The Elder Scrolls 3: Tribunal Review

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            The Elder Scrolls 3: Tribunal

Review by SteerpikeJanuary 2003

Oh, It’s a Complete Level Editor

Most people who experienced The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind were instantly enchanted.  CRPGs have been lumbering along since Fallout, neither bad nor good (for the most part) and rarely introducing much in the way of nonlinearity or new ideas to the genre. With Morrowind, a real sense of openness and character-driven narrative evolution was achieved. Even better, the folks at Bethesda included the reasonably easy-to-use Elder Scrolls Construction Kit with the game, allowing players to develop and release little plug-ins and even entirely new adventures using the engine. Most plug-ins are very small—a new weapon here, a house in the town of Balmora there—and for the most part they integrate seamlessly with the rest of the game.

Tribunal, the first official expansion pack to Morrowind (which means, I hope, that there will be more), is in fact just a gigantic plug-in, built with the very same tools available to all gamers. This is not a bad thing; though not nearly so colossal as Morrowind itself, Tribunal is expected to supply most gamers with a good twenty hours or so of gaming fun (compared to Morrowind’s 200-plus)—and at only $29.99 retail (plus the original game), that’s nothing to complain about.

In broad watercolored strokes, Tribunal expands on the story of religious and political conflict at the heart of Morrowind.  A new Dunmer king has arisen and all his thought and focus is bent upon dislodging the nation of Morrowind from its sad position underneath the Imperial thumb. Meanwhile, the tribunal of Living Gods—Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil—remain at the heart of the story. The problem with being a Living God is that after a while you get pretty darn old, and pretty darn tired, and then grouchy, but you’re a God so you can’t just slink off and die quietly; you have to stick around and be worshiped and do impressive things or else people will stop liking you. While that’s great for a few thousand years, you still possess mortal weaknesses (like sanity) and after a while they begin to fray. Those who had the pleasure of meeting the once-mighty Vivec in Morrowind may sympathize.

Almalexia and Sotha Sil finally turn up in Tribunal. Both have their own goals, opinions on Vivec and Lord Dagoth, and positions on the Nerevarine Conspiracy going on in Vvardenfell. If that last sentence makes no sense to you, either you’ve never played Morrowind or you ignored the main plot of the game. While it’s not necessary to have done so to enjoy Tribunal, I do recommend it; ultimately Tribunal is more of the same, so if you didn’t like the one you’re not going to like the other.

Geographically, if you know nothing about Tamriel (the larger empire in which Morrowind/Tribunal take place) you may not realize that the province of Morrowind is shaped like a doughnut and Vvardenfell is an island where the hole would be. The rest of the province is wrapped around it, and Morrowind’s capital city, Mournhold, is in that area. While early press statements about Tribunal indicated that it would expand Morrowind to include “the entire nation of the Dunmer,” the actual truth is more along the lines of “will expand Morrowind to include Mournhold and one or two other places.” Don’t feel cheated, though; Bethesda’s “bigger is better” attitude is once again at play here so it’s not like you won’t have lots of new places to explore.

RPG Rule #1: Goblins Are Not, Repeat Not, Difficult Foes

Rather than taking my 52nd-level character through Tribunal, I decided to start over as a new class and have all the fun again. That was kind of a mistake, so take heed: though the box says that Tribunal is okay for characters of all levels, don’t be fooled. Be at least fourth or fifth level before you even install Tribunal. The plug-in lies dormant but activates at some point when your character rests, at which time the new adventure begins and you find yourself attacked by a foe who would be peanuts to a high-level character, but who killed me about nineteen times when I was starting out. Shortly thereafter the intrigue of Tribunal is added to the game, integrating as smoothly as any other plug-in.

