Skyrim - buy on Steam or a disk?

[Morist]

Irrelevant. Regardless of how you purchase it, the correct choice is to find a cracked copy online a few days later so you dont have to deal with the horrors of DRM disrupting your playing experience. Bit surprised Bethesda thought using Steam was a good idea, considering all of their past games have had heavily modded .exes created by users to fix the shit Bethesda didnt feel was worth their time. Sort of the attraction of their series.

< piracy is bad... >

[Blackspur]

Irrelevant. Regardless of how you purchase it, the correct choice is to find a cracked copy online a few days later so you dont have to deal with the horrors of DRM disrupting your playing experience. Bit surprised Bethesda thought using Steam was a good idea, considering all of their past games have had heavily modded .exes created by users to fix the shit Bethesda didnt feel was worth their time. Sort of the attraction of their series.

Does this mean that there simply won't be mods, or that it will be significantly harder to mod?

[conscript]

I'm going retailer simply because I am not sure if I trust Steam with this game. I am fine with buying older games from them or games on sale because if it ends up not working, fine its a couple bucks. I have had too many games simply not work from Steam lately including Borderlands (broke after patch), Fallout 3 that I can never get to even launch regardless of fixes tried, and Oblivion. Just not worth the potential headache at this point. I'd rather get a boxed game and then deal with any future support issues than have it be broken from day one.

[Blackspur]

I'm going retailer simply because I am not sure if I trust Steam with this game. I am fine with buying older games from them or games on sale because if it ends up not working, fine its a couple bucks. I have had too many games simply not work from Steam lately including Borderlands (broke after patch), Fallout 3 that I can never get to even launch regardless of fixes tried, and Oblivion. Just not worth the potential headache at this point. I'd rather get a boxed game and then deal with any future support issues than have it be broken from day one.

I am pretty sure this game is running through steam regardless of the purchase.

[conscript]

I am pretty sure this game is running through steam regardless of the purchase.

Ya that isn't an issue, it mostly seems like the actual product is flawed in a couple of my games, rather than their service which (outside of the overlay) is great. Plus, my plan is to go to work Friday from 8-2, drive to a city with Best Buy about 30 minutes away to get the game and hopefully the cloth map if they are giving them away (which they usually do with the pre-order swag), then drive another 30 minutes to buy a crave case of hamburgers from White Castle, and then drive home. Without that going to retailer step I'm not sure I could convince myself to make an hour drive for hamburgers lol.

[Blackspur]

Ya that isn't an issue, it mostly seems like the actual product is flawed in a couple of my games, rather than their service which (outside of the overlay) is great.

Ah, I get ya. I also opted for the retail purchase, the only 'advantage' would be playing at midnight, even though that doesn't appeal to me as I want to enjoy it all day Friday and not feel like shit for staying up all night :P

[LegendaryDude]

The solution to all your problems with steam?

Do not buy the pc version. Buy the console version
???
profit

[davep]

It depends if you want to save money or if you want to play it as fast as possible.

Want to save money? Buy the cheapest one.
Want to play as fast as possible? Buy it off Steam.

Since it's a Steamworks game regardless of where you buy it you still have to download the game through Steam. If you get a physical copy you will just be prompted through Steam to put in your CD Key and then you will have to download all the files, now if you buy it through Steam you can pre-load everything now and once it releases you will be able to play right away.

---------- Post added 2011-11-07 at 11:43 AM ----------

Irrelevant. Regardless of how you purchase it, the correct choice is to find a cracked copy online a few days later so you dont have to deal with the horrors of DRM disrupting your playing experience. Bit surprised Bethesda thought using Steam was a good idea, considering all of their past games have had heavily modded .exes created by users to fix the shit Bethesda didnt feel was worth their time. Sort of the attraction of their series.

Steam is the best DRM out there because it doesn't disrupt your playing at all. You don't need to have an internet connection to play games that are single player, you start in offline mode and go straight ahead and play.

[nbm02ss]

Disc. I don't have much of a choice because somehow, someway, my debit card got compromised and someone tried using it at a Home Depot in New York (I live in Florida) so yeah...7-10 business days until I get a new one.

[niculbolas]

Skyrim is actually going to unlock for the entire US at 12:00 AM Eastern time... So you West Coast guys will get to unlock your steam copy on the 10th... lucky guys! However, if you get a retail copy I'm fairly certain most retailers will make you wait until midnight in your time zone.

And for people that say they don't trust steam, even if you get a physical copy, it will still use steam.

[davep]

Skyrim is actually going to unlock for the entire US at 12:00 AM Eastern time... So you West Coast guys will get to unlock your steam copy on the 10th... lucky guys! However, if you get a retail copy I'm fairly certain most retailers will make you wait until midnight in your time zone.

And for people that say they don't trust steam, even if you get a physical copy, it will still use steam.

They have to wait till midnight to purchase it and then when they pop the disk in they have to wait till it downloads through Steam.

[Yoggtimus Prime]

The solution to all your problems with steam?

Do not buy the pc version. Buy the console version
???
profit

you seem to forget you can purchase a hard copy of the pc version without it going through steam.

[Deleted]

Cheaper on disk most likely, ironically.

[Suikoden]

you seem to forget you can purchase a hard copy of the pc version without it going through steam.

Wait games exist outside of steam!?

WHAT.

[Hiphophippo]

Got it on steam myself. Can't pay for the retail copy with TF2 hats.

[niculbolas]

you seem to forget you can purchase a hard copy of the pc version without it going through steam.

The PC version of the game will require steam to unlock, regardless of where you buy it. It will be just like Fallout New Vegas was.

[Blackspur]

you seem to forget you can purchase a hard copy of the pc version without it going through steam.

You seem to forget that Skyrim is a Steamworks game, which means, even if you buy a hard copy you download an play it through steam.

---------- Post added 2011-11-07 at 06:14 PM ----------

Cheaper on disk most likely, ironically.

I know right. Its £15 cheaper for me to go to my local GAME and buy it than get it off steam. Those few extra hours of play are not worth my £15.

[Sunseeker]

You seem to forget that Skyrim is a Steamworks game, which means, even if you buy a hard copy you download an play it through steam.

No, if you purchase it on a disc, you install it with the disc and use Steam to validate the game, you can then switch Steam into offline mode and continue playing. You do not have to download the game through Steam even if you buy it on a disc. If that were the case, why even sell a disc? Why not just include an activation code?

[Deleted]

I already pre-ordered it a couple of weeks ago at Game. I prefer having a physical copy - I won't be getting the collector's edition, though. It's too expensive.

[Blackspur]

No, if you purchase it on a disc, you install it with the disc and use Steam to validate the game, you can then switch Steam into offline mode and continue playing. You do not have to download the game through Steam even if you buy it on a disc. If that were the case, why even sell a disc? Why not just include an activation code?

But the post you were replying to was in relation to the 'problems' with steam. And buying a Hard copy over a digital makes no difference as you can download the game then turn it to offline aswell, that's what I was kinda getting at, anyways I am buying the physical disc :P

I don't really see the issue with steam DRM even if you had to be connected to the internet to play, it;s not like I will be playing whilst travelling.

---------- Post added 2011-11-07 at 06:26 PM ----------

I already pre-ordered it a couple of weeks ago at Game. I prefer having a physical copy - I won't be getting the collector's edition, though. It's too expensive.

Yep, £130 ($208 if you were to do a direct conversion) for a plastic Dragon? No thanks.