Pricewatch!

Two new bundles are up & running
Indie Gala Magicka bundle contains
You are Empty (DRM free)
Trine (Steam)
and pay more than $5.90 and you'll get
Cities in Motion (steam)
Deponia (steam)
Magicka (steam)
Painkiller: Black Edition (Steam)
Magicka Vietnam (Steam, DLC for Magicka)
and 2 more games that will be unlocked later).

Also there is the Indie Royale Replay bundle, which consists of games that have been featured in previous Indie Royale bundles. Namely:
Nuclear Dawn
Defense Grid+DLC
Gemini Rue
Soulcaster
Soulcaster 2

Deponia has never been that cheap. If you're an adventure fan that's alone enough reason to buy the bundle.
Trine is supposed to be very good too.

How is Magicka ?

Are the early Painkillers still worth playing? On YouTube the gameplay looked really dull.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Are the early Painkillers still worth playing? On YouTube the gameplay looked really dull.

I played the original and found it far too repetitive for me to enjoy. The enemies and weapons in particular were really lacking in variety.

Imo, it's vastly inferior to the Serious Sam titles which would probably be the closest comparison.

Originally Posted by Gorath
How is Magicka ?

Magicka is really fun. Action of course, but the experimental magic systems is wonderful. I enjoyed it single player, but apparently it truly shines in MP.

Originally Posted by Gorath
How is Magicka ?

Magicka is great. It is an action game though, so don't let the fact that it is listed as an "RPG" on Steam fool you (it has no RPG elements).
Its gimmick is that you can combine spell effects (up to 5 at once) from 8 different elements (and 2 "hidden" ones), and you do this on the fly, which results in some wonderful chaotic and very entertaining combat. It gets even better (and chaotic) when you play with friends, as it is very easy to kill each other by mistake (and it is equally easy to resurrect each other). Overall a top notch game, in my opinion.

Thanks guys!

I am now at the point where I seem to not only own the games, but have bought extras to give to my kids so I could support the indies and charities …

Originally Posted by Gorath
Are the early Painkillers still worth playing? On YouTube the gameplay looked really dull.

I think the atmosphere and art direction has yet to be matched by any FPS. Also I found the weapon combos, jumping puzzles, tarot cards, enemy variation, and unlockable levels to be far more interesting than the goofy cartoonish Serious Sam.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
I think the atmosphere and art direction has yet to be matched by any FPS. Also I found the weapon combos, jumping puzzles, tarot cards, enemy variation, and unlockable levels to be far more interesting than the goofy cartoonish Serious Sam.

In 100% agreement here, just repurchased it recently and still enjoy it.

It would seem that Gorath already has a pretty accurate impression of Painkiller from his YouTube viewing.

It would seem not.

If you say so Thrasher. We're all welcome to our opinions after all, but I think it's obvious from his reaction that Painkiller doesn't appeal to Gorath. Not everyone enjoys that repetitive style. That doesn't mean it wasn't a good game for you.

Originally Posted by JDR13
If you say so Thrasher. We're all welcome to our opinions after all, but I think it's obvious from his reaction that Painkiller doesn't appeal to Gorath. Not everyone enjoys that repetitive style. That doesn't mean it wasn't a good game for you.

I wrote something back in 2004 when Sacred and Painkiller came out that it was 'gaming like it was 1997 all over again', as they had a very retro Diablo/Quake feel …

Since then I've replayed a bit but never all the way through. On the upside it is better than 'You Are Empty' from one of the current indie bundles …

Just watching a video is clearly insufficient as delineated in the points described above. And the game has a much wider variety of monsters and guns than SS. It's more important to have accurate information than biased misinformation.

However, both SS and Painkiller have the same quake style gaming quality. So yeah, if you aren't interested in that kind of gameplay, neither are good for you.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Just watching a video is clearly insufficient as delineated in the points described above. And the game has a much wider variety of monsters and guns than SS. It's more important to have accurate information than biased misinformation.

