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Might and Magic X : Legacy
04/19/2013, 10:38:40

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Hmm, now, I didn't look into the details, but for my part...
07/01/2013, 16:49:45

    Serena writes:

    ...the game line just broke at IX where the whole story line was revamped. The thing I personally liked about 6, 7 & 8 was the whole continuity.. The way the peasants in 6 would mention the queen, who'd flown off to Erathia and the mentions of Regna, which is at long last revealed in 8. 9 and expecially 10 just had none of that at all... I noticed that the setup looked familiar, ad I might actually give it a go, but wouldn't expect it to be any kind of match to either the classics nor the other new games around: MM I play for the nostalgia really, but apart from that bit, my attention tends to be drawn towards stuff like Diablo II & III or WoW instead




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UPlay
07/14/2013, 06:14:58

    Stefan writes:

    As long as Ubisoft insists on forcing their UPlay junk on customers i will stay far away from any of their games.




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Could you explain, please?
07/16/2013, 03:34:24

    Peter2 writes:

    What are its drawbacks? I've not played any Ubisoft games, so I wouldn't know.




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Explanation (lengthy one)
09/11/2013, 08:08:14

    Istrebitel writes:

    Basically, nowadays most companies will require you to install a "client" usually called just DRM (digital rights management) to play their games. This client (Steam, Uplay, Origin...) will be something of a shop + social network, you will have to create an account with them, you will have to launch it if you want to play any game, it will by default insist on showing you "overlays" (like YOU GOT AN ACHIEVEMENT! or YOUR FRIEND IS ONLINE!) in the games (which can look out of place or even create problems).

    I think you understand the downsides already (having to turn off all those undersireable features, and having to deal with extra application fighting for your attention and trying to market new games to you constantly, people inviting you to groups and communities, having to update the software constantly), but historicaly it also required an internet connection to play any game! Like, if you aren't connected to the intenet, you can't log into your client, so you can't play even singleplayer games!

    They changed it since (because player outcry whas massive when their servers were maulfunctioning), but the way it works right now is still far from ideal. You can go in "offline" mode, after which you can launch the application without connection to the internet and play your games that don't require internet. However, the application will complain about how you're missing out by being offline, and if that isn't enough, it can bug out (like, stored credentials are corrupted please go online to refresh them). So you're still not safe from trying to play once and not getting to play your single player game, because of your internet provider or this program's prodvider fked up.

    This DRM also obviously complicates the matters when you have to use more than one of such programs, since they fight for market and obviously, some companies won't sell their games on their rival's systems (like, you can't buy Valve games not on Steam, nor you cannot buy EA games not on Origin). Also, it just becomes harder to use your games - like, you cannot just copy a game to your other PC, you have to install the DRM client there, log in to interent from it, authorise the game etc.

    Even worse, if you ever get into legal quarrel with them (like they charge your for service you didn't want, or you buy a game which is a total mess and want moneyback but they won't agree), you lose access to ALL YOUR GAMES! Since your account is banned, you can no longer use any of the games attached to it! See the problem?

    And what if they go out of business? Valve (owner of Steam) promised they would release a patch to allow people to play their games if they ever go bankrupt or have to shut down Steam, but they aren't legally tied to doing so. You can never be sure. You no longer own any of your games, you only purchase rights to use em.

    Naturally, all this BS makes people upset. Effectively, it is now better to buy the game and then pirate it and use pirated version instead! No fuss, no hassle, you OWN the game, and you don't have to put up with "connect to internet because I want you to" crap.

    However, there are positives to DRM as well. For example, you can pre-load games, meaning when the game is released, you get to play it immediately (well, after several minutes, since it decrypts the archive) instead of having to downlonad gigabytes or go to the shop and stay in queue. This is obviously impossible unless the DRM sofwtare on your PC controls your access to the game. Also, they have huge discounts (like 80% off on AAA titles), because they can be sure you won't resell your copy later when discount period is over. Finally, they're trying to add stuff that makes you involved and some people like it, for example you gain "trading cards" for playing the game (like, theoretically, if you play Might and Magic VII for Y hours, you get three cards, like "Crag Hack" or "Ressurecta" or something), you can exchange those cards with other players, gather sets of them and so on and so forth. Also, naturally, it's easier to find people to play with when you have friend lists. So they try to give you benefits for using their stuff, but since it's mandatory to use anyway, often benefits still aren't enough to offsed the fact you're forced to install their crap on your system and deal with it "spying" on you and owning your games.





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Wow! Thank you very much.
09/23/2013, 16:42:41

    Peter2 writes:

    There is NO WAY I'm giving anyone that sort of control over my computer. If that's the way Ubisoft want to behave, they can do it without me.




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Well unfortunately that's the future we're heading towards...
09/30/2013, 13:24:42

    Istrebitel writes:

    With Consoles it was like that from the get go (you have to pay to deliver a game for console, you cannot run what you want).

    With PCs, it's not yet there but it's going that way (most games nowadays come either on Steam, Origin or Uplay which is the same thing - you have to install a third party program on your PC and "validate" your game. Aside from older games, only games by indie developers (independent, meaning mostly basic or niche games) come DRM-free nowadays, and select individual gems (games from companies like, Frictional Games, CD-Projekt, and big successes of Kickstarter).

    Fun thing is, you can buy the game and play a hacked version and no freaking law prevents you from doing so (unless you distribute it or tell others how do do it). It's fair use even in USA, I believe.

    Funnier thing is, pirates get better experience nowadays than legal consumers! Before, pirates had games that were crashing or bugging, games with missing manuals that prevented progres (how'd you fly in MM6?) and nowadays, pirates get a clean product while legal users get this DRM nonsense.

    But there's huge money put into this by multiple corporations (even if they're competing with each other, they all insist on the same idea that you have to let them control your PC via their software to enjoy their games), and thus, over time people get adapted to it. When Steam started several years ago, the majority was upset and basically everybody shunned it as bullshit. Nowadays, a lot of people got used to all the "community" and other features of it and actually support the system, to the point of "If the game isn't on Steam I won't buy it".

    And truth is, it brings it's positives.

    Huge discounts, large amount of free or try-before-you-buy content, way less issues for typical casual customer (it installs everything for you and updates it too and fixes all patch issues too). It's even moving towards "Satisfaction guaranteed" - with surprisingly, EA taking the first step - basically, with such a system installed on every user's PC they can give you moneyback if you don't like the game because they can be sure you really didn't like it, since they can see if you're lying. That is because they can see how long did you play, how far did you get in the game, which levels you played and how, and they can see wether you really didn't get far and just gave up, or you played the whole singleplayer story to the end and try to basically get away with playing it for free. Without such system, they could never tell - maybe you played the whole game? Maybe you didn't even get it to run properly?

    I don't know really. I guess eventually they will just tweak the DRM to stop being a nuisance - basically, making it transparent to the user (no popups, no launching third party apps, nothing, if user doesn't want it - just check game legitimacy in background and launch it). And solve the issues where it can prevent you from playing your games if something goes corrupt with it. And then it'll stop being really a big deal.





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Well, I guess I'll just have to go back to the old games and play them again.
09/30/2013, 17:58:03

    Peter2 writes:

    I've still got MM1 and MM2 to play, plus BDJ's mods of MM6 and MM7, and another game whose name I can't remember off-hand. Grimrock, possibly? Those will keep me quiet for a while.

    I'm a firm believer that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and if I play a game, I'll pay for doing so. But I'm not giving anybody control over my computer, and if that means I can't play their games, then so be it. I'll do without them.





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