craigdolphin

I voted for #2, but am fine with #1. I appreciate being given the choice, Obsidian! I have waited this long, can wait a bit longer. As for those who condescendingly are suggesting that DRM free is an anachronism and that backers who support it, or require it, 'need to understand that distribution models are changing', need to understand that not everyone has the ability to make use of those 'new' distribution models even if you do. Distribution models may indeed be changing but rural broadband infrastructure in the USA is not changing at all. I have been waiting (fruitlessly) for 14 years for ANY type of wireline internet access to become available in my area. My only non-dialup internet option is satellite. I would kill for DSL. Digital downloads of this game will likely exceed my monthly bandwidth allotment on satellite. I will not be able to play POE until the physical disk arrives no matter how many keys I am given for Steam or GOG. Required auto-patcher's run into the samer bandwidth-prohibitive situation. When you have to fit all of your internet usage into 12 GB (combined up/down) per month, you become highly sceptical of all bandwidth sucking abominations like online checks, mandatory patches, etc. I can no longer play starcraft because they require mandatory patches, and I ran into a 1GB patch requirement that I simply could not afford to download without risking exceeding my bandwidth cap and losing my intenret access. I will likely never buy another Blizzard game ever again because of that. I would not have backed POE if it had DRM. I would not have backed it if it had a mandatory autopather. Not because I disliked the game, but because I would never have been able to play it. I can wait to play the game after launch. You have to learn to be patient as a gamer living in the rural USA. There's really no other option.

Just wanted to stop by and say how much I enjoyed this update. When I backed POE I hvae to admit there was a worm of doubt wriggling in my gut about how well the 2d-artwork would hold up. Well, the worm has officially turned. Now I am wondering when/if 3D worlds will look as good as the environments in this update. That area screenshot just makes me all warm and fuzzy. That said, seeing it in motion with animations etc will be the real test of how well they immerse the player. The UI looks truly great too. So happy to see old school design polished and raised to this new level of excellence. Screw the minimalism and 'flat' design fad that's taken over the world in the last few years. This stuff is timeless and beautiful. Could not be more pleased. I am not focussing on the nitty gritty of the stats themselves. Clearly there are more than enough people commenting on them in depth. I am happy to leave these aspects of balance etc to the devs best judgement. The blue banshee monster thing-a-me looks really good, and really close to the concept art but I dunno...there's something not quite right (no, not the boobs...) It may just be the lack of translucency. Not sure. To be clear, this is a fantastic looking beastie and this is, in no way, a complaint. All in all, this game is looking awesome. So awesome in fact that I think it's time to put a firm check on my own rising expectations. If you can really deliver on the promise that I see here....well. That would be something astounding. There are obviously a couple of design choices made that I could wish had gone differently (romances, RTWP combat, etc) but I am undeniably thrilled with the status of the overall project. I am going on record now that, if and when you decide to kickstart a sequel, I'm in.

K...this is very nice stuff. Doubly glad I am a backer. Major kudos to the artists and techies who made this happen. I'm very excited by the prospect of the game and its artwork. But to nitpick (because I spend a lot of time on tidelands and other aquatic areas as part of my day job): unlike the video, recently emersed aquatic substrates look rather different than the surrounding terestrial environments. I would expect to see some mud/sand in parts of the watercourse, maybe some woody debris in places, and possibly flattened aquatic vegetation in the dewatered stream bed instead of the same vegetation as the surrounding land. Now if this were a non-flowing shallow pool that was dewatered, I could see rushes and tall grasses being present on both the land and in the pool. Depending on how recently the dewatering happened the mud etc might be 'caked' (cracking as it dries in the sun etc). I mention it because seeing the dewatering happen in the video had me expecting to see this stuff. Obviously, if the dewatering doesn;t happen in fron t of the player, then these points are moot. If a long enough period of time (months) goes by between immersions then the once-aquatic surface becomes terrestrial. Is this trivial? Yep. Is it a deal breaker? Hell no. Just stuff that sticks out like a sore thumb to someone who spends a lot of time in dewatered aquatic environments. And maybe in the final version this stuff will be taken care of. Or not. S'ok either way. Just trying to offer constructive feedback to the team. Apologies if it's out of line.

This is a pity. I was looking forward to AP now that I'm done with Dragon Age and Mass Effect2. But mandatory online activations and activation limits are just not something I will pay money to put up with. You do realize that if you don't wish to use up activations you'd best remember to uninstall and reclaim your activations before you ever make any hardware upgrades/changes/OS reinstalls right? And that's only assuming that their authentication servers are still around when you need them to be. My wife likes to play on the xbox and I prefer PC, so we bought two new copies of both DA:O and ME2 so that we could both play at the same time. So, like as not, this DRM nonsense just cost Obsidian 2 purchases from my family. Maybe they don't care, I dunno. Regardless, I'll spend my money on other games that don't require more than a disc in drive and that allow any online transactions to be entirely voluntary. (And yeah, I know the xbox version doesn't have the DRM but since I buy the games and I play on PC, I won't support any developer who chooses to make my legal-game experience inferior to that of scum-sucking copyright infringers who pay nothing). /rant

Well, I tried to go to Sega's forum but their account registration is messed up, and won't send the email to activate the account. I did what the admins suggested and sent them an email to register but they've STILL not got back to me. So, if anyone else already has an account on the Sega forums, and is interested, could they ask Sega about this? Otherwise, I'll ask when/if they ever activate my account.

Ok then, I'll head over to Sega's forum and see if I can get an answer. You might want to be prepared for a lot of interest in the issue though. After the Bioshock/Mass Effect debacles, DRM is increasingly becoming a make-or-break issue for many paying customers.

Hi, I was wondering if Obsidian has announced yet what DRM system/restrictions they're planning on shipping Alpha Protocol with? I have unused gaming money to spend since Bioware/EA decided to infect their products with that 'SecuROM' malware , and Alpha Protocol looks really interesting. But I won't pay purchase prices for rental rights, so I'm interested to know what Obsidian's direction on DRM is before I get too interested in AP.