Bargain Thread 2017

Last few days to sign up for GamePump. Another random game a month service, this one promises to include “classic” games that are brand new to PC. Subscription is $5/mo or $20 for a year and the first game is heavily rumored to be a port of the Wii’s LIT.

Humble Bundle has Assassin’s Creed Bundle live now. 3 Tiers:

Pay $1 or more for:
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles : China
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles : Russia
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles : India

BTA (currently around $5.66):
Assassin’s Creed II Deluxe Edition
Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD
Assassin’s Creed III plus Tyranny of King Washington DLC

Pay $15 or more and unlock:
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Pretty good bundle if you don’t have any of the Assassin’s Creed games, I may bite on the $1 tier, as I only have Chronicles China, and like to try the Russia and India. Uplay keys, so uplay is required.

I just played the China game last week - kind of like Mark of the Ninja and the original Prince of Persia. Totally worth a buck.

Ass Creed 3 is still free on UPlay.

I subscribed to the annual subscription, you get a bonus game as well. I figured $20 for 13 games couldn’t be too shabby.

Haha, they never give up :)

Is it weird that AC 4 (Black Flag) is missing from that bundle? Possibly it will get added? That’s kinda the one I want.

These are the ones I don’t own in that bundle. It’s probably not worth $5.66 to get those.

I’m in the exact same boat.

Liberation is feeling pretty threadbare as a desktop experience, and Tyranny of King Washington is eminently skippable. The Chronicles might be worth a buck though.

I bought China on sale a while back, hoping for more “Mark of the Ninja” style gameplay. And it definitely is that, although in some ineffable way, less so. So if you liked Mark of the Ninja (and of course you did), it’s probably worth a buck.

Whom do you think supplies the keys for these games to Humble? It’s the publisher, UBI. Imagine the gall of them making them keys from their games platform.

Especially considering that latter AC games with steam keys end up launching through Uplay anyway.

“Man, I can’t believe they won’t sell me an In And Out Burger at Arbys…”

I was a bit obnoxious there, but I spent my entitlement on a great bargain for game library client fatigue. Sorry for the derail.

Diablo 3 is on sale for $10 base game, $10 expansion from Blizzard.

https://us.battle.net/shop/en/product/game/diablo

Gamestop has the console versions for $20 for base and expansion together. (Reminder: Console version is better).

Mass Effect 2 free on Origin for PC.

https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/mass-effect/mass-effect-2/standard-edition

Console version is missing things from the PC version, right, like seasons and such?

They each have unique things. The PC version has seasons and inventory tetris.

The console version has offline play, same screen multiplayer, controller support (really good controller support), circular no-hassle inventory system.

When the console version first came out it was even better, since they had an overhauled loot system that made the loot system much better than in the PC version, but those changes were eventually ported over to the PC version as well, so those are the same now.

Oh, the PC version never benefited from the controller support?

Never. And it never will. And their reasons for it makes sense. The two games are balanced differently.

[quote]The developer views the two versions of the game as distinct and tailored, with control method, camera, interface, pace and gameplay balance all going hand in hand. You can’t change one without changing them all - and you can’t support both in the same version.

The disparity between the two versions boils down to the way movement is handled, where the player’s focus is on the screen, and what this means for the number of monsters attacking you at the same time. On console, the player moves more, using the new rolling evade move on the right thumbstick, and is attacked by fewer monsters at a time to make allowances for the fact that movement isn’t handled automatically and the player’s focus is narrower. In other words, there’s a subtle but important difference in pace and combat balance between the two games.

“The rhythm on PC is tactactactactactac - you’re clicking the mouse, you’re telling your character where to go,” Berger said. "On console, the rhythm is very different. It flows more, because you’re constantly repositioning your character with the thumbstick; you’re really never stationary on console, whereas on PC you’re a lot more stationary… When you’re playing on the PC, you’re not really looking at your character as much, you’re kind of focusing on the cursor. Whereas on console it’s the exact opposite, you’re drawn in.[/quote]

I agree that the balance and feel of the game is quite different. And I like the console feel a lot more.

Yes, reading about the console version, it seemed like a game that sounded up much more appealing to me than the PC one. Oh well, thank you for the detailed answer!