Should I buy games or get them off of steam?

[Golgatha]

Don't really get the GFWL hate. Some games have it but it's never gotten in the way for me. Most complaints I've seen about it are similar to complaints for most DRM - people are more unhappy that it's there than they are unhappy about anything in particular that it does.

It can delete gamesaves if you're not logged in. It's nearly impossible to port your old gamesaves over to a fresh OS install. It can crash and take your game down with it.

I have experienced several of these issues and they're more hassle than they're worth. GFWL = no buy for me. Furthermore, I wouldn't even install a PC game infected with GFWL if they gave it away for free.

 

[zinfamous]

Steam Holiday sales is coming up soon.

You will likely never buy a game from retail again.

You have been warned...

 

[zinfamous]

Your thread title implies that Steam gives games away for free.

Well, I did get Portal and Alien Swarm for free...

:hmm:

 

[brandonb]

I have a few games for Steam. However, I just can't get over the fact that they can ban your account for whatever reason they choose, and there is nothing you can do about it. All your games you purchased go "poof."

 

[Schfifty Five]

Your thread title implies that Steam gives games away for free.

this.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I used to be a BIG Steam hater (especially at first) but now, I don't want to buy games elsewhere.

Biggest advantage to me is no CD to play and no CD Keys.

 

[calyco]

Steam all the way. Think I first started using it when I pre-ordered TF2. Wasnt too impressed back then but now it is very stable and the sales are great too.

 

[Dankk]

It's nearly impossible to port your old gamesaves over to a fresh OS install. It can crash and take your game down with it.

...What? Sorry, but this is inaccurate. I've never had a single problem transferring gamesaves from one computer to another. You just need to know where they are stored. If they're not in the steamapps folder, they're in the My Documents folder or the My Games folder. Copy and paste the saves you have in there. Simple as that. (In the past couple of years, I've had to do mass data migration from one computer to another multiple times. I have upwards of 100 Steam games.)

 

[Martimus]

...What? Sorry, but this is inaccurate. I've never had a single problem transferring gamesaves from one computer to another. You just need to know where they are stored. If they're not in the steamapps folder, they're in the My Documents folder or the My Games folder. Copy and paste the saves you have in there. Simple as that. (In the past couple of years, I've had to do mass data migration from one computer to another multiple times. I have upwards of 100 Steam games.)

You are the first person I have heard that was able to copy and use Games For Windows Live save games. I just assumed it couldn't be done since I have seen so many threads about it not working. (And I can't remember any of the posters ever manage to solve the issues with GFWL either)

 

[Dankk]

You are the first person I have heard that was able to copy and use Games For Windows Live save games. I just assumed it couldn't be done since I have seen so many threads about it not working. (And I can't remember any of the posters ever manage to solve the issues with GFWL either)

Ah, my bad - I didn't realize you were talking specifically about GFWL games. I have only 3 of these games (GTA 4, Batman: AA, Fallout 3) and I've never actually attempted to transfer the save files of any of them. Your point still stands. In fact... I didn't even realize that GFWL had those problems. That's a shame if it does.

It's not really Steam's fault, though, is it?

 

[erikistired]

I have a few games for Steam. However, I just can't get over the fact that they can ban your account for whatever reason they choose, and there is nothing you can do about it. All your games you purchased go "poof."

i'm pretty sure you have to do something to get their attention in order to get banned. it's not magical or arbitrary.

 

[sandorski]

1 big issue with GFWL is that it doesn't automatically Update and sometimes Updating a game requires an Update of GFWL, except one isn't notified about it until they go Googling to fix game issues. I'm looking at you GTA IV.

 

[veri745]

You are the first person I have heard that was able to copy and use Games For Windows Live save games. I just assumed it couldn't be done since I have seen so many threads about it not working. (And I can't remember any of the posters ever manage to solve the issues with GFWL either)

I have been able to copy save games for FO3 that were through GFWL between one OS (XP) and another (W7 64) successfully. I still prefer not to sign in to GFWL since I've had it corrupt save games for me in the past, but that is one instance for save copies working.

I also find it annoying that the GFWL saves for FO3 are in one location, and if you're not signed in it looks somewhere else. That made it a pain to even figure out where to copy the saves to/from

 

[AstroManLuca]

Ah, my bad - I didn't realize you were talking specifically about GFWL games. I have only 3 of these games (GTA 4, Batman: AA, Fallout 3) and I've never actually attempted to transfer the save files of any of them. Your point still stands. In fact... I didn't even realize that GFWL had those problems. That's a shame if it does.

It's not really Steam's fault, though, is it?

