"The" Holidays Game Sale Damage Thread

[Toonces]

And I thought the average FPS game had a fair amount of DLC nowadays! Flight sims look like a microtransaction cash cow for the developer.

LOL...looks to be true....and they aren't cheap!

You know, I used to read forum posts from people where they said their FSX install was worth thousands of dollars.  I never could quite understand that.  Up until about 3 months ago I have always flown stock MS Flight Simulator and freeware aircraft.

When I started getting into FSX again, I bought Air Hauler and the PMDG 737.  Once I got a taste of what a really, really well done payware aircraft was like I started looking for more.

The more I flew, the more the little things, like weather, started to bother me.  So it was off to buy a weather program and better textures.  And so on.

But even then I'd say everything would have been fine, and I still couldn't see how this could get into the thousands of dollars.  UNTIL last weekend when I finally bought some payware scenery.  HOLY CRAP!  Now I see how this can get expensive.  I got the payware Honolulu Intl and the ground vehicles expansion, and it is so spectacular, has taken the scenery to such a higher level, that I can totally see myself pimping out a lot more of the world with payware scenery.  Considering that even on sale the Honolulu scenery was about $15, you can imagine how quickly populating the world with payware scenery will add up to big bucks.

I probably shouldn't have bought payware scenery.  I was ok with the stock scenery before.  Now that I've seen the good stuff, the stock stuff looks pretty bad by comparison!

[bob48]

I still play it vanilla - I'm scared to go down the add-on route because of cost considerations, although the OV10 did tempt me mightily. But at least I can enjoy seeing the stuff that you guys get, so keep 'em coming!

[Toonces]

Well if I've learned nothing else, it's that if you do decide to add some payware stuff, wait for a sale.  Most of the online flight sim retailers offer regular specials.

[ArizonaTank]

$7.49 for Skyrim. That's it so far. There certainly will be more come Christmas Day, though!

That's a great deal.  A heck of alot of gameplay in there for just a handful of bucks.

[JasonPratt]

$7.49 for Skyrim. That's it so far. There certainly will be more come Christmas Day, though!

That's a great deal.  A heck of alot of gameplay in there for just a handful of bucks.

Indeed, that's 250 hours of quality gaming without even considering the official DLC expansions yet, much less the completely free mods!

(Unless you want to never play Skyrim again, but only be fiddling with mods, don't get mods. ;) )

[JasonPratt]

^...and before Christmas, we get the Steam Holiday sale starting Dec 19th.  Hope to see some better deals than their Autumn Sale.

Am I the only one who thinks it's kinda weird that Steam's "Autumn" Sale just ended, and a whole new "Holiday" sale is about to start 2 weeks later ?

Hard to imagine what the "Holiday" sale will offer that the "Autumn" sale didn't ...  Why not just have one big Holiday sale for the 3-4 weeks leading up to Xmas or something - ?

Human psychology I'd guess.  Keep the sales up for too long and it becomes a routine and I'd bet sales drop off.  Take the sale away, let the anticipation build and launch another one, ring the bell and we all start drooling again.

Perhaps worth noting that Gamersgate's winter sale is still going on, with 860 items. Seems likely they won't stop before Christmas (or maybe NY).

[spelk]

Gamersgate is selling Dominions 3 for a few quid! Hells bells, I paid £70 to import this game many moons ago!

http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-DOM3A/dominions-3-the-awakening

[Father Ted]

I finally bought Command Ops BftB (and HttR).  Here's hoping that I can muster the will-power to learn it...

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

So, anyone got any post-sale reports on hidden gems, pleasant surprises, or crushing disappointments?

I bought only two games during the sales, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.  (I wonder if I've got a predisposition for colons? Best not to delve too deeply there...)

Anyway, I'm quite happy with both purchases.  Call of Juarez has some good FPS gunfight action, a pretty decent storyline, and includes a fair amount of actual Wild West historical factoids that you can pick up as collectibles in-game.  For $5, it's a very good game.

