The Steam 2012 Summer Sale anticipation thread - Because it is Inevitable

[RobC]

Can anyone provide an opinion of Torchlight?

convince me not to buy it!

Forgot if I played on normal or hard, but it was incredibly easy for the majority of the game.

Like most shiny new games, my initial impresions were good. It was fun to explore the dungeons, find new items, and encounter new monsters to fight. You do find a lot of items, in my opinion too many items. After my character got established (about midway through the game) I rarely found an item I wanted to use. There are just so many items it becomes a chore to look at each one to see if you want it. Luckily you have a pet that you can send back to town to sell your items so you don't have to slog back to town. There are also town portal scrolls so you can go to town and return pretty quickly. So if you want to you can pick up everything and sell what you don't need for some money. One nice feature is that you can spend your money to enchant your items. This almost always bestows a bonus to your item, but it also has a chance to do nothing (and waste your money), or strip all the bonus off your item. My items were disenchanted once all game, so it didn't happen often, but it did happen on my best item so it was a little disappointing.


It didn't take too long for the game to get boring to me for several reasons. The first it was too easy. During my fights I was able to just rush in and click without needing to think. There wasn't any challenge after my first 5 hours or so until the very end. That is another 25 + hours of mindless clicking. There are so many health and mana potions I never had to ration what I used. Maybe it is better on Very Hard, but I am not interested in doing another play through.


The second reason for bordom was the lack of meaningful choices. You can accept or deny quests, but since you are here to play I don't why you would, other than you just want to get through the game. There aren't any repercussions . Since the game was so easy, I didn't have to think very much about what items I equipped. The most meaningful choice you have to make is whether you try and enchant your items since there is a risk of removing all bonuses.


The End Game- I finally got my wish for some difficulties during the end game. The final fight was very tough. The problem was it just wasn't fun for me. It was just some mindless avoidance while trying to do some damage. Maybe it was because I had already endured so much boredom.

[sabrage]

I had a lot of fun with Unreal 3's Greed mode, but I can't compare it to the older games in the series which I have not played.

I could not play Torchlight straight off of Diablo 3. It hurt that it was so slow.

[Faldrath]

I haven't played NFS: Hot Pursuit, but on the other games:

TDU2 is actually quite underrated, in my opinion. Yes, the handling is a bit weird, the always-online and DLC are annoying, the story is pathetic and for some unfathomable reason some of the training races are much harder than the actual ones... BUT, when it comes to open world racing and that "collect them all!" feeling, it's actually pretty good, and the only recent PC game that is better is...

Driver: San Francisco. I approached this game expecting very little, and was very surprised. The story is silly, but the voice actors are good and the characters are amusing. San Francisco is very nicely rendered, there's an impressive collection of cars (also: Lamborghinis!), and the racing is pretty varied. As people mentioned before, the ability to possess other drivers means that you can actually approach races with different strategies: you can simply race, you can turn races into demolition derbies by trying to wreck the opponents, or you can mix the two approaches. Also, the movie challenges (races that "simulate" scenes from famous movies) are *great*, overall. And if you have the game, don't forget to look for the Back to the Future easter egg, it's quite amusing.

[alms]

Concerning discounts on indie titles, I believe whether a game gets discounted or not/how much it's almost entirely Valve's call. Developers in the past have commented on how they had basically no control about sales... and not even on the full price.

[jnx]

Can anyone provide an opinion of Torchlight?

convince me not to buy it!

You mean Torch "game in which fishing has more depth than the actual combat that the game is composed of and that's not much" light? Or Torch "the skill system is flat out stupid and encourages you to save points because the higher tier skills unlock with levels" light? Or Torch "you'll never use more than one skill in this game anyway" light?

[Subatomic]

Concerning discounts on indie titles, I believe whether a game gets discounted or not/how much it's almost entirely Valve's call. Developers in the past have commented on how they had basically no control about sales... and not even on the full price.

I'd like to read a source for that. From what I've gathered, Valve asks the developers if they want their game discounted, and by how much, though they'll usually suggest a discount based on their sales data and experience with other games. That's how it worked for S.P.A.Z in the last season sale at least.

[Scumbag]

Unreal 2 was a huge disappointment but that didn't really stop gaming magazines from giving it 90%+ ratings, sometimes even up to 96%. You know, the same kind of numbers they would later give Half-Life 2. Ultimately, it was a competent shooter that only really had - for its time - the amazing graphics going for it. There is a good reason nobody talks about it these these days. There is just nothing to say about it.

Thats what I meant with the initial Unreal post. It was not bad really, just unspeakably average despite the insane degree of hype it got. While I admit it was not as bad as Invisible War (Disappointment of a lifetime imo) and was not as largely confusing in how departed it was to the originals like Doom III, it just seemed like it should have been far far better then it really was judging by how half the press were reacting. My main memories of playing it back then were "Oh, so this is it?" and "Well, it looks nice I guess."

[alms]

It's unlikely Valve points a gun at you and say, eat or die. But when they make a suggestion, it carries some heft.

Now I can't remember exactly what was the last time this came up, but I think some game debuted on Steam at a lower price than preorder or something like that. I can't do better than that ATM.

[TechnoJellyfish]

Concerning discounts on indie titles, I believe whether a game gets discounted or not/how much it's almost entirely Valve's call. Developers in the past have commented on how they had basically no control about sales... and not even on the full price.

Really? I've read quite a few statements from developers which emphasized the fact that Valve is quite flexible regarding pricing.

(One recent example: A representative of Double Fine managed to lower prices of Stacking (and in fact all DF titles) in the eurozone and the UK when there was a lot of negative feedback regarding the unfair regional pricing.)

[alms]

I never said Valve isn't flexible or accommodating. Unfortunately my memory isn't helping me right now.

[TechnoJellyfish]

I never said Valve isn't flexible or accommodating. Unfortunately my memory isn't helping me right now.

My example was a bit off, I've got to admit.

I also remember a statement from Frozenbyte shortly after the release of Trine 2 in early December, that they hadn't planned to do any discounts on Trine 2 in the upcoming winter sale (which they didn't). I was under the impression that they were in full control of the pricing/discounting.

But I can't speak from personal experience, of course. It's just an impression I got from various blog posts, developer diaries and forum discussions.

[Faldrath]

Is anyone else having trouble with Steam? I've been stuck at "no connection" all morning, and whenever I switch pages (from the store to the community page, for instance), I'm getting that "you seem to be accessing Steam from a new computer/IP, please enter the verification code" message.

[DragonOfTime]

Is anyone else having trouble with Steam? I've been stuck at "no connection" all morning, and whenever I switch pages (from the store to the community page, for instance), I'm getting that "you seem to be accessing Steam from a new computer/IP, please enter the verification code" message.

I've got no problems

[Leopig]

Is anyone else having trouble with Steam? I've been stuck at "no connection" all morning, and whenever I switch pages (from the store to the community page, for instance), I'm getting that "you seem to be accessing Steam from a new computer/IP, please enter the verification code" message.

Try turning your router off and on. I sometimes get errors with steam then it displays prices in a different currency.

[Faldrath]

Try turning your router off and on. I sometimes get errors with steam then it displays prices in a different currency.

Thanks, but now I've looked at the Steam forums and it seems like a lot of people are having this issue, so it should be something on their end. Hopefully it gets fixed soon.

[Heliocentric]

I have the basic Driver San Francisco and I'm drowning in content.

Go for basic. Premium just looks like horse armour.

[neema_t]

I have the basic Driver San Francisco and I'm drowning in content.

Go for basic. Premium just looks like horse armour.

Agreed, there's more than enough in the basic game. I'm sorry that the game I voted for won, however.

[sonson]

Everybody vote for Driver for the upcoming flash sale please.

Thnxbye.

Edit: Fuck.

[Winged Nazgul]

Agreed, there's more than enough in the basic game. I'm sorry that the game I voted for won, however.

Yeah, same here. Already had D:SF though and just voted to vote. Damn those Steam achievements!

[Rauten]

So, NFS:Hot Pursuit won. Drat. I wanted D:SF, too.

Still, as much as I hate EA, this is one game I have some interest in. Opinions? Is it more or less like the old late 90's game? Any experiences with the online?
Also, Steam doesn't say anything about DRM, am I to assume that, aside from Steam itself, the game is clean?

Thanks.

[SirKicksalot]

Wargame's DRM was removed in the last patch. (http://www.wargame-ee.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10325#p77273)

That won't stop idiots from warning people not to buy it until 2020, but hopefully someone will notice.

[TechnoJellyfish]

Edit: Fuck.

Indeed. [moar characters]

[The JG Man]

I think Hot Pursuit is rather very good and worth the money. Saints Row and Binding of Isaac are the new flash deals. I can highly recommend the latter, haven't played the former.

On an unrelated note, this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3N6EFlZMtg) makes the train simulator look fun and worth buying. I'm not going to, but damn if there isn't temptation.

[Tritagonist]

Maybe I'm just noticing now, but I don't particularly like that Valve is putting up three games from the same genre. Earlier today the car games, now the city builders.

Anyway - Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (2010) is pretty good fun. I stopped caring about NFS during the height of the drifting/'underground racing' craze, but this one was nice. There's some great roads, too; an aspect that is often neglected in discussion about open world racing games, but this one has a few fun ones (especially along the coast). Do note that it has some pretty heavy rubber-banding AI - which could, to the degree you find that objectionable, be a bit of a downside. Since this doesn't ever pretend to be a serious driving/racing sim, I don't mind as much.


Wargame's DRM was removed in the last patch. (http://www.wargame-ee.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10325#p77273)

That won't stop idiots from warning people not to buy it until 2020, but hopefully someone will notice.
Thanks for the heads-up. I don't really mind most DRM schemes, but the limited activation and hardware setup is something that I try my best to avoid. I'm going to have another look at the game.

[renhoelder]

So, NFS:Hot Pursuit won. Drat. I wanted D:SF, too.

Still, as much as I hate EA, this is one game I have some interest in. Opinions? Is it more or less like the old late 90's game? Any experiences with the online?
Also, Steam doesn't say anything about DRM, am I to assume that, aside from Steam itself, the game is clean?

Thanks.

It seems the opinion is that if you liked Underground, Undercover then you're probably not going to like it (no customization or some fast and furios plot) , if you didn't you're going to like it. The AI can be iffy sometimes, but other than that it's a pretty fun arcade racer. Can't remember if it has DRM, it has Autolog, which I personally didn't care for much, but this seems to be nowadays pretty much standard.
For this price, I'd say it's worth it.

[trjp]

OK - I'm going back to my stance on the entire world being morons.

In a battle between Driver:SF, TDU2 and NFS:HP, that you'd choose the rubberband letdown title is astonishing...

People - Driver:SF should be back for more discountage before the end of the sale, if you have the remotest interest in the best arcade driving/hoonage game ever made, that will be your chance.

[field_studies]

Driver San Francisco is the greatest puzzle game with cars ever.
<snip>
Edit more: It's truly funny without having to lean on swears or crude jokes. It's kid friendliness is inclusive of its ninja fast pedestrians who midtown madness style cannot be hurt.

