Steam Summer Sale 2016

[pxi]

So it's that time of year again.  My wallet is ready, but with 192 games in my account, I'm starting to run out of games I actually want to buy.

Anyone got any recommendations they'd like to share?

[Bill Phil]

Quake 1 and 2, both are literally a few bucks thanks to the sale... Classic games. Also, Half-Life, Doom (the pack with Doom I, II, and Final). Fallout 1( 2 is torture for me, I can't recommend it...).

Basically a bunch of old games, which should run well on modern hardware. They're usually pretty cheap nowadays, and with the sale they're dirt cheap.

[Superfluous J]

Banished, Darkest Dungeon, Invisible Inc, and Fallout 4 are all great, though Banished is (or was when I played it) a bit light on replayability. 10 hours is about all you need to play the whole thing. I've got hundreds of hours in Invisible Inc and Darkest Dungeon though (beat each multiple times and lost at both more often ) and Fallout 4 is pretty vast and easy to lose time in as well.

[CAKE99]

19 hours ago, pxi said:

but with 192 games in my account, I'm starting to run out of games I actually want to buy.

I have 313 games, and I want about 50 or so 

I've narrowed down the list I'm going to get to 5 (one of them is a bundle),

out there omega edition
neo scavenger
endless loop collection
simplerockets
door kickers

Sorry for the lack of capitalization.

In total it's $20.24 US dollars/$26.90 Australian dollars.

Earlier today it was $27-ish Australian dollars (cheaper games! YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!1111!! )

[monstah]

I'm very interested about Darkest Dungeon. Saw some Let's Plays on it, think I'll give it a shot.

[p1t1o]

Darkest Dungeon is cool, style is great and lots of content.

Grim Dawn is an excellent ARPG, again tons of content.

Prison Architect should fill your indie needs for a while. Its weird how compelling prisons are.

Im having a lot of fun with Total War: Warhammer.

Factorio is just straight up pure resource management porn for those who like that sort of thing.

I picked up Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Vegas games for just a couple of quid the other day.

I think Supreme Commander is still available for cheap, honestly its still the pinnacle of RTS games, everything since has maybe been a bit prettier, but so many things are dumbed down for mass appeal these days, especially for multiplayer.

 

[CAKE99]

I just checked and there are great sales on Warhammer 40K Dawn of War stuff, (I have a bunch of WH40KDoW stuff from a Humble Bundle, but I've only played Dawn of War GOTY Edition), they are GREAT   games.

[p1t1o]

14 minutes ago, CAKE99 said:

I just checked and there are great sales on Warhammer 40K Dawn of War stuff, (I have a bunch of WH40KDoW stuff from a Humble Bundle, but I've only played Dawn of War GOTY Edition), they are GREAT   games.

I picked up the DoWII collection

[pTrevTrevs]

You like strategy? Get a Total War game. My favorite one is Medieval II, but Napoleon and Shogun 2 (and the Fall of the Samurai expansion) are pretty good as well

[Slam_Jones]

1 hour ago, pTrevTrevs said:

You like strategy? Get a Total War game. My favorite one is Medieval II, but Napoleon and Shogun 2 (and the Fall of the Samurai expansion) are pretty good as well

Second this.  Medieval II has turned out to be one of my favorite games, and I was originally unsure I'd even like the series at all   From the same series I also have Rome and Empire (I think I got em all in a bundle), though 99% of my Total War time has been dedicated to Medieval II

Personally I've got 72 games on my wishlist... time to sort through em   But we got a week and a half til the sale is over, so there's time.

 

 

Edit: BTW, anyone tried SimplePlanes or Vehicle Simulator?  Any comments on whether one or both of those games are worthwhile investments?

Edited June 24, 2016 by Slam_Jones

[pTrevTrevs]

27 minutes ago, Slam_Jones said:

Second this.  Medieval II has turned out to be one of my favorite games, and I was originally unsure I'd even like the series at all   From the same series I also have Rome and Empire (I think I got em all in a bundle), though 99% of my Total War time has been dedicated to Medieval II

There's nothing quite like building a huge army for a Crusade, then sailing down to the Middle East to pummel the Egyptians while they're weak, then, right in the middle of your reclaiming Jerusalem for Christendom, the Mongols show up and ruin your whole day.

