Buy or Wait

[surfcandy]

Just wondering if I should but now or later. I have other games on the agenda for now. I played the Sengoku Jidai: Shadow of the Shogun beta and enjoyed it. I know I will eventually buy it. The question I have is this how different is the expanded release version from the final beta? Again the reason I am asking is I have other games on the agenda and will definitely buy Sengoku Jidai: Shadow of the Shogun either now or at a later date.

[cherryfunk]

I suggest buying on Steam -- which I just did. The only way to get Matrix/Slitherine to enter the modern era, and start pricing their games accordingly, is to show them that Steam is the platform they need to use.

This way it's not just a purchase, it's a blow for freedom and the future of wargaming.

[FroBodine]

Hahaha! Well said, cherryfunk!

[Stephen1024]

Steam selling with 10% discount £20.39

Slitherine selling at £19.99 that is also with 10% discount, If you buy from Slitherine you get the ability to register it on steam and have both. Also Slitherine account holders that register games get an anniversary discount for been registered members which depending how many games will define the size discount you get for been member. That is given on the aniversary of the date of opening an account with Slitherine.

I agree some of their prices are bit unfair example older close combats are over priced for their age £28.99, I wish they put older close combats on steam too.

Then again there pricing for Vietnam 65 was low I very had my moneys worth.

Panzer Corps and all add on I had my moneys worth 3-5 times over.

So its swings and roundabouts, but by not supporting companies like Slitherine you could lose big strategy game company and find there not much else out there for us that like these sorts of games. Most companies only out make fast buck, Slitherine based on people that love games we do.

The money you give for games to company like Slitherine helps produce DLC and new games so by buy from Slitherine your helping to support more games you love.

Vietnam 65 and one the close combat games newer one, I got them on bundle deal on bundle stars which I was told about by Slitherine.

Can also say Slitherine know myself lots of others buy a copy and run their games on multiple machines and have it in steam account and Slitherine don't mind, they encourage modding, which lot companies don't, I never had issue Slitherine not done there best to sort.

(Yes before someone reminds me I did lose copy of Panzer Corps and unfortunately Slitherine couldn't replace but that wasn't Slitherine fault, that was fault of Email company I never use again, I wasn't member of Slitherine back then)

I can say that lots people will complain but very few actually give praise where its due, Slitherine not perfect, but I as a person am not perfect, I prefer more companies like Slitherine then lot the other game companies out there.

[rich12545]

I suggest buying on Steam -- which I just did. The only way to get Matrix/Slitherine to enter the modern era, and start pricing their games accordingly, is to show them that Steam is the platform they need to use.

This way it's not just a purchase, it's a blow for freedom and the future of wargaming.

I'm confused. How is Steam, with their horrific DRM a blow for freedom?

I use Steam for the convenience and I've bought a few things on sale like Command about a week ago. But it's NOT freedom and I generally prefer to buy from Slithering/Matrix for the freedom of having it both ways.

[Hrothgar]

I agree, Rich. I buy from Steam, because it's nearly inescapable. However, if I can get a game from the publisher, I always go that route.

As for the thread topic, I'd say get it now, while there's a discount. I've already played about five games of it, and I'm really enjoying it.

[Rosseau]

Slitherine is getting with the program on discounts. Some games that have been out only three months got discounted. That is unheard of in the past.

So if you can wait 3-6 months, you might get 50% off. It's always a gamble, but for me, I rarely ever wait

[IainMcNeil]

Don't hope for 50% off in 6 months! I cant think of any game that's ever done that in less than a year. DLC's sometimes get discounts earlier to tie in with other promotions of base games but not base games.

[stefankollers]

The price of the game may come down slightly....After a year or so. I look on these games as investments, by that I mean how much time I will put in playing the game. I check out the reviews, youtube videos and decide if it's for me.
I bought Pike and Shot and later Campaigns and really had my moneys worth, yet I would say I have not touched most of the content...Most of the Historical battles that came with the game I have yet to play, many of the Army lists still not touched.

You can safely bet that much more content will be added to this game, and yes the Dlc's are good value considering the content. Yesterday I bought the deluxe version of this game, I hope to put alot of hours into this game. I know nothing about Japanese History, which is about as much I knew about the period Pike and Shot covers. But having bought the games I expect to pick up alot of information from those better informed. As I read through various threads on the Forums. I can only say while your waiting for a big discount, you could be playing. If this period of history interests you and you like what you have seen.........What are you waiting for ? You could be playing a really good game.

[Triarii]

I can only say while your waiting for a big discount, you could be playing. If this period of history interests you and you like what you have seen.........What are you waiting for ? You could be playing a really good game.

Spot on

[bssybeep]

I suggest buying on Steam -- which I just did. The only way to get Matrix/Slitherine to enter the modern era, and start pricing their games accordingly, is to show them that Steam is the platform they need to use.

This way it's not just a purchase, it's a blow for freedom and the future of wargaming.

Steam is a system hog, drm crap. I do not understand why anyone would ever buy on steam when they could buy drm free directly from Matrix or GOG? I've read so many horror stories of games failing to run properly due to the Steam app as opposed to the game code itself. I'm willing to pay alittle more to avoid the Steam BS.

[surfcandy]

Being the OP I asked if the released collectors version is the same as the latest beta version. If you know could you please comment. As I previously stated I will definitely be buying this game it is just a question of when since I have another game that I am saving up for released next week.

[Old_Warrior]

I tried Steam play once ... omg it took forever to load. I was using the Napoleon:Total War game. Never again will I use Steam. The Slitherine server rocks.

