STEAM!

[Malcador]

Hm, decent price for KOTOR 2.

[AwesomeOcelot]

It's supposed to run well, but so were Thief 3 and Deus Ex. Both are unplayable on my PC.

Still haven't played KOTOR 2 Steam version. I've only played the disc version.

 

You need to install the Deux Ex unofficial patch because a lot of its tied to processor speed making the dialogue and wall mines mess up completely (how developers thought that was a good idea in the 90s I will never know, it's forgiveable when games were developed for specific hardware in the 80s), and it's a good idea to use the DirectX 9 or 10 shader upgrade.

 

The only games I haven't been able to get to run on Steam with Win 7 are the first two Hitman games, Max Payne (there is apparently a fix but I don't like to install executables from forums without known authors), and the Abe's Odyssey/Exodus games.

[Keyrock]

The Witcher 2 is $12 during this sale. That's highway robbery.

[LadyCrimson]

Hm, decent price for KOTOR 2.

It is. But no point for me if there's no advantage from what I already have.

[melkathi]

Buying old games on Steam I found a bit risky. Seems they usually have done no effort to adapt them to current operating systems. My steam copy of Vice City was a great disappointment.

[CheeseGraterSuicide]

The Witcher 2 is $12 during this sale. That's highway robbery.

Yes, that's a steal. To anyone who buys it at such a low price, may I suggest that you make a modest donation to the charity of your choice to overcome the crushing guilt you will undoubtedly feel.

[CheeseGraterSuicide]

Uh, sorry for the double post, but apparently I can't edit my previous one, or I'm just a dumbass and don't know how.

 

But yeah, The Witcher 2 is just that good...but I wanted to come back and add that the original Witcher game is only $2.50!

[Gorgon]

The Kotor Steam version works fine on my win7. It hasn't aged particularly well though. I couldn't get into it again.

[Gorth]

The Kotor Steam version works fine on my win7. It hasn't aged particularly well though. I couldn't get into it again.

I just bought that one 10 minutes ago. If nothing else, because my original cd's are getting a bit on the worn side after so many years of shuffling around inside the box. At $2.50 it was a bit of a bargain for a "backup" though.

 

[Tigranes]

Might pick up K2 for $2.50, since my CD is somewhere on the other side of the world.

[Maria Caliban]

 

I'm considering picking up X-Com but am willing to bet that it will be on sale even more during the Winter sale.

 

In fact, everything I want is probably going to be even cheaper if I wait a month. :/

[mr insomniac]

Picked up Torchlight 2 and Mark of the Ninja today. Think Trine was the last side-scroller I played, but I'm already enjoying ninja-ing things. Am hoping it will make me want to play Dishonored, because that game hasn't grabbed me yet, and I want it to.

 

If not, then at least these purchases will keep me going til the Omega DLC is out next week.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

The Witcher 2 is $12 during this sale. That's highway robbery.

 

If I didn't have a copy via GoG I'd pick it up in a heartbeat, anyone who doesn't have a copy should buy it!

[Rosbjerg]

The Walking Dead is 50% off - also a great bargain. And thanks for getting my attention with The Witcher 2, I've been looking forward to it being on sale.

[AwesomeOcelot]

From what I've seen from video The Walking Dead is a terrible game, timed dialogue, QTE, and really simple point and click style puzzles. There is of course a comic and a TV show if I want to experience The Walking Dead, and there are several zombie games from different genres that are pretty damn great. Are the plot and dialogue competitive with different forms of media? Possibly, but adding a layer of terrible gameplay doesn't make those any better. It at least looks pretty good.

[melkathi]

From what I've seen from video The Walking Dead is a terrible game, timed dialogue, QTE, and really simple point and click style puzzles. There is of course a comic and a TV show if I want to experience The Walking Dead, and there are several zombie games from different genres that are pretty damn great. Are the plot and dialogue competitive with different forms of media? Possibly, but adding a layer of terrible gameplay doesn't make those any better. It at least looks pretty good.

 

The Walking Dead is a terrible game. It also is a great, highly emotional entertainment package. What it brings to the IP is not a "better" story or gameplay; it brings a number of choices and the emotional investment and sense of responsibility that results from you being an active participant in the story instead of just a viewer/reader.

[Guest Slinky]

From what I've seen from video The Walking Dead is a terrible game, timed dialogue, QTE, and really simple point and click style puzzles.

 

That's pretty much what I thought about the game when I had a look of it the first time via youtube. I did buy it out of curiosity from the last -50% sale, and to my surprise I liked it a lot.

 

Sure, there isn't much game in it, it's really easy and simple. But the characters, dialogue and general atmosphere are so good I forgave the rest. I don't think I've seen more sympathetic character than Clementine in any game.

