Ubisoft week - Weekend - Ubisoft Classic Pack for $9.99

[Sky]

Fufufufuck. I wanted to get FC2.

[fake edit] Apparently 'thursday' means 'friday morning, too' in steamland. Cool beans.

[schild]

Fufufufuck. I wanted to get FC2.

[fake edit] Apparently 'thursday' means 'friday morning, too' in steamland. Cool beans.

Fuck that, they just updated.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Beyond Good & Evil, Far Cry, and IL-2 for $9.99 total.

If I didn't have 2 of those already, that would be an amazing fucking deal.

Also, if I had $9.

Anyone want to gift me Dark Messiah if they get it and already have it? keke

[Segoris]

I'm sold on this, nice fucking deal imo.

Also, for those that missed Far Cry 2 at 50% off that may have felt like picking that up, that sale is extended until Monday. So basically there is a second weekend special/Ubisoft 50% off for the weekend.

[Engels]

The new pack includes IL-2 Sturmovik 1946, which is probably the best WW2 flight sim availalbe to this date. If that in any way floats your boat, jump on it. I'm thinking of purchasing JUST to have a backup of the game somewhere independent of media.

[Teleku]

Just bought the pack myself.  Great deal.

[caladein]

If I didn't already have BG&E, I'd buy that pack in a heartbeat.  I don't know if I'd get Far Cry for $10 if I'm not getting Far Cry 2 for $15, as I have no interest in the other two games.

[Sky]

Yar, it's a good deal, but I already own 3 of the 4. Not sure I want to get IL2, my desire for that game is circa bf1942 era.

[Engels]

Yar, it's a good deal, but I already own 3 of the 4. Not sure I want to get IL2, my desire for that game is circa bf1942 era.

The title is misleading. It includes every expansion prior to 1946, including, but not limited to, the pacific theater, the russian front, the crimea, and a lot more. You can fly the russians, germans, british, americans, italians, finnish, polish, check, bulgarians, french, austrailian and nz air forces. It has the most extensive collection of flyable ww2 planes ever, including just about any revisions of the spitfire, bf109 anf fw190.

Edit: the game can be a bit of a pain to configure for widescreen. You have to manually edit the conf.ini file. If you get it and want a hand with any of it, send me a f13 message and I will send you my conf.ini, which you can use (editing for resolution) for most modern vid cards.

[Trippy]

Anyone want to gift me Dark Messiah if they get it and already have it? keke

Alright who gifted schild the classic pack?

[schild]

Oh, I guess I should've said something here! Valmorian did! And lo, it was awesome!

Does Valve's gift thing not tell you until you've already bought it? That'd be evil of them.

[Trippy]

Oh, I guess I should've said something here! Valmorian did! And lo, it was awesome!

Does Valve's gift thing not tell you until you've already bought it? That'd be evil of them.

Dunno. I went to buy a copy for myself and checked your profile to see if you still needed a copy and it showed you had acquired the games but didn't say through what means (gift or self-purchase).

Edit: ZOMG profiles default to "Public"

[Yegolev]

I would assume it wasn't a self-purchase.

[Trippy]

I assumed that as well but since it doesn't tell you who gave the other person the gift I asked.

[Yegolev]

Don't feel you have to explain yourself to me.

[Azazel]

is BG&E better polayed on PC, or console?

fake edit: Wait, IL-2 comes with all of it's expansions? I wanted to try that game, as with Sky, back in the 1942 days...


hmm.. and you can gift away the shit that you already own from within the multipack? or do you have to own it on steam to be able to gift it?

[Mosesandstick]

Imho doesn't make much of a difference. I think the racing and ship bits might be easier or more fun with a gamepad, but photography bits will be easier with a mouse. The combat's pretty simple and a nice, mild, diversion but I think the camera gets hectic enough that a mouse makes things easier.

[Azazel]

Extra copies are a special promotion for users who:

Purchase the “Left 4 Dead Four Pack” on Steam
Own “Half-Life 2” and/or “Half-Life 2: Episode One” and then go on to purchase “The Orange Box” or the "Valve Complete Pack"
Own “Half-Life 2: Episode One” and/or “Half-Life 2: Episode Two” and then go on to purchase the "Half-Life 2: Episode Pack”
This special offer will allow you to send your extra game copy or copies to a friend who does not already own the game.

