Wait wasn't another thing that in that Galaxy presentation that you can patch through Galaxy but it isn't forced on you ?

OMG, you're right, I LOL'ed hard.

Going to post the whole lot of stuff Larian posted in that Kickstarter commentary - because I think it seems to gel and answer most of the questions we have.

Wall of text incoming;

Larian Studios LLC on June 9
I'm going to post this here in the hope that some of the mist around this clears up. We're busy with the game so we're not communicating as clearly and as much as we'd like to.
As a Kickstarter backer, on release, you will have the option to download the game via Steam or GOG, just like we promised. Even if you have the Collector's Edition which indeed contains Steam keys, you still have access to the GOG version. It's part of your tier description that you get a digital download and you can select the platform. The Steam version btw does not have copy protection active so I don't understand the fuzz about it.
D:OS will be a live product meaning that we're intending to give it a lot of support and lots of improvements post-release (at least if the sales allow us to do so) and a good patching system is mandatory for that to work well. Otherwise support becomes impossible. Once you've downloaded patch 1 however, you don't ever need to patch again, though I think you'll want to.
As to why we're using Steam, it just so happens to have a good build distribution system, far better than the one we have and the one currently available on GOG. It makes our lives a lot easier and ensures that we can rapidly update versions in different languages without making mistakes.
I think a lot of people underestimate that dealing with all the digital distribution platforms these days is big nightmare, especially when you patch often & are a small team, which is why we're limiting it to GOG & Steam on day 1 and are even excluding our own Larian Vault digital distribution. And GOG we are doing precisely so that the DRM free promise is maintained though as I said already, I actually consider the Steam version to be DRM free too.
I don't think we're doing something "dishonest" here and that all of this matches what we promised backers. This is what it says on our KS page:
"DIVINITY ORIGINAL SIN will be DRM-free, and will be localized in English, French, German, Polish and Russian. Additional languages may be added. The game will initially be available for PC. If Mac and Linux versions -and other languages- become available they will be free to owners of PC copies (digitally). Digital copies will have to be downloaded via your preferred digital retailer such as Steam or GOG.com if available. "
All of what I wrote matches with this.

Larian Studios LLC on June 9
@ChrisBee: First of all, yes, we managed to change the cover of the KS Collector's edition and wanted to keep it as a surprise until the day we actually received the boxes. Second, to answer your question of where the game is - I believe it is currently in Germany at the printer.
@Gonchi: Fair enough. We will make a point of advertising loud enough that in the future (if we still make a retail release because tbh it's more of a headache than anything else), it will feature Steam patching (or whatever happens to be the better system at the time). We're more interested in the game experience than in the platform on which it's delivered.

Larian Studios LLC on June 9
I'm sorry to hear that.
It seems that DRM-free means a lot of different things to different people. For us it's definitely the definition that refers to copy protection, copy prevention, and copy control, such that you can make backups and play offline. It's why we include direct IP and LAN play in addition to online play for multiplayer. It's why there's no copy protection on the game. It's also why we put it on GOG.
The link between that and not putting an auto-patch or mandatory day 1 patch system in place on the physical DVD is not at all obvious for us.I also honestly cannot recall us saying that there would not be a patch day 1. If I or anybody @Larian did that, that was in any case a very unfortunate mistake.
We always intended this game to be "live" as we'd be updating it continuously, given that the engine is core to our future strategy. In that vision, it's a normal thing to have a patch system in place and it's not abnormal to work with a mandatory day 1 patch.
The DVD is not a "coaster" either. It contains the majority of game data and will make the download significantly smaller.
We realise some people may not agree with that, but we have to make choices. We prefer to work on the game until the last minute and that means we need to use mandatory patching. We do this because it results in a higher quality game experience - and we think that in the long run this will be more beneficial for the large majority of players.

Larian Studios LLC on June 9
@Helena:
We had lots of problems with updating the GOG versions when Dragon Commander released which is why we didn't go for it this time on the retail discs. In the run up to release every minute counts for us (literally) and we want to avoid digital distribution logistics misery as much as possible. We really don't have any other interest in Steam activation. If we had hidden motives (whatever they might be), then we wouldn't be putting DRM free versions on GOG & not deactivate copy protection on Steam.
We're not looking for a war with our backers & understand that for some of you DRM free means never having to go online. For those that absolutely want it (and who backed us on Kickstarter) - we're thinking of doing a second print run which will contain the game + the last updates available at the time of the print-run. It's but a thought at this point because we're unsure if that's what you really want, but if indeed that's what you & others are looking for, then we'll organise it. We'd of course still send out the Regular and Collector's Editions once they arrive in our office.

Larian Studios LLC on June 10
@JM: The game *is* DRM-free. We are talking about a day 1 patch here. Our aim was to avoid shipping the Kickstarter versions after everybody else had the game. Some of you now made clear that's not what you want so we proposed an alternative solution which is printing a DVD which contains the patch so that you never have to go online again. We will leave the choice up to you which version you want.

This reads like " We are only a business", not like "We love games".

reply to Reaper9988:

Not optional for this game it seems. The presentation did say that the client might be needed for multiplayer games.
But now because of the autopatching demands from Larian it seems its going to be needed for any version of the game.

At the end it always comes down to what the developer want's and not the digital games platform like gog :)

The supreme irony of this is Galaxy, even before launch, is apparently fucking things up.

Again i wouldn't blame it on Galaxy this is clearly on Larian not wanting to deal with GoGs patching System(which might be aweful for devs i dunno).

It would be interesting to see what Larian would have done if GOG didn't have plans for Galaxy, or if you want to spin a conspiracy theory, maybe Galaxy only comes around because devs like Larian :P.

It does seem to bring rise to the question;

"What is DRM?"

Can GOG be called truly DRM free if a game requires a day 1 patch through Galaxy before it can be played?

Does it make a difference if GOG holds off until their copy is launched with the Day 1 patch already in place? Thus giving Steam a day or two head start?

....I think Galaxy is going to have an interesting time ahead of it.

At this point I think Galaxy is being made for those games that must have (from developers side) a mandatory client and its going to include multiplayer games that will be only playable over it. Other games will also be downloadable by it but you won't need the client for playing. This is really a thin line to drm.

The client lovers should be happy now they just brought steam here. Unless the game is going to be installable and patchable manually but that remains to be seen.

If the mandatory status of Galaxy of MP and autopatcher is decided by the editor and not GOG, well there'll be less and less purchase. If GOG is going to be Steam 2, it's a no thanks.

Meh i think i just lost all interest in playing D:OS for the time being.

Good thing i have about a million summer sale games to chose from.

Sweet, thanks Doc! Really looking forward to Galaxy, and glad to see you are getting support from devs already.

As long as Larian continues to provide manual installers and patching I can backup as well as the auto-patching, i'm good.

I believe that is exactly what they don't want to do and in that view the wait for galaxy makes sense.