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[GDJustin]

This PAINS me, but to each their own.

Yeah I caught a bunch of shit for it in this topic several weeks ago, too. I like strategy games of all types so I thought it would be right up my alley. But I just couldn't get into it. Weird & unintuitive UI, seemingly trial & error missions, key points remaining unexplained, requiring the player to figure them out for themselves, etc.

I get the impression that if I took the time to "learn" Men of War I'd probably like it a good deal. But as I was trying to force myself to get used to it, I just kept thinking "I could be spending this ten minutes with Tropico 3, or Civ 5 (or any other game I love)." After about an hour of that I gave up.

 

[leng jai]

So I was mildly interested in Blood Stone when I saw it was sale and checked out the sale price - $30.49USD. I promptly ordered 10 copies with a huge grin on my face.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

So I was mildly interested in Blood Stone when I saw it was sale and checked out the sale price - $30.49USD. I promptly ordered 10 copies with a huge grin on my face.

not sure if serious?

 

[Nabs]

not sure if serious?

not sure if serious

 

[1-D_FTW]

Re: sales and backlogs and buying just for the sake of buying:

In my experience, steep Steam sales have resulted in some poor impulse purchases - definite opportunities where I should have shown some restraint and saved some money.

But, the opposite has also been very true. I have purchased games I wouldn't normally have given a shot, and ended up absolutely falling in love. Diamonds in the rough are abound, on Steam.

The two cancel each other out. I bought Men of War for $5.09, and already know I'll never play it again, after ~1 hour with it. Ditto Gothic collection ($8.25), AI Wars ($15), etc.

BUT... I bought Tropico 3 for $5 and spent literally 38 hours with it, loving every second. Mount and Blade for $6, and 25 great hours put in. The king is Galcon Fusion, which I put 20 hours into (I loved the multiplayer) for $2.50.

Kind of the way I look at it. If the prices are cheap, and I get one good one out of it, I feel it was justified.

Gonna have to agree about Men of War though. I've spent 10 minutes with it and I'm not sure I'll go back.

I might have liked it a little better had I, I don't know, figured out how to freaking shoot. I could get the dudes to run to their death, but nobody would fire/lob anything. Hopefully I missed the tutorial (and there actually is one), because the game made me feel like an idiot.

 

[Jomjom]

I think you could run them on Steam via the add non-Steam game feature, but I just wanted to quote this to tell you that the Max Payne bundle has been on sale on Steam for $3.74 at least a couple times, so the potential for a better deal than GFW's is certainly possible, especially with the Summer Sale right around the corner. That said, it's only a buck and Max Payne 2 is friggin awesome so you can't go wrong either way.

Ahh cool thanks for the helpful answers. I'll wait for the summer sale. I am not a fan of GFW, so I would like to avoid giving them money if at all possible.

 

[Shaneus]

Re: sales and backlogs and buying just for the sake of buying:

In my experience, steep Steam sales have resulted in some poor impulse purchases - definite opportunities where I should have shown some restraint and saved some money.

But, the opposite has also been very true. I have purchased games I wouldn't normally have given a shot, and ended up absolutely falling in love. Diamonds in the rough are abound, on Steam.

The two cancel each other out. I bought Men of War for $5.09, and already know I'll never play it again, after ~1 hour with it. Ditto Gothic collection ($8.25), AI Wars ($15), etc.

BUT... I bought Tropico 3 for $5 and spent literally 38 hours with it, loving every second. Mount and Blade for $6, and 25 great hours put in. The king is Galcon Fusion, which I put 20 hours into (I loved the multiplayer) for $2.50.

Wow, that's amazing. When you look at it like that then they really do cancel each other out. So what if I wasted $7 on Saints Row 2 if I managed to sink about 20 hours into Red Faction: Guerrilla?

Seriously, your post wins this thread. It should also be in the OP for when the Steam sale starts.

 

[GDJustin]

The other thing re: regretting Stram sale purchases - it's relative.

