Steam Summer Sale 2016 After Action Report

[Kotaro]

Tales of Zestiria, Final Fantasy type-0 HD, and Stardew Valley
Not much, just some stuff I'd wanted to get for a while.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I grabbed the two Banner Saga games in a bundle. Had never tried them before, the Don Bluth art style had put me off it. I both feel like I was missing out, and feel like I should've waited two years for the third game. Absolutely fantastic games. Reminiscent of "Walking Dead" in story delivery, but with some moderately entertaining tactical combat dripped on top.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I know exactly what you're going through. Is there any particular game you really really want? I could gift it to ya.

The funny thing is that I only found out about it when I tried to buy Dark Souls 3 and my card was declined.

But there isn't anything that I can think of that I really, really want. My library is still pretty backlogged anyway; I've been too busy playing other Souls games and Overwatch in order to catch up.

I appreciate the offer, though. Thanks!

No prob! A few people helped me out the same way and I wanted to do the same.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Not as much as I have in years past, this time.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia
Bioshock 1, 2, and Infinite
Atlantic Fleet
35MM
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Wargame: Red Dragon

Honestly, the sale seemed kinda lacking this year. I didn't notice as many big deals, to say nothing of being put off by currency bundles for "free to play" games being displayed rather prominently near the top (even above my wishlist picks).

 

[Nazulu]

Bought about 21 games, Pillars of Eternity costing the most out the lot, so almost $100. One early access game too, because CRYPTARK looks like it's really going places.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I've grabbed Hatred, Lego Indiana Jones, Binding of Issac and Kingdoms of Amalur. Legit stuff.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Not a whole lot this year... Borderlands Pre-Sequel and that was it, just to round out my collection. Every sale on Steam the last 2 years has seemed to get increasingly less attractive... like the deals just don't look all that great. Might also be that I'm getting extremely more frugal...

 

[chrissx2]

Age of Empire 3 2x
Age of Empire 2 2x
Age of Empire 2:exp pack 1 3x
Age of Empire 2:exp pack 2 3x
The Banner Saga
Jalopy
Planetary Annihilation:Titans
A Story About My Uncle
Sword Coast Legends
Bioshock Inf (not sure if it was this or some other sale)

 

[DoPo]

I'm still considering a few things so if anyone could offer their opinion that would be cool
Divinity Original Sin

I enjoyed this one very much. It's a bit in the old school RPGs category, but I didn't get it for that, though if you're not into those, you may not like it. At any rate, the beginning might be hard - I've seen a lot of people complain about it, so here is the thing - you start off, fight few mobs then get into the city of Cyseal. That would take you ~15 minutes, I believe maybe 20-ish. At any rate, once you get to Cyseal, there is a lot of walking around and talking to people. An hour of more, in fact. You will pick up and even finish some quests by just trekking around and stuff. If you're not into that, it's going to be really boring. However, you can't even exit the city, because you need the XP from the quests to level up - once you leave you'll be level 3-4, if I remember and the first mobs you find would be tough. You'd need to get into how the combat works, which is part of why it's tough, but the mobs themselves are dangerous.

The fights do get easier as you progress, partly because you level up, but it's mostly because you get more options to throw at the enemies, as well as more (player) experience in how to apply them.

See, combat I found to be really fun - you can throw different effects and they can have various results on the battle field. You can set stuff on fire to damage your foes; you can put oil on the ground and passing there slows and risks a slip, among others. The combined effects are really awesome, though - fire can put out fire, if you need to pass, however, it also applies the "Wet" status effect to characters and air spells do more damage to them, however, they get a bit of resistance to fire. Wet ground can also be frozen over to make into slippery ice. If two characters are standing in the same puddle of water and one gets electrocuted, the other one will also be. And so on and so forth. The interactions were really interesting to explore and exploit. Do beware that they work both for your enemies and for your allies - you can electrocute your own guys, if you're not careful, for example.

Other than that, the game looks gorgeous, it also sounds amazing. The story...is a bit cliche. I found it was enough to get things moving without really getting in the way. You play as the chosen ones and you have to save the world. That's pretty much it.

