Weekend "deals" 9/19/09 "updated"-d2d$5

[cutterjohn]

<topic>
Aaarrr! There be nought but shit again this weekend me hearties! Unless ye be the lilly livered FPS shooter type, where ye can loot Unreal Tournament from those landlubbers at Steam for 60% off.

[EDIT2=9/20/09]
Actually I just stumbled across direct2drive having a 5th anniversary sale. Action games are $5 this week and include Bioshock & Stalker:SoC as well as some other, e,g, Thief Deadly Shadows.

Next week c. 27h is $5 RPGs, so might be worth a look. No idea what direct2driver download/DRM is like as I've never used them before and ATM they have nothing tempting, but maybe next week...
[/EDIT2]


[old shit]

Is it worth it? Dunno. Spent some more time with Evochron Renegades over the last week, and playing it as a single player game it clearly lacks something that makes me want to continue playing.

It MAY be worth it for the multiplayer online aspect, however since I only own Renegades and Legends has come out, mp for Renegades doesn't offer many opportunities.

Legends: Still haven't spent any more time with it other than about .5h from when I posted in the general indie space sim thread. It looks better than Renegades and has some interesting new features, but dunno if it's worth it... This is the version to get seeing as it's on sale and otherwise it's the same price as Renegades(?!), not to mention if you want multiplayer online this is what most of the fanboys will have and want to play.

Impulse has Sacred 2 for $19.99, Dawn of Discovery for $24.99, Demigod for $20, and Sins of a Solar Empire bundle for $20.

Sacred 2 is probably worth it for $20, if you like ARPGs. [EDIT] Has SecuROM online activation for 2 machines with "unlimited re-activations". [/EDIT] [EDIT2] Hmmm... this might be a permanent price drop as checking a couple of b&m stores I see that some have it in store for $19.99 and others online order for $19.99... [/EDIT2]

I've heard good things about the Anno series which I think that Dawn of Discovery is the latest release of, but I just noticed that it uses TAGES digital restrictions management with a 3 activation limit, which is pretty shitty.

I think that SoaSE & Demigod have no CP since they're stardock games, and Evochron has it's own licensed method(checks a remote server when you enter the registration key), and when you play online IIRC.

Strategy First games on Steam are 50% off, which includes Jagged Alliance 2 Gold which has apparently had the save game problem fixed. Port Royale 2 @ $2.49 looks like it's worth trying out. Disciples II Gold is also a decent game if you like TBS, but it is rather simple...

[EDIT3]
Given that Sacred 2 looks like a permanent price reduction now, I'll try to use up the rest of my trial time on Evochron Legends, and see if it feels "better" enough to be worth forking over more cash to Starwraith games.
[/EDIT3]

 

[cutterjohn]

Pseudo bump
Picked up Port Royale 2 so far, working my way through the "tutorials", but it's slow going and I haven't gotten to what is supposed to be the crappiest part, naval combat yet.

Still plan on using up my trial time on legends this weekend to see if it might be MUCH MORE fun that renegades, or at least enoug that I don't feel ripped off after buying it. OTOH I used up the Renegades trial time and felt that it might have some redeeming features, but then realized that I'd already seen EVERYTHING that the game had to offer during the trial AFTER overpaying for the full version.

(The Starwraith games are worth, at best, $20 IMNHO. Likely $10 given that X3 Reunion can be had for that, and X2 The Threat for less which is still more fun than Renegades, and about better visual quality.)

 

[getter77]

Given any thought to Flatspace 2? I'd been waiting for a sale for that for quite awhile now after I discovered the game existed, and though the discount isn't steep, it'll do. Spacey doings with Roguelike elements? Yes please.

I can't make up my mind on Legends either...maybe one of these days after even more feature adding patches and the like as I believe the ease of modding powers are set to continue to get stronger and more varied.

 

[Morkar Left]

Evochron legends is a fun game for flying and shooting things. It has inertia, a big universe, lots of other features. But it has some serious problems when it comes to singleplayer longtime motivation, in short:

- missions/contracts generally take only 2 minutes
- you can use your jumpdrive everytime and everywhere jumping everywhere you like. That seems to be a good thing at first, but is annoying for missions e.g. bring wares to a space ship in a sector -> you jump right under the space ship, press one button to eject the wares and jump instantly back to station. The whole mission takes 30 seconds and enemies can not really attack you in the 5 seconds you need to drop the cargo. Some mass-locked system like in elite would be necessary plus a reloadtime for the jumpdrive...
- mining oxygen while beeing docked at or flying over a city brings you infinite free cash
- the faction system is clunky. It would have the potential to become some of the best, but it really needs some redo.
- you can not safely dock on stations / the enemies can attack your ship while docked at a station

With this things fixed in the right way, Evochron Legends would be the best spacesim avaivable.