11/10 would Crusade again 

[pincushionman]

7 hours ago, Slam_Jones said:

…BTW, anyone tried SimplePlanes or Vehicle Simulator?  Any comments on whether one or both of those games are worthwhile investments?

I bought SimplePlanes and I'm glad I did.

If you're into casual air combat, grab Sky Rogue. You can not have more fun with a joystick.

[Camacha]

15 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Quake 1 and 2, both are literally a few bucks thanks to the sale... Classic games. Also, Half-Life, Doom (the pack with Doom I, II, and Final). Fallout 1( 2 is torture for me, I can't recommend it...).

Basically a bunch of old games, which should run well on modern hardware. They're usually pretty cheap nowadays, and with the sale they're dirt cheap.

These are all also for sale on GOG.com. Why buy there instead of Steam, you ask? No DRM!

[pxi]

17 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Quake 1 and 2, both are literally a few bucks thanks to the sale... Classic games. Also, Half-Life, Doom (the pack with Doom I, II, and Final). Fallout 1( 2 is torture for me, I can't recommend it...).

Basically a bunch of old games, which should run well on modern hardware. They're usually pretty cheap nowadays, and with the sale they're dirt cheap.

Still have the CD's for all of them somewhere

 

16 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Banished, Darkest Dungeon, Invisible Inc, and Fallout 4 are all great, though Banished is (or was when I played it) a bit light on replayability. 10 hours is about all you need to play the whole thing. I've got hundreds of hours in Invisible Inc and Darkest Dungeon though (beat each multiple times and lost at both more often ) and Fallout 4 is pretty vast and easy to lose time in as well.

Already have Banished, and I share your opinion.  Invisible Inc. is high on my shortlist.  I'll be waiting for the GOTY before I get Fallout 4 (also I'm still meandering through New Vegas, so I'm good on the Fallout front for a while yet.)

 

14 hours ago, CAKE99 said:

I have 313 games, and I want about 50 or so 

I've narrowed down the list I'm going to get to 5 (one of them is a bundle),

out there omega edition
neo scavenger
endless loop collection
simplerockets
door kickers

I've 102 games on my wishlist.  Problem is trying to balance a sweet spot pricewise against the likelyhood I'll actually play the game before the next sale hits.  I've still got physical copies of games that are ostensibly still on 'the list'.

Out There and Neo Scavenger look interesting.

 

14 hours ago, p1t1o said:

Darkest Dungeon is cool, style is great and lots of content.

Grim Dawn is an excellent ARPG, again tons of content.

Prison Architect should fill your indie needs for a while. Its weird how compelling prisons are.

Im having a lot of fun with Total War: Warhammer.

Factorio is just straight up pure resource management porn for those who like that sort of thing.

I picked up Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Vegas games for just a couple of quid the other day.

I think Supreme Commander is still available for cheap, honestly its still the pinnacle of RTS games, everything since has maybe been a bit prettier, but so many things are dumbed down for mass appeal these days, especially for multiplayer.

Grim Dawn looks interesting.  I have some of the Rainbow 6 sequels on the wishlist, really enjoyed the original back in the day.

Prison Architect, Factorio and Supreme Commander I already own.

 

10 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

You like strategy? Get a Total War game. My favorite one is Medieval II, but Napoleon and Shogun 2 (and the Fall of the Samurai expansion) are pretty good as well

I have the original Shogun on CD somewhere.  I'm tempted by the Total War games every time they go on sale but never pull the trigger.

 

1 hour ago, pincushionman said:

I bought SimplePlanes and I'm glad I did.

It definitely looks interesting.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions!  I've grabbed the Monkey Island Special Edition bundle, Telltale Game of Thrones, Dragon's Dogma, Dark Souls 2 and Stardew Valley so far.

Edited June 25, 2016 by pxi

[Kozak]

my wallet is ready ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Bill Phil]

2 hours ago, Camacha said:

These are all also for sale on GOG.com. Why buy there instead of Steam, you ask? No DRM!

