The Groginati Sales Thread

[WallysWorld]

Rise of Flight is also having their summer sale with items 50-60% off: http://riseofflight.com  Also on sale on Steam.

The newly released Sikorsky S-16 is available:  http://riseofflight.com/store/aircraft/sikorsky-s16/

[Staggerwing]

That's the S-16.

We wants the ILYA MUROMETS (S-22), we does. And we wants it on sale.

[Gusington]

Something about that plane is quite sexy.

[WallysWorld]

That's the S-16.

I stand corrected! Thanks.

[Staggerwing]

The Felixstowe is a fun BUFF to fly, and it's a flying boat to boot!

[steve58]

IndieGala has Frozen Synapse Prime for $2.37 for the next ~9 days.  I'd be surprised if it got that low on Steam during the sale.

[Shelldrake]

Blackguards franchise bundle is currently $9 Cdn on Steam. Tempting, although reviews are mixed.

[Philippe]

Anything I say about this should be taken with a grain of salt because I'm a huge fan of The Dark Eye, but the Blackguards bundle is well worth it.

A lot of the negative reactions to the game come from people who don't like to put a lot of thought into what they play.  If you don't take the trouble to understand the rules and how the game works, you're going to be in for a very frustrating experience.  This is not a sandbox.  You don't build your fantasy character according to what you think would be cool, you build up characters according to what will work in the TDE/DSA game system. 

One of the biggest complaints (and the developers could have been a tad clearer about this) is that people see that a character has a 90% hit chance, but draws blood less than half the time.  That happens because the target usually has a 90% chance of making a successful parry (which he can only do once) and 50% chance of a successful dodge (which a character uses when he's out of parries). And even if a blow isn't parried or dodged, there's still a chance that some or all of the damage will get absorbed by the target's armor.  If you do the math, your character with a 90% hit chance has a lot less than an even chance of drawing blood.  I don't have any trouble wrapping my head around that concept, but people who want their fantasy alter-ego's to be invincible supermen who always get one shot kills are going to be in for a shock.

What you have to understand about Blackguards is that the main character is not your alter ego:  he's a character in a story that someone else has written, and what you're supposed to do is be a competant actor and play the part.

[steve58]

Humble Bundle E3 Digital Ticket 2015

Note: some of these items are just DLC; base game required.

Pay what you want:

• WildStar Standard Edition [www.wildstar-online.com] (30-day subscription)
• Warframe 7-day Credit and Affinity Booster Packs [warframe.com]
• Ghost Recon Phantoms E3 Avatar and Starter Packs (UPlay)
• Twitch Turbo 30 days subscription (for new subscribers)
• World of Warships Closed Beta Key + Bonus Items and World of Tanks Invite Code
• Magicka Wizard Wars Exclusive Staff and Blade (Steam DLC)
• Psychonauts  + Humble Store 30% off Grim Fandango Coupon
• Humble Store 10% off Coupon
• PAYDAY 2 Electarodent and Titan Masks (Steam DLC)
• Company of Heroes
• Age of Empires II HD Edition: The Forgotten Expansion DLC
• SMITE Loki Pack and Xbox One Closed Beta Key

Pay more than average and also get:

• Medieval II: Total War + Humble Store 25% off Total War: ATTILA Coupon
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Guaranteed Beta Access Code (UPlay)
• Cities in Motion 2 + Humble Store 10% off Paradox Games Coupon

Pay $2 more than average and also get:

• PAYDAY 2 Base Game  + Mask of the Moon and Borsuk Masks (DLCs)

[steve58]

Bundlestars Legions of War Bundle   Pay $1.99 for:

• Legions of Ashworld
• World War 2: Time of Wrath
• The Campaign Series: Fall Weiss
• Strategic War In Europe
• Storm Over the Pacific
• 1953: NATO vs Warsaw Pact

Bundlestars Shockwave Bundle   Pay $3.49 for:

• Frozen Synapse Prime (Double Pack)
• Drakensang: The River of Time
• 140
• Vertical Drop Heroes HD
• Riptide GP2
• Lilly Looking Through
• Boson X   
• Two Digits
• Visibility
• Smugglers 5:  Invasion

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Blackguards franchise bundle is currently $9 Cdn on Steam. Tempting, although reviews are mixed.

I second what Philippe said.  I really enjoyed both of the Blackguards games.  The second one is streamlined in response to the complaints of players not familiar with the Dark Eye rules (I'm not either but I wasn't complaining) so you don't have to worry as much about fiddling all the skills, stats, and attributes.

If you like turn-based tactical games that offer up a good deal of choice on the battlefield, then buy these titles.   

I see that the RPG Drakensang is up as part of one of the bundles Steve linked to.  I highly recommend that as well if you like a well done party based RPG.

[Philippe]

Drakensang and Drakensang River of Time (with or without Phileasson's Secret) are good titles.  Demonicon is a different kettle of fish.  I'd call it drek, but I haven't managed to hold my nose long enough to play it to the point where I could reasonable call it one thing or another.  There's another Dark Eye game that came out in the last few years that seems to be even worse, but I can't recall the name and it's really on-line Dark Eye exploitation.

Short answer:  Buy Blackguards and Drakensang, don't buy Demonicon.

[weateallthepies]

Dominions 4 is currently 75% off in the steam sale. Trying to decide whether I will enjoy it enough to get past the hideous graphics.

[Huw the Poo]

Dominions 4 is currently 75% off in the steam sale. Trying to decide whether I will enjoy it enough to get past the hideous graphics.

It's pretty much the deepest, most involving strategy game there is outside of wargaming, with an unparalleled multiplayer experience and truly astonishing replayability.  Are you going to deny yourself that because of the graphics? ;)

[weateallthepies]

Dominions 4 is currently 75% off in the steam sale. Trying to decide whether I will enjoy it enough to get past the hideous graphics.

It's pretty much the deepest, most involving strategy game there is outside of wargaming, with an unparalleled multiplayer experience and truly astonishing replayability.  Are you going to deny yourself that because of the graphics? ;)

So how hard is it to get into? I was a bit put off by comments about there being no real story behind it, I like a bit of theme and story.

I'm not usually a graphics snob but it didn't even look retro or simplistic, it just looked ugly.

Hmmmm...