Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Want a PC DVD version without Steam, or won't buy.

That is a truly ridiculous statement. One of the primary reasons people buy disc versions is the feeling of ownership and permanence they provide. Who wants a disc that's defective by design?

(Not to mention the fact that there will be DRM-free discs. I frankly have no idea why these weren't the default.)

Steam's version is DRM free. Once installed, only need Steam for updates and for joining random people in their game. Otherwise Steam does not need to be running in order to play the game.

It's the "once installed" that's the rub here. If you can't (or won't) access Stean, then that disc is no better than a coaster. Even for those prepared to accept Steam's conditions, the requirement for a 6GB download makes it impractical for those with limited Internet access.

Having a problem with being forced to download the game even though buying a physical disk to install it with and refusing to use steam are different things.

This guy obviously had no problem with downloading as you can see in the original post.

I find this topic interesting. I've used Steam for years and have not had a single issue with the service. My library is always there. Updates are smooth and timely. Purchases go smoothly. I don't use the forums though; they appear to be inhabited by a large number of mouth-breathers. I also don't do the friends thing. In spite of all that, I have no issues with the service.

Steam, like all things, has pros and cons. For example, If your account gets banned or blocked, you can't download or play games through that steam account. Although if a game is already installed, steam may not necessarily be needed. Besides, if you are abiding by their policies, which you are not in any way forced to do or accept, you will not have this issue. And even If you do get your account blocked, there are ways to get it reinstated. Also, steam does have some benefits over other services and physical disks. First of all, you cannot ever break a digital copy of a game. If it gets a bug or something, it can be easily fixed or replaced. Second, I don't think I've ever payed sales tax, or any tax, on steam. Third, it gives you access to a support base, be it game support, guides, or customer support at the push of a button, often in-game. My only real problem from steam is some of the stuff people put on their forums, which isn't even steams fault. Don't want steam? You can use any number of other services, such as GOG, Origin, or Larian vault to get games although they may not have the same selections or prices.

It is a myth that Steam has ever purposely locked someone out of their account and prevented them playing or downloading any of the games they have bought. The only thing steam has done:

Locked people from buying games
Locked people from playing on Steams MP servers because of cheating
Banned people from using the Steam forums, temp or perm.

But nobody has ever had their account locked that prevented them from playing and downloading the games they bought except for MP only games that use Steam exclusively for MP, and that was because the player cheated.

And it's really laughable and amusing that ppl believe that any kind of DRM does any good to the industry. Seriously you guys made my day!
Pirating a game is not a problem at all these days no matter any DRM/copy protection/access control/whatever-you-call-that-sh*t. I (probably) would have pirated the game myself. seeing as it came out on GOG a week after official release and my only option would have been buying the game on steam (which I deeply condemn for it's policies + the fact that they merely sell the right to, at their sole discretion, use the software [I'm addressing the supposed account-banning issue, and while I haven't stumbled across such a case honestly, I believe such infos dont't pop out out of thin air, even more so, that I haven't ever heard similar accusations against GOG], as a contrary to GOG allowing you to legally make backup copies of bought software). Yet I consider myself very happy and lucky having got to know about D:OS kickstarter and bought a boxed-and-truly-DRM-free version of this magnificient game.

I wholeheartedly agree with Halcyon saying

especially seeing how Larian did well depending primarily on word-of-mouth advertisement.

The argument that steam copy is DRM-free and all that impeccable to get is simply invalid as you're at least constrained to using steam to install the game thus forcing you to accept their highly-questionable terms-of-use. Steam itself is a DRM, as discussed earlier on these very forums.


The sole difference is choice, specifically not to allow steam on your pc. Period.

And as about the statement that Larian won't release boxed versions in future - they will simply deprive themselves of some profits/hype/player-commitment/-sympathy, and while I believe ppl will anyway buy the digitals, especially seeing how solid products they deliver to their fans, I cannot imagine myself happier with a purchase of a game than being able to put some shiny box straight from devs, designed by the team's fine artists, on the shelf among other great and memorable titles knowing that I can play it whenever I want no matter what happens to the internet or my capability of connecting to it. Still it's theirs to evaluate and decide whether the benefits are greater than drawbacks and act accordingly.

Thank you very much and I'm getting back to the wonderful game
Cheers for Larian's success!

Laughing is the pleasure of the ignorant...

Why do you think GOG releaes GOG Galaxy soon, their very own DRM platform (which must be DRM based on your own definition of Steam being DRM)? I'll tell you why: because it has a lot of benefits and offers services people want to use. It's really that simple.

