Steam Autumn Sales (Advice Wanted!)
I'm a poor student so I don't tend to buy games on release unless A) I REALLY want them like BG 2EE. or 
They are on sale...
So I just logged into Steam and found out there is a massive Autumn sale under way, and the 'I can't help it! It's a bargain! side of me has kicked into life.' A few titles have jumped out at me (obviously already got BG EE).
1) Dark Souls (80% off)
I've only heard of this mentioned in passing, but 80 is SUCH a big number! lol
2) Skyrim Vanilla/Legendary (75% off or 66% off)
I've never played any of the Elder Scrolls games, but my friend tells me Skyrim works well as a stand-alone, and is a very good game. He hasn't played any of the DLCs so he can't advise me on whether I should get the Legendary pack or the Vanilla.
3) Final Fantasy 7 (66% off)
I've heard various friends wax lyrical about FF for years, but never got into the series, probably because I always viewed it as a console game, and I was never much of a console gamer. But it's cheap... so is this one any good? And do I need to play the earlier titles to make sense of it? (cos that's not gonna happen lol)
So please talk me into or out of buying the above games. I'm not even gonna be playing anything but Baldur's Gate for a few months at least, but I do find it hard to say no to a bargain. lol
They are on sale...So I just logged into Steam and found out there is a massive Autumn sale under way, and the 'I can't help it! It's a bargain! side of me has kicked into life.' A few titles have jumped out at me (obviously already got BG EE).
1) Dark Souls (80% off)
I've only heard of this mentioned in passing, but 80 is SUCH a big number! lol
2) Skyrim Vanilla/Legendary (75% off or 66% off)
I've never played any of the Elder Scrolls games, but my friend tells me Skyrim works well as a stand-alone, and is a very good game. He hasn't played any of the DLCs so he can't advise me on whether I should get the Legendary pack or the Vanilla.
3) Final Fantasy 7 (66% off)
I've heard various friends wax lyrical about FF for years, but never got into the series, probably because I always viewed it as a console game, and I was never much of a console gamer. But it's cheap... so is this one any good? And do I need to play the earlier titles to make sense of it? (cos that's not gonna happen lol)
So please talk me into or out of buying the above games. I'm not even gonna be playing anything but Baldur's Gate for a few months at least, but I do find it hard to say no to a bargain. lol
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Comments
2. Skyrim is very good for that price. It's one of those games which is very popular in spite of being not that amazing, but it's still a good time sink.
3. Worth playing if you can stand the dated graphics and poor control scheme for pc. You certainly don't need to have played any of the previous games, they are all totally stand along and not related to each other in any way.
Skyrim would certainly be worth the price. It may not be the best Elder Scrolls game in the eyes of me and many others who have played older games, but you can't argue with the price. All of the Elder Scrolls games also have extensive modding communities, but be warned if you are looking for something like a companion who is not practically naked and/or a virtual sex toy then you will have problems finding such a thing.
haven't played a single final fantasy, so I can't help you there.
I remember playing it on my cousin's ps1 back when that was the cool thing to do =p It's an interesting battle system, almost like a hybrid of real time and turn based. If I recall FF7 uses an ATB system. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_System
A lot of the FF games are on handhelds now (DS, PSP, GBA, etc.) For some reason the DS has all the good Japanese Tactical RPGs.
Thanks all, I'm pretty sure I'll buy Skyrim at least. Now the question is... Are the DLCs any good?
I can get the core game for £3.74, or core game + 3 DLCs for £10.19. Some of the DLCs sound kinda interesting, but I guess they are entirely separate from the core game? Like Black Pits in BG EE?
Anyways I found the controls a bit awkward, probably cos I almost never play first-person games, but I suppose I'll get used to it.
