Steam Thread: Romance of the 3 Storefronts - The Something Awful Forums

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RBA Starblade: Apr 27, 2008; Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

Shrecknet posted:

Spend it on Kind Words: Lo-Fi Beats to Write To because it is the most wholesome and honest 'game' out there. I wish I could hug all the Tumblr kids.

This is the kind of game that reminds me that I am old now

# ? Jan 2, 2020 04:02

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# ? Mar 9, 2021 10:12

americanzero4128: Jul 20, 2009; Grimey Drawer

I want to give a shout out to goon extraordinaire, Kragger99, for giving me a key for Mafia 3 + DLC. I'll check that out after I beat Black Mesa, now that Xen has finally been released. I just finished Blast Pit and am digging the facelift on Half Life.

Any recommendations for a $5 or under game that is not a roguelike, maybe flew under the radar (AKA not a AAA game), and bonus points, is in the 10-20 hour range? Hard to find time for 80+ hour games these days with kids, job, house to fix up, etc. etc. I'm way more appreciative these days of games that tell their story in a concise manner and don't drag on forever.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 04:08

lazorexplosion: Mar 19, 2016

Tried yooka laylee and the impossible lair, first impression is you can't remap keys and jesus christ is that ever an omen that I should be glad I got this for free

# ? Jan 2, 2020 04:30

buglord: Jul 31, 2010; Buglord

I tried out A Hat in Time earlier this month but I felt it was trying way too hard to be cutesy.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 04:36

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Lawman 0 posted:

Looking forward to picking up mechwarrior 5 when it's released on steam and marked down $20 op

And hopefully fixed...

Started playing MW4:M though, game owns.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 04:39

Morter: Jul 1, 2006; Seashells by the
Seashorpheus

StrixNebulosa posted:

Ground floor. I think everyone in here should get Demoncrawl because it's the best minesweeper RPG you never knew you wanted.

How is this on mobile? I need more pokey poke games. The complaints about the rate of in-game currency worry me

# ? Jan 2, 2020 04:57

gandlethorpe: Aug 16, 2008

Wandersong is the most delightfully wholesome game I've ever played.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 06:35

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008

Why is World of Final Fantasy downloading at 50kb/s? I tested by downloading Obra Din, but that went as normal and was done in less than a minute.

Edit: I've tried pausing it, restarting, and uninstalling what's there and restarting the download.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 07:32

SelenicMartian: Sep 14, 2013; Sometimes it's not the bomb that's retarded.

SirSamVimes posted:

Why is World of Final Fantasy downloading at 50kb/s? I tested by downloading Obra Din, but that went as normal and was done in less than a minute.

Edit: I've tried pausing it, restarting, and uninstalling what's there and restarting the download.

Have you tried changing the download server?

# ? Jan 2, 2020 07:45

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008

SelenicMartian posted:

Have you tried changing the download server?

Thanks, that seemed to fix it.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 07:50

Glare Seethe: May 15, 2004; Tenochtitlan, looking east.

americanzero4128 posted:

Any recommendations for a $5 or under game that is not a roguelike, maybe flew under the radar (AKA not a AAA game), and bonus points, is in the 10-20 hour range?

Treasure Adventure World!

# ? Jan 2, 2020 08:11

CLARPUS: Apr 3, 2008; Seeing that.
Seeing as.

I was doing so well getting through my backlog in the summer and fall. I was able to beat a handful of awesome games like Amid Evil, Hollow Knight, Yakuza 0, Pyre, Greedfall, Eastshade, Celeste, Startopia, RE2 remake, and Gris. The last game I started was Disco Elysium and then I got distracted by FFXIV, Destiny 2, and BR games. There's too much poo poo to play and I'm the goony pig in the poo poo.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 08:35

SelenicMartian: Sep 14, 2013; Sometimes it's not the bomb that's retarded.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 08:41

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; This avatar helped buy Lowtax a new back.

New flavors of Tang coming to stores near you!

# ? Jan 2, 2020 09:03

Blattdorf: Aug 10, 2012; "This will be the best for both of us, Bradley."
"Meow."

The World is Your Weapon seems to be the secret gem of this sale. You can pick up and use anything as a weapon. Anything. Anything. So I picked up my neighbour's house and left them wallless.

Also, the new Gemcraft game will be coming out on January 10th.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 09:27

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU_lBkvC8TE

Okay so they're fighting by a pond...
...wait they're fighting WITH a pond.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 09:30

SelenicMartian: Sep 14, 2013; Sometimes it's not the bomb that's retarded.

Voxelgram really is like Picross3D, except kinda dull and samey: there's lots of symmetrical objects with symmetrical clues.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 09:41

Peewi: Nov 8, 2012

Anyone doing the sale tasks? Invite a Friend to Play a Game is the only one I haven't done and it doesn't seem to be working.

