The Steam Xmas Sale has started - wallets commit suicide across the world
 

You know the drill.

We discuss whats on sale, people ask if game A is any good, we try and get some achievements for COUPONS, and maybe trade them coupons. Just put it all here.

Sale pick of the day for me: Holy Crap Fable 1 is on steam now and is only 2 buck 50.

The Steam Xmas Sale has started - wallets commit suicide across the world
 

The site is lagging like hell at the moment, so here's the usual things of what's up:

Daily deals from now until January 1st.
Discounted package deals - Indie bundles, publisher bundles, and of course the Valve Complete pack.

Like the Summer Sale, there's also the Great Gift pile. By getting new achievements in various games, you either receive a gift - free games or discount coupons, or... a lump of coal. Each lump represents an entry into a prize draw on January 2nd, or you can combine 7 coal into a proper gift (and you won't get coal again). You can trade these gifts or coal to other people.

As for the prize draw... 3rd prize for 1000 winners is the Valve Complete pack, 2nd prize for 100 winners is the top five games on each person's wishlist, 1st prize for 50 winners is the top 10 games...


And the grand prize for one person is every single game on Steam. ALL OF THEM.



Jan 1st daily deals are:

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (66%)
• Total War franchise (75%)
• Terraria (75%)
• Bastion (66%)
• Serious Sam franchise (varies between 90%-50%)
• Assassin's Creed franchise (varies between 75%-25%)
• Portal 1 + 2 (75%)
• LA Noire (75%)
• Orcs Must Die (75%)
• Dead Island (50%)
• Magicka (75%)
• Saints Row the Third (33%)
• Dungeon Defenders (75%)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (25%)
• Batman: Arkham City (50%)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (33%)

I'll try to keep this updated every day.

Guild Wars not on sale, I am now waiting for it to be, which it probably will.

I guess I may get Dead Island, unsure, though.

Guild Wars is on Steam?

...wait, how does that work? The game itself can be downloaded for free, but you need to pay money for the codes to start an account/add new campaigns to the account. How does it work on Steam?

'cause if the client is free on Steam, I'd like to have it there, instead of needing to use CrossOver to play Guild Wars on my mac.

I've never seen them before doing a search just now, but there is various Guild Wars stuff on Steam. A GOTY edition is £13, for example. I don't know how it would all work, though.

Never seen any GW thingies on sale, and they're certainly not on sale right now. Honestly, I think everyone's waiting for GW2 at this point.

Ha! I am ahead of all of you since my debit card is on zeroes!...*sob*

Also, Derp Dead Island was 83% off some minutes ago o_O...it's only 33% off now though

Portal 2 is at 75% off

I am, too. But I want to finish Nightfall, first. I finally got through Prophecies and Factions. I'm slow.

I was just wondering if I could get the thing on my Steam account without having to buy the dang thing again. I guess not.

But yeah. Very hype for GW2. Can't wait to try out the Guardian and Engineer and Elementalist and Mesmer.

Well, since I'm one of the five people on the planet who hasn't beaten either Portal game I guess this is a good opportunity for me.

Wondering if I'll be able to buy either Dungeon Defenders or Guild Wars. Goddamn credit cards...

So Ramary's thread came first, but this thread has a much nicer OP. WHAT TO DO WHAT TO DO?!

Anyway I'm glad I hunted a bunch of xmas cheevos the other day, and already have most of them that I can get. But yeah, site is overloaded and whatnot and I can't see anything in my inventory. Hopefully that will clear up soon-ish.

Getting Metro 2033. I've already played through it before, but I can see myself doing it again. It's a pretty fun FPS, albeit a bit short (for me). But with less than 3€ I can definitely get it.

e: Also getting Portal 2.

e2: I mean I would if I'd get the opportunity.

There are two threads! Aaaaaargh, the problem of choice! FIRS WORLD PROBLEMS™

Oh hey, Max Payne. Might also be a good time to get Portal 2. Too bad I don't wanna spend money on those... but tempting, I'll admit.

I submit a radical, untested solution.

I can't help but notice that Osterbaum double posted. Perhaps a bit of moderator justice is in order?


The only game I finished from Thanksgiving was Orcs Must Die. I'm going to have so many (more) unplayed games.

I am OP and there is a better title.

I believe this test was a success.

And now it looks like I double-posted! WHAT WILL THAT DO TO MY IMAGE

I am reaching for the red cube button as I type.

Obviously a life-time ban is needed to teach you a lesson.

Also if anyone is interested in getting a head-start on the winter achievements, there's this nifty link right here.

Guild Wars has been on sale on Steam before and I didn't get it because I'm dumb. Like, summer camp had it on 50% off.

I suppose everyone knows the drill? Wait until the last day to buy the general sales, that way if it shows up on the daily deals you get an even bigger discount.

I'm hoping Saint's Row the Third goes down to 50% myself.

It's more 'wait until the last day to buy stuff IF they don't pop up in daily deals'. I've seen people neglect the daily deal to wait until the last day, then complain when it's not rediscounted.

