jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Welcome to the December 2015 NeoGAF Steam thread! Nobody will post here because of the sale...
- STEAM News Thread - Read rules before posting
- GAF Steam ID List | Request a buddy
- Steam Trading | Games/Cards/Keys/Money/Items
- PC Gaming Threads | A list of PC threads on NeoGAF
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - DrDogg
Kept you waiting huh? No wait that’s a different franchise. So yeah a little later than we all expected but you can rush perfection! And closing out the Fabula Nova Cystallis arc of Final Fantasy titles is Lightning Returns, truly Toriyama’s bizarrest adventure yet. There is a great pixel art recap vid in 16bit style but is a bit spoilery if you haven’t played XIII or XIII-2 but the game picks up after the events of the first two games.
Lightning is awoken after 500 years of crystal stasis by Bhunivelze, the God of Light. The world is set of end in 13 days and Lightning has been tasked as The Saviour to help free the souls of humanity of their burdens and guide them to a new world that Bhunivelze will create. Helping her from The Ark is Hope but she also encounters her other former allies and adversaries whilst carrying out her tasks as well as a mysterious spitting image of her sister Serah who both advises and toys with Lightning.
So that’s probably the sane version of the basic plot but it really needs to be seen to do it justice. So in gameplay terms things are a little different here. For a start the battle system is rather different from the past 2 games and now dubbed Style-Change Active Time Battle. What that mouthful means is now you have a line up of just Lightning and replacing the Paradigm system of the past 2 games is tied to specific outfits, dubbed Garbs, that are light Dress Spheres from X-2, Lightning can equip 3 Garbs that alter her stats and abilities with each also having their own ATB gauge. These can/need to be swapped during battle as you would paradigms and seeing as the difficulty is a tad harder you’re going to need to mix it up and have a good balance of abilities to stay ahead in battle this time.
The other two gameplay features that are new are The Doomsday Clock and various sidequests to undertake. The Doomsday Clock is kind of like your timer and your various objectives and quests feed into this as certain events will start or need to be completed by a certain time. You’re initially given 7 days to explore the world, but as you complete more side quests this increases. The world is semi open with areas to explore and people to interact with as well as stores and low polly dogs abound. There is also an ability that allows you to stop the flow of time temporarily to help you manage your busy schedule. Some of these quests add some backstory, others reward you with new Garbs and some are just fucking hilarious. It’s like crazy mixed up spin on elements of Dead Rising, Chrono Trigger and Majora’s Mask.
There’s waaay more I can say but I also ditched the game after 5 or so hours due to the PS3 performance being a tad unbearable for me. Speaking of which depite the delay try to expect this to perform exactly like XIII and XIII-2 and don’t expect more than a stable 30fps unless you want to sacrifice a lot of resolution (if you really want to understand how bonkers Crystal Tools is go remove the frame limited via hex editing XIII-2’s exe and see what happens when you with exceed or fail to meet a 16.7ms update).
Also all but 1 item of DLC from the console releases is included in the PC release which were all new Grabs to play dress up/with use for battle. Speaking of dress up and Garbs there are bloody loads of them. Some crazy designs, some swish designs, some nice call backs to other titles in the franchise and some probably directly from the bonkers dreams of Toriyama himself, there’s an outfits for everyone’s taste.
Just Cause 3 - Kurt Russell
Just Cause 3 is a single player third person open world action adventure game with vehicles, guns and a gun toting male protagonist. Don't let that opening sentence fool you though. Just Cause 3 doesn't follow the "Ubisoft style" open world design. You won't be climbing towers to unlock new areas of the map (you may climb a tower before blowing it up, but that's another story) and you won't be playing as your typical white male stereotype going on a crusade to do something just cause he's a bit of a douche (yeah, I'm looking at you Aiden Pierce and Jason Brody) Instead, you play Rico Rodriguez, a mexican born, italian raised government agent that specializes in blowing up stuff and toppling corrupt dictators with his all american pal Sheldon.
Rico Rodriguez has a not so secret weapon in his arsenal, a grappling hook. Only that Rico's grappling hook is not your typical traversal tool. Mr. Rodriguez's contraption can be used to hang from buildings, build up speed when you are flying on your wingsuit and, last but not least, tying up people, animals, vehicles and things together. This mechanic adds a lot of depth and variation to your typical open world formula, and is boosted by the increased amount of destructible objects that can be found in the game world.
Playing as Rico, you'll attempt to take down the corrupt dictator that rules over the small island of Medici (fictional land set in the Mediterranean, Rico grew up in Medici, so this time it's personal) You will be aided by a mostly incompetent band of rebel fighters, and will spend most of the time blowing up stuff and creating chaos.
So, yeah, what are you waiting for? Let's blow sh** up!