Do any other games available on Steam work this way?

No. This special offer only applies to “Half-Life 2,” “Half-Life 2: Episode One,” “Half-Life 2: Episode Two,” and the “Left 4 Dead Four Pack” as stated above.
/

[Azazel]

Yup, just bought it. My "extra" copy of Dark Messiah got eaten by Steam. Fuckers.

[Yegolev]

Gabe needs food badly!

[Engels]

The missions in IL-2 go back to 1942, at least. I know for a fact that you can play 1938 planes, including some seriously clunky russian and check planes that are a major challenge. They also have the very first hurricanes and if you are a gluttong for punishment, the first p-40s. Here's a list from wikipedia:

Allies
А-20 Havoc (Douglas Boston)
B-25J-1NA Mitchell
Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 & BI-6
Brewster F2A (Brewster Buffalo)
DAP Beaufighter Mk 21
de Havilland Mosquito
F4U Corsair
F6F Hellcat
F4F Wildcat
Gloster Gladiator
Hawker Hurricane Mk II
Hawker Tempest
Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik
Ilyushin Il-10 Sturmovik
Tupolev TB-3 4M
Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov LaGG-3
Lavochkin La-5FN
Lavochkin La-7
MiG-3
MiG-9
I-250
 Polikarpov I-16
Polikarpov I-153 Seagull
Polikarpov I-185
Petlyakov Pe-2 Pawn
Petlyakov Pe-3
P-38 Lightning
P-39 Airacobra
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-40 Warhawk/Tomahawk/Kittyhawk
P-80 Shooting Star
P-63 Kingcobra
P-51 Mustang
PZL P.11
Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Seafire
SBD Dauntless
Yakovlev Yak-1
Yakovlev Yak-3
Yakovlev Yak-7
Yakovlev Yak-9
Yak-15
 


Axis
Ar-234/B Blitz
Dornier Do 335 ("Arrow")
Heinkel He 111H
He-L-IIIB-2 Lerche
Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger ("People's Fighter")
Junkers Ju 87 Stuka
Junkers Ju-88A-4
J8A Gladiator
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 110G
Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe ("Swallow")
Horten Ho 229 (a.k.a. Gotha Go)
IAR 80 and 81
Focke-Wulf Ta 152H
Focke-Wulf FW 190 Würger ("Shrike")
Fiat G.50 ("Arrow")
Fiat CR.42 ("Falcon")
 Nakajima Ki-43 (Oscar)
Nakajima Ki-84 (Frank)
Macchi Mc.200 Saetta ("Lightning")
Macchi Mc.202 Folgore ("Thunderbolt")
Macchi Mc.205 Veltro' ("Greyhound")
Mitsubishi G4M ("Betty")
Mitsubishi Zero ("Zeke")
Mitsubishi J2M ("Jack")
Nakajima Ki-27 ("Nate")
Kawasaki Ki-61 ("Tony")
Kawasaki Ki-100 ("Type 5 Fighter")
Kawanishi N1K2-Ja ("George")
Aichi D3A1 ("Val")
Ta-183 Huckebein 

Please note that in addition to these planes, you get to play various revisions of these planes as well. The 1942 fw190 is a VERY different plane from the 1944 one. I think there are about 7 different fw190s to play, 10 or so bf109s, a mess of yaks and LAs and many others.
Here are the various theatres:

The original "IL-2 Sturmovik" came with several maps depicting the main battle areas of the Eastern Front, including

Moscow (summer and winter)
Berlin
Kuban
Crimea
Stalingrad (summer and winter)
Prohorovka
Kursk
The first Add-On "Forgotten Battles" provided some further maps:

Leningrad (summer and winter)
Hungary (summer and winter)
"Pacific Fighters" came with a plethora of maps for the Pacific Theater of Operations, such as:

Pearl Harbor
Okinawa
Midway
etc., pp.
The last Add-On "1946" brought two more maps,

Manchuria
Kiev and
Later, some patches came with maps created by voluntary players:

Kurland (autumn and summer)
Bessarabia
Norway
Slovakia (version 4.09 BETA1

[Azazel]

Gabe needs food badly!

