What did you get from the latest Steam/GOG/Origin (etc) sale

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- WHICH game(s) did you get?
- WHY did you buy it?
- WHAT did you think of it?

(Last part, only if you have tried it yet)

Right... i'll start:


I recently bought:

Gunjack (VR game)
Disputed Space
Heat Signature
Redout: Enhanced Edition (VR game)

The first 3 are space related games, which i like, all except Heat Signature are first person (cockpit) shooters, the latter is more of an adventure/action game seen top down in the same spirit as Gunpoint (actually by the same creator).

I've only played Heat Signature so far for a few minutes, and it has potential. You fly around in space and dock, then the game turns into a top down shooter with some special weaponry that you can use to knock down guards and take over the ship.

Redout is a racing game, like a "pod racer". It looked interesting and have some good music in it.

I just ordered parts to upgrade my old i7-2600 to an i5-9600k, but I haven't got them yet. I am thinking of getting Torment Tides of Numenera, Homeworld Desert of Kharak, Everspace, INSOMNIA: The Ark, and maybe some others. So many games on sale I will have to sit down for a few hours and sort through them all. I already bought Frostpunk and This War is Mine. Frostpunk is a unique RTS that is pretty damn challenging so far, even the first mission I've had to start over like 10 times so far.

I like Space themed RTS games, Third Person or first person action RPGs, and tactical or survival RPGs.

I rarely buy much at these sales. I'm a total impulse buyer and dont have much of a practical limit on spending, so generally, if there's something I want... I bought it the moment I realized I wanted it.

That, and Steam tends to get EVEN BUGGIER when there's a sale going on, so I tend to avoid the store pages.

So, the things I bought were two VR games: Legend of Luca, and Reficul. Roguelikes/lites are my favorite genre, and I've been looking for more of that sort of thing when it comes to VR... both of these fit that bill. I havent gotten around to trying them just yet. I also picked up a couple of things on the Oculus store (things that just arent on Steam) and those absorbed my attention quickly. And then one VR "educational" experience, Apollo 11 HD. I bought that one mostly to serve as my brother's first VR experience when he came to visit for Christmas. It was really good, actually, I quite enjoyed it when I went through it as a test run.

I did also get Polybius this month but I think that was just before the sale started. I bought it because it was made by Jeff Minter, and I'll buy *anything* he makes. What did I think of it? It blew my freaking mind. That's what I think of it. Absolutely loved it. Probably a good thing that I was home alone when I first tried it, because there were alot of moments of me shouting things like "WHOAAAAA WHAT THE HELL IS THAT, WHAT IS HAPPENING". I *really* want to see him make more VR stuff, after seeing THAT. NOT recommended though for anyone that gets sensory overload issues from VR. The game basically IS sensory overload.

Also got Soulblight and Race the Sun as gifts. Soulblight is interesting but bloody confusing, and I havent tried Race the Sun yet.



On a side note, Heat Signature is pretty darn good, eh? I loved that one. I'd love to see them make a DLC expansion or something to it. Great game but could use more content.

Loved it. Shows how a wartime situation would be for most people with starvation, snipers, sickness and getting your stuff stolen - not running around like Rambo and killing everyone. People just don't get that.




There are good educational free things as well, like the BBC's "Berlin Blitz VR". Saw it on an episode of Cas and Chary, I downloaded it and it was an amazing experience to be able to "be there" and see the interaction between the crew and hear the reporter narrate the story. Most other flight simulation is just take off, drop bombs, land.

I bought Stories Untold as well as Oxenfree and Her Story, mainly because I wanted to try some indie games and they were only a few dollars. Oxenfree's trailer reminds me of Stranger Things from Netflix with some great visuals and an original 80's like soundtrack. I haven't really played any side scrollers for decades but This War of Mine and Oxenfree looked appealing enough to buy.

Her Story is a short video interactive story game where I think you are supposed to solve some murder based on taped interviews and apparently the acting isn't that bad.