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below - jshackles
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below's PC release seemingly came out of nowhere. Since the game was previously exclusive to the PS4, most people assumed it would stay that way. In this case, I'm glad that they assumed incorrectly. However, Koei is known for having vastly inferrior PC ports of their console games so please keep your expectations in check with this release - especially since they've already stated that the maximum rendering resolution on the PC version is 1920x1080.
Dragon Quest Heroes takes place in a world where monsters and humans live in peaceful harmony, but that peace is shattered as the evil wizard Velasco unleashes the power of the God of Darkness. It's up to the Children of Light (the male and female protagonists, Luceus and Aurora) to stop him, along with a band of characters both old and new to the Dragon Quest series. There are Alena, Kiryl, and Maya from DQ4; Bianca and Nera from DQ5; Terry from DQ6; and Jessica and Yangus from DQ8 who all aid you on your quest. They join up with new heroes like Healix - the healslime who seems to be the only creature immune to Velasco's powers.
The game is an absolute treat to play, especially for an old Dragon Quest fan like myself. All of your favorite iconic Dragon Quest monsters are present and accounted for, along with a score of music selected from the previous games in the series. Even though it's a SquareEnix/Koei mashup, the game more closely resembles an Action RPG than a Musou game. Your characters level up and gain new abilities as you progress through the game's story - you'll also unlock new weapons and armor, collect mini-medals, try your hand at alchemy, save your game at a church, and more. The story missions are a blast to play and the Steam store page mentions that this should run at a full 60fps.
The main storyline typically takes around 30 hours to complete, and the game offers a variety of post-game content. The US release (and by extension, the Steam release) includes all of the DLC that was available in the Japanese release - including a new playable character and lots of other goodies. The Steam release also includes the 9 "slime" weapons that can be used in the game, but they're honestly not very good and are easily outclassed after about an hour or two of gameplay - but it's a nice gesture that they're offered here for free.
If you're a fan of Dragon Quest or are just looking for a solid action RPG, you should definitely give Dragon Quest Heroes a shot.
Helldivers - Uzzy
HELLDIVERS is a top down twin stick shooter, developed by Arrowhead Game Studios. Alone or with up to four players, it's up to you to defend Super Earth and democracy from the terrible alien menace that haunts the stars and hates our freedoms. Visit exotic planets and liberate them in the name of democracy, bring the benefits of human civilisation to their lands, using advanced, superior firepower that is entirely safe to deploy. Work together as a team, co-ordinate your attacks, remember your training and you will make it back alive!
We'll get the obvious out of the way, this is Starship Troopers meets Magicka. It's got the wonderfully satirical fascist-dystopian setting from the Starship Troopers movie, and the intense, chaotic action from the Magicka series. Friendly fire is always on, the aliens vast and overwhelming, your own weapons are deadly and highly inaccurate, reinforcements are complicated to call down, especially in the heat of battle when you need them most. It's the moment to moment chaos of dropping onto one of the procedural generated worlds, running into a bug patrol, desperately trying to kill them before they set off an alarm, failing and having to run away from overwhelming enemy forces, desperately calling in orbital strikes which wipe out some of the enemy and half your team, while still trying to somehow complete the mission, so you call in reinforcements to respawn your team mates, only for their drop pods to land right on your heads and wiping you all out.
Brawlhalla - Caerith
Brawlhalla is a free-to-play 2D arena brawler where a cowgirl can lasso a minotaur.
The game is primarily a brawler, with an easy online 4-player free for all mode, 1v1 or 2v2 ranked ladders, and support for up to 8 players in custom game modes, like team deathmatch or Brawlball. It can easily be played with friends on the couch, strangers online, or a mix of couch and online.
Brawlhalla is entirely free to play, and is supported by selling skins and taunts, which are awesome but purely cosmetic. The roster of characters is on a weekly rotation, but individual characters can be permanently unlocked by spending in-game gold earned by fighting.
It's a very smooth, very polished game. Everything about it works like you'd expect from a finished product, which is notable since it's in Early Access and only went into open beta in November. The developer is very dedicated and involved, and the community is large and active, with several thousand people playing at any given time who can attest to the fact that Brawlhalla is a lot of fun.
- Do not solicit/trade/sell/beg for games in this thread. The discussion of splitting retail packs is fine though.
- Do not spam post your steam stats/games count or post damage lists from sales.
- Examples of good posting behaviour and bad posting behaviour.
- Don't hype pre-order bundles that you have no idea about. Just buy them!
- Steam Support - The place to contact steam if you have a problem with the service.
- Steam Trading Cards - Gain money by selling cards or craft them for cosmetic items.
- Add funds to your Steam Wallet - You can also buy gift cards at most major gaming retailers.
- Steam Mobile - Use Steam while away from the PC. Supports iOS and Android.
- Big Picture Mode - Lets you run Steam on your TV in a more convenient manner.
- Steam Family Sharing - Share your Steam account with family and friends.