No one said it was Steam's fault. People were just making the point that they hate it when games require GFWL, especially when you're already purchasing them on Steam.

I had mentioned that people seem to complain a lot about GFWL and I didn't understand why, but I have never needed to transfer saved games for a GFWL game.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I have a few games for Steam. However, I just can't get over the fact that they can ban your account for whatever reason they choose, and there is nothing you can do about it. All your games you purchased go "poof."

You should actually go read the STEAM licencse and user agreement crap that you accept everytime you buy a game. If you actually read it, it does state that if your steam acount is terminated or steam goes out of business, they either have to reimburse you for the games on your account or allow you other means to access your software.

In then end you still own the software licenses for all the games you bought through steam. steam is just a third party distributor.

also note getting VAC banned still lets you play your game, just not on VAC servers, so they don't owe you shit at that point. (shouldn't be a cheater anyway).

 

[xboxist]

Steam is overwhelmingly convenient for me. The biggest strike against it seems to be that Steam customer service absolutely sucks. But I've always been able to figure out any errors and such through the support forums and talking to other users.

 

[zinfamous]

I have a few games for Steam. However, I just can't get over the fact that they can ban your account for whatever reason they choose, and there is nothing you can do about it. All your games you purchased go "poof."

by that, I assume you mean cheating, hacking, or other EULA violations that you feel are your right to abuse?

just throwing that out there....

 

[Lonyo]

by that, I assume you mean cheating, hacking, or other EULA violations that you feel are your right to abuse?

just throwing that out there....

Except when they mess up and ban you for nothing.

 

[AstroManLuca]

by that, I assume you mean cheating, hacking, or other EULA violations that you feel are your right to abuse?

just throwing that out there....

I love how whenever anyone brings that up, someone immediately assumes they must be an unrepentant cheater.

News flash: people and companies make mistakes.

However, I haven't heard of people getting their entire steam account banned. A single-game VAC ban, yeah. Which is supposedly really unlikely to happen by mistake. But even if one of your games gets a VAC ban, you can still play it in single player and you still have access to all your other games.

 

[videogames101]

Except when they mess up and ban you for nothing.

That happened once, and then they unbanned everyone and then gave them all a free game.

Life sucks eh?

 

[Powermoloch]

I'm one of the few rare breeds that still use CD/DVD. I have steam, just for HL2 and MW2. But that's about it, if a game has to be in steam...I just avoid buying them all together until they hit the bargain <5$ bin.

I like collecting my games, especially the box art and what not, that's the only thing that steam cannot replace imo.

 

[zinfamous]

I love how whenever anyone brings that up, someone immediately assumes they must be an unrepentant cheater.

News flash: people and companies make mistakes.

However, I haven't heard of people getting their entire steam account banned. A single-game VAC ban, yeah. Which is supposedly really unlikely to happen by mistake. But even if one of your games gets a VAC ban, you can still play it in single player and you still have access to all your other games.

Oh, I agree. You have to expect mistakes to happen form time to time.

...it's just that you tend to see far more of the entitled hackers or thieves or whatever complaining about these things, while attempting to justify their behavior, than you do the legit issues.

 

[brandonb]

I do not cheat, nor have any intention in doing so.

However, I do realize that companies make mistakes.

I played Everquest back in the day, and I was an early adoptor of the X2 AMD chip when it came out in 2005ish... Since core affinity was not set on the process, I ran into the dreaded desync issue in Everquest where each core had a different clock causing everything to warp around. What do you know? A month later, they said they had banned 15000 speed hackers... Yup... That was me with my shiny new X2 who's only issue is that I bought a top of the line CPU at the time, and didn't know how to fix the sync issue at the time. I just played as best I could, and would reboot the computer every few hours to restart the cpu clocks in each core to get things back in sync.

Never got my account back.

 

[shortylickens]

Oh, I agree. You have to expect mistakes to happen form time to time.

...it's just that you tend to see far more of the entitled hackers or thieves or whatever complaining about these things, while attempting to justify their behavior, than you do the legit issues.

I believe thats whats known as a straw man argument.


As for the OP, I think he should try it for a handful of casual games and see if he likes dealing with Steam. If so, then it wont be too tough to start into 40 dollar premium titles.

 

[Throckmorton]

Having steam means you can never lose a disc or a CD key. You never worry about scratched up discs either. It means you can install a fresh copy of windows and have it automatically install all of your games without you needing to attend and swap discs all afternoon long. It's very convenient.

^This

I haven't bought a non Steam game for years. I think the last one was Test Drive Unlimited from Atari's digital download service. Huge mistake. I used up the 3 installs or however many it allows you, and there's no one to call for support.