Back to playing this game after having it for a while, didn't realize the customizations would let me get weird. It doesn't sim as fast as FBCB or anything, but the moddability and ways to can quickly generate a fictional universe makes it really great. Only thing missing is the ability to sim seasons relatively fast.

But I was wrong about it not being great, once CFB season started I wanted a sim to do weird league configurations and it's been great for that, especially in a post-TCY world and witout the bloat of NCAA25 (which I do like)

SEP15 gets you 15% off at green man gaming. I think it’s for the entire month. Came across the code while looking for the cheapest way to get FF XVI which comes to Steam on Tuesday. GMG is a legit site that sells Steam keys obtained directly from the publishers

Dragon's Dogma I is 84% or $4.79 on Steam thru the 29th.

Some great updates coming next week as well! Achi is one of the best game developers in this genre in a long time.

Roadwarden, a text sim RPG that would probably appeal to many on this forum, currently 50% off down at under $6.

Free weekend of Squad on Steam this weekend

Definitely. Kind of a text based Witcher game that's very well done.

Hogwarts Legacy is about 75% off just over $15 at Green Man Gaming

Power Wash Simulator and Kingdom Two Crowns are free to play this weekend on Steam

Free Weekend of Europa Universalis 4 on Steam this weekend

The Cyclist Tactics is a game that would seem to be right up this board's street.

It's a turn by turn board game style of play for cycle racing with an element of text sim management: I'm 20 hours in and loving it!

There is quite an initial learning curve (I did the tutorials twice, and only now am getting the hang of sprinting) but it's a really fun - a lighter version of PCM in the management, and the turn by turn race design means that you can do the races at your own pace.

Highly recommended

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron game is normally only 10 bucks, even cheaper on sale and I love it. Its better than HOI IV imo.

Age of Wonders 4 is free to play on Steam thru the weekend

Half Life 2 is free to claim on Steam for the next couple of days

Almost missed this one: Millenia is free to play on Steam for the next day and a half

Free weekend of Victoria 3, F1 24, Oxygen not Included, and Across the Obelisk a co-op roguelike deckbuilder

I keep seeing messages about a bunch of free downloads for a cooking fest, but when I go, I don't see that any of the games are actually free. Does anyone know if any of these are free, or just discounted?

I thought that was over

Not entirely sure I am right here but Steam did have a Cooking fest earlier this week or last, but that is now over. They recently started having theme sales early in the week and then they end (I think) when the weekend sales start on Thursday.

Also on Battle.net you can play the newest class. the Spiritborn for free until level 25 until Dec 2

Steam Autumn sale has some nice ones for sale:


Dark Sector: Free


Old World $10


Northgard $3


Cities Skylines I: $3


Star Wars: Squadrons: $2


Star Wars: Jedi Survivor: $15


Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order: $4



Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (which I think is 3 games) $5


Half Life: Alyx $20


The Forest: $4


Hades: $10


Battlefield 2042: $5


Valheim $10


The Planet Crafter: $15


Red Dead Redemption 2: $20


Far Cry 5: $5


These are just the ones that jumped out at me-many games in the sale are 75% off or more and at historic lows. So well worth checking to see if games you have been interested in are on a good sale right now.

GOG now has achievements! :)

I'm sure you will capture them all CF :)

Ugh. Talk about spreading the misery with one of the worst aspects of modern gaming.

Screw achievements. I have spent enough money on Steam to be a partial owner.

Achievements don't bother me because I don't pay attention. I'm not a completionist.

So say we all!

Not sure how many of you play the NASCAR games by Motorsports Games, but as of the end of the month they will be delisted on all digital storefronts. Still will be playable, but they lost the NASCAR rights so they will not longer be available for sale after that date. Looks like they will go on sale sometime before that date if you still want to get them:


403

Free weekend of Cities Skylines 2 and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege on Steam

I once said that to a stripper named Steam.

Thanks. I really needed to clean the Coke Zero off my monitor today.

Ark Nova, a very well-liked board game about planning and building a scientifically based Zoo has released its digitial version from Early Access on Steam today:




Ark Nova on Steam

POE 2 released into early access yesterday with about half of the campaign and end game content available. Despite just half of the game complete it is probably around the same amount of campaign content as the base Diablo 4 game with far more end game content than D4 plus VoS already available.

