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Steam Summer Sales 2012 Thread: we still like you Tony

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BlazeGaj

Neo Member
Going to get Borderlands edition and Orcs must die.

Sadly Tropica Bundle is a bit too much for me.

Both Alan wake games were really cheap best deal for me. Heard a lot of good things about it.
 

Angry Fork

Member
AFAIK (and someone go ahead and correct me!) there aren't any simulations that go both as broad (in terms of features) and as deep (in terms of what those features do) as that.

Something like Civilization or Europa Universalis will offer you an 'epic scale' sim of how a nation can grow and change over eons, something like Patrician or Anno will let you tinker with economic models, something like railroad tycoon or cities in motion will let you dive deep into infrastructure and transport models, something like Tropico will let you dabble with edicts and laws and their effects on a population...

Basically, if you figure out what system(s) you are most interested in, you'll be able to find something that will delve deep enough to scratch an itch, or go for something shallower that contains a lot more systems at a much bigger level (and nobody is going to accuse a Europa Universalis of being 'shallow' even if it does not model individual cities, or let you get hands on with its economy)

Nice, thanks I'm gonna look into them and see what I'd like.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
RIP Steam

PioK3.jpg
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Impressions by me from the old steam thread on FRAY:


OMG

Finally got to play Fray.

And this game is so unbelievably bad, I... am speechless.

On top of those issues:
Toma said:
Fray finally works now, but I couldnt test it yet. It also still seems like the servers might be a bit too strained. People get randomly kicked from the chat server.

A few immediate impressions after reading the tutorials though:

- While its turn based MP, there is a time element to it, since being the first to end a turn will give you a bonus for your characters
- 4 player deathmatch is the only available mode at the moment (7 kills to win). While there is a wide range of possible squad setups (maybe even equipment configurations), the basic gameplay options are rather limited.
- Absolutely no SP content. Not even training missions, which is bad form in my opinion. You can't even "try" things without a time constraint due to point 1.
- Tutorials are completely barebones and are not even close to explaining the game. Lots of missing sections. Clearly an afterthought that was just pushed in right before the launch.
- There is a very in depth upgrade system for each class, which in itself looks fun, but also greatly weighs down on new players who dont yet have upgrades. I couldnt try them yet, but it seems likely that new players will have a hard time getting into the game against levelled ones.
- The match making system is rather unsmart, since they tried to keep it as close to "usual" FPS matchmaking as possible without considering their own genre. FS gave you a quick option to invite every player who might want to play. Here players need to go into a server list, to check for and open up games, which greatly reduces the open games at a time.
- You need to stick to one game after you started it. Exiting will result in a loss, which means:
a) The advantage of turn based play is moot since you need to start and finish a match in one sitting, and
b) You can only ever have 1 game going, which also means there are way, way less matches available than in FS. I had 40 people on the server, which gave me 1 game to play if I was lucky. In FS 40 people on the server mean you can instantly play 10 games at the same time.

Except for graphics, the own squad setup and the 4 player deathmatch mode, Frozen Synapse wins in every regard. Going to post some actual gameplay impressions after I got to playing it, though, but I definitely do not like the vibe I am currently getting from this game.

I can now add these ones:

- The game is unbelievably bad optimized and runs like shit no matter the PC configuration
- The game has 120 seconds turns in its slowest setting, which is actually needed if you properly want to play the game. But for beginners it makes the game unplayable. Additionally: if you end your turn faster, you'll get a fighting bonus. No time to play/train. This game is crazy beginner hostile.
- The game doesnt give you ANY ingame hints whatsoever on any outcome. You dont get hit percentages, how many damage you can do, sometimes I wouldnt even know whether I can hit the enemy at all.
- The game also does a very poor job of showing the player when an enemy is in line of sight to fire.
- Load times between turns are horrible. Load times everywhere. Game stuck on the last turn for 10-15 seconds just to have the end screen pop up.
- Since this game is a mess and beginner hostile: You wont find many players to play with (I had 8 players online just now). Add that with the bad matchmaking system, and you got a MP only game that will have completely barren servers in 2 weeks.
- And to add insult to injury, their main selling point: graphics. The awesome style in the trailer looks in fact... HORRIBLE ingame. Just look at the UI and the "fog of war" style pixelization effect:

Clear recommendation: Don't go near this game. EVER. And NO, not even in a sale.

For the mine and your sanity, buy Frozen Synapse instead. If anything of the above issues has been remedied by a patch, feel free to correct me please.
 

dtekdahl00

Neo Member
You can use a real US address.



The card is weak, unfortunately.

