The Winter Steam Sale 2015 thread.

[Mr.Mattress]

Due to the fact it was only 99 cents, I bought Episode One of the new King's Quest. However, I'm not going to play it until Christmas Eve.

There's really nothing else I want to buy right now, though. Maybe I'll get Undertale at Christmas or after it.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Well, I'm going to wait a couple days, but that's because I usually get a couple Steam gift cards for Christmas. I think that's been everyone's fallback gift for me ever since I turned 20. I just say get me nothing and let me eat their food, but eh, I won't complain.

Anyway, out of my wishlist, the only great deal out of the bunch seems to be The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which is currently $5.99 USD. Always wanted to try it.
I pretty much own most of the "big" games this year, and I don't have much interest in anything else on sale. I could always pick up the PC version of The Darkness 2, but I've already played that to death on PS3.

I don't know, it depends on what I get in Steam cards. I might pick up a few games on sale I never thought about trying before. I could really use some livening up in my library, what with all the first person shooters and RPG's I have and all.

 

[major_chaos]

Well for better or for worse very little on my ever shrinking PC wishlist is actually getting a steep discount. Only things I might pick up at this point are Ziggurat, Strider, and maybe the Ys games. Has anyone here played Ys? I keep thinking they look really charming but something I can't quite put my finger on stops me from hitting the buy button every time.

 

[NPC009]

Well for better or for worse very little on my ever shrinking PC wishlist is actually getting a steep discount. Only things I might pick up at this point are Ziggurat, Strider, and maybe the Ys games. Has anyone here played Ys? I keep thinking they look really charming but something I can't quite put my finger on stops me from hitting the buy button every time.

If you're looking for some great action RPGs, the Ys series is an excellent choice. Just be warned that I and II are based on games from the eighties and some gameplay elements may feel dated. For instance, the whole bumping into enemies thing may take some time to get the hang of. But once you do, it's a lot of fun. It also helps that both games are fairly short (they took me 4 and 7 hours respectively).

Origin takes place in one dungeon, but it's an amazing one with a great variety of challenges. Big bosses, plenty of platforming and some pretty good action-oriented puzzles. There's a demo for this one, by the way, in case you want to try. Storywise, it's the first game in the series (it takes place 700 years before Ys I+II), but you might get more out of it if you play I+II first, as the dungeon is basically a more elaborate version of an important dungeon from Ys I.

The Oath in Felghana and The Ark of Napishtim aren't as great as Origin in terms of gameplay, but these offer a bit more in the story and characters department. They're basically what you'd expect from an old-school Japanese action RPG but done really well.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Feels like a bit of a drippy sale. Some really shallow discounts on most of the headlining games, and I've got most of the stuff that is well discounted.

I did grab that International Explorers game, which is great so far. I continue to consider Mordheim, but 33% off feels iffy for a game that still looks extremely rough around the edges.

Dying Light for $20 intrigues me. Can anyone give me a run down on Dying Light and whether or not they felt it was worth a play?

 

[Elfgore]

I've bought three games so far, sadly they're newer games so the price is up a bit. Cost me about fifty for all of them.

-Chaos Reborn
-Ryse: Son of Rome
-Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

The first game is the only one I've had my eye on for a while, second is just to test my new PC out, and the third because I got a PC that can finally play it and have the internet speed to play it without lag or anything.

Might pick up GTA V before the sale is over so I can go for some modding fun.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I am not thrilled at the loss of the flash sale discounts; that's usually what I waited for. I understand where valve is coming from, but I think they misjudged how much that really drove some of the sales.

I might pick up a couple of things here or there if I get a steam card for christmas, but I'm still catching up with all of the other games I've gotten over the last year (and I'm still playing and tweaking skyrim).

 

[gorfias]

I see GTA V for $20, I'll grab it. Got the PS3 version, but hardly play it. Not as pretty as PC, in another less convenient location. I'd love to try FPS. Hope the PC version has FPS. And I have to think killer mods are coming to the PC version.

 

[Mister K]

I'll buy barely anything if anything at all. I mean, most of the games I buy either from GOG or for PS systems (zero DRM with former, comfort with latter).

Maybe addon for X-com. Maybe.

 

[G00N3R7883]

I was targetting 5 games, and it looks like I'm going to buy 3 of them.

