The sounds, saunter, and signing off of the Steam summer sale

This has been my first Steam summer sale. And by that I mean the first summer to come around where I have a computer capable of running some videogames. Not all of them, mind you, as my ASUS laptop can only do so much, but most, and most definitely all the indie or previously downloadable-only ones, which I prefer over the AAA titles. For those, like Batman: Arkham City and whatever the latest Assassin’s Creed game is called, I’d rather play them on my Xbox 360 than have to deal with slow downloads, configuring a controller for my laptop, and tweaking settings to get it playable.

And so, here are all the darlings I was able to snag during the crazy affair:

• Terraria (purchased for $2.49)
• Portal 2 (purchased for $4.99)
• Tiny Bang Story (purchased for $2.50)
• Trine 2 (purchased for $3.74)
• Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition (purchased for $9.99)
• Stacking (purchased for $3.74)
• Torchlight (purchased for $3.74)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (gifted to me by Greg Noe when on sale for $2.49)
• Monkey Island Complete Pack (purchased for $8.74)
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (purchased for $2.49)

That’s a total of $42.42 spent, which is not bad. Also, the answer to life, the universe, and everything…twice. I think that is a win no matter how you look at it.

Of my new purchases, I’ve played a few, but only sparingly. I loaded up Terraria to see if it worked and…yup, it did. Think that game requires some time and devotion to get into. I also did the same with Fallout: New Vegas, just to see how it runs on my laptop; fine, fine, and it is quite a change to go from watching a loading screen on the Xbox 360 for minutes to blinking and missing them on the PC. The biggest reason for buying that game all over again–not just because I love it so–is mods, so I’ll have to look into which ones are the bees’ knees. Stacking‘s a lot of fun, and you’ll be able to read more about that once I finish up my coverage for The First Hour. And then there’s Torchlight, which I’ve fallen back into hard. You see, when I first played it on the ol’ Xbox 360, I struggled with being able to read anything, and so it was mostly guesswork as to what items and weapons to equip, taking away a lot of fun inventory management. Yes, I said fun inventory management. But on the PC, everything is spectacular, and all that text is mine to devour and ponder and make decisions upon. I’m loving it all over again. Plus, it was a whole lot cheaper than buying Diablo III.

I hope to try out the other games I got before the world implodes, but that’s probably just wishful thinking. If you can help, please help.

So, how’d you make out with this year’s Steam summer sale? Share your purchases and good deals below!

The Sea Will Claim Everything in its first hour of clicking

My dream goal would be to cover all the games that came grouped in Bundle in a Box‘s first package for The First Hour, but my time and sanity are running lower and lower with each new day in June that comes to pass. It really is amazing that I’m typing these words here at Grinding Down at all. If anything, I’m happy to report I played an hour (and then some more) of The Sea Will Claim Everything, a unique-looking point-and-click adventure game set in the fantastical realm known as the Lands of Dreams. Click that previously linked sentence to see how the sixty minutes went.

The sad news is that I dragged my feet with this review and the bundle is now over; The Sea Will Claim Everything will not be available for a little bit until Jonas Kyratzes can set up a webshop. So, if you are interested in it and didn’t purchase a bundle, you’ll have to now wait. Sorry, little dreamers.

But stay tuned, as I am going to continue to play The Sea Will Claim Everything and will let you know how it all turns out.

2012 Game Review Haiku, #16 – Hector: Badge of Carnage, Episode 2

With some help, Hector
Discovers who the sniper
Is, by Merlin’s beard

–

For all the games I complete in 2012, instead of wasting time writing a review made up of points and thoughts I’ve probably already expressed here in various posts at Grinding Down, I’m instead just going to write a haiku about it. So there.

Today’s the day you can open that Bundle in a Box

A few weeks ago, I swore off indie game bundles. Not entirely, but certainly for that bubble of time, as a bunch of game-touting bundles had come out all at once, as if some madman in his madman fortresses, after drinking way too much madman juice, decided to release every rabid hound he had on the poor villagers down below and laugh wildly as he reaped the benefits. Yeah, I’m sure that doesn’t really convey what I want to convey, but basically it felt like too much in too little of a time.

That said, I knew in my heart of hearts that I’d come back, and that would basically happen with the mysteriously Bundle in a Box, a package steeped in slow-revealing secrecy, but sounding of supreme promise, as it did announce that its first package was going to be themed, and that theme, ladies and gents, was to be point-and-click adventure games. Yes, the revolution is in full kick.

