f13.net

It begins... say goodbye to your savings, chaps!

Click here to contribute to the Steam Stimulus Package! (http://store.steampowered.com/)

24.99 for all Valve games O.o

(Would jump on that if I didn't already own everything but L4D/L4D2)

Oh, you are truly evil.

ME WANT ALL THE SHINY!!!!!  :drillf:

 :ye_gods:
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 :grin:

If the Steam sale was the only thing I had for Christmas I would still love this holiday.

I'm not seeing a whole lot yet that's jumping out at me at the moment. That's a good thing. This is time of year has a lot of credit card scrutiny.   :awesome_for_real:

However, Super Meat Boy may just be too cheap to pass up at this point.  

I snagged Tropico 3 and I'm eyeing a few combo packs that have pieces I don't have (legally)

Tons of indie packs available on the second page of the packs section.

I highly recommend the 2d pack for VVVVVV+ other games, and the fright pack for The Void+other games.

Super Meat Boy at 3.75 and VVVVVV for 2.50 (if you don't get the pack that is) are fucking no-brainers.

2k pack = awesome....if I didn't own most of it already.

It's pretty bad when I have to keep my library window open so I can remember which games I already own on steam...

Standard common sense here applies.  Don't buy anything that's not in the daily sale or already priced ludicrously low until the final day of the sale.  Things on sale have gone even further on sale during the daily deals in the past.

I'm starting to seriously think about this holiday sale as a de-discing process.

Deus Ex and Deus Ex 2 $3.  I played the pants off Deus Ex, and I know DX2 doesn't hold a candle to it.  Will I get $3 worth of entertainment out of it?

Super Meat Boy, Lego Batman and all but the Latest Prince of Persia. I try to stick to 75%+ sales this holiday, and I still fear it will be expensive as hell.

I did a lot of that last year.

And Ard has the skinny on these, if anyone is new to them :) I've got my eye on a couple things (Anno 1404 Gold, Fallout Vegas, FEAR complete pack, a bit more of this and that), and $50 allocated. In a way I'm hoping nothing great goes on sale (other then those listed), because I'll have the dough for Vegas. The game, not the wretched oasis of sin.

Steams next step will be to launch its own credit service so it can collect inerest on your charges too.   :oh_i_see:

I can see it now "Valve bundle - 75% off with no finance charges!, Buy all of the weeks daily sales in one mega bundle and pay it off over the next 12 months!"

Oh no.  :ye_gods:

The FEAR complete pack isn't getting any cheaper.  It's actually on the daily deal today.  I probably shouldn't have pointed this out to you.  It might come back up again on the last day, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

You sure?  Looks like 75% off $180 to me = $50.00


I dunno, I thought DX2 was decent.  Everything felt smaller and more toy-like (for lack of a better term) but I don't think I'd say the game was overall horrible unless I was comparing it to DX1.  Personally, I grabbed the pack when it was on sale a while ago just for the convenience of having the games without the disks.

What's the full list of valve games?

I'm in Aus so I can't see what's offered but it sounds like it might be a good idea to get it gifted...

Can see it now,

Not sure it's worth it since TF2 and L4D2 are the main things I'm missing...

Damn F3 GOTY edition and New Vegas...

The entire Prince of Persia series is on sale, but there is no Prince of Persia collection?  Weeeeeird.

Also, does anyone know if it's possible to gift someone something today (or whenever) but not have them get it until the 25th?  I'm  not seeing a way to do this.

Oh no. I really don't need this. I actually need every penny I can keep my hands on this Christmas. Loans are coming off grace period fuckkkk.

You're right in that there is no process for delaying delivery of a gift, but it's still possible to get something quite like it.

• Buy the item as a gift per usual but instead of gifting it to a Steam account, send it by e-mail to a secondary e-mail address of yours.
• Do nothing with this e-mail.
• On the 25th, go to Games -> Manage Gifts and Guest Passes...
• Find the game/recipient combination you want and hit the Resend button.
• Send your gift off as normal either to an e-mail address or directly to someone's Steam account.

E: I should add, I haven't done this exact method before, but I've done the "Resend unclaimed gift." part before without incident.

Not available in your region!  :why_so_serious:

I have pretty much all of it, if not all of it. Would have been nice to gift it, though. I gifted Titan Quest Gold and BF:BC2 (and got a TQ:G for myself - now I can ditch the discs into storage!)

The Rockstar collection isn't available in my region either. Can anyone LMK what it's going for and also what the individual prices for Max Payne 1/2 are? I'd like to un-disc both of those...

Bad company 2 for $6.79 :D

Also, fear complete pack for $9 for me.

The bethesda pack is temping, it's just a bit too expensive.

• Bully
• GTA 1-4 + San Andreas + Vice City + Episodes from Liberty City
• Manhunt
• Max Payne 1+2
• Midnight Club 2
• Wild Metal

Full pack is $39.99 and both Max Paynes are $6.69 each (33% off the normal $9.99).

Super Meat Boy 3,50€

Battlefield BC2 13,59€

Who is willing to gift me BC2 at US price and have me Paypal them the cash?

Thought about BC2, Fallout3, Fear.  Pulled trigger on none its only day one, lets wait and see.

Interesting - BC2 was US$13.59 for us in Aust. Fear is $16.22
Of course, Steam now wants to update and shits itself when it gets to 26%. Which seems to be a non-unique problem according to google. Hopefully it's just their servers taking a right pounding with the sale. Unfortunately, I deleted my install on the laptop while trying to get it to work.

So, regarding the first daily sale:

- I really enjoyed the first chapter of F.E.A.R. but never got around playing the second: worth it? I guess that, at E.4,99 it's basically a no brainer.

- F1 2010 is not available in my region; bleh.

- I would like to try out one of those Prince of Persia games (I only played the original one on Amiga, hehe). Latest one is the best?

- I'm intrigued by this "Oddworld" thing.

Haven't played any Prince of Persia games aside from the first one (er, first new one, Sands of Time, whatever) which was pretty good.  General consensus as far as I'm aware is that it's the best of the batch and the series has been going downhill from there.  The collectors edition of newest one (Forgotten Sands) comes with Sands of Time, though, if you want to compare.

Oddworld I'm kind of lukewarm on.  I have the old Oddworld games and they are awkward as hell to play.  They've got a kind of interesting atmosphere (retarded "lol he gots fart powers lol" stuff aside) but otherwise it was just a frustrating mess for me on the PC.  Maybe the new ones are better, I dunno, I haven't heard much about them.

Thanks for that. I'd kinda like to pick up the Max Paynes but $14 is a bit high for them. Wouldn't mind the GTA 1-3+ series as well, I guess, but I'll never get around to playing any but SA again, which I never completed. Maybe Max will be in a daily special for a bit less, then I'll just need to talk someone into gifting them to me in return for cash...

On a related note, how much are Star Wars Battlefront II? $9.99USD here, which seems a bit high.

I sure as hell wouldn't recommend Max Payne games for $14, $5 is pretty much too much to pay for them in these modern times.

Grabbed F3 GOTY. Now to clear up some HD space...
Slightly related note, GOG has a pretty good holiday sale going on as well. I picked up the Realms of Arkania trilogy for $6. I had #2 from way back but never got 1 and 3 so I've got some serious rpg'ing ahead of me this break.

Had to fight to not buy a single thing today (just have no money right now!)...and it's only day one.  :cry:

I was looking hard at BC2 and the FEAR bundle. Still tempted by FEAR 2, but I think I'll pass; and BC2, well, I don't really play online shooters anymore. After last year's gorging, it's much easier to pass on titles. Such a backlog of good stuff to get to (ie; get FEAR 2 or finally get around to Dead Space). Also, got the Eidos bundle last year, and hoping nothing tempts me too much because if I can make it to Jan 2 with $38, I get Vegas! It's like a cheesy game show.

Day 1 = nada.

Bought Deus Ex collection.  Likely won't play it, but for $3 I may as well. 

Found DA:O Ultimate edition for PS3 in my local Target clearance bin yesterday for $15.  Snatched that up right quick.  I have it on PC already but have waaay more than $15 in DLC to buy, so this is win.

Fuck me.  I bought Deus Ex like two days ago. 

Debating buying BC2 (mostly because I'm intrigued by the Vietnam expansion).  Since I'm not a fan of vehicles and snipers, I may pass.  It's hard to pass at that price.

My wife splurged on my Wishlist.  :awesome_for_real: I told her it was better to wait for this week's sale.

Got Battlefield: Bad Company 2 finally and Blood Bowl Dark Elves Edition. Also added the Peninsular Campaign to Napoleon: Total War and got two of the expansions to Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers. I will be gorged on games this year.

The Witcher for $5.00?! Get it if you don't have it - easily get your money's worth out of that.  I am actually playing through Defense Grid: The Awakening (tower defense game) now, as it was part of the Treasure Hunt deals and for $2.00 you can't miss.

Just trying to decided if Men of War: Gold Edition is worth it or not...anyone play these?