 

[cutterjohn]

Evochron legends is a fun game for flying and shooting things. It has inertia, a big universe, lots of other features. But it has some serious problems when it comes to singleplayer longtime motivation, in short:

- missions/contracts generally take only 2 minutes
- you can use your jumpdrive everytime and everywhere jumping everywhere you like. That seems to be a good thing at first, but is annoying for missions e.g. bring wares to a space ship in a sector -> you jump right under the space ship, press one button to eject the wares and jump instantly back to station. The whole mission takes 30 seconds and enemies can not really attack you in the 5 seconds you need to drop the cargo. Some mass-locked system like in elite would be necessary plus a reloadtime for the jumpdrive...
- mining oxygen while beeing docked at or flying over a city brings you infinite free cash
- the faction system is clunky. It would have the potential to become some of the best, but it really needs some redo.
- you can not safely dock on stations / the enemies can attack your ship while docked at a station

With this things fixed in the right way, Evochron Legends would be the best spacesim avaivable.

I know. It's basically Renegades with a facelift and a few extra features. I've been utterly bored with Renegades and basically feel that the games are overpriced at their normal $25 point v. what else is available and clearly superior(e.g. X2/X3R/X3TC trade, business ownership, multiple ships, & graphics, Universal Combat(combat)). As I mentioned above I've tried playing Renegades for several recently and was just bored to tears by it. I even found Darkstar One to be a better game, but not by much.

MP, again as I mentioned above, is probably the true strong point of the Evochron games, but, realistically, to get MP with enough other peole you're pretty much forced into Legends.

Faction system: yes, it need an entire re-work as it's incredibly tedious in Renegades and I presume that the dev didn't change it at all for Legends?

SP: Probably dull because of so few commodities and every system seems to pop up with similar commodities all of the time, just with different pricing schemes whereas I think that some types of systems shouldn't ever have certain type of commodities(normally), etc. Possibly offering for smuggling opportunities, etc. Not sure what the SP motivation thing is, as the X series I usually ignore the story line unless it has a few goodies worth milking it for, and play sandbox mode in BC/UC yet I don't feel as bored with those as quickly as I have with Evochron Renegades. That boredom BTW did not set in until about 30m after using up the trial time, buying it, and then spending my extra 30m. It felt like that by then I had seen 99.999% of what the game had to offer. Legends offers a little more with what seem to be a few more station types, a few more mission types, additional commodities to mine/trade, ability to craft a few things(be nice if he greatly expanded that aspect might give a long term SP goal), added ability to own more than one ship at a time. (In Renegades there were just a few mission types, a few(OK 2) items actually worth bothering to mine and nothing beyond that other than playing at scavenger hunt(hidden cargo containers) and the beacon quest which amounted to another scavenger hunt.)

As to newtonian flight mechanics: I've always found it incredibly silly that people whine and moan about it's implementation when given the shipss that you're supposed to be flying and given the technology required to create them there'd be little reason to restrict them to a newtonian flight model. It offers very few advantages and only in very limited situations, not to mention the dev time waste.

It also seems more and more to me like the dev is being vastly limited by what he can do by clinging to the Dark BASIC development environment. I'm sure that it makes some things easy, but if he changed to a different HLL almost any one would offer more flexibility, along with the possibility to maybe make use of an open source or other cheapish 3D engine, e.g. the newer Torque engine which supports shader effects, etc.

[EDIT]
Oops,
Flatspace 2: Yeah I saw it, but I also saw it a long time ago like you and that, that one was even more overpriced than Starwraith games were. Looks like an EV Nova ripoff, which is kind of what Space Rangers 2 is like, but Space Rangers 2 offer some additional game play options. These top down 2D space games are ok, but I've always greatly preferred full 3D sims.

Pricing: The Dominions series takes the cake for VASTLY overpriced indie games though...
[/EDIT]

 

[Morkar Left]

I know. It's basically Renegades with a facelift and a few extra features. I've been utterly bored with Renegades and basically feel that the games are overpriced at their normal $25 point v. what else is available and clearly superior(e.g. X2/X3R/X3TC trade, business ownership, multiple ships, & graphics, Universal Combat(combat)). As I mentioned above I've tried playing Renegades for several recently and was just bored to tears by it. I even found Darkstar One to be a better game, but not by much.