Fallen Enchantress is good also.  I'm enjoying it enough that I picked up the DLC for it.  I found the interface to be fairly easy to learn and I was able to get going within 30-45 minutes or so.  It's got some rough edges and some interface improvements I'd like to see but it does the job.  The game itself is fun and plays like a mix between Civ and Might and Magic.  I'm still working on how to properly pace my exploration, research,  and expansion rates as I seem to rush in too soon and lose my champions in combat while at the same time, my cities seem to lag behind the AI as I'm always trailing in the score rankings.  I've won one game on easy against 3 AI opponents but I keep getting spanked on a 6-player game on normal difficulty.

[JasonPratt]

Mostly, among the things I picked up (near the start of the sale) I've played Rise of Flight (Steam edition), with the latest edition of PW's unofficial campaign generator. I've struggled hard just to stay alive across 7 missions (now into April 1916) in the coastal area near Nieuport, flying outmoded Eindeckers against all kinds of early competent Entente planes. Haven't shot down a single plane, or even wounded one so far as I know. But I have nothing new to say about the game that isn't common knowledge already.

In lieu of accomplishing much of anything flying my little stop-and-go-cart with a machine gun, I've finished two campaigns (one German, one British) with Sid Meier's Ace Patrol. But I picked that up long ago when it was first released, not on sale.

I think the only game (per se) I bought while on sale that I've actually played around a little with, other than RoF so far, is a nifty little hex-based strategy game for very young children called A Day In The Woods, which I bought at GG. I'll be interested to see what my nieces think of it! (But they only wanted to play Lego Lord of the Rings.  ::) :P Not least because they want to watch the movies but even the first is far too scary for them. Well, parts aren't, but it's hard to get to Rivendale without having fast forward through quite a lot of super-scary things. And after that, there's still 9 hours of unrelenting horror to go!)

[Nefaro]

Gamersgate is selling Dominions 3 for a few quid! Hells bells, I paid £70 to import this game many moons ago!

http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-DOM3A/dominions-3-the-awakening

I see that Steam is now selling Dominions 4.   

Those of us who already bought it at GG or Desura can just activate it with our key from the other places, if we also want a Steam copy.

[Martok]

Well I finally grabbed Pandora: First Contact this morning -- and for the first time, I've purchased a digital-download-only copy of a Matrix/Slitherine/AGEOD game (no physical disk/box).  With my beta-tester discount, I spent $22.49. 

I won't say that that's absolutely all I'm going to spend on games this holiday season, if for no other reason that that making "ironclad" promises like that is only tempting fate IMO.  :P  However, I will say that I won't be parting with another cent for games unless it's one I badly want to own/try, and is being sold at an unbelievably and/or absurdly low price...and offhand, I can't think of any games that I badly want to have that I don't already own. 

Fallen Enchantress is good also.  I'm enjoying it enough that I picked up the DLC for it.  I found the interface to be fairly easy to learn and I was able to get going within 30-45 minutes or so.  It's got some rough edges and some interface improvements I'd like to see but it does the job.  The game itself is fun and plays like a mix between Civ and Might and Magic.  I'm still working on how to properly pace my exploration, research,  and expansion rates as I seem to rush in too soon and lose my champions in combat while at the same time, my cities seem to lag behind the AI as I'm always trailing in the score rankings.  I've won one game on easy against 3 AI opponents but I keep getting spanked on a 6-player game on normal difficulty.

Glad you're enjoying the game SDR! 

FWIW, I too am still figuring out the right balance between expansion, research, etc.  But then, I feel that finding that balance is merely part of the fun.  :) 

[airboy]

I bought Dominions 4 - not on sale from Desura.

That may be it for me.  I'm waiting for Xenonauts & Eschalon 3 sometime in January probably.

[Toonces]

Ooops...wrong thread!   8)

[BanzaiCat]

I dropped $34.06 to Fantasy Flight yesterday for a copy of The Adventurers: Pyramid of Horus. Normally $50 + $15 shipping. Amazon wanted $35 and included free shipping. Woo, saved a whole $0.94 going through FFG's site! Plus thirty bucks off the regular price, of course.