Day two has started, good luck with your wallets ladies and gentlemen. That said, this is a little late from me but here is the daily breakdown so far:

Daily Sales

Day 2 – Tuesday 12/21
Resident Evil – 66% off = $10.20
Defense Grid: The Awakening – 80% off = $2.00
Burnout Paradise Ultimate – 75% off = $5.00
Gothic Bundle (1, 2, 3, and 4) – 50% off = $34.99
The Polynomial – 75% off = $2.50
The Witcher Director’s Cut – 75% off = $5.00
Aion: Assault on Balaurea – 75% off = $10.00
Lara Croft: Guardian of Light – 66% off = $5.10, or if you own any other Tomb Raider game it is 76% off = $3.60
Men of War: Gold Edition – 75% off = $8.75
Disciples 3 – 75% off = $7.50
Bioshock 2 – 50% off = $9.99
Puzzle Quest – 85% off = $1.50


Day 1 – Monday 12/20

I'm passing today. I enjoyed defense grid as a tower defense game it's worth $2 if you like those games. I already own the witcher, that's worth the $5 IMO. Puzzle quest is probably worth $1.50 as well. I haven't played any of the rest.

Contemplating the Witcher, but have concerns that it's more "Action" than "RPG".  I'm not much of a fan of action games, but really enjoy RPGs.  Thoughts?

It's more RPG than action.  Don't worry on that front.

"Action" consists of facing your enemies, being in the correct stance (there are 3) and then left clicking once, twice, three times to victory when the icon turns red (this chains your attacks) Sometimes right click to cast a spell. There's a decent amount of combat though, and it's definitely the weakest part of the game, but the story is still pretty good.

Defense Grid is easily worth it.  It's a charming game with plenty of replay value.

I picked up puzzle quest.  I managed to avoid it previously, but I suppose for 1.50 I can give it a shot.

Not much of interest on sale for Macs.

Best part of the Mac sales they are the cross platform game so you can pickup braid/trine/torchlight for cheap and use it on PC.

Steam sales really jade one. I'm tempted by Bioshock 2, but didn't care for the first one much. Also Disciples III but heard a lot of meh.

Witcher is definitely worth $5 if you haven't played it; skip the Gothic bundle, Risen > Arcania by all reports (and they had the 1-3 bundle wicked cheap last year, so it's a big price jump to just get Arcania, which wasn't made by Piranha Bytes). Burnout Paradise is a fun racer, I definitely got $5 out of it over the last year.

It's a very good distraction game I enjoyed. I wouldn't recommend playing it more than an hour at a time due to the repetition.

The only thing that looked interesting to me on there is Disciples III, but there are major questions about the bugs/stability. Anybody have experience with that one?

Its pure RPG. One of the best European RPGs to be released in a long while IMO. If you don't own it, and you enjoy RPGs this is a must buy right now. Actually, it was a must buy about 6 months ago even.

I grabbed it.  At $5 I can't complain.

Can't seem to get into Deus Ex.  Too "shootery" for my tastes.   I find that I'm also not fond of the whole "stealth" thing.  My grasp of stealth involves a knife to the face.   

If I hadn't already played it, I'd pay $5 for Max Payne 2 and be happy about it. It is however one rare case where I'm happy to have the disk, because the box art is awesome.

On today's offers, Defence Grid is worth it, you're only getting a really well executed tower defence game, but it is really well executed. Bioshock 2 can fuck right off. I already have polynomial, I can't make head nor tail of it, and it won't work with iTunes music, so that too, can fuck off. I'm picking up puzzle quest because people keep mentioning it elsewhere and it only costs 90 pence.

 

Is Bioshock 2 worth playing on the PC?

At its core, yes, you could say it involves shooting, but the experience varies a lot based on how you want to approach each level.

- You can shoot with the pistol, opting for a straightforward, FPS-style approach, but Deus Ex becomes quite hard that way, and pretty unsatisfying, IMO ;

- But then, you can get around by using tranquilizer darts with the crossbow...Or picking enemies from distance with the Sniper Rifle, or...STICK WITH THE PROODD, like good ol' Paul said.

The beauty of it is really the freedom of choice, both on how you get through the levels, and the means you use to achieve it (lockpicking, computers, explosives and so on. What a fantastic game).

Yeah, I'd be quite happy with $5 for the pair of them. More than that ...not so much.

Anybody tried Lara Croft? RE5 good on the PC?

I bought Rail Road Tycoon 2 Platinum for less than 2 beans.  I'm going to become the most ruthless railroad baron of all time.  WATCH IT.

Bioshock is $24.99 and Gothic Bundle is $34.99.. are they Aussie prices or the real ones? Both seem a tad high.

I see Bioshock 2 at $9.99 (down from $19.99) but the same $34.99 as you for the Gothic bundle.

Witcher for 5 bucks is tempting, but with Steam sales making it easy to acquire large numbers of games, the real issue isn't the cost, but rather if I'll ever have time to actually play the things I buy.

Bioshock is $10USD, Gothic bundle $35USD. With 1&2 being a bit dated and 3&4 lackluster, and Risen being $22.50USD, I can't see recommending the bundle (and I'm a gothic fan who bought the bundle last year, it was way cheaper; money dig for Arcania this year).

I've heard OKish things about Lara, and bad about RE5. Unless that was RE4? Schild had an opinion on it, I recall.

Tempted by Defence Grid, Lara and Witcher, today...

RE4 awesome.  RE5 bad.

I picked it up last year.

At $5 it is cool because although the combat mechanics suck monkey balls, the rpg character development is solid and way the story interaction is designed is excellent. It makes Bioware look like George Lucas.

RE4 on consoles, awesome. RE4 on PC, trash.
RE5 on consoles, trash. RE5 on PC, merely tolerable.

Also Witcher for $5 is good because Witcher 2 exists no?

I need to go look up the biif and any other mentions of Disciples and I think I'll pass on Bioshock 2, it did look fun but I couldn't find a difficulty worth playing in the first game (was either trivially easy or cheating hard) and the game itself got insanely boring as it progressed as most encounters were rinse repeat affairs.

Two things I had major issues with re: RE5

1) The stupid way split screen was done on consoles.
2) I hate how Chris looks like some kind of freakish steroid monster instead of a real person now.

Edit: Hit the wrong button.

Is there a way to get/patch Steam's Witcher into the European uncut/unrated/whatever version? I've got the original Euro disc version here and would prefer to be able to put it away but keep/have the full version of the game on Steam.

Yeah, no. The Witcher is a decent enough RPG, but doesn't really compare to the better Bioware stuff. Still worth $5 for sure if you like RPGs though.

Don't worry, the steam version comes with tits straight out of the box.

(and tits is literally the only difference)

Cool. I still haven't gotten around to playing it, and thought there was content changes as well as tits. But you know, tits are good.
 :oh_i_see:

Also, don't panic when the first opportunity for tits has no tits, you still have the tits version but the lack of tits despite potential for tits is canon in that instance.

Words of wisdom.

You know I never finished the witcher. I peetered out in the same place both times I tried to play it, I think it was near the end of chapter 4 after I opened up the tower. I just got tired of running around in town, even with the faster load times (the first time, the load was BRUTAL - it was patched)

After watching some Disciples 3 gameplay on youtube I'm going to pass on it and Bioshock 2 (this will be on sale for $10 a lot same was L4D2 I'd imagine) and survive to another day.

Disciples 3 looked way too slow and the animations were pretty terrible in combat.

Yeah, I tried the demo of Disciples 3 last night, it was slow and simply not fun. In the end, I picked up Puzzlequest and called it a day.

So long as you mean Baldur's Gate era, then sure.

If you mean post-kotor Bioware output, then not so much.

Nothing I've read anywhere said Disciples III wasn't horribly buggy and a PITA to get running. Also, it looks like another version of HoMM except completely disfunctional.

I'm saving plenty of money this Sale. And it's making me sad :cry: Bring on the less shitty games, Steam!

Spoke too soon, Recettear for under $7! woohoo!

Nothing today grabs my attention. Annoyed that I missed the Witcher for $5 because I was an idiot. Grabbed Portal (I know, I know..) and Titan Quest/Deus Ex (both packs for de-discing purposes) on day one. Thankfully not looking for many more games this holiday sale, other than ME2 and (hopefully) the Witcher popping up again on the last day or something.

Also keep in mind that all the games that are apart of the mega packs also have their individual prices slashed heavily.  I've already glanced through and got a couple of games that are apart of packs for pretty cheep.

Purchased railworks, was waiting for it to go on sale  :awesome_for_real:

I picked up Defense Grid during the last few minutes of yesterday`s sale for $2 and then grabbed Just Cause 2 today for $7.50.  I`ve heard good things about JC2, now I just have to find the time to actually play it.  I still have games I bought during the summer sale that I haven`t touched yet. :ye_gods:

Pass on today's deals, too.

The best in $/fun are bully & just cause 2. The best non-deal "deal" today goes to spore for $20. What a piece of shit. And that railroad game is awful, too.

Bully I loved but I never got into JC2. Where does he store all those parachutes?! Why are you terrorizing villages in the name of freedom?! You're a real jerk!

AVOID asscreed 2, the ubisoft DRM is completely brutal and over the top on the PC, like if your internet goes down you can't play, if your email address changes, you can't play, if you forget your password, not only can you not play, but you can't play ever again as they will shut down that account.

However, Sid Meier's Pirates! and Railroads! are both  $2.50 if you search. Yoink!

They still haven't removed that DRM? Fuck them, I almost bought it, too.

