Divinity: Original Sin Beta Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[pakoito]

Roguey tries so very hard, yet never quite gets there.

And with the posting too.

 

[Roguey]

It's three people talking to themselves and one post from Larian clarifying that the physical is indeed DRM free.
Yeah, so much drama. (I'm disappoint).

A one-time mandatory internet activation is still DRM.

 

[Infinitron]

There's more butthurt in the Kickstarter's main comments section: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...l-sin/comments?cursor=6962269#comment-6962268

...hang on, have I understood this correctly? The physical version of the game - the supposedly DRM-free version I paid $200 for -- has to be downloaded and activated through Steam? What the hell, Larian?

I mean yes, I know we can still get an actual DRM-free version from GOG, but that's completely missing the point. I paid a large amount for a physical copy of the game precisely so I *wouldn't* have to spend hours downloading the damn thing. What the hell did you think we wanted the DVD for, to use as a coaster? I'm not obsessively anti-DRM; I wouldn't even have minded a CD-key check if it had been mentioned from the start, but downloads and online activation are *exactly* the opposite of what I wanted - and what you promised.

And the patching 'explanation' is completely ludicrous. No one ever managed to patch their games in the days before Steam, right? Jesus. Yes, I realise it's probably easier to do with Steam - which is precisely why I was willing to pay a premium, a MASSIVE premium, for a non-Steam version. I don't think that's an excuse for blatantly misleading people, sorry.

I was a huge supporter of the original Kickstarter. I even came to the fan day, which was amazing. I cannot express how furious and disappointed I am about this. No, I'm not going to ask for a refund - though I think I'd be entitled to one both morally and, yes, legally - but I am certainly never going to give a penny of my money to Larian again, for any purpose.

And to the people accusing other people of 'trolling' and telling them to calm down: firstly, believe me, this *is* the calm version. Secondly, it is *absolutely* a big deal when you pay several hundred dollars to someone based on an explicit promise, and they then renege on that promise for their own convenience. I didn't get upset about the delays, the lack of a day and night cycle or anything else, because I understand that these things are part of the process of creating a game, but this is completely unacceptable. And don't bother calling me names or trying to argue me down, because that's my last word on the subject.

I'm sorry to hear that.

It seems that DRM-free means a lot of different things to different people. For us it's definitely the definition that refers to copy protection, copy prevention, and copy control, such that you can make backups and play offline. It's why we include direct IP and LAN play in addition to online play for multiplayer. It's why there's no copy protection on the game. It's also why we put it on GOG.

The link between that and not putting an auto-patch or mandatory day 1 patch system in place on the physical DVD is not at all obvious for us.I also honestly cannot recall us saying that there would not be a patch day 1. If I or anybody @Larian did that, that was in any case a very unfortunate mistake.

We always intended this game to be "live" as we'd be updating it continuously, given that the engine is core to our future strategy. In that vision, it's a normal thing to have a patch system in place and it's not abnormal to work with a mandatory day 1 patch.

The DVD is not a "coaster" either. It contains the majority of game data and will make the download significantly smaller.

We realise some people may not agree with that, but we have to make choices. We prefer to work on the game until the last minute and that means we need to use mandatory patching. We do this because it results in a higher quality game experience - and we think that in the long run this will be more beneficial for the large majority of players.

 

[FeelTheRads]

More like legitimate anger, especially if they motivated it with the patching excuse, which is just beyond retarded PR speak.

 

[Infinitron]

More like legitimate anger, especially if they motivated it with the patching excuse, which is just beyond retarded PR speak.

I don't see what's retarded about it. You can accuse them of not going the distance, delaying their release even further, and trying to arrange for the physical disc to be truly final, but since they can't or won't, a Day 1 patch is necessary.

 

[FeelTheRads]

It's retarded because there should be no need for "activation" to get the game patched, that's why. If they have a GOG version which I assume will get updates too, then the box version could have been the same and let the people who bought the box update by themselves when and if they want to.

 

[Infinitron]

It's retarded because there should be no need for "activation" to get the game patched, that's why. If they have a GOG version which I assume will get updates too, then the box version could have been the same and let the people who bought the box update by themselves when and if they want to.

I'm not sure the game as delivered on disc would actually even work before the patch. Or maybe it would, but it'd be buggy.

Right now there is no GOG version yet; the version of the game that will appear on GOG on June 30th will, I assume, already include the Day 1 Patch.

(I wouldn't be surprised if they've printed the discs already, btw. So there's not much that can be done at this point.)

 

[FeelTheRads]

...

Kickstarter apologist has critical reading failure. Shoots himself in the brain while pressing the post button.

 

[Infinitron]

...

Kickstarter apologist has critical reading failure. Shoots himself in the brain while pressing the post button.

What.

You said that "the box version could have been the same" - the same as the GOG version. I'm telling you that there isn't any GOG version yet, and when there is, it will already include the Day 1 patch that owners of the physical edition will need to download from Steam.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

So the sole purpose of the 'DRM-free physical' version seems to be to make the download from Steam smaller? And Steam activation is still required?

Good one. And there those purchasing physical copies probably thought they could just get a patch off Larian's site occasionally and avoid Steam entirely.

 

[Lhynn]

So the sole purpose of the 'DRM-free physical' version seems to be to make the download from Steam smaller? And Steam activation is still required?

Good one. And there those purchasing physical copies probably thought they could just get a patch off Larian's site occasionally and avoid Steam entirely.

This, the physical copy should be all thats needed to play the game, thats the whole point of getting one in the first place.

Still, pretty sure hell be able to get a patched fully workable version from some pirate site and all he needs to do is burn it.

