Best of Steam Summer Sale

[Phage]

I'll go and have a look. Any others ? Is CS:GO worth a shot, or will I just get my arse handed to me by 14 yr-olds with the reflexes of a jack rabbit on meth ?

[shaithis]

I wouldn't bother with the show - it is derivative, mediocre, sci-fi at best.

Reminds me way too much of Farscape, which I also felt was cheap and tacky

As for the steam sale, day 1 was massively underwhelming for me.......Skyrim was the only thing remotely tempting me but I still doubt I could be bothered playing it through.....There wasn't even anything to make me go "Damn, wish I waiting until buying that".

Heres hoping for some better deals!

[Pob255]

I remember B5 having a crap pilot and the first half of the first season was not that great,but it picked up towards the end.

Oi Mooseface! Take that back, Yes the graphics where a bit ropey in the first series but it was one of the best series of B5, it didn't have the continuous story instead each episode was separate with hints at the developing larger story going on in the background.

On the subject of the defiance TV show, its ok, it's not bad just nothing outstanding.
I think it's big failing is that for a post-apocalypse/wildwest with aliens it lacks the grittiness it needs, a bit too "family friendly" so lacks the harsher edges it really needs.

From what I've heard of the game it's similar, it's sort of a borderlands the MMO minus the comedy angle, nothing wrong with it but nothing outstanding ether.

That said I've picked up the standard pack, I'll live without the extras of the deluxe pack

I've also picked up scribble nughts as a bit of fun I can just mess around in.

And Civ5 gold edition . . . that's going to chew up sooooo many hours

[Spreadie]

I'm tempted to pick up the Witcher 1 & 2. Only £11 for the pair.

[NecronomicoN]

Skyrim was the only thing remotely tempting me but I still doubt I could be bothered playing it through...!

I'm at 974 hours logged on Skyrim. I finished it once. The mod community is depressing though, it's all NPC behavior/item library/homes/graphic mods. Nothing game-changing, pardon the expression. Still worth the purchase.

I own the Witcher 1 & 2 already. I quit in Chapter 3 of the first game, due to a disagreement with the story. And subsequently never installed Witcher 2.

[Spreadie]

I own the Witcher 1 & 2 already. I quit in Chapter 3 of the first game, due to a disagreement with the story. And subsequently never installed Witcher 2.

Do tell me more, I'm intrigued!

[MrJim]

Hmm...Saints Row the Third is on flash sale...is it much fun on co-op?

[kalniel]

Do tell me more, I'm intrigued!

But use white text or something to prevent spoilers for the few unfortunate souls who haven't played that most excellent of games

[Spreadie]

But use white text or something to prevent spoilers for the few unfortunate souls who haven't played that most excellent of games

Definitely worth picking them both up? I've heard a few unflattering things about the first one - being clumsy and bug-ridden. Is it necessary to play it before the second one?

[NecronomicoN]

Do tell me more, I'm intrigued!

The first issue involves Triss, Shani, and the orphaned kid Alvin. You have to decide who to give the kid to, even though, you never agreed to watch after the brat in the first place. The woman you decide to give the brat to becomes your default 'spouse', though what that has to do with unloading a kid is anyone's guess. Triss insists you discipline the kid and stomp out any delusions of happiness he might have had. Shani insists you humor the kid, spoil him. After choosing your 'spouse', despite not wanting either one, a bachelor party ensues with your 'friends'. You come home drunk and get yelled at by both women. Triss even has the nerve to tell you what a bad 'father' and role model you are. This is rich given that she is only interested in the boy's psychic powers. The story is on rails, forcing you into a relationship with one of these women, and giving you the responsibility of caring for the orphaned brat whether you accept it or not.

As chapter 3 opens, you end up in Triss' company, and she rapes you. You aren't given a way out of it, it's on rails. Shortly after that, as the main quest unfolds, you go to meet-n-greet banquet with the local royals. Geralt must speak with each of the prominent people to progress. However, every time Geralt opens his mouth to speak, the bitch Triss interrupts and does the talking for him. That was the last straw for me. This is so far outside of Geralt's character that I just couldn't go on. Geralt would have backhanded the bitch for presuming to be his mouthpiece. He is not a nice guy.

And that's the short of it. I found being locked-in to certain scenarios very un-Witcher-ly, and many actions going against my own morality. So I quit.

[kalniel]

Definitely worth picking them both up? I've heard a few unflattering things about the first one - being clumsy and bug-ridden. Is it necessary to play it before the second one?

