Which is better, GOG or the Epic Games Store?

[aquova]

I have such a soft spot for GoG. No company is perfect, but I like their DRM-free stance and support for older titles. I have to admit Steam is a lot more convenient in many ways, but I do have a good portion of my library on GoG.

EGS isn't the devil that everyone makes them out to be IMO, I don't particularly like or use them either, but it seems that a lot of the criticism EGS gets is simply because people like Steam's monopoly on things.

 

[Deleted member 420614]

gog, steam or epic does not matter as long as I can get games to play at a fair price I don´t care who sells them. One big reason I know epic is hated allot is Americans are scared about them collecting data on them and send to china.
Like Apple, Google, and so on are no collecting data and sell to china and other countries.

 

[Leo-Dash]

100% GoG and Steam for me!
But I also got an Epic Games account so I can hoard free games for future!

There is a channel on Telegram that notifies you about free game giveaways and I stack my Steam, GoG and Epic Game accounts

 

[iisoide]

GOG because its DRM free policy is far more important and crucial to game preservation than me getting free games.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

One big reason I know epic is hated allot is Americans are scared about them collecting data on them and send to china.

I forgot about that but then again I still think that paying for exclusives on PC is not a good idea.

For consoles it's understandable as an exclusive would use 100% of their capabilities.

 

[Deleted member 420614]

My biggest issue with both gog and epic and even ubsoft connect or EA app is having my games spread out. I used steam sense 2009 and honestly I try to get most games on steam.

I mean imagine IRL you had 1 storage in the house where you live then you have 1 storage in another city and a third story in another. That´s no conveniences that´s pain in the ass.

Sure gog has a feature you can run and launch most games you own from gog galaxy but still means you need steam, epic and so on installed and they need to launch.

Same with steam if you own any EA or Ubisoft games on steam their launcher still needs you to log in and launch.

Honestly PC gameing in the past was the best you installed your games from a CD/DVD and put a bunch of short cuts on your desk or like me in 1 map.

No need for extra programs to launch. I mean just running steam alone takes around 500mb but then you run EA or ubisofts app that´s another 100+ mb. Sure it´s not allot but as a saying in my country goes Small streams make great rivers. Meaning more and more shit running the more it adds up.

Soon we need 128GB of RAM to run 1 game becuse you ned 40 clients to run the damn game.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

GOG because its DRM free policy is far more important and crucial to game preservation than me getting free games.

They dont preserve anything. Once the profit windows for old cracked games is gone the service will close, just like the other platforms.

Preservation by GOG is just bullshit marketing and faked concern. They paywalled noCD cracked version of decades old Ubisoft games no one cared about, from the same abandonware sites they forced the ISOs to be removed, and they will do as they're told by the big publishers and pull the plug on all that once neoretro is out of fashion.

 

[iisoide]

They dont preserve anything. Once the profit windows for old cracked games is gone the service will close, just like the other platforms.

Preservation by GOG is just bullshit marketing and faked concern. They paywalled noCD cracked version of decades old Ubisoft games no one cared about, from the same abandonware sites they forced the ISOs to be removed, and they will do as they're told by the big publishers and pull the plug on all that once neoretro is out of fashion.

Sure GOG itself doesn't preserve the games, but the fact that they are DRM free means that they can be shared around without restriction if necessary and in doing so keeping them alive instead of becoming lost media like most live service games will inevitably become, and I think that's why it's so important.

For me personally it's not fake concern. Online game stores like Steam, Ubisoft Connect, EA Play etc. will eventually shut down one day and with that so will your temporary license of the game as you don't truly own the game. That's why preservation is important. To keep games alive for the next generation, and then the next, etc. I wouldn't have been able to play so many amazing games from before I was born if it wasn't for people preserving the ROMs of these older games, and I'm extremely thankful for that because it gave me such a great insight on how games have developed over time too as well as broadening my horizons on the types of games that i enjoy.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Sure GOG itself doesn't preserve the games, but the fact that they are DRM free means that they can be shared around without restriction if necessary and in doing so keeping them alive instead of becoming lost media like most live service games will inevitably become, and I think that's why it's so important.

You cant legally share GOG games. You could when they were abandonware because it was a grey area. Not with GOG anymore. The license you buy is as restrictive as any other licence you'd buy on the other platforms.

 

[MajesticSiN]

GOG all day everyday.

 

[Leo-Dash]

GoG WOULD BE 10/10 FOR ME if they Didn't CUT support of PaySafe cards for Greece
Literally I made a Gog account excited only to get punched in the face with this!

I do not want to use Debit/Credit cards
With steam I can use either Paysafe cards or buy Steam Cards from shops

 

[midnitecarnival]

I only use GOG for 'Good Old Games'
They do a decent job of patching up titles that would otherwise be difficult to run nowadays.
Epic and Steam for everything else.

GOG is essentially the means to reclaim (currently free) abdoneware and re-establish legal liability for possession of it. You can't claim, in court, that the software 'Is not still sold anywhere anymore.'

In contract, Epic is giving away many games to get them recognized in an oversaturated market where discovering them otherwise is like finding a needle in a haystack.

