Sometimes I would like to buy a material edition instead of a digital edition but for the others I don’t dislike steam (usually you can apply a patch for the H content).
Also thanks to steam much more people know about the visual novels (even if there are the ones that only want H-games).
I personally don’t prefer having the games on steam, but what can I do? the benefits of steam is you can install whenever and wherever without having to worry about re-downloading files, but some games do have censored due to steam… I see both pros and cons, but my personal preference is to not have it through steam. It is also lighter on the system.
[quote=“Pepe, post:1, topic:821”]
too much of a hassle.
[/quote] I don’t get this part at all. Steam is easy to use and it isn’t a hassle at all. Finding a patch, installing the game from PC and then finding out something is screwy (happened many times) is a hassle. You can get it legally too and support the company.
I can get not getting the full content issue, but I would want to support the company too. If anything there should be a patch for people when can verify they are 18+ (like credit card purchases).
Two years later, and only now do I realize I worded that wrongly 
What I meant to say was that this friend of mine thought that buying it outside of steam (in nekopara’s case, through denpasoft) was too much of a hassle. Thus he decided to pirate it instead
As horrible and non-existent as Steam’s quality control and flood of games are, visual novels were a huge benefactor of Steam allowing almost anything onto their storefront. In fact, one of the Steam employees said that they wanted to be surprised by what good came out of it. VNs just sell on Steam and we’ve all won (unless you despise the loss of H content vehemently) and there are titles that would have never been created or licensed if it wasn’t for Steam.
However, on top of the list from @Takafumi that explains a lot of the problems I have with Steam, Steam has also had (at least) one very bad security hack where I can’t trust them with a valid credit card anymore. I buy everything from Steam with cards.
DRM and all, the accessibility is very nice but sometimes it is better to buy the product at a different (DRM-free) storefront.
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I would like to, but apart from Amazon (which also has its areas of concern) here in the UK I know of nowhere else to source stuff. I really don’t want to buy imported games at extra expense then have to faff with a patch and tricking the PC into thinking it’s Japanese!
I only know of RiceDigital who offer physical copy / special exclusive issues here but they don’t offer VNs on the PC platform, just consoles and at a premium and have a very limited range. Internet searches don’t turn up anything helpful. The only other option is the pre-owned market.
Edited to add: I expect getting stuff direct from the USA is also a headache here.
There is no big business that doesn’t have areas of concern, but my opinion was clearly from a US perspective and it must be far different for other countries. If Steam is a huge help for other people then that’s wonderful - I just try to stay away from the customer support, not use the service for anything but gaming, and deal with the DRM. If it is a game/title/experience that I really want, I try to get it off Steam.
I have no clue how MG, JAST, and SP handle digital distribution in other countries either. My only true insight into this is GOG but they really only carry certain English VNs at this time (Hatoful Boyfriend, To The Moon, VA-11 Hall-A…).
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I personally come from the perspective of a non-gamer (in a sense that I don’t play much games outside of VNs) in the Philippines, and I think my appreciation of it largely comes from the accessibility. Seeing how there’s only very few anime and manga here that I can access legally, Steam VNs are somehow available here, at a relatively affordable price too (with that said, LB! will still likely cost an arm and a leg for me). It also adds that I can transact without having to set up a Paypal account, and Stem cards are fairly available, at least in the Metro.
In hindsight, I can see some problems with Steam, but it was never a big deal for me. With that said, I don’t play games that much, so that could be a big factor to my thoughts on it.
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Thank you for sharing! (and same with BotanRugbyBall of course)!
I admit that it was harder to see how wonderful this Steam VN explosion must be when you have the conveniences of the US and can get almost anything, and it’s so easy to see the problems because Steam is so large and present. I haven’t bought anything from RiceDigital but it’s not cheap here, and Kickstarter shipping and customs are not a good time for all to be had.
In all truthfulness, VNs are a big reason I use Steam and hopefully the overall price of LB! isn’t that bad for you or anyone else. There was a time when I didn’t have a credit card either so it was doing by cards or doing it with my parents’ credit card which would have been pretty weird for most VNs.
No matter how much I try to avoid parts of Steam or say I use a different way of paying for things now, there certainly are big positives that I should be more grateful for.
Unfortunately it is a bad time to pay for goods in Sterling due to exchange rates, so I expect that whatever the cost is in US$ it’ll be the identical in £££, it’s quite normal for US$40 to = £40 instead of the £25 that it should be based on current currency rates alone because middlemen add on a big wedge for their own profit! Everyone who imports does it and if you import direct then there is customs duty to add.
Steam sales, it has to be said do bring the cost down to something very reasonable, even if only the same as what you would pay in the US as normal!
The removal of H-content is actually a pro in my book.
The only con would be that, should one ever become unable to use Steam, all bought games would be lost as well.
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