Anyways, Bundle in a Box‘s first bundle includes the following: The Sea Will Claim Everything, Gemini Rue, Metal Dead, The Shivah, Ben There, Dan That!, Time Gentlemen, Please! and–for the first time ever–the downloadable version of 1893: A World’s Fair Mystery text-adventure, which was previously only available as a physical product. That’s some good stuff there, and I’m particularly stoked to see two products from Wadget Eye Games, as I absolutely loved the Blackwell titles to death, pun totally intended. I’ve actually had access to a few of these above titles, but never through Steam, and if there’s something I can appreciate, it’s having all my games in one tidy list, ready for launching.

Bundle in a Box is also doing things a little different than what consumers might have already experienced through events from Humble Indie Bundle and Indie Royal. There’s a constantly decreasing minimal price and bonuses like soundtracks and “making of” ebooks are unlocked after a specific amount of bundles are sold. Money goes towards two fantastic charities: The Hellenic Centre for Mental Health and Treatment of Child and Family and The Indie Dev Grant.

So go forth, adventurers: http://bundle-in-a-box.com/

It’s the first click of many great clicks to come.

Level 1-11 in Bit.Trip RUNNER is a real Bit.Trip BUMMER

…but I only say that out of the frustration that comes with a brutally old-school videogame like Bit.Trip RUNNER. It’s not a total bummer; in fact, it’s extremely addicting and full of musically magic moments; it’s only a bummer in that if you mess up once on level 1-11 “Odyssey” as you attempt to pick up 93 pieces of gold–yes, 93–or avoid numerous pitfalls…it’s back to the start for you and the never-tiring, always perky CommanderVideo.

And you try again, naturally, getting a smidge further into the level, but still end up missing a key jump because you hit the space bar one-ninth of a second too late or couldn’t remember quickly enough if you were supposed to slide under that bouncing block or hop over it. All right, so you try again. And again. And again like eight more times, stubbornness in your eyes and hands. Eventually, carelessness slips in, and aspects of the level you had already perfected now become just as difficult, with it all coming to a glorious head in accepting defeat and failure.

At least, that’s how things went for me. And the folks at Giant Bomb, based on their Quick Look skills. But yeah, Bit.Trip RUNNER‘s motto is basically, “Okay, one more try.” It’s hard not to say it, not to want to go again. The solution is so simple, and you always see your mistakes. Like, you know you could have gotten farther if you timed your jump better, so go again and this time plan your jump better. Except it doesn’t always work out so easily, especially as the levels get longer and full of more stuff. Precision reflexes are key, and for those that don’t have them, they must be earned, worked toward, like calluses from playing the guitar. I am getting there, but it’s not going to happen over night.

Need further proof about how far I am versus how many times I’ve retried levels, over and over and over? Well, see here:

RUNNER.UP: Jump 1,000 times

But I’m not done with you, level 1-11. Not one bit (pun intended). I just need a breather, but I’ll be back soon, and then you and are I going to make sweet musical completion together. Though part of me is nervous because the level after 1-11 is…a boss fight. I have no idea how those are played out, but imagine it’ll be no run through the park.

Hacking and slashing greatly outweigh looting in Hack, Slash, Loot

Don’t let the Skyrim picture above confuse you too much because I’m actually going to talk about a little unassuming game called Hack, Slash, Loot, which I got as part of a recent bundle from Indie Royal. Alas, that game doesn’t do well in terms of screenshots and me throwing stupid text over it, and so I typed in “loot” into Google and found the above. Such is the way the cogs turn behind Grinding Down.

But yeah. Hacking, slashing, and looting. The game promises all three actions, but really only delivers on two, and those two are technically interchangeable, which results in one out of three. I’m not a school teacher, but I know a few, and I can imagine the type of letter grade a score like that would translate into. Despite that and a few other major faults, there are parts that I really do like about David Williamson’s independently developed roguelike that skimps on graphics and strives for missed dice rolls. There’s just something really charming beneath its brutally difficult skin.

