Anno 2070 Catch All (Demo available)

Malor wrote:
requires a connection to start the game

Screw that. What the f*ck is the point of a single player game that needs Internet to run? The reason I usually WANT to play a single player game is because the Internet isn't working.

f*ckheads.

First play only. You can still play in offline mode when your internet is out. I just tried it and it works fine.

Malor wrote:
requires a connection to start the game

Screw that. What the f*ck is the point of a single player game that needs Internet to run? The reason I usually WANT to play a single player game is because the Internet isn't working.

f*ckheads.

Sounds like you need a more stable internet connection.

Clearly, if the game I paid for doesn't work, then the fault must lie with me for having a bad Internet connection, not the company who put in a unnecessary requirement to have one.

Here, take my $60, please.

Why can't you just let the market work!

Malor wrote:

Clearly, if the game I paid for doesn't work, then the fault must lie with me for having a bad Internet connection, not the company who put in a unnecessary requirement to have one.

Here, take my $60, please.

You seem to be getting quite a bit of enjoyment out of the game already.

You

LobsterMobster wrote:
Malor wrote:

Clearly, if the game I paid for doesn't work, then the fault must lie with me for having a bad Internet connection, not the company who put in a unnecessary requirement to have one.

Here, take my $60, please.

You seem to be getting quite a bit of enjoyment out of the game already.

You just won the Internet today sir. Well played.

How annoying is the Tages implementation? Does it install something separate on your computer? Or is it part of the game and just phones home once?

Tamren wrote:

How annoying is the Tages implementation? Does it install something separate on your computer? Or is it part of the game and just phones home once?

The article I read talking about it said that it puts a config file somewhere on your computer after you do an online activation.

Found this on their website:

Completely removing T@GES from your system

This process is very easy to perform:
Activation

All information were stored at the application data repository, as defined by Microsoft and compatible with the "Game for Windows" requirements: the CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA\Tages directory.

CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA is a generic name and stand for:
Prior Vista: XX:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
Vista and upper: XX:\ProgramData
Where XX is the drive letter where Windows is installed (on most PCs, the letter is 'C')
The CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA directory may be hidden by default. Once you have located the CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA\Tages directory, removing it completely removes ALL T@GES activations from your system.
Drivers:

Please download our installer/un-installer at Drivers and run it.

if you would like to ascertain that everything IS removed, our two "level 3" drivers - atksgt.sys and lirsgt.sys- are located in the system32\DRIVERS directory. After un-installation, all registry keys that were created during the installation using the standart Windows' APIs are removed, as well as the two files (atksgt.sys and lirsgt.sys).

So it stays on your PC after un-installation

As for how annoying Tages itself is: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...

So, as it turns out, this game has such nasty copy protection that if you change your video card three times, you can't play it anymore. Seriously. It's locked to a given machine, and if you even upgrade the video card, you burn one of your three activations, and UBISoft *will not* give you any more. You are just f*cked, and have to buy it again.

I really think Ubisoft is actively trying to kill their PC business. You'd have to be brain-damaged to buy a game from them.

Malor wrote:

So, as it turns out, this game has such nasty copy protection that if you change your video card three times, you can't play it anymore. Seriously. It's locked to a given machine, and if you even upgrade the video card, you burn one of your three activations, and UBISoft *will not* give you any more. You are just f*cked, and have to buy it again.

I really think Ubisoft is actively trying to kill their PC business. You'd have to be brain-damaged to buy a game from them.

Do you have any sources for that?
While I don't support the method that they use, I believe you are misinformed.

“While it’s correct that copies of Anno include three activations and that changing hardware may trigger the need for reactivation, the vast majority of Anno customers never encounter this scenario. On the rare occasion when a customer does need additional activations, Ubisoft customer service is available to quickly resolve the situation, and we encourage those customers to contact us directly so that we can ensure they are able to continue to enjoy their game.”

They say "resolve the situation" but I think it can be more assumed that they will get you more activations than force you to repurchase the game.

Totally agreed that Ubisoft is completely nuts though.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

Do you have any sources for that?
While I don't support the method that they use, I believe you are misinformed.

The RPS article linked above has a link in it describing the experience of the guy who broke the story. He was, apparently, refused by UBI. It was the developer (Blue Byte?) that ultimately resolved his issues.

MoonDragon wrote:
FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

Do you have any sources for that?
While I don't support the method that they use, I believe you are misinformed.

The RPS article linked above has a link in it describing the experience of the guy who broke the story. He was, apparently, refused by UBI. It was the developer (Blue Byte?) that ultimately resolved his issues.

Ah, fair enough, I didn't realize that it wasn't Ubi that fixed their activations.
Let the rage continue.

I really, really believe that UBISoft is actively trying to kill their PC business.

Yea, the way Ubisoft behaves with their PC ports, I get the feeling they treat like it's a massive chore. Shame.

Malor wrote:

I really, really believe that UBISoft is actively trying to kill their PC business.