 

[Arkeus]

This, the physical copy should be all thats needed to play the game, thats the whole point of getting one in the first place.

Still, pretty sure hell be able to get a patched fully workable version from some pirate site and all he needs to do is burn it.

Or he could just burn the game once the steam-patch is done.

It's not like you need to have steam running (even offline- Larian games don't need steam in offline mode to run) for the game to play, so if you are going to download a version from a pirate site, might as well just patch the game and then burn the patched game, as you don't /need/ a pirate site to do it.

 

[Infinitron]

Like I said, they've probably pressed the discs already with a pre-release version of the game - something like the currently available Early Access version.

So what's more acceptable - knowingly shipping out a beta version of your game and expecting people to patch it themselves on top of that, knowing they will encounter a bunch of bugs if they don't? Or at least autopatching it so they don't have to experience that?

I can see how boxfags might find this entire situation horrible and wrong, but we all know the physical SKUs aren't worth delaying a game for. They're not where the big money is.

 

[Davaris]

Steam is annoying. I won't have it on my machine. IMO they are being very silly handing all their customers to Steam. They should invite them to create an account at Larian, and from that account they can download the required patches.

 

[Lhynn]

This, the physical copy should be all thats needed to play the game, thats the whole point of getting one in the first place.

Still, pretty sure hell be able to get a patched fully workable version from some pirate site and all he needs to do is burn it.

Or he could just burn the game once the steam-patch is done.

It's not like you need to have steam running (even offline- Larian games don't need steam in offline mode to run) for the game to play, so if you are going to download a version from a pirate site, might as well just patch the game and then burn the patched game, as you don't /need/ a pirate site to do it.

You could? in my experience with steam its a little iffy with installation paths and such.
Plus pirated games come with simple, compressed installers and a little annoying midi music while they install, everything in an ISO. Not that ive ever pirated anything of course, a friend of a friend told me.

 

[Cadmus]

Well the guy is totally in the right about the fucking steam release. Just release the godadmn game and if the disc is full of shitty bugged mess (then you are retards, but..) just fucking make the patch available on your site. I'd be also pretty fucking pissed off by this. They make it sound like Steam is helpful in any way when people could just download the patch in lesser time than it takes to install the goddamn piece of shit spyware steam for a first time user.

 

[Infinitron]

Just release the godadmn game and if the disc is full of shitty bugged mess

See, this is the problem. Since when did it become acceptable to knowingly sell a "shitty bugged mess" on disc with the possibility that somebody will play it? Is it now okay to sell a beta as a finished product in stores just to satisfy an irrelevant minority of DRM-phobes and box nostalgists?

If you want to be mad at something, be mad at Larian for not delaying their game. Not for doing their best to ensure that people who buy their game in a store actually get a fucking finished game.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

If you want to be mad at something, be mad at Larian for not delaying their game. Not for doing their best to ensure that people who buy their game in a store actually get a fucking finished game.

Why does that have to involve Steam activation? Why isn't there an option to update the patch yourself from Larian's site? If you don't want to cater to "DRM-phobes and box nostalgists" then why have a kickstarter tier for "DRM-free box versions"?

 

[Infinitron]

Why does that have to involve Steam activation? Why isn't there an option to update the patch yourself from Larian's site? If you don't want to cater to "DRM-phobes and box nostalgists" then why have a kickstarter tier for "DRM-free box versions"?

The ideal solution would have been a custom auto-patching utility (like the NWN and KOTOR games had, if you remember that) that downloads directly from Larian's servers. That would eliminate the chance of anybody playing an unfinished buggy beta game and satisfy the Steam haters at the same time.

But Larian must not have thought setting up their own custom patching infrastructure was worth the effort. (And they were right about that.)

 

[Visperas]

You need steam to patch the game even if you have downloaded through GOG?

 

[Infinitron]

You need steam to patch the game even if you have downloaded through GOG?

The GOG version is separate (but then you need to download the game from scratch and what came on your physical disc is pointless)

Too bad GOG Galaxy didn't come out earlier...

 

[agris]

Why does that have to involve Steam activation? Why isn't there an option to update the patch yourself from Larian's site? If you don't want to cater to "DRM-phobes and box nostalgists" then why have a kickstarter tier for "DRM-free box versions"?

The ideal solution would have been a custom auto-patching utility (like the NWN and KOTOR games had, if you remember that) that downloads directly from Larian's servers. That would eliminate the chance of anybody playing a unfinished buggy beta game and satisfy the Steam haters at the same time.

But Larian must not have thought setting up their own custom patching infrastructure was worth the effort. (And they were right about that.)

Really? So it's Steam or a custom update infrastructure? How about a link to a patch, instead?

...

Kickstarter apologist has critical reading failure. Shoots himself in the brain while pressing the post button.

What.

You said that "the box version could have been the same" - the same as the GOG version. I'm telling you that there isn't any GOG version yet, and when there is, it will already include the Day 1 patch that owners of the physical edition will need to download from Steam.

And that's precisely where they fucked up. They should have anticipated the need for pressed discs and and had a non-steam version ready (i.e. GOG version) that users could download standalone patches for. You know, like it will be for GOG.

Not having developed a non-steam version might be their reason, but it doesn't make it a good or acceptable one.

 

[Arkeus]

They probably should have a 'patch' on their own site that could unlock the game, for those who absolutely do not one to do it via Steam.

 

[Perkel]

I tried to post something long and witty but i don't really give a shit about it.

So people 21 days !

 

[Raghar]

Voice acting? Really? Can we have a great game with a LOT of text without voice acting?