I regret purchasing The Potato Pack for $38, because I didn't like many of the games in it (many of its AAA games I already owned).

BUT... I paid $60 for Bulletstorm and $60 for LA Noire at retail. I didn't like either of those games, either. So that's $120 spent on impulse, launch-week purchases that I later wished I could have back.

Compare that to a $38 pack of indie games that still had a couple I liked a good deal.

 

[StuBurns]

But retail games you can trade in or sell.

 

[PaulLFC]

I think you could run them on Steam via the add non-Steam game feature, but I just wanted to quote this to tell you that the Max Payne bundle has been on sale on Steam for $3.74 at least a couple times, so the potential for a better deal than GFW's is certainly possible, especially with the Summer Sale right around the corner. That said, it's only a buck and Max Payne 2 is friggin awesome so you can't go wrong either way.

Strangely enough, an entry for "Remedy Comp" has just been added to the registry, so it looks like a Max Payne bundle will be in the Summer sale. It has two apps (both called "TestApp[number]" at the moment, but I'd assume they're Max Payne 1 & 2).

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, the reason why I like Steam sales is because it allows me to take a "dartboard" approach to titles I think I might like. If I buy five games for $30 and even one of them turns out to be something that I pour fifty hours into then it was totally worth it for me.

 

[Joe Molotov]

The Orange Box was when Steam finally got good.

That was in 2007, but.. I think the clarification is just.

I think the Orange Box was the first game I bought on Steam. I know for sure it was the first game I preordered. TF2 Beta, yeeeeahhhh!

Also, R.I.P Black Box. :'(

 

[Oreoleo]

Strangely enough, an entry for "Remedy Comp" has just been added to the registry, so it looks like a Max Payne bundle will be in the Summer sale. It has two apps (both called "TestApp[number]" at the moment, but I'd assume they're Max Payne 1 & 2).

That's weird because the Max Payne bundle is already a permanent entry in the store. It would be pointless to make what is essentially a duplicate entry, unless another one of Remedy's games was coming to PC.....

Well, a man can dream.

Spoiler

Alan Wake lol

 

[Symphonic]

I'm getting the "Steam servers are busy, try again later" message whenever I try to install something. I tried renaming the .blob file, rebooting my comp, changing the server, rebooting Steam, and changing the download speed but nothing has worked.

Anyone know of another solution?

 

[PaulLFC]

That's weird because the Max Payne bundle is already a permanent entry in the store. It would be pointless to make what is essentially a duplicate entry, unless another one of Remedy's games was coming to PC.....

Well, a man can dream.

Spoiler

Alan Wake lol

Hmm, I wonder if it could be that the pack is getting an update? A similar thing happened earlier for World of Tanks when that got an update. Sorry for getting people's hopes up!

 

[Drkirby]

Yeah, Steam at times will seemingly randomly relisted games. Like the Syrbia games got relisted, but I have no clue why.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Is Quantum of Solace worth it? Does it make you feel like Bond? The demo was short and generic.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Is Quantum of Solace worth it? Does it make you feel like Bond? The demo was short and generic.

It's not particularly Bond-y.

I thought the game itself was okay, but I got it as a gift and my girlfriend paid $0.99 for the 360 version like a year ago.

 

[Zimbardo]

Blood Stone was alright. i never played Quantum, but a friend of mine did. he said it was good, but who knows unless you play it for yourself.

 

[hellclerk]

Question for y'all out there, would I be able to activate a game I buy off of EA's Origin on Steam if I had the CD key? I kinda wanna get Dead Space 2, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to tie it into Steam...

 

[LocoMrPollock]

Question for y'all out there, would I be able to activate a game I buy off of EA's Origin on Steam if I had the CD key? I kinda wanna get Dead Space 2, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to tie it into Steam...

I don't see why not.

 

[Narag]

Question for y'all out there, would I be able to activate a game I buy off of EA's Origin on Steam if I had the CD key? I kinda wanna get Dead Space 2, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to tie it into Steam...