As for Dark Souls... I decided against it in the end. I don't have a controller, and it sounds like a very tough game that requires 'skill in execution', which can become really frustrating for me cos again, I've played very few games with a controller, and I typically prefer games that are challenging in a knowledge and problem solving sense, like BG.
dont worry too much about the controls. I know I caught on quickly even though Skyrim was among the first games I played on PC as I moved away from the consoles. In the end if you don't go with difficulty mods the game is certainly easy enough even as you learn everything, as most stuff are leveled. I say most because one time I did run into a draughr with an ebony weapon that could kill me in a single power attack, and leave me tight on health on regular hits.
much of dark soul's difficulty comes in learning the patterns of attack, etc. for example the taurus demon you face early mainly does strong frontal attacks. however his legs are open to roll through during the attack and get behind. alternatively there is also a tower you could climb to jump and fall upon him, hitting for major damage. it is a game of learning you enemies. also as a human you could summon others who will join as friendly spirits and help you get through the area and boss. but yes if you don't want a controller I suspect it would be too rage inducing learning the keybindings, though I haven't tried after being warned so IDK. it is a shame to give up on that game though. I hear dark souls 2 will have a better pc port though so maybe give that a try.
I am actually currently using requiem for my difficulty though. Unlevels the enemies and other stuff, customizable. I didn't like the whole idea of almost everything being a one shot so I removed the damage multiplier part of the mod. Bonus points for having the Bhaal symbol on the mod page
@Heindrich1988 I didn't liked Skyrim at all, it was too much action based to be called a CRPG, and it gets tedious sometimes because you can't spend proficiency points, what means you can use fine any weapon you can find out there. And it it AWFUL when played in a computer, I recommend playing it in a console like Xbox or Playstation, then it might be worth the trouble, but it stills being a FP Archery game, but I think it can't be compared to an CRPG, it isn't more than a Middle age fantasy FP Archer/sword warrior that can cast spells while wearing armor and Magicka regens so fast that there is no need for anything else than the fire-based spell you get at the start. And, well considering it is somehow funny to play, well, I played it in a friend house.
I recommend Diablo II (not I not III, II) but, it is only a battle-game (you can get it on GOG), but if you're studying I won't do so, because the only thing that you'll want to do is play Diablo II until, well, until you get bored of a game without a storyline and with thousands of monsters to hack, because Diablo is a Hack n' Slash. And well, then I can't recommend anything else but PLANESCAPE: TORMENT the best CRPG the world ever met. You can bet it on GOG, and well it is the best CRPG out there, if you haven't played PS:T, play it, you won't regret it, but its combat is amazingly bad, but well, it can be played beside Diablo II, the game with the best storyline and the one with the best battles (for me, you know, because this is a personal opinion, and don't get Diablo II if you're studying, it will ruin your life if you do so), Planescape Torment is amazing, maybe better than BG2, but, well, if you like interacting with NPCs, you WILL like it, but if you like creating a character, you might not like it at the start, but you'll end up loving it in the end (that happened to me, I thought that it was a bad game because its interface was clumsy (the interface is good-looking, but you'll end up wanting BG's interface to be there) and that you couldn't create a main PC, but well, if you want to play Planescape Torment DO NOT READ GUIDES NOR ANY TYPE OF SPOILERS, YOU MAY END UP COMMITING SUICIDE IF YOU REALIZE HOW THE GAME ENDS WITHOUT PLAYING IT, it didn't happened to myself, but if they spoiler you such a nice story, you can easily kill the guy who said so (so I will shut up about PS:T's plot, besides saying it is nice).
And do not play Diablo II if you are studying, or if you don't have a Ninja-like mental control.
And PS:T can be played besides studying, expect the part that you'll NEED to know how the story is going, I only played in weekends, and I was the whole week trying to not to get into the computer to play, its story is vicious, it has lots of intrigue and mysteries, if you liked BG2's story, you'll like PS:T's too. Everything because PS:T's story is, well, VERY intrincating, and well wrote, and it has nice easter eggs you can find in the game, starting from massive ones to one like a barrel with a "radioactive symbol".
Maybe you can find it somewhere else in the world. I don't know where. Maybe in Mount Celestia or some freaky places like that, go search in Mechanus, maybe in the Limbo (be careful there), you might also want to search in google.
