Phantasie - Available again

HiddenX

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The Phantasie series and other SSI titles are available again on GOG and Steam:

SSI and Mindscape Classics from SNEG Available Now on PC

Classic D&D and SSI Game Bundles Also Available at a Massive Discount

SNEG, renowned publisher of long-lost classic titles, is proud to announce that its next collection of SSI and Mindscape-era games is available now on PC via GOG and Steam. This collection -- which features Phantasie, Star Command, Great Naval Battles, and more -- follows previous releases such as the Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box and Silver Box Classics collections, the 5 Star General games, and Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace.
Watch trailers for each game here.

[...]
Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.
 
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It is a shame that they seem to have gone with the DOS versions of Phantasie. Whilst I did play those versions back in the day, they come from the CGA era where the PC/DOS versions were rarely the most desirable editions of the games. In this case, the four-colour, low res DOS version pales (at least visually) in comparison with the Amiga/ST or even Japanese (MSX/PC88) versions. It is understandable that they stick to the DOS edition (no licence fees for the OS/emulator etc), but I do feel that if you're going to resurrect and preserve these lost treasures (?), it should really be in their best presentation. The audio was usually terrible on PC, too.

There's a point at which the DOS versions become preferable (generally around the time of VGA graphics), but even then, you find traditionally PC-first titles like Eye of the Beholder having music scores on other platforms. For example, the Amiga version had both music AND the animated ending infamously cut from the DOS version.

I'm not an Amiga fanboy by any stretch (never owned one), but equally I think it is worth finding the best versions of these old titles, and trying to find ways to release them in all their glory.
 
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I do agree that it's odd these versions were used, I'm hoping for updates at some point that might use the superior versions. In any case it's great to have them.
 
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This is a nice surprise.

EGA is "fine". Not great and generally not up to a good contemporary Amiga or ST port, but not absolutely horrible. (Wizardry 6, for example, is an EGA game and is at least playable.) These games are, however, old-school four color CGA, and that can be pretty hard on the eyes, mainly because you don't really get to pick the colors. It's white, black, cyan and magenta or red, green, brown and black. I'm pretty sure these games don't use any of the fancy dithering tricks that made things look better on a composite monitor.

Also interesting is that the second game was never ported to PC (or the Amiga) and so in the Steam collection it runs under an Apple 2 emulator. Presumably because those are available without license fees. It's too bad that they couldn't at least go for an ST emulator, or include ST disk images and let us deal with the emulator.

I'll end up buying this collection so hopefully Doug Wood gets a cut, and then play the ST versions.

Finally, the 4th game did get released, and it's free at https://phantasie-resurrection.com/
 
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Speaking of SSI, we never did see anything come out of that failed kickstarter for the TSI Seven Dragon Saga. They still have a web site, but it hasn't been updated since 2016. Crickets.
 
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Speaking of SSI, we never did see anything come out of that failed kickstarter for the TSI Seven Dragon Saga. They still have a web site, but it hasn't been updated since 2016. Crickets.
Sadly it's dead with no updates in a few years. There was hope after the failed kickstarter as the developer was updating the website, and looking for funding according to twitter.
 
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I don't consider this preservation when the version available is demonstrably the worst one. The net effect of this is all versions of this game will be harder to find on the net.
 
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