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[Drizzlehell]

At least if that option is available. Sadly, in many cases, that's not possible if a publisher decides not to put their game on there. Probably because it wouldn't be evil enough to sell a game on a customer-friendly digital storefront. Sigh...

Anyway, case in point, Deserts of Kharak:

It's not a very popular game so many of you probably won't give two shits what happens to it or why is this a problem. But I just think that this is a dangerous precedent that foreshadows the kind of things that may be happening in the future to bigger, more important games if we, the customers, won't keep those shitty publishers in line. I bought this game 8 years ago. I even have a beautiful boxed release of it lying around somewhere. Since day one, the game was playable offline and the multiplayer component was optional, while single player campaign was the main attraction. But just recently, someone had a great idea to patch the game to include a mandatory 3rd party DRM in the form of everyone's favorite Epic Launcher, as well as always-online requirement.

Imagine something like this happening to, I dunno, Baldur's Gate 3 about five years from now. I'm guessing that a scenario like this would become more relatable for many of you, and I guess it goes without saying but this is fucking bullshit.

I honestly think that this kind of scummy crap should be grounds for an immediate refund. And I don't care how long I had this game on my account. This is not what I purchased in 2016. If I buy a pair of sneakers then no one would come to my house 3 months later to take the shoelaces and hold them hostage from me unless I signed up for the company's mailing list or something.

I hope that whoever came up with this idea will have a shitty Thanksgiving this year.

Also, the moral of the story: don't buy games from Gearbox, I guess. And also buy games on GoG whenever possible.

 

[fart town usa]

GOG is the only place I buy PC games. Mostly because I have a laptop that isn't meant for games but also because the platform effing rules and it's just insanely convenient. I love the amount of old games with dos box built in. They also offered Tyrian for free day 1.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

I was just thinking i need to start buying stuff on GoG more. Even though I love steam, I dont love renting property from someone else.

Sometimes I think about downloading my entire steam library onto a server I own and applying nosteam cracks to every game, but thats a lot of work. Just buying GoG would be easier.

 

[Kataploom]

Steam is good enough to me and that's not an actually common case. Now, people should be allowed to ask for refunds on those games since they changed their own rules after lunch, if a game now wants me to install additional shit I was not asked about before I purchased, I sure as hell am refunding it on Steam, in many cases they allow you to refund after 2 weeks and 2 hours of play time if it's justified like when people get game breaking bugs or there are widespred malfunctions (like TLOU which they allowed people to refund after 2 hours of play time).

A recent example is Skullgirls, devs decided out of their asses to change designs for the virtue signaling sake and community got outraged, in these cases refunds might be allowed even years after the game came out, but I didn't follow the issue.

 

[killatopak]

First thing that came to my mind is the absence of DRM.

 

[Kenpachii]

Remember witcher 3 just straight up booting to the game, now it boots a shitty gog client

 

[Guilty_AI]

Always get my stuff on GOG when possible, even started getting some of my old Steam library there if its cheap enough. Only exceptions i open is when the game is vastly cheaper on steam or benefits strongly from the workshop.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Steam is good enough to me and that's not an actually common case

Yeah, I guess, but then it's also not the first one that I can remember. Except last time it happened to some game that I didn't care about so I didn't pay much attention. Something about MTX being added to some old-ass game or something.

In any case, once is enough to send a clear message to me. I'm just gonna stop buying Steam games and go for GoG versions from now on. Because if there's even a sliver of a chance that my 1000+ library will suddenly start to receive some arbitrary and bothersome changes to the games that I bought years ago, and Steam won't even care to curate any of it, then that's enough reason for me to bail.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Remember witcher 3 just straight up booting to the game, now it boots a shitty gog client

It's still possible to bypass it and run the game normally, plus even with the launcher it can be played offline.

 

[ssringo]

Sounds like grounds for a refund. It'll likely get auto declined initially but keep pushing until you get a person and explain you bought an offline game that's been changed to always online and you're unable to play what you bought because of this change. Not "I don't like the change", but instead " I can NOT play anymore".

And yeah, I stopped supporting Gearbox years ago. Shitty company.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yeah, GOG is my preferred launcher on PC for many of the reasons you mention. Though it's unfortunate they don't get as many releases as Steam, and often get bigger releases later than Steam as well.

 

[64bitmodels]

Steam should definitely add a refund period to a game if controversial changes are made to it & people want their money back.

And also the option to download a game DRM free off their site with no launcher required. But unfortunately AAA will never jive with that because they're more concerned about pirates than making a fun game.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I have to say tho, the player community surrounding GOG (their forums most commonly) are some of the most rabid i've seen.