I'm coming in late on this, but wanted to say YES YES YES. I picked up Driver in a daily deal a few weeks back and just finished it. A clever plot that justifies the even more clever mechanics. And it does an awfully slick job at marrying 70's buddy cop drama/aesthetics with modern day setting and vehicles... sort of best of all world. Great voice acting, fairly fun driving (though not as solid as Codemasters' fare), good soundtrack--all in all its one of those gem games that just seems built from top to bottom to let you have fun, without getting in the way.

And funny you mentioned it, Heliocentric--I hadn't thought of Midtown Madness in a good decade before booting up Driver, and suddenly it came flooding back.

So it didn't win the vote, which is a shame, but it seems that all of these 'losers' end up as daily deals sooner or later anyway.

[alms]

I'm almost happy the flash deals are so underwhelming for me they can't rise even the slightest interest. OTOH it's a bit of a let down. Do I need to see a shrink..?

[Sketch]

Hot Pursuit's rubber banding is really not too bad in practice, I've never really felt I've lost the lead simply because of rubber banding issues. Usually if I get to the front, I can stay there - it doesn't feel like a total rip off like The Run.

[trjp]

Also - and this is seldom mentioned - but the CGI work on the faces in the Driver:SF cutscenes is Blizzard quality, truly, truly fantastic.

[Kodeen]

I'm almost happy the flash deals are so underwhelming for me they can't rise even the slightest interest. OTOH it's a bit of a let down. Do I need to see a shrink..?

Of the 5 games I've purchased so far, 4 of them have been flash sales. That could just be a matter of timing, since games appear to be in flash sales and then daily deals and then in flash sales again.

[alms]

That wasn't meant to be a blanket statement, I did buy a few of them myself. Merely that I have no interest in today's flash deals so far.

[Kodeen]

Ah, agreed. I guess one of the benefits of going so bonkers with last year's summer sale is that most of the games that are for sale this year that I would have wanted, I already own.

[sonson]

At this rate everything is going to appear in a flash sale

[field_studies]

Hot Pursuit's rubber banding is really not too bad in practice, I've never really felt I've lost the lead simply because of rubber banding issues. Usually if I get to the front, I can stay there - it doesn't feel like a total rip off like The Run.

As much as I think Driver:SF is the better game, I have to agree--I finished Hot Pursuit without ever feeling cheated. Some races are very difficult, though they actually tended to be the ones where you race against the clock. I also never felt like (as had been written a lot at the time) that it felt on-rails... the car physics were actually decent. Not GRID good, but decent.

It's no Most Wanted, but well worth a fiver if you like arcade racing.

[Rauten]

Thanks for the input on NFS:HP, guys; gonna wait till the dailies and, unless something demands egregious amounts of money, I'll make it mine.

[Track]

Well, you guys convinced me to buy JC2 when it was part of a Community Choice ballot, so now that it's on flash sale i've picked it up.

You know what this new Community Choice made me realize? City builders are weirdly expensive. I'd like one, but at the prices on offer (and considering the backlog I now have because of this sale) I can't take the plunge.

[DragonOfTime]

On an unrelated note, this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3N6EFlZMtg) makes the train simulator look fun and worth buying. I'm not going to, but damn if there isn't temptation.

This actually makes me really want to try that game... It seems resistance is pretty much futile.

[alms]

Pretty much. We will be all trainsimilated anyway.

[FriendlyFire]

Damnit, I wanted Driver:SF since TB did a video of it. Seemed like a fresh take on arcade driving.

I've bought NFS:HP on release for PS3 (for some reason I've always felt racing games were couch games) and I've been utterly disappointed in it. I loved Burnout Paradise and played an awful lot of it, but barely touched NFS:HP despite also loving NFS:HP2.

The problem wasn't the rubber banding, it was the handling. It just didn't feel right. I'd be constantly waggling left and right and would be unable to properly steer the cars with precision. There were no sensitivity options. I don't know if that issue was restricted to PS3 only, but it made the game nigh unplayable. You can't go at 200km/h without precise controls.

I did notice rubber banding, but it wasn't bad enough to annoy me.

[The JG Man]

My only reservation about getting NFS:HP, personally, is that I 'completed' it on the 360 and with Most Wanted coming out as soon as it is, I don't really think I'll get a lot of mileage out of it. Hell, I have Burnout Paradise on the PC (again, another game I 100%'d on my 360) which I got for free. I found HP to be a very good arcade racer, that looked cool, felt fine after a few minutes of getting used to the drifting and had some neat challenges. The Autolog is deceptively very cool, but is only as good as however many friends you have who play it, and still do.

[sabrage]

On an unrelated note, this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3N6EFlZMtg) makes the train simulator look fun and worth buying. I'm not going to, but damn if there isn't temptation.
I hope Richard Ayoade makes more train videos. I'd watch all of them.

[Track]

New Daily Deals:

- STALKER: Call Of Pripyat
- Indie Bundle VII
- L.A. Noire
- Super Meat Boy
- AoE Online
- Thief: Deadly Shadows
- Carpe Fulgar Series (This would be the company that did Recettear)
- SOASE: Rebellion
- Total War Mega Pack

I take it from the amount of praise that i've heard about it on RPS that I should get Stalker?

[Faldrath]

Not a very exciting day for me, but this indie bundle seems to be the best one so far (I'll pass since I already own Dredmor and Avadon, though). The Receteer bundle is interesting, but... Age of Empires Online is a waste of a slot :/

[vinraith]

Another somewhat bum day, at least for me. STALKER: CoP is supposed to be very solid (I own it but haven't played it), Recettear is alright, I couldn't recommend anything else there personally.

And there's nothing in that batch I want to buy. Huh. I came into this sale with a $40 budget, I have $34 left and they're not exactly making it hard to hold on to.

[Spengbab]

I take it from the amount of praise that i've heard about it on RPS that I should get Stalker?
It's pretty solid, though I only played the first 2 game. SoC is pretty goo- GET OUT OF HERE STALKER

As for the deals - only 25% on Rebellion? Quite interested, but not at that price. Fulgur stuff is only doable if youre an extreme weeaboo, though the "capitalism, ho" is quite well translated, if not a literal translation.

Also, AoE online? The hell is that

[trjp]

Recettear is OK but the other CF games are nothing to write-home about, sadly...

We've hit the 'meh' point of the sale I think :)

[vinraith]

As for the deals - only 25% on Rebellion? Quite interested, but not at that price.

Yeah, for what is really an expansion pack, content-wise, that's still far too high a price IMO. It's not a very well balanced expansion pack yet either, from what I've heard. I figure I'll pick it up eventually, but a patched up and rebalanced version for $10 sometime next year works fine for me.

[gundato]

New Daily Deals:

- STALKER: Call Of Pripyat
- Indie Bundle VII
- L.A. Noire
- Super Meat Boy
- AoE Online
- Thief: Deadly Shadows
- Carpe Fulgar Series (This would be the company that did Recettear)
- SOASE: Rebellion
- Total War Mega Pack

I take it from the amount of praise that i've heard about it on RPS that I should get Stalker?

Yes.
Clear Skies is kind of weak, but still fun.
Call of Pripyat actually has quite a few set pieces that give the CoD games a run for their money. They are more like "We put a few things around, the AI handled the rest" rather than being highly scripted, but there is something to jogging through a town full of enemies as your companions take a knee and lob grenades intelligently.

Basically, a CoD set-piece is like a Michael Bay movie. A STALKER set piece is like the more action-y parts of Blackhawk Down.

[Tritagonist]

Recettear is OK but the other CF games are nothing to write-home about, sadly...
I've heard similar, so I'll probably only pick up that one. Any contrary opinions?

[rsherhod]

New Daily Deals:

- STALKER: Call Of Pripyat
- Indie Bundle VII
- L.A. Noire
- Super Meat Boy
- AoE Online
- Thief: Deadly Shadows
- Carpe Fulgar Series (This would be the company that did Recettear)
- SOASE: Rebellion
- Total War Mega Pack

I take it from the amount of praise that i've heard about it on RPS that I should get Stalker?

To begin with I didn't realise that when something like SOASE: Rebellion is on a daily sale at 50% off, SOASE: Trinity is also on daily sale but at 75% off.

That and the Peninsular Campaign for N:TW are my haul for today.

[airtekh]

For anyone considering the indie bundle, Vessel is one of my favourite games from this year; it's a lovely little 2D puzzle-platformer.

I'd liken it to Braid, so if you enjoyed that, there's a good chance you'll like Vessel. There's also a demo as well.

QUBE is a pretty decent first-person puzzler too.

Don't know anything about the other games.

[Gilead]

It's interesting to see the other reactions to today's daily deals. Personally, this looks like they day I've been waiting for all this time. The complete Rome: Total War for £2.50 and all the Thief games together for under £5? Excellent. The only one I'm still waiting for is a Splinter Cell deal and then my list of older games to buy when they're on sale will be pretty much all checked off.

Mostly the deals before today have been for games I wasn't really interested in with discounts that weren't quite enough, which is why I've bought mostly DLC for games I already own. And Orcs Must Die, because they managed to hook me with the demo.

[laneford]

Gah I've finally cracked, and spent 49p on the Binding of Isaac DLC.

Still not bad for what, four or five days in?

[vinraith]

To begin with I didn't realise that when something like SOASE: Rebellion is on a daily sale at 50% off, SOASE: Trinity is also on daily sale but at 75% off.

That and the Peninsular Campaign for N:TW are my haul for today.

Trinity is a waste of money at this point, as Rebellion is standalone and contains all content from Trinity. Waiting for a better deal on Rebellion is the best move, here.

[The JG Man]

My thoughts based on titles played:
Super Meat Boy is one of my favourite games. Very hard, very satisfying, very sweary. Not for everyone, but oh-so excellent. Has a kick-ass soundtrack too. Best played with a controller, but based on some videos online, more than doable without. Tons of content, especially with the level editor and custom playable levels (although their quality is certainly questionable, so luck of the draw comes in here) that you get well more than the asking price...if you can go the length. This is a high adrenaline game combined with the kind of difficulty that means you'll want to have the 1-click purchasing on Amazon for new controllers. It's that kind of game, the type I love.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl/Call of Pripyat are solid titles. I never really felt the fuss that they got on here, but they're certainly very enjoyable. Between then, I've put in about 40 hours (heavily leaning more towards SoC). Highly recommended to play with the Complete mod, which I'm sure you can find with some simple Google-fu. The games feel quite janky, lacking neither the polish of more money behind them nor the awful quality of a game that had none. Instead, there sits an enjoyable thinking-man's-shooter that has a lot of content, but not all of which you may find to be interesting.

Regarding the flash sale on Dead Space is...interesting. They're certainly not Resident Evil 4 quality, but they're good. DS1 gets rather repetitive, arbitrarily increasing enemy difficult (they're more black!) without necessarily introducing more variety. It's very linear, but interesting enough. I got no scares out of it, but then I'm someone who barely got fazed by playing Amnesia, so, there's that. As for DS2, it has the polish and sheen of a game that sort of throws away any horror elements and goes more for action. Whilst the game mechanically plays better than DS1, I thought some of its atmosphere was lost and I felt there were a few more cheap deaths. The story is more driving and there are some really lovely set-pieces, but I find that both games don't excel each other, rather making the mistakes that the other one doesn't have. DS2 also has a throw-away MP component and whilst not actually too bad, it's not got enough pull to take you from the many other, better, MP games out there. This all being said, they're entertaining games to play and well worth the price of admission.