Best way to fight piracy? Give a better service than what Pirates give. Steam does exactly that, and the reason why Steam was able to make Russia ( a place rife with piracy that the industry at large ignored it) a profitable region for games, because they give a better service than what the pirates give.

GoG is basically doing the same thing now with GoG Galaxy, making their service even better, to help increase their market share, and to give a better service than what pirates give.

Lets be honest here, Steam give way better service than what pirates give, and a whole lot less riskier as well.

Laughing is the pleasure of people with a sense of humour in the first place

What comes out of the GOG Galaxy is yet to be seen. First of all as of now GOG doesn't force steam-similar policies and second, even if they follow this path to some extent I'm 100% sure that another digital distrubution service, either new one or an existing one will reclaim the part of market that frowns upon DRM.

Valve routinely disabled accounts in the event of Paypal disputes:

Bit-Tech: Warning on using PayPal to pay for Steam games
Steampowered: Steam Wallet And Paypal
Steampowered: Steam disabled my account because of PayPal

Now most such cases were resolved by jumping through Paypal's hoops, but the fact that Valve was willing to block access to all games over a dispute involving a couple should be a source of concern to anyone with money tied up in Steam.

Something is not right about those. I had the same issue at that time with Paypal. Only the games that I bought on Steam with PayPal that was being disputed were locked, and I was not allowed to buy any other game till the dispute was over with But I still had access to all my other games that I bought prior to that PayPal screw up. I got it resolved, and never used Paypal since then.

Haha, fair point.


Which would be? A client is a client and you yourself declared that DRM. I don't see which other "DRM policies" are forced by Steam on the customers...


Well, of course, but that wasn't the point. The point was that you mean that a software clients don't have any benefits.

I used to like steam, my account is 9 years old, until i bought x-rebirth. 50$ for a piece of shit game that was so bad some review sites just said they would re-review the game once it was in a working state cuz they cant right now because its so buggy.

I thought getting a refund would be straightforward "Hey, you sold a game as if it was in a full release state and its an early beta if were being nice, can i get a steam wallet refund so i can buy another game in your store?"

It took me 8 back and forth emails over more than 7 days for me to get a refund, the last one from me being "allrite, is there a way for me to download my games and uninstall steam, thats it for me" and they finally gave in.

The game was a buggy mess and i spent 4 hours trying to see if i could invert the mouse and steam tried to use that as an excuse not to refund me the 50$.

That completely demolished my old view that "Hey steam is a good company and what the heck, ill just randomly try this game because i like steam so whatev" Only bought 3 more games since that episode a year ago and i used to buy like 20 games a year.

I have never encountered a paypal issue with steam, ive been using this for steam for at least 2 years.

So cool it down with the felon shit, yes piracy is warranted if youre going to buy and encourage good devs once in a while. I myself got divinity first "outside" to see if it was worth buying and it was, so i bought it.

You know what? CDP could close their GOG shop/website EVERY DAY or just block your account as well.

The questionable account closures (and while you're right - CDP could close the GOG down any day, yet, guess what - it has no precedents similar to those of steam), customer service quality - it's a policy of not giving a * in far too many cases, unjustifiable demand for system-level rights for the client.. Do I really have to repeat all this what has been said on these forums already?

And that wasn't my point, kind sir. My point was that this particular client has many unaddressed issues and offer serious ways of applying DRM to a game which gamedevs foolishly go for. If a client allows me to download games, applies autoupdates on my request an keeps me informed about a game while allowing me to play this game without launching it at all - I'm all for such a client

I myself wanted a physical copy of the game but in my neck of the woods it was next to impossible to have one especially on release day. I did buy it on steam but allow me to add my thoughts on steam.
Perhaps my biggest gripe is that none of the costs involved with producing/printing/shipping said product are involved with steams version. The game is uploaded to steam one time ,thousands and thousands of serial keys are generated and sold at depending on the game 39.99 to 59.99.
None of these cost savings are passed onto Joe A Consumer while the developer/publisher/steam gets a bigger piece of the pie.
I do appreciate steam for its convenience but I do however miss the days when it was par for the course to get a retail copy and receive a 80-100 page manual which great and you seemed to get more band for your buck.

Yes piracy can be beneficial to the game industry but that still doesn't justify the act of stealing. Because, even the existence of murderers and rapers CAN BE beneficial to the society IN SOME WAYS (thanks to them policemen can feed their family) but still that doesn't justify the act of murdering or raping.

I don't get why people don't just make their own boxed copies. Retail isn't profitable at all for developers, not to mention you often times get really badly made boxes, because you need a publisher for physical releases, and they often times have a ton of pointless branding. Just look at this