Just impressed GOG don't has Diablo II >.< I was thinking of playing it ;(
You'll also not find the original Warcrafts or even The Lost Vikings on Gog.com.
EA is slightly more lenient (Dungeon Keeper's on there for example) but alas, not by much.
IRT Topic
Just bought Bioshock: Inifite for €7.50, awwwww yeah!
I am gonna utter what many might call total heresy here. I'm gonna cast Protection from Fire in preparation for the inevitable burning to come...
I've played all 3 Diablo games, and I enjoyed all of them... but, the one I enjoyed the most was Diablo 3. *ducks from incoming projectiles*
Diablo 1 had the best atmosphere, despite (naturally) having the most basic graphics. When I first played it as a kid, I was genuinely scared sometimes, the Butcher's "Fresh Meat!!!" battlecry still sends shivers down my spine. I was so proud that I worked out that I could beat him by running into a room with a door and a window, and closing it behind me and shooting him to death slowly through the window. (Before the age of forums where I could have found the answer in moments). However, I still remember my heartbeat increasing each time I approached the Butcher's iconic blood splattered room, and knowing that once I open the door, I would be 'dead meat' if I made any mistakes like taking a wrong turning whilst fleeing for my life. Anyways I never finished the game as a kid, and returned to it a few years ago, when I completed it up to the end of Nightmare.
Diablo 2 was good fun too, I was still a kid, but at least now tried to learn game mechanics. Only the Paladin appealed to me in a roleplay/aesthetics way, and my first newbie run ended somewhere in Act 3 cos I realised that I had tried to allocate skill points in too many skills, and I wasn't good enough at anything in particular. I also hadn't appreciated the importance of 'Attack Rating', so I was really struggling to hit tougher enemies. I reloaded and focused on 'Sacrifice', which made my Paladin a total combat monster vs single enemies, at the expense of being somewhat vulnerable vs a swarm of enemies, especially if they have ranged weapons, cos I had no way to take them down quickly. Anyway I got bored of just hacking away at every enemy until they died, and drinking healing potions to keep Sacrifice going. So I gave up somewhere in Act 4, Normal, and never finished the game. I tried playing online briefly, but it was filled with people with hacked games, ridiculously good equipment and I gave up shortly after.
In Diablo 3 I chose a Wizard, partly cos I was sick of having no fancy abilities as a Paladin in D2, but also cos Xiansai is clearly inspired of some classical China. I played all of Normal in singleplayer mode for the story, and then switched to MP from Nightmare onwards. The fact that D3 had a convenient and relatively stable and hack-free MP mode that enabled easy communications added way more replayability than D2. I made friends in the game and together levelled up through Nightmare, Hell and Inferno. And when I got to Inferno I discovered some old real-life friends were also playing, so we'd have regular team games on Mumble. The social aspect made the game way more enjoyable on top of the nice graphics and gameplay.
The one thing that attracted a lot of flak was the AH, and more specifically the RMAH. For me, although I saw how it kinda doomed the game in the long run and was kinda fundamentally flawed for D3, it provided an opportunity to wheel and deal, which I enjoyed a lot, and make real money from my gaming. Also Diabloprogress allowed me to accurately measure my progress in relation to all other players, and gave me the competitive incentive to become the top (geared) Wizard player in Europe, which I kinda achieved, and it was an aweosme feeling to know that I had some of the best items in Europe for some item slots, all through AH trading and forum trading
And to get fire based attacks protection just use Infernal Shield (you should play Planescape Torment) or Aura of Flaming Death in BG2.
D3 is a lot more...open with its skills. You don't need one skill to improve the skill that you want to use.
For instance, with Wizard, your Blizzard isn't impacted by you using Electrocute with the Chain Lightning Rune.
Ooh, Torchlight 2 is on sale.
@heindrich1988 any tips on brave new world content? I am going to have to reteach myself some things for sure as I move from gods and kings. I believe in your civ 5 thread you had brave new world so I should ask.