Only if it was Steamworks which I don't believe EA tiles are. You can add it as a non-Steam game to your library if you wanted though.

 

[Proxy]

Question for y'all out there, would I be able to activate a game I buy off of EA's Origin on Steam if I had the CD key? I kinda wanna get Dead Space 2, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to tie it into Steam...

No.

 

[Oreoleo]

Question for y'all out there, would I be able to activate a game I buy off of EA's Origin on Steam if I had the CD key? I kinda wanna get Dead Space 2, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to tie it into Steam...

Nope, that only works for Steamworks games and a few other random retail games. As far as I know, no EA games are Steamworks enabled but maybe I'm forgetting something.

You can always use the "add non-Steam game" feature, which will put the game in your list and let you use the overlay while in-game, but it won't be tied to your account or get auto-updating or anything like that.

edit: beaten like a punching bag

 

[Snuggles]

Btw speaking of Max Payne 1/2 the latest Nvidia drivers has flawless pillarboxing to maintain 4:3 images with lack bars on the side now. The game never had a widescreen fix and pillarboxing support used to be shoddy as fuck on both brands. Now you can play the game perfectly.

Hmmm, do I have to enable something in my Nvidia control panel for this? I'll probably replay the MP games soon but me not so smart.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Is Quantum of Solace worth it? Does it make you feel like Bond? The demo was short and generic.

I don't like Treyarch very much, but I bought QoS for 360 back in 08 because I figured a Call of Duty-ish James Bond game would probably be pretty cool.

It wasn't. At all. Totally boring and didn't feel half as good to play as even the worse Call of Duty game.

I was really disappointed with it.

 

[Bonfires Down]

It's not particularly Bond-y.

I thought the game itself was okay, but I got it as a gift and my girlfriend paid $0.99 for the 360 version like a year ago.

Blood Stone was alright. i never played Quantum, but a friend of mine did. he said it was good, but who knows unless you play it for yourself.

Nevermind, Blood Stone looks better and is made by Bizzare, so I'll wait for a better sale on that instead(and a new computer). Thanks.

 

[iNvid02]

avoid qos - get bloodstone

 

[Narag]

Yeah, QoS was more of a novelty than it was a fun game.

 

[trinest]

Wow price gouging much- AUS price is like $30+ for Blood Stone.

While the usa price is like $13, a much more acceptable price.

 

[Stallion Free]

Do you need to have the GPU handle it, or the display?

GPU since it's Nvidia's drivers doing the work.

My Monitor has Pillar box support built in as an option, so I have never had that as a problem.

A shit ton of monitors/TVs don't do it properly, but thanks for letting us know that your model does.

 

[charlequin]

B) My mouse doesn't move in the window. The pointer stays wherever my mouse enters and leaves the window, but doesn't actually do anything inside the window.

I've had the exact same problem since I bought it during the Xmas sale, which I have yet to be able to solve. Let me know if you figure anything out!

You guys are reminding me how I hated Steam for so long.

Oh yeah, "what is this bullshit that's stopping me from playing Counter-Strike?!"

I think I went from raging at the half-baked beta implementation of "Steam" in Half-Life in 2002 to creating an account to buy the Orange Box for $10 in 2009 without using it at all in the interim.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

I used Steam since it started and never stopped because I was a CS addict. Seeing the evolution of it was quite something.

It seemed to happen overnight, too. I can't remember a period when I thought "this is starting to get decent." All of a sudden it was the social hub of my PC gaming and I was buying games constantly.

I never used to pay that much attention to it, though, to be honest. As much as that troll in the other Steam threads will love me saying this, it was just an annoying DRM thing for a long time that I ignored.

 

[camerooni]

So I was mildly interested in Blood Stone when I saw it was sale and checked out the sale price - $30.49USD. I promptly ordered 10 copies with a huge grin on my face.

"Australians all let us rejoice... for we are young and freeeeeeeeeeeee" =)

Just think of the golden soil and the wealth for toil and it'll be okay.. it'll be.. *sob*.. okay..

 

[Saren is Bad]

Fuck my pink butthole.

Bought Monday Night Combat for like 3.49 and no damn servers pop up on the multiplayer tab. Just endless 'refreshing.'

Forwarded ports, no go. Turned off firewall, no go. Put PC in DMZ, no go. Did all of the above at the same time, no go.

Only 3.49, but damn, if anyone else had the same issue and fixed it please fill me in.

 

[ChoklitReign]

Actually the wishlist is so Valve knows what games to put on sale. Since they know you want the game but aren't willing to buy it at the current price, they are more likely to put those games on sale to push you over the edge and get you to buy them.

Is that really their algorithm? My wishlist could be backwards! I have several indie games at the top, AAA games in the middle, and at the bottom are the overpriced B-games like Wolfenstein and Risen. Damnit Valve, I want to know when the next sale starts.

 

[Stallion Free]

I was all about Steam from the day I found out about it. When I read about it a couple months before HL2 I made an account, tied one of my HL1 keys to it and never looked back. For some reason the concept just really appealed to me.

 

[Salsa]

think i went a little crazy there considering i already own 280 games

 

[iNvid02]

i dont even want anything, will most likely just buy stuff that is at a good price and looks good.

looks like most of you have lists of games you want to go on sale though, what are your top 3?

 

[Flunkie]

I'm really hoping there's a better deal for EVE in the summer sale.

 

[coopolon]

but I can't seem to find the option for ati/amd (or at least I thought I did, but it never works).

Open CCC.
My Digital Flat-Panels
Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)

Under Image Scaling, click "Enable GPU Scaling", choose "Maintain Aspect Ratio."

If the options are greyed out, change your desktop resolution to something non-native and not correct aspect ratio (not sure if that last quality is necessary), then go back to this menu and all the options should be available.

 

[AcridMeat]

Race 07 had an update today which included support for the upcoming retro DLC. Me and one other guy are happy.

 

[Zimbardo]

i want Lost Planet 2 for a good price.

also the original Lost Planet would be good too ...Colonies i think it was called.


the Fallout New Vegas DLC for cheap would be good.

maybe Dragon Age 2 for cheap.

i dunno ...just when you think you probably aren't interested in much, you end up seeing all kinds of stuff you want.

 

[TheExodu5]

So a friend bought me Dungeon Siege 3 (bought a hard copy). He thought he could just enter the key in Steam and then gift it to me after, since he already had DS3 in his account. Steam just ate the key and now he's basically out $50. He contacted Steam support and they just forwarded him to this page:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4502-TPJL-2656&l=english

Not impressed with Valve at all.

 

[Salsa]

Not impressed with Valve at all.

it sucks, but why?

The info was there before, he should have read, and just sent you the steam key :/

 

[Narag]

That pillarboxing stuff made my day. On to a future of 4:3 gaming goodness!

 

[Stumpokapow]

Anyone know when/why Max and the Magic Marker got pulled from Steam?

 

[Card Boy]

Not impressed with Valve at all.

I had to read it twice to understand what the problem was. Thats pretty bad of Steam, i don't understand why it even accepted the key if he already has it. It should just come up with "You already own this game" or something like that.

 

[TheExodu5]

it sucks, but why?

The info was there before, he should have read, and just sent you the steam key :/

There's no excuse for it. It's a terrible system implementation that doesn't account for user error. If a user makes a mistake like that, you don't punish them by robbing them of their game purchase. Absolutely ridiculous.

I had to read it twice to understand what the problem was. Thats pretty bad of Steam, i don't understand why it even accepted the key if he already has it. It should just come up with "You already own this game" or something like that.

Exactly.

Now he has to go back and forth with support until they decide to reverse the transaction. They're not being very helpful.

 

[Fredescu]

He thought he could just enter the key in Steam and then gift it to me after

That's a bizarre thing to think, but it's no excuse for terrible customer service. I assume he contacted them back again. Let us know how it ends up.