Mass Effect 3

[Galkaeater]

whats so bad with origin?

[Cichy]

whats so bad with origin?

it's not steam

[kuronosan]

whats so bad with origin?

If you get banned from origin for any reason you are locked out of all of your games, even if they are SP, and there is no appeals process.

[Crab_Cake]

Agreed that Origin is painful, but apparently my password for Steam was erased and I don't remember my "pin" to send a lost password to my e-mail.

What the fuck? Can't even play my Steam games anymore because of a secret answer to a question that is case-sensitive... and I went through all of the possible answers I would have provided.

Have you tried contacting Steam support? Might be able to get your account back if you have game CD case with CD key and/or credit card info (if you bought digitally).

[Rulke]

Origin FAQ from bsn:

Below are answers to the most commonly asked questions about Origin and Mass Effect 3. Thank you for your patience as we have worked to answer them.

1) Will Origin be a requirement to play all versions of Mass Effect 3? (Digital and/or from a retail brick and mortar store)
Yes, Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital.

2) Is constant Origin connection required or is it a single one off authentication when the game is first installed. Is there also a limit to the number of installations available?
Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs. Playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer will require a constant connection.

3) Is Origin required for the retail versions of the game?
Origin is required for the PC versions of Mass Effect 3, both physical and digital.

4) Will ME3 be available on Steam?
During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.

5) Is there an opt in or opt out clause for data collection?
Users will be allowed to opt-out of Mass Effect 3 data collection from inside the game.

6) I’ve seen reports that Origin is spyware. Is this true?
Origin is not spyware, and does not use or install spyware on user’s machines. In order to allow Origin to install games and their patches for everyone to use, Origin implements a permission change that results in Windows, not Origin, reviewing the filenames in the ProgramData/Origin folder. This is an ordinary Windows function, not an information-gathering process.

7) Has the Origin EULA been updated following recent questions in Germany?
The German Origin EULA has been updated. For more information, please review the Origin EULA here: http://www.ea.com/1/product-eulas.

8) Is there a double-opt in for Mass Effect 3 marketing emails for German residents?
Yes, we always adhere to the German requirement of a double opt-in standard for marketing emails. Mass Effect 3 users must opt-in twice to receive these emails.


I appreciate everyone's patience on this topic. Please continue to ask questions about Mass Effect 3 and Origin and I will continue to try to get the answers for you.

edit: here is the actual thread link. went over 100 pages in 1 day. You can see concerns, dismissals etc if you feel like skimming it.
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass...8975536-1.html

[Kuya]

Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.

What does this mean?

[Isiolia]

What does this mean?

Steam requires that apps available through it are/can be patched through Steam for official patches. Valve has an approval process for that, AFAIK, which does make sense since their service is them pushing out the update to people.

The part that EA probably disagrees with more is that Valve requires that games on Steam that have DLC also sell that DLC through Steam, and not in some way that bypasses Valve getting a cut (directly in-app, from an external site, etc).


Frankly this is an annoying move on EA's part. Half-tempted to cancel my preorder, but I doubt they'd realize the reason or care. They're sure doing their best to turn people against Bioware, that's for sure.

[vrumpt]

Disappointed in this but I kinda saw it coming. I'm not nearly butthurt enough to say i won't get it on origin, but doing so would also say I approve of it not being on steam. And I wish it were on steam.

I'd pirate it if there was some kind of mass movement from the PC gaming world that said "We're pirating ME3 because its not on steam", otherwise we'd just look like normal boring pirates and thats no fun.

[Pikarya]

I'd pirate it if there was some kind of mass movement from the PC gaming world that said "We're pirating ME3 because its not on steam", otherwise we'd just look like normal boring pirates and thats no fun.

There are already thousands I'm sure which will, they're just not going to admit it to prevent any possibility of a legal matter popping up.

[kuronosan]

I'm still of the belief that if you don't want to pay for a game because it isn't worth it, just don't buy it. I'm even more at a loss on people who pay for a game, or pirate a game, play it, hate it, but then continue to play and on every server they join for online matches they bitch about how much they hate the game.

Just stop. Fucking. Playing.

[Galkaeater]

bout a 1000 years into skyrim
is so boring now
so glad I pirated it!

[Boyiee]

Fuck I didn't even think of pirating skyrim (have never pirated anything more than a Nintendo DS game).

Now I have a goal for today.

[Shojin]

If you get banned from origin for any reason you are locked out of all of your games, even if they are SP, and there is no appeals process.

Same applies to Steam though.

Origin gets a lot of shit but it isn't a bad service. Yeah, it isn't Steam and it reeks of EA wanting more money from their games (which isn't exactly bad.) But we aren't missing out on much at all. EA games on Steam never utilized any Steamworks features such as achievements, cloud saves etc. and you still had to log in to EA accounts with each game. The fact that I can take CD-keys from the majority of EA games I already own on Steam and register them on Origin is awesome, coupled with the fact that as a service it's decent. Yes, it's copying a lot of features from Steam (which again, isn't a bad thing) but as long as it has cloud saves, auto updating and I'm able to download and install games whenever I want then I'm more than happy with it. Steam is still much better as a service, but nothing can really compete with it.

