I ended up with a Russian version of TL2

[sandorien]

I live in America and traded a game for TL2 and saw it said russian pre-order what does this mean does it mean it wont work for me?

Edit; talked to steam they told me it wasn't region locked and after putting it on my account it says nothing about being Russian anymore

[Pr0ph3cyX]

It means you're copy comes with a Russian nuclear submarine. You can also nuke one country of you're choosing to start WW3.

And the game is in Russian too so good luck translating

[hanfeitzu]

It means TL2 will play YOU.

[sadron]

It means you're copy comes with a Russian nuclear submarine. You can also nuke one country of you're choosing to start WW3.

And the game is in Russian too so good luck translating

It means "you are" copy comes with a Russian submarine?
*facepalm*

[wolfmane]

Time to stock up on Vodka and furry hats.

[Zidders]

You might want to email customerservice@runicgames.com. Odds are, it will let you choose the language when you start the game, so no worries there. I'm not sure about region locking, tho, so might want to ask Runic in a more direct fashion.

[Najt]

maybe im wrong but my guess is you will either have the choice to install it in english or you can download the english client and use your key with your english client.

[sandorien]

You might want to email customerservice@runicgames.com. Odds are, it will let you choose the language when you start the game, so no worries there. I'm not sure about region locking, tho, so might want to ask Runic in a more direct fashion.

Thanks did that

[Meemo]

maybe im wrong but my guess is you will either have the choice to install it in english or you can download the english client and use your key with your english client.

There was a huge uproar over this on SPUF. Aparantly the russian version can't be played outside of russia. I have no idea why RunicGames did this, normally a reasonable publisher would just set one level lock which is region activation only. That way if a russian move to say Canada, he would be able to play the flipping game. In fact most games bought from steam store (ru) has zero restrictions.

[Glass]

As I understand it, games on the Russian Steam store are sold at a lower price and have the language locked to Russian as a result. For example TL2 on the Russian store is 449 Rubles = US$13.63.

People trading Russian versions of games on Steam for TF2 items and other games seems to be a fairly common scam, as I've noticed complaints like this one popping up quite a bit recently on Steam trading forums.

[Webbstre]

It is locked to people playing in Russia, and it was Valve that made it that way, not Runic.

[TheBakersWife]

I live in America and traded a game for TL2 and saw it said russian pre-order what does this mean does it mean it wont work for me?

Where did you find this information? I vaguely remember seeing something similar for my TL2 pre-order but wasn't too concerned at the time (despite speaking no Russian at all). Now I can't find anything about the language.

[Meemo]

It is locked to people playing in Russia, and it was Valve that made it that way, not Runic.

That's fascinating because Foreign Legion: MultiMassacre is region free even when bought in Russia. Endless space and divine divinity is also region free.

All of these facts causes me to come to one conclusion, it's runics own decision that caused TL2 to be region locked. Valve wouldn't go as far as forcing a specific dev to choose a region lock approach. If the pricing is in the control of the publisher it is safe to say that region lock is also in the control of the publisher.

In fact in retrospect virtually no indie game has ever been region locked. A few AAA titles here and there were locked but I went ahead and assume that it was out of sheer greed and oversight.

Relevant to the discussion: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=2670969

[Webbstre]

Everything I know:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=23271#p209649

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... stcount=10


Why would Runic be the one to decide this when they both made Torchlight 1 region free, and when anyone in Russia could just buy from Runic or another distributor and not have to deal with any region lock? There hasn't been any evidence of a lock on the Perfet World version after all. It's just steam.

[Meemo]

Everything I know:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=23271#p209649

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... stcount=10


Why would Runic be the one to decide this when they both made Torchlight 1 region free, and when anyone in Russia could just buy from Runic or another distributor and not have to deal with an region lock? There hasn't been any evidence of a lock on the Perfet World version after all. It's just steam.

The answer is quite simple, because you can't control it on other platforms. Based on my knowledge of how the TL2 client and launcher works, it does not require steam to operate. I did some digging around in the CDR and I noticed that the steam client does not distribute separate language files for TL2; It's all in one package. Theoretically, if you VPN through steam and activate a RU gift copy of TL2 from a friend then download it to completion, you can launch the TL2 launcher from program files perfectly fine in a non-RU region. Basically the only way to block a non Russian from playing a Russian bought game is through steam's extensive ip blocking system. Even then it would only block the game from launching directly from steam itself.

Comparing the distribution method of steam vs direct vs PW is like comparing an apple vs orange vs banana. It doesn't make sense.

Note: Does Perfect World even have a launcher like steam?

[Zidders]

The Russian Steam version of Torchlight is region-locked for Russia. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Regarding your other question: All supported languages will get patched in for everyone as they become available.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=24727&p=221501&hilit=region#p221501


And that's all I could find on the matter. I'd be curious to know why this is, and I think it's fair of people in Russia to ask. I'm going to guess it has to do with the box copy publishing arrangement, perhaps the publisher made one of the restrictions Runic had to follow in order to publish cd copies that they region lock the Russian Steam version.

[Webbstre]

Considering that publishing reasons is the only reason given so far, and that people like Travis don't care about money as much as you might expect from a company president, I'm going to guess that Zidders is on the right track with the boxed version publisher agreement thing.

[BrianW]

Hi, folks. I just wanted to offer up a quick clarification for you about this:

Valve created the region-locked Russian Steam store and we are publishing there under the terms of our agreement with a publisher in Russia. If you've somehow ended up with a region-locked Torchlight II pre-order and you are located outside of Russia, I'd recommend that you contact Valve for assistance. As always, please make sure you know exactly what you're getting before you complete a trade.

[Meemo]

The Russian Steam version of Torchlight is region-locked for Russia. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Regarding your other question: All supported languages will get patched in for everyone as they become available.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=24727&p=221501&hilit=region#p221501


And that's all I could find on the matter. I'd be curious to know why this is, and I think it's fair of people in Russia to ask. I'm going to guess it has to do with the box copy publishing arrangement, perhaps the publisher made one of the restrictions Runic had to follow in order to publish cd copies that they region lock the Russian Steam version.

I think you got something there.. This is the info I found on TL2 russia retail..

Developer: Runic Games Publisher: 1C-SoftKlab Language: Russian (audio and text) Genre: RPG Release Date: Summer 2012 Location: Russia, CIS

1C is notorious for region locks on their retail games. (TL2 russia retail is steamworks)

[Glass]

[...]

If you've somehow ended up with a region-locked Torchlight II pre-order and you are located outside of Russia, I'd recommend that you contact Valve for assistance. As always, please make sure you know exactly what you're getting before you complete a trade.

If you've traded for it and activated the traded game (ie. added it to your library) Valve will give you a one-off goodness-of-their-heart option to unactivate it and add it back into your tradable inventory.

Other than that, they'll tell you they can't reverse the trade or give a refund.

Seen oh-so-many reports of this over the course of the summer sale.