Roll for Initiative! D&D Sale on Steam

[Rath Darkblade]

So, Steam is having a D&D Sale. (Until 3 April). Rejoice!

I was thinking of picking up Solasta, but after reading some of the comments and reviews, I'm less keen.

Just one review mentions wooden dialogue, bugs up the wazoo, a plot that makes no sense, gameplay that makes no sense, and so on.

On the other hand, other reviews gush about how this game is fantastic, wonderful, neat, bravo, and the best thing since sliced bread Neverwinter Nights.

So, just wondering: have you played this game? What did you think?
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On the other hand, I simply cannot for the life of me recommend Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms. It already has sixteen (yes, 16!!!) 'expansion' packs, each costing about $9 (though some are significantly more - $25 or even $55!!!), each of which seem to help you a little - or a lot. I don't know, I haven't played and don't wish to. It looks like a clear cash-grab, a la World of Warcraft, Warcraft: Reforged, and others.

[DeadPoolX]

Did you read my review?

Solasta is a weird game because while it's a lot of fun, there are also a lot of little issues. The worst one is the synchronization issues when playing multiplayer, which has affected Maia and me a lot, but if you're not interested in multiplayer you won't have this problem.

That said... I couldn't imagine playing Solasta as a single player game. There's just not enough to hold my attention, but to be fair, I have a very low attention span, so maybe it's me.

[Tawmis]

It looks like a clear cash-grab, a la World of Warcraft

Meh. World of Warcraft, though I've not played in years, is hardly a crash grab. It's an MMO, that ye play with others - so it's a social game.
Yes, there's a monthly fee - but things like Netflix have monthly fees.
World of Warcraft, like any MMO, has expansions, that yes, cost money - but if you grab just the core expansion, it's generally not that expensive.

[Rath Darkblade]

Did you read my review?

Solasta is a weird game because while it's a lot of fun, there are also a lot of little issues. The worst one is the synchronization issues when playing multiplayer, which has affected Maia and me a lot, but if you're not interested in multiplayer you won't have this problem.

That said... I couldn't imagine playing Solasta as a single player game. There's just not enough to hold my attention, but to be fair, I have a very low attention span, so maybe it's me.

Whoops! *goes off to read DPX's review* Hmm. Thanks for that - it's a very well-thought out and balanced review. Thanks, DPX.

I'm not really interested in multi-player; I'm more of a casual gamer, I suppose, in that I might have (maybe) an hour or two a night to play a game. I couldn't possibly play more than that, and in my experience, other players would prefer to play longer.

Also, when I last played a multiplayer game (with some people from the USA or Canada), I played 'til some ungodly hours for me - about 12:30am or 1am - before calling it quits. Mind you, this was in the Diablo II days (and later, the TF2 days). I couldn't possibly do that now, especially as I have to get up at 6am every morning.

It looks like a clear cash-grab, a la World of Warcraft

Meh. World of Warcraft, though I've not played in years, is hardly a crash grab. It's an MMO, that ye play with others - so it's a social game.
Yes, there's a monthly fee - but things like Netflix have monthly fees.
World of Warcraft, like any MMO, has expansions, that yes, cost money - but if you grab just the core expansion, it's generally not that expensive.

Don't get me wrong - I agree about that. However, if you want to progress beyond the core game (level 30, I think?) you'd need to get an expansion. It's not expensive by itself, but I've seen how this game can suck people in -- and for the reasons above, it's not really for me. *shrug*

That said, if it makes you happy, that's fine. Go nuts. I'm just looking for a single-player game, that's all.

[Tawmis]

It looks like a clear cash-grab, a la World of Warcraft

Meh. World of Warcraft, though I've not played in years, is hardly a crash grab. It's an MMO, that ye play with others - so it's a social game.
Yes, there's a monthly fee - but things like Netflix have monthly fees.
World of Warcraft, like any MMO, has expansions, that yes, cost money - but if you grab just the core expansion, it's generally not that expensive.

