The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread

[Metro]

I am the perfect embodiment of the popamola decline gamer.

So true.

 

[Morgoth]

I am the perfect embodiment of the popamola decline gamer.

So true.

Stop that already kid. It's not funny anymore. Try something new please.

 

[Metro]

How about Max Payne 3?!?!?

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Sometimes you get quests too high to do now, but usually in this case I still had a quest log full of lower level quests to do.

That could very well have been the issue, chalk it up to me being grumpy enough about the rest of the game

That brings to mind another problem, the 'See this guy you've never met he has stuff for you to do' quest. I'd rather they give me the quest he needs done on the board or something and then let me turn it in by visiting him, saving the back and forth AND letting me see what the quest is about before I go see him.

so Multi-headed Cow how much of my complaints have been resolved with the sequel, if you even think what I said was valid of course bro

 

[Metro]

From everything I have seen about the sequel it's basically the same as the first just with slightly better animations, guns, and somewhat different characters. The talent system is the same: each class only has one skill and the trees are as generic/lackluster as they were in the first (example). They try to hype the trees as 'more diverse' this time but the impact on play style seems negligible -- it's an FPS, you're just going to shoot things in the face.

Also, while I haven't checked, I'm fairly certain the itemization is the same with gun, grenade, shield, and mod without any elaborate armor system. The world seems as 'stiff' and dead as ever with npcs standing around handing out quests. Oh yeah, and this guy is apparently the lead writer. Derp? From Gearbox's perspective it makes sense., though. The first was a huge hit so why bother putting more effort into it than necessary?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

so Multi-headed Cow how much of my complaints have been resolved with the sequel, if you even think what I said was valid of course bro

Supposedly FOV is going to be fixed/adjustable on the PC version without using that tweak program, as for the rest I dunno.

And your complaints are pretty valid, though the "This enemy is 3 levels too high so I completely can't touch him" issue is one of the things that becomes a non-issue as you get some levels. Even fighting enemies a couple levels above you isn't impossible later, they just put up more of a fight. As mentioned by Kitako it's only really an issue in the first 2 or so areas, they give you a quest to kill that named bandit who's an elite a few levels above you (Not Nine-Toes, the other one. Forget his name) and then after you get your car and go to the next area IIRC there are a few quests that go to a bandit camp above your level which you can't deal with at that point.

Lifeless world filled with spawns is certainly true, but you can ignore a hell of a lot of it. Filled with crate opening is actually a pro because red treasure chests are WONDERFUL. The green ammo chests can be ignored unless you need ammo/grenades for some weird reason. Wasn't really an issue for my main guy since I regenerated bullets, and you can up your carrying capacity for ammo a ton.

Subpar plain level design, yup.

Filler and makework quests, yup. Didn't really bother me since it just shoved me around the game world to shoot enemies and pick up guns though. And after you've played the game a bit you get a sense of what sidequests you can ignore and which ones you want for the rewards.

Skill system is pretty boring presumably by design because the majority of the gameplay is regular FPS shooting and your weapon selection. The skill system can just slightly enhance different play styles, doesn't really make giant changes. Like I set up my soldier to have increased shotgun damage, regenerate ammo, and on-kill regenerate health and ammo and increased fire speed. That combined with a badass shotgun I found means I can charge most enemies and keep moving forward constantly. In situations where that doesn't work I've got a good assault rifle and sniper rifle and grenades with different elemental buffs for different armor types.

Bad weapon sounds and audio, kinda yeah. I seem to remember a few instances of the sound getting screwed up, and some of the weapons sound terrible.

Can't shoot NPCs, yup.

Vehicles being weird, yup. The vehicles also become entirely useless for combat in later levels, because while your PC gains levels and finds better guns, and NPCs gain levels and use better guns, the vehicles are static.

But you forgot the most important pro of all which probably didn't show up as much during your look at the game, the randomized guns. There's a toooooooon of complete shit in there, but unlike Diablo 3 items which are just flat stat boosts, Borderlands guns have some unique properties. Some guns have ricocheting bullets, some guns fire bullets in a spiral, a few fire an entire clip at once, they can have different reloading speeds, scopes, magazine sizes. Then of course there are the normal stat increases like damage, accuracy, rate of fire, and various elemental enhancements. And unique guns which while still randomized have a unique property, like a rocket launcher that fires rockets that shit explosions while they're flying.
Playing with the guns was what made Borderlands for me I'm pretty sure.

Jesus. I didn't mean make so much post.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Jesus. I didn't mean make so much post.

It was good post

I really do like the whole getting new guns and deciding whether the new one is better, plus the Bonescraper I got from bonehead is an smg with DOUBLE BULLETS ability and huge ass magazine

I guess I just didn't like it enough for it to make the game for me

Man you know what they should totally make a serious sam/painkiller type game with shop in between varied levels with unique critters (that you can freely pick from per arc, maybe even still call them missions) to buy sweet, sweet guns and armor with stats from, plus with unique boss drops still

that way I can kill shit with no heinously shitty travel/open world downtime and still have the whole character level up and dress up thing, if story is needed shove that shit in cutscenes or logs or something where it won't get in the way

god damn add bunnyhopping to that shit and it would be the best

and...and customisable weapons...and equipment sets....

