Sonic Mania/ Sonic Mania Plus (XB1, PS4, PC, Switch)

Those of us who bought the game through Steam aren't able to get a refund either. Valve keeps denying everyone for being 14 days over the purchase date despite its own TOS stating that the 14-day period begins after the release date. It's maddening that Sega would falsely advertise the game being DRM-free. Denuvo also prevents the game from being played off-line, another fun fact Sega conveniently left out.

Sonic Mania's not the second coming, but it is a very good game, and it's unfortunate that Sega has created a PR mess by defrauding its customer base. The game deserves better, but then so too does everyone who pre-ordered and supported the company, especially after the two week delay. "Optimization" my butt.

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Originally Posted by Barone

The Sonic 3's ballz bonus stages are nightmare-ish now and I've always been good at it. The "spring" balls are retard and the controls simply aren't tight enough.

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That's a relief. I thought it was just me. It took me three attempts to pass the first stupid balls stage, and those I can do in my sleep. I'd keep turning into those 2x2 arrangements after turning them red.

Also, yeah, I've given up on consoles. I'll look into picking up one cheap some years from now if I miss out on any must have exclusives, but I'm not seeing a difference between PC and console anymore. Steam is my console now, and I appreciate knowing my library is mine and current for the foreseeable future.

Thanks guys.

Yeah, it sounds like the whole PC version delay must then have been a ploy to keep a a leash on PR and get sales on consoles out the way b4 all those problems you guys mentioned would see the light of public scrutiny. Typical.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

I can understand the reasoning behind getting a PC version of AAA games. Framerate and graphics, mainly. But what's the reasoning behind such small 2D games like Sonic Mania? Honest question here. No sarcasm or trolling. I'm not a PC gamer and I was wondering what drives you guys to chose the PC version of Sonic Mania over a console version; especially that subset of you guys, like Jackal, who also own modern consoles. Is it bc you guys are first and foremost PC gamers? Ease of access to your Steam library from multiple sources wherever you go? Something else? Anyways, I'm curious.

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I only have a PC these days, since almost everything comes out for PC and its much more versatile. More customization, and I have a gaming laptop so it's way more portable, it's just the laptop and an HDMI cable. No proprietary stuff.

I pre-ordered the game, refunded it, then pre-ordered it again and bought it after getting the green light to write the Hands-On for Sonic Mania here. The only thing that disappoints me about the DRM add-on is the lack of modding, which is just highly ironic.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

Yeah, it sounds like the whole PC version delay must then have been a ploy to keep a a leash on PR and get sales on consoles out the way b4 all those problems you guys mentioned would see the light of public scrutiny. Typical.

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It makes all the sense.
They are getting burned in the Steam community though. As long as offline gameplay is allowed (Sega Dev promised that since this debacle exploded), I'm OK.
But it was a sneaky, nasty move by them. And the DRM system they chose is a joke in itself. Totally stupid move; I'd love to hear the "specialist" responsible for this decision.

The only "bright" side is that I got it with ~25% off and them also sold the trading cards yesterday (when the prices were still insanely high) for something around 10% of the full price of the game.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

I can understand the reasoning behind getting a PC version of AAA games. Framerate and graphics, mainly. But what's the reasoning behind such small 2D games like Sonic Mania? Honest question here. No sarcasm or trolling. I'm not a PC gamer and I was wondering what drives you guys to chose the PC version of Sonic Mania over a console version; especially that subset of you guys, like Jackal, who also own modern consoles. Is it bc you guys are first and foremost PC gamers? Ease of access to your Steam library from multiple sources wherever you go? Something else? Anyways, I'm curious.

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My stance as well

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Originally Posted by Barone

I'd say this.

And the fact that consoles nowadays are pretty much PC hardware cut down and rebranded as something special IMO. Consoles were fun when the architectures were vastly different and the libraries were also vastly different from one platform to another.
PC nowadays also sucks IMO, but I like the "have everything on Steam" approach. I don't use GOG or any of the other services. Just Steam.

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Also the price of a fantastic GPU was less than getting another current gen console and don't want to pay extra for online to use such portions the games.
I vote with where my money goes.