It's DRM free on Steam if you're smart about it... Although that's more applicable to Doom/2 and the other FPS games, I don't know about Fallout 1.

You have to get the data files and move them to another folder. Or just run the actual application as opposed to the steam shortcut.

[Camacha]

21 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

It's DRM free on Steam if you're smart about it... Although that's more applicable to Doom/2 and the other FPS games, I don't know about Fallout 1.

You have to get the data files and move them to another folder. Or just run the actual application as opposed to the steam shortcut.

Some games will allow that, yes. KSP is one of those games. A lot of games will have altered files, however, and you are not allowed to run them separately from Steam. GOG makes a point of leaving out any form of DRM, ensuring you have the most hassle free gaming experience possible. GOG also allows you to download the installation files, so you have a personal back-up, rather than hoping your Steam installation stays intact if Steam ever decides to pull the plug.

Do not get me wrong, Steam is a decent platform, but most people miss the fact that they are effectively renting games and not buying. GOG addresses most of those concerns.

[Bill Phil]

19 minutes ago, Camacha said:

Some games will allow that, yes. KSP is one of those games. A lot of games will have altered files, however, and you are not allowed to run them separately from Steam. GOG makes a point of leaving out any form of DRM, ensuring you have the most hassle free gaming experience possible. GOG also allows you to download the installation files, so you have a personal back-up, rather than hoping your Steam installation stays intact if Steam ever decides to pull the plug.

Do not get me wrong, Steam is a decent platform, but most people miss the fact that they are effectively renting games and not buying. GOG addresses most of those concerns.

A lot of older games usually don't have altered files (huge hassle for Steam to do).

The issue with GOG is that it may not have the games you want. Same with Steam, of course. And not all games have a DRM.

A lot of people are okay with DRMs, as long as they can play the games. 

I wouldn't call it renting, but each to his own.

[Camacha]

1 hour ago, Bill Phil said:

I wouldn't call it renting, but each to his own.

You certainly do not own them, since they are permanently tied to Steam and Valve. If Valve decides to pull the plug or gets taken out, you lose your games forever. If you are lucky, you can keep playing some. Call that whatever you like, but buying it is not. I feel renting is the closest thing to it - you temporarily get the right to play them.

Some people have thousands upon thousands of dollars tied up in their Steam account and do not realise that their games could be gone tomorrow. Sure, it seems Valve will be around for at least a little while, but the IT market is a fickle one and market leading companies are sometimes gone within years or even months. There are very few old companies in technology land. Even the exceptions that did stick around have had to fight the odds and reinvent themselves multiple times.

If people are aware of that part of the deal and feel it is worth it, why not?

Edited June 25, 2016 by Camacha

[Superfluous J]

27 minutes ago, Camacha said:

You certainly do not own them, since they are permanently tied to Steam and Valve. If Valve decides to pull the plug or gets taken out, you lose your games forever.

Unless they do what any reasonable person would expect them to do and implement some kind of permanent version of what works right now without having to contact their servers: Offline Mode.

Which incidentally has worked for every single game I've ever played on Steam, every single time I've used it. Which is quite often.

[Camacha]

19 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

Unless they do what any reasonable person would expect them to do and implement some kind of permanent version of what works right now without having to contact their servers: Offline Mode.

Which incidentally has worked for every single game I've ever played on Steam, every single time I've used it. Which is quite often.

That used to be quite a pain. Years ago, I was doing my internship and of course, to do my work and blow off steam after hours, I took my computer to my temporary living quarters. The first week in, Steam demanded to connect to the internet. In that place, I had no internet. No matter what one tried, the games could not be played and Steam needed to be active for most to want to work. I am glad to say that they improved that quite a bit. Now you can indeed play games in offline mode and Steam does not appear to block access to your games when it is unhappy about the internet connection any more. Like you say, it is only reasonable they fixed that.