- Game of Thrones (Telltale)
- One Finger Death Punch
- Crookz

The other 2, Soma and Magic Circle, are still too expensive for around 5 hours playing time, so I'll wait for a deeper discount in a future sale.

 

[Random Gamer]

Frustrating to see there's no daily or flash sales around, so most games won't get huge discounts.
Still, a good thing for me, considering the huge amount of games I have to play.

I might give in and buy Pillars of Eternity, Banished, Banner Saga and XCOM Enemy Within. Ouch...

 

[DoPo]

Dying Light for $20 intrigues me. Can anyone give me a run down on Dying Light and whether or not they felt it was worth a play?

Well, I've not played it yet, but my housemate has. It looked really fun, which convinced me to get it. It has free running meshed with zombie survival and I'm not a huge fan of the latter, but I do like the former.

The game has day/night cycle that matters - during the day you have slow zombies, but at night you can also encounter special zombies which are both fast and like to jump. And like to chase you. They are pretty tough to boot. And to top it off, it's dark at night, I mean pitch black. Essentially day/night is easy/hard. You get a couple of flashlights that help you navigate at night - normal one, which gives you vision, and UV one which lets you spot the special zombies.

You also get character progression system - you can develop in several different areas which include combat, acrobatics and survival. I might be missing one more. At any rate, you get XP for each different category, by doing activities related to it - for example, climbing and jumping would get you acrobatics points. When you get enough, you get to unlock a new perk in the corresponding tree - you get stuff like new manoeuvres or improvements of some previous skills (climb faster, more stamina, etc).

The missions I've seen were about helping out survivors - be it scavenging for food or other items, for example. I don't really know how the story is, though.

The game looked quite gorgeous, too.

AS I said, overall, I was really pleased with it. I didn't really see many downsides. I guess if I had to name any, it would be that there is zombies. I don't really like them in games and movies - I find them used too often with too little variation, to the point where the concept feels stale. I can tolerate them, at best, and I found them tolerable in Dying Light. Other than that, I can't think of a downside that I've seen in the game. Could be that I've been exposed to them, but my housemate was also really fond of the game.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

AS I said, overall, I was really pleased with it. I didn't really see many downsides. I guess if I had to name any, it would be that there is zombies. I don't really like them in games and movies - I find them used too often with too little variation, to the point where the concept feels stale. I can tolerate them, at best, and I found them tolerable in Dying Light. Other than that, I can't think of a downside that I've seen in the game. Could be that I've been exposed to them, but my housemate was also really fond of the game.

Thanks man!

It's most likely between this, or two copies of Vermintide (to play with the GF) or two copies of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (again, to play with the GF). What would you pick, if choosing between those?

 

[Eliam_Dar]

Frustrating to see there's no daily or flash sales around, so most games won't get huge discounts.
Still, a good thing for me, considering the huge amount of games I have to play.

I might give in and buy Pillars of Eternity, Banished, Banner Saga and XCOM Enemy Within. Ouch...

I highly recommend Banner Saga. I bought it at full price and it did not dissapoint me.

 

[Legion]

I was bought some Steam Vouchers for my Birthday so I've used up most of that on:

Mark of the Ninja's DLC - I like the game, the DLC was pretty cheap on offer.
Invisible Inc's DLC - Same as above.
Europa Universalis IV DLC - I chose most of the ones large enough to be Expansions.
South Park: The Stick of Truth - I like the show, apparently it is like playing an episode of it.
Undertale - It's not that expensive and everyone keeps saying it's the best thing ever.
The Banner Saga - It's really cheap and I have heard good things.

I am not sure whether to get Dying Light or not. 66% off seems like a good deal, but I have heard mixed opinions.

 

[SecondPrize]

I bought Wizardry 6-8 as I've been getting into Dungeon Crawlers I missed out on over the years as well as Dreadout, cause scary maybe.

 

[DoPo]

I am not sure whether to get Dying Light or not. 66% off seems like a good deal, but I have heard mixed opinions.

I can only tell you what I told BloatedGuppy, take it as you will.

Dying Light for $20 intrigues me. Can anyone give me a run down on Dying Light and whether or not they felt it was worth a play?

Well, I've not played it yet, but my housemate has. It looked really fun, which convinced me to get it. It has free running meshed with zombie survival and I'm not a huge fan of the latter, but I do like the former.