EDIT: Nevermind, turns out that even though the invite option is always visible, you have to actually be in a game lobby for it to do anything and thus unlock the quest. I had previously tried it from the main menu of Dota 2, but I guess that didn't work because it uses it's own UI for sending invites instead of the Steam UI.

Peewi fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Jan 2, 2020

# ? Jan 2, 2020 10:27

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

you have to have friends

# ? Jan 2, 2020 10:29

IYKK: Mar 12, 2006

Peewi posted:

Anyone doing the sale tasks? Invite a Friend to Play a Game is the only one I haven't done and it doesn't seem to be working.

EDIT: Nevermind, turns out that even though the invite option is always visible, you have to actually be in a game lobby for it to do anything and thus unlock the quest. I had previously tried it from the main menu of Dota 2, but I guess that didn't work because it uses it's own UI for sending invites instead of the Steam UI.

Inviting to remote play together also seems to fulfil the quest.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 10:57

Croccers: Jun 15, 2012

Synthbuttrange posted:

you have to have friends

I can't find these in the steam store, where are they?

# ? Jan 2, 2020 11:06

Fat Samurai: Feb 16, 2011; To go quickly is foolish. To go slowly is prudent. Not to go; that is wisdom.

Does anyone have an opinion on Wildermyth? It looks X-Com with weird abilities and "organic" character customization.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 11:11

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

Synthbuttrange posted:

you have to have friends

yeah i chose not to do the quests at all

# ? Jan 2, 2020 11:16

Smol: Jun 1, 2011; Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.

Plague Tale y/n?

# ? Jan 2, 2020 12:27

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I got chased out of the Monster Hunter thread for garbage posting, now I shit up other Games threads with useless low-effort uninformed aggro noise. I somehow think "VN nerds" are beneath me and I belong on your ignore list.

Smol posted:

Plague Tale y/n?

Very good game, definitely a yes.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 12:35

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

Smol posted:

Plague Tale y/n?

I really liked A Plague Tale. I think my enjoyment was improved by knowing it was developed by a small French studio that had only really made licensed Disney games prior. It definitely punches high above its weight in the graphics, music and storytelling department even if the stealth gameplay can be a little frustrating at times. I was expecting the striking visuals and hordes of disgusting rats, but I wasn't anticipating some surprisingly well-written and performed characters. I would say it's probably most analogous to a B-tier Last of Us experience with a 10-12 hour runtime.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:13

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Anyone in here played the Atelier series? What's the best one to start with?

e: From my research it seems to be Sophie due to being cheap + no time limit, but heck, what's the goon-sensus?

StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 13:27 on Jan 2, 2020

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:23

Oxxidation: Jul 22, 2007

Smol posted:

Plague Tale y/n?

y

play it in french

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:25

Smol: Jun 1, 2011; Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.

Oxxidation posted:

y

play it in french

The English audio is that bad?

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:50

ShallNoiseUpon: Sep 10, 2010

StrixNebulosa posted:

Anyone in here played the Atelier series? What's the best one to start with?

e: From my research it seems to be Sophie due to being cheap + no time limit, but heck, what's the goon-sensus?

From cheetah7071 in the RPG Thread:

cheetah7071 posted:

What the heck's an Atelier? A megapost for copying/pasting whenever someone asks that, as requested a few pages back before the current discussion started

Atelier is a series of JRPGs released roughly yearly with (as of this post) 21 mainline entries and a dozen spinoffs. The best words to describe the mood of (most of) the games are "cute" and "chill". They almost exclusively have low stakes like "stop the government from eminent domain-ing my small business" or "don't get fired from my job". You (almost always) play as a young woman starting her career as an alchemist. What this means in game terms is crafting. Lots and lots of crafting. You craft your own weapons and armor, you craft bombs to throw at the enemies, you craft healing items, you craft everything. The trend in modern games is to have the crafting be a fully-realized puzzle minigame where the outcome is shaped by the exact details of the items you put in. Besides the crafting, the gameplay is fairly standard turn-based JRPG fare, often with a subfocus on exploration. Some of the older games also have a time management component, of varying levels of difficulty. The games are also known for having kickass soundtracks and heavy lesbian undertones.

Most of the games are linked to each other in trilogies (or the occasional duology or quadrilogy). Generally speaking, you don't need to play a trilogy in order--they're designed to be playable individually (with varying levels of success). The series started on the original Playstation but it wasn't until the PS2 that the games started getting localized. The PS2 games are also huge outliers; in the PS3 era the series returned to its roots and the PS3 games are much more similar to the PS1 games than they are to the PS2 games. This means that the PS3 era is the start of the "modern" Atelier series. Thus, rather than talk about the series in chronological order, I'm going to talk about the modern games first and then go back to the older games.