I agree with respect to the whole "always on" thing that I believe started with Assassin's Creed. But Anno 2070 is a PC-only title. If they really wanted to get out of the PC biz, it seems they'd shy away from such products. I think they truly believe their ridiculous DRM schemes save them wads of cash in sales lost to piracy. They just don't understand that pirates will pirate anyway, and only the legitimate customers are the ones inconvenienced by their stupid policies.

The real pity for me is that Ubisoft was one of my favorite publishers for years. I used to relish hearing their original theme playing with the splash screen as it usually meant I would soon be playing a really fun game.

UbiSoft dickery aside, Anno 2070 is a pretty sweet game.

LobsterMobster wrote:

UbiSoft dickery aside, Anno 2070 is a pretty sweet game.

Maybe, but DRM is part of the package that you can't (officially) separate out.

If they really wanted to get out of the PC biz, it seems they'd shy away from such products.

I think they're schizophrenic; they've entered into contracts to support the PC market, or they've got some members of their organization that still believe in the PC. But the guys who do the DRM don't, and they're actively trying to sabotage that business so that it goes away.

Scratched wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

UbiSoft dickery aside, Anno 2070 is a pretty sweet game.

Maybe, but DRM is part of the package that you can't (officially) separate out.

Ultimately, the the DRM has saved me money. It helped me decide not to buy what seemed to me to be mostly a re-skin of DoD. I'll probably still get it in the end, as I love the Anno games. Without the DRM, I probably would have already bought it for $50. But with it, it makes it easier for me to wait for a <$30 sale. Heck, I might even have a faster machine by then.

I don't even have Anno 2070 and the DRM is annoying me, because I can't actually get a feel for whether people like the game or not because the only discussions about it are related to the DRM.

According to Blues news:

Just wanted to let you know, that we now remove the graphics hardware from the hash used to identify the PC. That means everyone should now be able to switch the GFX as many times as he/she wants.

Here's a direct link to the story:
http://www.guru3d.com/news/ubisoft-c...

Amazon currently has the download version on sale for $35. Does anyone know if that can be activated on Steam? It seems that may be the number for me that deems their DRM tolerable.

EDIT: The answer to the question is: no, the code provided by Amazon does not work with Steam.

DRM be damned. I just picked this up...not that I don't have enough games in the queue, but I do love a good city builder. I often don't stick with games like this beyond the single-player experience, but I hope that I do and I hope that GWJ'ers are playing this (in spite of the posts above) so we can hook up at some point.

So I really enjoyed the first few hours of this game. Then I hit Chapter 2, Mission 2 and I've gotten so frustrated I'm about ready to $h!tcan this game. I've started over twice and finally was able to stifle the hemorrhaging cashflow enough to get further into the level. Now I need 150 researchers and it refuses to upgrade more than 120. Regardless of how many coffee/sugar fields I plant, my drink factory never produces enough to satiate my population so they'll advance.

I really want to love this game. But 2070 seems to be even more cryptic and elusive than its predecessors with regard to satisfying the needs of the population. It can also be frustrating to find a structure for harvesting a resource when it's buried under the icon for a final product that relies on that resource.

While I'm pretty tired of searching the internet looking for solutions for these C2/M2 problems, if anyone can offer any advice I'd sure appreciate it. I found the campaign progression up to this point to be pretty helpful. Now it's just a mad Google search for information to supplement the wholly inadequate manual.

Thanks, guys,

D-

Yeah, the poison fish thing is almost a bug. I had to look online to figure out how to cure it since I couldn't find it fast enough on my own. Selling the bad fish to your neighbors can help though, since they still will pay full price for it.

I figured out that despite showing less than 100% satisfaction in the drink category, if I lowered their tax rate to the lowest value, they would advance anyway. How the #$% was I supposed to figure that out? If the campaign continues in this ambiguous manner, I may abandon it for free play mode.

I finally got around to starting this tonight, and the email feature blew me away. I had emails in the game from a couple weeks ago when I first installed it, before I started the campaign or anything!

Loving it so far. I like the presentation and the UI much better than Anno 1404, even if the core game is very similar.

D-Man, keep boosting your energy drink production. Those guys can suck down a LOT of Red Bulls, but you're going to need some surplus to give to someone else later in the game and they sell for a good amount. Pay attention to the little arrow next to each resource in your warehouse. If the arrow's going up, you have a surplus. If it's going down, a deficit. Also keep an eye on which raw materials you have available. If you have surplus sugar but no coffee, you don't need more sugar farms.

That's not to say there AREN'T glitches. My refinery stopped working for some reason. It just wouldn't take in any more raw materials and wouldn't put out any more fuel. I built another one nearby and it worked fine.

I don't know if they've since patched it but when I played through, poisoned fish sold for a RIDICULOUS amount. Like, more per unit than anything else in the game. Maybe we marketed it as fugu?

Anno 2070 is on Steam sale this weekend for $29.99.

I'm anxious to try out the full version.

- Back to the regularly scheduled DRM 'discussion' -