Okay, the Steam Summer Sale has ended and my bank account is heaving a sigh of relief.
I figured it out the other night and prior to getting my laptop a couple of years ago it's been about 9-10 years prior to that since I've had a computer beefy enough to play games on. Once I got my lap top I wanted to start getting back in to gaming. Unfortunately my laptop doesn't have an optical drive so all those computer disks of the games that I own I didn't have a way to install them. I could have gone out and bought an external CD drive but there have been other things I've had to spend money on.
This year I couldn't wait any longer and I started buying Steam games when I found something that I liked. I had 7 before the sale started. Games like The Witcher (the original), 7 Days to Die, Dead by Daylight, More or Die, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, You Must Build a Boat and just prior to the sale Playerunknown's Battleground. Now I have a total of 67 games. I think I went a little overboard.
But the good news is that I really didn't spend all that much money (I love sales). What's even better news is that I got some of my old games that I have on CD so now I don't have to worry about trying to find a way to install them. Games like all the Thief games, the Half-Life games (please make Half-Life 3), and a metric butt-ton of Star Wars games among many, many others. I've even gone back and got original games that started series like Fallout. I always like to play series from the beginning so I can see how the game progressed through the years.
I don't know when I'm going to find the time to play all these new games (although I've have started playing Portal [love that game]). And I don't have the hard drive space to install them all on my laptop. My next goal to complete before my birthday next year is to build a really good gaming PC. Then I'll probably just plant myself in front of it and play until my brain melts. I can't think of a better way to spend my time.
Did you pick up anything in the Steam Summer Sale? I'm curious as what games people got. I know there were a bunch more that I wanted to get but my budget decided it wasn't a wise move. And I was only looking in the "under $5" list. Maybe next time I'll check out the "under $10" list as well. I better start saving up now.
Showing posts with label Portal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portal. Show all posts
Friday, July 7, 2017
Monday, April 28, 2008
By leaps and bounds
My gamer score shot up by leaps and bounds over this weekend. Why, you ask? Because I got a new game.
I picked up Scene it? to have something the whole family can play when we get together. It worked . . . kind of. My mother spent most of the time in the other room trying to get her infant grandbaby to sleep. And my sister-in-law spent most of her time wrangling her other two kids and the controller they were suppose to be sharing. It was chaos and bedlam most of the time so I wonder if anyone had any fun.
I was able to score 340 points in three games. But I really didn't earn them all myself. While the family was playing, dain and I were sharing a controller. We were logged into my profile on that controller so anything we did I would get the credit for. My parents were playing under dain's log in and they did manage to get a few achievements for him, but not many. My brother kaiakapero picked up some for himself all on his own.
But the achievement I picked up this weekend that I'm most proud of was the Heartbreaker achievement for Portal. You get it for completing the game. The last time dain and I played Portal (side by side) we had to quit because our brains were turning to jelly. We had no idea how close or how far we were from finishing the game. Apparently we weren't far from finishing it at all. We only had about four or five areas left but we were hopelessly stuck in one area. We could see where he needed to go but we couldn't figure out how to get there.
When I was out buying my second Plug and Play charging cord I picked up a strategy guide for The Orange Box game. I figured we would need it if we were ever going to finish Portal. And we did. I told dain that we'd check to see how to get ourselves unstuck but I wanted to try to finish the game without getting any more help unless we absolutely needed it. Turns out we didn't.
It also turned out that we wouldn't have figured out how to get unstuck without the book's help. I never would have figured out that I had to set up portals to get a laser to shoot the tube releasing a cube so I can use that to get up into a small crawl space. I felt incredibly stupid for not seeing the solution to the problem. But then I finished the game and felt incredibly smart for having figured out all those puzzles and made it to the end. Of course I had dain sitting with me to help work through things. Two minds are so much better one.
Do I expect my gamer score to go up this much every weekend? Not unless I buy a new game with easy achievements every weekend. And I know from past experiences that some new games don't always handout achievements so easily (I'm thinking Blue Dragon for starters). Besides, my bank account would need to grow by leaps and bounds in order to afford all those games. Bummer.
I picked up Scene it? to have something the whole family can play when we get together. It worked . . . kind of. My mother spent most of the time in the other room trying to get her infant grandbaby to sleep. And my sister-in-law spent most of her time wrangling her other two kids and the controller they were suppose to be sharing. It was chaos and bedlam most of the time so I wonder if anyone had any fun.
I was able to score 340 points in three games. But I really didn't earn them all myself. While the family was playing, dain and I were sharing a controller. We were logged into my profile on that controller so anything we did I would get the credit for. My parents were playing under dain's log in and they did manage to get a few achievements for him, but not many. My brother kaiakapero picked up some for himself all on his own.
But the achievement I picked up this weekend that I'm most proud of was the Heartbreaker achievement for Portal. You get it for completing the game. The last time dain and I played Portal (side by side) we had to quit because our brains were turning to jelly. We had no idea how close or how far we were from finishing the game. Apparently we weren't far from finishing it at all. We only had about four or five areas left but we were hopelessly stuck in one area. We could see where he needed to go but we couldn't figure out how to get there.
