I know the first response would be, “Why? The game is in a great state now!” It absolutely is, but…
I liked the overall atmosphere of the game before they added npcs and all of the fnix rising architecture. I heard that they were planning to add npcs to the starting area and I did not like that idea.
Im on playstation 4/5 and i purchased alpine unrest and fnix rising. Would deleting those dlcs work? Or is the fnix rising architecture still going to be integrated into the world regardless?
If I purchased a copy on steam, is it possible to download older versions?
Summary: I liked the vibe of older versions, is it possible to play an older version.
EDIT: Sounds like a NO from the community. Nice to hear im not the only one who is nostalgic for the OG. Would be cool to hear from a DEV on the matter.
No in short terms, there was a request a while ago from someone about using Strams Beta feature to put old versions onto. I support this as i wouldnt mind giving the older game a go since i started a year into the games release.
For Console, there more than likely will never be a way to play older versions of the game unless you dont update when an update drops.
And no, deleting DLCs gets rid of nothing but the quests and safehouses (Alpine Unrest). The structures feom FNIX Rising are part of the base game.
On Playstation you can’t even delete or deactivate the dlcs.
You could just try to make a new user for your playstation (not connected to your dlc-purchase) and reinstall the game just for this user while being offline permanently. Then you should be able to play the first version of the game. Other versions shouldn’t be possible as there aren’t seperate update-files for each one.
It would be great if we could have a “GZ Classic” similar to what Blizzard did with WoW but for now. No. Unless you have a spare PC / Xbox / PlayStation along with a disc version of the game and are prepared to disconnect it from the internet.
I’m playing the original Xbox version again on my old XB1X but you have to install from disc and play entirely offline to do so.
Yeah, no way to do it. Having bought it on launch day when only the Archipelago region was available and seeing the development that’s happened over the last few years, I’d say the game is in a far better state now than it ever was.
While there are some things to be nostalgic about the old GZ, I remember my impressions of it at the time. As fun and original as it was in terms of concept and location, but the whole world felt empty and sterile. There was so much cut and paste of the limited number of assets everywhere that everything looked the same. Landscapes were bland and generic. There was nothing really differentiating an area you were just in from the area you were going into.
I had last played when Alpine Unrest launched. I bought the DLC, but my friends who played moved on to another game which I joined them on. Only got back to GZ about 6 weeks ago, and I must say, it’s refreshing to see the world in its current state.
There’s far more variety in assets and landscapes now. Even though mostly devoid of NPCs (outside of the storylines), it feel more alive. It feels like something actually happened. You encounter scenes of destruction, military encampments where the armies obviously lost their fight. There’s variety everywhere. And to me, it makes the world a lot more interesting.
All that to say is that GZ has evolved into what IMHO it should have been at launch. And I wouldn’t want to go back to the “old” GZ even if it were an option.
The dude that asked for a Steam ‘Beta’ rollback option was me, and as far as I know there was no interest for that option even here in the forums. I’m still hoping for a dev to unlock that option, but the chances are slim to nonexistent. Although I’d really appreciate them looking into that option for preservation reasons - it’s an evolving game, and there’s no other way to ‘look back’.
That said, I still have the game in its April 2020 state as a zipped backup, and you can fiddle with Steam depot numbers and download any old version if you follow any semi-recent guide on how to do so. You’ll get the bugs that plagued the game back then, too, in my case the difficulty is brutal and some bunkers have blindingly white interiors.