Naturally, once the quest began I sent my new character straight to Mournhold—a more difficult and irritating proposition than it really needed to be—to check out the new area; once there I realized that I was in no way prepared to deal with the foes and intrigues that awaited me. Specifically, I was killed by a goblin.  A goblin, the lowest of the low, the snail’s trail of fantasy beasts, a creature normally so base and pathetic that first-level D&D characters starting out as ignorant farmhands with pitchforks are able to defeat entire goblin hordes attacking their once-peaceful community. The goblin is lower than the orc. The goblin is lower than the gnoll. The goblin was, is, and shall always be the most insignificant of all creatures, and under no circumstances should even a very well-trained and armed ninja goblin with exceptionally high morale possibly stand a chance against a character higher than second level. I thought everyone knew that rule.

Tail firmly between my legs, I crept back to Vvardenfell where nice normal creatures lived, and worked on improving my character a bit before returning. Things were significantly more balanced once I was 12th level and above, so new players take note. Meanwhile, I was able to appreciate some of the technical and gameplay improvements that Tribunal makes (it’s a patch as well as an expansion pack).

The journal system, widely reviled as inadequate in Morrowind, is improved to include sorting by quest, entry, and more. Frankly, however, it’s still nowhere near as good as it needs to be in a game this complex; there’s still no way to make your own notes in the journal and the general interface is lacking. In the next expansion pack, I want to see more powerful cross-referencing, the ability to export your journal to Word or Excel, sort entries manually, add personal notes, switch between game time and real time dates, apply priority levels to notes, and so forth.

Another new feature is the ability to add notes to the automap on both the world and local level. This is a nice addition, and there’s not much that can be said about it (other than that it should have been included with the original game). The automap in general, however, remains unimproved, and while it’s not nearly so lacking as the journal, some tweaking here and there—such as more accurate representation of elevations—would have been nice.

A few merchants in Mournhold have unusually large amounts of cash on hand. This is a big improvement—anyone who finished Morrowind almost certainly wound up with a room, house, or stronghold full of loot so valuable that no one on the island could afford to buy it from him/her for more than a fraction of its worth. The Glass Staff, for example, a not terribly uncommon item, is worth 50,000 gold. A “Seller Max” button is also a nice blessing to traders who are willing to pass along items worth more cash in toto than the merchant has; just offer the items and click the button rather than messing with the slow plus/minus keys.

Meanwhile, adventurers also have the ability to purchase a pack Guar to carry the loot from all their travels. These animals, which resemble friendly bipedal goanas with the mouths of sperm whales, can be found all over the province doing the combined work of mules, oxen, donkeys, horses, and cows. The drawback to the pack Guar is that Tribunal doesn’t improve 3D pathing very much and if you don’t keep an eye on your beast, it’s going to get stuck on a rock and you’ll inadvertently leave it behind. This would be especially vexing if you don’t know where to start looking for it and it happened to be carrying a fortune in loot on its back.

Overall stability is increased in Tribunal as well, and though Morrowind was not a really unstable game to begin with, each little incremental improvement helps. I still find myself crashing out to Windows without warning now and then, but the event is rare and, compared to some of Bethesda’s other offerings, nothing I take too seriously.

Dungeons Deeper than Daggerfall’s

You’ll have the opportunity to explore, among other locations, the vast sewer-cum-lost-city complex underneath Mournhold, and if dungeon crawlers have been sad that Morrowind’s underground adventures were too short or simple, they can stop their braying now. This underworld is immense and home to several mysteries of its own, sporting fantastic new creatures and exciting treasure to be had. In order to fully explore the area you should expect to spend probably six to ten of your twenty hours down there, and it’s here especially that being able to annotate the automap is necessary.

Other quests range from simple ten-minute operations to more complex citywide excursions, and as usual you’re free to take them or leave them as you see fit. Just as in all of the Elder Scrolls titles, you’re under no obligation to do anything that isn’t part of the overall story arc, but if you ignore all of the corollary material you’re likely to miss out on a lot of fun and charm. Gamers who allow Tribunal to take them forty hours are more likely to be pleased with it than those who only allow it to take twenty.

