The Indie Bundle Mega Thread

[Metro]

My guess is the additions will just be more Magicka DLC.

 

[tuluse]

DEPONIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

But yeah, probably skipping this one too unless they add something shocking later. Only game I'm missing out of it is Cities in Motion.

Cities in Motion makes me mad because it is close to being a great game, but is just mediocre.

 

[Metro]

What is it? A transportation sim?

 

[tuluse]

Yeah, you are in charge of a city's mass transit. It has some nifty ideas, but some things are really poorly thought out.

Like you can set up express routes, where a bus or train will only stop at certain stops on the main route, but the people are too stupid to dynamically change their minds about which one to take. So customer A wants to get from stop 1 to stop 4. There is an express bus that goes there directly and a local bus that stops at 2 and 3 as well. The express bus comes to stop 1, but is full. Customer is forced to wait, and an empty local bus stops next. A real person would just hop on the local bus instead of waiting 30 min for the next express bus, but in Cities in Motion they'll just wait and get pissed off.

 

[Turjan]

Yeah, you are in charge of a city's mass transit. It has some nifty ideas, but some things are really poorly thought out.

Like you can set up express routes, where a bus or train will only stop at certain stops on the main route, but the people are too stupid to dynamically change their minds about which one to take. So customer A wants to get from stop 1 to stop 4. There is an express bus that goes there directly and a local bus that stops at 2 and 3 as well. The express bus comes to stop 1, but is full. Customer is forced to wait, and an empty local bus stops next. A real person would just hop on the local bus instead of waiting 30 min for the next express bus, but in Cities in Motion they'll just wait and get pissed off.

Yup. I like the game and spent much time with it, but the AI is cringeworthy. The worst aspect is that cars cannot pass, even on a four lane avenue. Cars choose a lane when they enter a road and then stay there. Instead of taking the left lane to go past a stopped bus, everyone stays behind it and brings traffic, including your public transport. to a screeching halt. Also, the solution to every traffic problem is "build more subways".

Edit: False advertising alert! Depicted solution requires Tokyo DLC and a camera mod.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

http://groupees.com/kiss

New Groupees bundle. Most notably includes the new King's Bounty at the $5 tier.

 

[Bruticis]

So glad I just bought that a few weeks ago on GMG for 6 bucks. You're welcome.

 

[Metro]

Eh, still not going to pay $5 for it. I'll wait until it's bundled with other stuff I want.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Vivisector and Planet Alcatraz added to that Groupees bundle. Planet Alcatraz looks like somethin'.

 

[Humppaleka]

Holy shit.

 

[Crooked Bee]

bhlaab did an awesome LP of Planet Alcatraz over at SA: http://lparchive.org/Planet-Alcatraz/ Highly recommended. (Playing the game is not.)

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

http://www.indieroyale.com/

New Indie Royale up.
Haven't played Unmechanical, but since it's a physics based indie platformer it has to be good.
The Path is indie shit of the same tier as Dear Esther.
Krater is... Mostly bad. I say mostly only on the off chance it improves later but I really doubt it. RTWP post apocalyptic party action RPG which sounds lovely but you can only kill so many bears before you pray for death. Each party member has all of 2 abilities, too. There's some nonsense with permanent injuries and different quality party members (A green can only reach level X while a blue can reach level Y) which also could be interesting but the game doesn't seem terribly well designed for disposable party members. Even with all my complaining this is the most interesting game of the bundle. Unless Sugar Cube and Unmechanical are better than they sound.
Know nothing about Sugar Cube, but it's a 2D indie platformer so it has to be good.
OIO isn't on Steam and doesn't exist.

 

[Metro]

Another shit bundle. Krater is not only bad but will probably be in an indie gala, too.

 

[Konjad]

The Path is indie shit of the same tier as Dear Esther.

How could you say that? The Path was a great experience, I liked it a lot. It's short unfortunately, but it's very atmospheric and has multiple endings.

Though you must like that kind of games. If you liked Tension The Void, Pathologic, Amnesia etc., this one might also be to your liking.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

All of those games have gameplay. The Path is about holding W until you get raped by a giant wolf or find a bed that turns into a tree.

 

[Konjad]

well,these games are not about 'playing' but about 'experiencing'. You might not like that kind of games but I'm certainly grateful we have them.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I love every single one of those games, they're unforgettable and unique experiences. That doesn't mean that being in the same style is enough to make a game enjoyable or worthwhile; The Path just isn't good and is frankly a bit childish. Nothing happens. Amnesia has a constant feeling of danger, some resource management, and does eventually feature monsters; it's not a hard game at all, but the danger is at least real. Pathologic is all about wearing the player down into despair with constant scavenging and battling against time. The Void is... The Void. Tension was a good name for it. The only tension in The Path is about whether your knuckle will lock into place from holding in one key too long.

