While needing a registration key/account for online multiplayer is a bridge that was crossed quite a while ago (although it's disappointing other multiplayer options weren't offered), having it throw up a screen asking the player to log in every time the game is started seems a bit on the nose. The reports that aspects relevant to the single-player game behave differently depending on whether or not the player logs in with an account is particularly troubling. Some people in the other thread have posited that this is just a bug, but if so 1) it's a really, really crappy bug to have in a game version billed as "DRM-free" and 2) it needed to be fixed days ago.

I had already decided to pass on this game until at least a 50% price drop, but with this it seems I'm going to have to be much more careful about buying newer games from GOG. They were already at a bit of a disadvantage with the speed of support/patches offered for newer games, along with a price disadvantage once the game starts to show up in Steam sales, so if now there's the possibility that we're also going to be dicked around even when buying from GOG there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to buy newer games from GOG. Rather ironic that with their efforts to bring more new games here they seem to be eliminating many of the reasons to actually buy new games from here.

And what other settings?

Here's some good info:
http://www.gog.com/forum/age_of_wonders_series/information_about_the_coming_patch/page1

It seems the settings will be allowed for guest account, "e.g. graphics settings", implying that all settings are included.

*phew* That is a bit of relief, let's see if they pull through.

Honestly, I am okay with MP requiring account access, but I don't have much stake in that.

YES, folks, this is correct now. The patch seems to have fixed it. ALL SETTINGS, can now be saved, audio, video, miscellaneous, in game controls, and save games, can ALL BE SAVED OFFLINE.

This game is DRM Free as far as single player is concerned.

Methodology: Downloaded the game file and patch file, before doing anything else, disconnected my wireless adapter. This is what I am able to do with any other gog game, so I wanted to test it in this manner tonight. I installed the game, the game patched, and I played the game several turns. I made changes to graphics, audio, and control settings. And I saved them, and they were ALL as I had saved them when quitting the game and then restarting the game.

Also, at no point did the game seem to look for an internet connection, nor care that I didn't have one. I started and saved and stopped three different times, and all of the games single player options worked (as far as I got), all of my adjustments from a previous setting were saved, and all of my saved games were saved correctly.

The only problem I had was one crash upon startup, something that is not all that uncommon among new releases.

FWIW, the game LOOKS simply amazing. I can't comment on the gameplay as I basically just clicked on stuff, did stuff, and ended turns just to test everything out and not paying any attention to what I was doing, but my GOD, does that game look amazing.

Sorry gog, I shouldn't have doubted you, although to be fair, you were selling a non-drm free game for a couple of weeks or so. But the patch did in fact fix things that EVERYTHING single player wise can be done offline with no checks, including playing the game, saving the game, and saving any and all adjustments.

Yeah, I'm the same with MP because I never play multiplayer. I don't really like it that some parts of that aren't drm free, but I do understand that's another horse that left the barn some time ago.

Glad its been sorted out and yeah I'm the same never cared for MP.

I'm glad too, because it was really heartbreaking to think gog had disappointed in a big way again.

BTW, I mentioned the game LOOKS AMAZING. LOL, it also had my fans going like they've never gone in this gaming laptop before. LOL. I had everything up to the max, and it looked amazing, but my poor single 570GTX must've been sweating bullets because I've never heard my fans speed up on this laptop like that before, and I've played some pretty intense games maxed out on here. (Skyrim, Fallout 3)

It sounds like the issue has been corrected then. Hopefully that was just a lack of polish. Odd that this would even need to be patched to begin with, but if anything will teach you in the gaming industry, is that dev studios don't seem to be terribly thorough, and what seems to be a glaring problem is often overlooked. To be fair about it, time is money.

What's all this business about the single-player? Is it excessively short or something?

It's an inconvenience that shouldn't have been allowed on GOG though.

There is a difference between serials for multiplayer (which are a hassle for you to store and keep track of but can otherwise exist forever) and third-party accounts for multiplayer (which is entirely dependent on a specific third-party keeping up a server running software you aren't getting with your purchase).

It was a bug, that got fixed yesterday.

So far when starting, I have to tick a box (see screenshot) to play as guest, and had to do this every time I've started the game. I think I've read somewhere that if you attempt to play with your account, and you are not connected, the game will ask if you want to play offline. I have not verified this personally, and I've only started the game but have not actually played any portion of it yet, so I don't know if these settings save during playing (saved settings linked to saved games).

If you start the game via the launcher, you'll have to login either via a Triumph account or the guest account. If you use the AOW3.exe directly, then the game will start automatically using the guest account.

However, I don't have a Triumph account, so I don't know, if it works differently, if you have one.

Edit: ...and ninja'd

Yeah, but it makes you wonder how it made it through GOG's QC.

Glad the login issue is being dealt with. It was what was holding me back from purchasing. Will probably pick this one up now.