One note of irritation is that though Tribunal integrates comfortably with Morrowind from a technical standpoint, there is a great in-game sense of disconnection between the two places.  Actually getting to Mournhold requires a ridiculous expenditure of effort every time—the only point of access is through the fortress of Ebonheart, and a less conveniently placed locale to make your base of operations there never has been—then getting back can also be a chore. Those employing magic will probably use the Mark and Recall spells to some effect, but you can (stupidly) only set one mark. Most players I know place a mark at whatever house, structure, or town they’ve chosen as their “home base,” and they are loath to change it. In a way this all goes back to the fact that your character walks too slowly, that Bethesda or some enterprising fan never created a plug-in for horses, and that there are more fun ways to spend your time than walking from Balmora to Ebonheart day after day.

The result of this is that while Tribunal is meant to slide right in beside Morrowind on a logical level, it’s incredibly jarring to move back and forth between them. Since you’re not expected to have finished Morrowind before you start Tribunal, you constantly feel like you’re moving from the game to the expansion pack. I might have preferred a much higher-level expansion for those who’d nearly finished Morrowind—much like the Baldur’s Gate series expands its games—but of course that would have excluded newcomers to the series.

Still Looking Good, Baby

Morrowind, at only six months old, is still one of the prettiest games out there—especially among RPGs, where only Arx Fatalis can hope to equal it—so Tribunal doesn’t need to add big technology to the graphics. It’s just as good-looking as ever, and I was pleased to see that designers flexed their creative muscles by making Mournhold and surrounding regions visually different from Vvardenfell without making it seem like you were in another country or something. The province of Morrowind is a grim, bleak place filled with cranky people, but Vvardenfell is more gloomy than the mainland.

While on the subject of graphics, one thing I neglected to mention in my Morrowind review but will mention now is that the game doesn’t run on a proprietary engine—Morrowind, like Star Trek Bridge Commander, Freedom Force, and Dark Age of Camelot all licensed NetImmerse engine technology from NDL—a testament to the tremendous breadth and versatility of that game engine, considering how different those four titles are.

By the way, GeForce owners would be well advised to crank nVidia’s proprietary “Digital Vibrancy” control as high as they can stand. Morrowind and Tribunal, gorgeous as they are, look even better with this set high; digital vibrancy makes subtle gradations of color more obvious to the human eye and, though it may be annoying while using the Windows desktop, it really adds to most games.

Sadly, no new orchestrations came with Tribunal to complement the game’s already breathtaking score; composing and recording such would probably have taken too long and interfered with the timely release of the expansion. I know people who have downloaded Morrowind’s music to play while they work or prowl around their homes—it is incredibly good, and my only complaint is that they weren’t able to get more of it.

Balance: More than the Art of Not Falling Over

The one standard complaint about Morrowind carries over into its expansion pack. The game is not adequately balanced for later levels. Once you reach the 25th level or so, your character is essentially so tough that even the most powerful creatures pose little threat. Even the mightiest Daedroth, the chilling Golden Saints and horrifying Winged Twilights are nonetheless just a sword-flick away from the afterlife once a powerful character comes upon them.

While it’s better to be skewed in favor of a highly powerful character than it is to be too hard when the character is just starting out, I know plenty of people who grew bored with the game and either quit or will not play through again just because they know that the challenge would end around the halfway point of the game. I suspect the solution to this is a new expansion pack that adds creatures capable of dealing with high-level characters and scatters them not only through “new” areas, but through Vvardenfell as well.

Also, I note that it is still difficult to locate really fancy items of certain sorts. Glass, Ebony, and Daedric items are easily found when you’re high-level, but they tend to be swords or spears rather than more exotic weapons. This doesn’t encourage players to expand their horizons by playing an expert in the mace or tanto.  I know the above statement contradicts an earlier remark from my Morrowind review, but it is true and only a lot of playing made it clear. I propose that the next expansion add more item compositions to go along with the standard Dwemer, Daedric, Ebony, Glass, Iron, Orcish, Steel, and so forth; also, perhaps an algorithm in the code to determine the player’s highest primary weapon score and offer powerful weapons based on it.