Don't get me wrong - I agree about that. However, if you want to progress beyond the core game (level 30, I think?) you'd need to get an expansion. It's not expensive by itself, but I've seen how this game can suck people in -- and for the reasons above, it's not really for me. *shrug*
That said, if it makes you happy, that's fine. Go nuts. I'm just looking for a single-player game, that's all.

So, Level 60 is without any expansions. And the latest expansion is all your need to buy to get to whatever the new maximum level is.
And I get it's not for you, but I wouldn't classify World of Warcraft as a cash grab (for myself, even though I don't play it anymore, and haven't for awhile) - but to me, cash grabs are things where there's really very little content and they're just making product XYZ because it's popular.
And the World of Warcraft stuff, if anything, is full of a lot of content - and a metric ton of lore. They excel at doing that.

Only downside is if you play multiple characters, the characters have different sets of powers (hunters and Paladins, for example), but the over all quests once you get beyond your main "city" quests - begins to repeat itself. There's a metric ton of quests and you can go different areas to do a different quest than what you did with another character - but if you want to follow the main story (stories) of the game and expansions, you're typically following one main quest line. The one thing you can do is play opposing factions (Horde and Alliance) and you get to see the quests from the oppposite side (and sometimes, especially in quests where there's a nice cut scene, it's cool to see how each side rationalizes their stance).

[Tawmis]

So, Steam is having a D&D Sale. (Until 3 April). Rejoice!

So I was comparing - it looks like the Steam D&D games cost a little more than the GoG ones?
(Could be I have some already on GoG - so when I compare it's taking those out of the totals, however).

[Rath Darkblade]

So, Level 60 is without any expansions. And the latest expansion is all your need to buy to get to whatever the new maximum level is.
And I get it's not for you, but I wouldn't classify World of Warcraft as a cash grab (for myself, even though I don't play it anymore, and haven't for awhile) - but to me, cash grabs are things where there's really very little content and they're just making product XYZ because it's popular.
And the World of Warcraft stuff, if anything, is full of a lot of content - and a metric ton of lore. They excel at doing that.

Only downside is if you play multiple characters, the characters have different sets of powers (hunters and Paladins, for example), but the over all quests once you get beyond your main "city" quests - begins to repeat itself. There's a metric ton of quests and you can go different areas to do a different quest than what you did with another character - but if you want to follow the main story (stories) of the game and expansions, you're typically following one main quest line. The one thing you can do is play opposing factions (Horde and Alliance) and you get to see the quests from the oppposite side (and sometimes, especially in quests where there's a nice cut scene, it's cool to see how each side rationalizes their stance).

Hmm. Are people on the WoW servers welcoming to newbies, or do they cut you off at the knees and take your stuff? I've seen that happen on the Team Fortress 2 servers, and more than once.

So I was comparing - it looks like the Steam D&D games cost a little more than the GoG ones?
(Could be I have some already on GoG - so when I compare it's taking those out of the totals, however).

It may just be me, but the Steam servers (in my opinion) are also slightly faster than the GoG ones. Of course, YMMV.

[Tawmis]

Hmm. Are people on the WoW servers welcoming to newbies, or do they cut you off at the knees and take your stuff? I've seen that happen on the Team Fortress 2 servers, and more than once.

In WoW ...
1. People can't attack you unless...
1a. You are on a PVP Server
1b. Turn on your PVP Flag (on Non PVP servers)
1c. You can turn on your PVP flag (on Non PVP) servers by doing it yourself or attacking an opposing NPC in a city of the enemy (so if an Orc goes into Stormwind and attacks NPCs, their PVP flag will turn on)
2. If someone DOES kill you while you have PVP flag on they can not loot you.
2a. They may however, camp your body as the PVP flag (on non PVP servers) goes on for I think 5 minutes after you turn it off.

So I was comparing - it looks like the Steam D&D games cost a little more than the GoG ones?
(Could be I have some already on GoG - so when I compare it's taking those out of the totals, however).

It may just be me, but the Steam servers (in my opinion) are also slightly faster than the GoG ones. Of course, YMMV.

Yeah I think since I've purchased most of my games on GoG, because I like just downloading the offline file version and installing them on my external so I can take the games with me to play on my laptop when I travel.