I was going to purchase this newest version of MYST, but it seems I need 'Steam" first, which leads me to thsse (Woefuly ignorant) questions..
1. What is 'Steam?'
2. Where do I get it?
3. Does it cost anything?
4. Am I the only Boomer who doesn't already know this stuff?

1. Water Vapour
2. A kettle
3. No
4. Yes

:-)

Ah...mj2c
Your answers were absolutely correct, but sadly of little help. I must now go to my room and pout. I'll try to purchase the game tomorrow.

Pout no more little one for the answers are below -

1 Steam is a system for buying games. Their prog needs to be running on you system to play the games.
2 The Steam website - http://store.steampowered.com/
3 No
4 Still yes :-)

Thank you, Thank you; You've saved me from unseemliness since it is quite unseemly for an old man (67) to crawl off and pout. I was on my way but have been saved. (Little One? I haven't been little since 1962.)

To clarify, the Steam client itself doesn't cost anything (other than resources on your computer system) but the games you buy for it DO cost whatever their price for the games is. And at the moment, RealMyst Masterpiece is $17.99.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/244430/

Note that Steam is not DRM-free, if that matters to you.

Thanks for the info Jenny100. (I refuse to mention that I have no idea to what DRM refers!)

DRM = Digital Rights Management.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
In this case it means your game will no longer install if Steam decides to stop supporting it.

In contrast, if you bought a DRM-free game from somewhere, you could install and play it as long as your version of Windows was compatible.

Jenny100 what about the Apple version of the game. I'm hoping to purchase it at the Apple Store online. Will I need steam or do I buy and just download?

No you dont need Steam for Apple Store stuff.

mj2c is correct.
Just download and install through the Mac App Store in the usual way.

Jenny,
To your knowledge, has Steam ever done that? (Stop supporting a game.)

I'm not Jenny, but I am pretty sure they haven't. The concern is that the company might fold one day and leave customers holding a DRM-locked bag.

Steam insists on verifying your license to each and every game - each and every time you start it, so should you lack internet access for awhile or (especially) should Steam go out of business (and no longer have authenticating servers for the Steam client to find,) you might find it hard to play the games bought from them.

Its an additional layer of DRM, basically. The most annoying part is the necessity of being online EVERY time you want to play a game you got through their store, especially those that are single player, lengthy, take up the whole screen so its hard to get your computer offline after 'verifying' once again, and offer no additional services or gaming options that offset the annoyance of having to play it online...

Adventures are usually are offline, lengthy, single-player experiences, so Steam's requirements are especially noticed by AG folks. These are the short-term drawbacks to getting your games through Steam, but they are otherwise a reputable distributor.

People bring up the possibility that folks could one day be permanently locked out of their games to explain the long-term drawbacks of being a Steam customer (unless someone released a patch...which they probably would if they were going out of business.) Also, any games you'd bought but hadn't downloaded by then might be essentially lost as well.

I honestly think that being locked out unexpectedly because some natural disaster ruined internet access for awhile is much more likely than Steam disappearing overnight and taking everyone's keys with them, but even this possibility highlights why customers prefer GoG's policies and/or physical disks (especially ones that don't require Steam/online activation to run.)

Its the usual concern about Cloud products. Are they true purchases or effectively long-term rentals?

Personally, I prefer disks, but I've been given quite a number of Steam games, so I have tried the service, and found it fun. For ex: I played "Dear Esther" after a friendly fellow gamer gave me a Steam key for it at Christmas. Worked fine, though I had trouble getting out of the game long enough to shut off the internet after 'verifying' the game and starting it.

The biggest thing to remember is that any game you buy through Steam needs to be started while you are online - so it can be verified - every - single - time.

Thank you Salar of Myst. I did understand the concern of Steam (or whoever) not being around some day. I was curious based on Jenny's wording, if they had actually stopped support of any games or if the thought is that, that may happen even if they are still around.

I also prefer discs but find the problem to be similar with them - with the constantly and quickly changing operating systems, a lot of the game discs don't work either.

I know what you mean about old game discs. I have quite a few that won't run without DosBox or ScummV's help, and - when available - its much easier to get a GoG version to work on modern machines - where all the emulation settings have been tweaked correctly for me. For example, I own the old Tex Murphy games on physical disks, sitting in their original shrink-wrapped store boxes- but its the GoG downloads that I am likely to play anytime soon.

If Steam lasts even five years, that's longer than most people would need to enjoy their games, but I hope they adopt GoG's policy of supporting games bought through their store to play on current equipment. As the OSes continue to change, I suspect it will be this follow-up support or (lack thereof) which will determine whether the public at large feels that Steam's requirements are worthwhile.

I believe Steam has quit supporting a game for a company that has gone bankrupt. I bought Simon the Sorcerer 5 from Steam and on my new computer tried numerous times to get it to work and the page to verify the key wasn't there anymore so finally Steam gave me my money back. But, with more and more companies going bankrupt, I think that is a real possibility.

I hadn't thought of developers going broke being a reason to quit supporting a game they had sold. It should have been on their servers after all, and no reason to think the sale wouldn't still be valid. You are right. Many of the new games are from little Indy groups who may not stay together long. If they make a policy of not honoring those sales, they could see lash-back sooner than later! Sorry to hear Steam didn't choose to help you get it running. At least you got your money back!

I agree with most of this, but you do not have to be on line to play their games. You can also select the option to play off line which is what I do. There might be a certain time period before they bug you to go on line, but it hasn't happened to me yet.

I hope the GOG model will be the way things go in the future...

I think this question has been asked but im still unclear as to the difference between the two RealMyst Masterpiece editions. Steam has this for 17 bucks while GOG also has a RealMyst Masterpiece edition for 6 bucks or so. Whats the difference?

Well I went to the Steam website and found the answer to my question. Here's a quote


"Except this is not a DLC package, this is the game remade entirely with new assets bringing the game's looks further into the 21st century (arguably, some of the textures and objects look lacking in the polish that I usually associate with Cyan). RealMyst and Myst Masterpiece Edition came out in 2000, that's 14 years ago. "

Agreed about GoG. I hadn't found that setting to play offline as yet, but I will certainly look for it! Thanks for the heads up

Just launch your Steam client and when your list of games is there, click on Steam in the upper left of the screen and select Settings. I think the Steam client must be fully updated before you can play off line. There should be something in their support FAQs.

Just had a go of this on a machine with the same spec as mine and it ran with a lower framerate than Skyrim does. Is this Unity engine the one they are using for the new Sherlock game? If so I've had it.

Here are the Steam instructions for using Steam's Offline Mode:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555

A note for Mac users --
Though they have "Steam for Mac" instructions on that webpage (as well as "Steam for PC" instructions), if you buy the game through the Apple Store, you don't have to worry about Steam or configuring the Offline Mode. It's only if you buy a game through Steam that you have to deal with the Steam DRM. There may be some Mac games that are only available through Steam, though there are certainly many Mac games that are only available through the Apple Store.

Are you able to turn down the visual enhancements for the game in the game options?


Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is using the Unreal 3 engine, not the Unity engine.
***Wikipedia info on Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments***