15 replies to this topic

[Boland]

This is a nice surprise.

https://steamdb.info...412020/history/

[Janichsan]

Highly unexpected.

[Homy]

OMG! Yes!

[Sneaky Snake]

I wonder what the minimum system requirements will be? The game stresses my gaming PC pretty hard.

[Homy]

Sneaky Snake, on 26 July 2020 - 01:15 PM, said:

I wonder what the minimum system requirements will be? The game stresses my gaming PC pretty hard.

Minimum system requirements for Mac should be as recommended for pc, i.e. VEGA 56 and i7-4770K, i.e. iMac Pro.

[UmarOMC1]

Awesome! They did a good job on the macOS ports before—I'm hoping for the same. Until then, here it is running flawlessly via Proton…

[jos]

These games have been on my wishlist for a long time now. Whenever this latest game in the series is released on the Mac App Store I'll buy all three of them.

[Homy]

jos, on 27 July 2020 - 10:12 AM, said:

These games have been on my wishlist for a long time now. Whenever this latest game in the series is released on the Mac App Store I'll buy all three of them.

I bought 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux for €3.74 each on Steam summer sale 2019, so don't wait for MAS. I don't think MAS has such sales.

[Cougar]

Overall, I enjoyed Exodus. You should like it if you liked the previous games, even if it differs a bit from the classic Metro aesthetic.

There are just a few stumbles with one or two bad plot points, and a badly designed boss encounter. The new semi-open world design is fine, even if it (IMO) doesn't really enhance the gameplay. The endgame was also a bit rushed.

I look forward to diving into the DLC once nVidia's 3000 series cards come out, and experiencing the ray tracing.

[jos]

Homy, on 27 July 2020 - 10:20 AM, said:

I bought 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux for €3.74 each on Steam summer sale 2019, so don't wait for MAS. I don't think MAS has such sales.

I don't care about sales. I just refuse to use Steam, so even if all three games were completely free and they'd cost 50 Dollar/Euro/Pound each on the Mac App Store, I'd still spend a total of 150 whatever-currency-units, instead of getting them for free on Steam. Let's not get into which digital store is better and why, but everyone just has its own preference and I just like the Mac App Store and hate Steam.

[Homy]

jos, on 27 July 2020 - 11:42 AM, said:

I don't care about sales. I just refuse to use Steam, so even if all three games were completely free and they'd cost 50 Dollar/Euro/Pound each on the Mac App Store, I'd still spend a total of 150 whatever-currency-units, instead of getting them for free on Steam. Let's not get into which digital store is better and why, but everyone just has its own preference and I just like the Mac App Store and hate Steam.

Haha, that's perfectly fine with me. Just wanted to share my experience on how to save some money. I don't care which store people choose but your hate makes me very curious. Is there any special reason I'm not aware of? I mostly choose the cheapest place and Steam has always had great deals. I have also bought some games from MGS (Macgamestore) but even they gave me Steam keys except for Borderlands GOTY that was downloaded from MAS I think.

[Mr Pink]

I'd definitely buy this one too, if it ever hits the Mac App Store.

[jos]

Homy, on 27 July 2020 - 12:04 PM, said:

Haha, that's perfectly fine with me. Just wanted to share my experience on how to save some money. I don't care which store people choose but your hate makes me very curious. Is there any special reason I'm not aware of? I mostly choose the cheapest place and Steam has always had great deals. I have also bought some games from MGS (Macgamestore) but even they gave me Steam keys except for Borderlands GOTY that was downloaded from MAS I think.

Sorry for the late reply. When I start writing about this subject I can go on for several hours, but I'll try to keep it (somewhat) short this time.

First of all it's because they're the ones who introduced intrusive DRM to gaming. It all started with their release of Half Life 2 where you suddenly had to connect to the internet and activate your copy before you were allowed to play their game. When the game was finally released there were so many people who wanted to activate their game and the servers just couldn't handle it. Many people had their computer running for several days and they were still waiting in line to activate the game. The funny thing is that pirates had already broken the DRM a couple of days before the release of the game. Some pirates had already finished the game while those who bought the game were waiting for several days before the game was finally activated. This is just ridiculous and I've always said I'd never use Steam or buy a game that uses Steam or a similar kind of DRM and until today I've kept this promise. Even if games are completely free on Steam I still refuse to install it and I'd rather pay 50 Dollar/Euro/Pound for the same game on the Mac App Store or GOG.

Second, I don't want to install additional software just to play a game. Back in the Windows days games already wanted you to install all kinds of additional stuff, like GameSpy. Why do I have to install this? I'm not interested in playing games online. I only want to play the single-player campaign, so don't force me to install GameSpy. Nowadays it's complete storefronts that have to be installed. There's Steam, but then there are also other publishers that force you to install their own storefront: Epic, Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft. When I want to buy just one single game from all of these publishers I don't want to install their stores just to play this one particular game. The Mac has a built-in store, so just release your games there, so I don't have to install additional software and end up with five different storefronts installed on my Mac. If you don't want to release on the Mac App Store, then at least release your games on GOG, as they are reasonable enough to make Galaxy optional and just have you buy and install their games without the need for additional installs.