You really nailed the Witcher right here.  Interesting story with annoying combat.  Maybe I need to give KOTOR another shot.  I'm just terrified that I'm going to screw my character up since I have no idea how any of the traits work.

Don't be like this guy, wait until the final day to comb the packs as daily sales will offer deeper discounts on many of these games.

I've looked at JC2 but I'm not sold I'd enjoy it too much, beyond that the rest of today is bleh to me.

I've been eyeballing Men of War all day. I watched a couple gameplay videos and it looks like it COULD be awesome. But I get the feeling in my gut that it isn't what I think it is. 7€ but it's only day 2 and Super Meat Boy has been keeping me plenty busy.

Made my first purchase of the sale today for Recettear ($6.80), and that was a no-brainer. Item Shop? Trading? Indie RPG dungeons? I'm in!

Yup, and Just Cause 2 for $7.50

Wednesday - 12/22
Aliens vs Predator - 75% off = $5
Day of Defeat - 75% off = $2.50
Recetgear - 66% off = $6.80
Railworks 2 - 85% off = $6
Zuma's Revent - 60% off = $8
Spore Complete Pack - 75% off = $19.99
Just Cause 2 - 75% off = $7.50
Bully - 75% off = $3.75
Call of Duty 4: MW - 50% off = $14.99
Red Lynx Trials 2 - 75% off = $2.50
Assassins Creed 2 - 50% off = $14.99, or 60% off = $12 if you own AC1
Tales of Monkey Island Complete Pack - 50% off = $17.49

I've been waiting for Recetgear to go on sale, otherwise this sale is kind of bleh.

I picked up Day of Defeat.  I loved some BF1942 and figured for $2.50 it would be worth it if it kept me entertained for a day.  I nearly grabbed Recettear, but the anime look really put me off.

Recettear was much cheaper less than a month ago as part of a $4.99 indie pack (4+ games including Recettear).  It was OK, I hoped it was a bit better....but you should get your money worth.

The only thing I am looking at is Spore as I have never tried it.  Most likely pick it up as there isnt much else on today.

What the fuck is the deal with that game? Is it really a train driving simulator? Like half the games on Steam are $15 expansions to that game with one engine and a route.

EDIT: Spore probably isn't worth $20 to see where they made their mistakes. It has *some* fun in it, and the cell stage is great, if it was $10 I'd say go for it.

I'd have considered Asscreed if it wasn't for retarded Ubisoft drm.

Spore is worth $5, MAYBE $10. Not anything higher. You'll be disappointed.

The train driving simulator is exactly that. It isn't really a game. It's a giant troll by Gaben. Here are the giant bomb guys "reviewing" it: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-railworks/17-2557/

Reccatear is good fun, but I assumed everyone got it as part of the thanksgiving pack.

Thanks for the reminder on that. I'm pretty meh about DRM, but that particular breed is horrific.

I'd give a recommend to Just Cause 2. I'm only about 5 or 6 hours in, but loving it. Crazy mayhem in a hollywood splosion movie. How can you not like the hook? You're spiderman, ffs.

Another day, another no purchases.

I almost bought the Gothic pack yesterday just so I could have enough direct experience with it to have a decent fight with Sky, but $35 was too much for that. If it had been $20...

Picked up the Tomb Raider game yesterday for $3 - I know it'll probably be shitty but I enjoy the other games.

Absolutely nothing that I want today and I'm annoyed that I missed the Lego game sale on day 1 as my CC was maxed. Actually, they need to do a Lego pack sale - I'd be on that in an instant as I only have the Star Wars games.

+1 to the Wither if it comes again - it was my best purchase at one of the other sales.

Got Recettear since I had been eying that one for some time, and Just Cause 2 since it went back on sale and in case I feel like a bit of action.

I refuse to purchase another Ubi Soft game until they remove their DRM, both from any future game the ones that are already released.  FFS, having to go through Steam should be plenty enough DRM and one thats probably acceptable to most players.  Ubi Soft could make a game that cures cancer and creates peace in the middle east, and I still wouldn`t buy it if it had their current DRM.  Fuck that shit.

The price is right for certain.  Shame about the DRM.

Yes its a train simulator, they put out tons of DLC in small packages like that to keep going. $6 pretty much gets you the game and 12 engines, 5 scenarios. RoF has the same sort of model where they release a plane as a DLC item.

I'm kind of surprised at the venom for Spore around here given the Minecraft fanboyism, since they're both built around the same fundamental premise (building stuff is fun, gameplay is basically just a framework for the stuff you've built) and, as of this sale, the same price.

If you like building stuff, there's nothing really comparable to Spore available.  Plus, the Steam version doesn't have the assy DRM.

If you're after great gameplay, you could do a lot better, and $20 is probably too much.

EDIT: The base game for Spore is only something like $7.50.  The addon packs are rather overpriced, in my opinion.  Unless you really like the game there's no point paying $5 more for the parts pack (even on sale, it's only a handful of new parts for one stage of the game), and Galactic Adventures is better on paper than in practice and costs as much as the full game by itself.

Does Steam-Spore still have that horrific level of DRM on it? Having said that, I'll wait for the $5 or $10 sale on it. As you said, $20 is way too much.

I'm happy though - nothing I want on today's sale. Everything I'm interested in I either have on pc or console, or have alrady played. Except for AssCreed - which will be a bargain basement PC purchase. Later.

Did they ever fix the gameplay of Spore getting in the way of the fun building and exploring stuff? Last I played you couldn't hop a few solar systems to smell the methane without some whiny bitch threatening or pleading or asking you to go take out the trash. It got old fast, and the more you played the game part you couldn't ignore, the worse it got.

During the development, I was a huge fan of the game, and I still see a lot of what was great about it in there. Problem is, someone in management didn't 'get' a science-based sandbox, saw how much it cost and went into panic mode and forced Maxis into making a 'game' that pointy-headed morons could understand. Look at absolutely everything released, it screams 'game' and nothing at all about what WW was trying to do...which is probably why the first thing WW did was get the fuck out of Maxis.

Ahem, as the highlanders say.

Hmm...they've got Batman Arkham Asylum for $15 right now. I wonder if it'll be on another day's sales for cheaper though? Anyway, I got Just Cause 2 today. That makes: Just Cause 2, the Fear games, and the Deux Ex games so far.

I'm debating the Left for Dead combo for $15. Worth it? Or will it go on sale later do you think?

Wait on both of those; they might come around again, though you likely missed the boat. Batman was $10 and L4D was $5 on the thanksgiving sale.

I think they patched the space part to be less annoying, but I don't know how much since I had uninstalled by that point.

Annoyingly the indie games I want are split across 3 packs and I dont want the other stuff or having to pay for 3 packs to get like 4 games :-(

Anyone one else notice how Serek Dmart's games never seem to be on sale?

I'm tempted to pick up Patrician IV at $7.50. Anyone have any experience with the series and the newest entry?

Best day of the sale for me by a mile.  I knew I was getting the Legendary Edition of BloodBowl the second it was on sale and Darksiders has always had an art style that appeals to me.

If you don't own ME2 by now, shame on you and fix your face.

Everything else is so cheap or looks interesting enough (Risen & Dead Rising) for me to at least take a look and think about.

Hooray, Risen cheap enough for some Euro-janky rpg goodness.

Boo, TAGES. No Euro-jank for me!

Hmm...the 2 Mass Effect PC games for $10 each....I have them on 360 but it is very tempting to pick them up on PC especially since I am sure there are mods out there for them....

Patrician is no Anno. I'd pass.

Not getting anythign today, I already have the good games. ME2 for $10 is worth it for sure though.

Gamersgate has Mass Effect 2 for cheaper, I think. I also don't know how the site works but am trying it out now (Sir T recommended it).

This finally looks like a day that could make me bite.  I'll be gobbling up Wings of Prey for sure.  Seriously considering Dead Rising 2, but it just feels like I have so much on my plate already that there's no point.  I may just wait for the next summer sale to buy it.  I'll be buying ME2 from either Steam or Gamersgate as well.

Blood Bowl: LE is on sale just in time for those who might want to join us in F13 Blood Bowl Season 3 too.  :drill:

This.   :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :drill:

Well I decided to pass. I either own all the games I want (all of the RPGs) or the prices are still more than I want to pay (Dead Rising 2, Blood Bowl.)

Ok, I vaguely remember Blood Bowl from my childhood, but I've no idea on how it plays. Still, it looks fun so I'm going to purchase it  :awesome_for_real:

Picked up Alpha Protocol and Blood Bowl: LE today.  I have more money than brains, I guess, since I don't think I'll have the time to play either one in the foreseeable future.  I was thinking about getting Darksiders too, but I'm not too sure if its something I'd even like.

Got Patrician 4 and Dead Rising 2. 50% would have been to expensive for me, but 60% was ok for some mindless Christmas Time Zombie Romp  :awesome_for_real:

Bought DeathSpank for $7.50 and purchase #2 of this sale.

Darksiders is decent for $10.  It's got simple, very simple QTE like GoW fights.  But it plays more like Zelda. 

I would do Risen for $10, but $15 is just a hair out of my reach.  Nothing else rings my bell today.

Looked at some reviews/videos/threads about Risen and Dead Rising 2, gonna pass on both but that is made easier by the fact that I'm picking up two games today in Darksiders (Zelda w/ wh40k art style? Yes plz) and Blood Bowl LE at long last.