[zakblood]

2 forum pages open, and steam running with one game on the go atm, plus background apps and AV / Firewall running, no issues or slow downs using steam, certainly isn't a system hog

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[rbodleyscott]

Being the OP I asked if the released collectors version is the same as the latest beta version. If you know could you please comment. As I previously stated I will definitely be buying this game it is just a question of when since I have another game that I am saving up for released next week.

There were a number of bug corrections, tweaks to scenarios, graphical improvements as well as the addition of unit function and general icons since the last beta version.

[Stephen1024]

There are advantages to steam, games often discounted and there some massive discounts. There no need of disk to run a game. You can download and run games from anywhere at any time. If you hard drive fails you just log in steam download games again. Steam do work get games running that don't on modern systems.

I have over 100 games on steam that if I had go out buy on disk would cost way to much, I picked up most games for 2-5 english pounds, they all work fine. Some my fav games Panzer Corps, Jade empire, star wars, etc etc I have both steam copy and a copy from company, I keep the steam copy as clean copy and company copy as playground to use for mods.

There are advantages to both steam and original company copies, I exploit both to my advantage and make things work for me.

Why find things to complain about and then use that negative as reason against, when you can exploit them to gain what you want.

Lot old games wouldn't really exist any more without steam gog etc good discounts.
Company like Slitherine lots modding of there games, great games made for group of people, that most of the time most companies wouldn't touch, advantage of game from Slitherine gains steam copy at no extra cost.

Yet people need complain?

[surfcandy]

Being the OP I asked if the released collectors version is the same as the latest beta version. If you know could you please comment. As I previously stated I will definitely be buying this game it is just a question of when since I have another game that I am saving up for released next week.

There were a number of bug corrections, tweaks to scenarios, graphical improvements as well as the addition of unit function and general icons since the last beta version.

Thanks,enjoyed the beta so much I just had to purchase today.

[kongxinga]

On the topic, for me it was a definite buy. I have bemoaned the lack of wargames with East Asian themes. For example people have said the Empires of the Dragon Book is never coming to FOG Digital because of a small market. Well, do your part and prove them wrong and get this.

Now I apologize in advance for the Steam diatribe, but I would like to make clear why I dislike steam and have never paid them money. I do have a library of game codes when I purchased computers, but never bought direct from them.

As for Steam, ease of use/ discounts and other considerations is nice, but not really important to me. My beef is that they have degraded consumer rights and experience, especially with their ability to change TOS unilaterally without notice. So that means if down the road they want to shut down your library, tough. If you don't accept their TOS, then they can helpfully deactivate your entire library for you and lock you out. And yet there are people lapping up this degraded consumer experience as superior. I remember and prefer how it was done in the nineties, therefore I always get a physical copy if I can.

And if you think what they are doing is standard practice, this ability to unilaterally change the contract terms ran into trouble in Australia a while ago. In contract terms that is complete nonsense, not that TOS meets the full definition of contract for the most part. The only reason they get away with it here is the new generation of consumers who let them get away with it. This new generation may never have bought games before Steam and don't know how well it worked before.

Most importantly, they take a pretty hefty cut from developers if you wish to publish on their platform. 30% is what I heard. Do you want to feed the middleman distributors or the creative people who make the simulations and wargames? It's like people who say they like games and buy 2nd hand from gamestop. So they pay $55 for a game that costs $60 new, but that game has been used, and more importantly, none of that $55 goes to the developers or even the publishers. It goes all into gamestop. $5 dollar is a good price for new game smell, and the satisfaction of that at least some money is incentivizing development of games I like. I also like unpacking new games, its just my quirk.

Steam does solve some of the marketing and distributing problems, but for most of you all you are informed consumers. You know about the existence of the games, you know about places to purchase them directly that is not steam. This means that for you Steam has no value add. Some may say "I want all my games in one place". Well you get a steam code too if you buy direct. So the choice is very simple in this case.

There are other people who justifiably oppose steam on a Free Software point of view, but my main concern is consumer experience and making sure I am incentivizing the right parties. I can live without distributors since I can go directly to the makers, but the opposite is not as good.

[Jagger2002]

As for Steam, ease of use/ discounts and other considerations is nice, but not really important to me. My beef is that they have degraded consumer rights and experience, especially with their ability to change TOS unilaterally without notice. So that means if down the road they want to shut down your library, tough. If you don't accept their TOS, then they can helpfully deactivate your entire library for you and lock you out. And yet there are people lapping up this degraded consumer experience as superior. I remember and prefer how it was done in the nineties, therefore I always get a physical copy if I can.

Agreed. IIRC, there were some ugly incidents with ebooks erased after purchase a few years back. I really don't trust this cloud business that much. It leaves the buyer at the mercy of the good will of corporations. Personally, I prefer having my own copies in my possession and preferably on a computer without internet access. Actually my top of the line computer is always off line-no internet access at all. They will last for years at top performance if you keep them off the internet. It doesn't take long for performance to start downhill once a computer is hooked up to the internet. So I use my second string computer and older monitor to play Pike and Shot on-line and my top computer with quality monitor to play the AI without the need for internet access.

[Rosseau]

Yes, great we have the option to buy at Matrix/Slitherine and also get a Steam key if we want.

Way OT, but interesting topic running a computer offline all the time. I assume you could download updates from your other computer to external drive, etc. However, you would be "missing" Windows system updates, etc., or maybe wouldn't need them at all?

If you did have to go online after a year or two, that would be ugly