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Yeah, all that would be a hell of a lot better. For as much as I liked Borderlands they could drop the vehicle shit and "Story" entirely just to pick up the pace of the killing and looting and I'd be way happier. Probably even happier than if they tried to improve the vehicle shit and story.

 

[Metro]

Wouldn't be a modern day FPS without vehicles.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

For as much as I liked Borderlands they could drop the vehicle shit and "Story" entirely just to pick up the pace of the killing and looting and I'd be way happier. Probably even happier than if they tried to improve the vehicle shit and story.

and there could be a "Classic" mode with no classes, maybe half a dozen standardized weapons with their own unique alt-fire, complete with old school powerups!

Then there could be a "Classic Plus" with the same except you also get to pick a class and assign a fixed amount of stats after completing each mission and see damage points and shit

then there's fullbore mode where I just mentioned with the works

and they've proven that they can't do vehicles so they shouldn't bother with them at all

if it's not an city environment made for driving and filled with destructible scenery clutter( apart from buildings(street lights, fences, mailboxes, signposts)/or wide open wasteland like Red Faction Guerrilla or even Mass Effect 1, you should redo your damn maps or not even try with your so called open world, fuck you get me Ezio he will parkour the fuck out of your shitty wasteland corridor cliffs and valleys

All open world games need to be made with hassle free travel in mind or have travel itself be fraught with gameplay consequences and I don't mean the far cry 2 kind

Wouldn't be a modern day FPS without vehicles.

vehicle driving mechanics is accessible to the wage earning adult so adding cars makes a game accessible

 

[felipepepe]

Agreed, the guns feel, look and play differently....you would have to consider stuff like "powerfull & slow 3-bullet sniper riffle" vs. "little weaker 6-bullet sniper with flame damage", and it really made a difference. Definetly the selling point of the game and where they did their best.

Also, having only vague flavour text as a description of the weapons special effects was very old-school.

 

[Mangoose]

I am the perfect embodiment of the popamola decline gamer.

So true.

Stop that already kid. It's not funny anymore. Try something new please.

So, how's Secret World when you're playing without other people?

 

[Metro]

Agreed, the guns feel, look and play differently....you would have to consider stuff like "powerfull & slow 3-bullet sniper riffle" vs. "little weaker 6-bullet sniper with flame damage", and it really made a difference. Definetly the selling point of the game and where they did their best.

I never really felt the varying gun effects in Borderlands made it anymore interesting. The problem is with the engine (or, at least, their use of it) and how things all basically react the same regardless of what you hit them with -- sure you get slightly different animations to acid, fire, and lightning deaths but nothing major. Shoot an enemy with a powerful enough gun, regardless of what it is, and they'll die. There really isn't much reactionary difference when something gets hit with a sniper rifle versus a revolver versus an SMG versus a rocket launcher. The 'kinesthetics' are extremely lackluster versus something as low budget as Killing Floor.

So in the end, the only real difference between having a sniper rifle that has a fire effect or a rocket launcher that shoots a set of three twisting missiles is the player's own response of saying 'oh neat' that quickly goes away after the first few times you use it. Thus the game's own mechanics/design aren't set up well enough to highlight its main attraction: the wacky gun variations (and all of that is underscored by what MHC said earlier that 90% of the guns you find are crap, anyway).

 

[Dexter]

Agreed, the guns feel, look and play differently....you would have to consider stuff like "powerfull & slow 3-bullet sniper riffle" vs. "little weaker 6-bullet sniper with flame damage", and it really made a difference. Definetly the selling point of the game and where they did their best.

I never really felt the varying gun effects in Borderlands made it anymore interesting. The problem is with the engine (or, at least, their use of it) and how things all basically react the same regardless of what you hit them with -- sure you get slightly different animations to acid, fire, and lightning deaths but nothing major. Shoot an enemy with a powerful enough gun, regardless of what it is, and they'll die. There really isn't much reactionary difference when something gets hit with a sniper rifle versus a revolver versus an SMG versus a rocket launcher. The 'kinesthetics' are extremely lackluster versus something as low budget as Killing Floor.

So in the end, the only real difference between having a sniper rifle that has a fire effect or a rocket launcher that shoots a set of three twisting missiles is the player's own response of saying 'oh neat' that quickly goes away after the first few times you use it. Thus the game's own mechanics/design aren't set up well enough to highlight its main attraction: the wacky gun variations (and all of that is underscored by what MHC said earlier that 90% of the guns you find are crap, anyway).