I wish the servers would stop dying and load the gifts that I should have in my inventory from today's achievements. So far all I'm seeing is a 50% off Valve games coupon which is completely useless to me. Speaking of which, if anyone wants that coupon let me know, since otherwise it will just sit in my inventory until it expires.

Definitely going to get Orcs Must Die and very close to getting Assassin's Creed 2, but how bad is the DRM? If it's just the normal Steam affair, then I'm definitely getting it.

My girlfriend bought a copy of Portal 2 only to find her first gift from the event was a free copy of Portal 2. So uh, don't buy Valve games until the last day unless you know people who'd like them as gifts.

It has been confirmed there is a coupon for 33% off skyrim as one of the gifts.

I have a goal now, since I doubt skyrim will be discounted during the sale.

It's not just Valve games in the gifts. It's this giant list right here.

Huh, Dead Island will be a bitchin gift game I guess, since I always been on the fence on that game and don't want to spend money on it.

Orcs Must Die, my number 225!

Cool, I just got Counter-strike Source as my free don't do anything gift.

EDIT: Also, Holy shit. The grand prize for this giveaway is Every. Single. Game. On. Steam.

That guy will never know what to play. Ever.

Coupons almost feel insulting. Everything is on sale right now, but they give you a coupon for less savings after the sales end. I rather be getting the coal.

So apparently each game with a winter achievement will get featured at some point throughout the sale? Does anybody know if the rewards are retroactive? I already have at least 2 of the unused achievements completed.

I already had the Orcs Must Die and the Anomaly: Warzone Earth achievements unlocked and the instant the sale went up I had them unlocked in the gift pile screen, so yeah they're retroactive. Only the server doesn't feel like putting the gifts in my inventory, so woooooo.

Also, another reason the coupons are pretty useless:
So they expire in three months, but that doesn't really matter because you can only use them on things released before 2012, which would be fine if not for the fact that anything worth getting will be on sale for less during the next two weeks.

So my first prize was Day of Defeat: Source. I... have no idea what it is and I don't really think I'm interested in it. Anyone wanna trade?

Granted, it's only like $5 on Steam right now, but... If anyone has an extra copy of Magica or Sanctum or Monday Night Combat or something to trade, I'd be happy to take it off their hands.

And I'm gone for the last half of this week and the first half of next. And maybe for the weekend of New Years.

Any word on if you need to get the acheivment during the day it's up?

Nah you can earn most of the achievements beforehand. I posted this link earlier in the thread that has a list of all the recently added holiday achievements. Although there are a few of them that can't be earned yet, as noted in the "Achievable" column.

My word.

Well, my 25% off Valve titles voucher feels a little weak, now.

I've got a 33% Valve coupon and a lump of coal.

Coupon's useless to me. What am I going to use that on, Day of Defeat? Hah!
Clarification: the coupon only applies to games released before Jan 2nd, so even if it didn't expire in March you wouldn't be able to save it for DOTA2 or whatever else (HL3/EP3 is vapourware).

Exactly the same case for me. Valve hadn't put off RELEASING THE THIRD TITLES FOR EVERY FRANCHISE THEY MAKE then maybe this would be more useful. My 50% off coupon feels like shit right now since the only Valve game I'd consider buying is DOTA 2, if they'd actually start selling it.

I'm trying to ask for a recommendation here, but
 

Ohmygosh i am sooooooo tempted to buy the paradox complete pack it has magicka and mount&blade and all the hearts of iron stuff and king arthur and adsfjkljöa

I've only tried out magicka and Mountblades: Warband. Both are pretty decent, but if you know you like the stuff in that complete pack then go for it.

As mentioned before, I would wait until Jan 2nd to buy the pack. You've got 2 weeks of potential daily deals and gifts to get what you want out of the pack. The only issue is if say only Mount & Blade and King Arthur get a daily deal, and then you still want to buy the pack for games that didn't go on sale.

Gah. I'm in china pretty soon, and I'm paranoid about doing paypal-related stuff in china. I'll wait till the last day, though, that's a pretty good idea.

Updated first second post.

Dec 20th daily deals are:

• Red Orchestra 2 (50%)
• Psychonauts + Costume Quest (75%)
• Lego Batman (75%)
• Sacred Gold + Sacred 2 (75%)
• Recettear + Chantelise (75%)
• Tropico 4 (66%)
• Dungeons of Dredmor (75%)
• Witcher 1 (40%) + Witcher 2 (75%)
• Half-Life franchise (75%)
• CoD: Modern Warfare 2 (50%)
• Theatre of War (75%)
• Duke Nukem Forever (fuck this why would you want to buy this game)

I haven't played the game, just riding the bandwagon :3
 

Gah, this game's pulling me for some reason it's suckyness is pulling me! It's like a black hole D:

Ocelot...what happened to the kitty?

Check the PA thread.

Has anyone played the Sacred games?

And I'll probably be buying Duke Nukem Forever.

I bought Chantelise, cuz that was pretty damn cheap.

Me and my friends used to LAN Sacred Gold for weekends upon weekends, it was pretty entertaining I recall

Sacred 1 is very similar to diablo 2. The story's not much to look at, but there's a lot of possibilities in terms of character building. Bit of a timesink, though.