It's not clumsy or bug-ridden in my opinion, especially not since the enhanced edition came out (which is the one you buy on steam). It's not necessary to play it before the second one, though the prologue does set up some of the situation that the protagonist finds himself in (which one of the story threads in the second game sets about resolving).

However I'd say it's definitely worth picking them both up. The first one is slightly my favourite of the two, but both are excellent.

[kalniel]

-issues with chp3-

Well the party is completely optional, as is most of it really. Certainly in most of my play throughs I didn't have what happened to you in your second paragraph!

As for Geralt being spoken for by Triss.. well I kind of see your point, but then again it fits her character as well. The second game is a bit better in that respect, though it ignores your choice from the first game.

Certainly you can't go into the games expecting them to be a faithful representation of the books - they're not, but the books still add a good deal of background information that adds to the experience when playing the games.

As for being locked in.. well I found that true in some cases, but in others, surprisingly not - it *looks* like most of the time you have a choice between A or B only.. but actually there is usually a third choice - walk away, or do nothing etc. sometimes you need to do this if you don't think your character would go with either A or B.

[NecronomicoN]

Well the party is completely optional, as is most of it really. Certainly in most of my play throughs I didn't have what happened to you in your second paragraph!

You awaken after the swamp in Triss' company. It's a scripted scene that ends in sex. It annoyed me because I was actively avoiding relations with Triss, and then the game just threw my choices away; threw my play-through away.

As for the party, I recall there was a specific person there that I was trying to maintain an association with. I wasn't aware you could just skip it.

Certainly you can't go into the games expecting them to be a faithful representation of the books - they're not, but the books still add a good deal of background information that adds to the experience when playing the games.

As for being locked in.. well I found that true in some cases, but in others, surprisingly not - it *looks* like most of the time you have a choice between A or B only.. but actually there is usually a third choice - walk away, or do nothing etc. sometimes you need to do this if you don't think your character would go with either A or B.

Yeah, that's mostly true. Sapkowski didn't have much to do with the game at all. But I wish they'd remained true to the character.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Reminds me way too much of Farscape, which I also felt was cheap and tacky

Its the same chap(Rockne S. O'Bannon),although Farscape was pioneering in its use of animatronics which still hold up today,and had a $1.5 million budget per episode,which was quite high. I don't think Defiance has anyway near that budget and is more a low budget jobbie.

Oi Mooseface! Take that back, Yes the graphics where a bit ropey in the first series but it was one of the best series of B5, it didn't have the continuous story instead each episode was separate with hints at the developing larger story going on in the background.

I was talking more on watching it first,as you can see it feeling for its feet,but if you watch it after completing the series,you can see some good hints,and there are some great episodes. I just think seasons 2 to 4 is where it really hits its stride.

On the subject of the defiance TV show, its ok, it's not bad just nothing outstanding.
I think it's big failing is that for a post-apocalypse/wildwest with aliens it lacks the grittiness it needs, a bit too "family friendly" so lacks the harsher edges it really needs.

From what I've heard of the game it's similar, it's sort of a borderlands the MMO minus the comedy angle, nothing wrong with it but nothing outstanding ether.

That said I've picked up the standard pack, I'll live without the extras of the deluxe pack

I am not saying its redefining the genre,but it was not bad as I expected after reading what people said on the internet.

[Pob255]

I didn't think you where saying defiance was ground breaking, I don't think it's that bad even after watching only the first couple of episodes
I don't think budget is the issue, ps the farscape budget of $1.5 million per episode isn't actually very high for a scifi series, it's actually on the lower end for a scifi tv show.
That said there's really no such thing as a "per episode" budget it's done per season in chunks because setup cost is far higher than running cost (you don't rebuild sets and costumes for every episode you just make them once)
The odd thing about defiance is that the budget is fairly high but it does quite look it (Game of Thrones had $45milion for the first series, defiance had $40milion for the first series)
Another interesting thing is that the game had a budget of $70milion

But back to the steam sale, The ship is on sale for £3.49 that would be fun if we could get a bunch of us together to play it
XCOM: Enemy Unknown for £7.49 (without DLC, add in £2.27 for that) I picked it up a couple of months back on sale, it was more but included the DLC so actually was less than it is on for now.
Just cause2 for £1.99 great game

edit: game downloading speeds have dropped for me, getting between 1.1-1.5 mb/s

[Bagnaj97]

edit: game downloading speeds have dropped for me, getting between 1.1-1.5 mb/s

You can change your Steam download server in the settings. I was seeing the same thing on the UK server, now I'm using the Romanian one and it's ok