Steam Winter Sale 2012

Pretty much.

I'd be interested to know how they do their various deals. I have to imagine they've got some algorithm spitting this stuff out; I can't imagine that Farm Simulator is getting hand-picked repeatedly. I wonder if the algorithm doesn't include "percentage of Steam users who already own this game," that might explain why we see these random games nobody gives a shit about.

Unlike last year and with Skyrim, I haven't felt a great urge to splurge on big releases. It's part of why I haven't voted for GOTY here, I just haven't played most of the nominees. I've picked up a decent backhaul of older, primarily indie games, but not from big publishers. Those I have purchased I've purchased far fewer of, either due to unchanging sales prices or lack of interest.

Too much of a good thing, I suppose.

How accessible is The Witcher 2 for someone who never played the first one? I have 10 dollars of spending money left for this sale, and its down to that or Saints Row 2 (which seems stuck at 7 dollars and hasn't been featured sale yet, but I am currently playing and loving the third one, and many say the second one is as good if not better)

How enjoyable is the Dawnguard story? I've heard the content in this DLC is sizable so it seems worth $10 to me if the writing is good.

Galactic Civs yea or nay?

The Witcher 2 is a much more accessible game in general.

Saint's Row 2 is much closer to GTA than Saint's Row 3 is. It's San Andreas minus all the bullshit. It also runs like crap on the PC. Don't get me wrong, I liked the game, but it's a totally different beast than 3.

It's on par with the main quest in Skyrim. So, story-wise, meh. That said it makes vampires and werewolves way more interesting (and borderline overpowered), has some cool locations to visit, and adds crossbows.

Oh, and if you fall in love with crossbows, join the Dawnguard. You miss out on all crossbow- and bolt-related recipes if you don't. Granted you're playing on the PC, so I'm sure there's a mod to fix that.

Nay. Not only because fuck Brad Wardell -- it's a slider simulator without tactical combat to break up the monotony of deciding if 40% taxes are better than 41% taxes this turn.

Saint's Row 2 has a cutscene where you a guy gets toxic waste accidentally tattooed into his face. It's nearly as silly as SR3 (I'd venture that SR3 goes a bit too far actually)

Thanks. I pulled the trigger. I liked the main story. It was a little cliche but I loved the spectacle.

Would it be better to use my existing archer or start a new character?

Use your existing unless you hate it for some reason.

Most definitely nay. It's as soulless as Endless Space.

Flash deals with ~8 hours left:

• Wargame: European Escalation $9.99 (75% off)
• Carrier Command: Gaea Mission $24.99 (50% off)
• Resonance $2.49 (75% off). In which profound questions are pondered:

Yeah, probably don't bother with it. I did enjoy it for a little while, the actual learning the game 3 times, firstly with the base game, then with each expansion that did a little something new. However, the game pretty much plateued off very quickly and I started to notice all the little things that bothered me, which became frustrating in and of itself and my enjoyment plummeted. It isn't just soulless, the combat is weird, the production is dumb (as mentioned, slider joy) and there is a lot of shit in the game that just doesn't seem to work well. Starbases for one, %-wise incremental boosts, trading, oh, and the fact that the AI will do better with some alien civs than others I found.

I hope you're happy!

Final results:

A-10C Warthog 50%
Farming Simulator 2013 30%
Train Simulator 2013 20%

Now I'll have to hope Farming Simulator 2013 comes up as a repeat.

I'm looking forward to Train Simulator going on sale.

Flash sales with ~11 hours to go.

• Hitman franchise 25-75% off. Murder Simulators.
• SimCity 4 Deluxe $4.99 (75% off). City Simulator.
• Atom Zombie Smasher $2.49 (75% off). Um...Zombie Smashing Simulator with Atoms.

Atom Zombie Smasher is awesome. I wish Brendon Chung made more actual games.

I ended up getting the Sins Rebellion 4-pack. I still have two more copies left if anyone is interested. $10.00 and you cover the paypal fees. Let me know.

How much are the fees?

Wow, was the last Hitman game (before the latest, duh) really from 2007?

That's another franchise I have a soft spot for where I'd likely buy the game for a sub-$20 price. NEXT SALE.

Is that A-10 sim in the vote special any good?

Double like. And double plus unlike of his non-art art games.

I have purchased a grand total of 2 things in this Steam sale. Borderlands 2 and Castle Crashers. Since I have about a bajillionty other games to play, I'm pretty happy with that.

Don't have it myself, but it's a part of DCS World which has free to play aircraft, the Su-25T "Frogfoot" ala Rise of Flight. So you have eight hours to find out.

