickering and unite. Oh, how wrong I was. One of the characters literally screamed at me MAKE A CHOICE! ONE OR THE OTHER! NO COMPROMISE! RARRRRGHHHH! A linear RPG, to me, is an abomination. It's like non-alcoholic beer - what's the point? An RPG should be saying to the player, "YES!" and not "NO! NO! FOLLOW THE PLOT! STAY ON THE RAILS!" If this game is any indication, I'm really glad I never got around to playing Pillars of Eternity. Goodbye, Obsidian. You're not getting any more of my money.
