Steam - Summer Sale Starts

The Steam summer sale has started.

Thanks Swayne!

More information.

The Great Gaia was (or is) discounted a bit; haven't played myself but someone said it was decent.

Ok, here are the best sale prices on various games that are on my steam wishlist.

There are some good deals going on, no question:

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is 50% off = $20

Resident Evil 2 is 34% off = $40

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is 60% off = $24

Yakuza 0 is 50% off = $10

The Great Gaias is an excellent game, assuming you like the genre you'll certainly get back every cent you pay for it.

Time to stock up for the next 5 months.

Are any good games expected in the next 5 months (besides greedfall)?

Zloth said:

Time to stock up for the next 5 months.

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you said:

Are any good games expected in the next 5 months (besides greedfall)?

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Depends on what you call good (I don't think I'd call Greedfall good myself), but next 5 months should also give us Phoenix Point, The Outer Worlds, the Underrail expansion, Jeff Vogel's new game, and probably Divinity: Fallen Heroes and the Paranoia RPG. Some other lesser-knowns too - Encased comes to mind. Not a bad 5 months at all.

Stingray said:

Depends on what you call good (I don't think I'd call Greedfall good myself), but next 5 months should also give us Phoenix Point, The Outer Worlds, the Underrail expansion, Jeff Vogel's new game, and probably Divinity: Fallen Heroes and the Paranoia RPG. Some other lesser-knowns too - Encased comes to mind. Not a bad 5 months at all.

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You wouldn't call Greedfall good, but you're including Jeff Vogel's latest piece of shovelware among games you think are?

For me, The Sinking City looks like the best thing about to be released, but I know some people here will be too stubborn over the Epic exclusivity to even try it.

JDR13 said:

You wouldn't call Greedfall good, but you're including Jeff Vogel's latest piece of shovelware among games you think are?

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I guess? I have no interest in playing Greedfall, but I think I'll get around to trying Queen's Wish at some point. They're likely to both be mediocre, but turn-based top-down is way more appealing than action third-person. So that's my logic.

But on an amusing side note, Vogel's recent games actually have Metacritic scores of 75 (Avadon), 82 (Avadon 2), 76 (Avernum 1), and 78 (Avernum 2). Meanwhile, Spiders' recent RPGs are sitting at 59 (Mars: War Logs), 56 (Bound By Flame), and 56 (Technomancer).

But if this latest game from Spiders turns out to be some surprising gem instead of the bad-to-mediocre game that their past efforts would lead one to believe it's going to be, then sure…I'll give it a try.

Stingray said:

I guess? I have no interest in playing Greedfall, but I think I'll get around to trying Queen's Wish at some point. They're likely to both be mediocre, but turn-based top-down is way more appealing than action third-person. So that's my logic.

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I'm not seeing what indicates Greedfall is likely to be mediocre. I have no idea if it's going to be good, but at least Spider is attempting to do something that seems fairly fresh as far as the world and setting.

I'd say there's a chance it could be mediocre but just as good a chance that it could be more interesting then their previous games. I can't say the same about Queen's Wish based on what I've seen.

Stingray said:

But on an amusing side note, Vogel's recent games actually have Metacritic scores of 75 (Avadon), 82 (Avadon 2), 76 (Avernum 1), and 78 (Avernum 2). Meanwhile, Spiders' recent RPGs are sitting at 59 (Mars: War Logs), 56 (Bound By Flame), and 56 (Technomancer).

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That is amusing indeed. It doesn't really surprise me though because Vogel makes his games for a very specific niche, and that niche has known exactly what to expect for a long time now. I also think they're probably being judged by very different standards. Vogel's games would be compared to other low-budget Indie titles.

JDR13 said:

I'm not seeing what indicates Greedfall is likely to be mediocre.

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That's easy: the fact that every other game they've ever made is mediocre, or worse. Doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be, of course, but I think saying that it's likely is a quite reasonable assessment.

It might be a good time to grab Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Not a hardcore fan of the saga but since the reboot, the games look more fun.

JDR13 said:

For me, The Sinking City looks like the best thing about to be released, but I know some people here will be too stubborn over the Epic exclusivity to even try it.