The gameplay is top notch. Hands down the best of any of the ARGP diablo-likes. It's slower paced than POE 2, with the option to use WASD controls and a roll button. The overall difficulty is much higher as well. It almost feels like a modern souls-like take on Diablo 2.

The story is more interesting and more fleshed out than POE, the combat feels weighty, and you're no longer going to be running around spamming a single skill. It has the potential to be a 10/10 type game and greatly surpase the original, D4, and any of the other ARPGs out there.

Ha, took me a second to realize you were talking about Path of Exile, I read it as Pillars of Eternity at first! (And thought wait, Deadfire's been out for awhile!)

Squad 44 is free to play this weekend on Steam

The Whispered World is now on giveaway on Gog.com over the next couple of days

Ship of Heroes, the spiritual successor to my all-time great City of Heroes, has announced that it will go live sometime in Quarter 2 of next year. It's been a while since I checked in on it, but it didn't feel like it was close to being ready then.


- YouTube

In case you did not know, COH is back.

Forums - Homecoming

More Elden Ring and Witcher 4 announced at the game awards? meh.

Solasta 2? With the BG3 narrator (Amelia Tyler) playing the lead bad guy? REAL SHIT.

I love Solasta. I really enjoyed that game and all of the DLC. And the BG3 narrator has a voice that is… delightful.

I’m pumped for Witcher IV. I need to go back and start Witcher 3 over again. I never finished it.

I just wrapped up Cyberpunk and really loved it. I’ll miss my V, who was awesome, and Johnny Silverhand.

Yep have it and playing still

I guess Avowed could be considered Pillars 3 and it comes out early 2025.

Solasta 2 has me buzzing. Can't wait.

Who do we have to sacrifice to get this game to somehow be better than BG3?

Someone to burn a couple hundred million. This studio is like a tenth the size of Larian. I think the original already is better than BG3 combat-wise, but I think the best we are going to get story and world wise is just a little bit better than the first version.

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Took a break from POE 2 in order to finally finish Veilguard. I'd probably give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Combat - Gonna be hit or miss for most people. I didn't enjoy all that much. It's largely a RPG spin on God of War combat. The problems are that all tactical play are gone and the frostbite engine sucks. Your 2 party members are mostly there to chain spell combos and heal you. Their damage is pitiful and they don't even have health bars so they can't die in combat.

Graphics - Here's the one thing the Frostbite engine does well. Environments look great. Character models are meh by today's AAA standards.

Story - The first act didn't really grab my attention. I started to get more interested in act 2 and then Act 3 hits really hard. If you've at least played Inquisition I'd say Act 3 is what makes this game a borderline must play. Choices really didn't feel meaningful until that last Act and everything before that was more about jumping through necessary hoops.

Other thoughts - This really feels more like a Mass Effect game with a fantasy skin. My hope is that whenever we get the next dragon age game they'll move back to it being an actual party based RPG. However, this really is a good sign for the next Mass Effect game. I'd also say that is was an unnecessarily long game. I think it took me just under 100 hours to complete which is crazy for a non-open world game.

If you've played Dragon Age up to this point, I think seeing the story through is worth it although it'll feel like a slog at times. If you haven't played any dragon age games the story isn't going to grab you and you'll be struggling to understand what's going so I'd stay away.

I still haven’t played it. It’s got a heavy discount. Apparently it has not sold very well.

Yeah it's endemic of the current state of the gaming industry. It looks like the game has sold around 2 million or so copies but when you work on a game for 10 years, go through multiple iterations and designs because of focus group research, etc you've put yourself in a position where it's unlikely to be considered successful.

It's EA so the lesson they'll probably take away from this is that it should have been a live service game all along and they'll ruin Mass Effect again making that happen.

EDIT: I'll also add that it's beyond stupid to wait 10 years to make the 3rd game in a trilogy. How much of your core audience are even left or interested at that point? Additionally, it was stupid to put the most important story content from Inquisition in a DLC that was released nearly a year after the main game.

A list of about 50 games on Steam at least 90% off


429 Too Many Requests

The Steam Winter Sale just doesn't have the punch it used to.

I feel that.

