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STEAM 2013 Announcements & Updates VII: Known bug with library game count.

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Good morning, CoffeeGAF.

I still have half of a bag of Starbucks Anniversary but Thanksgiving Blend (probably my favorite of their seasonal beans, maybe) just came out, so I may have to make an emergency switch (or just brew more coffee this weekend to get through this bag quicker).

What are your gaming plans today?

After the pool guy comes to change out our filter, I'm going to marathon attempt a strange combination of achievements in Valdis Story (spend all points in intelligence, beat the game without saving and beat the game without changing starting equipment). The first one may conflict with the third one, but eh, it's worth a shot.

I'll probably spend an hour with Wii Fit U, I'm VERY close to getting under that 25 BMI level, yay.

After that I may dive into sixth stratum of Etrian Odyssey Untold and decide if I want to be punished with that or move on to a different 3DS game.
 

Honey Bunny

Member
Good morning, CoffeeGAF.

I still have half of a bag of Starbucks Anniversary but Thanksgiving Blend (probably my favorite of their seasonal beans, maybe) just came out, so I may have to make an emergency switch (or just brew more coffee this weekend to get through this bag quicker).

What are your gaming plans today?

After the pool guy comes to change out our filter, I'm going to marathon attempt a strange combination of achievements in Valdis Story (spend all points in intelligence, beat the game without saving and beat the game without changing starting equipment). The first one may conflict with the third one, but eh, it's worth a shot.

I'll probably spend an hour with Wii Fit U, I'm VERY close to getting under that 25 BMI level, yay.

After that I may dive into sixth stratum of Etrian Odyssey Untold and decide if I want to be punished with that or move on to a different 3DS game.

I'm going to check the store page four or five times even though nothing will have changed, and stare at my library at various points throughout the day before going back to browsing gaf.
 
Morning my good fellow GAFfers, just woke up to a nice and kind PM from ModBot, was not expecting to be honest since it was one of the few games I decided to enter.

I also see that Anteater finally got Dear Esther and Resident Evil Revelations went to MMBosstones86. I loveee when those games go to a good home, so happy for both of you, enjoy! :)

just saw it as well. Thanks Dusk Golem!!

I'm going to try and go through my unused humble keys and see what great stuff is left over to giveaway.

SteamGAF is the best GAF
 

Dambrosi

Banned
Guys, guys.

Risk of Rain is AWESOME.
Yes. Yes, it is.

header.jpg


Time played: 1 hour, 14 minutes (got to second level on my 20th try)

Wow, it's been a while, eh? Considering that the last game I reviewed like this was Binary Domain last year, I really have been slacking off on the impressions department. However, I won Risk Of Rain in a Twitch stream's giveaway raffle yesterday, and the game is pretty much brand new, so I felt that I had to play it and give you guys some first impressions of the title. So, well, here goes.

Risk Of Rain is one of a growing number of retro-styled, action-led "Roguealikelikes" in the same vein as Rogue Legacy and Teleglitch (oh boy, do I have some impressions of THAT game for you!), with seemingly randomized levels teeming with randomly-spawning hyper-aggressive enemies and randomized loot. Oh, and permadeath, because what kind of Rogue clone would it be without that? Where RoR differs is that it was definitely built to be played in co-op, and can be played online by up to 4 players at any time, according to the stream I was watching that awarded me the game. Stupid cool. Add to that the 12 or so classes you must unlock to be able to play as, each with different weapons and abilities, and you'll be at this for some time if you want to play to completion.

Now, I said that there were 12 classes, but you only start out with one unlocked - the Commando, armed with a shotgun, SMG and rifle, and a forward roll that both gets you clear of enemies for a second and grants temporary invulnerability. I soon find out that I'm going to need to make use of all of those weapons and abilities, because the enemies, even early on, come at me thick and fast. Well, some of them come at me just thick, while others come fast, small, flying, and electrocuting. Those goddamned jellyfish. AAAaaaaarrgh. Especially the boss one, he's a cunt. It doesn't help that all your abilities have short cooldown periods (your main weapon doesn't, which is the smallest of mercies), and must be used accordingly. It certainly makes for more intense, thoughtful and tactical combat mechanics than you usually see in a Roguelikealike these days, and gives the game a unique flavour.