Whenever you see someone there claiming some game on GOG has been "DRM'd" don't just straight up believe them upfront. Oftentimes its just something innocuous like a game giving some extra item for logging into an account or something, apparently that already counts as DRM in their book.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Right & Noted. but the other store is cheaper.
Can't win against free money.

 

[64bitmodels]

Another reason for going GOG: their sales on retro games are super cheap and very frequent. lots of old stuff can be picked up for a dollar. This applies to Steam too but whenever i browse GOG it's more frequent there.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Another reason for going GOG: their sales on retro games are super cheap and very frequent. lots of old stuff can be picked up for a dollar. This applies to Steam too but whenever i browse GOG it's more frequent there.

speaking of

F.E.A.R. Platinum

F.E.A.R. Platinum includes the original F.E.A.R. and its two addons: F.E.A.R. Extraction

www.gog.com

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

The Definitive Edition of the critically acclaimed, award winning open-world action adven

www.gog.com

Darksiders Blades & Whip Franchise Pack

Darksiders Blades & Whip Franchise Pack includes: Darksiders Warmastered Edition Darkside

www.gog.com

Deus Ex™ GOTY Edition

Deus Ex: Revision, a mod which drastically overhauls the FPS/RPG masterpiece while pre

www.gog.com

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Set in a huge open world, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen presents a rewarding action combat

www.gog.com

 

[Drizzlehell]

Sounds like grounds for a refund. It'll likely get auto declined initially but keep pushing until you get a person and explain you bought an offline game that's been changed to always online and you're unable to play what you bought because of this change. Not "I don't like the change", but instead " I can NOT play anymore".

And yeah, I stopped supporting Gearbox years ago. Shitty company.

Yeah, I might even be able to pull it off but the problem is that it was a boxed copy with a Steam key inside. I have enough experience with this stuff to know that they would absolutely never refund a game activated with a key, and instead, they'd tell me that I should go to the retailer who sold it to me.

Honestly, what I would love to see instead is for a much more popular game to get an update like this, so that enough people would get angry enough to make an actual change, get some kind of a committee involved, or start a class action lawsuit. Anything, as long as publishers get the message and won't try to pull stunts like these anymore.

 

[64bitmodels]

Yeah, I might even be able to pull it off but the problem is that it was a boxed copy with a Steam key inside. I have enough experience with this stuff to know that they would absolutely never refund a game activated with a key, and instead, they'd tell me that I should go to the retailer who sold it to me.

Honestly, what I would love to see instead is for a much more popular game to get an update like this, so that enough people would get angry enough to make an actual change, get some kind of a committee involved, or start a class action lawsuit. Anything, as long as publishers get the message and won't try to pull stunts like these anymore.

honestly it seems like gearbox is your problem and not specifically Steam. While i do think Steam should allow you to (easily) pause auto updates on all games to prevent BS like this, (and be more lenient on refunds so people can get their money back for games updated to be worse) the bigger issue is on Gearbox for even wanting to ruin what seemed like a perfectly good game to begin with.

I also think the US should pass a law outlawing all this licensing shit and allowing products purchased digitally to be owned by the consumer as that would basically erase all DRM to begin with. Or rather, the EU since they seem to be 4 steps ahead when it comes to actually caring for consumer rights in the modern day.

 

[StereoVsn]

Yeah, I buy all the older games on GoG and will often come back and repurchase games that are done with patching.

Issue for newer games and GoG is though that patches often come late.. or sometimes not at all depending on sales.

So yes, normally I would support GoG for PC games but sometimes that comes later.

 

[JimboJones]

I think you can download older versions off of steam, involves jumping through a few hoops.
Once downloaded back up the files and turn off auto updates.

Although i'm not sure how much they have integrated the drm into the game now but could be worth a shot.

Steam :: Steam Community

steamcommunity.com

 

[ThatStupidLion]

I buy games here, but dont use the launcher. Eff that (and all) bloatware… give me the exe any day and let me manually boot/install

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Assuming prices are the same, I get it on GOG. DRM free.

But if it's cheaper on Steam, I get it there.

 

[Dice]

GOG is where I bought Deserts of Kharak.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Oh yeah, this is our dear friend Timmy Tencent, forcing his Epic Online into games we’d purchased long ago. Forcing cross play since nobody uses Epic Game Store, and in some cases introducing new problems with games that ran perfectly fine.

Fuck Tim.
Fuck Epic.