City of Light, City of Magic

Generally speaking Tribunal is a great expansion pack. It fixes bugs, adds new places to explore, enhances the capabilities of the game, and is very well written and designed. Though the plot is fairly straightforward compared to some of the more devious story arcs that Bethesda writers are known for, it nonetheless kept my attention throughout and was deeply enjoyable to play.

Sadly, it does little to correct the underlying complaints about Morrowind. Make no mistake, those complaints are few and for the most part quite paltry, but I would love to have seen them addressed here. Also, I would rather Tribunal had been cleanly integrated into the world of Morrowind rather than seeming like an expansion pack due simply to the amount of effort involved in physically getting to the new locations. Next time I want horses, carts, better journal controls, balance for high-level players, and more accessible exotic weapons. When all that is provided, we may well have the near-perfect CRPG. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Bethesda Publisher: Bethesda Release Date: November 2002

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Windows 98/ME with 128 MB RAM Windows 00/XP with 256 MB RAM 500 MHz Intel Pentium III, Celeron, or AMD Athlon processor (800 MHz PIII or AMD recommended) 8X CD-ROM drive 1 GB free hard disk space DirectX 8.1 32 MB Direct3D compatible video card with 32-bit color support and DirectX 8.1 compatible driver (Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS or ATI Radeon 7500 recommended) DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card

Where to Find It

Gogamer 24.90

Prices/links current as of 01/07/03Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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29 Responses to The Long, Sordid Tail of DRM

  • Meho

    Good one.

    Of course, it will be very interesting to see the battle between crackers and UBI’s cryptographers. PC version of Assassin’s Creed II is already circulating the warez scene, although as yet uncracked. Everybody seems to think it will be cracked in a couple of weeks time at worst, which, admittedly is better for UBI than what usually happens (games cracked before release). Of course, I won’t be buying it because I find this practice unnacceptable (and I do have the console version anyway) but the success of this game and its DRM might mean quite a lot in the future. Of course, we ARE moving towards the age where you will be required to be connected to do any playing at all, whatwith the Gaikai and OnLive systems rearing their heads on the horizon. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, eh?

  • Spike

    I went to the Ubisoft website and looked at their list of published games.  It seems that the last of their games I played was the last Myst game in 2005.  In fact the only Ubisoft games I’ve played have been Myst games.  So I don’t see that their new DRM crime-against-my-privacy will have much of an effect on me.  But I hate the idea.  It’s an “Off with their heads!” kind of development.  Reminds me of the idea that people will put up with lost privacy in exchange for security.  In this case the security is only to benefit Ubisoft.  Yes, I allow my privacy to be violated every day – each time I visit Amazon, or read Google News -the list goes on and on.  BUT THOSE ARE MY CHOICES.  I also have a choice about where and how I spend my money, and I’d refrain from buying a game that allows so much intrusion into my computer/life.  A game that tells me how I must live my life even in the smallest of ways such as always being connected to the internet is a game I can forgo.

  • Jason O

    Consoles CAN be connected to the internet 100% of the time, but there are still many consoles that never go online. Modern Warfare 2 sold over 11 million copies, yet XBox Live only shows 840,000 users that have been on-line with it. That’s not played online, that means they played the game in any mode while connected to XBox Live.

    Games that have required an internet connection and were multiplayer only have a history of vanishing quickly from the console marketplace. Phantasy Star ONLINE did much better on the Gamecube then it did on the XBox. What was the difference? Oh yeah, you could play PSO without an internet connection on the Gamecube, the XBox version require a live account and an internet connection. That’s hardly the only example but one that is near and dear to my heart.

  • Bennet

    No, no, you don’t get it! Ubisoft’s “always connected” requirement isn’t DRM, it’s value-add for you, the beloved customer. Just like the Albertsons supermarket chain requires employees to plaster obnoxiously bright orange “Thank you for shopping with us!” stickers on your Coke and milk not because they think you’re stealing them but to express their sincere gratitude for your patronage.

