Two Versions, your Preferance

Alright I know this has probably been brought up before. And I'd imagine this is the correct forum for this since, well, it is a general discussion about game development lol. We know that RPG Maker VX Ace comes in two flavors. Standalone and Steam. What's your preference now that the Steam version has been out for a while and just had a steam weekend sale? I tried coming up with a list of pros and cons and I can't really come up with any maybe because I am just not aware of them.

Two biggest things I know about is obviously the steam one comes with an extra button for project management within the program and some windows seem to be larger on the Steam version then on the standalone version (IE the script window when using a script in an event). I know they are the same program and both can be run identically to one another and have the same functionality (exception of the project management and Play Only Mode on the steam one).

What I don't like about the steam version is you always need to be online to access it (yes you can run steam in offline mode but I think that only lasts two weeks and then you are required to connected again do to DRM arrangements). However on the opposite end I like the fact that all the DLC is available right from the steam store.

Question I have though is the steam version updated more then the regular version? If at all. I know right here on these boards we have a list of some bug fixes that you can implement into the RTP code (Game_Interpreter, Battle_System, etc.) So please discuss. I am interested to see what advantages/disadvantages one platform has over the other if any.

For me, I have been with Ace for ever and I was right there when the steam version released. But I still find myself using the standalone version more even though they are backwards compatible. I mean hell RGSS3 is RGSS3 no matter which way you slice it. I am not to fond about how the Workshop doesn't allow custom .dll files and is restricted to 200MB and doesn't support encryption (I could be totally wrong, as I haven't used the workshop and am only basing that off of old posts) but i do like its Play Only feature.

I bought the Steam version two years ago and I just recently repurchased RPG Maker VX Ace to get the non-Steam version because I can't stand some of the behaviours with the Steam version.

When you go to a project folder and launch the program from there, it won't actually open the project whose folder you are in. It will open whatever project you previously had opened. So if I was working a lot on my current game, and one day, I find an old project and I go to open it, it's going to automatically open my current one instead, and force me to use the Close Project command and then reopen the project from the right folder...it's completely unnecessary, and I don't have to do this when I launch RPG Makers without steam. Go to project folder. Double click launcher, and it's going to open that specific project. No hassle. It's simple. It does what you expect it to do. I have no idea why the Steam version has to be so annoying to work with but I was annoyed with it enough to repurchase the entire maker at full price so I could avoid it.

Interesting. I have heard some strange things about the steam version but on the flip side I have heard that it outperforms the standalone version also. Its interesting how the exact same program can be so different sometimes.