Looking for Steam deals under $200 with fewer than four games over $30.
Looking for Steam deals under $200 with fewer than four games over $30.
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag offers impressive settings and a wide range of activities, along with engaging characters. For a tougher experience, try DiRT Rally; for a more relaxed arcade feel, go with DiRT 3. I recommend DiRT 1 over DiRT 3, though D1 is no longer available on Steam likely due to expired car licenses. If you're not concerned about visuals, Far Cry 1 is an option. The rest of the series focuses on open-world exploration with repetitive tasks, whereas Far Cry 1 provides a more structured, story-driven journey with excellent levels and environments. It's advised to install the 64-bit patch for Far Cry 1. Civilization V is complete, and some players favor Civilization IV for its deeper mechanics compared to Civilization V. I personally enjoy Civilization III's soundtrack the most. Yet, Civilization V represents a polished evolution of the original concept. Final Fantasy fans might note that players often favor titles like VI, VII, VIII, IX, or X, making it difficult to recommend something specific.
Also, a Sonic Humble Bundle is currently offered, featuring every PC Sonic title: https://www.humblebundle.com/sonic-25th-...ary-bundle
I'm reviewing various titles and trimming my options. Progress seems solid. (I'm working on the spreadsheet locally, not using the online version at the moment. The rejected items will feature a red background or standalone sheets.) It looks like the Crysis 3 deal has changed – now it's $19.99 for standard and $29.99 for deluxe, which is higher than the previous $4.99 and $7.49. So I'm removing that from my list. If anyone can point me to places with lower prices (excluding G2A/etc) before July 4th, when the Steam sale ends, I'd keep it. I was planning to wait for Crysis until I finalized my other purchases. Actually, it seems Witcher 3 is still around at $24.99, which sits right between the two Crysis prices. Now the decision comes: which one – Crysis or Witcher – is more worthwhile? Also, I'm searching for racing titles similar to Fatal Racing and Whiplash. I enjoyed some tricks in Fatal Racing and played Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit and Test Drive 2/4 back then. I’m thinking of adding at least one NFS game on Steam. Wacky Wheels was another favorite, possibly available on Steam too. @Cela1 shares that she has CS:S and the original CS (though she doesn’t recall CS:CZ), and she hasn’t become overly attached to them. She seems comfortable with CS:GO. I’m considering $14.99 for a game, maybe $7.49 if it’s more affordable – I might play more with @Slick during his streams than with the rest of my CS:GO sessions. I’m also eyeing military-themed games. I haven’t decided on Verdun, but I doubt Battlefield 1 will be cheap (it’s not released yet). @HPWebcamAble mentions recording video from her camera at maximum settings – about 4 GB every ~6 minutes. She also records audio from events, usually uncompressed and 4-channel with a Zoom H2n. Some friends want Minecraft, but she’d hesitate if it cost $26+. If it were $9.99, she’d probably choose it; $14.99 might work, or $7.49. @dizmo recalls playing DOOM on a friend’s PC back in the day – it was okay for him, though not something he’d really dive into. He wasn’t able to buy games then (he was around 12), but even if he could, I doubt he’d pick one. Early memories include titles like Captain Comic, Sopwith 2, Gapper, Alleycat, and others on a 286 PC in 1989. I’m checking out Tropico – it might be worth looking into. I need to remember I’m not accumulating too many games; I want the best from each category. Ah, interesting – I was guessing Last Light because it keeps showing up in hardware reviews and videos. Now that my dad retired a few years ago, I wonder if he’d consider lighter titles. He probably wouldn’t want to play intense first-person shooters like GTA V where you’re constantly being attacked. I already have Windows 10 on both PCs (newer than his old laptop), while my parents are on XP and can’t afford free upgrades. I think a PC upgrade of $300–$400 would be wise, especially since they need peripherals. The only thing they own is a mouse and a multi-function printer. Personally, I’d aim for at least $900–$1000, roughly matching what they spent on their 286 PC in ’89. If they could stretch the ~$1800 they paid for that machine to inflation, it would be a solid setup – maybe an i7-X with 8–12 GB RAM, 128–256 GB SSD (or RAID 0 HDDs), 500 GB–1 TB storage, GTX 280 or similar. @razor767 is thinking about Cities, Civ 5, and Portal. I might pick Dirt 3 over Rally, and don’t think Don’t Starve is on the list unless they find something better. Others are still in my consideration. @Delicieuxz suggests DiRT 3 of the Dirt series and Civ V of the Civ games. Not sure about Assassin’s Creed or Final Fantasy yet. I’ve cut several from my list so far. Still undecided on Sonic. The 3D Realms bundle seems gone unless I’m viewing it wrong. I wouldn’t buy a full bundle, but I’d consider one that includes games I won’t play if the total is less than what I’d pay for the ones I would.