At the beginning of any given stage, the game tells you what you must do - "Find the Teleporter". it quickly becomes imperative that you do so quickly, for the longer you take, the harder and more ferocious the game's enemies will become, usually resulting in a quick permadeath and premature Game Over. However, it's only once you find the teleporter and activate it that the fun really begins, since that both gives you a 90-second "survive" timer and summons the stage boss, as well as increasing enemy spawns! And even after the 90 seconds runs out, you still have to defeat the boss and all of the remaining enemies to clear the level and be able to teleport the hell outta there. No, nothing about this game is easy. Nothing at all.

It's a good thing that you can buy - not find or loot, buy - extra weapons and items from various randomized dumps with gold you get from either small canisters strewn across the map, or, more lucratively, killing enemies. How strangely capitalistic for a game where the whole premise is that monsters are falling from space, and you're humanity's last hope - you'd think they'd just give them to him as a freebie. The bigger the enemy, the more moolah you get - and that goes for experience points as well, which are collected in much the same way, and serve to level up your character, giving them more HP, endurance, attack power, and so on.The interplay between these elements and the relentless enemy onslaught becomes more important the longer a level takes, since there's a dramatic tension between levelling enough to defeat the largest enemies and getting that teleporter online so that the level eventually stops getting harder and harder, until at some point even your over-levelled self can't keep up and you die. Again. That said, if you beat a level, you take everything you've earned/bought with you, but if you die, you lose everything, so that's a great incentive to play smarter, rather than harder.

I should say at this point that i only played the game solo; I haven't tried the online mode yet. The Twitch stream had a four-player co-op game going on, though, and what I watched seemed to play smoothly and without any disconnects or lag. I might try some online play later, if I can convince some friends to buy the game. The game's not exactly a looker, though, so they might take some convincing, but I'll try.

I hope I've done some convincing here, too. RoR is boss, and comes highly recommended.

Play again?: Yes, undoubtedly.

Long Live The Queen looks like one of those old Princess Maker games.
Yes! I said that! A few pages back! Great minds and all that!

Now...to buy it, or wait for Build A Doujin Bundle 3?
 

Uiki

Member
Time played: 1 hour, 14 minutes (got to second level on my 20th try)


I took down the jellyfish boss after 2 hours trying the first level... feels damn good.

I noticed that i always die at 20 min.. Can't understand if it's better to rush the first level or go for all the items before teleporting.
 

Turfster

Member
Humble changed their text, but it still gave me a steam key, so...
ModBot said:
I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- If you are a lurker you are not eligible for this giveaway. You need five or more posts in either the current Steam thread or the previous one to be eligible
- This giveaway is a LIGHTNING raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 15 minutes after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.
- This giveaway has a manual blocklist. The giver has identified members who abuse giveaways and restricted them from participating.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:


Neighbours from hell -- MB-1E8997F7DCA13F83 - Taken by nexen. 9 entrants total.


t1384007560z1.png
 

Dambrosi

Banned
I took down the jellyfish boss after 2 hours trying the first level... feels damn good.

I noticed that i always die at 20 min.. Can't understand if it's better to rush the first level or go for all the items before teleporting.
The game specifically tells you to go for the teleporter first, so I think there's a good chance that enemies actually level up with you. Therefore, it might be worth rushing for the teleporter first, so as to beat the level quickly and at a lower level to make the next level easier - if the enemies let you, that is, the crafty monkies.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
I think I botched my current run of Agarest War pretty bad.
Im still in the first generation (Whatever that means), but I apparently have missed a shit ton of events because I didn't follow the "perfect route" didn't even know there was a perfect route. Hopefully I can maneuver it back in GEN 2 if not I might throw this back in the backlog.
 