[neema_t]

all the Thief games together for under £5?

I considered getting the pack for a second but then I wasn't sure if the older two would work on my machine, then I remembered they're on GOG (as is Deadly Shadows, of course) so I spent £1.74 on DS and left the other two for now. It's not as if I'll get round to playing them any time soon so I think I'd rather wait for GOG to have another sale, I know they had one on the Thief franchise not long ago but I'm hopeful.

Also the memories of old games I bought that didn't work on my computer (i.e. Myst, which I bought early on in the sale) made me make up my mind between RealMyst for £1.99 (which should work) or getting Myst from GOG instead for a higher price. Seeing as I have Myst on my phone and I've never played RealMyst and it's cheap, I got RealMyst. I hope I won't regret it, £4 on two non-functioning versions of the same game would be a kick in the teeth.

[Gilead]

I considered getting the pack for a second but then I wasn't sure if the older two would work on my machine, then I remembered they're on GOG

To be honest, I was originally waiting for them to be on sale on GOG; the GOG release is definitely preferable and requires a bit less fiddling (although still a little). I do want to play them over the summer, though, and it looks like GOG's already winding down their own summer sale activities, so I thought I might as well get the games while I can. It looks quite straightforward to patch the games, so it's no big deal.

[Anthile]

It should be noted that Carpe Fulgur is merely localizing the games. Chantelise and Recettear are from the same developer but Fortune Summoners is from a completely different studio.

[Smashbox]

I'm sure you all know about Total War, but that seems like a decent deal, actually.

Empire is flawed but fun, Medieval is quite cool, Rome's a classic.

I played a bit of Age of Empires Online, too. Apparently (and don't quote me on this) they've thrown out some of the microtransaction-inducing grindy-ness since then, but I was not impressed. Structurally, you have to play too much easy stuff before you get to the game, proper. To the tune of hours and hours. Also, I found 'micro-ing' my injured men too frustrating.

[rsherhod]

Trinity is a waste of money at this point, as Rebellion is standalone and contains all content from Trinity. Waiting for a better deal on Rebellion is the best move, here.

Ah, I see. I was under the impression that Rebellion was significantly different. More of an almost sequel.

Oh well, £4-ish wasn't too bad for 3/4 of the current game.

[SirKicksalot]

Don't ignore Clear Sky if you liked Stalker. It was patched and has its own cohort of mods that build up on top of the half-assed gameplay twists. It's an interesting and ambitious title. The horror is toned down but it adds new maps to explore and if you enjoyed combat against humans in Stalker, there's plenty of it here.

[Ravelle]

Guys, I'm afraid the Steam sale is going to get worse every year because we'd get most of the games at every sale. in 2-3 years there's nothing left buying. ;p

[Smashbox]

I've bought several things this sale that were released since last summer, so, that's pretty good.

[Vandelay]

Ah, I see. I was under the impression that Rebellion was significantly different. More of an almost sequel.

Oh well, £4-ish wasn't too bad for 3/4 of the current game.

Not knowing much about these games, I assumed that Rebellion was a similar deal as Trinity, in that it contains the old stuff and the new stuff. However, the fact that the Stardock pack includes both Trinity and Rebellion has made me question this.

I won't be missing out on anything if I just get Rebellion? No campaign or additional races? (Rebellion's description just says "New Factions: Decide whether to play Loyalist or Rebels," indicating you don't get the original races.)

[Rauten]

Recettear is good fun for quite a while, and at that price, a steal; If you can bear the animu style and sprites, go for it, and become a capitalist pig hungry for more and more money.

[vinraith]

Not knowing much about these games, I assumed that Rebellion was a similar deal as Trinity, in that it contains the old stuff and the new stuff. However, the fact that the Stardock pack includes both Trinity and Rebellion has made me question this.

I won't be missing out on anything if I just get Rebellion? No campaign or additional races? (Rebellion's description just says "New Factions: Decide whether to play Loyalist or Rebels," indicating you don't get the original races.)

There are no campaigns in any Sins game, period. They're skirmish-only. All content present in Trinity is present in Rebellion, it's a standalone expansion, not a sequel. In Trinity there are three factions. In Rebellion, there are those same three factions, each of which now come in two flavors with slightly different tech trees and a different ship or two. You are 100% not missing out on anything by getting Rebellion without Trinity. Frankly, the Stardock pack is kind of a scam.

[Leopig]

Thanks to those that recommended Sanctum to me, been plying all afternoon, it is ace.

[Gasmask Hero]

I'm sure you all know about Total War, but that seems like a decent deal, actually.

I thought that too. I got quite excited about it, until I realised there was no Shogun 2. Am I being too picky?

Also, I'm having more fun with Train Simulator than I feel I should be.

[shakeit]

Is the Total War Mega Collection any good and worth the money?

[Gnoupi]

Frankly, the Stardock pack is kind of a scam.

While we are on the Stardock topic, a question about GalCiv2. I own GalCiv2, basic one, on Impulse (when they sold it for really, really cheap, a year or two ago). I quite liked it, especially the way diplomacy behaved compared to Civ4 (having the big military empire be very angry, threatening, and declaring war when i dared installing a cultural station next to their borders, as opposed to Civ4 "there is tension on our borders: -1", for example).

My question is, is the ultimate edition a huge upgrade, or is it simply adding a few ships/techs, compared to the basic one?

I doubt it will go on daily sale, but the current -50% is already tempting.

[vinraith]

While we are on the Stardock topic, a question about GalCiv2. I own GalCiv2, basic one, on Impulse (when they sold it for really, really cheap, a year or two ago). I quite liked it, especially the way diplomacy behaved compared to Civ4 (having the big military empire be very angry, threatening, and declaring war when i dared installing a cultural station next to their borders, as opposed to Civ4 "there is tension on our borders: -1", for example).

My question is, is the ultimate edition a huge upgrade, or is it simply adding a few ships/techs, compared to the basic one?

I doubt it will go on daily sale, but the current -50% is already tempting.

The ultimate edition is a huge upgrade from base Gal Civ 2. Like, you're going to have to relearn how to play the game huge. Each of the two expansions introduced a pile of new game mechanics, factions, techs, upgrades, and fundamentally altered how some game systems worked. The second one literally gave every race in the galaxy a completely different tech tree full of completely different techs, that's how huge we're talking here. For $9.99, as an upgrade from the base Gal Civ 2, it's a no-brainer IMO. There's no harm in waiting til the last day to make sure it doesn't get an extra discount, but I expect you're probably right that it won't.

Personally, I don't have Impulse installed (and probably never will again) so I keep batting around the idea of rebuying it to have it on Steam, despite having bought the original game and both expansions at full price on release.

[tossrStu]

Saints Row III is 75% off again.

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet (it's too big a thread to plough through and a quick search didn't turn anything up) but the £20 SR3 franchise pack is overpriced; if you really want all the DLC, you should get the following:

Saints Row III (obv)
Season Pass (includes Genkibowl VII, Gangstas in Space, The Trouble with Clones and the Nyte Blade Pack)
Purple Ops Pack (includes Special Ops Vehicle Pack, Steelport Gangs Pack, Explosive Combat Pack and Warrior Pack)
Maximum Pleasure Pack (includes FUNTIME! Pack -- ie. the cool preorder Genki stuff -- Money Shot Pack, Invincible Pack and Shark Attack Pack)
Genki Girl Pack
Witches & Weiners Pack
Penthouse Pack
Z Style Pack
Bloodsucker Pack

It comes to £15.14 for the lot instead of £19.99. That's assuming you want all the DLC, of course; from what I've heard, the Season Pass is definitely worth getting (especially for cheaps) but you're not really missing out if you don't bother with the rest.

[trjp]

Recettear is good fun for quite a while, and at that price, a steal; If you can bear the animu style and sprites, go for it, and become a capitalist pig hungry for more and more money.

I have to insert the standard disclaimers that

a - you need to understand how the looping system works - because you WILL fail (it's a bit random) and you shouldn't be put-off too much by that
b - the tutorial gives REALLY BAD ADVICE, if you screw customers for max prices you'll soon find yourself unable to sell a damned thing - be nicer, sell more
c - it's a BIT RANDOM - sometimes you'll sell nothing/get only awkward customers/get crap loot etc. - this can leave you frustrated as your deadlines approach - use the save system wisely :)

[Gnoupi]

Thanks for the details, vinraith. It seems indeed worth buying it on Steam to have expansions, from what you tell me.


Personally, I don't have Impulse installed (and probably never will again) so I keep batting around the idea of rebuying it to have it on Steam, despite having bought the original game and both expansions at full price on release.

With some luck, it will be available directly from Stardock at some point, like some of their other titles: https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products. But it's not currently.

[Vandelay]

There are no campaigns in any Sins game, period. They're skirmish-only. All content present in Trinity is present in Rebellion, it's a standalone expansion, not a sequel. In Trinity there are three factions. In Rebellion, there are those same three factions, each of which now come in two flavors with slightly different tech trees and a different ship or two. You are 100% not missing out on anything by getting Rebellion without Trinity. Frankly, the Stardock pack is kind of a scam.

Cheers for the info. I knew the original Sins came with no campaign, but wasn't sure if one was introduced later down the line. Guess I'll just get Rebellion then.

[Colonel J]

Saints Row III is 75% off again


Jeez, even on sale, £12.49 for SRIII DLC when the base game is only £7.49. No game does pointless DLC tat quite like SRIII. If it were me, playing it again I'd get just Gangstas in Space (I had fun with that and it's worth it for the voice acting alone) and The Trouble With Clones (though it's very short you could skip that one and miss not much). The Genki missions just annoyed me mostly but YMMV. And maybe get the Explosive Combat pack as the grenade launcher I actually found useful early on in the game. Otherwise, 99% of the awesome entertainment is in the base game, save yer money.

[gundato]

Is the Total War Mega Collection any good and worth the money?

Not really. Unless you are a hardcore history buff, there are basically two games: Pre-Gunpowder Total War and Empire/Napoleon Total War. And even then, the differences aren't really big enough.

I suggest picking one Total War (Shogun 2 has a balance of both) and just grabbing that.

[Gorzan]

I'm totally buying Medieval II, I'm also very, very sad about Driver: SF not winning the vote, I'll have to wait for a daily deal or a flash deal. And finally, if Simcity 4 wins the votes I might buy it to make 5€ out of Medieval's 2,5€

[Smashbox]

I thought that too. I got quite excited about it, until I realised there was no Shogun 2. Am I being too picky?


Is the Total War Mega Collection any good and worth the money?

Even though Shogun is their best offering in recent memory, you could play this package of games for HUNDREDS of hours.

[TheDreamlord]

Terraria as flash sale again??

[Smashbox]

Anybody seen Jagged Alliance BIA show up as a flash/featured sale yet?