MP, again as I mentioned above, is probably the true strong point of the Evochron games, but, realistically, to get MP with enough other peole you're pretty much forced into Legends.

Faction system: yes, it need an entire re-work as it's incredibly tedious in Renegades and I presume that the dev didn't change it at all for Legends?

SP: Probably dull because of so few commodities and every system seems to pop up with similar commodities all of the time, just with different pricing schemes whereas I think that some types of systems shouldn't ever have certain type of commodities(normally), etc. Possibly offering for smuggling opportunities, etc. Not sure what the SP motivation thing is, as the X series I usually ignore the story line unless it has a few goodies worth milking it for, and play sandbox mode in BC/UC yet I don't feel as bored with those as quickly as I have with Evochron Renegades. That boredom BTW did not set in until about 30m after using up the trial time, buying it, and then spending my extra 30m. It felt like that by then I had seen 99.999% of what the game had to offer. Legends offers a little more with what seem to be a few more station types, a few more mission types, additional commodities to mine/trade, ability to craft a few things(be nice if he greatly expanded that aspect might give a long term SP goal), added ability to own more than one ship at a time. (In Renegades there were just a few mission types, a few(OK 2) items actually worth bothering to mine and nothing beyond that other than playing at scavenger hunt(hidden cargo containers) and the beacon quest which amounted to another scavenger hunt.)

As to newtonian flight mechanics: I've always found it incredibly silly that people whine and moan about it's implementation when given the shipss that you're supposed to be flying and given the technology required to create them there'd be little reason to restrict them to a newtonian flight model. It offers very few advantages and only in very limited situations, not to mention the dev time waste.

It also seems more and more to me like the dev is being vastly limited by what he can do by clinging to the Dark BASIC development environment. I'm sure that it makes some things easy, but if he changed to a different HLL almost any one would offer more flexibility, along with the possibility to maybe make use of an open source or other cheapish 3D engine, e.g. the newer Torque engine which supports shader effects, etc.

The faction system has some minor tweaks, but nothing satisfying. The principle that every system has its own navy (not one navy faction for the entire universe), clans (aka pirates), miningcorps etc. which you can affect separately is something that I really appreciate. The problem is there should be:
- some smuggling,
- navy should always assist the navy,
- navy should assist you if you are in good relation with the system government,
- you should not get attacked while docking at a station (or at least the navy should protect you),
- if one navy ship attacks you, all navy ships should attack and not only watching the show (or take out their corrupt comrade / the corrupt one should only attack if nobody else is there)
... changes like that.

newtonian flight mechanics are handled well in the game and I really like them. They are not as unconvenient as in FFE and bring some tactical possibilities in the game. And they make you feel that you are really flying in space and not driving a car like in the X games. You can activate/deactivate at will, save fuel with engines off, can drift in combat etc. It´s definitely not a time waste for me. It works really well and don´t need further work on it.

I think the problem is the small fanboy community that don´t really like further improvements besides minor tweaks and equipment. Not so much the Dark BASIC engine. The engine is functional and the graphics aren´t ugly. Maybe simple, but I prefer simpler graphics over delayed gameplay-improvements. There is a big improvement from legends to renegades (ok, not on first side). Turn the AA from your graphics card on before launching the game.

The things I mentioned in the posting before and the faction-rework would make this game to the best spacesim avaivable if you prefer Elite / FFE style of gaming. The X series lacks for me the "space feeling" and the economy part is fucked up in many ways. There are scripts in development that will probably change that but it is a long way to go.

I´ve bougt UC but it´s only interesting for the military campaigns. The free roam mode isn´t attractive for me because there are no missions avaivable. With the possibility to make random generated missions for cash and influence the game would be really cool (even with the horrible crappy performance on the ground and lots of restrictions). Is something like that avaivable in the game and I just missed it? Has BC some features that UC is missing?

 

[thesheeep]

Pricing: The Dominions series takes the cake for VASTLY overpriced indie games though...

Indeed. Its the most silly strategy to sell a game. Seriously, they would earn twice the money, if they would just sell it at half the price (or less).
I really want to have that game, but I'm not crazy or rich. And I'm more than certain that this is true for most people who'd like to have that game.

 

[cutterjohn]

Ain't shit this weekend AFAICS. (I edited the thread title this weekend)

As to Port Royale 2, yeah I suppose it's OK if you can stand ultra siplistic economic sim + really hmmm... "touchy" naval combat...