The game has day/night cycle that matters - during the day you have slow zombies, but at night you can also encounter special zombies which are both fast and like to jump. And like to chase you. They are pretty tough to boot. And to top it off, it's dark at night, I mean pitch black. Essentially day/night is easy/hard. You get a couple of flashlights that help you navigate at night - normal one, which gives you vision, and UV one which lets you spot the special zombies.

You also get character progression system - you can develop in several different areas which include combat, acrobatics and survival. I might be missing one more. At any rate, you get XP for each different category, by doing activities related to it - for example, climbing and jumping would get you acrobatics points. When you get enough, you get to unlock a new perk in the corresponding tree - you get stuff like new manoeuvres or improvements of some previous skills (climb faster, more stamina, etc).

The missions I've seen were about helping out survivors - be it scavenging for food or other items, for example. I don't really know how the story is, though.

The game looked quite gorgeous, too.

AS I said, overall, I was really pleased with it. I didn't really see many downsides. I guess if I had to name any, it would be that there is zombies. I don't really like them in games and movies - I find them used too often with too little variation, to the point where the concept feels stale. I can tolerate them, at best, and I found them tolerable in Dying Light. Other than that, I can't think of a downside that I've seen in the game. Could be that I've been exposed to them, but my housemate was also really fond of the game.

AS I said, overall, I was really pleased with it. I didn't really see many downsides. I guess if I had to name any, it would be that there is zombies. I don't really like them in games and movies - I find them used too often with too little variation, to the point where the concept feels stale. I can tolerate them, at best, and I found them tolerable in Dying Light. Other than that, I can't think of a downside that I've seen in the game. Could be that I've been exposed to them, but my housemate was also really fond of the game.

Thanks man!

It's most likely between this, or two copies of Vermintide (to play with the GF) or two copies of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (again, to play with the GF). What would you pick, if choosing between those?

Agh, tough choice. I haven't actually seen Dying Light multiplayer, so I don't know. I've played Vermintide and it's good. However, it does benefit a lot from having a full party. Yet, it seems it's not that easy to fill up the slots, or at least that's my experience from playing with one other person (same housemate) in the EU server.

Occasionally, you get people and it's fun, other times you get people and they wipe your team with a thoughtless action. Or sometimes you just keep playing with bots. To be honest, the bots aren't bad but the game is just dull, while the careless people aren't that many. Also, we've been playing on Normal, so that might have been part of the problem - maybe there is more/better people playing higher difficulties. Now we have two more friends who joined us, so it should be better.

At any rate, I do like Vermintide and it's a solid choice.

As for Borderlands - I've only played a bit of the start of the Pre-Sequel but...eh, at that point I realised I was burned out on the formula after playing Path of Exile and Diablo 3, so I just stopped and postponed it for later. My impression was that it was mostly Borderlands 2 but more of it. If that impression is correct, I'd recommend Borderlands. I just found Borderlands 2 a lot of fun to go through and I know it's going to also be good playing with another person. I think of the three games, this one would probably be best played with two people.

Again, I've no experience with Dying Light MP, and I'm going off my assumption of TPS, but there you go. One thing, though, is that I think Borderlands TPS is short-ish, at least compared to 2. I don't know how short that actually is and how much of a problem would it be for you. Also, as I said, Vermintide would be a solid choice in my book, still with the caveat that four people party is going to do better.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I bought Wizardry 6-8 as I've been getting into Dungeon Crawlers I missed out on over the years as well as Dreadout, cause scary maybe.

Have you checked out Might and Magic Legacy?

It has a ridiculously wonky engine, but is a "modern release". As in it was a recently released nostalgia RPG looking to mimic the old dungeon crawlers. I quite enjoyed it, although it seems to require a beast of a PC for reasons no one will ever be able to adequately explain.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Again, I've no experience with Dying Light MP, and I'm going off my assumption of TPS, but there you go. One thing, though, is that I think Borderlands TPS is short-ish, at least compared to 2. I don't know how short that actually is and how much of a problem would it be for you. Also, as I said, Vermintide would be a solid choice in my book, still with the caveat that four people party is going to do better.

Thanks again man. I'm leaning towards Dying Light and two copies of TPS (that decision is helped along by the fact that it's half the price of Vermintide). We both recently played Tales from the Borderlands so Borderlands is at least somewhat fresh in our minds.

 

[suitepee7]

Been waiting for a 50% off wasteland 2 for a while, then grabbed undertale and downwell, not big discounts, but the green label draws me in...