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General discussionDo you prefer buying games on GOG or on physical media?(100 posts)(100 posts)
(100 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 04, 2022
In GOG, then i use the community covers for make my own boxes, if game deserves it. I also like to print my own goddies and stuff.
Posted April 04, 2022
low rated
I prefer turtles , so no physical stuff ending up in their bellies
Posted April 04, 2022
I certainly don't miss physical media. I used to obsess about making backups so I didn't risk scratching the originals. There were all kinds of hokey things they did with the media that required specialized software to allow you to copy successfully, and sometimes your CD-rom couldn't deal with some of the protection schemes. I

The second issue is installers on the media are locked in time. As permission schemes evolved on windows, installers on physical media broke. I started with GoG way back when they were the only person doing the work of getting old games working properly on newer platforms.

Lastly, it's clutter. I have folders full of the backup copies I made meticulously, all the original cases and boxes, and I can't bring myself to trash them even though I'll never use any of them again and they've literally been in a drawer for years.

There's no one I know that I'd ever imagine opening the drawer and being like "Here's the various games I played years ago" much less put them on display. Nor would I ever think about dealing with the hassle of trying to sell them online.

Ironically, me and my brother were furious about the advent of games on physical media that you couldn't actually install from the CD, at a time when we lived where only dialup was available. Instead it had to be installed via some downloader/launcher or through Steam.
Posted April 04, 2022
I don't really miss physical media, GOG is perfect for me with DRM free installers. Same with music downloads.

I do still buy movies on disc, because their quality is noticeably better and there's no (legal) DRM free download option or even a decent DRM, it's all streaming and limited authorizations.
Posted April 04, 2022
I like the physical media in the era that you got an actual manual and they bothered with it, trying to make it presentable and worth putting on your shelf to increase your collection of favorites. But PS4 games have truly disappointed me since the physical editions seem rather cheap compared to PS2 days and I'm not sure whether that's nostalgia speaking or not. Digital games are practical, but I don't like them as a practice because I want to be able to own it physically and be able to put the disc in, install it and then play it right out of the box should something in the unforseeable future happen. GOG is at least better in that regard because it's DRM free, so I make sure I get all that I can on here exclusively.
Posted April 05, 2022
Physical media - b/c that's mostly all done for me. That way, if there's patches out there - well, you can just use patches and stuff those on a small CD or DVD.

Provided the game doesn't have a zillion patches that need to be done in order and installs need to be done in order for expansions, DLC's, etc - I'm looking at you, NWN2 here....and I bought it on GOG so I could just to the big install of the game w/ all its expansions and DLC's/expansions altogether in one big & easy clip.

Problem is - with so many games using closed systems and not tossing patches on places Fileshack, it's almost now a waste to do that b/c your game-client app likely will update the game in full...and you basically will have to back-up the entire game.

With modern games though - well, sometimes these games can be huge and don't fit on CD's, DVD's, BR's and there really isn't a media format here on PC. Often, I just back 'em up on say external HDD's.

EDIT - I do like GOG's approach for digital with BIN files and EXE's though, especially if it's in its most patched-up state right there.
Post edited April 05, 2022 by MysterD
Posted April 07, 2022
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Sabolmeister: I like the physical media in the era that you got an actual manual and they bothered with it, trying to make it presentable and worth putting on your shelf to increase your collection of favorites.
There were some manuals that were horrible though, Seven Kingdoms 2 was one I remember vividly, the game concepts explained were mostly from the previous game, the screenshots were of alpha builds and bore little resemblance to the released game (which was a beta build at best).

Was a waste of paper.
Posted April 07, 2022
Last time I tried to play a game on a physical support, I found out that my Torment: Planescape CD-ROM was scratched and not functioning, so I just rebought it here on GOG. Never even bothered to have a CD/DVD reader on my computers since then. Same goes for music and I went Bandcamp all the way.
Posted April 07, 2022
What I really miss of the phyisical releases and I considered the real point were the physical manuals. Not the boxes or the CD themselves. I understand that not every game needs a proper decent and big book/manual but depending the case it was a convenient goodie that will stand the test of time more that the dvd or the box or the CD. It was much more confortable to read a book than a PDF in a screen.