- Steam Community - A hub of what other steam users have created or are discussing.
- Steam Workshop - A showcase of Mods for games on Steam. Many are free, but some you now have to pay for.
- Steam Greenlight - Vote for games that want to be on the Steam store.
- Steam Stats - Check stats for the top 100 most played games on Steam.
- So when does the 'Winter/Spring/Summer/Autumn' sale start? The Winter Sale should start December 22nd. This thread will be closed after the sale starts.
- How do I use Modbot?! - Read this tutorial or watch this GIF.
- I changed my GAF email address, but now I'm locked out of my account - PM Stump.
- Can I join the NeoGAF Steam Group? - NeoGaf Steam Group - You must be invited by another member to join.
- Where can I add other gaffers on Steam? - GAF Steam ID List , add yourself to the spreadsheet
- Which game won SteamGAF GOTY 2014? - Divinity: Original Sin, full results here
- When is the newest version of Enhanced Steam going to be available on Firefox? - Ask Mozilla!
- How can I protect my Steam account? - Read: Account Security Recommendations.
- Store is in another language?! - You used a link that had ?l=blahblah at the end: http://store.steampowered.com/?l=english.
- Community is in another language?!- http://steamcommunity.com/?l=english.
- How do I run Steam in offline mode? - Steam Offline Mode Support Page.
- Is steam down? I can't see my Profile/Friends/Chat/Cloud Saves - See if Steam is running maintenance.
- Steam won't start or run? - Refresh your Steam files. If it fails: copy steamapps folder and re-install steam.
- Is using a VPN to get steam games from another region a good idea? - It can result in getting your account banned.
- Using a VPN to unlock games early?- Most people can unlock games early so that seems to be fine.
- How do I buy games outside the Steam Client when there is a sale? - Use Steam Mobile.
- Can I do remote downloading? - Yes, login into the Steam community webpage and select the game to download.
- How do I track how many players are playing a game over time? - Use steamcharts.com.
- One of my grid icons is missing a picture? - Check here to see some artwork Gaf did.
- I want to clean up my Steam folder of re-distributable packages - Use TikiOne-Steam-Cleaner.
- I am running out of space on my HDD, can I move my games? - Use SteamTool Library Manager or Steam Mover.
- How can I get some quick Steam cash or trading cards? - Use Steam Idle Master.
- Where I can download skins for Steam? - Go here for a mega list, make sure that the skin is safe to use.
- Can I trade games? - If they are in your inventory then yes, you cannot trade games you already own.
- Any other places to trade? - Try: SteamCardExchange / TF2 Outpost / SteamTrades / B/S/T or Steam Trading GAF.
- Sites to compare Steam prices regionally ? - SteamPrices or use Enhanced Steam.
- How do you find info on upcoming releases and updates? - Steam Database is a great tool.
- Is there a list of games no longer on Steam? - Check this list.
- Any extensions to use while using Steam site in a browser? - Enhanced Steam
- Any way to backup games that don't used Steam Cloud? - Use Game Save Manager.
- I want to compare prices to to other DD sites? - isthereanydeal.com
- Is there a SteamGAF Gaming Group to play games with other gaffers? - NeoGAF Games Night.
- How do I get rid of trade dues for cards?- Use this useful site.
- How long will it take me to beat game 'X/Y/Z' ? - Check out How Long To Beat.
- Sites that list Steam profile Stats? - Data about your Steam account | Tells you how much time you spent on steam and for each game
Previous Threads:
Since it's December, here is a look back on all of the 2015 Steam threads. Enjoy!
November 2015 - Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty Never Changes - Who Posted?
October 2015 - You had me at "game ... comes to Steam". - Who Posted?
September 2015 - The Phantom Pre-Load or: AAA Movies Are Just +1s To Us - Who Posted?
August 2015 - Three versions of Windows since the last Half-Life - Who Posted?
July 2015 - Nothing To Buy With Our Arkham Knight Refunds - Who Posted?
June II 2015 - Click the Monsters You Monster - Who Posted?
June 2015 - Wait for the Steam Sale Thread You Bastards! - Who Posted?
May 2015 - Paid Mods? We hardly Nuuvem! - Who Posted?
April 2015 - Orange, you glad it’s morningbus? “No.” - Who Posted?
March 2015 - Have you seen MRORANGE? - Who Posted?
February 2015 - Steam GOTY results still delayed - Who Posted?
January 2015 - Steam GOTY results: Delayed - Who Posted?
The first post of the year was also the most wrong.
It's been an honor and pleasure to serve you as the master of ceremonies for the past nine months. MRORANGE will be back in January heading up the Steam threads, but if he ever decides to step down (or needs a month off) in the future I'd be happy to step in any time. I'm lucky to count most of SteamGAF among my friends, and it fills me with great joy knowing there is a place like SteamGAF where all are welcome. Finally, I leave you with a few final words of wisdom:
