Gaming The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom Review

Haha, just out of this small amount of comments, ubi has lost theoretically: 7x number of sales; and tha'ts only from the people who bother to comment. if we see the same trend in most of the hw/gaming sites (which i'm sure you can see), then there's plenty of revenue lost forever, i'd wager.

 

+1 for bad DRM = NO $ale

 

I bought settlers 2, 3, 5 and 6 and loved them all but i won't be buying this one until ubi remove the damned DRM. I don't want to get engrossed in a game, forget to save for an hour or so and then poof have my internet hiccup for a second and lose everything.

 

was not a fan of the them after 4 tbh i much preferred the old school style of the earlier games i still have settlers 1 and got it working on vista.

Peasants in hd. awesome

 

Played the game via the Beta.

Enjoyable enough, but didn't hold my interest long enough. Played the first Settlers and felt the same.

The over the top DRM has made this a no sale from me, compared to a "possible sale if I had no other game to buy at the time"

 

out of interest. I've realised i've never really played a settlers game. (only similar games)

which is the best of the older games in the series to pick up?

 

I know id like this game, but im not paying for it, purely for the DRM issue. I think that while DRM has been an issue for alot of people before, ubisofts recent protection has pushed the bar too far and people on-masse are saying "no thanks then".

 

2

 

There's a few inaccuracies in the review:

1. You CAN re-arrange the order in which you construct things using the 'logistics menu'. You can also prioritise military production, construction, research etc.

2. The DRM only pauses you're game if you temporarily disconnect. If you re-establish connection, then no saved data is lost.

 

In my opinion 2 is the best. I'm going to try the updated 10th aniv. ed. someone mentioned earlier.

Tip: build two paths for every route

 

Thanks - I've updated the article to reflect this.

 

With this always-online DRM do you also have to have the disk in too or not? I have a decent internet connection so that wouldn't be a problem but I hate having to have a disk in the drive to play a game that is entirely on my hard drive anyway. I'd buy this on Steam but they've pulled all the new Ubisoft games from sale in the UK

 

I think the comments in this thread and the vehemence towards this kind of DRM in general just go to show how much it matters to people.

For that reason I'm glad to see it getting a mention in the review and apparent consideration in the conclusion/score.
Reviewing games on their merits as a game is all well and good, but as consumers buying products it's the little quality-of-life issues that matter alongside the game itself.

I, like many others here, won't be buying any Ubisoft games until they stop mucking about with stupid DRM methods.
I won't be pirating the games either, for the record, as I've no interest in adding to the basic underlying problem that leads to this crap in the first place!

Not that honestly denying ourselves the enjoyment of these games is going to stop Ubisoft from just assuming that piracy and the platform itself are the reasons for the lack of sales..

 

So does the Ubisoft DRM genuinely not offer you an opportunity to save before it throws you out for your 'net connection dropping? Because that's really terrible design if it does.

It's a shame really, this does sound like exactly my type of strategy game. Oh well, it would appear that GoG have Settlers 2.

 

Dam almost had me sold there except for the facebook pants. But the DRM is a issue, then again this might be just a new game thing and 6 months down the line you'll be able to buy it with out

 

I'm definitely not buying this game thanks to Ubisoft's DRM this is exactly the reason that made me get a PS3 so I can enjoy games like Assassin's Creed 2 without any DRM lalala

 

I loved Settlers 3. It was cool watching all the people move around doing their work, creating paths as they went. It was the most 'detailed' game I had ever played. Resource management could be a bear, but I found temples helpful. Heavenly gift I think it was called would spawn resource piles such as gold, wood planks, etc.

Hummm... wonders if it will play well in Windows7.

 

One of those games I would have purchased if it wasn't for that pesky DRM...

 

I really had fun with the early Settlers games, I really like sand box type games but alas, this one is a no go, DRM is the deal breaker for me.

 

This game seems to be pretty good. Especially I like that they put a lot of effort to design proper UI - that's how every strategy game should be done. But I think I'll rather buy S2 from GOG now and wait for Ubi to remove DRM.

As for DRM, it comes as complete irony that my friend, who pirated almost everything he played, has bought Settlers 4 - because he loves that game. It doesn't have any form of copy protection.