Wednesday, December 21, 2011

STEAM SALE

No, I haven't suddenly become a flag-waving Steam patriot. But even I have to admit that one of the easiest ways to legally acquire almost all of the games I've ever discussed here is to download them from Steam. Thus I thought it would be worth mentioning that the internet gaming icon is having its usual holiday sale, which includes some good prices on just about everything ever published by id. So if there are any holes in your collection that you've been looking to fill, this could be a good opportunity. In my case the sale is too late to be of any benefit; I bought the id Super Pack almost two years ago when it was $69.99. While I've been a collector of all things Doom for quite some time, I realized that I didn't own a single Quake game and thus made my first ever Steam purchase. But if you're like me and are fairly certain that all the "Santas" in your life have absolutely no clue what you'd actually want for a gift this year, now might be the time to do some shopping for a gift or two for yourself.

18 comments:

  1. The list of games I have never played is a long one, and with some of the people I've talked to on the 'net, a horrifying one ("You've never played *enter game here*?WTF?) Quake is amongst those never played. I only mention it as you brought it up, and thus one of those rare, light bulbs popped on in my head (rather dimly, but still on). I would be inclined to go and take a peek at what is available through the Evil Empire, but,as it would be just "window shopping" at this time, I'll just opt out. Thanks for the link though, as I believe there is stuff there I wasn't even aware of.

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  2. Eh. I don't care what the fanbois say; Quake wasn't that good. I got a copy of it free with some video card or other years ago, and tried it out. Made it less than an hour before getting bored and exiting it.

    Q3: Arena wasn't bad, though; provided you were in the mood for strictly mindless deathmatch action.

    Then again, I never really saw the appeal of Descent, either (up until Freespace, anyway -- those two games rocked).

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  3. Note that the Quake games don't come with the awesome music though it can be found elsewhere. Cheap asses. On the plus side, the data files are unprotected so source ports are a go.

    I'd get the games I'm missing but it would be easier if Steam didn't have this "Oh, you already have some games in this pack? Then you'll have to buy them again!" thing going.

    ...

    Since you mentioned this, I just checked my game list and I see I got Doom 3 as part of the Doom pack. I've been waiting ages for the source release so I could play The Dark Mod without needing to buy D3 just for that, and now I know I had it all the time...

    Pardon me while I go scream >_<

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  4. @Kirtai:

    ...'The Dark Mod'?

    You mean someone made that damned game even less well-lit than it was to begin with?

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  5. @Nos:

    Ever played the Thief games by Looking Glass Studios? Well, The Dark Mod is a Doom 3 mod done in that style.

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  6. So yeah, it better have badly lit areas :)
    (Argh at not being able to edit comments!)

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  7. Ah, a Thief-wannabe total conversion. That makes more sense.

    I had figured someone decided the game needed a mod to make it so that you had to use that craptastic 1985-vintage Maglite every moment you weren't shooting.

    Still think it's pathetic that they had mastered interplanetary travel; but it had never occurred to anyone to mount a light on a rifle so you could see and shoot at the same time...

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  8. I was going to say no-one could be that dumb but then remembered, this is the Internet after all.

    On topic: bought the Heretic/Hexen pack...

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  9. "I was going to say no-one could be that dumb but then remembered, this is the Internet after all."


    ...Me, or the mod community?

    Topic? Oh, right... straying again, aren't I? Whoops.

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  10. @Nos: I meant someone thinking a mod like that being a good idea, but there's already worse.

    @Herculine: I'd've missed getting the Heretic/Hexen games cheap if not for you. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing :)

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  11. @Kirtai:

    It's nice to know my little musings here aren't for nothing. XD

    @Nos:

    In the Doom 3 expansion RESURRECTION OF EVIL I seem to recall that you get a pistol with a light on it, but that's as far as they went with it. Kinda surprising that I've never seen a mod that lets you clip the flashlight onto your armor or something, like Torque in THE SUFFERING.

    @Druuler:

    I kinda know exactly how you feel. I'm still playing 20-year-old games and people are like: "But Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3 are out! What's wrong with you?" and I'm like: "Uh, I never played the first ones..."

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  12. "Kinda surprising that I've never seen a mod that lets you clip the flashlight onto your armor or something, like Torque in THE SUFFERING."

    Actually, one of my very few forays into modding Doom 3 was a mod (I forget where I got it or even what it was called, now) that added a light to most weapons.

    Mentioned it to a friend at the time, who promptly accused me of cheating.

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  13. @Nos:

    Cheater! How dare you try to see what's shooting at you!

    To be honest, in Doom 3 I found the survival horror darkness-in-every-corner thing overdone to the point that it was just annoying. I just finished playing a set of maps for Doom II called "Doom 2 Reloaded" that apparently was drawn up by Doom 3 fans; I don't mind the good ole monster-in-the-dark-corner trick now and then, but on almost every stinking level? Just plain annoying.

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  14. Good horror shouldn't really be forced -- that is, the setting should be what it is, and if that ends up being scary, so be it.

    I found Doom 3 much like FEAR: it was intentionally crafted for the sole purpose of being scary; to the almost total exclusion of the story.

    You can only have something jump out from around a dark corner and go BOOGA BOOGA so many times before it just becomes tedious. "Oh look, I've been jumped by yet another monster from thin air; just like I was fifty feet ago. Whatever shall I do."

    The only horror experience in a game I've ever enjoyed was System Shock 2 (which is old enough to technically be on topic for your classic gaming blog here!). The horror was mostly the environment; sounds, stains, things left behind by victims -- it was the whole atmosphere, rather than specific creatures beating you over the head with signs that read "SCARY!". The audio logs were particularly unnerving in spots (they had outstanding voice actors in that game).

    Modern horror titles fall victim to the SAW mentality, where everything is so blatant it's not even mildly scary except in pure knee-jerk when something jumps out at you every twelve seconds.

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  15. I wish there were more good horror games. I never did get to play System Shock 2 but I still remember playing Lurking Horror by Infocom. That had a particularly creepy game over where instead of the standard "You have died" it went

    **** You have changed ****
    Sometimes, during your future existence, you remember your old life. At these times, you wish you had died instead.

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  16. Nos, the mod you are thinking of is called the Duck Tape patch. Named for the fact that somewhere on a multi-billion dollar base on Mars, there should be some Duct Tape somewhere! It wasn't perfect, but it stays as part of my Doom 3 game.

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  17. "Nos, the mod you are thinking of is called the Duck Tape patch. "

    Yeah, that sounds right. I remember duct tape being referenced in the description.

    For it to have been considered the cheat it was by so many players, I don't remember the mod being all that impressive. The circle of light it put out was pretty small -- it's not like it lit up the whole room.

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  18. Not a lot of light is correct. I think it was supposed to imitate a tac light and even then it didn't work all the time. I know I had some issues with it not actually showing up at closer ranges. Still, it made finding the ammo and power ups laying around a lot easier.

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