That's about 270 hours to fill 12 TB. Jesus, 4k is freaking expensive. I've got around 250 hours at 1080p and it doesn't even fill 100 GB. Not very good quality, but... they're home movies. (I have my doubts that anyone will watch them within the next 10 years anyway). Well, it's interesting. Now that Microsoft owns it, I wouldn't be surprised to see the price go up in the near future. It is MORE than worth 26 bucks anyway. But it's a different game than Factorio. If you could only get one, I'd say Minecraft since Factorio is still in beta. They're both still really fun though.
@HPWebcamAble : Generally I prefer my videos to stay as high quality as possible. (Compressed RAW would be ideal, but it's not feasible for me.) That would likely result in lower 1080p clarity. For gaming, I’d rather maintain a higher resolution and keep the frame rate steady, like running at 960x600 or ultra 60fps instead of the lower 2560x1440 at 60fps. In video, if I keep the bitrate consistent, I’d favor near-perfect 480p over overly pixelated 1080p. Even then, I’d opt for 240p or 144p if necessary, though I usually try to avoid it. (I’ve noticed old Team Fortress Classic clips sometimes looked solidly colored, and I could only tell what I played myself.) Basically, if upscaling 480p footage to 1080p still looks similar to lower or medium quality versions, I’d choose the lower resolution for better clarity. I’d even settle for 15-20fps at 320x240 if needed, though that’s not my preference. (I’ve seen YouTube clips of old Fortress Classic where textures seemed almost solid, and sometimes I struggled to see details—especially on my dad’s old PC with only 15-20fps.) In short, I’d rather keep things clear and sharp, even if it means a lower frame rate or resolution. Ahh, that makes sense now. Minecraft is still on my wishlist. (Factorio isn’t there yet.) I wonder if Minecraft would have looked better with Crysis 3 or Witcher 3 graphics, or if the blockiness was part of its charm. Or maybe the performance issues made it less playable on older systems. I’m not sure about Crysis 3’s release timeline either—I hope it comes back soon. I was planning to buy it until I finalized my Steam purchases. I didn’t notice any details about the sale ending date, so I’m guessing it might be extended. Do you have any clues from past experiences about when Crysis 3 could reappear? I’d like to get it for under $5, but I’m not sure if that’s realistic. (I remember it was on sale with Crysis 2 included, but at full price it wasn’t.) Or should I consider Witcher 3 instead? I’m thinking about getting one or both while the game is on sale. Right now, I’ve moved Crysis 3 to my rejection pile and haven’t updated my online list since editing locally. (It seems LibreOffice Calc handles formatting better than Google Sheets unless I learn more.) My total still exceeds $1200, which is still quite high. I’m sorting titles by price descending and checking for favorites over $10. It could take some time. Also, I’ve heard advice to buy games individually rather than all at once—some say partial refunds aren’t possible if you exceed playtime limits. For example, if I buy multiple items, a refund might only cover the whole transaction, not just the one I want. Does this sound like a real issue with Steam refunds? Or is it similar to other platforms?
A game that caught my attention was Banished. You place characters in remote areas and build a community for them. It feels like city construction but focuses on gradual growth and ensuring survival. The experience is calming until unexpected issues arise and the entire settlement falls apart. I suggest giving it a try—it’s now about six euros and offers hours of enjoyment. It also supports mods.
That looks like an interesting one, @Iron couch . It's still on my list, as are several other similar games with city building, strategy, etc. (Also there's a couple space ones as well, historical, etc.) I'm still trying to narrow down the list. (It's harder than I thought it would be. And there's also the fear of "what if I entirely missed an amazing game".) As for pricing, I show it as US$6.79, not 6 euros. I also happen to like games with a lot of replay value, etc. I played Team Fortress Classic off and on from like 1999 to 2012, and have even played it occasionally in the last year or so. My steam profile shows I have 2,528 hours on record, and that actually doesn't include anywhere close to all my TFC playtime. I hope I can get similar value out of whatever new games I get. I don't think my 2.5K+ hours of TFC would quite qualify for me, although it could be close, but ... I was just thinking... Does anyone think they have a particular game they liked so much that they've likely spent more time playing it than all other games combined in their lifetime? I'd bet CS:GO could qualify for some people. (Btw I was about 17 or 18 when TFC came out, and I had played probably hundreds of other games in the 10 years or so before that when i'd been playing any PC games (my dad bought his first PC a few months before my 8th birthday), as well as some other games (but not as many) since then.) Now if I expanded it to a few games (or maybe series but I prefer individual titles for this, out of like hundreds of games), then I'd guess I've played more Fortress Forever, Team Fortress Classic, Total Annihilation, Descent, maybe Commander Keen or one or two others I forget at the moment, than everything else combined.
It's definitely included in the argument. You'll notice it too, since it wouldn't work well with much improved graphics. Java isn't built for creating 3D games. A shader can assist by enhancing lighting and texture reflections—though this increases system demand. Still, the blockiness remains part of the experience.
Ahh okay, @HPWebcamAble , I'm still not done narrowing down the list, but here's an update . I'm not buying a single game though until I've decided all that I will buy. I don't want to buy one or 2 games now, then find on the final sale day that there was this one game I *really* wanted that I couldn't afford cause I'd already spent too much.