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Mawthra: I was able to launch the game without the Epic Games Launcher open and the game didn't try to launch the Epic Games Launcher when launching the game from the install folder's main EXE... this is good and bad, I guess... because if they're releasing into the wild with no DRM and Annapurna has released games here on GOG before, yet nothing...

If you can launch the game without the launcher active, then there's no DRM... I even copied the game to another one of my computers that's never had the Epic Launcher installed and it works just fine
The latter sentence sounds promising, but I think a lot more detail is needed across a wider spread of games before declaring the store DRM-Free. Eg, can you zip up the downloaded game folder and then unzip it on a second PC with different hardware without Epic Games Launcher ever being installed on just that one game or multiple other games? If it's yes on a scale of the Steam Games That Don't Need Steam Client thread, then that sounds promising.

But what if one game worked whilst most others refused to start on different hardware (has "quiet" CEG-like restrictions that locks the initial .exe to your CPU which you only realise when changing hardware). Or it doesn't start the launcher's .exe but still maybe pulls a DLL file from the Epic Launcher's install folder? Or the game starts up fine but game save's don't work properly without the Launcher handling Cloud Save's and there's no local-save fall-back code (because it was never expected to have a "can't find client" response, only a "client is online / in offline mode")? Or it works fine short-term but there's a silent "time limit" of some kind that's not apparent until later (as Steam's "unlimited" Offline Mode suffered from for years)?
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Mawthra: You still have to log into GOG to download your games, so... there's only a mental/technical difference between a browser being your client or a desktop app being your client
Web browsers aren't remotely like vendor-locked game-clients for the obvious differences that they aren't created by the owner of the website you're trying to visit who then locks the browser into being valid for just their website. Want Steam/EA/uPlay/Blizzard games? Youll need 4x clients. Want to visit 100,000 websites? Do you need 100,000 browsers each one made specifically by the site owners just for their own content - or just one open-source one made by anyone that works with everyone's?
Post edited December 07, 2018 by AB2012
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Lucumo: And you can buy and download the game without using the launcher? If not, then the game is still locked behind DRM.
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Mawthra: You still have to log into GOG to download your games, so... there's only a mental/technical difference between a browser being your client or a desktop app being your client
L M A O
Just downloaded it with Xbox game pass...so definitely DRM for my version! Looks like a really good game, just my sort of thing. But got to play Mutant Year Zero first though.
Post edited December 07, 2018 by CMOT70
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Mawthra: You still have to log into GOG to download your games, so... there's only a mental/technical difference between a browser being your client or a desktop app being your client
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Lucumo: Uh-oh, there is a giant difference between an all-purpose browser (which you can choose) created by an unrelated third party and a client forced onto you by the store's owner.
It's a difference right, but why is it a "giant" difference? And why does it matter? Once you have your game DRM-free, in what way does it matter which piece of software you've used to buy it?

A lot of things can be called DRM; e.g. Paypal asking you to verify the debit account you want to attach to it.... but I'm pretty sure the general context here is about DRM when playing/owning games. Are you here to communicate with people or to keep pushing your own pet peeve? (fine if the latter, but maybe you should mention it)
Post edited December 08, 2018 by teceem
The thing with stores outside of GOG is that if a game is actually DRM-Free you're almost never guaranteed it will always remain that way.

I find it rather rude and barbaric to ban someone just because he was pointing out a good thing.
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Lucumo: And you can buy and download the game without using the launcher? If not, then the game is still locked behind DRM.
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Mawthra: You still have to log into GOG to download your games, so... there's only a mental/technical difference between a browser being your client or a desktop app being your client
WUT.

[falls off chair, doubling over laughing]
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Lucumo: Uh-oh, there is a giant difference between an all-purpose browser (which you can choose) created by an unrelated third party and a client forced onto you by the store's owner.
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teceem: It's a difference right, but why is it a "giant" difference? And why does it matter? Once you have your game DRM-free, in what way does it matter which piece of software you've used to buy it?

A lot of things can be called DRM; e.g. Paypal asking you to verify the debit account you want to attach to it.... but I'm pretty sure the general context here is about DRM when playing/owning games. Are you here to communicate with people or to keep pushing your own pet peeve? (fine if the latter, but maybe you should mention it)
Well, you could have actually read the rest of the thread which answers your questions.
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Lucumo: Well, you could have actually read the rest of the thread which answers your questions.
They're rhetorical questions.
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Lucumo: Well, you could have actually read the rest of the thread which answers your questions.
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teceem: They're rhetorical questions.
Certainly doesn't look like it, at all.
Is the launcher necessary to install the game?

