Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Steam is required to play DOS ?

Hi,
I like to know if all 3 versions of Divinity Original Sin demand use of Steam to play or if its only the Steam version (obviously).
TIA,
AJSB

Even the Steam version does not require Steam to play the game (though you would of course need it for Steamworks functions like the Steam friends invite feature for multiplayer). You would need to use the Steam client to download and update the Steam version. The retail version of the game is Steam; the recent US release should be up to date, so presumably can be installed from the disk with little need to download anything, but Steam is required to finish the install and get future updates.

GOG provides full installers (periodically updated) as well as patches (and there is currently a beta launcher that will download and directly apply updates), while the Mac App store has their own downloader and updater. Neither use Steam.

I used Steam to download and install the game and any patch updates and DLC. I don't use Steam to play the game. All you need to do to play the game without Steam is find the games application executable file and pin it to your start menu.

Just to be clear, there is no where you can just buy a copy on a disk and install it?
I realize this is the new normal, but why? I'd feel better owning a physical copy.

Far as I'm aware, some retailers sell the game and I think you can still buy a physical copy from Larian's own store. Could be wrong on the 2nd part, though.

The only DVD version of the game that does not require an online connection to complete downloading the game is a unique version that was made available to Kickstarter backers who asked for it by special order (and it only arrived rather recently). My understanding for the reason why this is the case is due to Larian's wish to have the day one patch available for anyone buying the DVD. If the DVD was truly standalone, then the version of the game burned into the disk would have been significantly dated on the day of release. Being a small studio, it makes more sense for Larian to use standard clients like Steam to handle the patching rather than creating their own infrastructure to duplicate it for non-steam versions.

No, even the recent US retail release is Steam. For non-Steam releases, there is either GOG or the Mac App Store (with only the Mac version).

There have been multiple updates for the game, and more are planned, so a non-Steam DVD version would require extra time and resources put into creating and distributing patches. I think that is the main reason for using Steam (that and it is the largest distribution method anyway).