Hack, Slash, Loot begins with choices. You have to pick a class, and they range from a Human Saracen to a Woodland Elf Archer. I went with a wizard most of the time. Once you’ve decided who you are, you need to figure out what to do, and there are six different quests to pick from: Journey to the Kimon, Mask of the Boy King, They Dwell Beneath, Dark Hearts and Evil Minds, Battle for Stormrise, and Tower of the Magus. These differ in terms of conflict and goals, but you will ultimately end up in a dungeon, killing monsters and searching for stronger weapons and gear. And each dungeon is randomly generated, making every quest, every adventure, new and unpredictable. In fact, one dungeon spawned my character in a room with two monsters right next to me, which helped to earn me this Steam Achievement:

Wooden Spoon: Die in less than 20 turns

Sweet, delicious failure!

But randomness is good, and it’s one of the reasons that I can go back to Diablo II, Torchlight, Dark Cloud 2, and the grottos in Dragon Quest IX today, in 2012, and still have a fresh experience. The graphics are retro and not distracting, with sprites taking center stage, which makes exploring the grid-based map easy. There isn’t much on the map, just a few candles and coffins, but it all looks good and recognizable. Again, I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff, but gameplay will always trump graphics for me, as it has to be fun to play, otherwise I’m just wasting my days.

That said, there is little loot to look for and the difficulty of Hack, Slash, Loot is more than enough to put someone off–it’s pure frustration. Healing your character does not happen in a conventional way; there are no spells or potions to regain health; instead, you have to loot tombs for scrolls which, may or may not, heal your little hero. This makes taking on more than one enemy at once a very dangerous situations, and I swear my character misses more times than he hits. Same can be said with enemies. It is a lot of missed dice rolls, which does not make for exciting combat; it just then feels luck-based since stats are not as visible as they need to be.

I never really got far in Hack, Slash, Loot, but I had a good time clicking around and trying out different weapons. Ranged weapons like staffs and bows were better for staying alive longer, but it was only time before I ran out of health. It was something to do while hanging out in bed, dog-sitting and watching Frasier. I just might go back again and hope that the next random dungeon is better suited…

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is like a joke

There’s a new Indie Impression up over at The First Hour, and I participated in it despite my disinterest in all things basketball-related. However, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is more than an annual sports romp; it’s a fan-made, freeware sequel to Barkley, Shut Up and Jam!, which was, by all accounts, a traditional two-on-two street basketball simulator for the SNES. Except the silly minds behind it created something truly unlikely: a post-apocalyptic basketball RPG.

Um…

I didn’t understand it and never even got to see a turn-based fight. I shut the game down when I…well, you’ll just have to go over to The First Hour and do some reading to see where Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden lost me. I have to imagine one would have to have both an interest in RPGs and basketball to really enjoy this Frankenstein’s monster, and that person is not me. However, when they ultimately make Barkley, Be Quiet and Tee Off: Redemption…please, please, let me know.

Turning over a new leash with Bulletstorm

Let me just get this out there, so y’all understand that when you see me crawling out of an alley, begging for money and smelling worse than the rotten remains of a Stygia mutant previously eviscerated by the “Rear Entry” skillshot, it’s because of this: Steam sales. They will be my undoing, as just about anything heavily discounted suddenly becomes interesting in front of my eyes. And I do mean anything.

Take, for instance, the crude and callous first-person shooter Bulletstorm. I absolutely disliked the demo, ultimately saying this:

Bulletstorm is irrefutably juvenile, and the demo is all I probably needed to experience…ever. And for fun’s sake, here’s some phrases used affectionately during the demo to hit home their target audience: pasty, bean bag, butt hole, and, the new cult favorite, dick tits.

Right. So, why then did I buy a copy of the game over the weekend for the PC? Why have I been unlocking a lot of Achievements in rapid succession? Why am I–and this is almost troubling to admit–having fun kicking mutants into slow motion and then shooting them in half? Well, because Steam was selling it for $5.00. And at that kind of price, Bulletstorm is a blast.

At its boyish heart, Bulletstorm‘s story is about revenge gone wrong. Grayson Hunt is looking to kick his former commanding officer General Sarrano of the Confederation of Planets in his nuts and then shoot him in the head. This is because Sarrano used Hunt and his fellow friends to assassinate innocent people by telling them they were corrupt evildoers. Unfortunately, trying to ram Sarrano’s spaceship with Hunt’s spaceship brought both vessels down on the planet Stygia, which is infested with mutants and monsters. But Hunt’s no quitter, and so he’s crawling across the planet’s dangerous grounds in search of the man that made him mad. He is helped by Ishi, who is now part android, and Trishka, a former member of the elite squad Final Echo.