Not true. I've seen a photo of him.

 

[Trippy]

Yup, just bought it. My "extra" copy of Dark Messiah got eaten by Steam. Fuckers.

That's the beauty of Steam for Valve and the other publishers. You don't own any of the games you activate and play through Steam and you can not do with their games as you please as you can with regularly purchased games like trade, resell or give them away -- i.e. you don't have any "first sale" rights with Steam games. The fact that you can gift away your extra copies of Half-Life 2 acquired as part of the Orange Box is through the sheer generosity and magnanimousness of Valve.

On top of all that Valve can, for any reason (or no reason at all), take away your game playing privileges -- i.e. you play "at the will of Valve". Think of it like having an MMO subscription that costs $0 a month but has the same style EULA where they can ban your account or individual game playing privileges at will.

[Sky]

is BG&E better polayed on PC, or console?

PC, on an hdtv, with a gamepad. 

[Azazel]

Yup, just bought it. My "extra" copy of Dark Messiah got eaten by Steam. Fuckers.

That's the beauty of Steam for Valve and the other publishers. You don't own any of the games you activate and play through Steam and you can not do with their games as you please as you can with regularly purchased games like trade, resell or give them away -- i.e. you don't have any "first sale" rights with Steam games. The fact that you can gift away your extra copies of Half-Life 2 acquired as part of the Orange Box is through the sheer generosity and magnanimousness of Valve.

On top of all that Valve can, for any reason (or no reason at all), take away your game playing privileges -- i.e. you play "at the will of Valve". Think of it like having an MMO subscription that costs $0 a month but has the same style EULA where they can ban your account or individual game playing privileges at will.

Nod. That's why I only buy
1) Valve games on steam, since they will have steam regardless.
2) Cheap stuff.

Other stuff, I buy from retail, with discs. And I don't link my other retail-bought stuff to my steam account.
I am concerned with games like DoW2 linking their DRM to Steam. I don't like the idea of a game like that being both "at the will of Valve and THQ".

[Baldrake]

Bah, sometime's there's a reason games are cheap.

I played BG&E for about 10 minutes before my gag reflex kicked in. It might be the best game in the world, but I couldn't get past feeling like I was watching a cartoon for seven year olds.

I started IL-2, but the first mission I took kept reminding me to read the manual, study the maps and controls, etc. So I gave up for now. I see that GoG has loads of docs that you can download, but only if you buy it from them. I'll come back to this, but if anyone knows how to get the docs, it'd be a help.

[Segoris]

I know on some (not sure on all as I just noticed this a few days ago) if you right click a game in your games screen in Steam, you can select the instruction manual. It may work that way for IL-2 as well, worth a shot

Also, I just looked at the game in the Steam store and on the right side, under the metascore and other game/developer info, there are some links. One of the links is for the manual, hope that helps.

[Baldrake]

Doh, it was right in front of me. Thanks!

Still would like the reference card and the plane guide that is being offered at GoG, but the manual is a good start.

[Engels]

Being a flight sim, it does have a bit more of a learning curve. Before starting any campaign, mess with the difficulty settings and play a few custom battles, since when you start a campaign it'll lock in the difficulty setting and you can't change it after starting. A few good toggles on the difficulty setting if you aren't a flight sim jockey would be to turn off engine overheat, turn off realistic gunnery, turn off limited ammo and probably most importantly, select the setting that starts the missions in the air. Ralistic taxiing on the runway behind a whole squadron is a huge bore.

A few keyboard shortcuts that make life easier:

A for auto pilot
Alt-F1 toggles various cockpit views
M for heads up map and mouse activation to click-drag the map as well as zooming in and out with right-click.
[ & ] to speed up and slow down time passage. In the campaigns there are realistic distances to fly that can be a real bore.
F & V for flap levels
Crtl-E hit 3 times for bail out.