I've earned the holiday badge by playing the games, voting, doing my queue checks, every year since 2011. This year, only crafting other game badges and buying games will get you cards. I will probable just buy the cards on marketplace, but the fun of the holiday, even just checking in every day on the discover list just isn't a priority for them anymore.

The sales became way less interesting when they moved away from daily deals within the sale. Checking in each day to see what was on sale was exciting and also induced a bit of FOMO.


Now with everything the same price for the entire sale I feel like I can check it the day it starts, then step back and really think about each purchase. There is no incentive to check in each day and ultimately I buy less.

Over at Gog.com for the next couple of days, you can claim The Dark Eye:Chains of Satinov-a point and click roleplaying adventure

a new giveaway for the next couple days:


Vambrace:Cold Soul-an evil King has cursed the city of Icenaire. You are the only human who can enter the city and free it from the curse. It's a narrative adventure where you make choice and stratagize the best way to to take on the challenges, survival, and combat.


Didn't know anything about this game, but looks interesting enough to give it a chance

If anyone out there does Humble Choice and happens to have a key for Jagged Alliance 3that they don’t want and feel like sharing, I’d appreciate it.

I am tempted to get Choice for Against the Storm

Anyone else into Caves of Qud? I don't know if there are many roguelike likers around here but it's pretty good.

Roguelikes were my first gaming love way back when I went to college, and I'm still playing a lot of them today. I got the demo for Qud and watch some YouTubers play it but I'm not sure the setting/apocalypse/sci-fi appeals to me. I will eventually get it I'm sure

I bought it based on the massively positive reviews but it hasn’t caught me yet. Maybe if I’d played more games like it back in the day I’d know what I’m doing but so far it’s totally overwhelming and I’m just not getting more than a few minutes in to any run.

Maybe that’s the point of a true roguelike but I can’t say it’s been very enjoyable as I’m not even sure what I’m doing wrong other than everything.

Understandable that you would be having problems if you don't have a lot of experience with roguelikes. I have found a couple You Tubers who have tutorials on the game as well as run throughs of the game so you can follow along to see how to play it:


- YouTube


and Rogue Rat's channel has several vidoes on the game:


- YouTube

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is really, really good. I had pretty low expectations and thought it would be a money grab. It's not. The opening is amazing and I was honestly stunned to find that it wasn't Harrison Ford doing the voice work. Troy Baker nailed it.

I heard it gives your GPU a real run for the money, though. Is that what you found?

So: Traded in 13 console games at GameStop I wasn't going to use, got $50.; Would have traded in a PS4, but since I didn't have the power brick, the charges fo r missing cables would have meant I would have to PAY THEM to take it. (rolls eyes).

Used it to pay half of the Deluxe Edition for CIV 7 (the $99 option). It's a sign of the times that's not the most expensive version on release!

I’d imagine it depends on your GPU, but in a perfect world your GPU usage would always be 100% while you are gaming. The entire point of getting a good CPU to pair with your GPU is that your GPU is the limiting factor. If that were the case your GPU usage would basically always be 100%.

Battle.net has another free week of Diablo 4 starting today

Battle.net has another free week of Diablo 4 starting today Steam has is free thru the weekend


Necessee an Early Access game where you build a settlement and adventure through a procedural world


Humankind is free to play through the weekend and is 85% off and has a free DLC to add to the game

Ooh gonna have to take a look at these, thanks as always for the updates!

Well you can't beat the price :) I think both are worth taking a look at and if you like Humankind there is a good deal right now on the base game, and a pack of DLC's and other extras

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood but I bounced off Humankind hard last night. Something about the overall style and presentation just didn't work for me, and I thought I had signed up for some tutorial play yet mostly it felt like I was just wandering around with a unit and no guidance or idea of what to do. I could have watched videos or read up on things or whatever but it just didn't feel worth bothering so I uninstalled it.

When i play (in one of the easier difficulty levels) the first thing that should pop up is what you need to do to get past the Neolithic Age and select your first tribe to run. That requires you to wander around the map looking for discoveries, collect food, and kill a certain amount of animals. Each is a way to get to the next age. I usually end up getting the food star because 20 food gathered will give you a new scout which lets you explore more or go after the hunting star more easily if they stay together. There should be something you can click in one of the upper corners(?) to see what your tribe needs to get to the next Age.



