Physical Copy of the Game is DRM and Steam free?

[TeraAkron]

Dear Obsidian,

 

I'd like to pass some constructive feedback on the $59 tier.

 

Like thousands of others, I am a long-time RPG fan who played and enjoyed many of the masterpieces thtat were released over the years. Pillars of Eternity was a monumental step forward for the genre by (ironically) going back to what made traditional computer RPGs so great in the first place. I am extremely proud of being a backer to its development.

 

Likewise, I will be backing POE II - no question about this! However, I must not be alone in sharing a little bit of disappointment regarding the physical box tier. First of all, it actually costs $84 for anyone outside of the United States and $72 for those who are. Secondly, it seems that the difference between the $84/72 and the previous tier - $45 - is simply the addition of a physical cardboard box. No printed manual. No physical (full) copy of the game. Pretty much JUST the cardboard box. In other words, no physical items which should be quite standard in the physical boxes. We understand that cloth maps / additional guidebooks should be included in the CE tier, but doesn't the standard box version seem a bit little too light to justify the $39 difference from the digital premium edition? A simple comparison with the original POE box suffices to illustrate this point. 

 

I kindly ask you to reconsider the rewards for this tier, as I am sure that thousands of people want a physical box for their collection, but the value on the table for this tier is just way too little to justify the cost. No wonder there are only 300 backers so far.

 

Thank you very much.

 

An long-time fan

[Merany]

This feedback is indeed spot on! Thanks for writing a much clearer post than what I attempted in my previous messages. For collectors like us who enjoy having a boxed copy of their games but can't quite always afford collectors editions, this is indeed a bummer.

 

While I'm at it, noticed some inconsistencies too in the descriptions for the different bundles.

For the $149CE, text description does not mention a printed manual but the description with images do.

[Xaratas]

So if there is only an nearly empty CD in the Box, could you not at least make a dual data + audio (PoE 2 Soundtrack of course) disk?

Or drop the CD and pack up a SD Card? (SDHC 4-8GB is 2-3$ a piece at 500 unit order)

[Merany]

I twitted the above feedback to Feargus who replied to me so at least, they're aware of it. Now, we just have to hope they can come up with something good for us

[TeraAkron]

I twitted the above feedback to Feargus who replied to me so at least, they're aware of it. Now, we just have to hope they can come up with something good for us

Thanks Merany, let's hope for the best ...I'll be the first one to donate via this tier !

[znin21]

I did actually read in the q&a first before purchasing both pledges the 95 dollar one 2nd I might add and then AFTER I had read that purchasing the beta as an add on for poe2 deadfire would be the same as the early access but I went ahead and bought the 115 dollar early access just to be sure because I wanted access to the one thing that purchasing even the high end over 3000 dollar pleadge still appears not to allow you any current access to any previous versions in order to begin playing now however my issue is this I still have yet to see any beta in my products section of my account for even the steam download so how is it that I am not receiving any beta game to play even though I have made the proper tier pledge now for early     access? 

[AndreaColombo]

The beta hasn't been released yet; the game isn't even out of alpha at this stage as far as I'm aware.

[DexGames]

Hey guys!

 

Here to answer all of your backer needs! So, in the Physical Box tier, you will get a physical disc of the game, however, it is actually a Steam installer. There will be no disc version of the game this time around. Though you will be able to choose between a Steam key or a GOG key. So for your DRM-free needs, you can go with GOG.

 

For the Early Access Tier, you can do both. You can gain Early Access key for Steam, and then you can also choose to have a GOG key for the full game. So you can have your cake and eat it too! 

 

Hey Aarik ! 

Speaking of Early Access... hum, soon ? 

 

[Aarik D]

 

Hey guys!

 

Here to answer all of your backer needs! So, in the Physical Box tier, you will get a physical disc of the game, however, it is actually a Steam installer. There will be no disc version of the game this time around. Though you will be able to choose between a Steam key or a GOG key. So for your DRM-free needs, you can go with GOG.

 

For the Early Access Tier, you can do both. You can gain Early Access key for Steam, and then you can also choose to have a GOG key for the full game. So you can have your cake and eat it too! 

 

Hey Aarik ! 

Speaking of Early Access... hum, soon ? 

 

 

 

We're not quite there yet! However, we will absolutely make an announcement when we get closer to the beta stage of development!

[DexGames]

We're not quite there yet! However, we will absolutely make an announcement when we get closer to the beta stage of development!

 

 

 

Yeah ! BTW, by "Early Access" I meant the Backer Beta.

Adding more hype with today's insane Neketaka Update, makes me boil up even more now.

 

Pfff, just thinking of the fun you guys must have play-testing the Game internaly  ... You lucky (Black Isle) Bastards ! 

Edited July 31, 2017 by DexGames

[Iggi]

They can still put the game on the disc though, even if it's not DRM free like last time you can still have a proper game disc.

Sure they might save some money on not printing the game, but my guess is that they are going to get a pretty big backlash at release if all they are giving people is a steam installer. I don't frequent these forums very often and had I not seen a message on fig about this thread I never would have known about this issue, but my guess is that there is quite a few people out there that will have no idea about it until they actually receive their "game disc".

It's almost better not to have a disc in the box at all, because getting a disc with a steam installer feels more like they are mocking you then anything else. Only thing that's missing on that disc is a sound-file that plays Nelson's 'HAA-HAA'.

 

Indeed - I'm one of those backers. For some reason I haven't seen this thread while the campaign was still running - I never would have backed the physical version if I had known the disc would only contain a Steam installer. What's the point of a DVD if you have to be online to use it? If I wanted to have the Steam version I would have backed the Steam version...

 

Please at least put the GOG versions for Linux, Mac and Windows on the disc - you can still tell people that they need to register their copy at GOG or Steam to get updates...

[Morrydwen]

 

They can still put the game on the disc though, even if it's not DRM free like last time you can still have a proper game disc.

Sure they might save some money on not printing the game, but my guess is that they are going to get a pretty big backlash at release if all they are giving people is a steam installer. I don't frequent these forums very often and had I not seen a message on fig about this thread I never would have known about this issue, but my guess is that there is quite a few people out there that will have no idea about it until they actually receive their "game disc".

It's almost better not to have a disc in the box at all, because getting a disc with a steam installer feels more like they are mocking you then anything else. Only thing that's missing on that disc is a sound-file that plays Nelson's 'HAA-HAA'.

 

Indeed - I'm one of those backers. For some reason I haven't seen this thread while the campaign was still running - I never would have backed the physical version if I had known the disc would only contain a Steam installer. What's the point of a DVD if you have to be online to use it? If I wanted to have the Steam version I would have backed the Steam version...

 

Please at least put the GOG versions for Linux, Mac and Windows on the disc - you can still tell people that they need to register their copy at GOG or Steam to get updates...

 

I am the TC and that is what I hoped as well. Now the physical edition backers seem to get the digital GOG version as well. That is better than nothing.