GET IT GET IT GET IT

SO GOOD

GOD DAMNIT. Critical Mass is on sale on Steam for $1.99. I paid $10 :(

If you ever played Tetrisphere for N64, you'll love critical mass. It plays JUST like it.

GOG had Septerra Core on sale again for $2.99. Seriously, just by it.

http://...gog.com/.../septerra_core_legacy_of_the_creator/

Steam's weekend deal is Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines for $5. I grabbed it, Dungeons of Dreadmor (a rogue-like that's supposed to be really good) for $5, and also Chantelise which is the 2nd game by the guys who did Recettear. It's only 10% off but considering how good the first game was I had to get it. They don't actually make any games themselves, it's just 2 guys who find good Japanese indie games and translate them for the US.

Dude, I just came here to post about Bloodlines. Fantastic game that was buggy as shit when released but was made decent by the official patch and made quite nice by the fan released patches. There's a lot of fan support and mods for this game but you should save that stuff for later.

A couple pieces of advice for a first time play through:

This is a Deus Ex style shooter. Stealth, Hacking, Lockpicking and Persuasion can help you out a lot in this game but push comes to shove you can always just fight your way through missions. The Camarilla appreciates subtly, however.

Your skills effect your weapons! You can play this game as a first person shooter but you're going to have trouble hitting shit until you invest points in firearms and perception. There is no VATS system that reduces everything to dice rolls. If you want to gun your way through the game you're going to want to invest points in the right skills and then start twitching.

Don't play a Malkavian your first time through the game. There a some really amazing sequences and exclusive dialogue for Malks but they're better appreciated after you've been spoiled for the story and you can make sense of some of the creepy foreshadowing that is contained in your insane blather.

If you don't enjoy the "Haunted House" mission you're dead to me. You'll know when you get there.

Great post.

Is the Steam version easily patchable with the (quite necessary) fan patches? I recall there being some trouble with the likes of Deus Ex and I was wanting to recommend this game to people (I have the original CD release of Bloodlines).

Man, I loved Bloodlines back in the day. And I even played through it before the patches.

Although it helped to have a good book nearby to read during the loading screens.

Yes, you can use the fan patches on the Steam version, or it least you could as of version 6.whatever when I last tried.

If you're really itching to install the fan stuff I'd still stick with the "pure" version of the patches before jumping to the "+" content. Play through the game once with just bug fixes before you start adding more stuff to the pot.

I also came to post about Bloodlines. I grabbed it off of Direct2Drive a while back and haven't beaten it, but loved what I've played so far. Well worth $5.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/2600/

Yeah, I remember being super excited when it first came out both because it seemed like a cool game and because it was the first game to use the Source engine since it was released a little before HL2. Then I got it and it ran like absolute shit on my computer, and after some tweaking it was just barely good enough to be playable. The story and missions were good enough that I stuck with it though, because it really is an incredibly well structured and thought out game.

I still really need to do a full playthrough as a Malkavian though, for anyone that doesn't know this is the vampire type that was made slightly insane by being turned. This means you get a lot of really amusing dialogue options, plus you can have conversations that no other character can. This includes getting into an argument with your television, and yelling at at stop sign "No YOU stop!"

Yeah, the wacky stuff is a lot of fun but, really, what's amazing is your character dropping spoilers for things that don't happen until act 3 in act 1. They really play up the whole "visions wrapped in madness" aspect of Malks.

Having Dementation use as a dialogue option is also a lot of fun. Don't feel like dealing with a security guard? Make him believe he's covered in ants! Good clean fun.

Winter said:
I even played through it before the patches.

Same here.

StuntCock said:
Yes, you can use the fan patches on the Steam version, or it least you could as of version 6.whatever when I last tried.

Awesome, thanks!

StuntCock said:
If you're really itching to install the fan stuff I'd still stick with the "pure" version of the patches before jumping to...

I agree. Some of the fan patch stuff is a bit... interpretive.

Pope Corky XXIII said:
Yeah, I remember being super excited when it first came out both because it seemed like a cool game and because it was the first game to use the Source engine since it was released a little before HL2. Then I got it and it ran like absolute shit on ...

Yup. I still wish Troika had stuck around long enough to patch some of the engine bugs post-launch. Early Source was a clunky hog.

This one might stretch the "awesome games" requirement of the thread, but that's only because I haven't actually played it yet - Anomaly: Warzone Earth. It's on sale for $3.33 on Steam.

Steam said:
Anomaly: Warzone Earth is an extraordinary mixture of action and strategy in a reversed tower defense formula. The game tasks you with saving a near-future Earth from an alien onslaught. The invaders have captured world’s major cities, building huge turrets that destroy everything in their path. It’s up to you to lead an armor squad through the streets of cities like Baghdad and Tokyo, planning the route and strategically choosing which units to deploy in order to crush the opposition. Take control of the Commander, whose special abilities and quick thinking will be vital in supporting the squad in its mission, as you engage in fast-paced, tactical battle across story campaign and two heart-pounding Squad Assault Modes.

There are a freaking ton of games on sale at Steam today, some of which are actually worth buying! Go check it out. =)

I'll throw in a vote for Frozen Synapse. Turn based squad combat with some cool line of sight and movement rules. I'm always down for a game of this, despite being terrible at it.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/98200/

I dunno. I got Frozen Synapse, and got frustrated pretty quickly by it. I'll set up what I think is the perfect turn, and then everything will go to crap a few seconds in.

Best Buy is having a "buy one get one half off" on all games, excluding pre-orders.

Greed Corps is on sale today! This is a hex-based, turn-based strategy game and that should be enough to sell you on it, but it also has some very cool resource management elements in that gathering resources to build more units can actually destroy hexes. Very cool and well worth $3.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/48950/

Not only that, but ALL Zork games are on sale this weekend at gog.com. If you haven't played these awesome, classic pieces of video game history, DO IT.