Mysterious Achievement?

[DonSwingKing]

LOL they're more than welcome to come to my front door and try to take my physical copies. Unfortunately all Valve needs to do is flip a switch.

Steam offers an option to transform your games in your library to a physical data storage medium of your choice. There are several ways to unbind them from Steam and play them.

 

[Demut]

Oh? Do tell.

Have you ever read the Terms of Service of your retail games? Guess what, they say exactly the same. This is industry standard. You do not own the games you buy, no matter where. You do only buy a license to play them.

You are either uninformed or dishonest to make that argument. No one in their right mind would argue that a DRM-free game like “The Witcher 2” can even begin to be compared in that regard to a title by the control freaks over at Valve. Can you install Steamworks games as many times wherever you want without restrictions? No. Can you patch Steamworks games at your own leisure or do a rollback? No. Can you resell Steamworks games? No. That list goes on and on ... if you honestly think that Steamworks provides the same freedom as games without DRM then I weep for you.

 

[username_2093396]

Can you install Steamworks games as many times wherever you want without restrictions? No.

That one you actually can do (Unless a publisher put extra DRM on top of Steam like freaking Securom or Ubisoft's crap.) If a game just has Steamworks then you can download and install it without limit. The sticking point is that you have to be signed into your account to start the game, so theoretically you can only play the game on one PC at time (unless you use offline mode). But if you have two PC's, you can install the game on both of them separately as long as you only sign into Steam from one PC at a time and switch which PC is signed on when you want to play it on the other PC.

 

[DonSwingKing]

if you honestly think that Steamworks provides the same freedom as games without DRM then I weep for you.

Where did you get that from? This is about user friendliness. Its the first thing that comes to mind when i hear Valve Software, simple as that. Not saying that Steamworks is perfect, but simply the best solution for the customer, because it's a service. DRM free is good, Steam is better. And yes, you can reinstall as many times as you like and you can decline updates for non multiplayer games. It all there.

 

[username_2093396]

And yes, you can reinstall as many times as you like and you can decline updates for non multiplayer games.

How do I do this? I've tried in the past but couldn't figure it out so I assumed it wasn't possible. The "do not update this game" setting only prevented it from downloading updates as they were released, but the next time I started the game it downloaded the update anyway.

 

[Blothulfur]

I found Steam works perfectly for me, because i've not got it. GOG or nothing.

 

[Garrison72]

Where did you get that from? This is about user friendliness. Its the first thing that comes to mind when i hear Valve Software, simple as that. Not saying that Steamworks is perfect, but simply the best solution for the customer, because it's a service. DRM free is good, Steam is better. And yes, you can reinstall as many times as you like and you can decline updates for non multiplayer games. It all there.

Steam, like any client, is a barrier between me and the game I own..yes own, because GOG allows that. GOG doesn't yank me out of my game cause my internet went down, or prevent me from starting it up unless I click offline mode, before it goes down. The client is unreliable - in fact the notorious GFWL gives me less grief than Steam.

I'm not forced to use GOG's downloader, but if I want certain games (Skyrim) I'm forced to use Steam's client. I have no choice. Mandatory clients are bullshit, and I already have 3 of the bloody things on my PC. If anything will drive me to piracy, it's mandatory clients. They are just short of being malware. Sorry, I don't see any advantage to Steam other than the one I listed earlier - cheap games.

 

[tommy5761]

The thread topic is back this way

 

[Aver]

There are several ways to unbind them from Steam and play them.

Show me those ways.

 

[Demut]

DRM free is good, Steam is better.

How so? I see only disadvantages. Also, you still haven’t told us how one can “transform” your games. Google didn’t get me anywhere so if you were so kind to elucidate ...

And yes, you can reinstall as many times as you like and you can decline updates for non multiplayer games.

First of all, you weaseled past the point that I criticized. I bemoaned that you cannot do rollbacks as in “undo a shitty update that broke your game”. Add to that what Ward Dragon said.
Second of all, you did not address my other criticism either. My complaint targeted the fact that Steam does not allow you to freely install your game however you wish. Many accounts have been taken away from people because they allegedly shared it with others.
Other than that, you did not deal with the resale issue. Do you just not care about that?

And I haven’t even touched upon the absolutely abhorrent, unlawful EULAs that you are forced to agree to if you want to use their service (even if your games were purchased before any changes that you have to agree to after the fact). Customer-friendly my arse. Slave-friendly, maybe, yeah.

That one you actually can do

Tell that to people allegedly having “shared” accounts.

The thread topic is back this way

 

[Dona.794]

Well you know what happens if you don't keep it civil.

