Sales on Steam

[Signa]

Ok, this is totally out of place given the nature of 90% of the threads that get deleted here, but here goes anyway.

Steam is constantly having sales, and one right now is good enough to mention so that the rest of you who are interested can grab some great, cheap games legally. I pretty much vowed to not buy digitally distributed games, because I like my game boxes, but some times the deal is nice enough that I'm willing to forgo my usual habits.

All Half-life games are 66% off right now, and I just bought Half-life 1, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Team Fortress Classic for a little over $5. I also grabbed HL2:DM for a buck-fifty. I didn't look to see when the sale is over, but I would hop on this if you are even remotely interested. These are gaming's best here for chump change. Compared to a run to McDonalds, this is still a steal.

You are welcome to post any other deals you see on Steam here if you want to share. I'll update the thread if I purchase anything again.

[mountain_rage]

They have got me buying games I don't even have time to play because the deals are so good. Its actually gotten me in the habit of checking their weekend deal, because most of the time they are damn well worth it.

[Signa]

Sacred Gold is $5. Get it NOW!!!! GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!


To the uninitiated, Sacred quickly became one of my favorite RPG series for its wonderful reimaging of the Diablo-style hack-n-slash games. What I find refreshingly unique with this game is that none of the characters have MP for their magic skills. All your casting is controlled by recharge rates on each of your skills. The better your character gets, the more you are able to reduce your recharge rates.

One thing that I don't like about the system is that you can REALLY fuck up your character if you don't know what you are doing. Each time you learn a new level in a skill, you increase its damage as well as its recharge time. You can over-learn a skill to the point where you only get one shot at the skill before you have to wait too long to cast it again, and then those bosses can get their punches in while you are helpless.

Anyway, to summarize: If you like Diablo and/or open RPGs like Morrowind, BUY THIS GAME. While the game isn't a clone of either franchise, some points from each will stick out stronger than the other at different times. I find the game to be greater than the sum of its parts.

EDIT: I just typed up that quick review because I didn't know how long the game was going to be on sale for memorial day weekend, but it turns out that the game is on sale until the 18th (by the looks of it anyway...) so now I have a little more time to get into a few more details.

At first glace, the game is Diablo. You have a character, in an isometric view that you can move around and to click on enemies and attack. Diablo fans may be disappointed to find that the world is not randomly generated, but should be impressed to see the extremely large world map. It makes Morrowind added to Oblivion look a bit small. It certainly, if nothing else, makes Diablo feel like a demo in terms of world size.

I touched a little on the skill system on the first half of my post, but I'll continue it some more.

Your skills are divided into 3 categories: Attributes, Skills, and Combat Arts.

Attributes: Veteran RPG players should have no problem understanding this one. It's your character's physical stats. How strong you are, how much health you have, your mental abilities, etc, etc. Each time you level up, you get one point to put into your character. It sounds really crummy when you have 6 attributes, but all your attributes do level up, but you get to put that *extra* point into what you want to focus on.

Skills: Skills aren't what you may think of when regarding most RPGs. Skills in Sacred are better thought of as "proficiencies," because they will boost your ability to handle weapons, armor, riding horses, and any number of things. Say you are a mage with fire, ice, wind and earth magic. Taking Fire Skills allows your character to deal more damage and recharge your fire skills faster. You get to add up to 8 different skills as you level up, but you have to wait pretty long to get the 8th one. Just make sure you choose a skill you are going to stick with, because taking riding might be great for a while, but if you stop using your horse, then it was a wasted skill.

Combat Arts: Combat arts are basically what RPG players think of when some one refers to skills. They are your fighter's whirling blade attacks, or your mage's ice storms. Anything that isn't a basic attack is your Combat arts. What is unique to Sacred and combat arts is that you never learn them from leveling up like you would in Diablo. You have to find your Combat Arts by getting random drops. It kinda sucks, but there is a good reason for it, and I think it works better in the end. As I mentioned before, you can over-level your skills. Each time a Combat art drops from an enemy, you have a choice of learning it or keeping it as a token. All classes combat arts will drop, but you can trade them in multiplayer, or take them to a special store keeper and exchange them for a combat art that is applicable to your class. The reason why you might want to hold on to a Combat Art token is because you can insert them into your weapons and armor slots. If you insert a token into a slot on your equipment, you will gain the damage bonuses from the extra level without getting the full penalty of the recharge time. Two players could have 5 levels in the same Combat art, but the one who equiped his tokens instead of learning them permenetly will be able to use his skill much more frequently.

Anyway, I can't recommend this game strongly enough, especially at the price it is at. Even if you are unsure of whether or not you will like the game, it's almost impossible to say you wasted $5 if you didn't like it. Just like with the Half-life deal before, just compare it to a run to McDonalds, and see how much you really think it's not worth it.

[Signa]

Steam is selling Braid for $5 this week. If you don't know about it, I encourage you to find out. It has received plenty of critical acclaim, and is more than worth the purchase.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is also going for $10. I've not played it, but I constantly hear it was one of the best Star Wars games.

[mountain_rage]

Just bought Braid earlier today, have yet to play it. Was looking at Star Wars, but I probably should not buy any more lengthy games at this time. Have to start studying.

[Mels_Smileys45]

I bought a Boom Stick and a bag of weed using steam. NICE service, quick shipping, great dealer! A+++++

[mountain_rage]

Just played the first two levels of Braid, the game is bloody brilliant! Was always turned off from the appearance of the graphics, but its really one of the best platform/puzzle games I've ever played.

[Signa]

It's a shame it's as short as it is. But yeah, I got to test the title update for it. I'm glad that I was finally able to pick it up at a price that wasn't ripping myself off. When you've beaten the game twice over as your job, it's hard to want to pay even half price for a game, even if you liked it enough to play it more.

[Signa]

Gary's Mod is on sale for $5 this week. Have fun doing insane shit with it for no purpose.

[moneoa]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is also going for $10. I've not played it, but I constantly hear it was one of the best Star Wars games.

I do not lie when I say Knights was better written and more entertaining than the prequels

[Hath]

KOTOR is just plain awesome. I played it on the XBOX, and was one of the best I've ever played.

[Signa]

Damn steam is just pouring out the deals lately.

Unreal Tournament 3 is free this weekend

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is $5.

[mountain_rage]

No only is UT3 free to play till Sunday, its only 8 bucks, definitely worth it. Haven't played this version as much as the last ones, but you can't go wrong, its a solid shooter for 8$.

Id get Monkey Island but they totally butchered the character models on the remake. Guybrush should look like a stupid pretty boy, not a little flamboyant french twarp.

[Signa]

Madballs in Babo: Invasion is $8. It's a very solid Third person shooter with several character balls you can play as, each with their own weapons, stats, and unlockables.

[Signa]

Looks like F.E.A.R. 2 and its DLC are 50% off this weekend, making them $25 and $5, respectively. I'll be passing on this one, but some one else may want to know about it.