In fact in some sites like Matrix games for years they have offered two different versions of the game, one "cheaper" consistig in the code and digital installer and one consisting in a boxed copy with a color physical manual. More expensive.

But obviously they sell relatively complex wargames and simulators and the public probably give it more importance.

About the use of the GOG installer vs the original CD, well I use to install the GOG installer for convenience, it makes the game compatible and kills the possible DRM.
But there are cases were I do not own the GOG copy because my CD runs well and luckily the game is free of DRM. Honestly the latter are the lesser cases.
Posted April 08, 2022
low rated
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Gudadantza: What I really miss of the phyisical releases and I considered the real point were the physical manuals. Not the boxes or the CD themselves. I understand that not every game needs a proper decent and big book/manual but depending the case it was a convenient goodie that will stand the test of time more that the dvd or the box or the CD. It was much more confortable to read a book than a PDF in a screen.

In fact in some sites like Matrix games for years they have offered two different versions of the game, one "cheaper" consistig in the code and digital installer and one consisting in a boxed copy with a color physical manual. More expensive.

But obviously they sell relatively complex wargames and simulators and the public probably give it more importance.

About the use of the GOG installer vs the original CD, well I use to install the GOG installer for convenience, it makes the game compatible and kills the possible DRM.
But there are cases were I do not own the GOG copy because my CD runs well and luckily the game is free of DRM. Honestly the latter are the lesser cases.
Oh, and those manuals also used this kind of smooth paper with that specific kind of smell, you know what I mean. Not "treeish" like a book, but rather it had more a more clinical, industrial feel to it, both in touch and smell. Isn't it terrible the new generation won't remember this?
Posted April 08, 2022
I used to prefer physical media, when it didn't come preloaded with malware.
Posted April 08, 2022
PC physical market seems largely dead, that said I still regularly hunt & buy old pc games on cd/floppy as I am still running a win xp machine & a win 98 laptop along with plans to modify an old server client for dos based gaming. There's a lot that gog is never likely to get but the minefield of irritating old copy protection exists though.

A lot of gog games do actually still run fine on 98 etc if you just copy the folder & dosbox does (mostly) work too but anything patched with a newer 3d wrapper etc doesn't seem to work.

Console I'm all about physical, where possible. The digital console stores are a total monopoly & the prices are a joke... When you can get a game under $10 in store & it's $40 in a digital sale that says everything about publisher greed & why an all digital future needs to be avoided.
Post edited April 08, 2022 by serpantino
Posted April 08, 2022
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serpantino: Console I'm all about physical, where possible. The digital console stores are a total monopoly & the prices are a joke... When you can get a game under $10 in store & it's $40 in a digital sale that says everything about publisher greed & why an all digital future needs to be avoided.
Indeed. I don't own a console, but I do hope console gamers figure out (before there's no going back) there's two reasons for pushing disc-less consoles - 1. The surface promise of "convenience", and 2. The actual underlying longer-term deeper reason of centralised price-control...
Post edited April 08, 2022 by BrianSim
Posted April 08, 2022
Physical, as long as it contains the whole game and not that it serves as a glorified beermat which only contains a steam installer. Current dvd's all contain a steam installer or origin or one of those other online platforms. Then you can rather buy on gog instead.
For a while ago i visited a store with retro games. They had Schizm over there, so i bought that one.
The thing with those old games on disc is that they don't contain additional stuff like galaxy. Next to that you then have the feeling you really own that game and often it comes with a manual and other things. Then you have a physical manual instead of a pdf file. I have many games here on gog, but i also have alot of them on disc. For example; i still have the big box of Myst III Exile, with the observatory on the box.
Posted April 09, 2022
DVDs hold at most 4.7Gbs.

Given the size of some games nowadays, you would need a 10-DVD set just to install the game.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionDo you prefer buying games on GOG or on physical media?(100 posts)(100 posts)
(100 posts)