Soma

DO NOT get it for the horror. I fully agree with Yahtzee - in his video about the game, he mentioned something like "it's a brilliant philosophical game with some scary things thrown at the end". The themes that it explores are quite interesting by themselves. The monsters...eh, they are actually just annoying for the most part - it's because you are supposed to go and fetch an item to open up a way ahead but you have to sneak past the monster which patrols around. I found myself just being impatient, rather than scared in a lot of those encounters. That's when the monster actually works - a couple of times it didn't REALLY work, actually - one time I went past it thinking it's an innocent character, yet only then it figured out it was supposed to chase me (and no, the game's intention absolutely wasn't to make it look harmless at first then to turn around and chase you). The second time, it was actually the last or maybe second to last monster. Some time after passing it by, I looked up something in a guide and I was quite surprised to find out it was labelled "the most dangerous enemy". Because it wasn't. I don't know if it was supposed to do other things or what but it wasn't that much of a threat.

With those aside, the game is beautiful. You are running around an underwater facility after life on earth has almost been wiped out by a catastrophe. The game explores what is to be human and what is for humanity to survive. And, props where they are due - the monsters, for the most part, are distinct and each has different way to deal with it. some orient by sound, others by sight and there are different tactics needed to avoid them. There are only few of them, as well, so you don't really get into "Oh, this guy again". I just think none of them were really needed, or at least, not needed to throw into a puzzle - having to avoid them AND explore AND try to find what you need, was bothersome.

If you like the game for the non-horror bits, then I can very much recommend TALOS Principle. It's an entirely different genre - it's a puzzle more in the lines of Portal. No monsters at all, too. However, some of the themes it explores are really close to Soma. I really enjoyed TALOS. I think both games are complimentary in term of ideas presented.

 

[FPLOON]

Spoiler: How I felt after making my purchases...

On a semi-serious note, I've spent WAY more than I thought I was going to all for the net purpose of obtaining a Lvl 19 Steam Summer Sale Badge... and kinda failing on the badge part due to RNG right now...

Anywho, here's my list:BioShock Triple Pack ($10.51)Bit Blaster XL ($0.49)Dreaming Sarah ($0.59)Bleed ($0.99)Momodora III** ($0.99)Star Saviors ($0.49)Star Saviors OST ($0.49)Star Saviors Remastered Soundtrack ($0.49)IMSCARED** ($1.99)Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut** ($1.99)Outlast: Whistleblower DLC ($2.24)Lakeview Cabin Collection ($2.49)Tron 2.0** ($2.49)Eversion** ($2.49)GemCraft - Chasing Shadows** ($2.49)NO THING** ($1.99)NO THING - Soundtrack ($0.99)Castle Crashers** ($2.99)Dust: An Elysian Tail** ($2.99)The Hurricane of the Varstray -Collateral hazard-** ($3.19)Valdis Story: Abyssal City** ($3.74)Rabi-Ribi UPRPRC Edition** ($18.74)Total: $65.85

This has been, thus far, the most I've spent out of any sale I'm been apart of... Now, to "quickly" dive [back] into the Market so that I can get my Lvl 19 SSS badge! Sorry, Steam controller... *sniff* The wait continues...

**Was on my wishlist, anyway...

Edit (7/4/2016 11:15PM PST): Less than 4 hours after posting this particular comment, I quickly spent up to 25 more bones obtaining not only the Lvl 19 Steam Summer Sale Badge (which is actually called the Summer Picnic Level 15 Badge, I guess), but also a Lvl 4 Steam Summer Sale Foil Badge! Then, hours after passing out from [REDACTED], I added 32 more games (alongside some respected DLCs) from all of the Steam keys I [still] had just to clinch that Level 38 Steam profile status... (Now that I think about it, I should probably get rid of some of these Steam and other keys I have no use to... )

 

[NPC009]

-Time Gentleman, Please! & Ben There, Dan That
-The Blackwell Legacy
-Phantasy Star 4
-10000000
-An Octave Higher
-Please, Don't Touch Anything
-Forget Me Not: My Organic Garden
-Machina of the Planet Tree ~Planet Ruler~
-Suits
-Space Pilgrim (all four episodes)
-Costume Quest 2

That's 15 games for $20.

I already escaped the Bejeweled dungeon. Now I'm harvesting organs from trees to earn money for cat food.

 

[Fractral]

Well, the games I've been eyeing up for a while (Stellaris, HOI 4) didn't go on sale, so my wallet has been fairly safe.

I did buy Divinity: Original Sin (?11.50~) and The Witcher 3 (?17.50~) and I'm happy with both of those.