You've either never played Serious Sam or you're just outright lying and hoping no one would notice.

Painkiller does not have a greater variety of weapons or monsters than Serious Sam. In fact it has significantly less. Would you like to actually compare them? No, I'm not talking about combining everything from all the sequels and add-ons which is what I expect you'll attempt to do. I'm talking about Painkiller.

And I disagree about not being able to get an accurate feel for a game from watching videos. It doesn't work for every game, but someone who knows what they want can quite often get a fairly accurate idea about a game from YouTube.

Well I am. Doesn't the referenced Black edition sale include the Battle out of Hell expansion? More enemies and more guns. Keep it relevant to the subject sale.

Originally Posted by JDR13
And I disagree about not being able to get an accurate feel for a game from watching videos. It doesn't work for every game, but someone who knows what they want can quite often get a fairly accurate idea about a game from YouTube.

A video won't show you weapon and enemy variety as you suggested. But it will show you that's it's like Doom, which could be enough to sway one in either direction.

Of course.

That's fine though. I don't want to drag this thread any further off-topic.

I remember playing the original Painkiller when it came out. I had a blast playing it. It doesn't have a massive amount of weapons - but it has enough. Painkiller is not comparable to Serious Sam, serious Sam is more of an upgraded arcade shooter, focusing on waves and waves of enemies coming at you and virtually no strategy at all. Painkiller 1, Or Painkiller Black, was not a strategical masterpiece either, but the enemies were region specific, the areas were each vastly different. It had a plot. It was more like a new Doom than Doom 3 was. The Painkiller sequels sucked though. They changed things quite a bit, making it more like Serious Sam and less like the original Painkiller. Oh and one other thing Painkiller 1 had that they never returned to - gigantic bosses that you had to figure out how to kill. You couldn't just shoot at the bosses until they finally fell - you had to kill each one in a specific way, like a puzzle, and gain powerful items from them.

Youtube videos don't help you figure that out - and make sure your watching them play the right edition - the original Painkiller Black.

Originally Posted by magusat999
I remember playing the original Painkiller when it came out. I had a blast playing it. It doesn't have a massive amount of weapons - but it has enough. Painkiller is not comparable to Serious Sam, serious Sam is more of an upgraded arcade shooter, focusing on waves and waves of enemies coming at you and virtually no strategy at all. Painkiller 1, Or Painkiller Black, was not a strategical masterpiece either, but the enemies were region specific, the areas were each vastly different. It had a plot. It was more like a new Doom than Doom 3 was. The Painkiller sequels sucked though. They changed things quite a bit, making it more like Serious Sam and less like the original Painkiller. Oh and one other thing Painkiller 1 had that they never returned to - gigantic bosses that you had to figure out how to kill. You couldn't just shoot at the bosses until they finally fell - you had to kill each one in a specific way, like a puzzle, and gain powerful items from them.

Youtube videos don't help you figure that out - and make sure your watching them play the right edition - the original Painkiller Black.

Good synopsis there, it was more like a new Doom than Doom3 was, kept that atmosphere intact that made Doom the mother of all FPS's. I guess that's why I still enjoy it even though I'm not a huge fan of FPS's in general.

Originally Posted by magusat999
Painkiller is not comparable to Serious Sam, serious Sam is more of an upgraded arcade shooter, focusing on waves and waves of enemies coming at you and virtually no strategy at all.

Have to disagree there bro. Both games are known for massive waves of enemies. The only difference is that SS had a lot more variety in that aspect. I still remember the graveyard level in Painkiller where you literally fought only two kinds of enemies (skeleton warriors and witches) during the entire level, not counting the boss. SS did a much better job of mixing up their waves.

The focus for both games is killing large quantities of baddies while simultaneously grabbing loot and looking for hidden secrets. Not sure how you can say they're not comparable. The setting and style are very, very different though, which is why I think most people prefer one or the other.