[AwesomeOcelot]

If they got rid of the timed dialogue and QTE, pointlessly simple puzzles, I could probably see the appeal of it, as a kind of Choose Your Own Adventure book or those branching interactive DVDs, previous attempts at interactive stories that aren't gamest, which all also tended to not be any good. Does it at least do the interactive fiction well, in terms of choices being real and having consequences? Very few games are worth it despite their gameplay, probably only two that I can think of.

Edited November 22, 2012 by AwesomeOcelot

[melkathi]

What I understand about the terrible gameplay (and I find the button mashing sequences horribly off putting and mind numbingly stupid) is that for the story to work properly they needed to somehow create the break between eerie calm and the adrenalin rush of the desperate fight for survival. They tried to simulate it through mad button mashing. It doesn't really work. But I guess it could not just be left out either.

 

Choices do seem to matter (only had a first look at episode 1) and they do manage to get you to care, even though they may have overused forshadowing and you have simply been waiing for the proverbial excrements to hit the proverbial ventilation machine. If you have played Mass Effect, think of the Ashley / Kaidan choice but with you actually caring about your choice and not basing it on Kaidan being worth less points at Scrabble.

[AwesomeOcelot]

What I understand about the terrible gameplay (and I find the button mashing sequences horribly off putting and mind numbingly stupid) is that for the story to work properly they needed to somehow create the break between eerie calm and the adrenalin rush of the desperate fight for survival. They tried to simulate it through mad button mashing. It doesn't really work. But I guess it could not just be left out either.

 

Choices do seem to matter (only had a first look at episode 1) and they do manage to get you to care, even though they may have overused forshadowing and you have simply been waiing for the proverbial excrements to hit the proverbial ventilation machine. If you have played Mass Effect, think of the Ashley / Kaidan choice but with you actually caring about your choice and not basing it on Kaidan being worth less points at Scrabble.

If it's one thing games as a medium have mastered it's threat with an adrenalin rush, but I guess that would require them to give the player control of their actions and actually develop gameplay mechanics for fight and flight. It's something they're going to keep failing at if they approach it from the same direction. I think it's completely unnecessary, they're looking for a middle way that's not there, they either need to learn how to develop games, or start developing interactive fiction.

 

I don't power game if I actually care, I don't think removing the game element solves any problems, but it's good to know The Walking Dead makes you care about characters and choices have consequences.

[Oner]

I don't see what you guys' problems are. Almost every QTE is piss easy, the hard ones are all optional. The puzzles are simple, but they're pretty much just a change of pace for variety's sake. That may not be intentional, but who cares.

It's a game about the characters, dialogue, atmosphere, story and C&C. Enjoy it for what it is, not complain about stuff it doesn't even try to do.

Terrible gameplay? **** please, the game is 90% conversations.

[Guest Slinky]

Warning about Walking Dead, it has started to bug out big time with me with C&C. I have now two times finished episode 1 with a fresh save, and both times something got trasfered wrong to episode 2. The game just desided I saved the person I didn't save.

 

Could be something in my end, don't know, but just saying.

[melkathi]

I don't see what you guys' problems are. Almost every QTE is piss easy, the hard ones are all optional. The puzzles are simple, but they're pretty much just a change of pace for variety's sake. That may not be intentional, but who cares.

It's a game about the characters, dialogue, atmosphere, story and C&C. Enjoy it for what it is, not complain about stuff it doesn't even try to do.

Terrible gameplay? **** please, the game is 90% conversations.

 

So in other words you are saying the same thing I am

[AwesomeOcelot]

I watched the first 45min of gameplay, strange how they don't clamp down on that. It hasn't been 90% conversation but it has been over 50% non-interactive cutscene. The voice acting is pretty good, but the dialogue and dialogue system are pretty bad. It doesn't seem to track choices as well as one would hope, Lee says Clementine is not his daughter, but then everybody still calls her his daughter anyway. I gave up after the batteries incident, that's ridiculous. Unless things significantly improve later on, people are crazy.

[alanschu]

No, from a pure game perspective it's not that remarkable. But it's probably still my most memorable game of the year simply because it's greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Then again, I don't have some innate resistance to "OMG QTE must be teh suck." It's not a hard game in the slightest (although I did die at times), and it's basically just an interactive story. But it's an awesome one with some writing and VA that other companies should take note of. It's the only game I've played where despite knowing what the probable outcome of said quicktime event was going to be, I found myself pretty much trying to break my Q key because a bit of me was hoping I was wrong.

 

 

Cool you don't like it, but if you can't understand why other people like it, it's on you not them as far as I'm concerned.

Edited November 22, 2012 by alanschu