Kingdoms of Amalur is fun, but I'm starting to get a bit burned out. I'll probably just try and burn through the rest of the main quest, see if I make it to the end.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I think I botched my current run of Agarest War pretty bad.
Im still in the first generation (Whatever that means), but I apparently have missed a shit ton of events because I didn't follow the "perfect route" didn't even know there was a perfect route. Hopefully I can maneuver it back in GEN 2 if not I might throw this back in the backlog.

This is the part where you stop playing games and collect them instead.
 

Uiki

Member
The game specifically tells you to go for the teleporter first, so I think there's a good chance that enemies actually level up with you. Therefore, it might be worth rushing for the teleporter first, so as to beat the level quickly and at a lower level to make the next level easier - if the enemies let you, that is, the crafty monkies.

Yeah.. just tried rushing.

I got to level 3 fairly easy.... and I died at 20:13 XD
 

Lain

Member
Grabbed Evil Genius and Marlow Briggs for 3.80€ off GMG and started playing some Marlow because hey, action game.
Game is so ridiculous. One moment you're throwing some energy knives to some insects, then you get some weird cutscene with choppers and you find yourself murdering dudes up in the sky.
Let's not talk about the notes your girl leaves behind. At least the game is, albeit easy, fun to play.
 

Derrick01

Banned
You know, I almost wrote "in before Derrick says I dodged a bullet" :p

I consider it my lifelong duty to warn everyone about how awful that game is.

Kingdoms of Amalur is fun, but I'm starting to get a bit burned out. I'll probably just try and burn through the rest of the main quest, see if I make it to the end.

It's an extremely repetitive game with really bad, MMO-ish quests and the game's way too easy because of the simple action game combat. I've been replaying it on PS+ to get the last 2 trophies I need, which unfortunately require a 2nd full playthrough, and it's brutal.
 

Dambrosi

Banned
This is the part where you stop playing games and collect them instead.
Oi, you. Don't start him down our path of sin!

Agarest is shit anyway - take it from a former beta tester who got it for free (hell, NDA's gotta be over by now, right?). If you want animu jRPG goodness, play the Ys games. All of them.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Well, hey if a community can get something:

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Volvo give IKARUGA.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
HOLY SHIT
THE UPLAY WINDOW CAN BE CLOSED WITH A CONTROLLER NOW
BPM SAVED

Not just yet. Does Origin allow controllers? They also have to fix their controller support, BF3/4's is kinda bad.
 

Turfster

Member
Man, I really wish my gamepad worked with Arkham Asylum. Having the buttons mapped to two different keys for about half the possible moves really really doesn't help.
 

hitoshi

Member
OIL EVERYWHERE

ModBot said:
Just quote this message and paste the quote in the thread:

I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:


Oil Rush -- MB-945E0AFAD6913213 - Taken by Honey Bunny
 

Volcynika

Member
7YHk4fo.png


Well, basically finished A Walk in the Dark sans one achievement (which I don't think I'll ever attempt).

The game isn't some crazy hard platformer in the sense of Super Meat Boy and such, but some levels have some tricks to get used to. Every level has special objectives (ie get a shiny object in each level, and then other types have ones like beat a certain time, do the level in one run, etc.) Game has about
110
total levels including the challenge levels, so getting all those may be an issue for some. I appreciated how it acted like SMB did in where if you die it just restarts you at the beginning of the level.

The music wasn't really varied, but I enjoyed how in each area as you progressed through the levels, the music stayed consistent to where it was (it didn't restart the music track each time you entered a level, it only did that if you went back out to the map). Pretty calming tracks, and I really enjoyed the music from the last set of levels along with the challenge levels.

I did run into some performance issues in late game where you have a type of level which involves auto running. It made it near impossible to even tell when to dodge obstacles, so I had to lower the resolution from my standard one to even get past those levels. Other than that I've had no crashes or anything.