 

[Tams]

speaking of

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

The Definitive Edition of the critically acclaimed, award winning open-world action adven

www.gog.com

It's a shame they don't have the original version. Less fog and the running animation isn't messed up.

 

[thief183]

Mhe, I have more than 1000 games beetwen all the varies platform, if I want a drm free version of any of them I know where to look, preservation of software will never be done legally. Even you own disk in reality is not yours.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I buy on GOG exclusively unless it is something I cannot get there. There's so many good games on Steam that I wish they were on GOG.

Fuck DRM.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Steam is so good, I feel sorry for GoG, their store is great and the better one after steam, but the whole experience on steam is just better.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Mhe, I have more than 1000 games beetwen all the varies platform, if I want a drm free version of any of them I know where to look, preservation of software will never be done legally. Even you own disk in reality is not yours.

Whose is it then if the only way for anyone to take it away from me would be to pry it out of my cold, dead hands?

 

[Drizzlehell]

Oh yeah, this is our dear friend Timmy Tencent, forcing his Epic Online into games we’d purchased long ago. Forcing cross play since nobody uses Epic Game Store, and in some cases introducing new problems with games that ran perfectly fine.

Fuck Tim.
Fuck Epic.

That's also true. Always a good thing to remind yourself why Epic should be set on fire and the flame extinguished with gasoline:

 

[Kaleinc]

Thank epic and epic shills for "competition". There was a thread recently which can be summarized:
"even if Timmy fucks [insert any epic fanboy] in the ass - it's all good cause it's good for devs and Timmy"

 

[NeverYouMind]

I like GoG from a consumer standpoint. I am just tired of waiting for ports of Steam releases that may never arrive. I am currently waiting for Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Stars to hit GoG but given the radio silence on that front I may have no choice but to get them on Steam. Also, I am sad that GoG has had to delist certain games for sale due to publisher requests. Way of the Samurai 3 removal was the biggest dissappointment for me.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I like GoG from a consumer standpoint. I am just tired of waiting for ports of Steam releases that may never arrive. I am currently waiting for Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Stars to hit GoG but given the radio silence on that front I may have no choice but to get them on Steam. Also, I am sad that GoG has had to delist certain games for sale due to publisher requests. Way of the Samurai 3 removal was the biggest dissappointment for me.

Yeah, licensing is a bitch. There have been a couple of games that I was lucky enough to grab before they disappeared, including Unreal 2 and Soul Reaver but there's also a bunch of stuff that I never got that I really wanted.

It actually makes me kinda paranoid about waiting for discounts, especially about stuff like Star Trek games because it's Activision, i.e. the most evil company in gaming. It's pretty much a guarantee that they're gonna be delisted as soon as the current licensing expires so it's best to grab them as ASAP as possible.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Steam is so good, I feel sorry for GoG, their store is great and the better one after steam, but the whole experience on steam is just better.

gog is better than steam since you own the game. steam is drm.

 

[Nikodemos]

The vast majority of my gaming library is on GOG. I use Steam for those games that never make it to GOG due to various reasons (those tend to be, umm... "niche" games). Since I overwhelmingly buy games on sale (east yuropoor) I don't mind waiting some time for the GOG version to release. In fact, I regularly check my Steam wishlist to see whether a game there got a GOG release (a large number do). I've wishlisted The Thaumaturge on GOG after playing the Steam demo.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Steam is a subscription service. You don’t buy and own game, you pay for subscription.

 

[Soodanim]

While I largely agree with the sentiment, and GOG usually has things under control, it's not all roses. The fact that this spreadsheet needs to exist is unfortunate:

Games that treat GOG customers as 2nd Class v2

docs.google.com

 

[Filben]

While I largely agree with the sentiment, and GOG usually has things under control, it's not all roses. The fact that this spreadsheet needs to exist is unfortunate:

Games that treat GOG customers as 2nd Class v2

docs.google.com

This was actually the reason I stopped buying on GoG. The time I got screwed over by a GoG release and their respective publishers outnumbers greatly the time I got screwed over by Steam.

However, I share the sentiment that shit practices. like adding a new service to a finished product you've paid for and never intended to pay for, or use, that new service. needs to be called out. Additional launchers, DRM and other crap should always be optional and should always be a reason for a refund. I don't care if I already finished your game; if you want to keep you money you better leave the product in the best possible playable state without the need to agree or confirm any other EULA, additonal terms years later, or having the need to install additional software for fucking singleplayer games/modes. Publishers should go broke due to this shit so every one in the business knows what'll happen and stop this bullcrap.

