STEAM!

[kirottu]

Just bought Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition for 9€. Fighting in tunnels here I come.

[Labadal]

I've been wanting to play DA:O on PC. I've only played the Xbox 360 version and it had its issues so to speak.

 

Scribblenauts is mildly tempting but I won't get it for now.

[melkathi]

Wait, you can turn those trading cards into money?  I thought they were just worthless trinkets to look at.

 

Check my random ramblings about card sales here

So far I sold 9 cards and bought 11 for my collections, never using any cash other than what I got from my card sales. I started the trading card thing with 0 in my steam wallet; now I still have 96cents left over.

Edited July 11, 2013 by melkathi

[melkathi]

 

I finally got through and bought it. I see it has a multiplayer component so maybe after I get my feet wet we can get a game going, time zones permitting.

 

 

 

After 2 hours of trying to purchase scribblenaughts and the endless space expansion I now understand what you meant with "finally got through"

I am melkathi on steam as well by the way

[AwesomeOcelot]

I'm treating it as a game, it's been quite fun so far, I'm not that interested in level or completionism, that's really expensive. It's a new spin on card trading games, as the cards are introduced into the market for "free" (for owners of certain games), I have about 350 games on Steam so I have many of them. Steam make a percentage of transactions in the market, but not for trades. I think it's a brilliant move by Valve, it's going to encourage people buy games and use Steam, and they're probably making a lot of money for hardly any effort through the market fee, and those funds can only be used with Steam.

 

I'm up $6 thanks to drops from games and 1 booster pack. I got over 100 cards to drop, plus buying 30 to get level 20 for +40% chance for booster (random 3 cards from a game) to drop once a week (so far so good), they can be worth $0.4 to $5. Only 1 foil so far (which is under 25% of happening with so many drops), I'm hoping to sell for $4 but Steam's servers are struggling now so half the items I put on the market don't show up and it keeps throwing up errors.

 

Steam stopped dropping cards for over a day and a half and prices doubled and tripled. Most of the time cards have been steadily going down in price through competition, the economy is finding equalibrium according to how much XP a card gets you in the case of normals, but foils don't work the same way and they tend to go for around 6 times their corresponding normal. Booster packs are tied to badge creation, but they haven't said how, at least not in the FAQ.

 

Valve were giving useless coupons away at the beginning, then mystery cards, I wish I had gotten them instead because I sold them at the top, bought them at the bottom, and when they were revealed they were worth 150%. It's put me in the mindset that Valve could screw me over at any time and assets are bad.

Edited July 11, 2013 by AwesomeOcelot

[melkathi]

Booster packs are tied to badge creation, but they haven't said how, at least not in the FAQ.

 

 

They stated that every time a badge is crafted, a number of booster packs drop, randomly distributed around the other players eligible for a booster pack drop.

[AwesomeOcelot]

 

Booster packs are tied to badge creation, but they haven't said how, at least not in the FAQ.

 

They stated that every time a badge is crafted, a number of booster packs drop, randomly distributed around the other players eligible for a booster pack drop.

 

I'd really like to know how they calculate how many.

[melkathi]

 

 

Booster packs are tied to badge creation, but they haven't said how, at least not in the FAQ.

 

They stated that every time a badge is crafted, a number of booster packs drop, randomly distributed around the other players eligible for a booster pack drop.

 

I'd really like to know how they calculate how many.

 

 

Yeah. I think they are being deliberately vague as they will be adjusting he number based on how many cards are out there.

[Greensleeve]

So, uh, I seem to have gotten the Dragonborn DLC for free. I have the necessary files on my computer, my Skyrim launcher tells me I have them, but my payment didn't go through and I haven't been charged for it. Nor does the Steam client say that I own the DLC. So I'm in a pretty weird situation right now. 

[alanschu]

Any opinions on Endless Space? Looks cool but has a crap metacritic score.

 

I wouldn't consider 77 a crap score personally.  Maybe for the AAA titles (which seem to be on their own scales IMO), but scores in the 70s I find are often "If you're a fan of the genre, there's probably something here for you to enjoy."

 

Which is what I would consider Endless Space.  It's not my favourite 4x Space game, but it does some things really well and will definitely satisfy space empire building itches.

Edited July 11, 2013 by alanschu

[Raithe]

I was just going to pick up Endless Space in the sale. Alas, steam keeps hanging on the purchase point and checking payment details. I guess I'll see how it fairs in the morning.

[melkathi]

I was just going to pick up Endless Space in the sale. Alas, steam keeps hanging on the purchase point and checking payment details. I guess I'll see how it fairs in the morning.

 

It did that for me. Then it decided that my credit card had declined payment. I got worried at that point and called my bank. They say everything is fine and no attempt at billing the card had been made. Left it for an hour and tried again, then Steam let the purchase go through.

[Deraldin]

 

Any opinions on Endless Space? Looks cool but has a crap metacritic score.

 

I wouldn't consider 77 a crap score personally.  Maybe for the AAA titles (which seem to be on their own scales IMO), but scores in the 70s I find are often "If you're a fan of the genre, there's probably something here for you to enjoy."

 

Which is what I would consider Endless Space.  It's not my favourite 4x Space game, but it does some things really well and will definitely satisfy space empire building itches.

 

For anyone still on the fence, I'd second this. Grab the gold edition. It's only an extra buck or two over the base game and it includes the new DLC with the combat additions (formations, fighters/bombers and a couple other things I think) along with a new race, thankfully with their own ship models this time. I'm looking at you Automatons and your ugly ass Craver ship models!