Alpha Protocol, check; was hoping for $5, but eh. Threw in OpFlash for $3, I'm sure I'll get $3 out of it some day (and fiancee likes realistic shooters). Blood Bowl, oh hell why did I look at that thread, ffs. (and yet another thanks to the secret santa who freed up my Vegas funds to buy it!)

Been waiting for Deathspank to go on sale. -50% seems somewhat low. Wondering if I should wait and see if they happen to put it on sale with the expansion as a pack.

Didn't even realise Risen was banned in Australia until I tried to work out which title on their sale was "not available in your region".

Time to buy that "Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition" and actually get an additional copy for someone you love to put it under the Christmas tree. (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=20216.0)

This.

Impulse had Blood Bowl: Dark Elves Edition on sale for $9.95  :headscratch:

Blood Bowl: Dark Elves has around half the teams and isn't compatible with the f13 Blood Bowl league, as far as I am aware.

Yes, I posted it with the headscratch since it's just a little odd that anyone is still selling that version (for PC, anyway) when they've now released the full version.

edit - ok my bad. Cyanide are still selling it themselves for some reason. I guess there's got to be a bunch of "1st ed" leagues out there, so I guess it makes sense after all...

Ahhhhhhhh.  I misunderstood.  I thought you were suggesting it was a questionable purchase because Impulse was offering a cheaper alternative.

Yoink, snatched up Darksiders and Alpha Protocol.


Just a summary of today's deals:

If you want it:
http://www.ozgameshop.com/pc-games/risen-game-pc

They did eventually patch it so that the stupid bullshit OH GOD YOUR COLONY IS UNDER ATTACK stuff didn't come up nearly as often, but I don't know if it would make it infrequent enough for your tastes - it was low enough that I didn't hate it any more, I could flit about and terraform to my heart's content without being interupted constantly, but I still sort of wished it had gone away completely.

Recettear fucking ATE MY HEAD. I played it for like 10 hours already.  :ye_gods:


(lol +1 lol)

Buckled and bought 4x of Op.Flashpoint. Buoyed by some positive reviews and Bhodi's recommendation. Seem like it would be fun for a local co-op game with the coordinating and the shooting people in the head from afar.

Mass Effect 2 for a tenner? Still haven't got it - still haven't finished the first one. Guessing it might be worth it at this price though...?

Did you like ME1?  Personally, I thought it was shit.  Not a fan of recent BioWare here.  If you liked ME1 you'll like ME2.

Or significantly cheaper:
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-RISEN/risen

It's a new day for your wallet to grab its ankles and bite its lip

Friday - Dec 24th
Arma 2 - 75% off = $9.99
Saints Row 2 - 75% off = $7.50
Torchlight - 75% off = $4.99
King Arthur Complete Pack - 85% off = $5.39
Devil May Cry 4 - 75% off = $4.99
Fallout Vegas - 40% off = $29.99 or 50% off = $24.99 if you own Fallout 3
Battlefield 2 Collection - 75% off = $4.99
Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - 71% off = $9.99
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Games - 75% off = (complete pack for $9.99, others I'll update in a bit)
Counter Strike Source - 75% off = $4.99
Overlord Games - 85% off = (Raising Hell - $1.50, Overlord 1 - $.75, Overlord 2 - $1.50, Complete pack - $3.00)
Borderlands game and dlc - 50% off (goty edition = $24.99, base game = $9.99, claptraps revolution = $4.99, Mad Moxxi = $4.99, General Knox = $4.99, Zombie Island = $4.99)

I'm doing this so Sky pipes down about his New Vegas desires:


SKY FALLOUT NEW VEGAS FOR LESS THAN $30!! CLICK HERE FOR FALL OUT NEW VEGAS FFS!!! (http://store.steampowered.com/app/22380/)

That said, I'd reccomend Overlord at that price, Fallout Vegas is an obvious pick up for most, Torchlight is something everyone should have already bought and if you haven't then buy it already, BF2 collection for $5 is good

God Damn it.  I may have to pick up BC2 now. 

Well, I picked up Torchlight despite being tired of that genre of game. I'm mulling over King Arthur and maybe Borderlands...

Edit: I broke down and got the Battlefield 2 collection for $5. I have ruled out borderlands but am still contemplating King Arthur.

I hope you enjoy Torchlight more than I did.  The graphics made me want to stab myself in the face.

Overlord didn't do much for me, it doesn't look old but the game design itself feels old.  I just couldn't get into it and at least the early missions felt very linear and the gameplay felt quite limited. 

If you've avoided Borderlands for this long I'd imagine its not the game for you.  Its an insultingly poor console port and multiplayer doesn't work as well as it should but at the its core its probably a more fun smash and lewtz game than...

Torchlight, I really wanted to like this game but I think there are many things to not like and they got enough wrong that I would recommend Titan Quest over Torchlight to anyone who asked.  If your excited about the mmo or curious about the version that has multiplayer it might be worth the $5 I guess.

***

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on Ghost Recon futuristic version #2, I've always thought they looked good.  Does it have some kind of disgusting Ubi DRM? Is it a console game with all the ui and control scheme shittiness that entails?

What about King Arthur? How can it not be worth $3?

I picked up Advanced Warfighter 2. Bleh.

Still super linear levels, and the AI of your teammates leaves something to be desired. Especially since it seems like you need them more in this game than in previous versions.

I wouldn't buy it.

King Arthur wasn't really even worth $5 to me, but, then again, I was never very much into Arthurian legend. The game itself seems OK, it's a sort of heroes of might and magic type game with a myth-style combat, only where archers/ranged units are way overpowered. The whole quest system involves going around and tracing/performing the history of king Arthur and the kingdom of Camelot by doing quests/helping kingdoms.

I just got sort of bored with it.


I'm passing on today. New vegas is tempting but I'm in no rush, I've a huge backlog of games to play and I'll just wait until it's $15 next year. I didn't like darksiders, I wanted a more action-oriented rather than zelda-esque game, I already own or have played a bunch of the others.

Sid Meier's Pirates! is the shit though - how did I miss this game?!

fuuuck.  Was gonna come gloat about King ARthur and all expansions/DLC for 5 bucks.  Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaager.

I decided to have a look at the mega pack sales and notice that Rockstar is unavailable in Australia. Then I notice that the [bValve[/b] collection is also unavailable. WTF?

I don't get it, I've bought all of my Valve games via Steam before - why is the discount pack unavailable?

This year's sale is great, last year I spent too much, this year there is effectively nothing I want  :heartbreak:

It's about the Max Payne games, which aren't on Steam for Aussies, and of course, Manhunt, which was Refused Classification.
For the Valve pack, it's about L4D2, which again, was RC.


Today's sale.. hmm.. Waiting for GOTY with all the bugfixes and shit like the "exclusive 360 only" DLC added in for Fallout: NV, a few things stuff I own already. I liked GRAW2 back when I played it a few years ago. I had high hopes of getting a second copy to co-op through with my wife or a friend, but when I had another look at it a couple months ago, it ...didn't meet my modern expectations.

I am tempted to buy 2 or 4 copies of BF2 for the local co-op though, despite owning more than enough original copies...  :uhrr:

(http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2010/12/Wallpaper_PCG_800x600_1.jpg)

 :awesome_for_real:

I'm waiting for Singularity to go on sale. It's like the game that time forgot.

You might be waiting forever for that one.

Well, just picked up Batman for $7.50. I'm debating Tropico 3 for $6. Any of you guys played and enjoyed that one?

Saturday Dec 25th
Altitude - 75% off = $2.49
Dragon Age - 50% off (Awakenings = $14.99, Origins = $14.99, Ultimate Edition = $24.99)
Tropico 3 - 70% off = $6.00
Flatout - 90% off (Ultimate Carnage = $2.00, Flatout = $.75, Flatout 2 = $1.00)
Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY - 75% off = $7.50
Shank - 50% off = $7.49
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - 50% off or 60% off if you own Double Agent (60% off prices = Conviction = $11.99, Conviction Deluxe = $13.99, Splinter Cell = $3.99, Chaos Theory = $3.99()
Civ5 - 25% off = $37.49
Call of Duty 4:MW2 - 50% off = $29.99
Monkey Island Special Edition Bundle - 75% off = $3.75
X-Superbox - 66% off = $13.60
Red Faction games - 75% off (Red Faction = $2.49, Red Faction 2 - $2.49, Red Faction Guerrilla - $4.99)

I enjoyed Tropico. If you like city builders then it is alright, I got more than $6 out of it but ymmv

Was too lazy to dig up my Mount and Blade account info, so I bought the bundle with WarBand for $20. I have gotten far more than that out of the game, so it was well worth it for me. Grabbed Batman this morning...$7.50 is too cheap to pass up a game that everyone else seemed to enjoy. Do I need to use a controller or is it m & kb?

For the price I may as well add one of the Flatouts to my collection.

I have not bought a single title during this sale. If they gave me 100 free games, there probably wouldn't be 100 games on Steam I don't already have :( I'd end up with all the Petz and Call of Duty titles.

How come?

I had no problems playing it with mouse and keyboard; it's a fun game.

You could probably hit 70 just with Railworks expansions!

Because as you get closer to a singularity, time slows down.  What is an instant for an outside observer seems to take eternity for the object.

