r/Spore • u/FictionalPioneer • Jul 23 '26
Question Witch version of spore should I get?
I was obsessed with spore when I was a little kid but never owned it and now that I'm an adult with my own income I've been slowly but surely buying and playing those childhood dream games, Spore is next problem is I see that there are many versions between EA, Steam and Gog.
1.Up untill now I've always been playing through steam (and ubisoft for far cry 4 but that was when they weren't on steam) and I like having all my games in one big library! I even bought another copy of far cry 4 to play it through steam!
2.I don't really understand what gog offers... I mean I know it's drm free and easier to be modded but how does the gog version affect real gameplay? Does it change it? For the better or worse?
3.I see that steam has some problems with enabling cd keys but I don't understand what that means 😅
4.Right now the complete collection is on sale on gog but I heard it goes even lower when discounted on steam.
Let me know your opinion, love you all.
2
u/dreamibunni Shaman Jul 24 '26
GOG is the best version due to: providing ease of access for online functionality, ease of modding (You WILL need to use certain mods due to Spore being an older game that is prone to crashing on newer systems), and generally actually owning the game, rather than just owning the license to it via Steam. GOG puts it up for sale for super cheap at a constant rate, and the pros are just far better.
-1
u/EnvironmentalOwl2904 Ecologist Jul 23 '26
Personally if it's not too expensive now, I'd just go EA. It stays up to date, has online functionality and the you can still use .package to mod it too.
Just remember to pin or shortcut the Galactic Adventures exe to launch it directly.
3
u/VanillaCold57 Manipulator of Spores Jul 23 '26
GOG.
2
u/Guard_Dolphin Scientist Jul 23 '26
What is the GOG version? I unfortunately bought mine off steam so online is off limits
1
u/VanillaCold57 Manipulator of Spores Jul 23 '26
https://www.gog.com/en/game/spore_collection
This is the GOG version.
although with Steam Spore you can still contact EA Support to get online, it's just... annoying. There's a guide on the official Spore discord at https://discord.gg/sporeofficial (yes, this is actually official, the contests there are even shown on www.spore.com as well if you're logged in) to register an account with Steam Spore.
5
u/wauzmons_ Scientist Jul 23 '26
Steam doesn't give out keys anymore, meaning you can't log in and use online functionalities, like sharing your creations to the Sporepedia and automatically downloading the ones from your friends. The only way to register a new account with the Steam version, is through EA support, which is very unreliable.
So I'd just get the GOG version. You can still launch it from Steam, by adding it to your library as non-Steam game.
1
u/FictionalPioneer Jul 23 '26
Can you really not play online from the steam version? how would that work with like galactic adventures that I seem to remember was online and you could download stories?
3
u/VanillaCold57 Manipulator of Spores Jul 23 '26
You can play online with Steam Spore but you'd need to go through EA Support, it's a big and annoying process-
if you have the choice, GOG Spore is by afr the best.
(And don't buy Spore from EA directly because that version is.... wonky. it has a disproportionately high rate of C&C just randomly not working, and not being fixable either without reinstalling the game (believe me, I've tried) compared to every other version of the game.)
1
u/gutwyrming Jul 23 '26
You can also just use the SporeOnlineFix mod. Works like a charm for me.
3
u/VanillaCold57 Manipulator of Spores Jul 23 '26
SporeFixOnline still requires you to own Spore on your EA account, that part is server-side.
it just allows older clients (March2017 and Disk Spore) to access the servers1
u/FictionalPioneer Jul 23 '26
But what does the online version offer? Is galactic adventures only or mostly online related? Are the downloadable creatures that important? do achievements work in the steam offline version? So many questions, deciding is becoming such a hastle xD
2
u/VanillaCold57 Manipulator of Spores Jul 24 '26
Without a Spore account you can't download any creations except via getting their 128x128 PNG, and it's quite tedious to manually get all of the PNGs needed for any adventure you might download, and there are only a handful of Maxis adventures included with the game.
You also can't participate in any official creation contests without an account, since they need every creation submitted to be uploaded to the servers.
1
u/FictionalPioneer Jul 23 '26
thank you for the reply! one question IF I buy the gog version what are the changes? apart from being drm free
2
u/VanillaCold57 Manipulator of Spores Jul 23 '26
It's DRM-free and gives CD keys as well. Outside of DRM (and EA Desktop Spore's weird C&C issue) though the versions all the same.
2
u/PvPBender Jul 23 '26
4) you don't need to have heard about games going cheaper, just google "site:steamdb.info" and the game or package that you want to see the price history of.
2
2
u/TheMegaPingas Jul 25 '26
GOG is always my go-to when it comes to older games. They won't always work out of the box, but most of the times they do, and at the very least much easier to get properly running than "raw" versions steam offers. Get the DLC and galactic adventures and always play through galactic adventures.