How do I do this? I've tried in the past but couldn't figure it out so I assumed it wasn't possible. The "do not update this game" setting only prevented it from downloading updates as they were released, but the next time I started the game it downloaded the update anyway.

Exactly, you cannot roll back and pick your update. Some Steam users will never experience the glory of vanilla TW2 ;_; That aside, the "don't update" option doesn't work for everyone (as many VtM:B players have experienced, you NEED that option to work if you want to patch it properly). I like Steam, but it's full of bugs and many features randomly don't work for everyone.

 

[Demut]

Steam wouldn’t be half as abominable if you at least had the choice of not using it. But that is simply not the case with games that use Steamworks because they always do so coercively nowadays.

Well you know what happens if you don't keep it civil.

It’s civil so far, is it not ^-^ ?

 

[Dona.794]

Walking the thin line, as is usually the case with this kind of topic (and the discussion is off-topic - I personally don't mind, but I cannot speak for the other mods).

& IA, it would be nice to be able to run the games without the client. Actually, I think some can be run like that, but they are very few. On one hand, I'm liking the social aspect of Steam (the new friends page with screenshots etc.) and Greenlight needs a lot of work imo, but it's a cool addition. On the other, the direction they are taking scares me, they are fast becoming a really large service and I fear their attention will become divided between one too many things. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

 

[Demut]

It’s certainly not paranoid to expect Steam to get an even larger market share and eventually establish a full-blown monopoly (which isn’t that far off, theoretically). What’s worse, other than GOG there are only even more horrible competitors to challenge Steam’s advance.

 

[Garrison72]

The thread topic is back this way

 

[tommy5761]

Sorry Tommy. Maybe there needs to be a new topic on this. I'll bow out.

No biggie ! There should be several already on Steam pros and cons and Origin and some others if my memory is working right . But then again...

 

[Aditya]

looks like everyone went to sleep I was "enjoying" reading your arguments here as far as the achievement goes, its a steam thing no loss for TW2 fans as such. The only reason I personally buy games on steam is I don't much like physical copies because of disc need drm. And I like those small achievements popping up If gog starts selling AAA games kiss steam goodbye.

 

[Kodaemon5924]

The only reason I personally buy games on steam is I don't much like physical copies because of disc need drm.

Oh the irony. Steam IS DRM in itself.

 

[Aditya]

Oh the irony. Steam IS DRM in itself.

that is true, but atleast I just need my pc to run the game and not more stuff like the disc always
the download is a hassle, and one time activation is quiet normal as seen with most others. Otherwise atleast I don't need to keep a disc safe or have constant internet (once a while face a breakage problem, pathetic isps in my country) Although I'm not taking steam's side or claiming it is the best thing for gaming, the fact is that steam does a good job. Also all games arrive months late and at worse are not available at all in many places (though now with changing times that problem not so much in my place atleast)
unless the industry drops drm at all which is quiet unlikely or god knows when it will happen and pioneers like CDP and gog take over, for now steam is the best bet

 

[username_2093396]

looks like everyone went to sleep I was "enjoying" reading your arguments here

Hee hee I enjoy discussing topics like this, but I've never understood why they sometimes turn into such huge arguments.

as far as the achievement goes, its a steam thing no loss for TW2 fans as such.

Exactly. I don't have Witcher 2 on Steam (I bought it at retail and now I use the GOG copy) so I'm not sure how the achievements are implemented in Witcher 2, but it's very rare for a game to have achievements that actually add anything to the game. Even then, the only games where I actually liked the achievements were smaller arcade-style games where the achievements encouraged playing it a different way and were actually fun. For a serious story-centered game like Witcher 2 I think the achievements would just annoy me. If people like achievements then of course they can get the Steam version, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by not having the achievements in the retail/GOG version.

The only reason I personally buy games on steam is I don't much like physical copies because of disc need drm. And I like those small achievements popping up If gog starts selling AAA games kiss steam goodbye.

That's generally how I feel too. I don't mind Steam because over the past few years it's given me a lot less trouble compared to other forms of DRM. I've bought a few Steamworks games and I was fine with that, and I've bought a lot of games on sale either to have a backup in case my disc breaks or because I couldn't find the games at retail anymore. However now that GOG exists, I check there first to see if they have the game I'm looking for. I've re-bought a few games on GOG despite already owning them on Steam simply because the GOG version is DRM-free and in a lot of cases GOG patched it themselves so that it runs better on newer versions of Windows. GOG is definitely better, but Steam has a larger selection so GOG isn't always an option.