Steam (and other) black friday sales

[Jack_Batty]

@Toffe

Any more opinions on Men of War: Vietnam? I’m curious about it. I have some other games in the franchise, but life got in the way of me continuing past the tutorial - the games seemed like great fun, although tricky and time-consuming. This one might be worth it for the Vietnam setting.

I wouldn’t let my crotchetiness color your decision one way or another.

It is a pretty cool game, and, like you, I was excited about the Vietnam setting, but you gotta be good at those kinds of games to get anywhere.

Not to spoiler anything too much, but the first mission you got four guys - going up against probably 50 assorted enemies - that you have to lead through a long mission, taking over an outpost, infiltrating a base, destroying some trucks, escaping across a river and I can’t even remember what else. By the way, I only know that much because I looked it up on YouTube. I couldn’t get past infiltrating the base.

It is very difficult.

Or I suck really bad.

Probably somewhere in the middle there.

[tr0psn4j]

@SenorBeef

Ok so Dungeon Defenders is apparently some cartoony coop tower defense game that people seem to love. It’s pretty wildly popular for an indie game, and they just released a bunch of new content today - so they’re apparently continuously adding to it.

It’s 50% off ($7.50) currently, but you can also get a buy 3 get 1 free 4-pack for $22. And it also may have a steeper discount on a daily deal.

Anyway, I’m going to get it one way or another, but this seems like a game that SDMBers can get together to play, so I’m going to recommend - first, wait to see if it’s a daily sale, and if not, organize a group buy (one person pays, dishes out the copies, everyone else paypals their share back to that guy) or just buy it on your own.

It’s a fairly popular game. There are public games going at all times of the day. The community, for the most part is amazing. Lots of friendly people in those games.

They also keep a good job of maintaining and updating the game. They have been updating and patching and tweaking the game on a very frequent basis. Today we received a big update with new content.

On a few occasions, I’ve read a thread where the OP suggests a change to the game, and in the next update, find that change in the patch notes.

I highly recommend the game. Especially, if you can find it in the $7 range.

[Spratt]

Dungeon Defenders is pretty fun as long as you’re playing online. If you like tower defense and RPGs, great mix.

Haven’t tried the new DLC yet though but the Halloween one was fun, cool costumes as well.

[Gorsnak]

About the only thing I’m interested in would be a complete Fallout: New Vegas DLC pack. I see they’ve got individual 50% discounts, so at the end of the sale I may pick them up for that. No rush, though - I won’t get to them till I’ve gone through Skyrim about 3 times.

[SenorBeef]

Day 2:

Fallout: New Vegas $5. DLC is also 75% off - $2.50 each.
Total War Megapack including Empire, Medieval 2, Napoleon, and Rome, with all DLC and expansions, for $12.50
LA Noire $25
Operation Flashpoint: Red River $11, Dragon Rising $4
Red Orchestra 2 $20
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Platinum $10
Two Worlds $13
Sniper, Ghost Warrior $6
VVVVVV $1.25
Monkey Island Special Edition Bundle (the remakes, not the new episodes) $5
Zeno Clash $3.75
Rift $7.50

The Total War megapack is a ridiculous deal - that’s a ton of great games for almost nothing. If you already have some of the games from that pack, you can get the games individually at 75% off. But if you’re missing games or DLC you migth as well just get the whole pack and make it complete.

Fallout New Vegas is obviously a great deal at $5. I bought it in the summer sale for $10, figuring that’s the lowest it’ll be for a while, never ended up playing it, and now I could’ve had it for $5. Not a big deal except I’ve done this with like 40 other games. Ah well.

Surprised to see LA Noire, something that was just released a few weeks ago, half off already.

The operation flashpoint games should be good, but aren’t. Dragon Rising is probably worth the $4 anyway, especially if you have some people to do coop with.

RCT3 pisses me off - I really want to rebuy that game because I’ve lost my copy, but they won’t ever go lower than $10 for an 8 year old game. I mean, New Vegas is a year old and just as big a game, and it’s $5…

VVVVVV is a platformer that seems to be really well liked.

Thinking about RO2 for $20, just wondering if I’d ever play it over BF3.

[Toffe]

Any opinions on Sniper: Ghost Warrior? I’ve heard the ending sucks, but is it a decent game otherwise?

I gave MoW: Vietnam a miss. Reviews mainly said it only appeals to people who enjoyed the original. So I’ll wait with buying it until I’ve actually had time to play the original

[Jules_Andre]

Thanks for starting this thread. If I didn’t see these on the Dope I’d never know when these sales start. My wallet is not as pleased, however.

[China_Guy]

What’s a good FPS these days? Maybe I’ll get one but it’s been years. I liked Doom, the original Duke Nukem, Call of Duty (IIRC), Castle Wolfenstein, and *really *liked the Half-Life series.

So, what’s out there that’s cheap, good fun and can play on a normal laptop?

[SenorBeef]

Depends on what you mean by “normal” laptop - most don’t have a real 3d accelerator making them unsuitable for most modern games. Do you have a model number or do you know the video card?

[appleciders]

A while back, we had a discussion about Empire: Total War in which I complained (to some heated disagreement! I hope we can avoid that particular sidetrack here) that the factions were too similar, and some posters suggested I might enjoy Napoleon: Total War more. Is that true? Because $7.50 for Napoleon: Total War is a great deal. And, actually, there’s a smaller sale pack that includes the entirety, including bonus packs, of Empire and Napoleon for $7.50, and Empire alone is worth that much! For that matter, is Rome: Total War worth it at this point, or will it feel too dated?