*groan*

Any opinions on Shank?

Hmm, decent price point for Dragon Age...  (scratches chin)

So Battlefield 2 doesn't work. Gives a "Your CD-Key is invalid" error when you try to go online. Sent a mesaage to support suggesting that they fix it and don't fuck me around sending me back and forth to EA (who is sending people back to steam) or I'll initiate 4 chargebacks for the 4 copied I purchased. I did say I'd give them a reasonable amount of time, given the time of year. Wheeee!
 :oh_i_see:

Hey Bhodi, what are the best X games? I'm never going to play all of them.

Ive heard of steam suspending accounts doing charge backs. Be careful.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing X3: Reunion through the XTended mod a few years ago, and that was my favorite experience with the franchise.  X3: Terran Conflict is mostly a souped up XTended though so it's probably even better, but my experience with it is more limited due to not having as much spare time as I had in a previous life.  Either way, you should definitely look into getting some of Cycrow and others' mods.  The NPC Bailing Addon, Advanced Jumpdrive and Salvage Claim Software are pretty damned essential.  The following link goes directly to a community script & mod download library: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=216690 (http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=216690)

The only one you want is Terran Conflict. That version, like mount & blade warband, basically encompass and 'overwrite' the others. It's everything the others are and more, including a UI overhaul that makes the game playable. Just a warning, it's hard to get into, but very rewarding once you do. It's pretty complex and not very newbie friendly at all. I still really enjoyed it, but I realize that it's not for everybody - if you do get it, get some of the community walkthroughs to explain how to do stuff, or be vocal in the thread.

Xtended 1.0 was recently released and by all accounts is awesome (I haven't tried it yet) but it also makes the game significantly more tedious for new games / low levels, as the start is significantly harder - no repair laser, etc. It's definitely more fun in the later game, but it punishes you if you don't already know the ropes - thus the main game is probably better for new players. If you do it get, browse the thread here, I explained a lot of the process on how to do stuff. I am also on-hand to explain everything. If something seems tedious or stupid, chances are there's a better non-intuitive way of going about and solving the problem.

I think for $7 it's a terrific game.

The BF2 cd-key issue is known and will be fixed shortly. This isn't the first game that has been surprised at the number of purchases and has run out of cd-keys or had their auth servers overloaded. Please have patience :/

I'm left with not really thinking I'll get into it, but I want to try it before I gift it.

Feels like a better buy than Splinter Cell Conviction @ $15 or any of the other deals today.

My loot from this sale so far:

Super Meat Boy
DeathSpank
And the Claptrap DLC for Borderlands.

I held my finger on the trigger for ME2 because I heard the announcement for ME3, and decided ME2 should be on sale soonish for 5€ like ME1.

It sucks that I won't get an extra copy of X:3 Terran Conflict when I buy the superbox. But I still need to waste the extra £6 instead of buying all the other games individually just to get the stuff that only comes with the Superbox :-(

There is nothing in the superbox that you want other than TC. That's my whole point.

Sunday Dec 26th
Today is just another chance at some of the titles through the sale at the same price they were offered before. The list is Borderlands, Battlefield BC2, Assassin's Creed 2, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Dead Rising 2, Wings of Prey, Darksiders, Fear/Fear2, Call of Duty: MW2, Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2, The Witcher, Super Meat Boy

I didn't know they did this before the final day (Jan 2nd) what does this mean? For sure we wont see these specific deals again? There will be more new deals on 27-30 and who knows what on 31st and 1st? Another best sellers sale on Jan 2nd.

I was looking really hard at Fear Pack and Darksiders earlier in the sale but I'm already down to about $40 left in my budget....  fuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Thanks. If they did that, I'd likely chargeback a hell of a lot more, though (15 purchases or so in the last month). Still, I don't actually want to chargeback anything. I just want the products they sold me to, you know, work. And not be shuffled back and forth between Valve and EA with both happily taking a split of my money and none of the responsibility. I figure the seller has an obligation to sell a working product and stand behind their stock. You know, like any other retailer.

Snapped up the Witcher in today's sale -- really glad it showed up again. Considered Assassin's Creed 2, but, alas; DRM. Snagged ME2 in a previous sale, and debated getting Dragon Age: Ultimate yesterday, as well as Batman, but decided I'd might as well wait on them given I'd have no time to play them before they'd go on sale next time.

Thankfully, Christmas was kind to me so I might be able to snag a bunch more titles this year, if I can convince myself I'd have time to play them.

Thank you Jesus for second chances. I totally missed the Witcher the first time around.

Also bought The Witcher this time around.

I keep looking at the Unreal pack for 14 bucks. I have all of them on disk except for Unreal 3 Black. Has anyone got an opinion on it?

Grabbed Darksiders this time round. No that I will be able to squeeze it into my gaming schedule before 2015.

UT3 isn't bad, just vaguely uninteresting when compared to other contemporary shooters.  If you like your man-shooters fast and without leveling, and you don't want go all old-school graphics with Nexuiz or Quake Live, UT3 is your game.

Yeah, UT3 isn't super-amazing, but it's a solid Unreal entry. The characters all look very Gears of War BroSpaceMarine though.

LFD2, Sam and Max Season 3, Tropica 3 (thanks to F13 Blood Bowl League Season 2!), The Secret of Monkey Island I and II, Mass Effect II as a gift.

Witcher?  Yes please.

I picked up Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Aliens Vs Predator. For a total of $12.75

Nothing grabs me at all for today's sale. I'm pissed NWN2 Plat came out for $10 after I bought NWN2 Gold. Blech.

Monday Dec 27th
Star Wars KOTOR - 75% off = $2.49
Victoria/Victoria 2 - 70% off ($3 for Victoria, $12 for Victoria 2)
Hawx 2 - 33% off = $33.49
Lost Planet 2 - 50% off = $19.99, 60% off = $15.99 if you own Lost Planet Extreme or Colonies Edition
Mirror's Edge - 75% off = $4.99
Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum - 50% off = $9.99
Street Fighter 4 - 50% off = $14.99
EvE Incursion - 75% off = $4.99
Cities XL 2011 - 50% off = $19.99
Machinarium - 85% off = $2.99
Killing Floor Complete Pack - 75% off = $6.95
Serious Sam HD - 90% off = $3.99

Yeah, I have to weigh each day's sales by how much I'm likely to play them.  I'd love to pick up NWN2, but it is doubtful I'd play it.  $10 is better off in my pocket, I suppose.  

For Bhodi or whomever, is Mechinarium any good? Also is it dark and twisted or just sad and lonely rusty robots in terms of setting? Debating it as a gift purchase.


Today is horrible priced. Street Fighter should be 85% off, NWN2 should have made sure to come in under $10 (also why did they not do a more money off if you own xyz like every other game has been doing?) it just doesn't feel as if it stacks up to the other $10 deals we've been seeing. Why would EVE cost money for a free 30 days on a new account?  Cities XL 2011? wtf? Also I've never heard a budget trailer narrator voice guy until I clicked onto Cities XL 2011's page. Mirror's Edge is always on sale, its the Ashe of steam sale's for those who play League. Also I thought that game was pretty bland.

I really want Lost Planet but I can wait for it to cost less.

I'm going to gift Serious Sam and I really wish I hadn't gifted the Lara Croft game from yesterday's deals to the same person because Serious Sam is a more suitable co-op game for the giftee.  Tempted to pick it up for myself but don't think I will.

I bought FEAR over Darksiders with 4 minutes to go on yesterday's deals, I've been regretting it since. Stupid lack of money forcing me to make hard decisions.

Machinarium is not dark and twisted, in fact it's a pretty light hearted story of you getting revenge on bully robots via a point-and-click adventure/puzzle flash interface. Steam says it took me about 5 hours to beat.

Not only is it great its 3 fucking dollars.

70% off Victoria 2 is pretty damn good, imo.  I know the game isn't for everybody, but I've enjoyed it quite a bit.  Its complex as hell, yet you can also get away with letting the AI manage almost everything, and still be ok.  So it gives you a wide range of play options.  Last 2 patches have helped smooth out the game quite a bit, and another one is coming down the pipe.

Still nothing. Whoooo.

Agreed, was nice to have a day where I don't have to convince myself to not spend any money I don't have.

I picked up NWN2 for $10. I never played the last expansion and I really, really enjoyed that whole '(re)build your own castle' bit and I'd like to re-play it.

Picked up Batman:  AA and Fallout Las Vegas.  Bats for like $15 and FLV for $37.   DAMN U STEAM!

Having a lot of fun with FLV, a few glitches here and there, but easily ignored thanks to the fun.  Played 9hrs of it yesterday.  Sometimes it's damn nice to be single and snowed in!

Steam single-handedly has saved PC gaming for me.   

Heh. I screwed myself on Serious Sam 2. I saw it on GOD for $3 the other day so I bought it. Later I realised that it wasn't the HD remake, so I thought "oh well, fuck it" and bought that off Steam for $5. Today of course, it's bundled with the first one and the originals for $3. Ah well, it's all pocket change, so I can't get too upset.

I might buy the combo pack for my wife. Considering buying KOTOR so I can put the discs away. Not that I'm likely to play it anytime soon ever again. hmmm. Seems like I'm just looking at buying things in order to spend money at this point...