I wouldn't mind having to install a software to download the games, it's inconvenient but not too different from logging in a website. Needing the launcher to install it, on the other hand, is a deal breaker.
Ahhh yes. Once again people doing those insane mental gymnastics to tell other people what kind of authentication servers are ok, and which are evil DRM filled hellholes. And once again it seems that the illusion of choice is enough to gaslight a lot of people into accepting certain technological solutions and condemning it in most other cases.
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Mawthra: I was able to launch the game without the Epic Games Launcher open and the game didn't try to launch the Epic Games Launcher when launching the game from the install folder's main EXE... this is good and bad, I guess... because if they're releasing into the wild with no DRM and Annapurna has released games here on GOG before, yet nothing... could be a timed exclusive there or a forever Epic Games Store and Windows Store exclusive which would suck for GOG :(

Just throwing this info out there in case anyone wants to play it, but doesn't want a DRM-laced version... even the multiplayer worked with just launching the game by itself
Can you download an independent .exe installer which you can store and use regardless of having internet? Don't really care if I need a special need to be online to verify launcher to DL such a thing (I do it with Galaxy all the time); as long as the DLd file is an installer I can store and use without inet access or any other software (like gogs installers).
low rated
20 years later...

Kid: "Dad, I found that awesome classic game on one of your old hard drives!"
Dad: "Which one?"
Kid: "Ashen."
Dad: "Nah, you better don't touch it. It's a DRM'd piece of crap. Got it from Epic Store 20 years ago. One of my biggest mistakes in life."
Kid: "DRM'd? How? I just installed it without any activation or log in. It's running fine."
Dad: "Listen, you arrogant prick! You have no idea! DRM will ruin this world! If I say it is DRM'd, then it is!"
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Mawthra: Anyway... devs are super shady... I posted on Steam stating the same simple fact the game has no DRM that anyone can figure out by launching the game outside of the client and they banned me after 3 attempts to keep my post up
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tremere110: If the game isn't really DRM-Free and you advertise it as such, if such a thing we're to be discovered later the blowback could be pretty bad. Indications from CODEX and Crackwatch is that there is a weak form of DRM somehow.
They could avoid such a blowback by being open with the customers right from the start instead of just silently banning someone who doesn't even speak for them. If the OP said things they consider harmful PR, they should work against that by clarifying the issue openly on the forums for other users to see. But who knows, maybe they thought OP was trying to encourage pirating the game just by stating it has no copy protection? Some people have weird pre-conceptions about DRM-free advocates ...

Anyway, I don't see any good reason to downvote the OP's posts (whoever did that). While it's true that installation by client is not quite the same as downloading DRM-free installers, we have a long established thread on these forums about "DRM-free games on Steam", so it's not like this a new discussion or something, and the OP wasn't really a dick about it, just didn't think that it might matter to others here or didn't quite understand yet why. You can be of a different opinion than someone who's just expressing their view in a civil manner without the need to fanatically oppose and downvote them, you know ...
Post edited December 08, 2018 by Leroux
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Mawthra: because if they're releasing into the wild with no DRM
Heart just stopped for a moment before I recognized it's not "Breath of the Wild". ;)

I wouldn't worry too much here, because all these "technically DRM free" games aren't really advertised and/or bought as such. It's not a USP of theirs, as it is here. And if it becomes the norm, simply because developers have finally given up on the stupid idea of it, that's what we always wanted anyway.

We don't need GOG, only truly DRM and copy protection scheme free games from developers willing to sell them as such. Being a fan and loyal customer of GOG was always tied to GOG's way of handling and distributing DRM free games.

But they've failed profoundly at that these last years. Pushing their variant of Steamworks, dragging the exe launchers ever more into the background of your profile, introducing all sorts of social media crap without reforming their negativity fostering reputation system on the forums, starting a silly as fuck "FCK DRM" initiative that fights against copy protection schemes that have been obsolete for a decade anyway, all that are just fundamental failures, diverging from the philosophy that made me a loyal customer.
Post edited December 08, 2018 by Vainamoinen