 

[foxpaws]

Sure Epic giving away games is good but it doesnt have the same care for games as GoG. Especially because they allow you to actually have the game independent of their launcher. Just generally the stuff that GoG cares to keep available makes them a more interesting platform to me.

 

[Fergoose]

I lost access to my modest Steam game library when they understandably discontinued support for Windows XP about 10-15 years ago. GoG has been an absolute godsend with its ability to download games directly on to your computer and ensure you own and possess them for as long as you want, not merely 'rent' them with the risk of losing access.

The website is really nicely set up, clearly lists system specifications and the offers are fantastic. In the last couple of years I have bought enough games to last a lifetime for probably around 100-150 euros. Plus I still have 50 games on my watchlist and that warm feeling from having legitimately acquired software because a company has made the effort to make it available (which I appreciate is not always possible).

Now all I need is some free time and to stop being addicted to Civilisation 3 and Mario Kart Wii so I can actually play something else.

 

[Sfjeov]

Gog but Epic is forgiven for giving me free games

 

[vulonkaaz's iconvulonkaaz]

the epic store experience is logging in every thursday to claim all the free games that you'll never install

 

[C-MS]

I've never used EGS and don't intend to, so GOG by default. I'm still salty over the original Unreal being delisted and won't support them.

Well, we are in this forum for that:

OldUnreal, purely devoted to the old Unreal (Tournament) versions

Digital Extreme sayd "we want or old games that Epic ruined to be free", and GoG did that.

Normaly I prefer great evil because is more fun, but for this one I choose the lesser one. I go with GoG.

 

[Hourai]

GoG is obviously better, since they make it so older games can run without any glaring issues. Getting a lot of sufficiently old games to work is a nightmare on anything older than windows 7, and I'd much rather deal with getting it off GoG's games than troubleshooting it for a few hours before giving up. Part of why I switched to Linux was because there were native ports of things I couldn't get running on windows 10 regardless of what I tried.

EGS is better if you want modern games, though. They just give them away for free; what's not to like? (Aside from that they sell your data, but the fact that websites have an "only spy on me a little" option that takes effort to avoid and predominantly use windows and chrome, I don't think people really care beyond a performative level). Don't think I'd pay for any of it, given my OS. It's better to just use Steam, because it has Proton to force compatibility. But I mean, I guess you could.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

GOG is as shitty as the other platforms. Their marketing just somehow managed to steal the merits of DOSBox and other preservation efforts and emulators.

All of this while they forced abandonware sites to remove ISOs of the original games from the servers, so they could be the only source of old cracked game available.

People thinking they contribute to preserving old games by buying on their platform are just smoking high grade copium.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

All of this while they forced abandonware sites to remove ISOs of the original games from the servers, so they could be the only source of old cracked game available.

Abandonware sites aren't fully legal.

In fact these are like rom sites but with unclaimed games.

People thinking they contribute to preserving old games by buying on their platform are just smoking high grade copium.

Well, legally available games with no DRM are preserved better than sites with no legal footing.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Abandonware sites aren't fully legal.

In fact these are like rom sites but with unclaimed games.


Well, legally available games with no DRM are preserved better than sites with no legal footing.

And yet here you are.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

And yet here you are.

Yes, for console games that are mostly unavailable legally even on modern systems.


I cannot tell how enhancements for PC games could be when you cannot really play them natively on modern computers.

I'd say that you're basically paying for the modern QoLs for games such as

System Shock: Enhanced Edition on Steam

Re-discover what made System Shock the first of it's kind, a ground breaking immersive sim that would inspire a generation of games to come....

store.steampowered.com

than just getting the original on DosBox.

You could theoretically get Shadow Warrior DOS for free on Steam but is this convenient?

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Yes, for console games that are mostly unavailable legally even on modern systems.


I cannot tell how enhancements for PC games could be when you cannot really play them natively on modern computers.

I'd say that you're basically paying for the modern QoLs for games such as

System Shock: Enhanced Edition on Steam

Re-discover what made System Shock the first of it's kind, a ground breaking immersive sim that would inspire a generation of games to come....

store.steampowered.com

than just getting the original on DosBox.

You could theoretically get Shadow Warrior DOS for free on Steam but is this convenient?

I have played and finished Shadow Warrior DOS when it released and also recently. Same as Blood DOS, also with the NBlood and GDX engine Nightdive tried to kill when they released their crappy port. They are the real games, you should try to play them at some point.

But you're moving goalposts again... You claim legal sites are better at preserving games than the abandonware/ROM sites. Might develop your point a bit when long running sites proved they got them preserved for DECADES now until GOG forced them to remove the links.

Here it is, grab it quick before the GOG ninjas come to take it down.

Blood (DOS) Download – RGT Repository

How to play Blood (DOS): Easy, Download and extract with winrar then simply drag and drop blood.exe into your DOSBox shortcut.

retrogametalk.com

 

[Rebecca]

I liked Epic until Sweeney started messing with politics that I can't support.
GOG is DRM free and I'm more into retro anyways.
Note: You get games for free if you have Amazon Prime (in both, GOG and Epic).

 

[soulsas]

GOG for sure. Fingers crossed Metal Gear 4 finally joins the retro lineup.