 

I'd agree that it's not the pinnacle of 4X, but it does enough things right that it's worth a look. The most disappointing aspect is the diplomacy with the other races. It has all the options you'd expect, but none of the other AI players feels like they have any distinct personality in the way they act with each other and you. On the other hand, managing your own empire is a snap and the basic game interface is I think very well handled.

 

I have around 150 hours logged on Steam, probably 80-100 of which is in multiplayer. On top of the new paid DLC there have been 4 free DLC packs and the developers have been very good about supporting the game.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Deraldin

[Bos_hybrid]

I bought Endless Space when it first came out, I found it enjoyable for a while but then the card game battle system began to bore me. I haven't tried the expansion though.

 

I think I prefer Sword of Stars 2, despite it's very serious problems.

 

Debating on whether I'm going to get Defiance. I quite enjoyed the show towards the end of the season.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Bos_hybrid

[LadyCrimson]

Gamers truly have the memory of goldfishes. Not so long ago, people all hated Steam because they were forced to have it with HL2.

I don't hate Steam ... I just hate when game companies use it as their only form of DRM so I *must* have Steam, or not play the game. Sure, I gave in and occasionally buy a Steam game (if I can play it in offline mode...), but this is largely because I can see that digital distribution is the way things are just plain going. At the moment Steam seems the best of these methods. It does not give me joy or anything.

[Keyrock]

Anyone play Little Inferno?  I quite enjoyed World of Goo and this is by the same folks so I'm mulling it over in my head.

[SadExchange]

I bought Endless Space when it first came out, I found it enjoyable for a while but then the card game battle system began to bore me. I haven't tried the expansion though.

 

I think I prefer Sword of Stars 2, despite it's very serious problems.

 

Debating on whether I'm going to get Defiance. I quite enjoyed the show towards the end of the season.

I've also been going back and forth whether to pick up Defiance or not. Anyone here play it that has some comments about it?

[Humanoid]

Anyone play Little Inferno? I quite enjoyed World of Goo and this is by the same folks so I'm mulling it over in my head.

Nope, but I've seen some footage/commentary of it and it's about as far removed from World of Goo as is possible.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Humanoid

[AwesomeOcelot]

I've played both, I really liked World of Goo but didn't like Little Inferno, a lot of what makes World of Goo great is there (music, humour, "atmosphere", art style) but the key component of gameplay is just not, it just doesn't work.

[melkathi]

 

I've also been going back and forth whether to pick up Defiance or not. Anyone here play it that has some comments about it?

 

 

Defiance discussion here should find some info there.

 

You can use my friend referal link to make an Arkhunter account and play the 72 hour free trial to make up your own mind. Though the low price will be gone by then most likely :/

[Malcador]

Ah good to see SR3 at that price again, $5 for 4 hours more. Not very interested in the new choices though.

[melkathi]

Ah good to see SR3 at that price again, $5 for 4 hours more. Not very interested in the new choices though.

 

Yup. Voted for Portal 2 just because while I am not interested, I am interested even less in the other two.

[Gfted1]

 

 

Any opinions on Endless Space? Looks cool but has a crap metacritic score.

 

I wouldn't consider 77 a crap score personally.  Maybe for the AAA titles (which seem to be on their own scales IMO), but scores in the 70s I find are often "If you're a fan of the genre, there's probably something here for you to enjoy."

 

Which is what I would consider Endless Space.  It's not my favourite 4x Space game, but it does some things really well and will definitely satisfy space empire building itches.

 

For anyone still on the fence, I'd second this. Grab the gold edition. It's only an extra buck or two over the base game and it includes the new DLC with the combat additions (formations, fighters/bombers and a couple other things I think) along with a new race, thankfully with their own ship models this time. I'm looking at you Automatons and your ugly ass Craver ship models!

 

I'd agree that it's not the pinnacle of 4X, but it does enough things right that it's worth a look. The most disappointing aspect is the diplomacy with the other races. It has all the options you'd expect, but none of the other AI players feels like they have any distinct personality in the way they act with each other and you. On the other hand, managing your own empire is a snap and the basic game interface is I think very well handled.

 

I have around 150 hours logged on Steam, probably 80-100 of which is in multiplayer. On top of the new paid DLC there have been 4 free DLC packs and the developers have been very good about supporting the game.

 

I digging it so far but I feel a little overwhelmed at the moment. Theres a lot to understand and it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to combine fleets and build ships. And melkathi was not joking when they said you will lose hours and not even realize it. The Automatons (sp?) are giving me the stink eye and have attacked my scout ship twice whenever I get close to a certain planet. So Im doing the only reasonable thing, researching the warfare tree and chugging out covette's of my own design as fast as possible.

 

I have to look into the video options but the graphics, specifically text, seem a little blurry. Or maybe Im just getting old.

[melkathi]

Gfted1, shooting down the odd scout ship is not considered a hostile act as such, if I remember correctly. Or at least it is not open warfare. The game differentiates between war and cold war. As long as skirmishes happen outside either species' area of influence, while not nice, they do not count as proper acts of aggression. I sometimes shoot down scoutships, just to make a point ("past this warplane is my area - keep out"). You could probably even try to take over newly founded colonies without declaring open war.

What it does mean though is that your relationship wont improve.

Then again, close proximity will have those deteriorating anyway unless you are actively working on improving them. But Automatons are one of the nicer neighbours for the early game. Carvers or one of the two imperial human factions or even Hissho would be a very different story.

 

Not sure what the Automatons are hiding to mind you scoutship though.

[Monte Carlo]

I see that Defiance is super cheap in the Steam Sale right now.