I can see why this wandering around could be a bit boring, but the more of the map you explore in this first Age, the better off you will be when it comes to selecting what civ you want to play and place your first settlement. Once you get your first Civ the game picks up in my experience

If you can tear yourself away from Kingdom Come and Civ 7, Green Hell is free to play thru the weekend, and a lot of the Disney games are 75% off.

Fanatical has its monthly Platinum Bundle out for this month. You buy 3 games for $10 and if you buy 5 or 7 games there's more of a discount. There's usually at least one "I can't believe this game is available for that price"



This time is Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous: Enhanced Edition. There are several digital board game adaptations including a 4 pack of games and separate editions of Root and Everdell. Plus there is Yogscast Games tribute to Civilization, Hexarchy, a fast paceed deckbuilder/board game where you build your civ with cards.

fm25 cancelled

Development Update: Football Manager 25 | Football Manager 2025

Though this had rapidly become the likely conclusion, it still kinda boggles a bit that they could break something THIS thoroughly, especially coming off their best sales year ever.

Many years ago I developed a theory that said you had a chance to survive a professional mistake that cost one digit (left of the decimal) more than your salary. More than that and your ass was in serious jeopardy.


This is a 9 digit fuck up. I have to think some people on the fm25 project won't be around when/if they release fm26.

they did have a job posting for a lead game designer the other day.

The engine change and adding women's football was just too much and it wasn't iterated on properly.

Something we should consider when we yell about yearly sports titles being all the same stuff each year

I don't know if this is true, but I read that they started working on this new engine back in 2020, with the hopes to release it with FM22. It then went to FM23, and then FM25. Now, it has killed FM25 with hopes for FM26.

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In a way, I feel for them. Trying to re-code something this massive from scratch is almost always so much more work and complexity than originally anticipated. It clearly needed to be done, however, so: rock & a hard place.

In the end, to me this is more of a failure in managing expectations than anything else.

"shut up and take my money"

"No"

That's how I feel about some games like X-Com, Elder Scrolls, Fallout etc.

I don't need a brand new release every year. But the fan base will spend the $40-$50 every year for a nice DLC. Heck, put your Team B folks on it, gives them training. Milk 'em while your Team A is working on the 2.0

Yeah, they could have done a roster update and some small rule changes and sold it for $39.99 and still sold a ton of units while the A team is working on the engine update and features.

Do they still have the A Team coders? I don't see why porting code over from C++ to Unity should have such a problem hitting deadlines unless maybe the original coders who understood it best aren't there. They've been talking about doing this since 2020 and allegedly had a team working on this 2 years ago while another put together FM24, this complete whiff and PR disaster seemed preventable.

Sounds like it's all hands on deck trying to unfuck whatever they've fucked.
“... would divert critical resources away from the development of the next release which requires our full focus.”

Anyone play Marvel Rivals? My son has been borrowing a PS5 to play it, and I found out it is free on Steam. But he said you need a super-fancy machine to play it. I looked up the requirements and they don't seem that high. Higher than what we have now, but well below what I'm planning to get soon.

Does anyone know if it's the kind of game where you actually need more than what it says it requires?

I don't think you need a fancy machine for that one. Recommended spec is an RTX 2060, which was a 1080p card released 6 years ago. What do you have currently?

I don't have the top of the line machine and it runs pretty well.

edit: you will learn to hate Jeff the Land Shark.

So much so after his ult, I usually type in game chat "Jeff, DON'T EAT THAT... That specifically being me!" (his ult gobbles up all players in an area, friendly or foe and does a dot to them for several seconds, but the real danger is that Jeff will then usually head for the edge of a cliff and either spit you out over it, or if he's afraid you have movement abilities, throw himself off the cliff to kill everyone he's eaten)

I currently have:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.60 GHz
8 MB RAM
Intel UHD Grapics 630

My son says Jeff is the only character he knows how to play, and hates it when someone else takes him.

Okay, I can't imagine playing that without a discrete graphics card is going to go very well if the minimum is a 1060

That's what I assumed. And I'm looking at getting probably something with a 4070, which is obviously well above the 2060 recommended, but something about the way he said you need a really "big" gaming rig to play it made me worried. It's probably just that he assumes I'm too cheap to get anything at all good, or his friend who told him that is as weird as him.

