[Fox]

Sangman, on 01 April 2013 - 02:43 AM, said:

Valve has claimed that

Which depends on if they are willing to lie. I can think of them saying something like that while it is not true on the sight of loosing customers otherwise.

[Kristian Joensen]

Sangman, on 01 April 2013 - 02:43 AM, said:

Well one reason for example for most people who don't it's ownership that's a problem. Valve has claimed that if Steam were to ever go down they would release patches so your games could be played without Steam, but they have no legal obligation at all to do so. So if they don't your entire Steam account becomes useless.

Not only don't they have a legal obligation to do so, they may be barred from doing by the contracts they have with the various developers and publishers on the service. They can do so for their own games. But beyond that? It all depends on the contract terms. I hope the case is that Valve has that contigency built into all their contracts but somehow I doubt it. I trust that if legally(not stopped by bankruptcy legislation or the like) and practically possible Gabe and co will honor that promise with regards to their own games. But it may not be legally or practically possible and even if it is all the 3rd party games on Steam are much less certain. Don't get me wrong I support Steam as basically the only form of DRM I will ever accept. But the whole "What happens if Steam goes down" thing is a legitimate downside of a game using Steam DRM instead of being DRM free.I have learned to live with that risk which is why I have some games on Steam but it is also (partially) why I prefer buying games on GOG(Unless they have Linux versions with Steamplay).

[Mikko]

All hail Steam! I'm selling my Unreal Anthology and FEAR Platinum DVDs. I already bought the Steam Unreal pack and am gonna buy the FEAR pack as well once it's on sale.

While this makes me more Steam "dependent", I figured the odds of either losing your physical copies or having them break down due to scratches etc. are far above the odds of losing your digital copies. And with cloud storage costs decreasing and internet speeds increasing, it's gonna become only easier to obtain digital copies in the future, even if Steam one day bites the dust. I also save physical space by getting rid of the DVD cases (although they're nowhere near as terrible as those '90s cardboard boxes). It's really a no-brainer: imagine how many copies can stored digitally in a volume occupied by a simple DVD case that represents just one game.

[Micky C]

You can also get unreal 1 and 2 off GOG DRM free for $10 ($5 each) with their current sale if you don't care about the multiplayer games (not sure how many people still play them).

I got the steam pack anyway. Although I never got past the mines each time I played unreal.

[Loke]

Lunick Prime, on 27 May 2013 - 07:11 AM, said:

Although I never got past the mines each time I played unreal.

Why not?

[Mikko]

Yeah you should definitely give it another try, the whole game is fantastic.

[Jblade]

MEANWHILE I just tried to replay Unreal 2 and got to the outdoor bit of the first level and gave up. You move too fucking slow to dodge the enemy projectiles. Too bad, the guns are still kinda neat even if they lack punch (At least the muzzleflash on the Assault Rifle is pretty awesome and makes it feel more powerful)

[Micky C]

Loke, on 27 May 2013 - 07:24 AM, said:

Why not?

It seemed that everywhere I went I ended up coming back to the same place after an exit was meant to be opened or something like that. As you can imagine, that can be very frustrating. Isn't unreal meant to be famous for it's large, open outdoor areas? Well being stuck in small, tight, generic caves for a while is kind of a put-off.

[Loke]

Lunick Prime, on 27 May 2013 - 04:38 PM, said:

It seemed that everywhere I went I ended up coming back to the same place after an exit was meant to be opened or something like that. As you can imagine, that can be very frustrating. Isn't unreal meant to be famous for it's large, open outdoor areas? Well being stuck in small, tight, generic caves for a while is kind of a put-off.

There's very little in terms of hand holding in Unreal so I'm not really surprised you got stuck (e.g. flip a switch and you'll have to figure out yourself what it just did). But yes, Unreal is largely recognized for its amazing large vistas and non-linear levels (Bluff Eversmoking being one of my favorite level of any game) however these larger levels start to show up after the mines (I guess you're referring to Rrajigar Mine). As Mikko said you should give it a second chance -- consult a walkthrough guide whenever you get stuck (really, most of us had to as the game is sometimes very unforgiving). I also did a video playthrough of the game years ago (here) in case you prefer watching instead of reading.

[Gambini]

Quote

All hail Steam! I'm selling my Unreal Anthology and FEAR Platinum DVDs. I already bought the Steam Unreal pack and am gonna buy the FEAR pack as well once it's on sale.

Can´t just activate them with the cd key? Then sell them

[Mikko]

Loke, on 27 May 2013 - 05:26 PM, said:

There's very little in terms of hand holding in Unreal so I'm not really surprised you got stuck (e.g. flip a switch and you'll have to figure out yourself what it just did). But yes, Unreal is largely recognized for its amazing large vistas and non-linear levels (Bluff Eversmoking being one of my favorite level of any game) however these larger levels start to show up after the mines (I guess you're referring to Rrajigar Mine). As Mikko said you should give it a second chance -- consult a walkthrough guide whenever you get stuck (really, most of us had to as the game is sometimes very unforgiving). I also did a video playthrough of the game years ago (here) in case you prefer watching instead of reading.

Chizra - Nali Water God is definitely the hardest to navigate due to the layout. I remember playing it as a kid and always ending up in that same room with the eightball.

Gambini, on 27 May 2013 - 05:44 PM, said:

Can´t just activate them with the cd key? Then sell them

No, only a handful of non-Steam games can be activated on Steam with their original keys.

