We'll just agree to disagree on this one. Judging by the number of people who agree with the reviewer who complained about it, I'd say I'm not alone.

I'm on the fence about asking for a refund honestly. I'd be playing what is essentially a space opera with a deep story and I'd be constantly reminded throughout the dialog that my character has this silly name that I can't change... it takes away from the immersion.

Personally, I find this thread quite useful. Some things, I mind, others, not as much, but I'm grateful that the list is there for me to peruse and decide if particular drm-related issues for games that have them are important for me or not.

Maybe if you mostly play Galaxy, you don't mind as much, because for you, the "backup installer" is really that (a backup experience if GOG goes down in flames), but for me, this is the game as I will experience it (I bought the game here after all and not on Steam for a reason) and it matters a great deal to me.

I should wait longer after new releases before buying to see what pops up here.

The review was also about the telemetry spyware in the game unless you were talking about a different review. It gave instructions on how to block the spyware, which I'm sure most people were thumbing up.

I swear all new games have spyware in them.

Hear, hear. If there's anything whatsoever missing or worse in the singleplayer experience (so not including public/competitive stuff like leaderboards, challenges with public results, public achievements...) for those who just use the offline installer, offline, without Galaxy installed, without connecting or letting the game connect or logging on anywhere, it belongs on that list. And I'd say on this list, because it's literally the developer managing and limiting what you have the right to do in the game, in some way or another, if you use it entirely locally, offline and client-free.

That as well. It's one thing when they spy on you for free software (still not cool, but I get it), but when they spy on you after you paid, that's just greed.

That's a reason to not purchase the game because I'm not playing a game where the default name really is DefaultPlayerName, which is too bad for Endless Space 2 devs because I otherwise might have bought it. Oh, and not buying Endless Space 1 either.

My backlog is too big for me to notice their absence or feel like I'm missing out.

Thank you for reporting this.

@all: can someone confirm?

Yes, MP is grey out unless you are playing it with Galaxy.

This mess is exactly why ALL games should have:

All games and ALL of their content - yes, even expansions and DLC's - should be able to work without game-clients running in the background, Internet, etc - especially Single Player Campaigns and Single Player Skirmish modes.

Skirmish modes to play against AI, whether it's online or offline - think Battlefield 1942, Quake 3 Arena and UT - should also work BOTH offline or online. PERIOD.

It's a shame to see old-school Call of Duty games & their Multiplayer modes - which are basically competitive Skirmish modes - cannot be played offline against AI. Dev's should re-work this. Dev's work hard on these maps and this kind of stuff - and it stinks to see their lifespan die fast b/c new COD is out....and this can be true of other multiplayer FPS skirmish modes w/ other players that don't include offline with bots.

"Multiplayer" type of modes - which are often skirmish modes against AI or other players - should always support LAN and TCP/IP, so you don't need Galaxy, Steamworks, or stuff of that sort. And if you can do this stuff solo against AI - this stuff should ALSO work offline too.

I'll go as far to say even MMO games like The Secret World/Secret World Legends and Tabula Rasa should be re-worked at some point to work offline also.

Haven't games learned from something like Diablo 2? All content should work offline AND online LAN and TCP/IP - the end. Even Hellgate London was smart enough to go so, even if its online's now dead - thank God the SP Campaign still is there and was there in the 1st place; just in case.

fyi, for Endless Space 2: https://www.gog.com/forum/endless_space_2/how_to_change_username_for_the_offlinbe_installer

Not a fix coming from the devs, but a workaround users can do to change their player name offline.

Will still rate the game 1-2 stars once I get around to playing it if the devs don't fix it though, but at least now I consider it fully playable. Will also have to firewall the spyware (aka telemetry).

I would personally consider that sufficient fix. This moves it to "2nd class" more than this thread to me. But it leaves other things in mind, like what if you play offline most of the time, then with Galaxy around, then not around? Sounds like it might tightly couple that and cause profile issues. Bad design. Why can't anyone make games properly anymore?

Very true. Rule #1 of any game in existence - multiplayer WILL eventually die. Sooner or later, it's inevitable. Same with always online games. The moment the company decides to pull the plug, it will cease to exist. Single player is forever.

That is why putting at least some effort in either the single player portion or competent AI is always a good thing. Unreal Tournament games are a prime example. Those games still have some of the best FPS bot AI to date, with vast customization options and pretty believable, non-cheaty behavior. Which means basically infinite replay value. If they had skimped on the single player AI those 20 years ago, UT would now be a completely forgotten franchise. I mean, the multiplayer exists, but it's mostly just a couple servers for like 3 game modes. But the bots will always be there even during off-hours. The vast majority of people know of it thanks to the single player, even if the game was originally intended to be more multiplayer than SP.

Heartily agree with you both. The "defaultplayername" issue I read about with Endless Space 2 is one (granted, annoying) thing but apparently can be fixed, but locking content like playing against bots like I read about with Dawn of War II is just absurd at this point. It makes me lose confidence in GOG as a store because releases with these type of issues are, frankly, just sloppy and embarassing. What concerns me more is that users tend to be the ones finding these issues, not GOG testers (or if they do, users don't seem to be made sufficiently aware of the issues). It is why for years I have said GOG should test all games OFFLINE, not the Galaxy versions.



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@Lifthrasil
Please add Tempest to the list as of the 1.74 installers. The game doesn't play; it was discovered this is because of an error where the game "wants" (my term) Galaxy to be running. Effectively, a classic example of DRM for all practical purposes, whether it was intentional on anyone's part or not. I submitted a ticket, we'll see what happens. Another user tried contacting the devs previously, but it sounds like that was fruitless so far.

https://www.gog.com/forum/tempest/174_game_crashes_at_launch

@mqstout

I think your last comment was a rhetorical question, but my 2 cents anyway to answer it= Greed.

There is no positive motivation to create a product for pleasure, only to spike it for no reason. That would harm sales. But doing something that nets more money than the bad behavior ellicits? Money.

Otherwise its sheer stupidity. But seriously...after all the work that goes into a game, I doubt so many "smart" people could be so stupid. So that still implies intent towards a motivator, which would be money. I just do not see the majority being dumb.

Could also be poor management in the sales crew, not explictly the dev team. Each game team is diffent though.

Looks like one the blues read the comments about Ai with DOW 2. They will look into issue Monday.