    Maybe my memories of a time when consumers paid for a product and got the product, unadorned by FBI warnings and impossible to open wrappings and authentication servers that can vanish at any time without warning were planted by aliens. In the current cultural climate it’s certainly difficult to believe that time ever existed.

  • Meho

    But Steerpike makes a good point: business model, retail model is lagging behind the times. And developers, instead of researching ways to use the existing systems to sell more games rather research new ways to piss off their paying customers.

    Seriously, in my opinion, pirates pirate games because they are better value than retail games. Not just in the sense that they get to spend less money on them, but they get them faster, do not have to go through any hassle with DRM and have full control over the game. I think that Gabe Newell put it best saying that Valve sees pirates as customers who haven’t been served yet.

    I think UBI and their ilk should look for ways to make retail games more valuable to their customers than (free) warez copies. Yes, stuff like achievements/ trophies helps a little, sure. There are other ways too and one of them is resale value. But, oh, what a surprise, used games market pisses publishers off MORE than pirates do. In fact most of the current DRM schemes are only effective against resales. EA’s ten dollar project and all other free DLC on day one initiatives. So, honestly, I’m afraid that UBI’s online-all-the-time-or-no-service DRM is basically only going to affect sales of used games. The crackers are going to bring their games to pirates eventually. I believe that draconic DRM schemes such as this will only inspire people like GeoHot, Dark Alex and Yoshihiro to spend more of their time on circumvention. Their street cred is going to be huge after all…

    What Valve seem to understand is that playing games through Steam should make playing MORE valuable/ comfortable than not playing games through Steam (which is, at the end of the day a DRM system). Being able to instal a game on as many machines as you want and not having to have a disc in the drive is exactly what pirated games give us too, but with Steam you also retain all your stats, friends lists, achievements and everything. So it’s BETTER than playing pirated games. I only hope that UBI wake up and realise they have to ADD value, not just subtract freedoms.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not really sure I see their DRM as a huge problem.  If my PC is turned on, so is my internet.  I’m fully aware that my name is probably on a million data bases already, and although it might be annoying knowing that Ubisoft have implemented such a security feature, if you don’t physically notice it, I don’t particularly care.

    I’m currently playing Myst at the moment, having never before.  What an odd game…

  • Meho

    Well, you know, just from a philosophical standpoint: if the game is unplayable as soon as you don’t have Internet connection (which, I’m afraid, happens to me more regularly than I am comfortable with) for no other reason than making sure you have paid for it then to me this is pretty much unnacceptable. Requiring a connection for something that is a function of the game itself is OK, but enforcing it just for the sake of protection of the publisher, sorry, no sale.

  • Lewis B

    True Meho.  I had 40 minutes the other day before I went out and thought I would have a quick skirmish on Dawn of War II.  Steam (despite my love for it) wouldn’t launch the game because for some reason it kept freezing and refusing to connect or launch in offline mode.  I couldn’t actually locate the source directory either to boot the game up manually. So, I didn’t get to play and instead spent 40 minutes in a fit of rage cursing Valve and all who work under them. 

    Not exactly the same situation, but not hugely dissimilar.

  • Gregg B

    I’m really not concerned about the privacy issue simply because that illusion is just that, and doesn’t really comfort or unsettle me. My problem with this whole thing is that internet connections can be temperamental at the best of times and the idea that if the connection falters I will lose my progress (and thus my invested time which I’d argue is more valuable than my money) then quite frankly Ubi can fuck off. I’ve been pretty placid up to press with DRM simply because it’s not seemed that intrusive but this will affect the paying customers more than the pirates. It devalues the product and I fear it will push otherwise paying customers to download cracked versions that don’t suffer from this shit. Which, of course, will play into Ubi’s hands.