[TheDreamlord]

On another note, has anyone played Scary Girl? Any good?

[TheDreamlord]

Anybody seen Jagged Alliance BIA show up as a flash/featured sale yet?

Nope, not yet. Been keeping an eye on it, but no luck yet. I'd go for it if it gets down to 75% off.

[vinraith]

Terraria as flash sale again??

It seems that primary impact of the flash sales is to make if clear how few games Valve is running flash sales on.

[Smashbox]

Maybe for Steam-Sale-Superfans like us!

[Davkaus]

It seems that primary impact of the flash sales is to make if clear how few games Valve is running flash sales on.

Well, it's an additional sale type that they don't usually have. I don't think the only intent of it is to put extra games on sale, it seems to be a way for people to get a second chance if they miss the daily sales.

[Dexter]

Arr, wrong thread :P

[vinraith]

Well, it's an additional sale type that they don't usually have. I don't think the only intent of it is to put extra games on sale, it seems to be a way for people to get a second chance if they miss the daily sales.

And a third and a fourth in some cases, but yeah. The intent appears to be to offer the same sales you get in the dailies at additional times, but without dispelling the illusion of rarity generated by limited time offers. I'd be genuinely curious to see how that's panning out for them.

[Kodeen]

And a third and a fourth in some cases, but yeah. The intent appears to be to offer the same sales you get in the dailies at additional times, but without dispelling the illusion of rarity generated by limited time offers. I'd be genuinely curious to see how that's panning out for them.

I wonder if their new on-site economist had a hand in it.

[gundato]

Anybody seen Jagged Alliance BIA show up as a flash/featured sale yet?

It was up for vote a few days ago. It lost.

But that means it will be a flash sale or a daily deal (that is an inclusive or).

[Smashbox]

I, too, saw it as a vote but John Q. Public apparently got mixed up and clicked the wrong button.

[FunnyB]

Have you all noticed that several games have been featured in both flash sales, community votes AND daily deals?

Somehow, I get the feeling that the variety has not been that great in this sale. Not that I'm complaining, just comparing to past sales. I've definitely bought my fair share of games anyway during this sale...

[trjp]

I've said this about 10 times now but I'm convinced there's a pool of deals and they'll be rotated through the Community Votes, Flash Deals and Daily Deals relatively equally.

Games which miss Community Votes may well get more time/appearances in Flash Sales I guess - I'm pretty sure all Flash Sales will be Dailys at some point too (to ensure everyone gets to see them at least once).

There's NO way a deal which has appeared in the vote and not won - won't appear either as a Flash or a Daily - no developer would want to tease people in that way...

[TheDreamlord]

On a separate note, Max Payne 3 is fantastic! I am having a blast after 4 hours into it. I think it is rather short at about 8 or so hours, but man is it fun!

[Track]

I've had my eye on Terraria for a while now. It's on for $2.50 currently during a flash sale; is it worth giving a go?

[Vandelay]

On a separate note, Max Payne 3 is fantastic! I am having a blast after 4 hours into it. I think it is rather short at about 8 or so hours, but man is it fun!

It is actually a little longer then that, clocking up at about 10-12 hours. The originals were quite a bit shorter. A lot of the new one is cutscenes though.

Fantastic action in it though.

[Universal Hamster]

On a separate note, Max Payne 3 is fantastic! I am having a blast after 4 hours into it. I think it is rather short at about 8 or so hours, but man is it fun!I think I got about 12 hours at least out of the singleplayer. I could be wrong about that, but I definitely didnt feel short-changed by it.
And yeah, I had a great time with it too!

Edit: Vandelay is basically me, but 2 minutes into the future.

[johnki]

I've had my eye on Terraria for a while now. It's on for $2.50 currently during a flash sale; is it worth giving a go?
I put 65 hours into it before it even had the content expansions. At that time, I had gotten a bit bored of it since we (my girlfriend and I) had run out of new stuff to do and we were having pretty crappy luck with the underworld.

WITH the expansions (free, included), there's probably at least 50 hours more that we haven't explored yet and it feels like a whole new game in terms of weapon options and such. Plus, they now have social outfits and a whole lot more.

I don't know if it's still being updated, and some people don't like the fact that it may not be, but when you think of all the people that jumped on deals for other games that definitely aren't being supported, and the fact that it's $2.50 for a game that potentially has at least a hundred hours of entertainment, there's not much to really complain about.

[Casimir Effect]

Is the Total War Mega Collection any good and worth the money?
It's excellent. I'd buy it if I didn't already have everything in it on Steam. Rome is the best to start with as it's the easiest to get in to. Medieval II is my least favourite but it still a damn good game. Empire I was wary of to begin with but am currently in the middle of a 72 hour game. And Napoleon I hear improves on Empire in many ways (although is more based around mini-campaigns instead of world conquest).

Added to that, there are more mods for Rome and MII than you can count (including things like Middle Earth mods I think), and there are a good few for Empire and Napoleon.

All-in-all, this pack could easily give you things to play for the rest of this year.

BUT, these games are often on offer so you could always just buy one of them (I'd recommend Rome) to see if you like it and then keep an eye out in the future.

[Smashbox]

Is ____ worth $2.50? Yes.

Terraria is a good game, by most accounts.

[Anthile]

I thought Terraria was terribly grindy. Just getting marginally better gear then that which you start out with takes forever and to get any top-shelf stuff you pretty much have to quit your day job.
Maybe it's better in co-op but in singleplayer it's absolutely tedious.

[vinraith]

I wonder if their new on-site economist had a hand in it.

Hmm, I'd gotten the impression he was more of a "macro" guy, this is more of a sales technique. Honestly, when it comes to manipulating people into parting with their money, Valve didn't need any help.

[trjp]

After delivering a gentle kicking to 'Shoot Many Robots' - someone I know gifted me a copy for some co-op fun. Not had a chance to actually do that yet, but I have thrown a couple of hours into it "single player" and the PC version has a couple of redeeming/notable features.

Firstly, the "busy" graphics work better on a monitor than they do on a TV - there's so much going on that playing on a TV means it's genuinely hard to keep track of things (at least for me)

The move to keyboard/mouse controls has been done well - I still think removing the controller option from a "Metal Slug" game is crazy, but the controls they've offered work (tho they lack precision for things like quick direction changes/bullet punching). Since launch they've patched in some customisation too - but it doesn't recognise the extra buttons on my mouse which is bloody annoying.

I've spent 2 hours clearing the first 3 'areas' out and whilst it gets frantic - it's just about doable solo upto that point at least. What I'm less keen on is the plethora of 'crap' weapons it offers (and charges you for) - you just keep going back to the AR/Rocket combo time after time when the 'wizzy weapon' you just spent your hard-earned on transpires to be 'shit'.

For the £2 it was in the last sale (and no doubt will be again) it would be churlish to complain tho - it's Borderlands in 2D, it's Metal Slug with the detail/care replaced with MASSIVE INVASIONS OF ROBOTS (admittedly, all of a very limited set of types) - there are lots of hats - what's not to like eh? :)

[johnki]

I thought Terraria was terribly grindy. Just getting marginally better gear then that which you start out with takes forever and to get any top-shelf stuff you pretty much have to quit your day job.
Maybe it's better in co-op but in singleplayer it's absolutely tedious.
I played co-op (two player) and I didn't have any problem with it. Maybe it's changed since I played, but it's not grindy. It's pretty well balanced, especially if you play on a medium map. The large maps are for people who intend to do a lot of exploring. They're massive.

I mean, people have different definitons of grindy, but generally my problem with Terraria was having too much stuff and not enough space.

[Smashbox]

You could play Terraria for a long time (if you like it) or just a couple days (if it stops being fun). It's still worthwhile for $2.50. I think I only put about 15-ish hours in when I bought it for this price last year, and I don't regret it. Totally worth it.

[Gorzan]

81 hours clocked on Terraria, every single one of them on single player, every single one of them great fun.
I'm not completelly sure about buying Simcity 4, but I think I'll do it, I just need another hour to think about it.

[PeteC]

Yeah I'm umming and ahhing over Sim City 4. I know it's only £2.49 but is it any good?

[alms]

It's properly good, probably the best city builder until the next Simcity is released.

[Smashbox]

SimCity 4 is ... and I can't say this emphatically enough ... FUCKING AWESOME.

One of my favorite games I've ever played and almost certainly the one I've spent the longest playing. Make sure you dig deep into the mods, including the Real Highway Mod (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=990.0)and the Network Addon Mod (http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=NAM).

Be forewarned, I have stability problems with the game now on Win7 64 bit. Breaks muh heart.

Best city builder ever made.

[alms]

Be forewarned, I have stability problems with the game now on Win7 64 bit.

I haven't had too many of them, but a few CTDs with the unmodded game (same OS as you), yes. Given how the thing works, i.e. "oh ok lemme fix this" (another hour goes past) "and this" (...) it's easy to put several of those in a row and even the occasional CTD can be painful. That's why I developed the habit of spamming ^S.

[PeteC]

I've been Googling around and it seems it has a lot of stability problems with Windows 7. I'm interested in getting it it but that's putting me off. I don't want a useless game cluttering up my library.

[Smashbox]

It's a shame. I have not played the Steam version though, that might be better. There are probably fixes too, but my crash comes when I press "Save" which was frustrating enough to make me say.... NOT NOW.

[alms]

Tips for improving stability, the second also has instructions for custom resolutions:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1685749
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1879359

[Smashbox]

IMO, worth the risk if you haven't played it. It's hard to overstate my love for this game.

[PeteC]

Alright, I've bought it. My resistance is low enough with these sales as it is but I find the game intriguing enough to take a punt.

[TheDreamlord]

I gave in and bought Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit five minutes before the end of the sale, after watching a few youtube videos. Hope it's not a wasted fiver!

[johnki]

So, in an effort to reduce my spending, I traded for CS1.6 and Condition Zero. I then spent the last 25 minutes getting my ass handed to me in a way I've never experienced before. I mean, I got owned. Big time. Man, I don't know how that game works at all.

[Gorzan]

Hmm, so it has stability problems with Win 7 64 Bit? that might me reconsider the buy, but I think that with the specs it asks for it should work on my shitty laptop, so I guess it's worth the risk, Buying it now.

[The JG Man]

I'll probably pick up Sim City 4 when Sim City 5 has loads of problems with the DRM/multiplayer component and SC4 inevitably goes on sale at some point after its release. Shame about the OS problem, but if it still mostly works, that's better than nowt.

And jeez, NFS:HP shot to the top of the sellers chart in not a large amount of time. It was at a pretty good price point, but seriously.

[sabrage]

So, in an effort to reduce my spending, I traded for CS1.6 and Condition Zero. I then spent the last 25 minutes getting my ass handed to me in a way I've never experienced before. I mean, I got owned. Big time. Man, I don't know how that game works at all.
Love thy flashbang.

[The JG Man]

In an hour, Sim City 4 has topped the Top Sellers.

Well damn.

[zookeeper]

Game of Thrones RPG 50% off??

And I was doing well so far...

[Smashbox]

Proud new SimCity owners, be sure to dig in to the still-surprisingly-active mod sites. Simtropolis has tons of stuff. Some indispensable.