[Mikko]

Alan Wake & its mission packs plus American Nightmare are up for less than 4€ so now is a good time to sell your soul and become one of the "Steam dependent".

[Kathy]

Not a bad price for a renting.

[Mikko]

You're paying for the same licenses you have always paid for.

[Kathy]

Except that a 3rd party(shop in this case) co-controls your license after you bought a game.

[Micky C]

Mikko_Sandt, on 01 June 2013 - 02:14 AM, said:

You're paying for the same licenses you have always paid for.

Cathy, on 01 June 2013 - 02:17 AM, said:

Except that a 3rd party(shop in this case) co-controls your license after you bought a game.

Yeah let's face it, how many games these days do you honestly want to play through on single player more than once? (especially twice). When a steam sale comes along, I pay a ridiculously small amount of money, play for it a while, then probably never player it again. It's a lot like renting, except it's more convenient then going to a shop.

So, I played about 20 minutes of Unreal the other day. Did a quick save, then some time later I loaded that save and it put me at the start of the level, so I quit. Then just now I come back, and things have gotten worse, apparently it's placing me at the start of the game? WTF?
Perhaps I'll go map for WGRealms 2 instead.

[Kathy]

Lunick Prime, on 01 June 2013 - 03:40 AM, said:

Yeah let's face it, how many games these days do you honestly want to play through on single player more than once? (especially twice). When a steam sale comes along, I pay a ridiculously small amount of money, play for it a while, then probably never player it again. It's a lot like renting, except it's more convenient then going to a shop.

Except that many games aren't that cheap, while you still basically rent them off the store.

[Kathy]

Why the hell no one told me about this?
http://forums.steamp...77&postcount=50

[Lunick]

Heh, I actually thought they stopped it a while ago but I didn't think a bit more than a year would have been a while ago.

[Hank]

Cathy, on 15 June 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

Why the hell no one told me about this?
http://forums.steamp...77&postcount=50

Because positive news does not sell.

It looks like, Steam does listen to reasonable gamer's requests. I for one take my previous negative comments about Steam back, but will not delete them.

[LkMax]

Cathy, on 15 June 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

Why the hell no one told me about this?
http://forums.steamp...77&postcount=50

Good, they are improving at least.

[Kathy]

Still, they should outline those policies plainly. Because having some forum post about it is not enough.

[Lunick]

You may be able to share your games soon http://forums.steamp...d.php?t=3138178

[MusicallyInspired]

Hmmm quite intriguing. Hopefully it's not limited or costs money for this feature. And hopefully it's automatically a feature for all titles and not something devs will have to 'opt in' for, as one poster said. Who knows what the limitations could be at this point. I guess we'll find out.

[Mikko]

So I mentioned how I was selling my FEAR Platinum and planning on buying the entire collection on Steam. Well, I posted the game earlier today, made 10€ doing so, and two hours later I noticed Steam had FEAR on sale for 2,5€. So I ended up with the exact same product, made a profit of 7,5€ and saved some physical space! Like a clockwork.

Micky C, on 01 June 2013 - 03:40 AM, said:

When a steam sale comes along, I pay a ridiculously small amount of money, play for it a while, then probably never player it again. It's a lot like renting, except it's more convenient then going to a shop.

If that's your situation then you're obviously doing it wrong.

Quote

So, I played about 20 minutes of Unreal the other day. Did a quick save, then some time later I loaded that save and it put me at the start of the level, so I quit. Then just now I come back, and things have gotten worse, apparently it's placing me at the start of the game? WTF?

I'm pretty sure you need to make a manual save (rather than a quickie) every time you quit the game. That's how it was done back in the days: quicksaves only lasted for that particular session.

[MusicallyInspired]

No, the quicksaves should hold. They do for me. Quick saves have a reserved slot in the save menu at the top, I believe. You have to load it, though. It's not just going to throw you back where you were when you press "New Game". There is no "Continue Game" button like newer games.

[Loke]

Just press F7 during gameplay and it should load the quick save (the save should be stored even if you restart the game). But really, just make a regular save before quitting the game. More convenient.

[Kathy]

So...

I think I'm gonna try coming back to Steam just to treat it strictly as a rental service. Which will mean not buying games costing more than ~$5. Not that I have an unsatiable desire to play specific game, but it's a viable solution. Still not decided cause my "fuck drm" position is strong enough to not give Steam a chance even as a rental. And I'm quite okay without it, frankly.

[Hank]

Kathy, on 27 August 2013 - 07:40 AM, said:

I think I'm gonna try coming back to Steam just to treat it strictly as a rental service.

make sure you live in a desirable country
http://www.vg247.com...itories-report/

I had second thoughts too, since I have no intention to resell any of my beloved games ... but I'll stick to principles, I don't rent anything.

[Kathy]

Hank, on 27 August 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

make sure you live in a desirable country
http://www.vg247.com...itories-report/

It's a full price game on a release date. It has bugs... I don't know how it could affect me.

Quote

I had second thoughts too, since I have no intention to resell any of my beloved games ... but I'll stick to principles, I don't rent anything.

...and then I remembered Steam uses its stupid client. Damn, I hate this thing.

I have enough games to play without Steam, though, yet treating games as rented is a viable solution to previously mentioned problems. Not that I need anything to solve right now since I'm perfectly fine without Steam for half a year now.