Arland Quadrilogy (PS3/Vita/PC/PS4/Switch for the first three; PC/PS4/Switch for Lulua)

Atelier Rorona: A wholesome, charming game about an apprentice alchemist saving her master's failing business from being bought out. This game is a very laid-back, relaxed experience if you just want to get to the end and make some anime friends, but a very frantic experience if you want to make all the anime friends because there's a time limit. That time limit is extremely generous to just complete the game, but extremely tight if you want to 100% it. Also, content warning, there are a few scenes that are uncomfortably horny about underage characters. Also apparently the PS3 version is terrible and you should never play it. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Atelier Totori: This game dials back the charm compared to Rorona, but in exchange has a heartfelt story about family. This game has in my opinion the second-best writing in the series. It's a bit janky though--when Rorona got ported, it got a bunch of quality of life updates, whereas Totori is a straight port, so it's the oldest-feeling of the modern games. It also has the tightest time limit of any of the modern games, and is the only one where a careful player faces a realistic chance of failure. Consulting a guide or asking for help is recommended.

Atelier Meruru: This game has a sort of frantic energy to it. You play as a princess using alchemy to provide infrastructure to her kingdom. The new characters besides Meruru herself are all pretty boring but it brings back all the favorites from Rorona and Totori. This game has a similar time limit to Totori but is a bit easier so there's less risk of failure. Also Rorona is inexplicably turned into an eight year old in this game, a move which nobody liked.

Atelier Lulua: This game came out a decade after Meruru and is a long form apology for what they did to Rorona in it. Rorona is now in her 30s and is a mom, and you play as her daughter. The game is written as a slapstick comedy and the first half has some great cinematograpy contributing to the comedic timing (before they realized that doing that for the entire game would run them way over budget). This game does not have a time limit.

Dusk Trilogy (PS3/Vita, soon to be PC/PS4/Switch)

Atelier Ayesha: This game wins my award for best-written Atelier. The game is in turns cute, heartwarming, funny, and deeply moving. You play as a young woman going on an adventure to learn alchemy in order to save her sister. This game can be a bit confusing at times on how to proceed and has a time limit, so I recommend using a guide if you ever find yourself stuck on what to do next. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series

Atelier Escha and Logy: This is another fan-favorite for its lovable cast. You play as two alchemists starting their career in government work. This game has a time limit but failure isn't very realistic.

Atelier Shallie: I don't even know how to summarize the story of this one. Tbh I don't like it all that much, it felt too much like it was trying to rely on the appeal of the previous Dusk games while not having anything worthwhile of its own, or a very good understanding of what made them great in the first place.

Mysterious Trilogy (PS4/Vita/PC; L&S is on the Switch as well)

Atelier Sophie: A young woman begins to learn alchemy under the instruction of a talking book who is her future wife. Unfortunately for her, her village is filled with only boring people for her to be friends with. Fortunately for her, new, less boring people move in eventually

Atelier Firis: An open world Atelier. You can really tell that all the development effort in this game went into doing their best to make an open world game, and the rest suffers for it. I personally think they pulled it off, but everybody else on the planet thinks this is the worst Atelier by a mile.

Atelier Lydie and Suelle: A return to form, this game feels like it could have been in the Arland trilogy, writing-wise. It has a lovable, colorful cast of characters and probably the best gameplay in the series to-date. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Secret (?) Trilogy (?) (PS4/PC/Switch)

Atelier Ryza: This game is a story about a young woman in a rural town coming of age and finding her place in the world. The story leans a bit more traditional JRPG, with linear story beats and a more typical save-the-world framing (though there's still plenty of Atelier-style low-stakes stuff to go along with it). The combat system is also decidedly unchill, and demands quick thinking to succeed. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series

Iris Trilogy (PS2)

Atelier Iris: I haven't played this game since I was a teen but it's probably boring and bad

Atelier Iris 2: I have replayed this game so I know it's boring and bad

Atelier Iris 3: This game has charming-but-boring writing, but an unusually engaging battle system.

Mana Khemia Duology (PS2)

Mana Khemia: I'm the only Atelier fan who doesn't like this game so it must be doing something good. Play it maybe, and then tell me why I'm wrong for not liking it

Mana Khemia 2: I have not played this game.

Other stuff

Atelier Marie: The very first Atelier, available to play via a fan patch for the PS2 version. The entire game is time management.

Atelier Elie: The second Atelier, available to play also via fan patch. It seems to be Marie but better.