Sacred 2 add some features, removes others (like the ability to save at will). Story's still not much to look at, and, while the characters are still pretty customizable, it's hard to find builds that work really well. Plus, it's pretty hardware-intensive.

I wouldn't really recommend either, tbh.Though for 5 Euro, it's worth giving a try if you're a big fan of hack-and-slash.

Man, I don't know if I would even take DNF for free, since everyone thinks it's as good as it is child-friendly.

I keep getting Coal.

And not much per Achievement, like 1 coal each, only one gave me 2.

Also everyone here buy Dungeons of Dredmor if you have not already.

If you haven't already gotten it, that's a pretty good price for a goofy roguelike. Dungeons of Dredmor has eaten many of my waking hours. (And some sleeping.)
E- Damn you Ramary.

I did(And Chantelise).

Just waiting for Dungeon Defenders now

I've been getting mostly coal as well. Although I did get Dino D-day, but I'm unsure if I want it for myself or not. I played it a bit when it had a free weekend and I don't remember it being all that great

Watch this video if you want the Super Meat Boy achievement, because those levels are just stupid to try and complete properly.

It'll be one of the objectives on a future day, so you may as well get it done early.

I am waiting till I know if it is the one level Achievement, or the all 5 in one session one.

If it is the former, I can do that easy, if it is the later.....well I guess ill just be preparing my ass to be kicked all day.

EDIT: Did you not see the summer one? You had to speed run though hell with like no mistakes in an insane time. This is EASY compared to that.

I didn't own the game back then - I acquired Humble Bundle #4 a few days ago.

Steamcheeves.com says it's just that one achievement. They've got a list of all the upcoming objectives.

Witcher 1 for under $3, Complete Half Life series for 9,99... not bad, not bad at all!

I keep waiting for a good Multiplayer game to popup...

Today's damage: Dungeons of Dredmor, HL1 Anthology, Witcher 2.

I had been sitting on Witcher 2 for a while. Since I don't see it dropping below 40% (it totally will, any time now) I have finally gone for it.

Alternatively: Download a save file that already had the achievement.

and not even the "failing to live up to nostalgia" way
 

holy shit


Why would you do this to yourself?
The game is horrible in so many ways.

because Trainwreck: The Video Game

Also, the trainwreck is only $5 today.

No, Duke's not really a porn, but it's friggin' terrible like one.
 

I thought it was just a video game and not a mirror for how good/terrible you are as a person.

It's BOTH.

I imagine it's just a crude FPS filled with bad jokes. I'm not looking for a Half-Life or anything.

Come to think of it, I defend a lot of bad things...
 

And no one can defend it. No one, not even me and I defend Beyblade on a weekly basis.


That's saying something.

If it makes you all feel better, I'm not buying Duke Nukem Forever anymore. I realized I could probably get Bulletstorm or a Serious Sam to fill the FPS slot that I want to fill, without being crappy.

Serious Sam 3: BFE is a good bet to go on sale since it has an Achievement.

The other Serious Sam games will be on sale with it, I suggest first and second encounter.

So long as this is your own decision, I see no reason for anyone to be concerned.

let's blow this out of proportion
 

I WILL JUDGE YOU FOREVER

but no I don't see me claiming anyone who buys this is terrible. It's just an awful, awful game.

And maybe that's appealing to some folks.

One more day, no Guild Wars again... But considering NWN2 and Mount & Blade got a sale...

Dec 21st daily deals are:

• Mount & Blade franchise (75%)
• Sherlock Holmes franchise??? (75%)
• Defense Grid: The Awakening (75%)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R franchise (75%)
• Payday: The Heist(50%)
• Swords & Soldiers (75%)
• Grotesque Tactics 1 + 2 (75%)
• Neverwinter Nights 2(75%)
• Monday Night Combat (75%)
• Batman: Arkham City (50%)
• Formula 1 2011 (50%)
• Jurassic Park (50%, but also apparently a piece of shit)

Damnit Steam, just take my money and leave me be... Any thoughts on these games?

Tropico 3 vs. Tropico 4 - Never played either, so Tropico 4 being very similar to Tropico 3 isn't an issue for me.
Assassin's Creed 2 - As long as the DRM isn't shit, and it's gamepad-enabled
Mount & Blade: Warband - Heard this version's better than With Fire & Sword

And jesus christ, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 now has 12 games including soundtracks for each game (I'm almost buying this just for the soundtrack to VVVVVV).

In regards to Mount & Blade: Warband, it is a better version due to the virtue of having an active mod scene, whereas Fire & Sword does not and the rest is basically personal preference on how gunplay effects the flow of Mount & Blade combat system. Personally, I prefer Mount and Musket mod(mulitplayer only) than Fire & Sword's multiplayer.

I just got a 66% off Singularity voucher. Vouchers aren't any use to me (gotta have money to use them in the first place) Anyone interested?

Aaaaaaaand bought.

I have a 33% coupon on Valve games from the Gift Pile if anyone wants it.