They're trying to pin the delays and DENUVO on the developers. This, of course, went over like a lead balloon. I hope that someone is fired for this, because the game sold like ice water in the Sahara for everything else, and the PC version is being (or has already been) cracked and widely distributed. Aggressive DRM incentivizes piracy. Fun Factoid: Windows no longer supports Starforce or Securom, making games infested with them literally unplayable, unless you cracked them. Brilliant.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

I can understand the reasoning behind getting a PC version of AAA games. Framerate and graphics, mainly. But what's the reasoning behind such small 2D games like Sonic Mania? Honest question here. No sarcasm or trolling. I'm not a PC gamer and I was wondering what drives you guys to chose the PC version of Sonic Mania over a console version; especially that subset of you guys, like Jackal, who also own modern consoles. Is it bc you guys are first and foremost PC gamers? Ease of access to your Steam library from multiple sources wherever you go? Something else? Anyways, I'm curious.

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I can play the game with my Saturn controller + at 4k resolution. Mods which can add new stuff to the game, or replace, like changing the music or "fixing" certain things I didn't like (Time attack announcer I'm looking at you).

@DRM: It's shitty, and obviously the reason for the delay. Word on the street is the game's already been cracked anyway, and mods are already appearing. So all they've succeed is pissing off their customers. Good job, Sega. Good job.

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Originally Posted by The Jackal

I can play the game with my Saturn controller + at 4k resolution.

@DRM: It's shitty, and obviously the reason for the delay. Word on the street is the game's already been cracked anyway, and mods are already appearing. So all they've succeed is pissing off their customers. Good job, Sega. Good job.

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What game isn't cracked on PC now these days? Don't copy the floppy.

Denuvo, the drm they're using gets a lot of hate though. Capable of killing hardware, eating up resources, not allowing you to run your games offline, touted as malware. Not my words, mind you, just what other people say about it.

It's got a nasty reputation, and lots of people don't want it in their games, yet companies use it because it's supposed to be "uncrackable". Yet pirates prove that wrong time and time again.

Well they changed it so PC owners can play offline now.

Sega Lets Sonic Mania PC Fans Play Offline After DRM Backlash

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Update 10:45 AM: Faster than Sonic rushing through Chemical Plant Zone, Sega has responded to say that the issue has now been resolved. The announcement came via Sega’s European Twitter account:

The #sonicmaniapc offline play bug has now been patched. Thanks for your patience and let us know if you experience any further problems.
— SEGA Europe (@SEGA_Europe) August 30, 2017

Responding to player concerns, Sega posted an update to the game’s Steam page stating that they are investigating cases where players are unable to enjoy the game offline. They also stated that they also intend to look into issues with controller support.

“Like you, we’ve noticed an error in the Steam store not mentioning the DRM for Sonic Mania,” the statement said. “ We’re fixing that now. Sonic Mania is intended to be played offline and we’re investigating reports on that.”

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Edit: Wow, my anti-virus software didn't like the Sonic Mania Steam update? Quarantined Heur.AdvML.B as apart of sonicmania.exe .. think I should restore it? Edit2: Eh, I went ahead and restored it. Just another thing keep an eye on.

Typical PR response, "The offline bug has now been patched."

I felt anger when I found out what Sega did.
I wrote them what I think about the situation, that was the last drop.
Now I just feel betrayal and sadness.

Do the same thing, write SEGA about DRM so they can't ignore damaging situation they made and make them rethink their decisions.

https://twitter.com/CFWhitehead/stat...11292841586689

I've just sent a "love letter" to Sega.

Is Heur.AdvML.B safe? Norton removes it after I update the game via Steam (calls it a Heuretic virus), and this makes the game not launch.

I don't really have an issue with Denuvo, mainly because i'm old enough to remember the absolute wasteland of piracy and shitty ports PC was 10 years ago and i'll take it over gimped console ports.

I do have an issue with Valve violating their own TOS, and Sega for straight up lying to their customers though. If your game includes DRM (especially always online DRM) at least fucking tell them.

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Originally Posted by sull56ivan2010

What game isn't cracked on PC now these days? Don't copy the floppy.

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Actually, Denuvo stopped cracking of quite a few games. Rise of the Tomb Raider, FIFA 18 & GTAV didn't get a working crack for months. DOOM only appeared on warez sites after id patched it to remove Denuvo.