For those who are new to Steam, I want to know if Steam is sucking me dry

Happy Hopping

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jul 1, 2004
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I want to understand what on earth is steam doing when it comes to do buying a simple game:

So this is the 1st time I want to buy a game online, instead of buying a CD / DVD:

let's randomly pick a game, say Street Fighter V

they have:

Buy Street Fighter V​

and their price

then all of sudden, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Upgrade Kit + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V - Champion Edition​

1) what on earth is a season 5 pass?

then below is a bunch of "Content for this game"

Do I have to buy all those as well?

it has:

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 NAGOYA OJA BODY STAR Costumes Bundle

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 SHINOBISM GAMING Costumes Bundle


Street Fighter V - Capcom Pro Tour: 2022 Premier Pass

etc. etc. and they have 25 of them

and just below that, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Character Pass​

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Premium Pass​

==============================

so now a simple $20 game adds up to be several hundred $

and all the games I check out is like that

can someone explain the ins and out of Steam

and I went to GOG, and randomly picked R-type final 2

they have std. edition, then Deluxe Edition, and they said Deluxe c/w Artworks, and STage Pass. What's a stage pass? This is not a concert

Then they have a dozen or 2 of DLC. Why would people need them? Shouldn't the game itself c/w everything?
 
This is why some games that actually DO come with EVERYTHING are so satisfying and worth it. Especially if you can get them for dirt cheap from a software key selling website you can cut the price down by 2/3 and enjoy. Not only is paying full price crazy but the DLC is outrageous. Never pay full price. Always get that mega bargain key.
 
any pure multiplayer game with live content has this same problem:by the time you're done buying content packs for characters , plus season passes, you ends-up paying way more than a typical 60 dollar msrp
 
This has nothing to do with Steam. This is about the publishers coming out with DLC on top of DLC on top of DLC. Steam is just putting up what you can purchase because a lot of games nowadays end up with multiple DLC packs which cost a lot more than the original game did.
 
I want to understand what on earth is steam doing when it comes to do buying a simple game:

So this is the 1st time I want to buy a game online, instead of buying a CD / DVD:

let's randomly pick a game, say Street Fighter V

they have:

Buy Street Fighter V​

and their price

then all of sudden, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Upgrade Kit + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V - Champion Edition​

1) what on earth is a season 5 pass?

then below is a bunch of "Content for this game"

Do I have to buy all those as well?

it has:

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 NAGOYA OJA BODY STAR Costumes Bundle

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 SHINOBISM GAMING Costumes Bundle


Street Fighter V - Capcom Pro Tour: 2022 Premier Pass

etc. etc. and they have 25 of them

and just below that, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Character Pass​

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Premium Pass​

==============================

so now a simple $20 game adds up to be several hundred $

and all the games I check out is like that

can someone explain the ins and out of Steam

and I went to GOG, and randomly picked R-type final 2

they have std. edition, then Deluxe Edition, and they said Deluxe c/w Artworks, and STage Pass. What's a stage pass? This is not a concert

Then they have a dozen or 2 of DLC. Why would people need them? Shouldn't the game itself c/w everything?

Just do what I do and don't buy DLC add ons. It makes life a lot more simple.
 
so now a simple $20 game adds up to be several hundred $

and all the games I check out is like that

can someone explain the ins and out of Steam

and I went to GOG, and randomly picked R-type final 2

they have std. edition, then Deluxe Edition, and they said Deluxe c/w Artworks, and STage Pass. What's a stage pass? This is not a concert

Then they have a dozen or 2 of DLC. Why would people need them? Shouldn't the game itself c/w everything?

the base game contains the main game...anything extra are just additional content usually added after the game was released...DLC could be anything from additional missions to a huge expansion to multiplayer additions...read through the DLC description and see if you're interested in any of them...but if you're unsure just buy the base version which is the cheapest
 
This is why some games that actually DO come with EVERYTHING are so satisfying and worth it. Especially if you can get them for dirt cheap from a software key selling website you can cut the price down by 2/3 and enjoy. Not only is paying full price crazy but the DLC is outrageous. Never pay full price. Always get that mega bargain key.
where exactly do you get these prices?

all I can think of, is to play the games that are a few yr. old, and wait for the current game to become a few yr. old, then buy it. I have no problem of waiting.