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Epic exclusivity is bad, but personally I also hated Valve/Steam many years ago, but the amount of good games made me have to accept it and live with it. That's not the case of Epic Game Store, its games aren't even making me wonder if I'm missing out anything of note. Here is why The Sinking City isn't even in the list of games I'll try in my lifetime:

It won’t scare your socks off, but if you can avoid getting bogged down by The Sinking City’s clunkier elements, there’s enough to enjoy here. The detective work is quite involving, but the combat is a mess and the pretty open-world doesn’t have enough in it to justify its existence. It would’ve been better suited as a series of locations you hop between, rather than dull jaunts to get to places of interest or the various archives of information. 60/100
- Game Revolution

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The Sinking City is well worth playing for the initial rhythm of its casework and the freshness of its setting, but its mechanics, like its mystery, end up flooded. 6/10
- VideoGamer

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There are even lower reviews, I just took a couple of "neutral" samples, that even say nice things about the game. There are also scores that go high as 8/10, but yeah, not wasting my time with an average 6/10 or 7/10 game that needs malware to be installed and played.

PS; Forgot to say, but in a couple months or so I think there's the Classic WoW reboot. I know a lot of people love to hate mmo's (I'm done with mmo's myself), but who knows, maybe nostalgia pikes the interest to give it a spin.

I picked up Dragon's Dogma. Kinda want to try out Yakuza 0 as well but I'm not sure if I will enjoy the main story and fighting as much as mini games (dance, karaoke and cabaret club)

Arkadia7 said:

There are some good deals going on, no question:

Resident Evil 2 is 34% off = $40

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This is a bad deal. That game, from what I've read and seen, doesn't deserve more than $10.
4 full playthroughs to get the "real" ending (okay, to pick all details), here's the middlefinger to whoever developer who thought that's a good idea and another middlefinger to "critics" with shit taste who praised that design crime and plotholoes that came with it.

Other three games you listed however are IMO musthaves/mustbuys.

purpleblob said:

I picked up Dragon's Dogma.

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My condolences.

purpleblob said:

Kinda want to try out Yakuza 0 as well but I'm not sure if I will enjoy the main story and fighting as much as mini games (dance, karaoke and cabaret club)

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You'll adore the main story, fighting and sidequests. The game is fantastic. Keep in mind that everyone in the game, except the main protagonist(s), is a perv. Kids included.
Please don't skip sidequests because most of them result in you getting a helper better than default ones for management part.
Dance and karaoke minigames are impossible to play with K+M. Use cheats to win those (note that it's a sideactivity not necessary to finish the game). Mud fights and phone booth are playable with K+M, but are luck based thus there is no need to cheat those, just retry till you "win". "Car races " need some wits and a lil' bit of luck and are perhaps the most of RPG in this RPG, these are the only car races I ever loved in any game and I bet you'll do too.

Anyway, I still didn't buy Yakuza Kiwami. Dunno if they screwed K+M again.

Stingray said:

That's easy: the fact that every other game they've ever made is mediocre, or worse. Doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be, of course, but I think saying that it's likely is a quite reasonable assessment.

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If that was indeed a fact rather than completely subjective I'd probably agree.

Personally, I've enjoyed what games of theirs I've played. Admittedly, that only includes Mars: War Logs and The Technomancer, but I don't think they have a lot games to begin with. A quick look on Steam shows me that most of their games have positive ratings. Only Bound by Flame and The Technomancer have "Mixed" reviews and even in those cases the majority are positive.

Nereida said:

There are even lower reviews, I just took a couple of "neutral" samples, that even say nice things about the game. There are also scores that go high as 8/10, but yeah, not wasting my time with an average 6/10 or 7/10 game that needs malware to be installed and played.

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Personally, I prefer to find out for myself by actually playing a game rather than automatically trusting early review scores. If I assumed all early reviews were good indicators of whether I'd like a game, I'd never have tried games like V:TM-B, Arcanum, Gothic, etc.

That said, the reviews in general for TSC are certainly not as good as I was hoping they would be. I'll find out for myself soon enough though.

Lots of good prices that I've seen, some really deep cuts on a few jrpg's that I've had my eye on, might have to swell up the back log a bit!

My ITAD sale preset (lowest ever, 75%+) listed these RPGs from my wishlist:

The Infinity Collection - $25 (I have the originals, but not the enhanced editions)
Fictorum - $5

I logged on to steam today (not a heavy steam user).
It appears they revamped the main pages to have bigger pictures and more categories with giant letters and giant pictures.

Unless I specifically put an item on my wishlist, I really struggle actually browsing 1000's of games during these steam sales. Its just too much visual garbage for me. I pity any developer that releases on steam without massive advertising. It could be the best game ever and I'd never go looking for it.

Saying that :
Ash of Gods 8$
Mutant Year Zero : 22$
Outward : 25$