Gameplay doesn't necessarily need to be the main point of a game; it should usually be, but that doesn't mean that the odd product like The Void isn't welcome. But gameplay does need to provide a backbone to the experience, a framework for the atmosphere or whatever the real focus is, otherwise the whole thing collapses into pretentious garbage.

 

[Gragt]

The Path, and other "games" by the same devs, are best described as an attempt to do a piece of art disguised as a video game while something like The Void is a game that attempts to do art. While it is interesting and I do not lament the absence of gameplay for it's not the focus (actually The Path is most gamey of all their stuff even if it is in a post-modern ironic way, like collecting flowers does nothing or that in order to "win" your character my experience something bad), the biggest problem I see is that it's not really deep. At least The Void deals with ideas while The Path stays for the most part on the emotional level. It doesn't challenge in any way and won't stay with you very long.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I disagree. The bitter resentment I feel for the time I wasted playing the Path has stuck with me for some years now.

 

[Konjad]

The Path, and other "games" by the same devs, are best described as an attempt to do a piece of art disguised as a video game while something like The Void is a game that attempts to do art. While it is interesting and I do not lament the absence of gameplay for it's not the focus (actually The Path is most gamey of all their stuff even if it is in a post-modern ironic way, like collecting flowers does nothing or that in order to "win" your character my experience something bad), the biggest problem I see is that it's not really deep. At least The Void deals with ideas while The Path stays for the most part on the emotional level. It doesn't challenge in any way and won't stay with you very long.

Well, I agree with that.

I have to agree with you. While Tension was a game with beautiful art, The Path is an art for art's sake. Apart from that the other games made by The Path's devs are quite shit.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

But an art of games is mainly in their mechanics. What wonderful and sophisticated mechanics do these games to claim that they are art?

 

[Konjad]

But an art of games is mainly in their mechanics. What wonderful and sophisticated mechanics do these games to claim that they are art?

Just play Tension The Void and see for yourself? It's kind of... difficult to explain.

 

[Konjad]

http://groupees.com/dtg

$1: Section 8, Monster Madness, Rogoo
$3: + Cargo Commander, Hotel Giant 2

Section 8 is a terrible FPS, Rogoo is a boring arcade game, Cargo Commander is fun for an hour or two.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Terrible's a bit much for Section 8. The campaign's not worth anything but it has tolerable bots. The sequel/spinoff/whatever is a bit better, but at a dollar (Or part of three dollars) it might be worth a few skirmishes.

Cargo Commander's probably more fun if you've got bros to battle on leaderboards. Bit like Nation Red and Dwarfs in that way.

 

[Zewp]

Not even 4000 bundles sold? Even though there's a bit of Indie bundle fatigue going around, that's still pretty low.

 

[Metro]

Groupees and Indie Gala rarely sell more than a few thousand. They're nowhere near HIB territory in terms of publicity.

 

[Konjad]

http://www.indiegala.com/

 

[Konjad]

Oh, that's a good bundle!

http://groupees.com/bma

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Yup, Groupees bundle is a hell of a lot better than Indie Gala's. Though Indie Gala is tolerable if you don't already own the Introversion games.

 

[Konjad]

Yup, Groupees bundle is a hell of a lot better than Indie Gala's. Though Indie Gala is tolerable if you don't already own the Introversion games.

I own the Introversion games and I can say to those who don't yet:
Multiwinia/Darwinia are rather meh
Uplink is fun for a short while, but gets boring pretty quickly
Defcon is good in multiplayer, definitely worth the money.

 

[Zewp]

Is Two Worlds 2 a competent hack 'n slash game?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Is Two Worlds 2 a competent hack 'n slash game?

Haven't played it myself but from what I remember the KKK on it is not entirely shit. IIRC the best aspect of it was supposed to be good quests/sidequests with possibly minor C&C. I could be misremembering though.

 

[Metro]

I have to get around to playing that. Although if I don't get into SoTS1 I'll probably do Amnesia (got sidetracked off of that about an hour or so in). The issue I had with diving into Two Worlds 2 was that I have the expansion, too, and some guy did a mod that weaves together all of the context plus the co-op areas into one big experience but I can't be bothered to tinker around with it.