When I was out buying my second Plug and Play charging cord I picked up a strategy guide for The Orange Box game. I figured we would need it if we were ever going to finish Portal. And we did. I told dain that we'd check to see how to get ourselves unstuck but I wanted to try to finish the game without getting any more help unless we absolutely needed it. Turns out we didn't.
It also turned out that we wouldn't have figured out how to get unstuck without the book's help. I never would have figured out that I had to set up portals to get a laser to shoot the tube releasing a cube so I can use that to get up into a small crawl space. I felt incredibly stupid for not seeing the solution to the problem. But then I finished the game and felt incredibly smart for having figured out all those puzzles and made it to the end. Of course I had dain sitting with me to help work through things. Two minds are so much better one.
Do I expect my gamer score to go up this much every weekend? Not unless I buy a new game with easy achievements every weekend. And I know from past experiences that some new games don't always handout achievements so easily (I'm thinking Blue Dragon for starters). Besides, my bank account would need to grow by leaps and bounds in order to afford all those games. Bummer.
Monday, March 31, 2008
A Portal to a migraine
A couple of weeks ago I tried playing Portal by myself and got hopeless stuck in the 4th or 5th area. So I put the game away. It was just one of many games that I found myself currently stuck in. But since my brother dain helped me get unstuck in some of those other games I asked for his help getting unstuck in Portal this weekend. Apparently I didn't know what I was getting into.
We were both over to my parent's house and had a set up where we were both connected to our own TV but sitting side by side. We both put the game in and started a new game. The first couple of areas were easy but then I got to the stuck part. Since dain has been through this area before he helped me out. So we decided to tackle the next area . . . and the next area . . . and the next area. You can see where this is going.
We got hooked on the game. But I wasn't expecting to have to think so hard for some of those levels. I think at one point during the game my brain was screaming to be let out of my skull; it certainly was pounding hard enough. And with that amount of brain overload I tend to find the smallest things hysterically funny. Like the time dain got a chair stuck in a door way. He couldn't move the chair and he couldn't open the door. When I started giggling uncontrollably we knew it was time to stop.
If you have a sense of vertigo this isn't the game for you. I can't tell you how many times during a "floor fall/leap" that I wanted to turn and hurl whatever junk food I had just consumed to fuel my game play over the side of the chair. Who ever thought that falling through the floor would build up enough momentum so that you could actually reach a higher platform has got to be one twisted and demented individual. And if you haven't played the game you're probably thinking there's something wrong with my physic explanation. Trust me there isn't.
I will admit that it took me a while to bend the way my brain thinks in order to solve a problem. That fact that my brother was sitting right next to me and I could watch his attempt on his screen without any anxiety from me helped. In fact I don't think I could play this game any other way. A couple of weeks ago when I got stuck, I went out looking for the guide book so I'd have some help (along with pictures) of what I needed to do. But after playing the game I don't think there's any guide book out there that would have helped explain to me what I needed to do in some of those levels. I told dain that we can't play this game any other way. We either play it together (on separate screens, side by side) or we don't play it at all. I think he was in total agreement.
I can see why this game is so popular . . . and hard. The migraine it gave me while playing was proof enough. And what's with the 5 point achievements? With the amount of work that you have to put into some of them you would think they would be worth more. Yes, I know there's more than one game bundled into The Orange Box and that the developer was restricted to 1,000 points total between the games but throw us a bone here. Not being baked and served as the cake at your own "going away" party should at least be 20 points considering all that you have to do just to survive. But I'm sure there's a lot more game play involved before dain and I get to the end. If we don't die from a migraine or a stroke instead.
We were both over to my parent's house and had a set up where we were both connected to our own TV but sitting side by side. We both put the game in and started a new game. The first couple of areas were easy but then I got to the stuck part. Since dain has been through this area before he helped me out. So we decided to tackle the next area . . . and the next area . . . and the next area. You can see where this is going.
We got hooked on the game. But I wasn't expecting to have to think so hard for some of those levels. I think at one point during the game my brain was screaming to be let out of my skull; it certainly was pounding hard enough. And with that amount of brain overload I tend to find the smallest things hysterically funny. Like the time dain got a chair stuck in a door way. He couldn't move the chair and he couldn't open the door. When I started giggling uncontrollably we knew it was time to stop.
If you have a sense of vertigo this isn't the game for you. I can't tell you how many times during a "floor fall/leap" that I wanted to turn and hurl whatever junk food I had just consumed to fuel my game play over the side of the chair. Who ever thought that falling through the floor would build up enough momentum so that you could actually reach a higher platform has got to be one twisted and demented individual. And if you haven't played the game you're probably thinking there's something wrong with my physic explanation. Trust me there isn't.
