...and I am seriously considering a refund, unless some kind soul(s) can help me out here....;) I had planned to buy the game when the selling price dropped below $60, anyway, and so when the game went on sale the other day for $44.99, I decided to go ahead and jump in. I had played the game on the Xbox Game Pass for PC, and I made certain assumptions about a couple of things that would and should change after I bought and paid for my own copy:
1) That I wouldn't have to worry about the "always online" requirement...
2) That I'd be able to unlock the game completely from the copy-protection the whole game is wrapped in, and run the game direct from the executable.
3) Even decided to forego my own rule about not buying a game which didn't give me my own installable copy to archive--I have several drives that Archive my games.
Doesn't seem like either 1) or 2) is true for my paid-for copy. I can understand trussing the game up like a Christmas hen for Game Pass users--that made perfect sense. But hey, I don't like being treated like a crook after I bought my own copy.
--The one bright spot I found so far is that even after changing the ownership of the privatedivision.theouterworldsWindows10xxxxx folder--I can still play the game. But I still cannot run the game from its executable even though I can now see it! When I took ownership of the folder in Game Pass PC the copy protection kicked and wouldn't let me even play--would begin downloading another game install, instead. I could see that for Game Pass PC, certainly.
So why does the game insist on going around its elbow to spite its face with all of the copy protection applied to people who own the game and paid for it and can prove it? It attempts to synchronize with the Microsoft cloud even when I have turned off the cloud in the game. I downloaded and installed the game anew after I purchased it, but the game calls home and labels the game on the loading screen with my Game Pass PC handle--and then "synchronizes" with the Microsoft cloud to access all the pre-1.2 saves I had made--locally, or so I thought.
Is there a doctor in the house?...:D --who knows how to disable the "phone home" requirement and how to play the game from its own executable? I want to play the game *my way*--not anyone else's way. I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation at all.