    Am I right in believing all this stems from the hideous retail model that just refuses to die? Physical retail creates pressuring deadlines, costs considerably more due to increased physical production (and overheads in staffing and floor space), it’s inflexible with stock limitations and shelf space dictating the range of titles available in any given store and by the sounds of things is the sole reason for this ‘tail’. If you look at Steam, it isn’t always the newest games that sell the most due in no small part to their sales and weekend deals.

    “I wonder if we’ll ever get to a point where a person would be just as likely to invest in a beloved classic as a hot new release.”

    From my experience there are a lot of people who simply can’t stomach old looking games, even some of my friends who’ve been playing games since they were young have turned into total graphics whores. Seriously you want to see the totally underwhelmed look on their faces when I show them XCOM for any period of time. We’re at a stage now where graphics are so advanced that for a lot of people going back so far to sample an allegedly classic title is simply too much. Thankfully GOG is doing a fantastic job of making these titles as accessible, and valuable, as possible.

    EDIT: Spot on Meho. My point exactly.
    See what I mean though Lew? Time. Valuable stuff. A quick skirmish on DoW turned into a 40 minute skirmish with Steam.

  • Mat

    This seems like an awful idea.. or at least one which sounds like a good idea to somebody somewhere, but in reality is unworkable.

    Since I’ve been a paying internet customer I have lived at 3 different addresses and used around 5 different ISP’s. I have ALWAYS had problems with my internet connection. With my current set up it tends to go down if a menacing looking cloud passes overhead..

  • xtal

    Some people may like to play a game offline now and then; this is especially easy with older ones before the dawn of activation codes and online authentication. While those aren’t that annoying, having to maintain a constant internet connection just to play a game that you paid for, which is not specifically a MMO, really bites.

    Gregg B said:
    “Am I right in believing all this stems from the hideous retail model that just refuses to die? Physical retail creates pressuring deadlines, costs considerably more due to increased physical production (and overheads in staffing and floor space), it’s inflexible with stock limitations and shelf space dictating the range of titles available in any given store and by the sounds of things is the sole reason for this ‘tail’. If you look at Steam, it isn’t always the newest games that sell the most due in no small part to their sales and weekend deals.”

    I agree with this. Just a few years ago I couldn’t see myself paying for intangible, digital goods. Fast forward to now and it’s really my preferred method of computer gaming, whether it’s GOG, Steam, or elsewhere, I find it’s the model that works best for the customer. If I’m not mistaken, I believe once upon a time that was who the industry was trying to serve, no? The customer?

  • Cesar

    You know, I’m from Brazil and there piracy is HUGE. Maybe for that reason I feel for the industry and understand the efforts to stop it. However, I suspect this crack delay would have a very minor impact in markets like Brazil. People can’t afford the games, so they wouldn’t pay full price anyway.

    It is a shame that we don’t have privacy anymore. The other day a friend of mine on XBox Live sent me a message to congratulate me on a goal I scored in Fifa 10. I didn’t know but apparently not only you can see I’m playing Fifa, but you also see when I score and my avatar cheers! While that sounds very cool, it is also very disturbing. But like Matt points very well, privacy is already gone. And since I don’t have it anymore, why not help stop piracy?

    On the other hand, the plurality of solutions is a different matter, it becomes a hassle. I think the solution should be platform dependent, not publisher dependent. In Brew phones, the control is embedded in the system and you cannot use an app if it cannot be verified, which means if you are not connected to the network you can’t play.

    Unfortunately that cannot be applied to consoles, there’s a considerable number of devices outside the internet umbrella. But if the game constantly checks if you are online and tries to authenticate the copy, online piracy will suffer a big hit and the technological move towards full connectivity will make the practice more and more efficient over time.

  • Andrew

    Not going to buy the game, long tail or not, it sucks to have that kind of persistent connection needed for offline play. Not even just startup authorisation either. I must admit any Game For Windows Live games can be similar (Dawn of War 2 being one of them necessitating it) although most of them allow offline profiles, and most of them allow the saves to be moved easily between any online or offline accounts.