[Smashbox]

Game of Thrones RPG 50% off??

And I was doing well so far...

Tried to like this - I love the books- hated it. Very structured.

[zookeeper]

Tried to like this - I love the books- hated it. Very structured.

Serious?

I had heard it was better-than-expected-ly good?

Oh well. Too late now.

[DragonOfTime]

Serious?

I had heard it was better-than-expected-ly good?

Oh well. Too late now.

What I heard was not-bad-but-not-great-either

[Smashbox]

Ymmv- RPS had a positive write-up.

[zookeeper]

Meh, can't be any worse than DA2, can it? amirite?


(dear god, let me be right)

[neema_t]

Man, Take On Helicopters just reminded me of how far Arma II: OA has come in the time I've been playing it. Which is to say, it's a bit of a mess. Long story short, here's a normal gameplay screenshot: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/956137950893743092/3596097D6DA94CCB760EE4EC895B3F6A0606338C/... Just look at that terrain texture! Awful. There must be a problem somewhere because I refuse to believe that's how it's supposed to look. That's with all the graphics turned up except for AA, post processing and HDR. This is completely irrelevant of course as TOH isn't on offer any more, I'm just registering my minor annoyance at a sale-bought game.

[Smashbox]

Wait, wait, wait.

You mean to tell me that you play games at 5040 x 1050?!

[SirKicksalot]

My understanding is that the Game of Thrones RPG is Alpha Protocol all over again.
I'm interested but these sales buried me under a mountain of new games. I can't justify a 20 Euros purchase now. I just picked up LOTR: War in the North from GMG for 6 dollars using Commandos and a voucher. It's Steamworks.

I'm waiting for a Hunted deal. Can't think of anything else I want.

[Sakkura]

Wait, wait, wait.

You mean to tell me that you play games at 5040 x 1050?!
1680 x 1050 x 3 screens.

[soldant]

Just look at that terrain texture! Awful. There must be a problem somewhere because I refuse to believe that's how it's supposed to look. That's with all the graphics turned up except for AA, post processing and HDR.
You're right, it does look bad, and no, that's how it's supposed to look. It's looked like that since release. I suspect that it was done deliberately, because the Seattle map is very different from the little towns and villages that populate the maps in ARMA2/OA. I mean those games (with effectively the same engine) struggle with the larger "cities" (which are still way smaller than this), so I'm guessing they drastically reduced mesh complexity and texture fidelity so that it'd run at a playable FPS on average. Add in things like a boatload of AI traffic and the engine is under a fair bit of stress.

With that said, that's pretty much what most flight sims look like up close - awful, with airports and particular landmarks having the most graphical fidelity. It's still an excellent game though, probably the closest we'll get to a SimCopter 2.

[Tikey]

it wasn't absurdo-cheap but I gave in and bough Game of Thrones RPG.
All because Drake Sigar wouldn't shut up about how awesome it was. Thanks drake

[Wheelz]

SimCopter 2.

I wish that was a thing, I miss it. Maybe EA will decide to release all of the old crazy sim-games along with the new simCity...

[Raaritsgozilla]

Is there a credible reason I should not buy Zombie Driver?

[internetonsetadd]

Is there a credible reason I should not buy Zombie Driver?

The preservation of your credibility as a gaming consumer, maybe. If I wanted a game like this I'd probably wait for Renegade Ops to go back on sale.

[The JG Man]

Dragon Age: Origins is a flash sale. It is good. I recommend it for being good.

[Protoman]

I'm really surprised by the amount of EA in this sale.
Dead Space, DA:O, Sims City... I expected them to not participate for the "cheapening of IP's"
But, needless to say, if they were actually still trying to compete with steam, this would be a bad idea. Although I have a feeling they've given up on that.

[field_studies]

So, many were curious about Stronghold 3. With an hour left in the sale and having just put the first hour of the game under my (notched, bloody) belt, I wanted to offer very brief first impressions.

I think that if you enjoyed Stronghold 2, you'll probably enjoy this. It's at best a step sideways. Gone is the (silly but sometimes amusing) voice acting and animated cutscenes and along with that all the humour of S2, in is a slightly more atmospheric visuals, and more nuanced control over object placement. A shame that that atmosphere is predominantly dirt and gloom. I guess points for historical accuracy?

What's most remarkable is just how little has changed. Stronghold 2's audio recordings for peasant responses are reused, as are most building types and mechanics. No tutorial needed if you're at all familiar with the franchise. If anything it's been a little simplified, though the mucky UI does a good job at restoring a little confusion.

I haven't noticed any of the apparent glitchiness that accompanied the game on release yet. Pathfinding seems fine.

Major caveat: I really have only played an hour--three missions into the military campaign. Haven't tried (or found) skirmish mode, or user maps, or really anything else.

In all, I doubt I'll have any regret at spending $13 on it, but I seemed to have been in the minority in really enjoying Stronghold 2, so take my reaction with a grain of salt.

EDIT: mission 5 exhibited some glitching... soldiers getting stuck on/in enemy walls and lumber camps, and bizarre spikey coloured forms occasionally invading the battlefield.

[Hartford688]

Dragon Age: Origins is a flash sale. It is good. I recommend it for being good.

Agreed. Really good. But be sure to snag the "ultimate" edition, not the base edition. Same price, but Ultimate one comes with all the DLC. Which isn't clear from the Steam page I was taken to.

[vinraith]

Agreed. Really good. But be sure to snag the "ultimate" edition, not the base edition. Same price, but Ultimate one comes with all the DLC. Which isn't clear from the Steam page I was taken to.

Really though, the only DLC you actually want is Awakenings. Most of the rest either sucks, gives you items that completely break the game, or both.

[Oshada]

What? Missing The Stone Prisoner is criminal.

[hariseldon]

Anyone who didn't buy Sim City 4 deserves a slap. It's still the benchmark by which all city builders are measured, and don't worry, once you do the fixing recommended on the steam forums it runs like a dream. It's worth the effort, trust me, for what is a true leader of its genre.

[vinraith]

What? Missing The Stone Prisoner is criminal.

Missing the Stone Prisoner is impossible, since it comes with any purchased copy of the game. You don't need "Ultimate" for that, and it doesn't relate to what I was saying.

[Hartford688]

Really though, the only DLC you actually want is Awakenings. Most of the rest either sucks, gives you items that completely break the game, or both.

In your opinion.

In any event you get Awakenings only in Ultimate, so still buy that.,

[internetonsetadd]

It can be purchased separately, but one would pay more and get less by buying it that way. I lost interest in DA:O when I calculated the cost of the game+DLC to be somewhere around $140. Brilliant combat system, one of the most enjoyable of any game I've ever played, but I don't remember the rest of the game very fondly or even at all (oh look, it's Tolkien again--for the millionth time), so I won't be going back now that the DLC is priced more sanely. Give me expansion packs or give me death. Oops, I'm dead.

[Scumbag]

Note that if you get the ultimate edition of Dragon Age you simply get codes and whatnot from Steam regarding the DLC. To download it you have to go to Bioware's site, log on to an EA account, jump through hoops a little and then you can download the content.
Unless they changed it that is. Last I did it I found it a bit annoying as after downloading the almost 20GB of game I just wanted to play it as opposed to running about switching on little bits here and there.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this by all means.

[neema_t]

You're right, it does look bad, and no, that's how it's supposed to look. It's looked like that since release. I suspect that it was done deliberately, because the Seattle map is very different from the little towns and villages that populate the maps in ARMA2/OA. I mean those games (with effectively the same engine) struggle with the larger "cities" (which are still way smaller than this), so I'm guessing they drastically reduced mesh complexity and texture fidelity so that it'd run at a playable FPS on average. Add in things like a boatload of AI traffic and the engine is under a fair bit of stress.

With that said, that's pretty much what most flight sims look like up close - awful, with airports and particular landmarks having the most graphical fidelity. It's still an excellent game though, probably the closest we'll get to a SimCopter 2.

Oh damn, but actually that's fair enough I guess since with 5km draw distance I get, on average, 30fps with lows of just below 20 (just noticed I had the draw distance to 12km and something else at 5, changed it and now the frame rates are much higher, didn't realise there were extra sliders up there from what were in Arma II). Thank you for clearing that up though, it is great fun but I think I'm going to need a stick for it, the collective (I think that's what it's called, the pitch of the rotor blades?) is too difficult to set with the keyboard seeing as how tiny changes make a huge difference and all that.

Still, a bit miffed that the screenshots looked so good but the game doesn't so much. I figured the demo was just low-res because it was free, but yeah...

[Similar]

Which one is the fourth game in the flash sale right now? I can only see Dragon Age, Bit Trip and Tiny Big.

Never had a 'not available in your region' message from Steam before.

[Hartford688]

It can be purchased separately, but one would pay more and get less by buying it that way.

Sorry. Did not intend to suggest you can only get Awakenings via Ultimate; just shortcut to your point that at this price it makes no sense to do otherwise.

[Wheelz]

Which one is the fourth game in the flash sale right now? I can only see Dragon Age, Bit Trip and Tiny Big.

Never had a 'not available in your region' message from Steam before.

DC Universe Online bundle -thingy.

Question of my own, what game should we be voting for? I've not played or heard much of any of the current options.

[Leopig]

I wouldn't even vote on this one. None of the game are even worth a click.

[Gorzan]

Don't listen to leopig. If you enjoy adventure games The Last Journey is very good.

[PeteC]

I've had the Longest Journey (and Dreamfall) in my wish list for ages now so hoping for that one to win. Not one of the games I've voted for yet has actually won though so not too hopeful.

[cowthief skank]

I voted for Puzzle Agent. Was this silly of me?

[Tritagonist]

Any recent, post-'hype & inevitable disappointment', opinions on Fable III? I've been kind of interested in this game since it seems to be one of the few (modern) RPG-like games that allows you to attain a position of actual influence over the rest of the world. That was one of my main problems with Skyrim, for example, where literally nobody outside a minuscule number of quest NPCs seemed to care that you were the leader of the Thieves Guild, an Archmage - or even the Dragonborn herself,


Don't listen to leopig. If you enjoy adventure games The Last Journey is very good.

Agreed. Voted for it so more people get a chance to play it.

[thegooseking]

Any recent, post-'hype & inevitable disappointment', opinions on Fable III? I've been kind of interested in this game since it seems to be one of the few (modern) RPG-like games that allows you to attain a position of actual influence over the rest of the world.

The influence stuff isn't so great. It basically boils down to a series of scripted good/evil choices (though those choices do affect the world). And it's not even good/evil. At that point, good/evil somehow becomes transposed into popular/unpopular. I guess that could have been trying to be a statement about politics, but it just feels inconsistent.

[johnki]

I voted for Puzzle Agent. Was this silly of me?I actually thought it (both of them) was one of the most hilarious, refreshing games I've played in recent times. It was a bit easy, though, not like it was unwelcome.


Agreed. Voted for it so more people get a chance to play it.Just a word of warning. Not sure how it is on Steam, but I have it on GOG and last time I tried to play it on Win7, it had all sorts of framerate and flickering issues and I couldn't get it to work right. Pretty sure that certain graphics were outright invisible.