I picked Bad Company 2 for the multiplayer & King's Arthur for curiosity sake. I think I got my money's worth. I saw Monkey Island Special Ed. bundle yesterday but decided I didn't like the new art and adventure games replay are probably not very exciting. Still wondering why Alpha Protocol is not available for S.E Asia region though. Made no sense, I would've liked to buy it for less than $20. Bugs and all that. So curious how bad/good this original IP from Obsidian is.

Playing through a bit of Serious Sam for like the millionth time.  Jesus, that game is still awesome.   I still get the giggles at the beginning of Sand Canyon and the kamikaze rush of a hundred headless bombers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2ag4emnhJk

Agree entirely, that game has always brightened up a LAN day. Buying the HD versions for that price was a no-brainer.

Anyone know how Steam delivers the 30 day Eve time?

Is it just a 30 day code I can use on an existing account?

/edit

No it isnt :-(

I got that UT pack last year. UT3 is a great engine, but the game itself has just always underwhelmed me. I can't pinpoint what it is. Maybe it's the lack of unlock/level grind that Battlefield and most of the modern FPS's have, or maybe it's the kind of generic sci-fi setting, or that some of the new weapons really don't do anything for me. I loved Onslaught on UT2K4, but I have rarely spent more than 1 or 2 game sessions at a time in UT3.

Hmm, I think today may be the worst day of deals yet.  :oh_i_see:

Although if you didn't own Mount and Blade at this point, you have no excuses left.

If you're buying Mount & Blade save yourself $2 and buy Warband rather than the Complete Pack that the sale's main page links to.  Warband is essentially Mount & Blade+ so you'd be paying extra for a game that you'd have no real cause to play.

I am tempted by Crysis, but I am betting that I can get it for that price or better when the sequel is released in March, and I'm in no rush to play it now.  $5 sounds right for Sturmovik though and I can't remember the last time that went on sale.

Naturally I bought the Mount and Blade Complete 3 days ago for $20  :mob:

Just bought 3 more copies of Warband for gifts. $7.50 is a goddamned steal for that game.

I bought the King's Bounty Platinum edition. I'd heard good things about this game. I'm now going to have to move Steam to my main hard drive after installation finishes. Steam has eaten up way too much space on my D drive which is only 250 gig, most of which is used by Steam.

Global Agenda for $7.49 seems about the right price for me to give it a look.

It's not. Don't.

You can get a free month trial from their website.

Another day, another round of not wanting anything in Steam's sales. :awesome_for_real:


Tuesday Dec 28th

I may grab Sim City just to have it off disc.  Could go for a good fps to play but I haven't heard much good about Global Agenda or the other one....   :uhrr:

Crysis potentially has potential. Though I have it on disc, so it'd just be a convenience purchase, and the 5-machine activation limit scares me and makes it a whole lot less convenient. I don't recall the original having that limit originally. What's EA's position on giving you more activations?

Not sure about M&B:W. I bought the first one ages ago, but I haven't found time to play it besides brief muck-abouts. Is the Multiplayer just your typical deathmatch modes as it says in the description? No co-op campaign type stuff?

Everything else of interest I already have.

Is it actually fun?  I'm tempted since I haven't played a sim city game in well over a decade, and a modern version might be fun.

I've heard nothing but good things about Mount and Blade but I'm still not sure exactly what the game is.  FPS with a bow and blade?  Multiplayer?  Will it run well on an older system?

Also thinking about NWN2.  Hm...

How is Colin McRae's DiRT 2?  Every so often I get the itch for a racing game and for 5 bucks it might be worth having in my library if its decent.

Natural Selection 2 is having a two for one sale. Preordering now gets you access to the beta.

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/

It isn't really all that modern, unfortunately.  SimCity 4 was released close to 8 years ago, but it was the last one made by Maxis.  SimCity Societies was developed by Tilted Mill in '07, I think, but it was pretty awful, and CIties XL is even worse from what I've heard.

I loved SimCity 4, but haven't played it in years so I can't say whether or not it still holds up.

It's a sandbox with horses and ... that's about all I can really tell from watching Ingmar play it. I am lead to believe if you ever secretly wanted to lead a band of dudes across the countryside, doing whatever the fuck you wanted, this is pretty much the game you want. The hoof beat sounds are really soothing, too.

It's a feudal simulator. 

There are third-person action elements as you command your army on various battlefields, but also strategic elements of loosely managing and commanding a military force that you build.  Role-playing elements are present for your own character as you build skills, and also certain principal actors who you hire to take part in your fighting force.  You also have to manage relationships with other lords, but that's pretty secondary as it ends up boiling down to who you've fought against and with in various large battles or sieges.

An older system would do fine.  You can actually scale how many soldiers are allowed on the field at one time if you find the game becoming too slow, but that probably won't be necessary.

It's...Sim City.  Pretty dated probably, but still the most recent one and I've heard Cities XL isn't very good.

The UT franchise has had a kind of up-down format, IMO.  Original UT was pretty good (especially compared to Quake 3) but UT2K3 was crap (added nothing but better graphics, and removed Assault mode).  UT2K4 was pretty good, but UT3 was crap (added nothing but better graphics, and removed Assault mode).

Though single player UT3 has probably the most awesomely hilarious "storyline" I've ever seen.  

Malcom: Hey guys, it turns out that we're in a real war and stuff, but do to the march of technology, we have this weird device that makes you immortal until you lose a game of capture the flag.  Weird coincidence, I know.  But since I'm the world champion at capture the flag, they hired me to lead this war.
Main Character: RAGE AND FURY AND RAGE AND FURY
Malcom: There's some stuff you've got to blow up.  You can either cut off their reinforcements or assault them head on.  I'm not going to tell you which glowing dot on the map represents which choice, though, so just choose one at random.
Main Character: BLARGH VENGEANCE AND BLOOD
Necris: We're going to use these tentacle things to do something, I guess that's what we do?  I dunno, maybe it would have helped if we'd had some kind of backstory.
Main Character: WITCH I KILL YOU ALL DEATH MURDER DIE
Malcom: Okay, good job, you won the war, now you can stop
Main Character: NO WAY I WILL KILL A PLANET ROOOOOOAAAARGH
Cliffy B. : Aaaand, done.  This is the best story ever.  This is just the kind of epic, wagnerian tragedy that a match of capture the flag demands.

I've never even heard of section 8... I considered buying global agenda, I sort of like that the studio has stuck with it, but the game-play just wasn't that fun.  And if I wanted a shooter there's nothing stopping me firing up BC2 or TF2 and getting my fix. Given they all tend to have anemic single player content I'm just not sure why I'd need more shooters (eg. Arma-II today).

Honestly, after playing the trial I'd be happier with the 7.50. I like the idea of having a pve component; but the gameplay (choppy and soupy aiming) and the gear mechanics drive me away.

Mount & Blade's closest comparison IMO is Sid Meier's Pirates! You move around the map in the same sort of way, help factions, run into the land equivalent of merchant ships, government ships, and pirates, etc. etc.

Why are you buying any game that isn't on massive sale right now?  If you still want it after the holiday sales end, get it then. :-P

Whats multiplayer like? story Co-op or matches only?

Matches only, but there's a coop mod (I haven't tried, but apparently is cool) http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,150827.0.html

Wonderfull. Thanks!

EDIT: Not quite what I was hoping for.

There was a demo/trial ages ago before Mount & Blade received distribution through Paradox.  I think there is even a modern trial version of Warband.  One could always try that.

Mount & Blade is a really good game.

There is a long thread to this effect somewhere that can expound on that idea.

Oh I already bought it, to many good things said about it, to sheep, and we were in negations with them about some stuff, so I had to :). Was just hoping for some good multiplayer coop. I don't play many games solo.

Links so people who see them 30min from now can feel bad that they missed buying M&B.

Here is the radicalthon of bravetart to give an idea of how dated it looks and how you start out.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=16333.0

Its also been mentioned by many posters as a GOTY and/or best sword and board / mounted combat ever designed.

I got crysis yesterday but looks like today is a wash. MAYBE Amnesia, I haven't decided yet. Already beat deadspace, and everyone already owns PvZ. And they took out MJ which is  :cry2:

And, as someone noted $10 for the quake collection is too much from a pack who's newest game isn't even from this century. It's also missing quake 4.

You could always buy Hearts of Iron III and unleash your inner neckbeard.

It's an awful, buggy game. No thanks.

Edit: After watching this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BXCrF94c70), I am buying swords and soldiers.

Today's sale is probably the worst yet. Not one damn thing I want.

Agree. Nothing.

It's a great game, provided you have a gamepad. It has a certain douchebag subculture aesthetic all over it though, so be warned.

Steam has failed to deliver on this sale as a whole so far.

So, what games out there are you looking for that haven't been put on sale, or aren't marked down because they're in a pack?  What haven't you seen that you want?

I think the sale has been fine, lots of good games.  Problem is that I already have gotten every single one of them on earlier sales, so nothing for me to buy really.  I've gotten a few cheep smaller indie games from the sale though, so thats nice.

Greed Corp is a decent little strategy game, if you don't already have it on Xbox.

The new Wolfenstein and Singularity would be perfect for this sale. Competent shooters that flopped due to being buried under other more deserving games. Not holding my breath though.

 

For starters, one of the things I wanted was imo overpriced. I refused to buy an expansion pack to Dragon Age for more than $10, for example.