    Oh, and if you’re disconnected it won’t kick you out of the game too, even Microsoft didn’t get that wrong.

    I don’t even understand how privacy comes into it, my main issue is twofold:
    – The above note about simple, offline play (and disconnects for blips in service)
    – The fact it isn’t just your connection that is necessary, it is THEIR connection and servers

    The second point as a partial game historian leads me to wonder how many years (not decades) the servers will be there. Publishers have removed much more necessary servers quickly if they are a cost liability (or they want to push people onto a newer game…). Downtime is also, considering some of the services require payment (Xbox Live for instance) devastatingly poor considering the user base sizes, especially on high load days (and I wonder if we’ll see “Assassins Creed 2 unplayable at launch due to server overload” at all, heh). Lucky it’s “just games” though, no worries if we only have 99% uptime right?! 😉

    (Also, frankly their Assassins Creed 1 port was poor until they patched it, where at least then it was playable (in full on 16:9…for some reason), which makes me wary of any PC release of a console game they do. I wonder also if they still have unskippable cutscenes, I’ve not checked it out on the consoles).

    The fact they’ll never have enough sales of this PC version due to the earlier console release to either say this is a roaring success or roaring failure. It’s the longest end of the tail in the first place. Or they’ll lie about whatever happens anyway. It’s utterly bizarre…I just don’t understand it.

  • Meho

    Cesar: I’m in Serbia and here piracy reigns supreme (much worse than Brazil, I imagine) but still, this is pure and simple bullshit. I purcahsed BioShock 2 today, for my PS3 even though I’d prefer to play it on my PC just because of the stupid DRM that won’t let me control the use of a game I pay for. They can fuck off with that. So, my purchase was influenced by DRM, depsite the game being more natural to play on a PC. Protection measures should not create this kind of bitterness in a human being.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    The issue of server overload on release days is significant. Think about it – a game like Modern Warfare 2? Or any other hotly anticipated release? Of course the servers would go down. It’s not cost-effective to install a server infrastructure capable of handling Day Zero traffic. That would royally piss people off.

    Ubi and others who use draconian DRM typically insist that if they ever go out of business or shut servers down, they’ll issue patches so the games can be played offline.

    Around the holidays here, big stores like Best Buy station a guy at the exit. His job is to go through your bag and consult your receipt to make sure you haven’t stolen anything. That’s a very similar ideology to this one: treat all consumers like thieves in hopes of catching the few who are.

  • Lewis B

    Considering most MMOG servers cannot cope on launch day, I see it as a gaurentee that when the next Modern Warfare is released, if they do follow through with this, would see many unhappy players.

  • lakerz1

    This new DRM policy will totally be screwing me over because I have a wireless internet setup, but my signal is a bit weak so here and there it drops out for a 10-15 second period before it reconnects.  Plus my wireless router is a bit wonky and will just stop working once in awhile until I cycle power to it.  So, until my setup changes, I will be forced to avoid all Ubi PC games that use this.

  • Igor Hardy

    I seriously doubt a person which would normally pirate a game, will pay money for it just because she has to wait a short while longer for the cracked version. This can work only for very cheap games – like 1$ cheap.

  • Meho

    Just for those keeping tabs: the Russian version of Assassin’s Creed II has apparently been successfully cracked, with a fix for the saves too. Of course, I don’t KNOW this for sure but that’s the word circulating through the grapewine.

  • Cesar

    Brazil is a strong competitor in the piracy rates. 95%-97% if I am not mistaken.

    Anyway, I don’t have a problem with the privacy issue. Not even with the assumption that we are all thieves. If you extrapolate that idea, you will conclude we shouldn’t have patrol cars on the streets. They assume people will commit crimes and have to keep watch. Homo homini lupus. Society isn’t perfect and even though losses are part of the model, no one is ready to lose out of good faith alone. I don’t mean to say DRM and police watch are the same thing, I’m just saying it’s not that simple to draw a line where it becomes offensive to monitor society.