[Drake Sigar]

Any recent, post-'hype & inevitable disappointment', opinions on Fable III? I've been kind of interested in this game since it seems to be one of the few (modern) RPG-like games that allows you to attain a position of actual influence over the rest of the world. That was one of my main problems with Skyrim, for example, where literally nobody outside a minuscule number of quest NPCs seemed to care that you were the leader of the Thieves Guild, an Archmage - or even the Dragonborn herself.

You get to make the big decisions when you're wearing the crown two thirds into the game. Shame it goes by so fast, and they ran out of things to give the player to do at that point. Frankly I don't think Fable III would be worth the £10 they're asking if Lost Chapters weren't also bundled in there.

[jnx]

Fable 3 is one of those titles that I would love to play but just refuse to touch due to GFWL.

[Leopig]

You are not missing much.

[sabrage]

You are not missing much.
How constructive!

[Leopig]

You're welcome.

[TailSwallower]

I wonder how many copies ARMA II has actually sold. It's consistently been in the top 5 of the top sellers panel at only 20% off.

Personally I'd be tempted, but all the talk of a standalone DayZ makes me wonder if an ARMA II purchase is worth it at all, seeing as DayZ is the only reason I'd buy it.

[trjp]

Note that if you get the ultimate edition of Dragon Age you simply get codes and whatnot from Steam regarding the DLC. To download it you have to go to Bioware's site, log on to an EA account, jump through hoops a little and then you can download the content.
Unless they changed it that is. Last I did it I found it a bit annoying as after downloading the almost 20GB of game I just wanted to play it as opposed to running about switching on little bits here and there.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this by all means.

EA DLC also installls itself inside your %USER% directories somewhere - which will drive SSD owners up the wall (see also The Witcher)

[deano2099]

I wonder how many copies ARMA II has actually sold. It's consistently been in the top 5 of the top sellers panel at only 20% off.

Those figures are sorted by revenue, not copies sold though. Which explains some of it.

[Leopig]

St Gabe is taking a backhander off BI to keep sales going.

[DragonOfTime]

DC Universe Online bundle -thingy.

Question of my own, what game should we be voting for? I've not played or heard much of any of the current options.
The longest Journey (and the sequel, to a certain degree) are definately worth getting.

[internetonsetadd]

I didn't vote the first day because I didn't care for any of the choices, and then I realized I was screwing myself out of a badge. I want a badge. I even voted when all three potentials were terrible racing games.

[thegooseking]

The longest Journey (and the sequel, to a certain degree) are definately worth getting.

Ooh, The Secret World is out! Does that mean Ragnar Tørnquist will finally get down to work on a sequel to Dreamfall? I kept telling everyone he'd do it after TSW (because that's what I'd heard), but... I don't know. Dreamfall is kind of a long time ago, now. I guess Dreamfall is about as long ago now as TLJ was when Dreamfall was released.

[neema_t]

The longest Journey (and the sequel, to a certain degree) are definately worth getting.

I voted for The Longest Journey so I'm hoping the majority (who probably don't care but want to vote for the sake of it or for the badges) will choose based on Metacritic scores. I'm pretty sure TLJ was in a flash sale but I think I convinced myself not to get it at the time.

Edit: Forgot I had the demo of TLJ, it doesn't run. Furthermore, it moves my taskbar to the top of my screen (even though it's locked) and turns off text anti-aliasing, apparently. I must say, this does not inspire me to buy it...

Edit again: Hoisted by my own petard, it was Nvidia Surround's fault.

[Heliocentric]

I didn't vote the first day because I didn't care for any of the choices, and then I realized I was screwing myself out of a badge. I want a badge. I even voted when all three potentials were terrible racing games.

Driver San Francisco is excellent, wash out your mouth.

[deano2099]

Ooh, The Secret World is out! Does that mean Ragnar Tørnquist will finally get down to work on a sequel to Dreamfall? I kept telling everyone he'd do it after TSW (because that's what I'd heard), but... I don't know. Dreamfall is kind of a long time ago, now. I guess Dreamfall is about as long ago now as TLJ was when Dreamfall was released.

There was an RPS interview where he said he wanted to go back to SP games at some point, but was also going to be focussed on updates for TSW for a while yet.

[fiddlesticks]

I didn't vote the first day because I didn't care for any of the choices, and then I realized I was screwing myself out of a badge. I want a badge. I even voted when all three potentials were terrible racing games.
This sounds like the premise for a cheesy cop movie from the eighties. "You're a loose cannon, Internetonsetadd! You're off this sale! Turn in your Steam badge!"

[internetonsetadd]

Driver San Francisco is excellent, wash out your month.

I actually did read about them before voting. I found a Metacritic user review that mentioned that the city in the game was hardly representative of SF except for a few well known landmarks, which is a pretty hard fail in my opinion. That would have been an amazing virtual city to drive around in, regardless of the questionable gameplay I also happened to read about.

Edit: my gun DLC, too?

[Leopig]

On that, is LA Noire a faithful representation of LA? I have the game but never been to America so wouldn't be able to tell.

[trjp]

On that, is LA Noire a faithful representation of LA? I have the game but never been to America so wouldn't be able to tell.
Does it matter? Are you planning some time-travel and using it as Google Streetmap for the 50s? :)

[Leopig]

No, was just a thought.

[internetonsetadd]

On that, is LA Noire a faithful representation of LA? I have the game but never been to America so wouldn't be able to tell.

If a cursory Google is to be believed, quite faithful. Although I've never played any of the AssCreed games, one of the things that impresses me about the upcoming title is that the dev apparently recreated Boston and New York using old maps they dug up.

[Nalano]

No, was just a thought.

A pertinent (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-05/using-extreme-aerial-photography-1920s-rockstar-rebuilt-1940s-los-angeles-la-noire) link for ya.

[Nalano]

Driver San Francisco is excellent, wash out your month.

DSF is excellent, but it installed UPlay on my machine, and for that I will never forgive it.

[Sketch]

Has Ruse been featured in the sale yet, can I ask?

[trjp]

Has Ruse been featured in the sale yet, can I ask?

Other than in a bundle perhaps - no.

[Smashbox]

If a cursory Google is to be believed, quite faithful. Although I've never played any of the AssCreed games, one of the things that impresses me about the upcoming title is that the dev apparently recreated Boston and New York using old maps they dug up.

Ohmyshit is that true !? That's literally one of my biggest game fantasies come true!

[The JG Man]

Can I have some impressions of LA Noire, please? I'm interested in it, like the faithfulness to the era (and the fact that half the cast of Mad Men are in it) and the tech behind the faces. I mean, I'm obviously interested in the game, but I also feel like I'll only be playing it once. Also, if the DLC is worth getting (although for that price, I can't see why not)?

I'm aware of the FPS cap, that doesn't really bother me, and that the ending is maybe a bit scrappy, but I've been recommended it by a few choice people that I feel obliged to try it out. Thanks in advance.

[gundato]

Can I have some impressions of LA Noire, please? I'm interested in it, like the faithfulness to the era (and the fact that half the cast of Mad Men are in it) and the tech behind the faces. I mean, I'm obviously interested in the game, but I also feel like I'll only be playing it once. Also, if the DLC is worth getting (although for that price, I can't see why not)?

I'm aware of the FPS cap, that doesn't really bother me, and that the ending is maybe a bit scrappy, but I've been recommended it by a few choice people that I feel obliged to try it out. Thanks in advance.

I never played it, but one of my friends pretty much loved every second of it (on xbox 360).

And yeah, after you play it once, there isn't much more to do.

Also, I recall him complaining about a weak overall plot and finding it annoying that you are pretty much restricted to getting the outcome the devs wanted for a given case. Not to spoil anything, but apparently there are a few points where you are supposed to arrest the wrong person, and the game penalizes you for actually solving the case "for real".
Then again, this is the friend that I regularly watch Psych with and use profiling and tropes to pick a suspect and apply confirmation bias until we are convinced we solved the murder (in the first 3 minutes of the show...). So it might not be as bad as he says.

[Nalano]

Can I have some impressions of LA Noire, please? I'm interested in it, like the faithfulness to the era (and the fact that half the cast of Mad Men are in it) and the tech behind the faces. I mean, I'm obviously interested in the game, but I also feel like I'll only be playing it once. Also, if the DLC is worth getting (although for that price, I can't see why not)?

Pro is that the city is beautiful. Con is that it has nothing to do with the gameplay. This game is definitely NOT a sandbox, despite being set in one.

Pro is that the faces look great. Con is that nothing else lives up to the faces.

Pro is that the missions are interesting. Con is that they're linear. More con is that you're a schizophrenic asshole when you interrogate people.

DLC's just a few more missions. Also (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?5546-Haiku-Game-Reviews&p=163165&viewfull=1#post163165)...

[Tritagonist]

The influence stuff isn't so great. It basically boils down to a series of scripted good/evil choices (though those choices do affect the world). And it's not even good/evil.

Frankly I don't think Fable III would be worth the £10 they're asking if Lost Chapters weren't also bundled in there.

Thanks for the responses!


Just a word of warning. Not sure how it is on Steam, but I have it on GOG and last time I tried to play it on Win7, it had all sorts of framerate and flickering issues and I couldn't get it to work right. Pretty sure that certain graphics were outright invisible.
Right, good point. When it comes to older games it's always a good idea to check the forums and reviews on GOG for potential incompatibilities.

[Goateh]

Can I have some impressions of LA Noire, please?


From earlier:
I'm.. conflicted. It's quite an odd game. Large parts of the gameplay are tedious or badly thought out. It wants you to investigate and use your head then gives you all kinds of pushes towards solving the case for you. The interviews can be incredibly unpredictable and there are some where the possible choices seem to have no connection to what was just said. The side missions are tedious and miles from anything you might be doing.

I do love the recreation of LA just after WW2 and the scale is easily on par with something like GTA. The atmosphere of the game is quite something. It then does absolutely nothing with its huge recreation of LA other than letting you drive around it at great length. If it wasn't for the ability to effectively quick travel I'd have gotten very frustrated with the amount of time spent driving from A to B and back again.


And to add specifics:
The DLC is more of the same. It's well done and at the price steam ask you may as well go for it. The extra cases get integrated into the main game seamlessly. At the end I actually went and looked up how to do the DLC because I hadn't realised that some of the cases I'd done were DLC. That's a downside in some ways though, because they're not part of the main story and it breaks the flow of the main game horribly. The penultimate case involved a huge explosion in LA right in the middle of the climax, except that was a DLC case. I was all ready for the main story to reach its end and suddenly I'm doing another case and waiting to see its relevance to the plot.

The side missions are also universally terrible. You drive 5 miles, you complete one of a couple of identical missions in 20 seconds and then you go back to your real work. I skipped them after doing a dozen and seeing all the same patterns.

[The JG Man]

use profiling and tropes to pick a suspect and apply confirmation bias until we are convinced we solved the murder (in the first 3 minutes of the show...). So it might not be as bad as he says.

Considering how many crime shows are on TV, there are people who don't do this? Whatever, thanks for the input.