I will admit that it took me a while to bend the way my brain thinks in order to solve a problem. That fact that my brother was sitting right next to me and I could watch his attempt on his screen without any anxiety from me helped. In fact I don't think I could play this game any other way. A couple of weeks ago when I got stuck, I went out looking for the guide book so I'd have some help (along with pictures) of what I needed to do. But after playing the game I don't think there's any guide book out there that would have helped explain to me what I needed to do in some of those levels. I told dain that we can't play this game any other way. We either play it together (on separate screens, side by side) or we don't play it at all. I think he was in total agreement.
I can see why this game is so popular . . . and hard. The migraine it gave me while playing was proof enough. And what's with the 5 point achievements? With the amount of work that you have to put into some of them you would think they would be worth more. Yes, I know there's more than one game bundled into The Orange Box and that the developer was restricted to 1,000 points total between the games but throw us a bone here. Not being baked and served as the cake at your own "going away" party should at least be 20 points considering all that you have to do just to survive. But I'm sure there's a lot more game play involved before dain and I get to the end. If we don't die from a migraine or a stroke instead.
Monday, March 24, 2008
A very prosperous weekend
It was a very prosperous weekend for me and my gamer score. And it all started innocently enough.
I noticed my brother had the achievement for downloading the winning skins for the game Kameo. I've been trying to get this for awhile, but stupid me I thought it was the winning game pics instead of skins. Now I've got a lot of Kameo game pics on my 360. Oh well. What I didn't realise is that it worth 0 points. Yep. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. I hate it when games do that. Even 5 points would make it worth it.
After my brother helped me figure that out I asked for his help in Tomb Raider: Legend where I was stuck. I knew he had gotten past this point because I've watched him play the game several times. That little bit of help lead to me getting 2 achievements in the game. It also gave me something much more priceless. Apparently when my brother played through the first level he missed quite a few of those bronze/silver rewards. Since he was there helping me I got the chance to pick them up where he missed them on his play through. The look on his face as I pick up one after another of those rewards was priceless.
After finishing Tomb Raider I put in Bioshock because my friend Zenra keeps telling me there's an easier way to take down the Big Daddies instead of fighting them. He said it would require a chat session while I played so when he jumped on I put the game in. He helped me walk through and get all those pesky items to mix the Lazarus formula to save the forest (this was another game I was stuck in). In the course of that run through I picked up 3 more achievements. And I was so involved in the story I hadn't even noticed when one of them popped up. And I live for the bleep.
I'm sure I might have picked up another achievement or two but I can't remember. It was a very productive day for me. And not just on the achievement front. I was able to get unstuck in 3 different games. The other game that I was stuck in was Lost Odyssey. I hate it when I get stuck in a game and can't figure out what I need to do to get past that point. Or even worse is when I know what I need to do but I just can't seem to pull it off, but keep dying instead. I'm still stuck in Portal, but I'll save that game for another time.
All in all I think it was a very productive day. I don't expect to have that happen every weekend when I can devote a lot more time to playing video games than I can during the week. But it's nice when it does happen. And I am starting to think that breaking the 10,000 point gamer score barrier is actually possible this year. Stay tuned.
I noticed my brother had the achievement for downloading the winning skins for the game Kameo. I've been trying to get this for awhile, but stupid me I thought it was the winning game pics instead of skins. Now I've got a lot of Kameo game pics on my 360. Oh well. What I didn't realise is that it worth 0 points. Yep. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. I hate it when games do that. Even 5 points would make it worth it.
After my brother helped me figure that out I asked for his help in Tomb Raider: Legend where I was stuck. I knew he had gotten past this point because I've watched him play the game several times. That little bit of help lead to me getting 2 achievements in the game. It also gave me something much more priceless. Apparently when my brother played through the first level he missed quite a few of those bronze/silver rewards. Since he was there helping me I got the chance to pick them up where he missed them on his play through. The look on his face as I pick up one after another of those rewards was priceless.
After finishing Tomb Raider I put in Bioshock because my friend Zenra keeps telling me there's an easier way to take down the Big Daddies instead of fighting them. He said it would require a chat session while I played so when he jumped on I put the game in. He helped me walk through and get all those pesky items to mix the Lazarus formula to save the forest (this was another game I was stuck in). In the course of that run through I picked up 3 more achievements. And I was so involved in the story I hadn't even noticed when one of them popped up. And I live for the bleep.
I'm sure I might have picked up another achievement or two but I can't remember. It was a very productive day for me. And not just on the achievement front. I was able to get unstuck in 3 different games. The other game that I was stuck in was Lost Odyssey. I hate it when I get stuck in a game and can't figure out what I need to do to get past that point. Or even worse is when I know what I need to do but I just can't seem to pull it off, but keep dying instead. I'm still stuck in Portal, but I'll save that game for another time.
All in all I think it was a very productive day. I don't expect to have that happen every weekend when I can devote a lot more time to playing video games than I can during the week. But it's nice when it does happen. And I am starting to think that breaking the 10,000 point gamer score barrier is actually possible this year. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