Gameplay involves moving forward through a level and racking up points by using creative kills against the many, many mutants that want to ruin your very existence. Headshots are boring, and so one must look for other ways to create mayhem: tossing an enemy of a cliff, dropping them on some spikes, shooting them in half, setting them on fire, and so on. Points let you buy ammo and upgrade weapons, so the more creative you are, the stronger your guns will be, which in turn let you get even crazier. It’s a system that works and reminds me of the way weapons upgraded in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. You also use a hi-tech leash that can grab objects and throw them around though I prefer sliding into enemies and then kicking them off ledges the most–really helps conserve precious ammo. Occasionally, gameplay gets mixed up, with Hunt controlling a huge, Godzilla-like monster or trying to just escape a section of the level under a time limit; otherwise, it’s still just a lot of shooting.

Also, what’s kind of nice is that, unknowingly, Bulletstorm on Steam counts as a Game for Windows Live thing, meaning I can play it logged in as PaulyAulyWog and earn Achievements for my actual Gamerscore. Think this is my first GFWL experience, and it’s all good in the skillshotty neighborhood. Here’s a few that I unlocked that are not tied to completing story chapters:

Master of Disaster (40G): Earn 2000 points or more at once

Disco Inferno (10G): Kill all enemies without leaving the dance floor in the city outskirts

No Man Left Behind (20G): Kill all enemies while escaping from the collapsed building

Currently, I’m somewhere in Act 4. Second chapter? Third? Don’t really know what that means in comparison to the overall game, but it feels like midway through. Maybe even more than that. I’m sure it won’t take long to finish up, as we’re definitely getting closer to wherever Sarrano is hiding. Again, for $5.00, this is a good time; however, if I had bought Bulletstorm at full price on Day One…I would definitely feel otherwise. And there you go.

The Annals of Halgren slaughter goblins for an hour in Icewind Dale II

Well, now I can say I’ve played two Forgotten Realms videogames, and both turned out pretty uninspiring in my eyes. Which is strange, given the wide berth of fiction and fantasy they can draw from. I just don’t know. Maybe if I had played Icewind Dale II when it actually came out in 2002, back when I was eating up Diablo II and Commander & Conquer: Red Alert by the handful in my college dorm deep into early hours of the morning, I might have fallen madly in love with its high levels of customization and general openness. But it was not meant to be.

Anyways, click this very sentence to see how the first hour of Icewind Dale II panned out for me and my adventuring band.

At some point, I’ll be trying out The Temple of Elemental Evil, too…since it came free with my purchase of the game at hand. So long as there is less goblin-slaughtering in the first sixty minutes, I’ll be pleased.

I now have two versions of the same named game

Last night, after some extensive Googling and checking of system specs, I purchased The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim…for the second time. See, I already own a copy for the Xbox 360–even waited in line at my local GameStop for its midnight release back on that magical 11/11/11–but the Internet was all abuzz about the Creation Kit, which is the PC version’s modding toolset, and Steam was even going so far to knock the price down for the full game version from $60 to $40. Well, it seemed like my ASUS laptop could handle the beast, maybe not at its greatest settings, and so I plunked down my e-cash and drew some comics while I waited for the epic file to download.

And it works. And it works with an Xbox 360 controller plugged into the USB slot. And I can read ALL of the text. I’ve been playing Skyrim for so long as an illiterate Dovahkiin, and now I can actually enjoy those numerous books and bits of flavor text via quest progression. Let them shout it from the mountain. Plus, with the Creation Kit being tied to Steam, it seems like installing mods will be easy peasy. I haven’t tried anything just yet, but I will. There’s an arrowsmithing one that looks kinda neat; one could always use more glass arrows.

Let me just state that this is far from my usual routine. Generally, I have only one version of a videogame. Thinking on this, I can’t come up with many doubles in my collection. Between Tara and I, we have some Mario SNES carts and then them doubled on the Wii red box collection thingy. Two copies of Chrono Cross. From buying a few indie game bundles, I have duplicates ready for downloading. Other than that, um…nope. Just Skyrim. Go big or go home. But the promise of mods and the fulfillment of being able to read text has made getting a second copy of Skyrim worth it. Looking forward to diving back in…on medium or low settings. I have to wonder if there’s a way to bring my saves/character from the Xbox 360 over to Steam?