VOGONS


Origin or Steam

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First post, by chinny22

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So the day has come I'm about to buy my first game from somewhere other then GOG, namely C&C Remastered.
From what I can tell only benefit of steam is it has a mod section, although the Origin copy also supports mods you just need to go find them on fan sites?
I'll be installing it on a Win7 PC, Origin client still works (tested with the free copy of Simcity2000 they gave in 2014) Pretty sure Steam client does as well.

So does it really matter where I get it from? I cant see me getting any other games in the future. I'm happily stuck in the past, its just the original C&C is my all time favourite game.

Reply 1 of 20, by mwdmeyer

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I purchased it on steam, that would my preference in general.

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Reply 2 of 20, by BardBun

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Isn't Origin and all those other Platforms basically spyware/malware?

Reply 3 of 20, by Munx

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Steam has a much larger community and better community features so I'd recommend that.

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Reply 4 of 20, by SPBHM

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steam is the standard, the others lack massively compared to it in terms of features, quantity of games and community, and just polish in general...

also normally steam offers the best payment methods and regional pricing

Reply 5 of 20, by Munx

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SPBHM wrote on 2021-02-17, 15:13:

also normally steam offers the best payment methods and regional pricing

That depends highly on the publisher.

Bethesda insists that I pay EU prices for Russian versions of games, which often lack features and have much smaller communities, resulting in smaller workshop sections. Luckily Steam is is hot legal water because of this, so hopefully that will change.

Last edited by Munx on 2021-02-17, 16:57. Edited 1 time in total.

My builds!
The FireStarter 2.0 - The wooden K5
The Underdog - The budget K6
The Voodoo powerhouse - The power-hungry K7
The troll PC - The Socket 423 Pentium 4

Reply 6 of 20, by Jorpho

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chinny22 wrote on 2021-02-16, 10:28:

I cant see me getting any other games in the future.

Perhaps it may be worth considering that Steam may be a slippery slope, and that despite your best intentions you will in short order accumulate a backlog of hundreds of games that you will never actually play. You will most assuredly not have that problem with Origin.

On the other hand, I would certainly expect Origin to drop support for Windows 7 before Steam does.

Reply 7 of 20, by DNSDies

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Steam has a MASSIVELY larger library, and not everything on the platform has DRM, or has DRM that is so trivial to remove it may as well not exist (like, literally create "steam_appid.txt" in the game folder that contains the corresponding game's Steam App ID number AND NOTHING ELSE) that it is far and away the better platform. The only reason to use Origin is if they have a game on there you literally cannot get on Steam.

There are so many DRM free games on steam I literally cannot copy the list (more than 2000 games), and an additional 251 of them only need the text file.
Any DOS games also are DRM free, as they just use DOSBox.

Reply 8 of 20, by kolderman

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You should be running screaming and kicking away from Origin. EPIC or Steam or GOG.

Reply 9 of 20, by sf78

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Neither, Epic is the way to go for the free weekly games.

Reply 10 of 20, by svfn

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Steam for the easy workshop mods. I have C&C The Ultimate Collection on Origin for the older titles but much prefer steam for the community.

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Reply 11 of 20, by Almoststew1990

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Make sure if you buy it from steam that the game doesn't want to launch through origin anyway! I tend to buy EA games on Origin to avoid having both launchers running.

Either are "fine" to use. They work, they don't crash, they don't spam notifications. If anything, Origin is a bit "lite"-er than Steam as steam has many many features I don't care about.

Reply 12 of 20, by RandomStranger

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When it comes to online stores, I check what additional things they offer.
For example GoG offers a DRM free library and the option to download the game installers and carry them over to your retro rigs. It also doesn't force its launcher on its users.
Valve/Steam is a pioneer of Linux gaming offering an advanced compatibility layer (a fine tuned Wine fork) which made it possible to run almost all single player games near native speeds and do fairly well in multi player (though it strongly depends on the anti-cheat system the game uses).

These are the reasons I support these, largely ignore the others and completely avoid Epic Store. I think they are malicious and actively hurting PC gaming.