Stories Untold is a narrative point and click game that I hope it's narrow FOV doesn't make me nauseated, at least it was cheap and I won't be out much money if that is the case.

Since my PC's being fixed and I need money for when I can come back so I can buy myself stuff for my birthday, here's what I got:

Steam:

Clannad (Complete Edition) - I've watched bits and bobs of the anime but I can't say I'm a fan of it, especially since this will be my first visual novel. I'm very interested in the character of Kotomi Ichinose.

Planescape Torment - Good pairing with Baldur's Gate 2, as well as including an original story unique to that of the D&D-verse.

Cave Story+ - Good pairing with Hollow Knight so I can have a backup plan for my metroidvania fix. Hopefully, all goes well with this since this is Misery's pride and joy.

Ghost Recon+Island Thunder+Desert Storm - I like the idea of controlling a squad so I went light on this. Wasn't a huge fan of the Arma series so I decided to go back to its roots (original flashpoint isn't available).

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic - Kicking simulator and Half Life 2 as a fantasy game.

GOG:

Gothic Trilogy+Risen 1 - Rebought it because Steam versions mucked everything up on my laptop. Gotta admit, the first one will be a tough layer to break through if I'm going to enjoy the rest of the trilogy and Risen, where I'll spent most of my time playing the 2nd and 3rd games moreso than the first and Risen. Basically a predated better version of Skyrim and the roots of Witcher's influence.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Basically every political pill's raison d'etre.

Later Gators for Summer '19:

Dragon Ball Fighterz Ultimate Edition
Witcher 3 (1+2 GOG Only) GOTY
Devil May Cry series 1-4 (NO DMC)
Dragon's Dogma
Mass Effect 2
Warhammer 2 (?) Total War
Danganronpa
Rimworld
Factorio
Dark Souls III
Vermintide 2

Hm, you mention Cave Story there, but I have to say I've never really thought of it as a Metroidvania sort of game. Actually, it's pretty darn linear. There's not actually too much focus on exploration. Well, not in the way that Metroid or SotN did it, anyway, though there is occaisional backtracking (usually of the "Hey you, go down this tunnel of death spiders and bring me back the magical whatsit!" sort of variety) There is however excellent level design and lots of fun action. But yeah, I've always found everyone's description of it to be moderately baffling.

I will say though that it's secrets can be a bit confusing to figure out. The sort of "how was anyone supposed to guess that?" kind of thing. But I wouldnt be surprised if the updated versions changed some of that. Cant say for sure. I've only really played the original version, since when the updated one came out it seemed to only be on the DS or whatever, which I didnt have (at least, from what I heard... it's absolutely possible that I just missed other versions at the time).

I really need to try out this updated one. But it's not like I dont have enough games right now. Now that I think about it, I wonder if there's a Switch version. That might be good for something while travelling.

Loved it, it felt like a new fresh version of Civilization with ideologies instead of countries. Almost always played University, Sparta or the "hippie faction" (which was a full time job since hippies and military don't like each other much) and joined with the two others to exterminate the hive and the religious nutcase factions.

Bought it on a whim (boxed on physical media) when it came out and i got stuck playing it for weeks.

Didn't buy them for me since i already have them, but i bought Elite Dangerous and Gunpoint to two of my friends on Steam as a late Christmas gift (so they were on sale, sue me).

I bought three games: Vermintide 2, Project Lux, and Celeste.

Vermintide 2 because I was looking for a first person action game with a gameplay loop like Diablo, and it seemed to fit the bill.

Project Lux because I recently have got into the Spice and Wolf books and it's a VR game written by the same author.

Celeste because I was looking for a challenging platformer, and I've heard good things about it and like the look of it.

A friend of mine bought me Painkiller Hell & Damnation so I bought him Borderlands with all DLC. I went and got the rest of the Painkiller games and expansions. I got Escape From Monkey Island, completing the series. I bought Sam & Max Hit the Road. I bought Shadow Warrior 2. I also bought some other obscure point n click adventure games including Toonstruck.