Definitely, the difference between most of the weapons felt more aesthetic rather than effective and there wasn't that much difference gameplay wise (I think the biggest difference I noticed was between automatic and manual weapons), they definitely oversold their "millions of different weapons": http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/29/borderlands-has-at-least-three-million-possible-weapon-combinati/

It also felt kinda retarded when you had to move from "nuclear warhead launcher doombringer of doom, doom!" to some small silenced pistol or whatever, because it did more damage overall and you just found it.
That's kinda one of the reasons I feel Leveling-systems don't particularly fit well in shooters, impact grenades, rockets and some of that other shit do more damage than bullets xD

 

[RK47]

Just don't buy Borderlands 2. There's no reason for the game to get a sequel.

 

[Metro]

What's funny is right now I'm playing a bit of Shoot Many Robots (a $10 title I got for $2.50) and the variety of guns in that (although more like dozens versus 'ERMAGIRD MILLIONS') actually feel different and produce noticeably different destructive results. I also agree that the leveling system took away from finding epic/legendary/whatever weapons unless you were max level and... even then... what was the point of farming them? There were people that farmed Crawmereaux (the hidden/final boss or w/e, I never even fought him) or did some exploit trick for Knoxx's armory for good weapons but... what were you going to use them on? Replaying the game for the fifth time? Such a system really doesn't work well in on-line co-op games as opposed to persistent MMO's that get content updates every five or six months. DLC doesn't really count because there are no gear checks in those nor is there any significant PvP to speak of.

Just don't buy Borderlands 2. There's no reason for the game to get a sequel.

Eh, I'll still buy it. Just probably not for awhile. It's funny these publishers set a price of $60 and then retailers just turn around and offer 20% discounts and multi-packs. Of course that's probably intentional marketing hype. Take a $40 game, inflate the 'base' price to $60 then just offer a bunch of gimmicks to get it back to its legitimate price while duping people into thinking they're getting a 'deal.'

Anyway, the game will probably be $10 within a year.

 

[Mangoose]

Eh, I'll still buy it. Just probably not for awhile.

 

[Metro]

Eh, I'll still buy it. Just probably not for awhile.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

what was the point of farming them? There were people that farmed Crawmereaux (the hidden/final boss or w/e, I never even fought him) or did some exploit trick for Knoxx's armory for good weapons but... what were you going to use them on? Replaying the game for the fifth time?

Yeah, even though I dumped 100+ hours (Steam says 77 but I played through a not removed from inventory copy before buying it) on the game I never just farmed for guns. It was my experience that Borderlands was paced fairly well in the loot dropping department, so if you found a really good gun it would last you a while before getting replaced entirely, and I usually kept at least one weapon slot ready just to play with interesting weapons that dropped. Hell, that was how I ended up with that shotgun on my soldier character. Messed with it, found it was ridiculously good (Really large magazine (20ish shells IIRC), high damage, relatively high rate of fire) and then respecced my character to work toward the strengths of that gun.

Also something I didn't mention recently in here, I absolutely hated Borderlands when I first started playing. Much the same complaints as misters Metro and Meltdown, but the damn guns system hooked me and I ended up playing approximately 4 times through the whole thing and DLCs. 2 playthroughs with my solo character and 2 playthroughs with a co-op character with a bro. Probably played it more than any other ARPG since Diablo 2, only ever went through Torchlight and Titan Quest once each.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

oooh a free game on steam

http://store.steampowered.com/app/95700/

The Cat and the Coup is a documentary game in which you play the cat of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. During the summer of 1953, the CIA engineered a coup to bring about his downfall. As a player, you coax Mossadegh back through significant events of his life by knocking objects off of shelves, scattering his papers, jumping on his lap and scratching him.

Genre: Indie

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Genre: Indie

I believe you.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

the tread marks are dollar and pound signs

indie genius

 

[Metro]

It's the capitalist pig!

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Unrelated to anything once again, but huh. Appears great strides have been made in capturing videogame video without destroying your performance since last I fucked with it. Just did a test run with a not removed from inventory FRAPS on Alan Wake American Nightmare, a game that has relatively poor performance on my machine. Knocked the resolution down to 1280X720 (Since if I upload shit to Youtube that'll be what I do) and it was quite playable with FRAPS running. Biggest issue is my hard drive is full of Steam games and unspeakable videos, so the gigs it takes for uncompressed video are kinda tight for me. Well, and I've got fairly shit upload speed (Megabit and a half) so uploading things would be time consuming.
Also mildly annoying that Windows Movie Maker has an automatic share with Youtube feature complete with recommended video encoding, but there doesn't seem to be any way to tell it to use that Youtube encoding setting without automatically uploading to Youtube.

Still! It recorded well. Might fuck with it a bit and try a video LP with just gameplay of something, no heavy breathing and mumbling into the microphone. Not sure of what. Maybe I should record some HOT HOT --==420 NOSCOPE HEADSHOTZ==--
Looking forward to spamming RPG Codex with shitty gameplay videos.