 

[Fhqwhgod]

Metal Gear Rising 4,99?
Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes 4,99?
Metal Gear Solid V 20,99?
Zero Escape 3: Zero Time Dilemma 36,99? (Not on sale)
Rooms: The Main Building 2,49?
Tetris? Ultimate 4,99?
D4: Dark Dreams Don?t Die -Season One- 4,94?
DOOM 35,99?
The Witcher 3 22.49? (actually the Witcher bundle but I own the other 2 already -> discount on the discount for Witcher 3)
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Classic Pack 4,99?
Cinders 5,39?
Gold Rush! Anniversary 1,64?
The Order of the Thorne - The King's Challenge 4,99?

Total: 155,87?

Bought on Greenmangaming: Shadows Of Mordor GoTY: 8,50?

 

[Rabish Bini]

Picked up a few things:

-Age of Empires II: HD Edition
-Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut
-E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy
-LISA the Joyful (DLC for LISA the Painful)
-Pathologic Classic HD
-Psychonauts
-Suits: A Business RPG

Might pick up one or two more things, not sure yet.

 

[jurnag12]

My after action report is that I've been broke for a month and get my first paycheck from my new job on the 5th.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

I restrained myself. Only picked up:

X-Com 2
Dawn of War Ultimate edition
Dreamfall Chapters 1-5

~$80

 

[McElroy]

No daily deals made the whole thing pointless. All I did was activate my old retail copy of BioShock 2 because now I'll maybe get the remastered version. Maybe I should do the same for the first game...

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Banner Saga Deluxe Pack - 20.84
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada - 26.75
Dark Souls III - 44.99
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 - 4.49
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation - 5.99
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3 V Generation - 5.99
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed - 8.99
Melody's Escape - 4.99
Stardew Valley - 11.99
Steamworld Heist - 14.99 + 3.74 for DLC
Tales of Symphonia - 7.99
EDIT: 2 more, in the last hours!
The Amber Throne - 7.49
Jotun - 7.49

total: 176.72USD/220.9AUD

There was also another game that I wanted that I can't seem to find again - it popped up in my que and I clicked away instead of putting it on my wishlist, and apparently it wasn't tagged very well since I just can't seem to track it down again. It was an RPG similar to Final Fantasy though, with hand-drawn graphics using the RPG Maker engine. Which... really doesn't narrow it down, come to think of it.

 

[NPC009]

There was also another game that I wanted that I can't seem to find again - it popped up in my que and I clicked away instead of putting it on my wishlist, and apparently it wasn't tagged very well since I just can't seem to track it down again. It was an RPG similar to Final Fantasy though, with hand-drawn graphics using the RPG Maker engine. Which... really doesn't narrow it down, come to think of it.

I might be able to help. I've played way too many RPG-Maker games on Steam, maybe I played the one you're looking for.

Do you remember anything else about it? Like, was there maybe some steampunk involved? Was the logo of the publisher/developer an unicorn? Did you notice a lot of original assets?

If I had to guess, it might have been Last Dream, a game in the style of the early Final Fantasies, but with a fairly open world and a boatload of optional puzzles.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

There was also another game that I wanted that I can't seem to find again - it popped up in my que and I clicked away instead of putting it on my wishlist, and apparently it wasn't tagged very well since I just can't seem to track it down again. It was an RPG similar to Final Fantasy though, with hand-drawn graphics using the RPG Maker engine. Which... really doesn't narrow it down, come to think of it.

I might be able to help. I've played way too many RPG-Maker games on Steam, maybe I played the one you're looking for.

Do you remember anything else about it? Like, was there maybe some steampunk involved? Was the logo of the publisher/developer an unicorn? Did you notice a lot of original assets?

If I had to guess, it might have been Last Dream, a game in the style of the early Final Fantasies, but with a fairly open world and a boatload of optional puzzles.

While an interesting looking game, that wasn't it sadly. I'm kinda convinced it just doesn't have any tags on it - done full searches of the RPG, Adventure, Action and RPG Maker tags and haven't found it. I remember it was like... 10 bucks on special though, that might be the avenue I'll have to pursue to find it.

God dammit Game Developers, tag your beautiful-looking shit so I can find it easier, since Steam Ques don't let me go backwards for whatever stupid reason.

EDIT: I will say I remember it made a big deal about having 5 party members (only 3 active) and had 15-20 hours of content though. I couldn't describe art styles to save my life, but it was a lot more... fanciful than the usual RPG Maker fair. Kinda like a flatter version of Transistor or Child of Light.