Dark Souls - Official PC Site, August Release

GFWL isn't new, it's just completely useless.

GFWL is that bad for PC gamers,but not a deal breaker.I have had minor issues with GFW but it was the only way i could play Minervas Den. Which was the BEST story driven DLC i have ever expierenced. Already checked my account ,and it still works although they went and changed my Tag name to tomboyishpuppy4 with a little Xbox kid with saggy pants next to my list of 3 downloads.

I'm surprised GFWL is still going, even Microsoft themselves don't seem to be too enthusiastic about it - the GFWL Marketplace program that comes with installations doesn't do much anymore, it just directs you to go to Xbox.com.

Last time I used GFWL with Arkham City it seemed to work okay, but in other games before that I periodically had an issue where it'd get stuck at the login screen taking forever to sign in, forcing me to close the game with task manager. I did eventually find a solution, which was to clear your profile in the Marketplace program, but even after doing that it'd still happen occassionally.

Encrypting saves is unacceptable though.

they went and changed my Tag name to tomboyishpuppy4 with a little Xbox kid with saggy pants next to my list of 3 downloads.

That xbox kid appeared for a reason, because if we want to be precise, GFWL doesn't exist anymore. GFWL title and website is history. Now its XBox live for everyone, whether you are playing on a PC or an Xbox360.
And everyone gets that xbox kid.

—- EDIT —-
It's really funny:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20…ls-pc-petition

Originally Posted by Thiraury
I remember when steam came about and how everyone was bashing it, refusing to buy games that used it etc.etc. Now it's pretty much accepted and for many a prefered method for buying and playing games.

And that's going to be with Games For Windows Live, too.

Originally Posted by blackcanopus
Now its XBox live for everyone, whether you are playing on a PC or an Xbox360.

… And people didn't believe me when I said that MS was trying to make the PC a kind of xbox ? Now THAT is funny !
It's always the same story for me : I predict things - and people don't believe me.
But time usually shows that I was right.

I guess a demo is highly unlikely. I'd like to try the so-called best actionRPG combat before deciding whether such a combat-heavy game is worth my time.

waaahhh, waaaaahhh, …. sniff….

I had trouble with GFWL when it first came out. It was pretty shitty with Batman: AA on the PC. I just disabled the malware. Hopefully it's better now.

On another more relevant topic, has anyone but me linked their facebook account to the official PC site? Why would I want to do this? Have I screwed myself somehow?

The difference is you can start Steam games in offline mode with no problems.

With GFWL you have to worry about losing your saved games or not being able to save at all if you're not online and connected to it.

I'm stuck with dial-up so that kinda sucks. I had no problem with the last Splinter Cell game (ubisofts always on drm at the time) but GFWL is a buggy save game eating piece of crap.

Of course I'll still be buying Dark Souls, but I'd rather just have the difficulty of the game to bitch about and not lost saves (or having to constantly make back ups of them).

Originally Posted by Kostaz
I guess a demo is highly unlikely. I'd like to try the so-called best actionRPG combat before deciding whether such a combat-heavy game is worth my time.

Ask a friend with a PS3/Xbox360 that has the game. Problem solved.

I remember playing some GFWL games. There was a funny little mod I installed.

http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/1086

Maybe someone will code somthing similar for Dark Souls?

Maybe - maybe not. But what do I know about game clients? I don't even like STEAM…

Originally Posted by azarhal
The "if you want to" isn't valid anymore (or it depends on the client version?). I had to create a "Live" account to play Batman Arkham Asylum last year. I couldn't play "offline" like I did in other GFWL games.

You didn't, I played Batman AA with an offline account fine- you might have had to scroll down slightly to see the offline account option, but it is there. I've now played half a dozen (?) Live games without a single problem, and all offline.

Certainly better than the outright moronism that is "you must be online to use offline mode!" you get from steam.

Originally Posted by DPB
I'm surprised GFWL is still going, even Microsoft themselves don't seem to be too enthusiastic about it - the GFWL Marketplace program that comes with installations doesn't do much anymore, it just directs you to go to Xbox.com.

Live is going to be integrated into Win8 so it ain't going anywhere. All they've really done is amalgamate GfWL and Xbox Live into one product run by one group of people instead of having separate teams and products.

I have had many periodic problems with GFWL games. I don't like the 'minimal' user interface popping up in the middle of the game. I don't know where my game saves are with this interface. You will have two separate progress saves for online and offline play! Maybe it is just me as a PC user as this system looks like is designed for consoles! To me it is just another piece of bloated software that M$ is cramming onto us and into their operating systems.