I vaguely remember I did buy extra mission disk once, I think it's Wing Commander in HD floppy disk

P.S. if Steam is not a public trading co., it should be

By the way, I just did a search and discover this:

https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-dlc-in-gaming-how-does-it-work-4707377


Game developers have been accused of intentionally leaving content out of games so they can offer more DLC. Multiplayer games that offer a lot of power-ups for purchase are sometimes called "pay-to-win," since players with deeper wallets have an advantage.
 
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I want to understand what on earth is steam doing when it comes to do buying a simple game:

So this is the 1st time I want to buy a game online, instead of buying a CD / DVD:

let's randomly pick a game, say Street Fighter V

they have:

Buy Street Fighter V​

and their price

then all of sudden, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Upgrade Kit + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V - Champion Edition​

1) what on earth is a season 5 pass?

then below is a bunch of "Content for this game"

Do I have to buy all those as well?

it has:

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 NAGOYA OJA BODY STAR Costumes Bundle

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 SHINOBISM GAMING Costumes Bundle


Street Fighter V - Capcom Pro Tour: 2022 Premier Pass

etc. etc. and they have 25 of them

and just below that, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Character Pass​

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Premium Pass​

==============================

so now a simple $20 game adds up to be several hundred $

and all the games I check out is like that

can someone explain the ins and out of Steam

and I went to GOG, and randomly picked R-type final 2

they have std. edition, then Deluxe Edition, and they said Deluxe c/w Artworks, and STage Pass. What's a stage pass? This is not a concert

Then they have a dozen or 2 of DLC. Why would people need them? Shouldn't the game itself c/w everything?
This is a problem with Capcom, not Steam. Capcom has been doing the same kind of scummy content breakdown since SF4. Most fighting games seem to have moved to this content model, which is why I stopped playing them.

If you're new to the game just buy the standard Champion Edition.
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13444/Street_Fighter_V__Champion_Edition/

If you like the game and want more characters, then start looking at the character passes for the characters you want and buy them. If you don't like the game, you have a 2-hour gameplay window to request a refund.

I wouldn't consider buying SF5 or any of its content unless it's on sale. We're getting close to the winter sale, so just wait a few weeks.

For R-type, just like any other game, look at the content that comes with each bundle and decide whether or not you want it.
where exactly do you get these prices?

all I can think of, is to play the games that are a few yr. old, and wait for the current game to become a few yr. old, then buy it. I have no problem of waiting.

I vaguely remember I did buy extra mission disk once, I think it's Wing Commander in HD floppy disk

P.S. if Steam is not a public trading co., it should be

By the way, I just did a search and discover this:

https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-dlc-in-gaming-how-does-it-work-4707377
The issue with waiting too long is a publisher could decide to pull a game from sale, especially if it contains licensed content (music, characters, vehicles, etc.)

Steam should stay private. Going public would be the worst thing that would happen to PC gaming.

DLC and games being ripped of content is the fault of publishers, not Steam. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Man, you must have been out of gaming for a long time if this is new to you.
 
Just get Epic and save Money with their Free Stuff. Picked up New World half off it was pretty decent.
 
Street Fighter 5 is THE worst case scenario for repackaging the same content as different products. Ditto with its many, many, many DLC packages and bundles.
Steam makes it even more confusing by continuing to sell all of the older (often outdated) versions of the game along with various upgrade packs and bundles, too. I get Steam never wanting to pull old content, but Capcom should have done it on their end.

If you're looking to get the game + all of the characters, you want to buy the normal plain version of Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition and the Season 5 DLC. That will net you everything most people care about. It's missing a few Capcom Pro Tour background stages and outfits that are only sold separately, but it's 99% of the game content.
That's this product right here: https://store.steampowered.com/bund...ampion_Edition__Season_5_Premium_Pass_Bundle/

If you happen to own any other version of SF5, you can save $8 and get this one instead: https://store.steampowered.com/bund...on_Upgrade_Kit__Season_5_Premium_Pass_Bundle/
 
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well, I was looking at R-Type Final 2



same thing. All sort of "Deluxe edition" and dozens of DLC
 
any pure multiplayer game with live content has this same problem:by the time you're done buying content packs for characters , plus season passes, you ends-up paying way more than a typical 60 dollar msrp
and most of the DLC you buy is useless and only provides some visuals and gives you no in game advantage, so unless you feel like anyone on the internet actually cares about the skin on your gun or character, they are a waste of money. Go in and kick everyone's butt with default game skins and watch the flashy mofo's who have dropped thousands cry..
 
and most of the DLC you buy is useless and only provides some visuals and gives you no in game advantage, so unless you feel like anyone on the internet actually cares about the skin on your gun or character, they are a waste of money. Go in and kick everyone's butt with default game skins and watch the flashy mofo's who have dropped thousands cry..
In R-type's case you actually get more stages, so I'd say it's worth it for that game.
 
