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Grand Theft Auto V (refunded)
Jan. 28th, 2020 04:22 pmWelp, just saved myself $17 USD (after taxes).
I bought the game this morning on a 60% off sale[1] and, after letting it download and install 90GB for two hours, I tried to run it. The first time, it ran the Steam "first time run" bullshit as usual, part of which was supposedly downloading and installing the additional Rockstar Launcher dogshit. It popped up a separate thing with the Rockstar logo, saying something like "Rockstar Launcher installing, please wait," which immediately blinked away. Then the Steam dialog went on and downloaded (for about the millionth time now, as it does it with almost every new game) the Microsoft Visual C++ redist and all that good shit... then, when all of that was completed (or so I thought) and it was time to actually start the game, it gave an error message saying something like "Could not find Rockstar Launcher. Please verify your game files."
So, I verified the Steam game files. Another 20 or so minutes down the toilet. It said everything was fine.
Then I tried to run it again. It did the Steam "first time run" shit again, saying it was trying to download and install the Rockstar Launcher again. This time, however, it actually brought up an installer for the Rockstar Launcher shit and went through it properly.
So, with that (finally) installed, it brought up the actual Rockstar Launcher and said I needed to log into or create a new Rockstar Social Club account, apparently required to play GTAV. So... I put in my email, picked a password, and put in my desired nickname/username ("Kane_Magus" of course)... and it told me that nickname "Kane_Magus" was already in use. Which is, of course, bullshit. The only thing I can possibly think of is that it was somehow using the "Kane_Magus" from my Playstation account from back when I played Red Dead Redemption on my PS3 almost a decade ago. (Well, either that or there is actually someone else on the Rockstar Social Club with the user name "Kane_Magus," which I find unlikely but not impossible.)
Well, I tried to have it send me a "reset password" email. Nothing. Multiple tries. Still nothing. Tried the same thing in a web browser on the Rockstar Social Club website as well. Nada. I tried to log in with my PSN account. Didn't accept it. The only thing I didn't try was simply creating a new account and just picking a different username, but fuck that. Also, every single solitary time I tried to do anything at all on the fucking Rockstar Launcher, I was forced to complete a goddamned CAPTCHA, sometimes multiple CAPTCHAs on the same screen, which didn't help my rising temper at all.
So, I just asked for a fucking refund on Steam (PRE-POST EDIT) and just now got a confirmation email that the refund has gone through (/PRE-POST EDIT), because I was already sick of all the horseshit. Total time spent fucking with the Rockstar Launcher: 9 minutes, says Steam. Total time spent actually playing Grand Theft Auto V: 0 minutes. Total amount of my life wasted on not-playing Grand Theft Auto V: probably around 3-4 hours (including the time spent writing up this rant post).
This is the third time I've ever asked for a refund on Steam, and the fourth time I've ever refunded a game overall.
This also makes it very unlikely that I'll ever buy Red Dead Redemption 2, either. At least not for PC, anyway. Which, given all the other horseshit surrounding RDR2 on PC, it's honestly not that big of a loss to me. If I ever get aPS4PS5 someday or whatever, maybe then I might try to get GTAV and RDR2 or whatever, but I'm pretty much done with Rockstar as far as Steam/PC goes. I doubt at this point that I'll ever even try to play any of the previous GTA games I got on Steam sales years ago (assuming those even work at all without having to go through this same Rockstar Launcher dogshit all over again).
[1] - Because, for some dumb reason, I paid that extra dollar or so for the "Premium Online Edition," even though I had absolutely zero intention of ever trying to play GTA Online or whatever, partly given all the horror stories I was reading about that on the reviews and in the Steam forums, but mostly due to the fact that I generally don't give a flying fuck about multiplayer at all in the first place, period.
I bought the game this morning on a 60% off sale[1] and, after letting it download and install 90GB for two hours, I tried to run it. The first time, it ran the Steam "first time run" bullshit as usual, part of which was supposedly downloading and installing the additional Rockstar Launcher dogshit. It popped up a separate thing with the Rockstar logo, saying something like "Rockstar Launcher installing, please wait," which immediately blinked away. Then the Steam dialog went on and downloaded (for about the millionth time now, as it does it with almost every new game) the Microsoft Visual C++ redist and all that good shit... then, when all of that was completed (or so I thought) and it was time to actually start the game, it gave an error message saying something like "Could not find Rockstar Launcher. Please verify your game files."
So, I verified the Steam game files. Another 20 or so minutes down the toilet. It said everything was fine.
Then I tried to run it again. It did the Steam "first time run" shit again, saying it was trying to download and install the Rockstar Launcher again. This time, however, it actually brought up an installer for the Rockstar Launcher shit and went through it properly.
So, with that (finally) installed, it brought up the actual Rockstar Launcher and said I needed to log into or create a new Rockstar Social Club account, apparently required to play GTAV. So... I put in my email, picked a password, and put in my desired nickname/username ("Kane_Magus" of course)... and it told me that nickname "Kane_Magus" was already in use. Which is, of course, bullshit. The only thing I can possibly think of is that it was somehow using the "Kane_Magus" from my Playstation account from back when I played Red Dead Redemption on my PS3 almost a decade ago. (Well, either that or there is actually someone else on the Rockstar Social Club with the user name "Kane_Magus," which I find unlikely but not impossible.)
Well, I tried to have it send me a "reset password" email. Nothing. Multiple tries. Still nothing. Tried the same thing in a web browser on the Rockstar Social Club website as well. Nada. I tried to log in with my PSN account. Didn't accept it. The only thing I didn't try was simply creating a new account and just picking a different username, but fuck that. Also, every single solitary time I tried to do anything at all on the fucking Rockstar Launcher, I was forced to complete a goddamned CAPTCHA, sometimes multiple CAPTCHAs on the same screen, which didn't help my rising temper at all.
So, I just asked for a fucking refund on Steam (PRE-POST EDIT) and just now got a confirmation email that the refund has gone through (/PRE-POST EDIT), because I was already sick of all the horseshit. Total time spent fucking with the Rockstar Launcher: 9 minutes, says Steam. Total time spent actually playing Grand Theft Auto V: 0 minutes. Total amount of my life wasted on not-playing Grand Theft Auto V: probably around 3-4 hours (including the time spent writing up this rant post).
This is the third time I've ever asked for a refund on Steam, and the fourth time I've ever refunded a game overall.
This also makes it very unlikely that I'll ever buy Red Dead Redemption 2, either. At least not for PC, anyway. Which, given all the other horseshit surrounding RDR2 on PC, it's honestly not that big of a loss to me. If I ever get a
[1] - Because, for some dumb reason, I paid that extra dollar or so for the "Premium Online Edition," even though I had absolutely zero intention of ever trying to play GTA Online or whatever, partly given all the horror stories I was reading about that on the reviews and in the Steam forums, but mostly due to the fact that I generally don't give a flying fuck about multiplayer at all in the first place, period.