But you are right, I own a lot of the stuff now. I just want moar!

Dead Rising 2, Arcania 4, Divinity 2, Dawn of Discovery Gold, Mafia 2 (eyeing amazon), off the top of my wishlist. Wish BB:LE had been cheaper than $20, that hurt my ability to buy some side titles (Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened).

Considering Amnesia, but with money tight, probably not. Also wish more things were a bit cheaper.

How bad was Kane & Lynch 2 to be $5 after four months?

Apparently really bad. One reviewer described it as Mass Effect 2 without the decent story, guns, teamwork, and solid aiming.

It's awful.

I'm waiting for Mass Effect 2 to come back down under $10 or for Blood Bowl Legendary Edition to come back down again. I'm hoping they'll do one more "Best of" day that will have either of those two. Otherwise, I'm not sure there's much else I need.

I'd probably hit up Blood Bowl at 19.99 if it came back round.

Holy heck, Going Rogue Complete down to $10 already?   :ye_gods:

I agree. The problem has been that we all own many of the ones we'd be interested in.

I'm personally looking out for Star Wars Battlefront 2 for about $3. BB Legendary was too expensive for me at $20. Guess I'll pick it up for $10 next year.. I guess I'd consider picking up things like Wolf if they were sub-$10. I'd look at them, anyway.

Call of Cthulu and Worms Reloaded are the only games I haven't yet seen on sale that I know I would think long and hard about getting.

I like today's sale though, Greed Corp, Sword & Soldiers and Amnesia might all be worth a purchase, I'm trying to find out more about them.

If you don't own Deadspace and don't hate either fps, scifi, survival horror or zombies you really really really need to buy it right now.

I love all those things and Dead Space is the only game I have ever seriously considered asking for a refund on.  Just saying.

Well, I've been messing around a bit with M&B: Warband and dunno why, but it reminded me of my childhood playing Defender of the Crown on the Atari ST. Very neat :)

Archon Classic is on sale today for $2.50 (75% off $9.99).

The horrible console UI conversion made Dead Space near unplayable for me when I bought it during the last sale.

I used my Xbox Controller on the PC version and it was perfect. I actually prefer controllers for 3rd person non-competitive shooters.

I used to recall reading a nice review regarding King Arthur, but my experience in playing it can be summed up as:
Medieval starcraft, you basically need marines, lots of marines, shooting uranium tipped arrows, then upgrade it so it has more range and attack. Don't forget to use your knights to buff them with stimpacks that made them shoot 3 arrows instead of 1. The rest of the units are damage sponge. Also, don't forget to cast psi-storm when you have enough mana.  :awesome_for_real:

I realize weathers and fog spells play a part in this 'Map-wide archer shut down' but with Dragon Eye spell to nullify all that, INSTANTLY?
Fuck cavalry charges, I've seen giants drop in three salvos. Hilarious. This game's not bad, but the developers really need to work on the balancing if they want to make sequels with similar engine.

Having fun with auto-shotgun with Bad Company 2, most of the servers populations have moved on to Vietnam expansion, but dying to repeated snipers in jungle maps made me wary of buying forest map packs. It's a good purchase, but I'm not good enough to enjoy counter-sniping

Tempted by $10 City of Heroes: Going Rogue ...but..decided there's not much pull in MMO right now. Here's hoping tomorrow's catalog improve!

Bought Sim City 4 and Making History II yesterday.  MH came out broken back in June, but has had three major patches so we'll see.  $20 was the right price point for me on this. SC4 may have been overpriced at $5.

Sim City 4 is actually better now than when it was released.  I bought it when it first came out and although it was pretty and as good or better than its predecessors it ran horribly slow on my machine.  Running it now years later on a modern machine it still looks good and is as fast as I need it to be.

Well crap - STO for $7.50. Sounds about the right price to fiddle with it for a month.

Got my Singularity at last.

Hate to break it to you, but Amazon has that as part of their digital download sale for $2.50.

I am considering that one. Is it worth $25?

Finally picked up L4D2 for 5 bucks after seeing it at that price at least 3 times prior.

I bought the Rome games. It was $4 for the Gold edition and I'm a sucker for things about Rome.

Still downloading so can't say for sure. Also it was 15 euros over here. It's been described as Soviet Bioshock by some.

GB's quick look is pretty good too: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-singularity/17-2856/

I think Transformers was enjoyable. I don't know how populated the multiplayer is at this point, but I really liked it when it came out.
Also, since I normally like city builders, for $4 I'll pick up the Rome pack. I'm sure I can get that much entertainment from it.

Wednesday - Dec 29th

Thursday - Dec 30th

Only thing I have the slightest interest in today would be getting uncensored L4D2 as a gift for my wife. But as an Aussie, I'm not allowed to do that.

Anyone heard anything about RUSE?  I've been thinking of getting that for awhile now but wasn't prepared to pay full price.

Most of the complaints I've seen about RUSE have been that it lacks micro and focusses almost exclusively on strategy.

Which is a retarded thing to complain about.

Am I the only one with issues with Transformers? I found it near impossible to distinguish Decepticons from the surroundings and gave up from eyestrain.

Didn't find it that different from having to distinguish guys in jungle camo from the background jungle, or whatever, as you're expected to do in most FPSes.  At least in Transformers, everything's at fairly close range.

Though I don't know if I'd reccomend it to anyone who didn't grow up with the series.

Be wary of the PC version of Call of Cthulhu.  I kinda want it also, but there's supposedly one section near the end of the game that's completely buggered for most PC players.  Something you need to shoot at doesn't show up or some such.  I haven't looked to see if it was ever fixed since last christmas or so though.

It got nuclear long tom cannons in a patch. I'm totally gonna play it (on a 360), though I didn't have to pay (yay for public libraries).

Picked up Shatter for $2.50, should be a fun diversion for a few.

What was shocking was how long it took to download - like an hour or so at 10-20k per second tops?   :uhrr:  Guess their servers are getting hit a bit during the sale.

Another day of nothing interesting on sale that most won't already own.

Friday Dec 31st

Anno 1404 Gold. A bit more than I'd hoped for, but still a decent deal.

-I'm buying the Red Alert 3 games, that trailer video is just too campy and ridiculous meanwhile C&C3 is $7.50 for just the base game so I'll pass though I do enjoy both storyworlds.
-I had been considering Graxia since I like CCG elements in my games but it looks incredibly ponderous in videos of gameplay and complaints (not enough cards, no multiplayer, few maps) make it sound a bit too meh.  
-I can't buy the shittier African version of Just Cause 2 minus the best part (hook + parachute) when I missed Just Cause 2 earlier in the sale (its one of the only games along with Darksiders I wish I had bought).
-I wish I could buy the new Total Annihilation and just enjoy the campaign but the demo was so incredibly bad on the story and voice acting front I can't imagine not hating myself for giving them even $4.

I picked up the Indie Fright Pack for $4.99. Too good to pass up even if I don't play anything besides Burn Zombie Burn and Zombie Driver.

Some decent stuff today, but I'm restricting myself to the Hitman bundle. I would also recommend anno/dawn of discovery, that was a terrific game.

I'm not a big fan of C&C myself, and C&C4 was awful. C&C3 is OK, but you have to add in the expansion for $5.

It's nothing short of a miracle that I've spent a total of $1 or so on Steam this month.

I decided to be a completest and look through all games $20 and under, I'm halfway through but it was worth it as I found Gratuitous Space Battles for $5 which is a price I'm willing to pay to fuck around with it for a day or two.

IIRC you guys said Supreme Commander 2 blows, am I right?   First day of the sale with anything really interesting me and it's that or Farcry 2.

I'm thinking of the stalker pack, because the price for CoP in the bundle is cheaper than the loyalty price for owning Clear Sky.

Also, remind me how much Empire and Napolean suck, because $25 is a lot of dough.

IMO, Empire and Napoleon for $25 is a damn good deal if 1) you like the Total War series and 2) your computer can run the motherfuckers. Suck it, dusematic.

Personally, I found it completely uninteresting.  Made it to the third map before I petered out.  There were (if I recall correctly) three unit types which had a rock-paper-scissors balance to them, no real depth to it, the story was totally uninteresting graphics were rather gaudy and the objectives were just "wreck enemy base" kind of stuff.

Hitman collection is having CTD issues with my comp, I'm assuming it's not playing well with Windows 7, so be careful there.

Gratuitous Space Battles really isn't all that fun to be honest.

GSB is more fun in theory than in execution. It's an ok way to spend sub-$5 though.

Works fine for me. Well, hitman 2 does. I have no intention on playing the first, and apparently blood money is so good you won't want to go back to the 2nd.

Today pushed the budget over the top, hah. Divinity 2 and Mafia 2.

Zeno Clash any good?

Mafia 2 down to $12 already makes me worry its terrible.

Same reason I didn't get it.

Seems worth it if you buy the Indie Flight pack.  $5 for GSB, Dog Fighter, Everyday Shooter, Flotilla & Guns of Icarus.  At $1 a game I'll still get more fun out of them than I did arcade games in the '80s.

I was waiting on Divinity 2 to go on sale, $20 is about the right price I was looking for so that is nice. Any word on Mafia 2 or how that is?

Saturday Jan 1st

I have been looking at Divinity 2, but it has SecuROM, I am so torn.

