From Dust

[Sonereal]

Thanks much for the review, Sonereal. I kind of wondered why it was so cheap if it was a good thing, but I see it needs some further development.

That's the kicker. The game and gameplay itself? Awesome. It's the infrastructure around the gameplay, such as saving and options, that are broken or just not working well.

 

[Sonereal]

Good news (sorry, double post).

There IS level select. It's oddly under "Resume Game".

 

[Maniacal]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/18/ubisoft-edits-forum-keeps-from-dust-drm/#more-70067

Apparently Ubisoft has lied about From Dust's DRM, you need an internet connection every time you start the game, not the one time authentication at installation they previously said.

Astonishing. Ubisoft have yet to respond to our questions today, when we asked why From Dust was requiring an internet connection to launch despite their making it very clear it would not. They also have yet to respond to our queries as to why it hasn’t been properly ported, despite the weeks of last-minute delay for the PC version. And now, incredibly, rather than apologising to the huge numbers of people who had been deceived by the previous untrue claims about the game’s DRM, they’ve instead just deleted the post, and put up a new one. From Dust requires an internet connection to launch, and tough if you bought it when they were saying otherwise. (Edit: They’ve now somewhat confusingly edited in the original post to the new post.)




This comes hot on the heels of Ubisoft’s previous struggle with sticking to their statements, after Driver: San Francisco was given a delay on PC last week, despite their having promised otherwise. I’d link to the tweet where this was promised, but would you believe it – it’s been deleted.

Now we’re told, without a hint of humility,

“Due to the recent confusion over the type of DRM used in From Dust, please find the following explanation of the type of DRM used.

‘From Dust’ requires an internet connection when you start the game.

Make sure you are connected to the internet when you attempt to start the game.

After you have signed in and the game is running, you no longer need the internet connection and can disconnect from it if you so wish.”

“Confusion.” What an incredible choice of word. The way this almost mockingly mimics the phrasing of the original post -

“We are aware of some confusion over the inclusion of DRM in the release of From Dust on PC.

To prevent any on-going confusion we would like to clarify From Dust PC will release with DRM requiring a one-time only online activation.

After which you will be able to play the game offline. We hope this clears any outstanding confusion on the matter”

- just seems doubly insulting to anyone who wasted their money on a product with such a built in redundancy.

There’s no apology for misleading customers, no explanation as to why the DRM was changed – hell, there’s not even an acknowledgement that they ever told a different story.

The game was delayed without explanation on PC, and has been given a pathetically shoddy port (no GFX options, barely sound options, awful mouse controls, 30fps artificial limit), and a working crack for the idiotic DRM was released just before the game came out.

It is such a horrendous shame that a game from such a legendary creator has been treated this way. We are so deeply disappointed that such a game, in a genre we adore, has been allowed to become tangled in such a nasty mess. Again, we strongly suggest that until these many issues are resolved, you do not spend your money on From Dust.

 

[Sonereal]

Oh boy, I JUST found that out. *mad*

That's what's really sad. I will defend the game itself (as in the gameplay) to I'm blue in the face. It's the OTHER problems that drag it down.

 

[salty mud]

I suppose, and I'm not taking sides here, that "one time authentication" could just be a bad way of wording "everytime you start game you need to be online"... You know, one time each time, or is a connection constantly required?

 

[Sonereal]

I suppose, and I'm not taking sides here, that "one time authentication" could just be a bad way of wording "everytime you start game you need to be online"... You know, one time each time, or is a connection constantly required?

It's constant. I tested this by alt-tabbing out of From Dust. There's a Ubisoft thing that says "do not click this off" or something like that. When you turn the game off, it's still running for a little bit.

 

[GoodGame]

Kind of dumb that it has excessive DRM when they're already selling it through Steam.

 

[Maniacal]

Its dumb they have stupid DRM at all.

 

[Sonereal]

Kind of dumb that it has excessive DRM when they're already selling it through Steam.

Even more dumb given that because of how Uplay works, Steam only thinks I've played FD for twenty-seven minutes.

 

[Maniacal]

tl;dr, Ubisoft is allowing Valve to give refunds for From Dust although they are working on patching the DRM and the game.

 

[salty mud]

Cool. How can I go about getting that screen on steam?

 

[Maniacal]

You can't. Its on the Steam support website.

 

[salty mud]

-.-

How can I go about refunding then?

 

[SuperJay]

I don't get why companies keep doing this - issue a game, lie about the draconian DRM, get burned by the backlash, issue panicked and horribly bad PR damage-control, and then resign yourself to patching the DRM that caused this whole mess out of the game. WTH? How do they think this is going to go differently this time? Not only do you burn your customers and generate terrible press for your products and resentment among your customers, you look even more foolish for turning right around and removing the thing that led to all the problems in the first place. Durrrrrr, oops some DRM got in our game somehow!!1!

 

[Arakhor]

It's Ubifail all over. They've become insanely paranoid and frankly can't be trusted at all.

 

[Adam7Eight]

I don't get why companies keep doing this - issue a game, lie about the draconian DRM, get burned by the backlash, issue panicked and horribly bad PR damage-control, and then resign yourself to patching the DRM that caused this whole mess out of the game. WTH? How do they think this is going to go differently this time? Not only do you burn your customers and generate terrible press for your products and resentment among your customers, you look even more foolish for turning right around and removing the thing that led to all the problems in the first place. Durrrrrr, oops some DRM got in our game somehow!!1!

I'm always thinking the same thing.