In R-type's case you actually get more stages, so I'd say it's worth it for that game.
That type of DLC sure, some games do have additions, but same time, so many nutter the base game and move everything into DLC instead..
 
A couple of good game price tracking sites are gg.deals and isthereanydeal.com. They can help in figuring out if there is a better deal for dlc and combo pack nonsense that a lot of game publishers pull these days.
 
Yeah. Blame the game developers not the hub. Things like this is why I shy away from most modern games. Profit models designed to nickle and dime you to death. Even worse when they advertise free content download, yet hit you with a pay window before you can open any play.
 
but Steam get a cut. I haven't buy a PC game for at least a decade. Back then, I paid for the item on a CD, and that's it. Now it's not just R-type or street fighter, I randomly pick a few others, they all have those "seaon pass, & DLC"

Tekken 7 for e.g.

take Tekken, just now, it's on sale, but the other day I look at it, it's a lot $ and then the ?? Definite edtion, then the Original Edition.

anyhoo, what exactly is a "Season Pass"?
 
but Steam get a cut. I haven't buy a PC game for at least a decade. Back then, I paid for the item on a CD, and that's it. Now it's not just R-type or street fighter, I randomly pick a few others, they all have those "seaon pass, & DLC"

Tekken 7 for e.g.

take Tekken, just now, it's on sale, but the other day I look at it, it's a lot $ and then the ?? Definite edtion, then the Original Edition.

anyhoo, what exactly is a "Season Pass"?

Definitive edition. Every game uses this differently. Usually means the 'best' version with all of the latest DLCs. Old school days this would be referred to as a GOTY edition.

Season Pass( also a DLC) is content that was or will be released over about a year of time. The content is usually released every few months as they are completed.

Don't get to wrapped up with the DLC term, its just extra content that is added to a game that usually can be downloaded seperately.
 
but Steam get a cut. I haven't buy a PC game for at least a decade. Back then, I paid for the item on a CD, and that's it. Now it's not just R-type or street fighter, I randomly pick a few others, they all have those "seaon pass, & DLC"

Tekken 7 for e.g.

take Tekken, just now, it's on sale, but the other day I look at it, it's a lot $ and then the ?? Definite edtion, then the Original Edition.

anyhoo, what exactly is a "Season Pass"?

That is gaming now days. Seasons passes started around a decade ago. Battlefield 3 is already 11 years old and had multiple paid expansions which could all be bought as a seasons pass. It doesn't matter what store or what platform you buy it on. Xbox, Playstation or PC. That is how gaming has become over the past decade.

The other trend is "free to play" games, or paid games with additional out of theme paid cosmetics. So if you pay full price for a game there are optional paid cosmetic items like hats, jackets, colors, helmets, and other stuff.
 
anyhoo, what exactly is a "Season Pass"?
A season pass is usually a prebuy of a nr of paid dlc's at a reduced price due to buying a package versus buying them seperately when they release. The downside is that if you prebuy you don't realy know if the DLC's will be worth it to you, though a lot of the times the season pass will still be available even after all the DLC has launched.

It's derived from season passes for sporting events where at the start of the season you buy a pass that let's you in on all home matches at reduced price vs buying tickets for each match seperately.
 
Hard Forum is therapy for pointing out the bad stuff so you don't get taken by impulse. Then again you can Nitpick through everything and get nothing in return.
 
Corporate suits.

Don't let this stuff distract you from what you can get from gaming. For every game that nickel and dimes you, there are a great gaming masterpieces out there. You are highlighting some of the worst examples to this stuff...
no, I didn't randomly pick them by choice. See I really like R-type, as I used to play that one at the arcade back in 1980's.