My only question is why developers choose this interface for their games? Is it cheaper than Steam? Are they lazy to do a proper PC port with Steam interface and choose GFWL due to its link to Xbox?

I want one week without reading about a segment of gamers not happy vocalizing there loud opinions. Oh wait its the internet.

A petition has already been started, hoping to pressure Namco Bandai into not using GFWL. Within an hour of its publishing, the thing scored 600 signatures and at the time of writing that number is up to 2,560. One can expect it to climb over the next day or so.

"GFWL is unpopular, difficult to use, inconvenient, has terrible online support (a key feature in Dark Souls), and is downright unpleasant," reads the petition. "After anxiously awaiting a PC release for this fantastic game it feels like a real slap in the face hearing Dark Souls will use Games for Windows Live. We recommend Valve's Steamworks in place, as this DRM is much easier to use, less intrusive, more reliable, and more accepted among PC gamers."

The usual arguments over whether or not gamers are being entitled and spoiled have already started to brew. Seriously people I'm reminded of the saying if you can do better be my guess and make your own game.

I'm disappointed by some games but I don't flood the internet with ultimatums and demand they change it. Breathe deeply and repeat after me it's just a game.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Seriously can't people accept what there given anymore.

LOL. We aren't being GIVEN anything. We are being asked to PURCHASE a product. Welcome to capitalism and welcome to free speech. If you can't handle people's opinions, then perhaps it is time to unplug. Free markets work because of something called freedom of information, which informs buying decisions. Why do you even bother posting just to complain about others posting? Do you realize the irony in this?

Anyway, GFWL is garbage, period. I will continue to point this out until GFWL is truly dead.

Originally Posted by Brumbek
LOL. We aren't being GIVEN anything. We are being asked to PURCHASE a product. Welcome to capitalism and welcome to free speech. If you can't handle people's opinions, then perhaps it is time to unplug. Free markets work because of something called freedom of information, which informs buying decisions. Why do you even bother posting just to complain about others posting? Do you realize the irony in this?

Anyway, GFWL is garbage, period. I will continue to point this out until GFWL is truly dead.

Why not seems all that people do is bitch and sign petitions over every game released. It wouldn't be the internet otherwise. I like to call it dammed if you do dammed if you don't.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I want one week without reading about a segment of gamers not happy vocalizing there loud opinions. Oh wait its the internet.

A petition has already been started, hoping to pressure Namco Bandai into not using GFWL. Within an hour of its publishing, the thing scored 600 signatures and at the time of writing that number is up to 2,560. One can expect it to climb over the next day or so.


The usual arguments over whether or not gamers are being entitled and spoiled have already started to brew. Seriously can't people accept what there given anymore. I'm reminded of the saying if you can do better be my guess and make your own game.

I'm disappointed by some games but I don't flood the internet with ultimatums and demand they change it. Breathe deeply and repeat after me it's just a game.

Let's not mistake what's going on here. They are not giving us a game out of the kindness of their hearts. They are selling us a game because they saw the opportunity to make some more cash after seeing the results of the petition.

They are not all of the sudden in love with pc gaming. If the petition had stopped at 20,000 we wouldn't have seen the game. It's all about the money. As a pc gamer i'm appreciative of them bringing it to pc but I don't owe it to them to shut up and buy whatever they want to give me.

As a business owner i'm they first one to support the right of companies to do whatever they want with their products but i'm also a consumer and would hate to see a world where consumers just lay down and accept what they are being given.Especially when it's being given to us for $59.99.

Originally Posted by vurt
It doesnt run at windows startup like Steam, taking up resources no matter if you've decided to use Steam or not that particular day. Couldnt care less if it runs in the background while actually playing, that's a whole different thing.

So…untick Steam's "Run when computer starts"….?

Originally Posted by Dhruin
So…untick Steam's "Run when computer starts"….?

That's not what i'm talking about, i mean the "Steam Client Service". It will run no matter what, i could disable it completely in Services of course, but this service is required for Steam to start, AFAIK. So there's no way of using Steam without it always running partially in the background.

No bigge, just irritating, i'm very picky, i want my OS as "clean" as possible Helps when troubleshooting something.

Steam client service does not run in the background, It is a manual service, it will only start when you run Steam client.
Run 'Windows Task Manager', go to 'Services' tab and find 'Steam Client Service'. You'll note that when Steam client is not running, its status is 'Stopped'.

blackcanopus: you're right, it was a manual service

Really great game, can't wait for PC version to replay it.. Hope we will be able to mod it (textures at least )