Story is pretty much explained through pretty low budget looking cutscenes and is pretty simplistic and doesn't interfere much with the game during actual play, so didn't really care about it.

The only achievement I won't get is completing the game in a unique speed run without dying. I died more than enough times, especially trying to get the later levels down pat. The challenge levels had their own tricks but overall weren't too difficult once you got a handle on how the game controls.

While the standard price is $6.99 and I feel I got my money's worth, some people probably wouldn't feel the same considering the short time it took me. But I recommend checking it out if it's on sale at least, if you're into a platforming game which doesn't get too crazy in the end (though you may disagree if you go for 100% completion :p )
 
i can't imagine steambox/OS stealing the console COD boys until games regularly have dedicated matchmaking for controller players to play separate from the kb/m players if they want. those people flat out don't want to play FPS's with kb/m. and a huge portion of the playerbase will never come to PC unless that is implemented.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
i can't imagine steambox/OS stealing the console COD boys until games regularly have dedicated matchmaking for controller players to play separate from the kb/m players if they want. those people flat out don't want to play FPS's with kb/m. and a huge portion of the playerbase will never come to PC unless that is implemented.
That's kinda where the Steam controller is supposed to step in.
 
The pool guy ate up two hours, now I'm starving and my coffee is old.

Oh well, my plans will not change, for now.

ON TO STRANGE VALDIS STORY ACHIEVEMENT GET.
 

DagsJT

Member
Does nobody else think ModBot and giveaways should be a seperate thread? Or rather, actual Steam news and discussion has it's own thread seeing as this thread is pretty much a Modbot/thanks thread anyway?

I end up skipping so many pages because I see a giveaway and I know there's just going to be tons of posts saying thanks but actual discussion going on?
 
7YHk4fo.png


Well, basically finished A Walk in the Dark sans one achievement (which I don't think I'll ever attempt).

The game isn't some crazy hard platformer in the sense of Super Meat Boy and such, but some levels have some tricks to get used to. Every level has special objectives (ie get a shiny object in each level, and then other types have ones like beat a certain time, do the level in one run, etc.) Game has about
110
total levels including the challenge levels, so getting all those may be an issue for some. I appreciated how it acted like SMB did in where if you die it just restarts you at the beginning of the level.

The music wasn't really varied, but I enjoyed how in each area as you progressed through the levels, the music stayed consistent to where it was (it didn't restart the music track each time you entered a level, it only did that if you went back out to the map). Pretty calming tracks, and I really enjoyed the music from the last set of levels along with the challenge levels.

I did run into some performance issues in late game where you have a type of level which involves auto running. It made it near impossible to even tell when to dodge obstacles, so I had to lower the resolution from my standard one to even get past those levels. Other than that I've had no crashes or anything.

Story is pretty much explained through pretty low budget looking cutscenes and is pretty simplistic and doesn't interfere much with the game during actual play, so didn't really care about it.

The only achievement I won't get is completing the game in a unique speed run without dying. I died more than enough times, especially trying to get the later levels down pat. The challenge levels had their own tricks but overall weren't too difficult once you got a handle on how the game controls.

While the standard price is $6.99 and I feel I got my money's worth, some people probably wouldn't feel the same considering the short time it took me. But I recommend checking it out if it's on sale at least, if you're into a platforming game which doesn't get too crazy in the end (though you may disagree if you go for 100% completion :p )
Thanks for the impressions.
 

Momentary

Banned
Yes. Yes, it is.

header.jpg


Time played: 1 hour, 14 minutes (got to second level on my 20th try)

Wow, it's been a while, eh? Considering that the last game I reviewed like this was Binary Domain last year, I really have been slacking off on the impressions department. However, I won Risk Of Rain in a Twitch stream's giveaway raffle yesterday, and the game is pretty much brand new, so I felt that I had to play it and give you guys some first impressions of the title. So, well, here goes.