And I really like a replacement to virtua fighter 2, so I pick the above 2 fighting game, eventhough they are not 3D

the only other games I would like is some Top Down arcade games, (Equivalent to R-type but Top Down) and a replacement to Rampage.
 
Has for one that has a massive collection of non finished steam game (or even never started) I would have benefitted a lot of a very DLC heavy market place, lower price on entry but pay a lot for the few game you actually end up playing a lot.

Has for DLC that a pure collector items (skins, costume, theme and so on) hard to care. It is like a game that sells books, figurine, poster, soundtrack about the game to people.
 
I want to understand what on earth is steam doing when it comes to do buying a simple game:

So this is the 1st time I want to buy a game online, instead of buying a CD / DVD:

let's randomly pick a game, say Street Fighter V

they have:

Buy Street Fighter V​

and their price

then all of sudden, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Upgrade Kit + Season 5 Premium Pass Bundle​

Buy Street Fighter V - Champion Edition​

1) what on earth is a season 5 pass?

then below is a bunch of "Content for this game"

Do I have to buy all those as well?

it has:

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 NAGOYA OJA BODY STAR Costumes Bundle

Street Fighter V - SFL: Pro-JP 2022 SHINOBISM GAMING Costumes Bundle


Street Fighter V - Capcom Pro Tour: 2022 Premier Pass

etc. etc. and they have 25 of them

and just below that, they have:

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Character Pass​

Buy Street Fighter V - Season 5 Premium Pass​

==============================

so now a simple $20 game adds up to be several hundred $

and all the games I check out is like that

can someone explain the ins and out of Steam

and I went to GOG, and randomly picked R-type final 2

they have std. edition, then Deluxe Edition, and they said Deluxe c/w Artworks, and STage Pass. What's a stage pass? This is not a concert

Then they have a dozen or 2 of DLC. Why would people need them? Shouldn't the game itself c/w everything?
That's not Steam, that is Street Fighter ;)
 
Has for one that has a massive collection of non finished steam game (or even never started) I would have benefitted a lot of a very DLC heavy market place, lower price on entry but pay a lot for the few game you actually end up playing a lot.

Has for DLC that a pure collector items (skins, costume, theme and so on) hard to care. It is like a game that sells books, figurine, poster, soundtrack about the game to people.
so for people who have games you no longer play, what can you do w/ it? Can you sell them on ebay?
 
LOL, you must really be in the past :) . No, digital storefronts were partially to kill the used market. Once you buy it, that's it. No transfers.

This. Although sales are more frequent and lower than they were in the past when everything was physical media so it works out fairly evenly. And easier to find. No more bargain bin diving at CompUSA or Walmart.
 
LOL, you must really be in the past :) . No, digital storefronts were partially to kill the used market. Once you buy it, that's it. No transfers.
this whole thing on PC games is rig in the manufacturer's favor. It's totally unfair. You bought a copy of Corel Word Perfect, say you sell your PC a yr. down the road, you can sell the software. The same should applies to gaming software
 
1 quick question: being too lazy to start a new thread: does most action games make use of a i7 CPU?

say I want to upgrade to a faster CPU. Is it mostly the GHz of the CPU that matter? if so, I'll go w/ a faster i5. But if most game make use of the no. of thread on a i7, then I'll go w/ a i7. What do most PC gamers here have on their gear?

using R-type final ii for eg., all they said is "Quad core AMD or Intel processor @ 2.8 GHz or faster"
 
this whole thing on PC games is rig in the manufacturer's favor. It's totally unfair. You bought a copy of Corel Word Perfect, say you sell your PC a yr. down the road, you can sell the software. The same should applies to gaming software
Not just PC. Console games, software, and other digital media. It is the 'sacrifice' for having the convenience of a lack of physical box.
 
but Steam get a cut. I haven't buy a PC game for at least a decade. Back then, I paid for the item on a CD, and that's it. Now it's not just R-type or street fighter, I randomly pick a few others, they all have those "seaon pass, & DLC"

Tekken 7 for e.g.

take Tekken, just now, it's on sale, but the other day I look at it, it's a lot $ and then the ?? Definite edtion, then the Original Edition.