Atelier Annie: A DS game and officially considered a spinoff, though gameplaywise it seems to be basically mainline. Unfortunately, that gameplay is trash. It's a shame too because the writing is legitimately funny.

Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists: This is a crossover game. It is not a mainline Atelier, it is a spinoff. The genre is townbuilder, not JRPG. Don't play it unless you've played so many Ateliers that you'll recognize a good number of the crossover characters

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:52

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I got chased out of the Monster Hunter thread for garbage posting, now I shit up other Games threads with useless low-effort uninformed aggro noise. I somehow think "VN nerds" are beneath me and I belong on your ignore list.

StrixNebulosa posted:

Anyone in here played the Atelier series? What's the best one to start with?

e: From my research it seems to be Sophie due to being cheap + no time limit, but heck, what's the goon-sensus?

People in the RPG thread recommended Atelier Iris to me as good for people who are new to the series and maybe want the gameplay over the anime plot. Haven't gotten around to playing it yet, but it sounded like a good fit and it can be emulated on PC because it's a PS2 game.

Smol posted:

The English audio is that bad?

No, it is perfectly fine, although the French accents are hilariously fake-sounding and the voice actors sometimes forget they are supposed to do them in the middle of a sentence.

But, you know, fake accent voice-acting. That's just how it is.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:54

Fallom: Sep 6, 2008; Fun Shoe

ShallNoiseUpon posted:

From cheetah7071 in the RPG Thread:

actually it�s a word for �workshop�

# ? Jan 2, 2020 13:59

Oxxidation: Jul 22, 2007

Smol posted:

The English audio is that bad?

it's just mediocre, as mentioned above, and the french audio is very good

in particular there's a lot of ecclesiastical ranting throughout the game, and no one can go off on an ecclesiastical rant quite like a frenchman

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:09

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I got chased out of the Monster Hunter thread for garbage posting, now I shit up other Games threads with useless low-effort uninformed aggro noise. I somehow think "VN nerds" are beneath me and I belong on your ignore list.

Oxxidation posted:

in particular there's a lot of ecclesiastical ranting throughout the game, and no one can go off on an ecclesiastical rant quite like a frenchman

Not French, but I have spent enough time in France that I can confirm this first-hand. You think the Canadians can curse? The French do it better.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:15

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Thanks for the info on Ateliers! I'm probably not gonna pick them up immediately as they're not on sale, but I want to shuffle my wishlist right.

Also as the sale winds down I keep looking at Disco Elysium. Hmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:21

RBA Starblade: Apr 27, 2008; Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

RICHARRRRRRRRD

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:26

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I got chased out of the Monster Hunter thread for garbage posting, now I shit up other Games threads with useless low-effort uninformed aggro noise. I somehow think "VN nerds" are beneath me and I belong on your ignore list.

Is Metal Wolf Chaos on sale again?

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:36

RBA Starblade: Apr 27, 2008; Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

Cardiovorax posted:

Is Metal Wolf Chaos on sale again?

It was and I bought it

Relatedly I miss Armored Core

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:40

Ragequit: Jun 1, 2006; Lipstick Apathy

americanzero4128 posted:

I want to give a shout out to goon extraordinaire, Kragger99, for giving me a key for Mafia 3 + DLC. I'll check that out after I beat Black Mesa, now that Xen has finally been released. I just finished Blast Pit and am digging the facelift on Half Life.

Any recommendations for a $5 or under game that is not a roguelike, maybe flew under the radar (AKA not a AAA game), and bonus points, is in the 10-20 hour range? Hard to find time for 80+ hour games these days with kids, job, house to fix up, etc. etc. I'm way more appreciative these days of games that tell their story in a concise manner and don't drag on forever.

Have a preferred genre other than non-roguelike?

Some things that are currently under $5 that were well received by goons:

Life is Strange Season 1: ~15 hours to try and save your friend as a photography student who can rewind time

Paper Please: ~5 hours to complete your job as an immigration/customs officer for Arstotzka

Antichamber: ~8 hours to puzzle through an Escher acid trip

SOMA: ~10 hours to complete this new adventure from the Amnesia crew

Hotline Miami 2: ~10 hours of rootin', tootin', and shootin' (I never did play the second one but it seems to be more of the first, which is also on sale if you've never played it)

The Shadowrun (isometric cyberpunk RPG) or Banner Saga (tile battle RPG with choices that drive narrative) games should also fit your requirements.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 14:45

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# ? Mar 9, 2021 10:12

ErrEff: Feb 13, 2012; Have you heard the good news?

Look deeply into my eyes.

STADIA!

I found this. I wish I hadn't but now I must share it with you.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/...ical__Knackles/

I'm sorry.

# ? Jan 2, 2020 15:15

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > Steam Thread: Romance of the 3 Storefronts

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