Valve is actually a worse offender with this though, not only do all their retail games require Steam, but they don't allow competing DD sites like D2D or Amazon to sell their games through download. The only difference being Valve has the awesome Steam service behind it as well as the mind share of PC gamers (which is deserved, really).

tl;dr all this boycott stuff is dumb. People who were going to pirate it, will still just pirate it.

[Isiolia]

Same applies to Steam though.

Origin gets a lot of shit but it isn't a bad service.

That may well be true, but to me it isn't about what Origin is as a service or not. It's that I don't want to be installing/running a bunch of different clients in order to launch this or that game. I don't love everything about the Steam model either, but as it stands I've got 160-some games on Steam, and nothing on competing services. Personally, I doubt I'll play multiplayer, I doubt I'll buy any DLC, and I don't give two shits about "achievements", so it's all just making things more complicated than need be for no better reason than EA's greed.

[Shojin]

That may well be true, but to me it isn't about what Origin is as a service or not. It's that I don't want to be installing/running a bunch of different clients in order to launch this or that game. I don't love everything about the Steam model either, but as it stands I've got 160-some games on Steam, and nothing on competing services. Personally, I doubt I'll play multiplayer, I doubt I'll buy any DLC, and I don't give two shits about "achievements", so it's all just making things more complicated than need be for no better reason than EA's greed.

Well that's what you get with open platforms. 99% of games on Origin don't actually require Origin to be running, do what I do and just add a shortcut to the game in Steam and disable Origin's in-game overlay so you can use the Steam one. It's essentially the exact same shit as playing it on Steam. The only thing it will miss out on is it won't be in Steam deals, which really doesn't matter because Amazon DD service has been beating Steam on all its deals lately, and EA sells on Amazon and all the CD-keys register on Origin. Would it be nice of Blizzard released their shit on Steam? Sure, but it's not going to stop me buying their games if they don't.

[Kerberoz]

Same applies to Steam though.

Nope. Steam doesn't ban your game account for things you say on the forums.

Over 200 legit purchased games on Steam, including ME 1 and 2, and I will be pirating this, both because of Origin and the ridiculous DLC prices from ME2 that I'm still irked over.

[Odesseiron]

Nope. Steam doesn't ban your game account for things you say on the forums.

Over 200 legit purchased games on Steam, including ME 1 and 2, and I will be pirating this, both because of Origin and the ridiculous DLC prices from ME2 that I'm still irked over.

With the exception of Arrival (which was still pretty good) All of the DLC in ME2 was fantastic. Not counting the weapon add ons and costumes. The content of the DLC itself was sheer greatness. Shadow Broker is probably one of the best DLC's ever released any platform period. And Overlord while not amazing, still had a very solid story (heartbreaking at the end!) and a new transport method. What more do people want? On a first playthrough, these are easily 3 hour DLCs with a bunch of content, moderately priced. Arrival was a bit on the short side, and didn't have much choice wise, but it will tie in to ME3.

Beats the shit out of most other games DLC.

[Shojin]

Nope. Steam doesn't ban your game account for things you say on the forums.

Over 200 legit purchased games on Steam, including ME 1 and 2, and I will be pirating this, both because of Origin and the ridiculous DLC prices from ME2 that I'm still irked over.

You said banned from Origin, not the forums, and yes I've heard of that issue and it is fucked up. Although it doesn't bother me as I don't use EA's shitty forums. But if you get banned from Steam, you lose access to all of your games just like with Origin. I've heard horror stories of people losing access to their Steam accounts because Paypal fucks up and reverses a charge and then bam, instant ban. Possible that Steam has gotten better with that problem, but people should still be careful. I know Steam will ban your account if they find out you're selling it or it's been sold.

EDIT: I'm fast approaching 400 Steam titles, so I have nothing against it. It's just silly that people won't even give Origin a shot. Hell, just take your CD keys for Mass Effect 1 and 2, and register them on Origin so you'll at least have extra copies should anything happen to your Steam account.

[Kerberoz]

Beats the shit out of most other games DLC.

That's like saying skin cancer is one of the better cancers to get.

I didn't say the content was bad; I said the price was ridiculous. Almost as much as buying a second game (at launch price; a couple years later, DLC costs 5x more than the base game) for 3 hours or so of content that we all know full well was planned from the start and intentionally left out to milk the customers later. Didn't help that the game was short as hell without DLC, and the non-DLC side missions were mostly worthless (Shepard, go flip three switches in sequence to save the colonists!)

[Qalbert]

Quit bitching, there's a thread for that.