[tr0psn4j]

I highly recommend VVVVVV. Fun little platformer. I think I completed the game in 4 hours.

Is LA Noir worth the purchase?

[Max_the_Immortal]

@appleciders

A while back, we had a discussion about Empire: Total War in which I complained (to some heated disagreement! I hope we can avoid that particular sidetrack here) that the factions were too similar, and some posters suggested I might enjoy Napoleon: Total War more. Is that true? Because $7.50 for Napoleon: Total War is a great deal. And, actually, there’s a smaller sale pack that includes the entirety, including bonus packs, of Empire and Napoleon for $7.50, and Empire alone is worth that much! For that matter, is Rome: Total War worth it at this point, or will it feel too dated?

Rome is pretty dated at this point. I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it, including a replay a few months ago (though that may have been largely due to nostalgia), but I won’t go so far as to recommend it to a new player.

Napoleon is like a refined version of Empire. The biggest difference between the factions’ units is artillery. France has good cannons, England has kinda crummy cannons but regular howitzers, and Russia eventually gets the unicorn, which is an amazing long-range howitzer (and all of their units are immune to winter attrition). There is variation between the stats of the different kinds of infantry and cavalry, but it’s not as pronounced as the variation in artillery. Combat in general feels a lot more deadly; artillery is much more effective. The game is also prettier. There’s a free demo if you want to take the time to test drive it.

There’s also a demo for Shogun 2, which is only down to $15 today. It’s a further refinement, but there is very little variation between the different factions’ units. There’s a standard suite of units (e.g. katana samurai, bow ashigaru, yari cavalry), and each clan has a special version of one type of unit (e.g. Shimazu have better katana samurai, but have the exact same standard bow ashigaru and yari cavalry that the Mori and Date clans have). This means less replay value, but the first play-through is quite fun.

[appleciders]

Well, I may grab Rome anyway, seeing as it’s $2.50. It’s got to be worth that, at least. Does Napoleon include the colonial theatres like Empire, or is it limited to Europe?

I’d love to get Shogun, but I don’t think my computer would run it well enough to be worth it. I’ll save it for the future.

[SenorBeef]

You might as well grab the whole pack to make sure you have everything. It includes stuff like Rome’s expansion pack, the empire dlc, etc.

[China_Guy]

@SenorBeef

Depends on what you mean by “normal” laptop - most don’t have a real 3d accelerator making them unsuitable for most modern games. Do you have a model number or do you know the video card?

Right now I have a net book and an AIO, I will be getting an Acer ultrabook (forget the name but the next model out) with 4 GB RAM and not sure if it has a seperate GPU. I will be playing on the ultrabook during business trips.

[SenorBeef]

I’d need to know more to help you. A lot of computers simply don’t have 3d accelerator hardware (or if they do, they’re basically useless) - in which case it doesn’t really matter how modern they are. A 3 year old laptop with a real video card is more capable of playing games than a brand new one that doesn’t have one, simply because the new one doesn’t have the hardware to do gaming.

[Askance]

Many Paradox Interactive games on sale at Steam or direct from PI.

@appleciders

A while back, we had a discussion about Empire: Total War in which I complained (to some heated disagreement! I hope we can avoid that particular sidetrack here) that the factions were too similar, and some posters suggested I might enjoy Napoleon: Total War more. Is that true? Because $7.50 for Napoleon: Total War is a great deal. And, actually, there’s a smaller sale pack that includes the entirety, including bonus packs, of Empire and Napoleon for $7.50, and Empire alone is worth that much! For that matter, is Rome: Total War worth it at this point, or will it feel too dated?

If you want historical strategy games with depth look at some of the Paradox titles on sale above. Europa Universalis III (medieval/renaissance), Rome Gold (republican Rome), Hearts of Iron III (WWII).

[wevets]

@Askance

Many Paradox Interactive games on sale at Steam or direct from PI.

If you want historical strategy games with depth look at some of the Paradox titles on sale above. Europa Universalis III (medieval/renaissance), Rome Gold (republican Rome), Hearts of Iron III (WWII).

I’m pondering the sale price for Victoria 2 (industrial era to Interwar, heavy emphasis on economics and politics) - anyone know if the game is any good? I heard bad things when it first came out…

[Max_the_Immortal]

@appleciders

Well, I may grab Rome anyway, seeing as it’s $2.50. It’s got to be worth that, at least. Does Napoleon include the colonial theatres like Empire, or is it limited to Europe?

The main campaign is limited to Europe. The closest it comes to colonial interests is the trading posts for merchant ships that line the west and south edges of the map.

[appleciders]

@Askance

Many Paradox Interactive games on sale at Steam or direct from PI.

If you want historical strategy games with depth look at some of the Paradox titles on sale above. Europa Universalis III (medieval/renaissance), Rome Gold (republican Rome), Hearts of Iron III (WWII).

You know, I’ve played EU games before and been underwhelmed. Maybe I’ll grab a cheap one and see what I think. I really value the tactical map in Total War games at least as much as the strategy map, and the EU game I played (II or III, I think) didn’t have it at all.