The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread - WINTER SALE 2024

[MetalCraze]

Why do people call Just Cause 2 a sandbox?
It's just a moderately big empty map with nothing to do but run around and shoot shit.

Sandbox is about twisting the gameworld in various ways/creating various gameplay scenarios hence 'sandbox'.

 

[SoupNazi]

You can create various gameplay scenarios though. There's unfortunately not much to twist about the world (I don't see why they didn't take the opportunity of various factions to try and introduce turf fighting), but there's definitely ample opportunity to think of shit to do and then execute.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Did you buy just Warband or the Complete pack?

Also, submitted a ticket as well. It'll be fixed, hopefully within the next couple of days; you can play the trial fine up to that point and saves transfer, so I might just do that. I wasn't really planning on playing now, just grabbing it while it's cheap.

I only bought Warband, and I bought it months ago, when it was released.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Oh, right. Problem here is that they probably ran out of CD keys, same thing happened with Risen the other week and something else a while ago. I'm guessing the publisher only issues them a limited amount of CD keys, and the sales result in people buying more than are really available.

Not sure why multiplayer keys are still available, though. We'll see.

 

[Angthoron]

Yeah, I'm pretty impressed with JC2 as well, though I bought it from play.com a while ago. The graphics are simply great, landscapes are very enjoyable, and the way they did clouds is just great. Aircraft control is easy for a change - Rockstar should take note.

Story is crap though.

And I second getting that trainer. The game is already easy, trainer turns it into a megalulzy sandbox and can actually add some challenge with certain settings.

 

[Silellak]

Why do people call Just Cause 2 a sandbox?
It's just a moderately big empty map with nothing to do but run around and shoot shit.

Sandbox is about twisting the gameworld in various ways/creating various gameplay scenarios hence 'sandbox'.

True. There is a difference between "open world" and "sandbox", something most people seem to have forgotten.

 

[20 Eyes]

Impulse has the Dragon Age Ultimate Edition for 1/2 off right now (25ish bucks). It includes the game, the Awakening expansions, and all DLC.

They've also got some other good deals. Hearts of Iron III for 9 bucks, Sword of the Stars complete and Dawn of Discovery for 15 each.

It's worth checking out, at least.

 

[Angthoron]

Why do people call Just Cause 2 a sandbox?
It's just a moderately big empty map with nothing to do but run around and shoot shit.

Sandbox is about twisting the gameworld in various ways/creating various gameplay scenarios hence 'sandbox'.

True. There is a difference between "open world" and "sandbox", something most people seem to have forgotten.

That's true - though with the use of the trainer there are at least some options for sandboxing. Unfortunately they're nowhere on the level of, say, city builders.

Then again, what is the last actioney game that's been a real sandbox anyway?

 

[piydek]

Got the orange box for 5.75€ today. Very good value for money for me, since I still haven't played any HL2 game. My mate whose taste i trust says they're good, so no doubt about buying this for me. First HL was a very good FPS game IMO. Shit, two good quality beers cost that money here. Team fortress and portal come as a bonus.

 

[MetalCraze]

Then again, what is the last actioney game that's been a real sandbox anyway?

ArmA2 OA and its editor

 

[SoupNazi]

"actioney"
"ArmA2"

yeah ok

 

[Sceptic]

Then again, what is the last actioney game that's been a real sandbox anyway?

Why would the two genres ever cross paths? they're about as removed from each other as adventure games and wargames. The only reason the name "sandbox" got attached to open world games is that someone around GTA3 decided to call it a sandbox without really thinking it through. Then Oblivion came along and the name just stuck.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

So is mount and blade warband any good? Seems like something recommended by most here, and five euro is a fair enough price even when bought through steam.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

and the story and acting are horrible

I would consider this a feature given that you have an unlimited parachute and grappling hook arm and run around destroying everything. The fucking game begins with you diving out of a burning helicopter catching up to a falling corpse to get your PDA. I felt like I should have been airboarding a crocodile and landed it on top of a Nazi.

 

[Metro]

Last day's deals are pretty mediocre. $10 is a good price for Metro 2033 but I have no burning desire to play it so I'll keep waiting on that one. I've been waiting for MI2 special edition to be $2.50 but I'm wondering if I should hold out until both remakes bundled together for $5.00 or less. I hate the graphics style of the first remake but would still be nice to play through once.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Yeah, if you don't have MI1 you might wanna wait for a bundle deal.

Also agree that this final batch of deals isn't anything special. I'm considering Dirt 2 since it's cheap and I liked GRID reasonably well even though I'm not big on racing games, and AvP even though I heard it was consoletard popamole shit since it might be cheap enough I'd have a good time briefly.

 

[Mangoose]

Got the Indie Air Pack because I've heard good things about Flotilla and Gratuitous Space Battles.

 

[Metro]

Overall it was a pretty good sale -- the multi packs were a bit annoying but I managed to buy into the ones I wanted. The indie packs were an amazing value though was only interested in one. Only down $10 so the bulk of my cash is available for the big sale in three weeks.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Fuckers still haven't given me my CD key

 

[Konjad]

Fuckers still haven't given me my CD key

Same here, I'm waiting for it one day now...

 

[Hobo Elf]

Got Beat Hazard for the hell of it. It's an ok game, about as good as the music you listen to. Good fun to be had when listening to music and you have nothing else to do I suppose. Just gotta be sure that it's fast paced and "heavy" music. The more rockin' the music, the more damage you do, which is kind of cool when fighting a boss fight and then shit starts getting AWESOME.

Just.. If you have epilepsy, stay the FUCK away from the game. There are colors exploding everywhere all the time.

 

[Gragt]

[...] and AvP even though I heard it was consoletard popamole shit since it might be cheap enough I'd have a good time briefly.

Guess it's ok for the price. The first two marine levels are GREAT but the rest of the campaign is far less impressive. Predator campaign is mediocre, and while the Alien is better (it controls pretty well despite what most people said), it's not that good either. In the end it's a game that is neither good nor bad, and it's a shame, especially when you look back to the first two marine levels.

Haven't tried multi but I heard it's also a mixed bag.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Just.. If you have epilepsy, stay the FUCK away from the game. There are colors exploding everywhere all the time.

Which gets even more intense as you turn the difficulty up which is awesome.

 

[Metro]

Yeah my eyes couldn't take that wash of blinding lights. Also tried that guitar hero clone, Rhythm Zone, but just found my hands cramping up -- probably only plays decently with a console controller (which I don't have). It's why I ultimately decided to pass on the Pulse Pack (already have Audio Surf) -- I'll pick up Bit Trip when it's $2.50 or whatever at the Holiday sale.

Played Puzzle Quest 2 for about five hours so far... I can easily see myself dumping 100 or so into it. Really addicting. It's pretty impressive how they managed to pull of Bejeweled with a semi decent/casual RPG backdrop.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

VVVVVV gets my seal of approval. Looks like "Beating" it (Getting the crew) is probably pretty short since I've got one guy left and I've played about an hour, but it's a good time. Plus if you wanna get really nutty about it you can always try to get all the shinies and secrets and such. Also getting addicted to the soundtrack which I promptly ripped.