Wasn't Divinity 2 horrible tho? Like a very very bad HoMM?

Thanks for the heads up on the Securom, I missed that.

As for if it was horrible or not, I don't know. I enjoyed the demo a while back which was good enough for me to keep an eye on this for when it went on sale.

AH HA!

http://www.c-rpg.net/

I wouldn't mind getting an opinion on this as well. The wife is already going to go ballistic when she sees all these games come in on the cc so another $3 probably won't mean much more if it's good. Saw this link on Reddit today and picked up the Freedom Force bundle as a result:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1688869 (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1688869)

Additional good deals not part of the main sale.

Might be, but you're thinking of Disciples III.  Divinity 2 is a Eurowank RPG.

Divinity 2 is fucking strange is what it is. I wouldn't even call it eurowank.

Opinions on it though?  Divinity 2 seems interesting, I'm just not sure I'm ready to buy it without any knowledge besides thinking it's a cool concept.

Not for that price. Avoid Divinity 2 until it's $5 or $10. There are so many actual good games on sale, that there's no need to risk $20 on a "maybe".

Agree with this.

Both my wife and I really liked Divinity 2, but as Schild puts it, it's fucking weird.  It's a really odd amalgamation of games, that for me, worked really well, but I have odd taste in games at the best of times, so buyer beware.

Is there a letter I can send to someone telling them I would buy the Settlers 7 if it wasn't smothered in ridiculous DRM shit?

I understand that it's quite good but completely lacks any replay value. Also, $20 for Aussies. I'd have bought it for $12 (anyone want to gift it?), but the extra makes me want to hold out for the eventual 360 version for $30 on disc which I can then resell/lend/etc.

Said "fuckit" and bought it with all the DLC. Ironically, given the other discussion, but it's supposed to have a great story. Hopefully it's not a shitty console port (which is why I buy more of the AAAs on 360 these days)...

So is there 1 more batch of games for sale after this or is that the lot?

The ones later today will probably be repeats from earlier.

I stupidly bought Medal of Honor at 20€ thinking it would be more BF:BC2 type fun. It's horrible.
I've never regretted a purchase more.

At least youtube a game before you buy :(

I did, from the YouTube videos I saw and a couple comments I got the impression it was like a mix of CoD:MW2 and BF:BC2. However the actual game is just...just bad. Alot of invisible walls. Consolitis of a staggering degree. Everything feels very rough and jagged, game modes feel flaky.  It literally takes 5+ minutes just to exit the game at times. As you are only allowed to get to the menu screen while actively spawned in game. And there is one game mode that makes you spectate your alive teammates util they win or all die, and you aren't allowed to exit from there short of an alt+f4  :why_so_serious:

The Medal of Honor franchise is all about invisible walls. Surprise!

I refuse to buy one after MoH:AA set the bar for several things I Hate Bout Shooters.

Well after hearing everyone rave about the Witcher:EE editon...I just tried the tutorial. Oh god, its bad. Horrible RPG. Does it get better or is the left-click-who-knows-if-you-can-hit-anything improve?

It improves. Once you get more attacks/stances, the combat makes more sense and becomes about catching the right timing in fights.

GTA4. Did the performance improve enough to make it a worthwhile purchase?

Runs great on my ancient computer. Might need a tweak guide, I found the settings to make it like the 360 version and tweaked up from there.

Loving the Mafia 2, but I was a big fan of the original, too. Kind of funny playing this one as a WW2 vet, because I played the original alongside BF1942 and it felt like being a WW2 vet going into crime back home.

Its really well done but I believe all of the raving has come with the caveat that the combat isn't the greatest. Then again RPG combat is never the greatest and the story and other systems are quite rewarding. I've been loving it myself.

I'm still curious to what people thought about Zeno Clash but I think I'm going to pass on it either way. I will be picking up Grotesque Tactics which was on my list after I went through all the games because it sounded like it could be fun but now its also on the top sellers lists so there must be some good word of mouth going somewhere.

I grabbed Grotesque Tactics the other night, along with Recettear.  I've only played to the first town so far, but it strikes me as a watered down Disgaea that's trying to hard to be funny.   Not a lot of depth to it, either.  At least not that I can see.  Still, for only $7, I'll get my moneys worth out of it.

Blah, I hoped for another chance at Fallout:NV, but I guess I'm done for this year:

- Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition
- Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum
- Mount & Blade: Warband
- Machinarium

While I'm really enjoying Just Cause 2 there are a couple of things I miss from my memories of Farcry 2. It had better weapon variety, a more gritty tone and story and didn't feel so much like I'm a super-hero. I think it was also a bit more challenging, great scenery and had a bit more variety in environment from being able to enter some buildings and a smaller scale to the bases, but that might be rose tinted glasses. Though I'm not tempted to complete it again, too much time spent killing re-spawning roadblocks.

I bought the hitman bundle... is the very first one worth playing? The graphics aren't too bad so far they make it impossible, but it's close.

The combat remains shit.

The story and character development gets much better,

Just Cause and Far Cry 2 have very little in common, aside from large 3rd-world/open world/natural settings. FC2 is FPS and JC2 is 3PS...

I was tossing up on Hitman as well. Just not sure on that one...

Warning to anyone still on the fence about things, its insanely insanely ghetto. The camera alone is reason to not play but what really was getting me was the text boxes. The gameplay itself is fine but it feels like a SP version of the really jank f2p MMO's out there.

Certainly in the UK the retail price has dropped to around £10 already (and it registers via Steam anyway)

Cheapassgamer should tell you the cheapest source.

The combat remains terrible through the whole game basically, but you do get slightly more advanced clicking to do.

I would sum it up as:

Combat:  :ye_gods:
Plot:  overall :uhrr: with some moments of  :drill: occasionally
Setting:  :drill:
Dialogue/Characters: there is no symbol for wacky translation from the original Polish

It was juuuust good enough for me to finish it, but it took me a long time. If it wasn't such a great setting I'd probably not have stuck it out.

LIES!

And to think I was being bitched at for using that word a year ago. What a difference a bit of time makes. :grin:

I think anno 1404 was on sale during christmas, and I was sorely tempted until I saw that it still has the activations, whereas the physical disc version has that shit patched out. What the christ?

Went to play Deus Ex yesterday on Steam and got a "This game is currently unavailable" message. 

What the fuck? 

So... I pay for games, but I can't play them when I want to?  This is all kinds of screwed up.  I think I'm going back to hard copies. 

That happens, just reload Steam and try again.

Tried that several times.  Ugh. 

Thanks for the tip.  I do appreciate it.

Do you have the game installed, or not yet?  Sometimes the actual game .exe doesn't check with Steam (usually with older games, so maybe Deus Ex) and you can just go to the directory it's installed in and run the game without even being logged in.

Hmm, 55 Euros for all that? http://store.steampowered.com/sub/6941/

Guess this year I'll conquer shit until my eyes bleed...

Don't know what to tell you. That, or waiting an hour usually fixed it every time it's happened to me.

Grabbed Mafia 2 and Just Cause 2 over the weekend. Never played the first version of either.

Just Cause may require an amazing ignorance of physics to enjoy, but so far it's a lot of fun.

Search for the error message on the steam forums. There is a dumb file somewhere you can delete to dislodge this.

Steam isn't showing my achievements anymore. It is still tracking them, and I see a few dates on the tracker, but it's all jacked up.

Got a form email, basically, "Yeah, we know. Sucks to be you."

Bunk: just pretend you're Arnold Schwarzenegger bitten by a radioactive spider, without the ghey spandex.

It's called 'Just don't buy and suppress the sale number until they get the hint'

I put up with steam because it's a nice network of pals with integrated store n gift system plus matchmaking. Ubisoft's? Holding my save game hostage. Internet Dictatorship, etc etc. Fuck'em to hell.

I've been basically doing this, but I sometimes start to wonder if it's even worth it, because there are so many I've talked to who just go "I never notice it anyways, I don't care" :cry:

At least ubisoft's apparently removing the "you must be online at all times during play" bit and going back to being online only when you start the game, so while not sufficient for my tastes, at least it's getting less intrusive.

It still doesn't fully explain games which I see on steam and impulse etc, with DRM in them, yet the physical box has a patch to remove it. I'll never understand the way publishers think.

If you downloaded the game, you're a dirty pirate.

What, they paid for it? I'm not sure I believe that. They could be lying. Double the DRM!

What? We have a confirmed payment from them? Ok, back to regular DRM then.

I despise Steam games with extra DRM on them. So stupid. I actually refuse to buy games with extra DRM. Like umm, that EuroRPG we talked about a few pages back.

You might like this, if you haven't seen it already:

http://steamdrm.flibitijibibo.com/the-big-drm-list/

The one that hurts the most for me is Anno/Dawn of Discovery with it's 3 activation Tages. I didn't buy it because of that.

Any chance of getting that stickied, if it looks like they frequently update it?  That's handy.

EDIT speeling is harrd.

Funnily enough, that list says 1404 removes it in a patch, but I'm pretty sure that's not the steam version... I thought this was a list of which steam games had what kind of DRM.

It is removed in a patch, however when you first install it, it installs tages, then removes the protection after it patches leaving tages on your system. Also, the expansion has it so I didn't buy the pack. The expansion is worth having.