What advice would you give to make my computer play relatively current games adequately? (Skyrim was just an example, I am not personally interested in it)

Also my laptop is an HP Pavilion dv6. Is that a handicap in-and-of itself? Do I have to be worried about cooling problems or anything like that?
 

Koroviev

Member
What advice would you give to make my computer play relatively current games adequately? (Skyrim was just an example, I am not personally interested in it)

Also my laptop is an HP Pavilion dv6. Is that a handicap in-and-of itself? Do I have to be worried about cooling problems or anything like that?

Unfortunately, laptops are much more difficult to upgrade. I would probably just stick to indie games for right now. There's no shortage of good ones.
 

BadAss2961

Member
Ah I see. I may as well pick em both up since they are less than 10 dollars. Only got about 2.50 left in my wallet. Lol. Hoping amnesia will be that much... Or is it 75% off the twenty dollar tag rather than the ten dollar tag? If so then shitty titty.
I'd only go with L4D2 if I were you. I think it has literally all of the original's content now.

About the difference in pace between the two games, I never noticed it outside the addition of melee weapons. Melee weapons are a significant change.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
For emphasis, again: Impressions by me from the old steam thread on FRAY:


OMG

Finally got to play Fray.

And this game is so unbelievably bad, I... am speechless.

On top of those issues:
Toma said:
Fray finally works now, but I couldnt test it yet. It also still seems like the servers might be a bit too strained. People get randomly kicked from the chat server.

A few immediate impressions after reading the tutorials though:

- While its turn based MP, there is a time element to it, since being the first to end a turn will give you a bonus for your characters
- 4 player deathmatch is the only available mode at the moment (7 kills to win). While there is a wide range of possible squad setups (maybe even equipment configurations), the basic gameplay options are rather limited.
- Absolutely no SP content. Not even training missions, which is bad form in my opinion. You can't even "try" things without a time constraint due to point 1.
- Tutorials are completely barebones and are not even close to explaining the game. Lots of missing sections. Clearly an afterthought that was just pushed in right before the launch.
- There is a very in depth upgrade system for each class, which in itself looks fun, but also greatly weighs down on new players who dont yet have upgrades. I couldnt try them yet, but it seems likely that new players will have a hard time getting into the game against levelled ones.
- The match making system is rather unsmart, since they tried to keep it as close to "usual" FPS matchmaking as possible without considering their own genre. FS gave you a quick option to invite every player who might want to play. Here players need to go into a server list, to check for and open up games, which greatly reduces the open games at a time.
- You need to stick to one game after you started it. Exiting will result in a loss, which means:
a) The advantage of turn based play is moot since you need to start and finish a match in one sitting, and
b) You can only ever have 1 game going, which also means there are way, way less matches available than in FS. I had 40 people on the server, which gave me 1 game to play if I was lucky. In FS 40 people on the server mean you can instantly play 10 games at the same time.

Except for graphics, the own squad setup and the 4 player deathmatch mode, Frozen Synapse wins in every regard. Going to post some actual gameplay impressions after I got to playing it, though, but I definitely do not like the vibe I am currently getting from this game.

I can now add these ones:

- The game is unbelievably bad optimized and runs like shit no matter the PC configuration
- The game has 120 seconds turns in its slowest setting, which is actually needed if you properly want to play the game. But for beginners it makes the game unplayable. Additionally: if you end your turn faster, you'll get a fighting bonus. No time to play/train. This game is crazy beginner hostile.
- The game doesnt give you ANY ingame hints whatsoever on any outcome. You dont get hit percentages, how many damage you can do, sometimes I wouldnt even know whether I can hit the enemy at all.
- The game also does a very poor job of showing the player when an enemy is in line of sight to fire.
- Load times between turns are horrible. Load times everywhere. Game stuck on the last turn for 10-15 seconds just to have the end screen pop up.
- Since this game is a mess and beginner hostile: You wont find many players to play with (I had 8 players online just now). Add that with the bad matchmaking system, and you got a MP only game that will have completely barren servers in 2 weeks.
- And to add insult to injury, their main selling point: graphics. The awesome style in the trailer looks in fact... HORRIBLE ingame. Just look at the UI and the "fog of war" style pixelization effect:

Clear recommendation: Don't go near this game. EVER. And NO, not even in a sale.

For mine and your sanity, buy Frozen Synapse instead. If anything of the above issues has been remedied by a patch, feel free to correct me please.
 
Game page shows only the SS discount. It doesn't say anything about a flash sale. Not that a deeper discount will make the game offered any better, but hey.
 
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