anyhoo, what exactly is a "Season Pass"?
Every digital storefront gets a cut from sales.
this whole thing on PC games is rig in the manufacturer's favor. It's totally unfair. You bought a copy of Corel Word Perfect, say you sell your PC a yr. down the road, you can sell the software. The same should applies to gaming software
Productivity software has moved to subscription-based services. Corel is probably the last holdout using the old "buy-to-use" model.
1 quick question: being too lazy to start a new thread: does most action games make use of a i7 CPU?

say I want to upgrade to a faster CPU. Is it mostly the GHz of the CPU that matter? if so, I'll go w/ a faster i5. But if most game make use of the no. of thread on a i7, then I'll go w/ a i7. What do most PC gamers here have on their gear?

using R-type final ii for eg., all they said is "Quad core AMD or Intel processor @ 2.8 GHz or faster"
The generation of CPU matters more than anything due to IPC and feature set. R-type FINAL 2 is a bad example because most will say the specific generation you need. Would the game run on an Intel Pentium E6600, for example, which came out in 2010 but has the minimum 3.0 GHz clock the developer specified. I'm sure it will, as it is not a demanding game, but it is still a bad practice.

Bottom line is just to buy a processor within your budget that meets your minimum performance requirements. Pretty much every desktop CPU available to buy new today can play every game. How well they perform will be dependent on what resolution your monitor is. The higher the resolution, typically the less of a CPU you need outside of using ray tracing.
 
1 quick question: being too lazy to start a new thread: does most action games make use of a i7 CPU?

say I want to upgrade to a faster CPU. Is it mostly the GHz of the CPU that matter? if so, I'll go w/ a faster i5. But if most game make use of the no. of thread on a i7, then I'll go w/ a i7. What do most PC gamers here have on their gear?

using R-type final ii for eg., all they said is "Quad core AMD or Intel processor @ 2.8 GHz or faster"
The 13600k matches or beats the 12900k in gaming. And beats the 12700k in multicore/productivity work.

The only reason to get 13700k or 13900k is if you need every single frame possible or you need a ton of multicore potential, for projects or work.
 
this whole thing on PC games is rig in the manufacturer's favor. It's totally unfair. You bought a copy of Corel Word Perfect, say you sell your PC a yr. down the road, you can sell the software. The same should applies to gaming software
Not sure how common it is in 2022, the license for program my company make and sells tend to not be for resales and assigned to a company or person.

https://www.corel.com/en/eula/
We may assign this EULA in whole or in part. In the event of a merger, acquisition, sale or corporate transaction involving Us or Our affiliates or subsidiaries, Your continued use of the Software signifies Your agreement to be bound by the agreements and policies of the subsequent owner, if any. The Software may include product activation and other technology designed to prevent unauthorized use and copying. You may not transfer, sell, rent, lease, resell or loan any copies of the Software or assign any of Your rights or delegate or otherwise transfer any of Your obligations or performance under this EULA to any third party without Our prior written consent. For Perpetual Licenses and OEM Licenses only,

I imagine there is a distinction between eula, laws and ability to do so, like someone could sales is gog games-account even if it goes against the "rules" same for a program.

A digital licensing create a challenge because otherwise you could have a central server that take a cut and every owner of a license could put their license on there and have it rented on demand to others, in a global world market you would need to sales what 1 games for every 10 players at first and every 100 players in the long run.
 
this whole thing on PC games is rig in the manufacturer's favor. It's totally unfair. You bought a copy of Corel Word Perfect, say you sell your PC a yr. down the road, you can sell the software. The same should applies to gaming software
Steam games are licensed to you personally. You can install them on multiple rigs if you have more than one. Game's yours no matter how many times you change hardware.

You can game real cheap on Steam if you're willing to live in the past. Just do like my dad does and don't buy anything until a couple of years after it came out. Eventually they almost always release a final/ultimate/etc. edition that includes all the DLC and bug fixes. Then they put it on sale. Dad's 69 and has more patience than most of us here, but he still games. Tends to go for strategy games and RPGs you can get through playing stealth.
 
Just use your judgement for what you feel you will get the best use-for-$$ balance.
For example I bought the base FS2020. It was missing a few extra planes but it is such a massive game with so much to explore and learn I didn't feel I would be missing out and I haven't. So much to learn and do,
On the other hand I picked up Project Cars 2 with all DLC in a super bundle savings pack and it was an amazing deal to get everything in one go for such a great price.
 
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