I also bought The Witcher 3 because I wanted an open world single player RPG that I could test my new CPU with and I heard so much praise regarding this game that I had to try it out. I think I will be set for games for the next 6 to 8 months.

What do you mean by baffling? But I can understand where the progression and secrets can stem from in terms of frustration. I think Dunkey made a video regarding that in the new Metroid 3DS game a year back. But anyways, I've played it a bit, along with Hollow Knight. Overall, pretty good, though if I'm going to discuss how each game has been (along with some new ones I bought like Witcher 1+2, HOMM3, Deadbolt, FTL, Gunpoint, etc.), I guess this could be the case.

However, I haven't played each and every one, since between my interests fading in and out, and or saving some games for a rainy day (like Clannad, for example, although I'll get to that in a moment), much of the time I'm trying to find something...easy to get into. Not exactly easy in a difficulty sense, but one that doesn't require too much micromanagement just to play the game. But there have also been some changes in terms of my favorites, too. I'll try to be brief as I don't want to be invested too much into a game or some games. But I'll try my best to describe as much as I can with the games I've played the most so far.

So here we go:

Deadbolt - So far, this game has done well in terms of keeping me invested, but I can't say that it's a perfect game. Given it's 30-level horror-themed appeal, there can be some early difficulty spikes along the way, especially with vampires and later on it can also result in some trial and error. I won't ask what was the main influence or reason as to why a skeleton contractor protagonist is playable in the game, but if their main reason was somewhere among the lines of John Woo, Wick, or Max Payne, then they haven't really succeeded as much to win for the game's success. A lot of minor things could've been done to improve the game, and not just the sake of transforming it entirely to a different new one, like adding a dodging mechanic or allowing the player to keep whatever weapons they bring with them or allow the player more finesse instead of more probable methods to complete a mission.

The Witcher 1 - I've only finished the tutorial. Combat can be a pain in the ass sometimes (which is why I assumed that they transformed it entirely later on) since it's not like Jedi Academy/Outcast and plays more like an over-the-shoulder Neverwinter, which is what most players are used to playing the game as since the game has 3 camera angles to choose from. In addition, Geralt is extremely deadpan, as he is probably the most boring protagonist that I can ever think of so far. I can never understand the hype of this franchise in Poland, as this just seems to be grimdark hammy and juvenilely tamed compared to the Lord of the Rings or Jon Shannow, even though that's pretty much an unfair comparison since it's like comparing a clementine to a grapefruit and an orange (weird comparison, I know).

Heroes of Might & Magic 3 - Couldn't really seem invested in this since it doesn't seem to be my style.

Max Payne - Managed to fix the sound and music on the steam version and it's a blast to play through. Though I can't say the same for the latter 2.

Gothic - Honestly, even with the GOG version, it is far too clunky to play and just seems like everything is made a chore to the player.

FTL: Faster than Light - One of the newer entries and it, surprisingly, plays quite well. Lots of trial and error, though it's greatly downgraded because each experience feels new and refreshing for some reason. I wish there more strategy games like this that I could find, but that's why we have Factorio and Rimworld (especially now that they're out of early access, I think).

Gunpoint - Similar to deadbolt though has more jumping involved instead of shooting. The hacking part doesn't really seem to work as well and sometimes I don't feel like there's anything going on. Much like the third season of Young Justice, for example, where, even though it's expected of them to take more responsibilities now that they're older, feels just as boring, if not more so, despite subtle themes of a registration act for metahumans and human trafficking. Off-tracking aside, game feels restrictive in a minor couple of ways such as the lack of development, plot-wise and gameplay-wise.


Ghost Recon - Can be fun to play once you know what you're doing, but when the game decides to take a 180 and have enemies kill you in one shot with eagle-eye vision when they're not in your line of sight, then you know the game is not fun anymore.


