GOG also offers downloads directly through the browser (whether or not that works for you is a different question), so, no, you're not forced to use Galaxy.

Though the downloader may still work for most games, they have been fairly open with saying that they will not keep supporting that application, and they will not put any effort in keeping it compatible with site changes or keeping the site compatible with how the downloader expects it to work.

The Downloader, since Galaxy was released, is as much supported by GOG as third-party tools like and [url=https://github.com/eddie3/gogrepo]gogrepo are. The former of those two primarily targets Linux, but may work on other Unix-like systems as well, such as macOS, the latter is multiplatform and should work on Windows as far as I understand. There are threads for them as well, but you'll have to search the forum (shouldn't be too hard to find).

That doesn't make any sense, if it's just to download the installer how is it any different than downloading using the downloader, which is.... well... also a client ?

Heck how is it different from downloading it from your browser ?
There are plenty of valid reason for using hooks, it's not necessary for some evil nefarious scheme...

Well if you installed it, which is optional, you cannot really blame them for arriving to the assumption that maybe that's because you want to use it.

Bundling it with offline installers and setting it to install by default, with updating for non-Galaxy installations being quite poor compared to Galaxy installations, all the while telling us that everything is as "optional" as it ever was -- which is fairly insulting to those of us that have a modicum of intelligence.

Maybe they should let me decide instead of assuming anything. But nevertheless - how is an automaic launch of a tool still "optional"?

But if i'm not mistaken that is the very definition of optional.....i.e. you can choose not to install Galaxy with your games. I DO agree that it should be opt in by default, though.

Not my definition. I take "optional" to mean that there will be no penalty or drop in service and quality if I exercise said option. IMO, it's become a fig leaf, and if it gets much smaller, they'll need a fig leaf for their fig leaf. o.O

It's the worst kind of 'optional', in that it's exactly the same as negative billing marketing. It's nothing more than an attempt to sneak or have the customer inadvertently install the software on their machine without actually wanting it. If a customer wants your software, at least do them the courtesy of crediting them with enough intelligence to actually choose to install it.

Well you can quit said tools, you can uninstall it, you can install the game somewhere it never was installed; seem pretty "optional" to me.

Well it does not do what I want but what "it" wants - for me this is forced behaviour.

Except that fall appart when said "option" was created specifically to improve service and quality.

You cannot at the same time use the option of not using Galaxy and complain that you don't have access to the improvment in service it might brings,

If today you don't use Galaxy you are the same point you were before it existed (i.e. most games not having multiplayer except for the few having LAN or direct access and patches arriving days after Steam)

Well since it's not obvious and needs to be said - my browser is a multi-purpose piece of software developed to access and use the internet. It was not designed with the sole purpose of downloading GOG DRM-free, standalone game installers, and I did not install it on my machine on the day I got my first GOG game so I could download it.

As for the difference between the GOG Downloader and GOG Galaxy - the GOG Downloader does just that, downloads the DRM-free, standalone game installers, and is a few MB in size. GOG Galaxy's primary purpose(s) is anything but to function as a downloading tool for the standalone installers, and accessing them is anything but straightforward, from what I've read.

If GOG Galaxy were modular, and I could install and use only that specific feature of it, it would serve as a replacement to the GOG Downloader, but as things stand, it's not a replacement, no matter how many times people say it is.


Actually, I'm not. I'm at a worse point - there are hardly any actual patches anymore, and it's been over a month now that I get zero notifications about anything, which is very basic and essential functionality, and was told that I will get them again eventually™, except for game updates notifications that will return at an even later date than eventually™. And this after I was told multiple times, that my experience on the site wouldn't change because of GOG Galaxy.

My post was answering to mm324 who said that downloading using Galaxy was a "DRM". Whenever you find a tool "convinient" or not has nothing with it magically becoming a "DRM".

No this part is either a lie or you are just unlucky and the game you are waiting patches for has been forgoten by its devs.

Offline patches are still released regularly, of course it's not as fast as on Galaxy (again having faster patches was one the reason for Galaxy creation) but it's not any different than how it was before were often for new games we only got one patche while Steam had three.

Because of course a site update breaking half of the existing features is something that never hapened on Gog before Galaxy...

I'm NOT complaining about lack of improvement -- I'm complaining about degradation of service and quality.

Offline functionality is being scaled back, and may well be phased out. GWENT is a shameless cash grab à la Steam, and IMO this shows that GOG has no principles to speak of.

I didn't say that games are not updated unless one uses GOG Galaxy, I said that actual patches for the standalone installers are hardly a thing anymore. Most times the updates these days come in the form of full installers which more often than not translates into having to re-download several to tens of GB - just take a look in the "What did just update" thread, and/or game fora. This was not the norm in the past.

Of course it did, it's actually the norm on GOG. But it's one thing to break something, and a completely different one to update the site without having implemented essential functionality into that update, yet consciously scrap the existing one without any concrete plans or ETA as to when it will be restored again, and tell everyone that the work for a temp workaround is not worth doing. All the while, GOG Galxy users are not subjected to the same mistreatment. And before you say this is a lie or exaggeration, just go and read the blue text posts in the announcement thread of the new navigation system.

You want another example? It's been months that the chat on the site shows as online only those running GOG Galaxy, something completely irrelevant and useless to those logged in on the site who all show as offline. This happened when the chat was updated for GOG Galaxy. No ETA as to when this will be fixed.

Step 1: Go to 'Library'
Step 2: Click on arrow for a particular game on shelf and click on 'Backup & Goodies'
Step 3: Click on setup file to download under 'Game Backup Copy'
Result: Downloads installer to Galaxy's chosen download folder.

Not exactly rocket science and it takes just about as many steps as it would take to do the same through the browser for Downloader links.