(There are MUCH better piratical oriented games, e.g. akelia pirates games + mods... not many/any(?) bugs noticed in PR2 other than contorted naval combat...)

So, for cheap ATM go for Patrician III at GOG or maybe Age of Pirates on Gamersgate for $14.99...

Only half-assed weekend deal: Braid

Other titles from last week: nah, the entire uber boringness of Evochron Renegeades entirely demotivated me from spending any more time with Evochron Legends demo. Still thinking about Heroes of might & Magic III, but I hae a relucatnce since I NEVER got into the heores games...

[EDIT]
Well editing subjects is pretty crappy since they're apparently more limited than inital topics, hence my currently cutoff topic.
[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]
PR2 was still $2.49 on Steam when I looked a few days ago. GOG has PR1 & 2, but they're a bit overpriced... Also really sounds like PR1 was the alpha test release(buggy), and PR2 was the actual finished product, or so I take from a user's comment.
[/EDIT2]

 

[Hoodoo]

If you haven't got into HoM&M yet 3 will be the one that does it.

 

[sportforredneck]

Sins of a Solar Empire sucks. I did a feminist perspective on it back around when it came out. If it had a campaign of some kind or at least missions, then it might be interesting. But it doesn't. Not worth $20 dollars, luckily I didn't buy it to start with.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Sins of a Solar Empire sucks. I did a feminist perspective on it back around when it came out. If it had a campaign of some kind or at least missions, then it might be interesting. But it doesn't. Not worth $20 dollars, luckily I didn't buy it to start with.

Pretty much agree with this. I bought it for $10 ages ago and barely play it. It's too slow for a real-time game and it's... Too slow for a turn-based game. Generally end up with more waiting than you would want in either style of game, and then when there IS combat, it's not particularly entertaining.

Between that, Galciv2, and Demigod I don't really like any Stardock games I guess. Though Political Machine was fun in a boardgame sorta way.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Here's a deal. Sign up at www.theeca.com and do the account verification email. Then slap in your credit card information (Glorious Americans and despicable Canadians only it looks like) and use the coupon code GIMAG to get it for free. Once you've got an account, it can spit out 10% off games codes for Amazon, and 20% off codes for GoG.

Though beware, it will have you set up for a recurring subscription so if you don't kill it, they'll zap you for $20 in a year. To kill it, go to the yellow box with "My account" on the left and click on your name. Then click "View", then cancel the recurring subscription and you should be golden.

Think I'll nab that Might and Magic pack for $8.

 

[cutterjohn]

Aaaarrrr! Shiver me timbers....

 

[cutterjohn]

Ahoy! Ye Weekend "deals" (9/19/09 "updated&am

<oops>

 

[Ogg]

I saw that Jedi knight collection is available on steam for 19$. Not sure if it's on sale, promo or the regular price though.

 

[CrimsonAngel]

I saw that Jedi knight collection is available on steam for 19$. Not sure if it's on sale, promo or the regular price though.

I have heard rumours that the Jedi Knight Collection dose not work like it should on most systems.

 

[Metro]

I was going to pick up Bioshock from D2D for $5 but for some reason it gives me a 'transaction failed' on my card when it always works fine with Steam and GOG. Too lazy to create a support account and badger them about a problem that's obviously on their end.

Regarding the Jedi Knight pack on Steam, yeah, a lot of people have been complaining about the games not running and/or not having music, etc. I'd avoid it.

 

[cutterjohn]

oops, I see that you guys found the d2d stuff too... damn subject lines are too short as my d2d $5 got cutoff @ d2...

anyways next week is apparently RPGs @ $5, and missed Ubisoft strat games the other week... oh well...

[EDIT]
Was trying again to find Silent Storm from somewhere to download, so I remembered d2d & gametap(man gt sucks) and stumbled across their(d2d) anniversary special...

How's their dl/drm? Sounds like their retail web ui is borked though...
[/EDIT]

 

[cutterjohn]

I've been remiss, but honestly there haven't been much in the way of deals other than the d2d stuff...

Really it's been pathetic for this economic environment other than listening to the end result of publishers whinging about sales... or lack thereof.

[EDIT]
I've been doing teh retro-gaming thang lately and playing M&M VI and Daggerfall(not as good as I remembered, but Morroeind + MGE fixes tat)...
[/EDIT]

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Picked up World in Conflict gold for $5 from D2D. Bit fast paced for my tastes but it's pretty.