Hidden and Dangerous 2 - Basically a WW2 Ghost Recon, but the reason for this was different since the controls were what killed it for me.


Dark Messiah of Might & Magic - A very...weird entry as this has a lot of bizarre undertones in which, apart from calling it a kicking simulator, has a story in which I don't know if a might and magic fan, alien, middle schooler, or someone else wrote it.


Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - I only started playing this for a couple of minutes since I've dealt with many sleepless nights this week (in addition to having to go back to my dorm in upstate NY early in advance because of my parents' jobs (in addition to having seen my dad's morning routine as we both shared our separate drinks of water and orange juice and didn't say a word to each other, which I'll explain much later in a much needed thread later) and also having to deal with trying to survive in -8 degrees Fahrenheit weather on Monday at 7AM, despite the fact that classes start on Thursday and my pre-calculus teacher is said to suck so this year would be dedicated to me building enough time for myself to read up on books and self-learning/improvement while also turning into Tommy Lee Jones (don't know why, but I guess I see myself as that, will explain later in 'nother thread; also, btw, I gave up on electrical engineering. Chemistry and Macro suck and a double Math+Computer science major would seem the way to go. Only problem is worrying if I have to take physics or not since I don't want to repeat the same mistakes like in chemistry)), but dang, what an intro showcasing all the events of the Gulf War, Pan-Asia, Los Angeles, etc. and having to hear the robots say when I was about to quit:



I don't think I'll ever live that one down if robots started to care for me more than actual people in my life. But that's enough emotional drenching for now. Bottom line is that despite what I said in my last thread, this is coming around to be more of a time for actualization and individual self-achievement rather than build up my steam library and taking the time to do that, as well as spend money on important things like food, water, and clothing, while also keeping financial checks in my head, seems to be the way to go. I will try to explain what I've said later on in another thread. I haven't been able to give critiques on Hollow Knight and Cave Story since, like you said, they should be thoroughly administered before giving an honest opinion on them. While 2018 has been quite a year for metroidvanias, sometimes I can't help but feel like I want to make my own along the lines of Snatcher/Policenauts, Max Payne, Deus Ex, Star Wars 1313/KOTOR, Blade Runner (yes, even the adventure game), Gemini Rue, and Max Payne.

Furthermore, I think some games (like Cave Story and Hollow Knight) should best be played and bought when in bulk. Meaning that when waiting for a sale, it should be more like buying more of the similar games (or tokens of the type) just to gain a more fulfilling and enriching experience so one can suggest more of a positively noted, quantitative and qualitative wise, criticism towards the genre itself. Same goes for beat-em-ups like Devil May Cry, Dragon's Dogma, Metal Gear Rising, Dragon Ball Fighterz, Bayonetta, Senran Kagura, etc. (don't know what that very last one's about, though).


Though as for favorite games so far, especially now, Metroid had to kick the bucket. I guess it lost its appeal to me since between where Nintendo is and where my faith lies in as a gamer (even though I wouldn't proclaim myself as one, entirely speaking), I'm beginning to wonder if having Nintendo or other similarly noted franchises/games is the way to go with making a favorites list since they tend to be the bulk of what so many gamers have on their favorites list; the majority of them including Zelda, Mario, and Pokémon.

I guess with Metroid, part of it didn't strike me the same as Castlevania did. Part of it could've been that I've moved on to the franchise and deciding on myself whether or not her popularity for Super Metroid and Metroid Prime arose because of her inclusion of Zero-Suit Samus. Does Nintendo chart their characters through exploitation or is this generally what's expected of video game characters (because I think it is)?

Now, must...find way...to download Castlevania SOTN...ROM...Launchbox.

I picked up the Forest, Darkest Dungeon, and Cities Skylines.

I ignored the recent sale and bought a new ship for Startrek Online, naturally for the wrong character that didn't need it

Started a new character recently (They are running a double xp weekend) and i needed a newb ship with 4+3 weaponslots. Last time i played was like 2014.