Damn it, Steam!

For those who even remotely know or care about gaming, you would know that Steam is currently having their Summer Sale (lol, America) - and as a result selling games ridiculously cheap. This is both a boon and a curse.

For starters, it is obviously a good thing due to cheap games! Never complain about cheap games (unless they're terrible, anyway)! I've managed to buy a fair few games off Steam in the last few days, and likely will continue to for the next few days until the sale is over. Magicka with all the DLC for $8! Monkey Island remakes for $8 (both together in a pack!) Dwarfs?! for $5! (don't buy it, its a trap) I believe The Witcher 2 was up for $50 at one stage... not bad for a brand new game.

Don't ask me to recall my purchase list - I've forgotten big chunks of it because there are so many. I recall picking up Frozen Synapse though (and it comes with two copies... anyone want a copy?).

And this is where part of the curse lies. I already had a ridiculous backlog of games I'd never finished. What better way to make this pile larger than for Steam to have a sale!

On the other hand, Steam has also put up a competition where each day there are specific achievements for specific games. Each achievement earnt gives you a ticket in the major draw - the prize being the top ten games o your wishlist. Once I saw this, I started working on the achievements they specified (at least, the ones I could do for the games I already owned), and have so far earnt 16 tickets. As an added bonus these tickets can be redeemed for extra free DLC for certain games (and they don't destroy your entries into the draw).
While I'm not typically an "achievement whore", if they are usable for something tangible then I'm all over it. I've averaged 3-4 tickets a day so far, though this will likely drop over the weekend when I stay at Spritza's place. Well, that's assuming I get over this cold (I'm still sick, to a degree >_<).
It's also quite nice having Steam tell me what to play - even if it is for a short period of time. It's reminding me that I have some great games that I've been neglecting (and not necessarily long ones either). For example, last night, I was working on achievements for Trine, Zombie Driver and Serious Sam HD. I had already finished Serious Sam, but I had completely forgotten how good the other two games were (particularly Trine)!

On the other hand...

Creddit where its due: MrGestore of Reddit

Gaming Backlog

This post now has a separate page of its own. Mainly because it makes more sense that way. To reach it, either click here, or just look on the sidebar!

Too Many Games, Not Enough Time

Before we get into the actual post, I am taking this space to ask for help. I'm running out of topics, it would seem. Either my brain has fried completely, or I'm just failing. Usually I'll write up something about a game I've finished recently, but due to my playing through of Dragon Age - a game that takes a hell of a long time to get through, I'm not going to be finishing anything any time soon.

So, I want YOU, the reader types, to ask me questions. Anything you want to know. Awesome questions / topics may lead to a full post in reply. Smaller questions will be combined into a larger answernating post. Just leave them here as comments, or email them to me at:
djnatols (at) hotmail (dot) com

I will now return you to your regularly scheduled bloggernating
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Its becoming increasingly clear to me, that I should really, really stop buying games. I'm caught in a vicious cycle of buying a game or three, then never getting the chance to finish them, since I'll buy another one before I'm done. Its almost like a form of gaming ADD or something.

What follows is a list of games I'm either playing at the moment, or intend on playing, and the reason why I want to. Hopefully, it'll help me get my thoughts together on what order to play them, and drive home that I should stop buying games. At least, until Dissidia Duodecim gets released anyway. What's that, 3 weeks? Gah!

Dragon Age: Origins
Reason to play: It's like Baldur's Gate, but newer!
The reality is, its like a severely dumbed down Baldur's Gate, and the characters quite often decide they don't like the orders I've given them when I switch to give orders to another character. Quite frustrating when I tell my melee characters to stand back because I'm about to unleash a tornado of fire at the enemies, and they ignore me, then wonder why they're on fire! Regardless, I am quite enjoying the game - even though it took me almost a year to get past the early stages (I blame this on the game consistently reverting my save game to the beginnings of Lothering - even when I left the town). I better hurry up, Dragon Age 2 is out tomorrow!

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Reason to play: It's freakin Marvel vs Capcom, that's why!
I like fighting games. However, I tend to not be amazingly awesome at them. The exception to this would be Soul Calibur, though I still wouldn't call myself awesome at it - simply "somewhat skilled". I've always wanted to be good at a fighting game, and I see MvC3 as an opportunity. However, I still have the tendency to panic and button mash when I'm getting annihilated (which is almost constantly). I really should practice, but I tend to lost patience, and also have a quadrillion other games to play.

Enslaved: Journey to the West
Reason to play: Critical reception
Reviews for this seem good, and I picked it up quite cheaply. The problem? Finding time to play it!

Alan Wake
Reason to play: Critical reception, interesting plot
I'm part way through this, having spent some time playing it at Sarah's while she watched (she was interested in the plot). I really should get around to finishing it.

Final Fantasy XIII
Reason to play: Fanboyism
I'm a Final Fantasy fan. I need to finish FF13, so I can play FF13-2 when it arrives. Plain and simple.
The battle system is... interesting. Jury's still out on that one, though the lack of dungeons and general time to explore is giving me pains in the brain.

Final Fantasy III, IV, V, VI
Reason to play: Fanboyism, history, Distant Worlds concert
I am going to the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert in Sydney at some point in April. I am also one of the people who bought tickets to meet and greet Arnie Roth and Nobuo Uematsu (!!!!!) after the show. This makes me want to play the Final Fantasy games I have not yet finished in order to gain some context for some of the songs that will be played. Unfortunately, the one of these I most want to play (VI) doesn't have a port on a portable device yet, which makes it tough for me to find the time for it among the other, newer games (I finished FFI on the PSP, and FFII on the iPhone, and am currently playing through FF Tactics: War of the Lions on PSP).

F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin
Reason to play: Surely it can't be worse than F.E.A.R Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate. I want to have my faith restored in horror shooters. It might not be the game to do it, but it will hopefully be a step in the right direction - away from those two games which tore my soul to ribbons.

Lord of Arcana
Reason to play: I bought it and its sitting on my shelf.

Machinarium
Reason to play: as with Lord of Arcana, except that it looks ridiculously cool.

Baldur's Gate I, II and expansions
Reason to play: Its freakin' Baldur's Gate! I don't need any more reason than that. Although there is the point where I never cleared the first one, and want to do so, and also to finish the expansion of BGII.