Risk Of Rain is one of a growing number of retro-styled, action-led "Roguealikelikes" in the same vein as Rogue Legacy and Teleglitch (oh boy, do I have some impressions of THAT game for you!), with seemingly randomized levels teeming with randomly-spawning hyper-aggressive enemies and randomized loot. Oh, and permadeath, because what kind of Rogue clone would it be without that? Where RoR differs is that it was definitely built to be played in co-op, and can be played online by up to 4 players at any time, according to the stream I was watching that awarded me the game. Stupid cool. Add to that the 12 or so classes you must unlock to be able to play as, each with different weapons and abilities, and you'll be at this for some time if you want to play to completion.

Now, I said that there were 12 classes, but you only start out with one unlocked - the Commando, armed with a shotgun, SMG and rifle, and a forward roll that both gets you clear of enemies for a second and grants temporary invulnerability. I soon find out that I'm going to need to make use of all of those weapons and abilities, because the enemies, even early on, come at me thick and fast. Well, some of them come at me just thick, while others come fast, small, flying, and electrocuting. Those goddamned jellyfish. AAAaaaaarrgh. Especially the boss one, he's a cunt. It doesn't help that all your abilities have short cooldown periods (your main weapon doesn't, which is the smallest of mercies), and must be used accordingly. It certainly makes for more intense, thoughtful and tactical combat mechanics than you usually see in a Roguelikealike these days, and gives the game a unique flavour.

At the beginning of any given stage, the game tells you what you must do - "Find the Teleporter". it quickly becomes imperative that you do so quickly, for the longer you take, the harder and more ferocious the game's enemies will become, usually resulting in a quick permadeath and premature Game Over. However, it's only once you find the teleporter and activate it that the fun really begins, since that both gives you a 90-second "survive" timer and summons the stage boss, as well as increasing enemy spawns! And even after the 90 seconds runs out, you still have to defeat the boss and all of the remaining enemies to clear the level and be able to teleport the hell outta there. No, nothing about this game is easy. Nothing at all.

It's a good thing that you can buy - not find or loot, buy - extra weapons and items from various randomized dumps with gold you get from either small canisters strewn across the map, or, more lucratively, killing enemies. How strangely capitalistic for a game where the whole premise is that monsters are falling from space, and you're humanity's last hope - you'd think they'd just give them to him as a freebie. The bigger the enemy, the more moolah you get - and that goes for experience points as well, which are collected in much the same way, and serve to level up your character, giving them more HP, endurance, attack power, and so on.The interplay between these elements and the relentless enemy onslaught becomes more important the longer a level takes, since there's a dramatic tension between levelling enough to defeat the largest enemies and getting that teleporter online so that the level eventually stops getting harder and harder, until at some point even your over-levelled self can't keep up and you die. Again. That said, if you beat a level, you take everything you've earned/bought with you, but if you die, you lose everything, so that's a great incentive to play smarter, rather than harder.

I should say at this point that i only played the game solo; I haven't tried the online mode yet. The Twitch stream had a four-player co-op game going on, though, and what I watched seemed to play smoothly and without any disconnects or lag. I might try some online play later, if I can convince some friends to buy the game. The game's not exactly a looker, though, so they might take some convincing, but I'll try.

I hope I've done some convincing here, too. RoR is boss, and comes highly recommended.

Play again?: Yes, undoubtedly.


Yes! I said that! A few pages back! Great minds and all that!

Now...to buy it, or wait for Build A Doujin Bundle 3?

Screw it. I'm paying full price for this. I've heard nothing but good things about this game.
 

Turfster

Member
Does nobody else think ModBot and giveaways should be a seperate thread? Or rather, actual Steam news and discussion has it's own thread seeing as this thread is pretty much a Modbot/thanks thread anyway?

I end up skipping so many pages because I see a giveaway and I know there's just going to be tons of posts saying thanks but actual discussion going on?

Uh... no? You must be new here.
Yesterday was kind of an exception, giveaway-wise.
 
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