Third, it's ugly and looks completely out-of-place. In my opinion developers should try to make their apps look as if they were developed by Apple themselves and came pre-installed. If you're developing for the Mac then follow Apple's guidelines and have your app look just like the apps that were developed by Apple. Steam just looks terrible and completely out-of-place. It doesn't even come close to looking like a real Mac app. It almost looks as if you're running a Windows app in WINE.

[UmarOMC1]

Speaking of DRM, I'm wondering what title off of MAS works without being tied to your MAS account

[Homy]

jos, on 05 August 2020 - 11:13 AM, said:

Sorry for the late reply. When I start writing about this subject I can go on for several hours, but I'll try to keep it (somewhat) short this time.

First of all it's because they're the ones who introduced intrusive DRM to gaming. It all started with their release of Half Life 2 where you suddenly had to connect to the internet and activate your copy before you were allowed to play their game. When the game was finally released there were so many people who wanted to activate their game and the servers just couldn't handle it. Many people had their computer running for several days and they were still waiting in line to activate the game. The funny thing is that pirates had already broken the DRM a couple of days before the release of the game. Some pirates had already finished the game while those who bought the game were waiting for several days before the game was finally activated. This is just ridiculous and I've always said I'd never use Steam or buy a game that uses Steam or a similar kind of DRM and until today I've kept this promise. Even if games are completely free on Steam I still refuse to install it and I'd rather pay 50 Dollar/Euro/Pound for the same game on the Mac App Store or GOG.

Second, I don't want to install additional software just to play a game. Back in the Windows days games already wanted you to install all kinds of additional stuff, like GameSpy. Why do I have to install this? I'm not interested in playing games online. I only want to play the single-player campaign, so don't force me to install GameSpy. Nowadays it's complete storefronts that have to be installed. There's Steam, but then there are also other publishers that force you to install their own storefront: Epic, Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft. When I want to buy just one single game from all of these publishers I don't want to install their stores just to play this one particular game. The Mac has a built-in store, so just release your games there, so I don't have to install additional software and end up with five different storefronts installed on my Mac. If you don't want to release on the Mac App Store, then at least release your games on GOG, as they are reasonable enough to make Galaxy optional and just have you buy and install their games without the need for additional installs.

Third, it's ugly and looks completely out-of-place. In my opinion developers should try to make their apps look as if they were developed by Apple themselves and came pre-installed. If you're developing for the Mac then follow Apple's guidelines and have your app look just like the apps that were developed by Apple. Steam just looks terrible and completely out-of-place. It doesn't even come close to looking like a real Mac app. It almost looks as if you're running a Windows app in WINE.

I understand. I used to buy CD/DVD copies for $50 and sell them when I was done so the idea of not being able to sell my digital copies felt awkward in the beginning but I wanted to play Half-Life 1-2 so it started then. Even having to install and start another app felt different but then I discovered how much money I can save through Steam and digital copies. To save hundreds of dollars is a lot for a casual gamer like me. So now I don't mind a couple of extra clicks to start the games. The app is installed once and you can even play offline without internet access and authentication if you want just like MAS actually.

I don't use the app for much else. I'm not involved in the communities or have a habit of collecting items and achievements. I don't like the dark theme of the app and the site. It makes reading difficult for my eyes but I don't care when you can save big money. Nowadays when you want to use different services online you have to use electronic ID that requires starting an app and logging in so Steam is not much different from that. It has become a natural part of my everyday digital life. For me what matters most is the game experience itself and how much it costs.

[Camper-Hunter]

I won't try to convince you how great Steam is IMHO (besides sales), since you've been holding a grudge against them for 16 years (Half-Life 2 release): now that's long term resentment!   But I think that was only growing pains: I use Steam almost every day, and except from time to time (like twice a year when winter and summer sales start, and the occasional hiccup) the service runs well.

jos, on 05 August 2020 - 11:13 AM, said:

First of all it's because they're the ones who introduced intrusive DRM to gaming.

That's only an unfortunate side effect of introducing, or maybe only popularizing, digital sales, which was the real revolution. Except GOG, no distributor has no DRM, including Apple, as pointed out by UmarOMC1; and here's a 2015 example of MAS DRM going very wrong, so it's not only Valve who can make mistakes!

Quote

Second, I don't want to install additional software just to play a game. [...] There's Steam, but then there are also other publishers that force you to install their own storefront: Epic, Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft.

And Rockstar and Bethesda. Unfortunately that's the way it has become, and it would be too simplistic to say it's all because of Steam.

Quote

If you don't want to release on the Mac App Store, then at least release your games on GOG, as they are reasonable enough to make Galaxy optional and just have you buy and install their games without the need for additional installs.

But since GOG doesn't use DRM, the catalog is small compared to Steam. You can't win on both fronts.