IMO you gotta upgrade. 8GB RAM gotta be killing you. And probably a mechanical HDD (not SSD)?

Come up with a budget and plenty here can help you.

Yep, planning to. Thought about doing it around new year's but, I have a birthday coming up, and figured I'd wait until Civ 7 comes out. I figure budget of $1200-ish, and I've been doing so much research that I'm completely overwhelmed. Figured I'd just pop over to Micro Center and see what they say I should get.

Everyone gets overwhelmed so don't sweat it. You should be able to get a nice setup for $1200 unless you want a top notch GPU (which you don't really need).

I'm going to guess your monitor is pretty old also? So factor that in. You can get decent 27" 1080p monitors for < $200 nowadays.

Chat with Micro Center and see what they have, but I typically go with Dell XPS as work & basic gaming, see below link. The big plus is Micro Center can offer local service and have a pretty good reputation (unlike Best Buy).

Dell XPS Desktop - Computer Desktops | Dell USA

Actually looking for a laptop. Didn't you have a spreadsheet of Lenovo deals?

I'm looking at:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...uter-luna-grey

This is what I went with: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQ4T1JF2...tem_image?th=1

The below xls is used (and a few new) Lenovo laptops from Lenovo (not third party). They are cleaned up, don't looked dinged up like what you'd find on eBay. They typically come with at least 1 year warranty. I've bought used from them before and wouldn't hesitate buying another if the model/price is right.

logaze - watching laptops on Lenovo outlet

I have no experience with Lenovo Legion laptops. I've only bought Lenovo Thinkpad models. My current Thinkpad is an X13, AMD 7840U, and 32GB RAM. It plays Civ 7, Starfield, X-Com, Fallout 76 and similar just fine on low end. Think I got it for around $800'ish about a year ago.

Your Legion specs are same if not better except for my 32GB vs 16GB RAM. The 16GB is probably good enough for now (next 2-3 years) but I'd recommend 32GB if its just an additional +$100.

Bottom-line: don't let analysis paralysis hold you back. I think Micro Center has 15 day return policy and they are reputable. So get it and play the heck out of it. If it's too slow (shouldn't be) or gets too hot or fan makes too much noise or monitor looks dingy etc., then return it.

And save up your change so in 3-4 years, you can upgrade to the next best thing!

Oh, Legion is a Lenovo brand, and Lenovo is Chinese. If the tariffs escalate, I have to believe laptop prices will increase some also.

Also, I know you're looking for a laptop but personally, I'd get a nice 27" or even 32" monitor (and keyboard) to go with it (very easy to hook up). I'm sure it'll help with your kids crowding around the screen playing Civ 7.

Came here to ask about getting a 4080 instead of a 4070. From what I've read, the difference between the two is a lot, but that makes sense, since the difference in price is a lot. Is a 4080 overkill for a game like Civ 7?

Also, yeah the only monitors I have are the monitors provided by our jobs. Getting a new monitor would be cool, but that will have to wait until we move or do a ton of rearranging.

Specifically for Civ 7, I doubt the premium is worth it. Probably more important to bump 16GB --> 32GB if you want the future proofing.

One thing I know for sure, regardless of how good the CPU/GPU is in a laptop, it doesn't reach its potential unless the internal cooling works well. If the laptop gets overheated, the CPU gets throttled down and your laptop will be playing slower.

So if possible, google and read the reviews for the specific laptop, CPU and GPU


You can get a decent 27" monitor for < $200 (and I've seen them for < $150 during sales). They have lower refresh rates so may not be great for a FPS shooter, but for Civ 7 it'll work fine.

I'm confused. Pass, are you still looking at a laptop or a desktop? If a laptop I'd get the best GPU in my budget as it's not something you are going to be able to upgrade during its lifetime. Regarding an external monitor, that's another thing that could potentially tax a weaker laptop GPU, especially if you get a higher resolution monitor.

He wants a laptop and think Civ and like games are his top priority.

I recommended an external monitor because in the Civ 7 thread, he said he's got 3 boys looking over each other playing Civ. I figured a nice 27" monitor, duplicated from his laptop screen, will add to the kids enjoyment.