That would be a good alternative, with some of the same spin but at least more honest marketing. :)

so, let's get a couple of things straight: i've liked your replies in this thread, because you've been a voice of reason. i don't necessarily agree with /all/ of your reason, of course, but i appreciate it. [for what it's worth, i've almost always upvoted you and almost always wholeheartedly agreed with you.]

my problem - and it was why i addressed my one post like that - is that [and i truly do understand your point] - we, as a user base, /do/ actually need to stand together on issues like this, because we are the ones spending our money on the products that end up here. result: it's important to know what state the products are in and it's /very/ important to know what kind of long term support they're going to get.

log did an incredibly shady thing: [though, to be fair, as i've said before, log were doing "shady things" very nearly from the get-go. their initial [now-removed] marketing said "every territory and platform at the same time!" but then they revoked that down the line when it stopped being "feasible" instead of being reasonable, because they're a "small indie team."] they set up shop here and more-or-less suggested that they would keep armello "on par" with the steam version. sure, we're second class citizens, so we get patches late, but we /did/ get [some] of the patches [again, log falling down.]

now, it's true: we don't necessarily stand together on every game that comes down the pike and does this sort of thing and yes, we should be more vigilant, but i feel like this is a watershed moment here, because of the way it ended up being spun by log/gog.

we've been talking about the problematic reasoning since the thread started, so i'm not going to drag this out more, but i /do/ feel that - as a community - it is important for us to band together.

we have that right.

there are, really, logistical problems with any way this is dealt with that isn't "you need to supply the whole game and nothing but the whole game, so help you, god."

remove the game? that sends a terrible signal to other people wanting to put their games on gog. but at least it sends the signal that we DO NOT want and WILL FIGHT AGAINST crippleware.

leave the game as is? this sends a terrible signal that it is ABUNDANTLY OK for you to negotiate weird, alternate agreements with gog to put your game in the store in a wonky, not-quite-feature-complete manner. a glorified demo, if you will. it also sends another signal: gog customers are OK with being treated like second class citizens.

do i think all parties wimped out here? kind of. gog did the reasonable thing and gave you your money back and, realistically, that's probably as much as gog can do, but it's not really far enough for my tastes. log has fundamentally broken trust with gog. gog should have reacted more sharply. i am almost willing to bet [though log - i'm sure - don't care either way, at this point] that gog are going to be SUPER vigilant about anything else log try to get onto the store. [of course, reacting more sharply would have other consequences.]

log, of course, just fell right down.

as for us? while i'm in the same boat as you: i'm not sure making the wishlist item is the best idea, i do think - personally - that given log's clearly dismissive stance, it makes the most sense for the user base.

i certainly don't want to be treated as a second class citizen.

I feel it's important to stand together FOR something, not AGAINST. To build bridges instead of burning them. I think it's quite evident where GOG ends up when the DRM free community comes across as this kind of hostile. That's just not getting my voice.

Voting Armello off GOG comes across as ostracism and as elitist. "We" can afford neither. There are many ways to make clear to the developer in no uncertain terms that what they intend to deliver to DRM free customers is insufficient, and all in a civil tone without all the hyperbole.

The game has been complete on release. That was an entire year ago. Loads of people have played the game, enjoyed it, then moved on. Suddenly there's DLC coming out and wam-bam, it turns into a "glorified demo" in retrospect. That's really not fair, is it?

The problem – and what may even be more important: the actual extent of the problem, which just doesn't justify all that exaggeration and outrage – has been pretty well covered in this thread. We can say with some certainty that no satisfactory solution will come forth. :( :(

In my opinion, gate keeping and bridge burning will yield the worst of the possible results, as it reflects badly on all of the involved parties. On LoG, on GOG and especially their community.

It is sad that there is no communication on this further , i would love to hear how gog decided this way of doing things was best for the community , at least they could have asked if people would be ok with getting this neutered version of the game , rather than jumping in the for the money grabbing spree of drm free releases without thinking.


We should draw a clear line on what kind of stuff is allowed in here before things turn to what happened with digital homicide.We certainly dont need devs that dont care about the gog community.

Dumb question probably answered in one of the other posts, but here goes: if it has features "that best suit a DRM Free experience", does this mean the "DRM-Free Edition" sports features not found on the Steam version?

If not, and if the Steam version has features not available on the DRM-Free Edition, then why are they priced the same?

Wonderful the game has already has got two dlcs and they are priced half the game price , i am sure the epic awesome tailored drm free version for gog gamers will skip these two dlcs out, there is even a item store now.

But expected, not?

Hopefully it's just decorative crap. If it's game winning stuff then just remove Armello from GoG right now. Pay to win shouldn't come anywhere near this place.

They seem to be quick unlocks not sure about their true value but the prices are insane,
http://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/290340/browse/?filter=All

It seems as if users' opinions, even when loud enough, it no longer affects GOG's decisions. Not saying the customers should run GOG but their should be a little more curation.

I learned my lesson from this (despite not having bought the game) - Wait a few months before buying a game, this gives me time enough to see how far the devs support their GOG releases.

That game has been on GOG for a year, with a working build, decent support, the works. I didn't even know there was a DLC planned (it's unusual for this kind of game) until the whole shenigan blew over.

The game on GOG is pretty good, and it works. Feels complet, too (as I said, I didn't know there was a DLC coming, and I didn't feel anything was lacking.
It's just a shame I won't have more of it, to renew the interest in it and motivate a few more runs (i.e. the character DLC)

sadly, with the road they were walking down, it was pretty much something i expected to see.

I've looked up the non-refundable ingame items and I see how GOG would never support that on their platform. Particularly with the advent of gambling sites and the CSGO Trevor Martin/Tom Cassell scandal, I don't see how this kind of eventually not so micro transaction can still be seen as a legit way to keep a one year old game making money. Granted, LoG is doing that on a very small scale, and it might be a bit of an exaggeration to now roll our eyes and say "what a surprise", but I still hate to see it.

DLC, actual additional content, in measure and reasonably priced, that is the way to go.

Backers were promised those additional characters and backers were promised a DRM free version. But, as it turns out, not both at the same time. Which is bullshit, and that should rather remain the focus of attention.

Perhaps I was just reading between the lines too much, but wasn't there also the indication that support would be slowly tapered off here as well, with fewer patches on GOG since this is no longer the "real" (i.e., money-making) version? Not that this would be the first game on GOG to suffer from second-rate patch attention, but still another strike if so.