 

[TransTrender]

While I largely agree with the sentiment, and GOG usually has things under control, it's not all roses. The fact that this spreadsheet needs to exist is unfortunate:

Games that treat GOG customers as 2nd Class v2

docs.google.com

This was actually the reason I stopped buying on GoG. The time I got screwed over by a GoG release and their respective publishers outnumbers greatly the time I got screwed over by Steam.

However, I share the sentiment that shit practices. like adding a new service to a finished product you've paid for and never intended to pay for, or use, that new service. needs to be called out. Additional launchers, DRM and other crap should always be optional and should always be a reason for a refund. I don't care if I already finished your game; if you want to keep you money you better leave the product in the best possible playable state without the need to agree or confirm any other EULA, additonal terms years later, or having the need to install additional software for fucking singleplayer games/modes. Publishers should go broke due to this shit so every one in the business knows what'll happen and stop this bullcrap.

I see what you're saying, and at the time you sound like a bunch of weirdos.

You lost me at the "A Hat in Time" entry.

Just pirate the game and put your shit in itch.io or something.
Please explain why Steam is better for these options.


I'm loving HoMM3 and stuff with mods through GoG so I wonder why you're hung up on some stuff.


EDIT:
I love how the greatest villains enteies for the Google Doc are the most based developers who are open to do stuff and receive feedback and execute.
Larian.
THQ
Devolver

 

[Drizzlehell]

While I largely agree with the sentiment, and GOG usually has things under control, it's not all roses. The fact that this spreadsheet needs to exist is unfortunate:

Games that treat GOG customers as 2nd Class v2

docs.google.com

Can you translate to me what the hell is this mess of a spreadsheet is even about?

I really hate spreadsheets, lol.

At glance it looks like a list of games that didn't get some updates that Steam did but then most of that stuff, or the games involved, are so surface level and unimpactful that I don't even think it would be worth giving up complete ownership over a DRM-free copy by buying those games on Steam over GoG. It's PC, you can always find a workaround for every problem and that's the beauty of it.

Plus you could make the same kind of spreadsheet for Steam releases, and it probably would be way longer than this one. Just last night, I bought Soul Reaver 2 on GoG and it worked flawlessly, while the Steam version that I attempted to get running a few months ago was so busted and refused to cooperate so much that it drove me to abandoning the game completely until I wanted to play it again yesterday.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Valve is incredibly hands of so they let publishers do what they want on Steam. It has it's pros and cons.

 

[GymWolf]

Too bad they have zero discounts for new games so i never buy from them except rare cases.

But yeah that's bullshit.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Can you translate to me what the hell is this mess of a spreadsheet is even about?

I really hate spreadsheets, lol.

I should mention some of the entries in that sheet are outdated. Also, some of the missing features they point out are just a side-effect of the game's multiplayer features having been long dead. Or not even missing features at all, just the game not coming with the soundtrack as extra digital content.

 

[Hudo]

Btw, Deserts of Kharak is a really good game, imho. And the best Dune game ever made. (well, Dune 2000 might be a bit better).

 

[Drizzlehell]

Btw, Deserts of Kharak is a really good game, imho. And the best Dune game ever made. (well, Dune 2000 might be a bit better).

Indeed. And this whole situation also makes me worried about the upcoming Homeworld 3. If it won't have a premiere on GoG (and it probably won't), then we can probably expect the same shit on Steam or even worse, a last-minute EGS exclusivity announcement.

 

[Hudo]

a last-minute EGS exclusivity announcement.

Shhhh! Don't jinx it, man!

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

I remember when Xcom 2 added a launcher. It broke all mods, and it was terrible. I had to download a fan-made launcher to be able to use it easily, which meant I had to wait a long time to play my game the way I used to before.
What's crazy is that it means piracy offered the best version of the game.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I remember when Xcom 2 added a launcher. It broke all mods, and it was terrible. I had to download a fan-made launcher to be able to use it easily, which meant I had to wait a long time to play my game the way I used to before.
What's crazy is that it means piracy offered the best version of the game.

I dunno, isn't this just modifying the copy that you own anyway in that situation? As far as I know, making a backup of, or modifying a copy of a game that you already own for your own individual use isn't illegal.

 

[rabbity-thing]

I used to use GOG anytime I was able to.....

and then I got a Steamdeck. Sorry guys.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

I dunno, isn't this just modifying the copy that you own anyway in that situation? As far as I know, making a backup of, or modifying a copy of a game that you already own for your own individual use isn't illegal.

Oh, modding is perfectly okay. I was talking about how people who get the cracked copy of a game usually have better performance and fewer intrusive things like launchers.