Are these any good? I liked Recettear for the 18 hours I played of it before I got bogged down in min-maxing incomprehensible dialog cues, and would consider the others if they're flawed but charming at the current 50% rate.

Sorry I can't speak for the Carpe Fulgar franchise, but how is Recettear? It seems like an interesting concept, but what's this about min-maxing dialogue cues?

Half the game is a pretty normal light action RPG. The other half consists of manipulating your customers into paying more for stuff you find in the dungeon in a format that would be instantly familiar to dating game players from what I gather. I got pretty far staggering around in the dark and I think if you enjoy that aspect of the game there's probably a fair bit there for patient people. I just got frustrated because I was spending more time planning my customer interactions than actually doing them, and then I got distracted by games I actually played.

Oh young love, when you flirt the cash right out of your customers' pockets. I'll into a bit more; seems fun to mess around with, but annoying if you want to get serious. Thanks, Lizard_King!

Steam tells me I got 16 hours of playtime out of recettear, and I remember them being good ones. It's not a complicated game, but I was disappointed when it ended; I'd have played twice as much if there was twice as much game. I'm not sure it's worth the sale price of $10 or not, but if it goes much below that I'd think it's a deal.

I got it for whatever the release price was, and it seemed to me like it was more than reasonable. I really like the $10-$20 price tier for games like this as it seems sustainable if they can get the ball rolling and represents the kind of commitment (I'll play this someday) that I can get behind. So dammit now I'm on the cusp of buying the other two for no good reasons.

Recettear is brilliant if you like RPGs. Lizard_King summed up the mechanics pretty well, although "manipulating your customers into paying more for stuff" is actually pretty simple - while you can haggle every last penny out of them, you'll get better results over the long term (i.e. more EXP, which IIRC unlocks better abilities & items for the shop's inventory) if you apply a low enough mark-up that they agree first time 'round. It lacks staying power (~10 hours of playtime) but those ten hours are nail-bitingly tense and fun.

I've only played the demo of Chantelise and it didn't really grab me - it's a pure action-RPG, which means it lacks Recettear's most unique hook. Still, if a pure action-RPG is what you want, it might be worth a glance.

FINALLY THE SALE ON 3DMARK YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING ALL SALE FOR HURGHUGHGAURHGLGH

3Dmark costs money now? Everything was better in the old days.

Yes, it is very good, but it is not for casual flight simmers.

Flash deals ending in ~4 hours:

• Devil May Cry 4 $6.79 (66% off). Features' 'Legendary Dark Knight Mode' until DC sues.
• 3D Mark Vantage $4.99 (75% off). See Adree's gif.
• Trine Complete Collection $8.74 (75% off). Includes 1 and 2.

Flash deals ending in ~10 hours:

• Worms Revolution $7.49 (50% off). Includes level editor.
• Anno 2070 $19.99 (60% off). Yep, again.
• Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition $2.49 (75% off). Cheap tower defense fun.

Hmm, since Recettear isn't a flash sale (although I don't really expect it to be), I'll hold off on it for now. Play through the demo and see whether it's worth it. I do have a soft spot for RPGs. Little concerned about the playtime, but if it's as solid a game as you all make it out to be, then that might be too much of an issue.

Thanks, Emergent, Lizard_King, Mind Elemental.

Ok, ready to bite. Can someone tell me if the DLC are recommended ?

Daily deals for December 30th:

• Orcs Must Die franchise $8.74 (75% off). Includes everything from OMD and OMD2 for maximum dead orcs.
• Age of Empires III Complete Collection $9.99 (75% off). Includes both expansions.
• Doom 3 BFG Edition $14.99 (50% off). Fancier Doom 3 with bonus levels and original Doom/Doom II tossed in.
• Doom 3 Pack $3.24 (75% off). Less fancy Doom 3 with expansion thrown in.
• Doom Classic Complete $3.74 (75% off). Unfancy original Doom games circa 1993-1994.
• Mark of the Ninja $7.49 (50% off). Stealth and/or Stabbing Simulator.
• Far Cry franchise pack $49.99 (30% off). Includes 1, 2 and 3.
• Far Cry $2.49 (75% off). With mutants.
• Far Cry 2 $2.49 (75% off). With Africa.
• Far Cry 3 $37.49 (25% off). With edgy meta commentary.
• Mount & Blade Collection $8.74 (75% off). Ride 'em and stab 'em, as they said back in the day.

Sigh, of course Anno 2070 goes on sale whilst I'm broke and awaiting my next paycheck.

Hooray, Mark of the Ninja!

OMG I was gifted Anno 2070! I AM SO HAPPY I COULD CRY!