Steam options Pre-order and Season Pass
- Thread starter dorimi
- Start date
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
- Status
That was EVERY game 20 years ago. Well not quite, some games just bitched at startup but it was common.
Why would people not buy the game just because it is steam only? AFAIK you can play any of paradox's games directly from the steam folder even if off-line mode somehow doesn't work for you.
Well, a rational concern is this: Johan has mentioned that besides the financial reasoning for going Steam-only, there are also the upsides of the features that Steamworks provides (though, not to give people the wrong impression, Johan did stress that these features were not part of the considerations for going Steam-only). Such as better a networking API (which - as you know - is not very good in Paradox games), among other things.
But using these APIs (through Steamworks) will probably require Steam to be running. Now, Johan has all but confirmed that they will use Steamworks, but if so, I do not know if it is possible to run Europa Universalis IV without Steam running.
Someone a while back tested it with a steamwoks, DRM free game and they said there was no problem in running it outside of Steam.
If that is indeed the case, then surely Europa Universalis IV will only require Steam to install.
Well I do have a point then because that is the Steam DRM system.
Steam's offline mode bears little consideration due to the fact that for many it is utterly unreliable(and just like update settings, likes to forget). Last time I lost my connection and tried to launch steam, it took half an hour before it stopped trying to connect and give me the option to start offline mode(and there have been lots of instances where I was never given the option, though those are a while ago) and then promptly crashed when I selected it, giving me the joy of repeating the process. Even if you are one of the blessed few who manages to never have trouble with it, you said yourself steam must be running while the game is. How is that non-intrusive?
I've bought EU3 via steam and HoI3 and its expansions via GG. I will be honest installing or reinstalling HoI is a pain. Steam clearly has an edge here. The best there is drm. Although I own nearly all mainstream PI strategy games at the moment, it was thanks to a drm-free version of the game that I was able to play EU3 for the first time (on a completely blue broken map, graphics card problems) back then. Hopefully the game will be drm-free.
Steam DRM is called Steam CEG
Steamworks is set of tools that include Workshop, Steamcloud, Steam CEG, etc. etc.
Your original post seemed to describe an 'always online' scheme like Ubisoft's, which Steam's isn't. I'll admit, I have never experienced your issue with Steam (I have experienced slow servers when a new game is released, but how is that different from GG or GOG?) and offline mode works fine for me.
I did not say it was non-intrusive, others said that. And Steam CEG - which is a scheme available to developers, not something Steam forces upon games released through Steam - is one of the least intrusive DRM schemes I know of.
Unless you wish to highlight a less intrusive DRM scheme. CD keys might be one, but no one does that anymore.
I still remember playing CIV1. My cousin had given me the game, but I didn't have the manual, so until I memorized the tech tree by heart I would fail the DRM. Luckily all it did was delete all of your units and leave your cities open to barbarians, but that was remedied in only a few turns. 
Why would you even bother to start steam in offline mode to play Paradox Game? :blink:
Just go to the directory directly (for example steam/steamapps/CK2) and start the exe (Ck2.Exe), done.
Some game need to have steam in offline mode, but so far paradox game doesn't need steam to work at all either offline or online (except when you want to patch)
You exaggerate greatly. The typical DRM of this sort only asked a code of you once per play session, not every few minutes. You'd start the game up, and before you could play you had to enter the code, and you wouldn't be asked for it again until you restarted the game for whatever reason. Are you one of those folks who constantly resets a game? If so, then yea, I could see how that type of DRM would get to you.
Most of the DRMs of this sort were actually memorizable after awhile. We no longer see these types of DRM, not because they are somehow more intrusive, but because with the widespread use of the internet came the ease of finding the info you needed to run the game.
Steam is hardly as 'unobtrusive as they come'. My guess is you find so much joy in it's 'benefits' that you barely if at all notice it's obtrusiveness. All of the other good arguments against Steam aside, if a person doesn't have a use for or like what you consider benefits, then Steam at the very least is just a 3rd party piece of nuisance software.
I'll add a different complaint against Steam-only approach. Paradox, you've introduced me to GG. All my dd versions of your games are on GG. I like to keep them together. Now I won't be able too. Now, if I could move all my Paradox content to Steam, that'd be another story. So, in short, you inconvenience a customer.
Why bother replying to me if you aren't going to follow the conversation?
You seem to have missed the rest of that post, you dont need steam running to start the exe..
Instead of jumping in and trying to make yourself look clever why not go back and have a little read to make sure you're up to speed?
I've not once said that current paradox releases utilise steam's drm, the only reason I've been talking about Steam's DRM is because someone said that when it is used it isn't intrusive, which I find an utterly absurd statement.
Also, as I and a lot of other people have repeatedly pointed out, going digital and now steam exclusive shows Paradox's past actions aren't a guarentee for future ones. Despite all the developper comments in this thread, to my knowledge there hasn't been any statement confirming that future releases such as EUIV will be also DRM free.
I agree it's one of the least intrusive ones.
Let's not forget Starforce, probably the most intrusive DRM ever made. The one which stayed on your computer once you uninstalled the game and you accually had to get an program from another site to to uninstall
I'm sorry for being so dense but wouldn't it be 2*3 not 3*3? Anyway my questions are asking if people think a Linux version is going to make more money than a non-Steam version. Why do they get priority over us if there can hypothetically only be one? Linux has less than 2%(!) of the OS market share. Come on they will be lucky to total 1% of the Eu4 sales, and the costs associated with developing that and supporting it are completely off the charts in comparison surely? They didn't have to offer non-Steam versions for the Mac and Linux people either (or vice versa, whatever), even I don't have to be convinced of those diminishing returns. I see the convenience of Steam but it just pains me as a consumer to have this option taken away, and then have fanboys for no logical reason supporting a monopoly and attacking people for wanting a choice. Monopolies always turn out well, right? I guess all the games I bought supporting Paradox mean next to nothing and supporting me and others like me is too much of a burden. Thanks for that.
Also as I was typing this I just remembered that I actually did follow through with a personal boycott for the Football Manager series. At first I switched to heavy discount purchasing for FM12 because of the Steam requirement and now I refuse to buy FM13 because of the FMC unlockables. So I for one can control myself even for incredibly addictive games. I just pray to Zeus that the future doesn't bring a way to pay to add ducats or manpower to one's nation or I'll have to stop playing Paradox games altogether
hmy:Mostly off topic: Can a friend and I play multiplayer together if he is on a Mac and I'm on Windows?
- Status