This game is definitely NOT a sandbox, despite being set in one. // Also (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?5546-Haiku-Game-Reviews&p=163165&viewfull=1#post163165)...

That doesn't necessarily bother me. I'm a bit useless with sandbox games because I end up not having the creativity to really embrace it at its fullest. As for the review, ha, fair enough.

I'll wait on a few more impressions, but I get the feeling that it's worth it?

EDIT:

Thanks Goateh, that's quite comprehensive.

[trjp]

There's no way you could read the opinions thusfar and decide LA Noire is 'worth it' - why not just leap in!?

LA Noire is bad at many things really - such as

It's not a GTA game, nor remotely like one BUT it shares many of it's deficiencies (esp third-person combat)
The detective aspect of the game is bollocks - interrogations are 'random guessing games'. If they'd invested the effort into that instead of all the face stuff it might have been brilliant - but as it stands, it's bollocks
The linear stories do have a few branches - quote often ones you'll be questioned or criticised about even tho YOU DIDN'T DO THEM!!

All that aside, if you like the idea of playing a game which is really a 50s late-night cult detective TV show - you'll probably enjoy it. Your character is so badly written that he appears utterly and totally insane for most of the time - this alone can offer much entertainment.

Just don't expect either

a - GTA
b - a good detective game
c - for it to make much sense

[Smashbox]

Here's what I need you all to do:

Cross fingers, begin hypnotically rapping on bongos and chanting for the next three hours.

"Jagg-ad-all-i-ance-and-ar-ma-com-bined-op-er-a-tions

Jagg-ad-all-i-ance-and-ar-ma-com-bined-op-er-a-tions"

[The JG Man]

There's no way you could read the opinions thusfar and decide LA Noire is 'worth it' - why not just leap in!?
//
Just don't expect either a - GTA

Well, from what I've read, it's an experience. Sometimes 'bad' games, like 'bad' television, derives its own form of entertainment. I've not yet read anything here that out-right says it's bad, more not amazing. As for it not being GTA, I am more than happy about that one.

[trjp]

If you go into it expecting the detective stuff to work (and I really did) then you WILL be horribly disappointed. Interrogations are horrifically random things where saying 1 thing can result in a wildly bonkers reaction/the end of the interview/you failing to solve the case.

The game carries on of course - the temptation is there to replay that bit BUT BUT BUT you will end-up just "trying all the options" because it more often than not makes no sense at all (and I can't imagine anyone would stick at that for long).

[Smashbox]

Very little logic in the ... er ... main feature of the game.

[deano2099]

LA Noire is a driving game with a really hard to control car. I don't mean the actual driving bits (although...) but in the interviews, your character is something of a psychopathic nutcase. I enjoyed the game a lot more once I started viewing him as a out-of-control car careening into disaster after disaster, with my job being to stop him going off the road and crashing into a ditch entirely.

I did enjoy it though. The interrogations aren't quite so random as some people say - you just have to use the faces rather than listen to what they say, and choose doubt/lie if you think they're hiding something and truth if they're not.

[trjp]

and choose doubt/lie if you think they're hiding something and truth if they're not.

Thing is, calling them out on a lie will often cause them to go berserk/clam-up and end the interview.

This is insane - a standard interrogation technique is to repeatedly call people out on lies until they either incriminate themselves or you get bored of doing it - the idea that suggesting a potential criminal MIGHT be lying is some sort of mistake is the core of the stupidity of their system.

End of the day, the interrogations are so limited because of their obsession with all this 'face' stuff. There are freeware interactive novels with better interview stuff than LA Noire has. If they removed this 'oh dear, you lose' stuff, you'd just multiple choice your way through everything tho - and the 'level' system throws you those "get out of jail free" guess cards to do just that.

It's a crap way of doing it IMO - but there you have it.

[Smashbox]

TRUTH DOUBT > LIE<

"You're full of shit you old bitch-hag. SAY ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL JUMP ACROSS THIS TABLE AND THROTTLE YOU!"


http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/images/153-collar_pull.jpg

[internetonsetadd]

LA Noire. I got it recently; played a few missions. I've been an observer since I was very young, and I can generally read people's minds. As George Costanza would say, "I always know when someone's uncomfortable at a party." I initially found it difficult to discern when suspects/persons of interest were telling the truth or not, because both the truths and the lies often came across as acting, making them both seem hollow and deceptive. I gather that I'm supposed to go with the somewhat obvious facial expressions, body language, and tones of voice, and not try to read between the lines. Still, the game was dripping with style and atmosphere, and I'll bet I can get my 5 bucks' worth.

[trjp]

I can generally read people's minds

No need to ask us anything then eh? :)

You realise 80% of all communication is non-verbal - EVERYONE reads EVERYONE.

[Giaddon]

L.A. Noire:

I guess the main question to ask yourself is: how infuriated would you be with a goddamn detective game that forced you to choose the wrong guy, even though you knew damn well it was someone else?

Also, it's a 25 hour game and the story only starts after 19 hours.

EDIT:

The interrogation stuff isn't so bad. Just remember that the first two options were originally called Coax & Force, and they changed the names without changing what actually happened. Stupid. Also, integrations are NOT about "reading faces" or WTF-ever. The #1 most helpful thing you can do is review your evidence and make a case in your head, and choosing the most appropriate response based on that (NEVER accuse someone of lying without hard evidence to prove they are lying, for example).

If you have an interest in it, get it. If you're playing and it sucks, you're only out $5. If it clicks for you, it's one of the more interesting gaming fuck ups recently.

[TailSwallower]

Those figures are sorted by revenue, not copies sold though. Which explains some of it.

That certainly does explain it then. Also means that Bohemia must be getting ready to install the diving board (http://weheartlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/scrooge_mcduck.jpg) any day now.

[Track]

I hesitate to recommend LA Noire, simply because a LOT of people really disliked it (though its 5 bucks, so...), but I will say that its unlike almost any other game that I can think of, at least this generation. Is it incredibly flawed? Fuck yes. The biggest issue, in my opinion, is that I never felt like I was actually solving a case; I felt like I was complete detective-themed mini games that unlocked cutscenes in which the case was solved for me. That being said, there are moments when the games pieces all come together and work, and its brilliant. When the interviews make sense, or when the game gives you a situation in which you actually have to use your skills of observation, its fantastic. And at the very least its constantly steeped in atmosphere. So, personally, i'd give it a shot (again, its unlike any other big budget title that I can think of), just don't expect something amazing.

[Smashbox]

No need to ask us anything then eh? :)

You realise 80% of all communication is non-verbal - EVERYONE reads EVERYONE.

Which is actually a great argument for their facial capture tech - It's just the stuff built around it that is less nuanced. It's definitely a hard problem, but a good step in the right direction.

Incidentally, where the fuck are the rest of the games using that tech? Why does every game not use that tech now?

I want a big, deep RPG with real hu-mon faces.

[internetonsetadd]

No need to ask us anything then eh? :)

You realise 80% of all communication is non-verbal - EVERYONE reads EVERYONE.

You realize I preemptively made fun of myself with the George Costanza quote, right?

However, if everyone could read everything about everyone, lying would be wholly non-functional except as a mutually agreed-upon social nicety, and those in law enforcement wouldn't need training and experience to detect deception.

[Goateh]

Incidentally, where the fuck are the rest of the games using that tech? Why does every game not use that tech now?

I actually thought it really highlighted the lack of other animation and model detail. When you have a close up of their face and upper torso and the face has lots of incidental, believable details in the animation you really notice the lack of subtlety on the rest of the body. The shoulders and arms don't move anything like as convincingly as the face and they look jarring for it.

It's also one of the first non-FMV games that I sat through and thought "I know him from that tv series" or "he looks really familiar". They had their fill of people from Mad Men. That happens naturally with TV and film but I've not had it with games before. In some ways I almost prefer the fact that characters in other games are just those characters and don't carry any baggage from previous roles.

[gundato]

Incidentally, where the fuck are the rest of the games using that tech? Why does every game not use that tech now?

I want a big, deep RPG with real hu-mon faces.

There isn't a point. Why go out of your way for something nobody will notice or care about.

It reminds me of back when Oblivion was being previewed and they were bragging about how they used actual geological models to generate the terrain and tree layout. Then the game came, and it was as generic a world as we can get. Maybe some stuff was more accurate, but I for one didn't notice anything particularly fancy about the forests (and I think I even ended up grabbing mods to improve them).

[Ravelle]

L.A. Noire:

I guess the main question to ask yourself is: how infuriated would you be with a goddamn detective game that forced you to choose the wrong guy, even though you knew damn well it was someone else?

Also, it's a 25 hour game and the story only starts after 19 hours.

EDIT:

The interrogation stuff isn't so bad. Just remember that the first two options were originally called Coax & Force, and they changed the names without changing what actually happened. Stupid. Also, integrations are NOT about "reading faces" or WTF-ever. The #1 most helpful thing you can do is review your evidence and make a case in your head, and choosing the most appropriate response based on that (NEVER accuse someone of lying without hard evidence to prove they are lying, for example).

If you have an interest in it, get it. If you're playing and it sucks, you're only out $5. If it clicks for you, it's one of the more interesting gaming fuck ups recently.

Actually , you can read someone's face and behavior but it's put so in the extreme that someone either is a wax statue or a complete hooked up on caffeine. And some do neither, like that little girl actress.

But yeah I agree with the poorly written main character, he is without any reason a complete dick to everyone, from the first question to the last. He's yells to everyone he questions despite the other characters personality or motive.

When you question 10 year old girl who just woke up from a accident and probably is experiencing a trauma/memory loss you don't go THIS IS FUCKING IMPORTANT, YOU HEAR ME, TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW NOW OR I WILL STAB YOU WITH THIS PEN I DRAW PERFECT PORTRAITS OF EVERYONE WITH OKAY * storms off and slams door*

[Smashbox]

something nobody will notice or care about.

I strongly disagree. There is a major difference.


I actually thought it really highlighted the lack of other animation and model detail.

To be fair, this was the first ever implementation of the tech. It seems like something that could be improved over time, certainly. It seems backward to hold back on improving something because not everything can be improved equally, at least in my opinion.

[Leopig]

So, whats the general consensus on EYE?

[Sketch]

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING NOTHING IS EXPLAINED I HAVE NO IDEA WHATAARRGGH

Ooh the gunplay's quite nice. Oh that's a neat idea. Oh...the game is broken there. Hmm.

[gundato]

So, whats the general consensus on EYE?

A previous post in the thread summed it up perfectly, but here is a crappier version:


Graphically, it looks like a high-end HL1 mod or a low-end HL2 mod
Gameplay wise, there is a LOT of shooty death
Graphically, it is very dark and the art-style is very Warhammer 40k-inspired
Plot/acting wise, it is a B-Movie

If that sounds fun to you (I for one love it), get it
If that sounds bad, don't

A good metric would be: Can you enjoy a Bruce Campbell movie? And I don't mean one of the good ones, I mean the kinds he used to make with Sci-Fi before he got a role on Burn Notice. The kind where he went from chasing tornadoes to fighting aliens and having a threesome with his love interests.
EYE is a lot like that. It is so stupid and absurd that it becomes fun. But if you expect polish and "high quality" games, you'll hate it.

