Deconceptualist

But what if I love paying 1 million dollars to license outdated software? 🤡

I’ll second Shapez as a great game if you like building and optimizing factory conveyors. Especially for $1.

The sequel is in early access and went 3D with improvements on basically everything.

I’m sorry, bullets aren’t covered by my healthcare executive sympathy plan.

I haven’t played StarCraft since like 1999 but that actually makes sense. Huh.

I track prices with isthereanydeal.com and yeah pretty often a new historical low is set by a Steam key reseller like Fanatical. It’s usually only by a few bucks (like maybe $5 max, though still not a bad discount if the previous price was like $25).

Of course if I buy the game, I stop caring about its price so maybe the same sale happens directly on Steam sometime after. I’m not sure on that so ymmv.

It’s not a binary choice. And that also doesn’t explain why after like 2 dozen major updates and expansions, some core systems are still absolute garbage. Like learning an alien language literally one word at a time from one person at at a time. Or why running is still interrupted by tiny changes in floor height. Or why you can break down salt to get oxygen and dihydrogen.

Oh? Have they fixed some of the core features? Is running no longer clunky and terrible? Is learning an alien language not an obnoxious chore? Do space stations in different systems actually offer anything new or are they still identical? Can planets have more than 2 biomes now (one on land and one underwater)?

Otherwise, last I played it was not a very good game.

I could go give it a negative review if that would help you feel more grounded.

Just kidding, congratulations :)

I don’t think you understand. The faction taking over won’t stop with the US. They want unfettered power. They’re well aware American military might exceeds the rest of the world combined by tenfold and will eventually use it to intimidate or destroy anyone in their way, after subjugating our own citizenry of course.

In fairness, PL is a lot newer so it could still be a while before it gets major discounts.

D’oh, that’s just the same $30 the base game has hit plenty of times. I’m holding out for Ultimate Edition <$45, currently ~$50 which is a new low at least (because Phantom Liberty is finally 20% off).

Yeah, in GTA IV, Niko doesn’t have any character stats, and his appearance never changes except for whatever clothes you buy. I assume it’s the same for the 3 protagonists in V.

It’s my favorite of the series, though I never played V.

San Andreas struck a great balance between serious and ridiculous. Some of the gang rivalry story hit pretty hard for its time, but also there was a mini Las Vegas and a goofy jetpack and tons of dumb Cluckin’ Bell jokes. It even had RPG elements like CJ getting more fit if you work out or fat if you fed him tons of fast food. Not everybody loved this and not surprisingly it was cut from later entries but I thought it added to the world. And the map was great, lots of variation between city and countryside. Great soundtrack too, rivaled only by Vice City IMO.

IV just didn’t do it for me. The phone (cousin Roman!) was obnoxious, the cars felt too heavy, the story just wasn’t very funny, and the map was pretty much all city.

Maybe I’d enjoy V since it’s huge and supposedly the vehicles are more fun, but I hear the story isn’t great.

The review I linked was posted 3 days after that update. It’s about the singleplayer career mode.

An internet connection is very much necessary for the online rallies

What if I don’t care about online rallies? I just enjoy a good singleplayer campaign. Rally 1.0 doesn’t require a constant connection.

Also, these days I want games I can play on my Steam deck so I’m not tied to my desk. Reports say DR2 runs pretty well. But am I going to lose hours of progress because I had to temporarily put my battery-powered device into sleep mode? Reviews say it can happen pretty easily even on a normal PC.

Course language warning, but this review sums up the experience I don’t want and why I’m avoiding the game. Commenters confirm it’s remained accurate.

I loved the prior DiRT games but according to PCGW Rally 2.0 still requires a constant Internet connection. Fuck that, even for only a few bucks, it’s not worth the frustration.

when has long-term growth and stability ever been prioritized over short-term wins in the games industry?

I dunno, maybe Valve’s entire approach to Linux and devices. Maybe GOG’s dedication to only selling DRM-free games. You’d think PC Gamer magazine would be well aware of these.

I don’t know what GOG galaxy is but I assume it’s a storefront like Steam.

Yep, basically that. No you don’t need it to launch games, I would skip it if this is your only game from GOG.

Sounds like if you run by opening Galaxy and hitting play, it won’t be the native version and will run through Rosetta 2 but if you run it from your applications folder it’s the native version. This is a bit odd because that makes it sound like by default what you have installed is BOTH versions which sounds like an awful waste of disk space

I don’t game on Mac these days but that seems very plausible.

If you do want another launcher option, Heroic works on Mac. I’m not sure if it gives any different options on what version to install. https://heroicgameslauncher.com/

In contrast to this exec and many of the responses, another Steam Next Fest is happening right now! Go play free demos of upcoming games, 99% of which are Indies you’ve probably not yet heard of.

Retro Games Corps got hit, even though Russ only does legal emulation and backups. It’s his “2nd strike” on YouTube (3rd is channel deletion). He’s always been mindful of the situation and considerate of not spilling games or encouraging anything close to piracy from what I’ve seen.

Source: Nerd Nest where he often guests.