As for this specific game, I don't remember if C&C Generals was available on Steam before EA decided to add their games back, so if it wasn't probably even if you buy C&C on Steam, you'll still need the Origin client. I myself would either buy a retail copy (as I did) or just pirate it (as I also did).

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Reply 13 of 20, by drosse1meyer

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Given a choice I prefer Steam. Origin = EA = no bueno. However unfortunately I am forced to use Origin and Epic's apps for certain games.

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Reply 14 of 20, by RandomStranger

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drosse1meyer wrote on 2021-03-07, 20:00:

Given a choice I prefer Steam. Origin = EA = no bueno. However unfortunately I am forced to use Origin and Epic's apps for certain games.

Someone forces you to play certain games?

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Reply 15 of 20, by chinny22

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So in the end I went with Steam. My thinking was it's got a more active community that kept the client alive on XP (maybe it still is I haven't checked) So fingers crossed when Win7 is well and truly dead I've a better chance of die hard fans keeping it working as long as possible as well.

No idea on other titles but can confirm C&C Remastered doesn't require Origin client in the background, Internet has mixed reports on this.
Rest of the Steam stuff didn't interest me including the mods section. I'm not even sure if I actually like the new HD graphics but admit I play in that mode the most. Loving the music though.

Reply 16 of 20, by xcomcmdr

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Jorpho wrote on 2021-02-17, 16:43:
chinny22 wrote on 2021-02-16, 10:28:

I cant see me getting any other games in the future.

Perhaps it may be worth considering that Steam may be a slippery slope, and that despite your best intentions you will in short order accumulate a backlog of hundreds of games that you will never actually play.

This happened to me.

I live to tell the tale and warn others.

€500 down the drain over the years.

Steam sales are evil.

Reply 17 of 20, by Boohyaka

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xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-03-15, 10:54:
This happened to me. […]
Show full quote
Jorpho wrote on 2021-02-17, 16:43:
chinny22 wrote on 2021-02-16, 10:28:

I cant see me getting any other games in the future.

Perhaps it may be worth considering that Steam may be a slippery slope, and that despite your best intentions you will in short order accumulate a backlog of hundreds of games that you will never actually play.

This happened to me.

I live to tell the tale and warn others.

€500 down the drain over the years.

Steam sales are evil.

The curse is definitely very real 😁
It was even worse some years ago when I would get about every single humble bundle. Steam keys overflow. I have so many games I've never launched 😒

Reply 18 of 20, by Aublak

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chinny22 wrote on 2021-02-16, 10:28:
So the day has come I'm about to buy my first game from somewhere other then GOG, namely C&C Remastered. From what I can tell on […]
Show full quote

So the day has come I'm about to buy my first game from somewhere other then GOG, namely C&C Remastered.
From what I can tell only benefit of steam is it has a mod section, although the Origin copy also supports mods you just need to go find them on fan sites?
I'll be installing it on a Win7 PC, Origin client still works (tested with the free copy of Simcity2000 they gave in 2014) Pretty sure Steam client does as well.

So does it really matter where I get it from? I cant see me getting any other games in the future. I'm happily stuck in the past, its just the original C&C is my all time favourite game.

Steam is miles ahead of the competition when it comes to platform features. Not only is there a modding workshop integrated into the platform, Steam is just a more active platform. The Steam forums are more populated.

And I just trust Steam more to host my games.

Reply 19 of 20, by RandomStranger

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xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-03-15, 10:54:
This happened to me. […]
Show full quote

This happened to me.

I live to tell the tale and warn others.

€500 down the drain over the years.

Steam sales are evil.

After I got past 100 games I bought, but never launched once I decided I'll only buy 1 game for ever 2 I've played. You just have to realize that there are at least 5 big sales and a lot of small ones. You aren't in a hurry to buy up everything at once that you find mildly interesting. Though I still have about 120 games I've never played. Steam just gives away a lot of crap for free, like for example remasters. Not to mention off-site bundle purchases, like HumbleBundle.

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