[Leopig]

Think I will skip it then lol Just had a browse of the steam forums and lots of bad things said.

Oh but I did like Attack of the killer tomato's (yes kids that is indeed a real film that even spawned a sequel, Revenge of the killer tomato's).

[squirrelfanatic]

A quick hint: Get The Longest Journey. It's in the Flashsales right now.

[internetonsetadd]

I realized that I want Shogun 2. So maybe, like, you vote for it, and I do moose stuff for you. It'll probably show up again, so no hard feelings if you don't.

[SirKicksalot]

EYE's combat is amazing. The basic SMG feels like it's shooting trains instead of bullets. Everything you hack is trying to hack you back. The Psi powers are the stuff of nightmares. It has 32 player coop. If you don't mind some jankiness and weirdness (think of the basic super-ambitious no-budget Eastern European game), get it.

[Leopig]

Better day of sales today. Dang though i dont have enough money left for the Witcher 2 so i guess it is either Krater or FONV.

[Smashbox]

What is in slot nine? Unavailable in the US?! What gives?

[Leopig]

Indie Bundle again probably, they are usually left to last.

[vinraith]

What is in slot nine? Unavailable in the US?! What gives?

Indie Bundle. The Indie Bundle seems to be broken every day when they first update, actually.

Anyway, nothing for me today. I'd recommend New Vegas (with Project Nevada) to anyone that enjoys a good open world post-apocalyptic romp, though.

[Tei]

So, whats the general consensus on EYE?

Mad crazy to a level that rarely you will see. Lack of polish. Mountain of ambition. Very very very interesting game, but not for everyone because the lack of polish. RECOMMENDED.

[Leopig]

I finished the vanilla FONV on teh 360 at launch but never played any of the DCL. Only problem is I only have £6.50 left. The game is £3.74 which allows me 2 DLC's to go with it, so which are the best 2. Or failing that is Krater better now it has been patched.

[Sketch]

Awesome day for me, I own Fallout 3 but the GOTY is £3.74, so I'll get that for the DLC, plus I still needed Lonesome Road for New Vegas, which I almost bought earlier for 3 times the price.

[Spengbab]

And it just appeared. Includes Demolition Inc... opinions? I loved Blast Corpse on the N64 back in the day, wonder if this is anywhere like it. Considering Alan Wake too, but its another UGH SERIOUS GAME DEMANDING SERIOUS TIME

[Serenegoose]

Can somebody give me a quick lowdown on The Longest journey - namely, is it a sequel, which order should I be playing in, etc? I want to grab the game but I don't want to play out of sequence.

[Heliocentric]

The Longest Journey -> Dreamfall -> TLJ Chapters (kinetic exclusive)

[Serenegoose]

The Longest Journey -> Dreamfall -> TLJ Chapters (kinetic exclusive)

Thank you :)

[DragonOfTime]

A quick hint: Get The Longest Journey. It's in the Flashsales right now.
I second that.

And it just appeared. Includes Demolition Inc... opinions? I loved Blast Corpse on the N64 back in the day, wonder if this is anywhere like it. Considering Alan Wake too, but its another UGH SERIOUS GAME DEMANDING SERIOUS TIME
I thought it was great, but yes, it does require a bit of an investment time-wise.

Can somebody give me a quick lowdown on The Longest journey - namely, is it a sequel, which order should I be playing in, etc? I want to grab the game but I don't want to play out of sequence.

Start with The Longest Journey, then play Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, then rage because of the cliffhanger ending that Ragnar hasn't felt like continuing yet.

[squareking]

What did We think about Nexuiz? Worth $1.87 in 4-pack mode?

[Kodeen]

The Longest Journey -> Dreamfall -> TLJ Chapters (kinetic exclusive)

Oh you again. Everyone knows that it'll be an exclusive for 3DS, but you have to tape the top half to your forehead and operate the touchscreen with your tongue.

[Smashbox]

What did We think about Nexuiz? Worth $1.87 in 4-pack mode?

In a world when everyone is shooting, why wear massive tall pauldrons?

Sorry that wasn't very constructive.

[Tei]

What did We think about Nexuiz? Worth $1.87 in 4-pack mode?

Is a Quake3-like game with the engine of Crysis, so the graphics of the maps are good, the character probably too(but you seen the characters only fractions of seconds before you are killed by a railgun). I say is a good buy if you play stuff like Quake-Live, or you miss the old deathmatch games. A friend used to say "The world always need more deathmatch games". Theres two things where networks absolutelly shine: serving porn, running deathmach games with friends.

I only played the game in alpha, and was buggy, so I expect the final version to lack some polish, so don't pay 50$ for the game. $2 is good price if you like this type of games (you are a old-school gamer looking for old school games).

[elephant god]

page 100!

goddammit, I'm still on the fence about the still running STALKER deal. I have CoP&SoC on Gamestop, but desperately want to get rid of that thing. would you do that? I played and liked SoC and am planning to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R CoP Complete at some point.

Is it madness to re-buy gems like the STALKER games on another platform? Is a thread about the Steam summer sale the wrong place to ask that question?

[alms]

Voted for TLJ, got TLJ. Ok the budget I didn't plan is getting tight now, so: I seem to remember TLJ ends with a cliffhanger?

In that case it makes totally no freaking sense to get TLJ alone, is that right?

[DragonOfTime]

You might be right about that. In any case, I think you should get Dreamfall as well, however, that ends with a cliffhanger atoo...

[Kodeen]

Voted for TLJ, got TLJ. Ok the budget I didn't plan is getting tight now, so: I seem to remember TLJ ends with a cliffhanger?

In that case it makes totally no freaking sense to get TLJ alone, is that right?

The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger for the events of that world, but the story of April (protagonist) is satisfactorily concluded. Granted, she's apparently a PC in Dreamfall, which I haven't played, so they must have some reason to bring her back.

[Ravelle]

The Longest Journey -> Dreamfall -> TLJ Chapters (kinetic exclusive)

TLJ is more a a point and click adventure, Dreamfall is a third person adventure with puzzles and combat.

[Juan Carlo]

E.Y.E sucks. The first hour seems good as it has a huge stat system, but the more you play the more you realize the stats are irrelevent. Apart from a few abilities you could probably allocate zero stats the whole game and it would not play any differently (I actually experiemented with this a bit myself). Plus, the story is awful (it has some good ideas, but doesn't now how to execute them in a compelling way), the level design is spotty (some are good while others are big empty boxes), and the AI is completely terrible--all enemies spot you from 100 miles away and immediately just run at you while shooting, which renders any sort of stealth build entirely useless.

The only good thing about it is its hacking mini game, but I found hacking to be kind of useless (at least in combat) as there are so many enemies on the map (all of which respawn after a while) that it would be completely impractical and time consuming to use hacking all that often in combat, other than maybe as an occasional novelty type thing. The way the AI is the best way to play the game is just arming yourself with the biggest gun, buiying as many extra lives as possible, and storming everything head on. It get's a bit tiring and repetitive.

Plus the game world just felt dead to me, and while lots of stuff happened, none of it seemed to have any sort of weight or relevance or consequences. I've said this before, but to me it feels like a dead multiplayer mod that is currently populated by a bunch of poorly programmed bots.

It's an awful half finished, mod of a game.

[Sakkura]

I finished the vanilla FONV on teh 360 at launch but never played any of the DCL. Only problem is I only have £6.50 left. The game is £3.74 which allows me 2 DLC's to go with it, so which are the best 2. Or failing that is Krater better now it has been patched.
I would go with Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts is okay but very forgettable. Dead Money has some very bright moments, but is also packed with annoyances.

[Drake Sigar]

Bought my first game of the sale - LA Noir. I'll grab Space Marine too if it wins the poll. Hey everyone, vote for Space Marine or suffer my wrath!

[Fumarole]

Is there a credible reason I should not buy Zombie Driver?It's probably too late to make a difference to your decision, but if you enjoy shooting and driving over zombies, then no, there is no reason. If you enjoy these things then go for it. I enjoyed the time I spent with the game.

[Juan Carlo]

I would go with Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts is okay but very forgettable. Dead Money has some very bright moments, but is also packed with annoyances.


Ditto Old World Blues. Although I'd recommend Honest Hearts over Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts is probably the biggest DLC, plus it has several different endings. Lonesome Road is incredibly linear and kind of boring.

[johnki]

Anyone interested in the Witcher 2 should know that GOG's price currently beats Steam's by 6% (http://www.gog.com/en/promo/the_witcher_series__gem__promo). Also, if you already have the Witcher on GOG, it appears that you can get the Witcher 2 for 66% off without paying for the Witcher again.

EDIT: Also, if you DO buy on Steam, if you're given a CD key, you can redeem it for backup copies of Witcher and/or Witcher 2 on GOG. If you're not given a CD key, you can send them the receipt and they'll usually send back a code to redeem them.

EDIT2: Ah, there's a thread about it (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?5614-Witcher-sale) already.

[Scumbag]

Eye is highly recomended!

Eye is bloody garbage!

Theory still standing strong.

On Nexuiz: The game COULD have been utter genius but instead its largely a pile of fluff. For all the good things it does for an arena shooter (and DAMN does it do them right) it does about 4 things wrong. Get it if you need an Arena shoot fix to tide you over, but tbh the two great UT games or Quake are far better at what they do.
Not sure if the matchmaking is still horrible, but it was horrid on release. Also apparently has one of those stupid Map Pack paid for DLCs coming soon.

[Bleekill]

Fuck I wish I had money to waste on Sniper Elite V2. I had a lot of fun with the demo and played the hell out of the original game. V2 could've been a lot better but I was satisfied with the core gameplay of shattering faces.

[shakeit]

Theory still standing strong.

On Nexuiz: The game COULD have been utter genius but instead its largely a pile of fluff. For all the good things it does for an arena shooter (and DAMN does it do them right) it does about 4 things wrong. Get it if you need an Arena shoot fix to tide you over, but tbh the two great UT games or Quake are far better at what they do.
Not sure if the matchmaking is still horrible, but it was horrid on release. Also apparently has one of those stupid Map Pack paid for DLCs coming soon.

If you are looking for the ORIGINAL (and free) Nexuiz, go to http://www.alientrap.org/games/nexuiz. The game is freeware and has a nice community, though they are grumpy because one of the founder of the Nexuiz project stole the name and made what you can purchase on steam.

[Scumbag]

If you are looking for the ORIGINAL (and free) Nexuiz, go to http://www.alientrap.org/games/nexuiz. The game is freeware and has a nice community, though they are grumpy because one of the founder of the Nexuiz project stole the name and made what you can purchase on steam.

Possibly wiser then getting that thingy on Steam. I remember some people went off to develop a sister title with an equally silly name, just cant remember what off the top of my head.

[SirKicksalot]

Fuck I wish I had money to waste on Sniper Elite V2. I had a lot of fun with the demo and played the hell out of the original game. V2 could've been a lot better but I was satisfied with the core gameplay of shattering faces.

Maybe you have enough money to buy it from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008K2WRYC)? It's Steamworks.