It does not change the facts, though. Playing games in offline mode only allows you to play the games you happened to have installed. Anything else will be gone right away. For the rest, it just postpones the inevitable. Babysitting your files and installation until it sooner or later finally breaks down seems rather meagre. Without the installation files, reinstalling becomes a chore at best, and impossible at worst. Refreshing or reinstalling Windows suddenly means losing whatever games you have left. You will be better off downloading your games from other sources at that point.

Like I said, as long as people are aware of what they are getting into and how it is different from actually buying the games in the traditional sense and they accept that, they should be good.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Camacha

[Bill Phil]

49 minutes ago, Camacha said:

You certainly do not own them, since they are permanently tied to Steam and Valve. If Valve decides to pull the plug or gets taken out, you lose your games forever. If you are lucky, you can keep playing some. Call that whatever you like, but buying it is not. I feel renting is the closest thing to it - you temporarily get the right to play them.

Some people have thousands upon thousands of dollars tied up in their Steam account and do not realise that their games could be gone tomorrow. Sure, it seems Valve will be around for at least a little while, but the IT market is a fickle one and market leading companies are sometimes gone within years or even months. There are very few old companies in technology land. Even the exceptions that did stick around have had to fight the odds and reinvent themselves multiple times.

If people are aware of that part of the deal and feel it is worth it, why not?

You have the files on your computer. You can still play a lot of games without the steam servers. That's not renting. It's software on your computer. Most of the DRMs only require the steam application being present and even then, that's not always the case. Plus there are plenty of DRM cracks.

[Camacha]

19 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

You have the files on your computer. You can still play a lot of games without the steam servers. That's not renting. It's software on your computer. Most of the DRMs only require the steam application being present and even then, that's not always the case.

Some games will work, a lot of them will not. I just tried the 10 first games in my game folder and 3 of them would run without Steam. Only a few would run with it being present. As has been mentioned earlier, reinstalling games becomes either impossible or a chore. No matter how you choose to look at it and call it, it is hard to call that owning what you have paid for, at least in the same sense you own something physical that you buy in the store. It is much more fleeting in nature, which is why I liken it to renting.

To add to the notion that you do not own the games on Steam: you cannot trade them, nor sell them. The reason you are not allowed to do either of these things seems obvious to me; you cannot sell what you do not possess. There is no technical reason for Valve to limit these things.

Quote

Plus there are plenty of DRM cracks.

If you are going to crack games, why bother with Steam at all? Not to mention the security risks associated with cracks. Without DRM, no cracks are needed at all.

It seems people always get upset when you talk about Steam and its limitations. It is a well polished and highly convenient platform, but since it requires the presence of Steam/Valve for a lot of its contents to work and continue to work, some restrictions apply. Somehow people try to vehemently downplay those limitations, or flat out deny them. It seems to me that is the best way of being sorely disappointed down the line. As long as you are aware of what you are getting and not getting, all should be well.

I fully accept that I might not be able to play the games in my library in 10 years time and quite possible sooner. As long as you realise what Steam will do and probably will not do, nothing is lost. It is a pretty slick platform that is easy and even fun to use, but like all things in life, there are advantages and disadvantages. Just like buying games separately and without DRM has its pluses and drawbacks.

[pTrevTrevs]

6 hours ago, pxi said:

I have the original Shogun on CD somewhere.  I'm tempted by the Total War games every time they go on sale but never pull the trigger.

Go ahead and pull that trigger! The series has advanced vastly since the original Shogun. Shogun 2 is a masterpiece, and it covers a large part of history with its expansions, from the rise of feudalism in Japan to the Boshin War and the Meji restoration. Medieval II ranges from the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to the 1500s, with the Crusades, Mongol and Timurid invasions, the Black Death, and the colonization of America all included. 

Medieval II has held up exceptionally well over the years, with a fairly active multiplayer community, fantastic mods which can either optimize the game or completely change it into what feels like a different game.

Huh, maybe I got carried away with this post, I should probably stop. If you want to know more, just PM me.

[Rainbowtrout]

If your wallet is as deep as your hatred for native populations and as expansive as your dreams of a colonial empire, buy Europa Universalis IV. I've wasted enjoyed nearly 800 hours on it. If you don't want to pay out loads for DLC, then look elsewhere.