    That being said, it is not acceptable to have a DRM impact gameplay at all. I don’t mind it authenticating my copy. But if I am offline it has to work. And if I loose connection during the game I shouldn’t be kicked out.

    And while the efficacy of the solution might be questionable under these circumstances, like I said in the previous comment, it only tends to increase.

  • Andrew

    “Ubi and others who use draconian DRM typically insist that if they ever go out of business or shut servers down, they’ll issue patches so the games can be played offline.”

    I have seen this happen to absolutely zero games ever. The fact that it is nearly impossible to sanction any work on IP if a company is in administration is the key. That and it is non-trivial to get around your own disk DRM by producing an installer that will work with your disk copy to install it.

    I’d love to be proved wrong…this is by far the most worrying thing of the deal, just installed Bioshock 2 and it has online activation (sigh)…worried I might need to download cracked versions to install it in the future!

    Oh, did you see the patch notes of the first patch? It makes the DRM very very very slightly “better” (I mean, better as in “still shit”):

    http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/17456/Assassin%27s+Creed+2+Patch+1.01+-+US

    “Game can now be continued from the exact same point when connection is restored”

    Ho ho ho. Ho.

  • Gregg B

    I like this bit:

    “Only those who purchased a copy of ACII or SHV legally appear to be affected. Pirates playing illegally downloaded cracked versions of the game are able to play without a problem.”

    Is it apparent pirates are having no problems yet? If they’ve properly cracked it then what I feared (above) is true. Last I heard was that the DRM apparently downloads levels or important files as you play. I don’t know whether this is true or not though.

  • Spike

    Meho beat me to it.  I just read a similar article on The Register.  I don’t suppose that the DDoS attack will make Ubi rethink its evil ways, but this might (I can dream, can’t I?):

    “Meanwhile Ubisoft’s much criticised controls have been broken by software hackers. A hacker group called Skid-Row managed to bypass DRM restrictions on Silent Hunter 5 less than 24 hours after the game was published. Skid Row has releasing a crack for the game based on this work, Zdnet reports. ®”

    Full article here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/08/ubisoft_anti_drm_hack_attack/

  • Littermate

    Spike.  RE: The Register article
    There is a comment to that article that claims the crack for SH5 is not a complete crack and would only allow an incomplete experience, because not only are save games stored online but some of the game data files are stored online too, implying that the boxed game you buy is incomplete.  This seems plausible and effective IMO, because if I was demanding an internet connection for my software this is how I would do it.  It demands not only that a games code be cracked but that missing data files be supplied too.

  • Spike

    Having just read this article – link below – I’m thinking that DRM will be fine and dandy AND hunky-dory with me as long as the packaging it comes in is “green”.  Yep.  That makes it more palatable.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/1620105/ubisoft-green-recycled-case-digital-manual-sustainable-packaging

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I would kind of like to buy games in potato cases.

  • xtal

    I was thinking… and remembered one of the most creative instances of “DRM” if you can call it that: King’s Quest VI! I looked it up and sure enough it is mentioned on KQVI’s Wikipedia page:

    A booklet titled “Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles” (written by Jane Jensen) is included in the KQVI package. Aside from providing additional background to the game’s setting, this booklet serves as part of the game’s copy-protection. The player will not be able to pass the puzzles on the Cliffs of Logic that guard the Isle of the Sacred Mountain without information from the booklet. The booklet also includes a poem encoding the solution to one of the puzzles in the labyrinth on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain.

    I guess that’s not very feasible today, what with widespread use of the internet around the world. I still think it’s more creative than the “thank you for your money, we intend to treat you like a criminal” method.

  • Bluebogle

    I played the KQVI game with the booklet. I was a kid at the time, and thought the booklet was so cool! It really added to the whole game’s experience.

    The quest for Glory games came with fun booklets as well, though I don’t remember if they had copy protection elements to ’em.

    Ahh, the good old days..

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