King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North Release Date Announced / Pre-Order Available

[rickah88]

I'm was really looking forward to this game, but having to use Steam to play it is a major turn off for me.
All the other releases were physical copies that did not require a Steam account, and it got 1C/the fans this far...why can't we keep that going?
With so many gaming options out there, I can spend my money elsewhere. Such a shame that 1C isn't even giving an option here.

[Dwagginz]

Originally Posted by Ragnin

I also hate that I have to ask for everything via email with them because they don't want to have a call center. So then even simple things takes several days of email exchange to try to solve. Or if they do have a number its buried and not easy to find.

They don't. The Steam support team is pretty small.

Originally Posted by Ragnin

And since this game has to compete with other games for my limited amount of money I do factor in the fact it has steamworks as a negative against it and so will end up buying something else that won't have it. Such as Torchlight 2

Torchlight II is Steamworks.

[DeRex]

Why Steam can be problem for anybody?

[mbpopolano24]

Originally Posted by jake21

This was a bug that they fixed some time ago; there is no need to speculate try it yourself - start a game - pull your ethernet cable and then exit the game and try to run it again. Should work fine.

Sorry mate, I know you are just trying to be helpful, and I don't question that this 'fix' might work in some systems. I have had the same problem exactly 2 days ago. Out of town, trying to use my laptop, forgot to put in in offline mode when I was online, not a SINGLE game worked after that... just the annoy message "Steam cannot connect to the server..."

And good luck trying to contact support. If and when they answer, they always re-direct you to the forums. Mind me, not a specific solution discussed in the forum, but the general forum. In other words, find your own damn solution if you like...

Now compare this 'wonderful' service to GOG. You buy the game, download it, and install right away. No updates, validation, commercials forced on you, never think of GOG again until I need to buy a new game. This is the service I like.

Let me use this analogy: I buy coffee every day, but I do not want to call the shop every time I want to drink coffee, and I don't want to listen to their sell-pitch every time I drink coffee, and I certainly don't want to being forbidden of drinking the damn coffee I legally bought simply because I did not use a procedure they imposed on me. Make sense?

[mbpopolano24]

Originally Posted by DeRex

Why Steam can be problem for anybody?

Can you read? Repeated many times...

[Mandea]

I consider the pros outweigh the cons as far as steam is concerned. No updates (gog) is no go for me. Every cd I've ever owned caused problems after a few years so I am happy I no longer have to use them. I understand the problems others have but for now it's either steam or nothing.

[Dwagginz]

Originally Posted by Mandea

No updates (gog) is no go for me.

GOG has updates, but they're few and far between as the majority of their games are old releases that aren't being supported any more.

[Ragnin]

Originally Posted by Dwagginz

Torchlight II is Steamworks.

If you buy it off of Runic's website it doesn't require steam. Just a one time online activation. So you can get it from steam but your not forced too. A nice simple solution. Those who want steam get it, those who don't can get it without.

[Mygaffer]

Originally Posted by Sneaksie

Steamworks isn't a DRM, it is a bigger thing like framework. It contains Steam DRM, but much more importantly it allows achievements, leaderboard, storing saves in the cloud, that kind of stuff.

Steam DRM is actually one of the less intrusive DRM solutions available now. We decided not to add any third-party DRM like Tages, Proactive or one of others to the game (some titles on Steam have a third-party DRM and some don't), so if you're anti-DRM you can be assured we're not trying to limit a freedom of legitimate buyers while trying to minimize piracy.

As it was already mentioned many times, after installing a Steam game and running it you can switch Steam to offline mode and you won't need to connect to Internet to play. Of course achievements and other online features like cloud stuff won't work, but you'll be able to play the game wherever you want, on a laptop in a middle of a forest if you'd like to. Personally I find this cloud saving very convenient, you can play on different PCs and have your progress synchronized. Of course Steam also means automatically delivered updates so don't forget to connect to Internet sometimes to make sure you won't miss them

I will address your response. As I said I use Steam and do not mind purchasing games that use Steamworks. That being said Steamworks is DRM. It ALSO allows for those things you mention, in fact that is why I use Steam, for the convience and other services, such as matchmaking in some games, friends lists, overlay, in-game web browser, etc.

Some people don't want to think "If Valve goes out of business I lose all my games" or "If I can't get online I can't install my game".

Even with offline mode if you want to reinstall you must connect again. Even old style DRM that required a disc in the drive did not require you to ever have an active Internet connection to install.

That is why GOG.com is SO great. You can download the installer and then not worry about it. I have my server with a large RAID 50 array, so I keep all my GOG.com installers there. So no matter what happens, even if a nuclear war happens and the Internet is gone but somehow my computer still works I can install these games.

The reality is that Steam is not very onerus and I hope most people still buy your wonderful game. I already have! But just know that there is a market for the completely DRM free version of the game. I will GLADLY buy this game a second time if and when you release it on GOG.com.

Perhaps to celebrate the release of Warriors of the North you could go back and release Crossworlds and Platinum on GOG.com? I will buy my second copies!

Thanks guys,
Mygaffer

[Mygaffer]

Originally Posted by Dwagginz

Could be wrong, but can't you only start Steam's offline mode if you're online?

I have to say I have never had a problem with offline mode. In fact even if you lose Internet before you go into offline mode you still have 90 days, three months, before you have to connect again.

I know some people have reported problems, maybe that was with older versions of Steam, I know Steam is a LOT better now than when I first started using it in 2007.

I hope no one skips the game because of Steamworks but I understand if they do. As other have alluded to version control, offline access, privacy and security concerns with third party software, I get all of that. GOG.com is always my first choice but of course for now the reality is that we must settle for other things.

In fact to "settle" for Steam is about as good as you can really get barring a real DRM-free version.