Humble Bundle Thread

Syntax Error said:
Are you seriously comparing an RPG to your play time in a competitive multiplayer game with a tacked on SP campaign? lolwut? I mean, I have a bajillion hours in Division 2 but I don't think that reflects on Dragon Age in any meaningful way.

Anyway, I don't give a shit if you (or whoever) are willing and able to return to a game 6-9 months after "finishing" it to play some DLC. I don't think that's wrong or any sort of failing. I'm just saying that I'm personally not going to do it. Not to take a moral stand or fight for consumer rights or anything else, I just won't find the enthusiasm and interest to return to the game down the line to play another handful of story. This is just the voice of experience talking; even for games I legitimately enjoyed, it's a very rare event that I'll go back to play DLC that was released after the fact. And, if the developer is banking on me doing so in order to properly tell their story and keep me interested in their franchise... they just made a bad call.
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My point is: I think I get more out of single-player and narrative-heavy games - even if there's a good deal of DLC's and expansions, that I'll need to track down - from someone like BioWare and sinking $ into that...than say out of a short SP campaign game that's complete in its story/stories...and MP.

Yeah, probably not the best of comparisons and analogies here. [shrug]

Anyways - yes, I'll be willing to go back to older games, games I've played already, and whatnot - if I can get new content for it (see TQ's new DLC's and also BG1 EE Dragonspear expansion, all which I have backlogged) or missing content that I somehow never got my hands on in the past (like say which was the case w/ DAO, DA2, DAI, ME2, and ME3).

I still need to tackle the NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate DLC and all of the NWN1 DLC's, since I have all of that stuff backlogged. And yep, I've tackled NWN2 + Mask + Zehir years ago - but bought NWN2: Complete from GOG a bit ago b/c I've so been wanting & meaning to Mysteries of Westgate for a long time. But, of course - those NWN2 expansions and are not dependent story-wise or character-wise entirely on previous games and expansions being owned to know what's going on...unlike what BioWare's been doing w/ DAO DLC (Witch Hunt), DA2 DLC (Legacy) and DA:I DLC (Trespasser) - which all set-up stuff for the next game entirely.

Yep, I've been through NWN1 base & SoU & Hordes - but never any of the Premium content, in which I do now have some of that in the NWN1: EE stuff. Thing is, w/ NWN1 and its official stuff in particular: NWN1 and SOU are both independent from each other, story-wise and character-wise - yet Hordes does have tie-ins right into both NWN1 base & SOU, either story-wise or character-wise.

I think a lot of why I'm enjoying going back to some titles like DAO, DA2, DA:I, ME2 with their DLC's besides all of that stuff - is going back to these old games and experiencing something new to me there; especially when it comes to story, character, and Lore stuff. And since it doesn't seem like AAA's seem to be making these type of old-school CRPG games anymore; the Indies and AA's have brought them back (Divinity OS games, Pillars series, Shadowrun series, etc etc - stuff of that sort of old CRPG's).

 
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"I find that AAA RPGs tell a better story than the glorified tutorials to competitive multiplayer shooters" is a hell of a risky hot take.  You sure you're willing to stand by that?

 
Doesn't DA:I have multiple endings? Maybe you just got a bad ending and the DLC helped? I'm a mix of Syntax and toaster. Don't have a ton of interest in going back for story DLC after the fact. Usually prefer to get the complete edition and get my fill at the time. Much prefer one off dlcs if I'm going back after the fact. Like Watch Dogs had a good DLC that was a different story in the same world. My favorite remains the FC5 season pass with it's completely different DLCs that had very little to do with the main game.

Also, pretty sure I had over 100 hours in Battlefield without touching the SP and all the DLC added to the MP which is the main point of the game.
 
@Bae

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Bad Blood DLC for Watch Dogs 1; I thought it was pretty good and more interesting than whatever the main story was trying to do w/ its cliche & Hollywood predictable story. Plus, T-Bone and his friend are a lot more interesting than boring Aiden.

Hopefully, they do something good w/ Aiden in WD: Legion in the Season Pass and all.

I miss the old days when military FPS's had great and longer SP campaigns. Man, MOH:AA and COD (original) were awesome. Sure, I enjoyed the War Stories in BF1 & 5 and enjoy most of the COD SP campaigns - but I also miss when we got multiple SP-based expansions like say COD1 (i.e. United Offensive) had and MOH:AA had (Spearhead & Breakthrough); those were the days.

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Souffrir said:
Considering the stories in modern AAA RPGs, I wouldn’t.
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I dunno, but...I think when it comes to stories - Old BioWare (before ME:A and Anthem), Obsidian, and CDPR usually do a pretty good job.

 
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MysterD said:
I dunno, but...I think when it comes to stories - Old BioWare (before ME:A and Anthem) [...] usually do a pretty good job
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Metro Exodus (base-game) is awesome; played that in Game Pass.

I wonder if this'll be just the base-game...or if they'll go Gold.

If it ain't Gold here, hopefully Season Pass goes on sale dirt-cheap and all, like Control's DLC's did on Humble.

I don't have the other two, so...I'm likely in for this bundle.

 
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Metro sounds good. Hellpoint looks like another non-Dark Souls soulslike that I'll try for a couple hours and then ditch. Darksiders is still on Game Pass. One or two decent games among the rest would get me to sub.

 
dlc discussion wise i typically find it a negative more than a postive. Especially in cases where they continue to add dlc to the game.  I'm not going to follow the game months or more after release to even find out if they added new dlc and such in. And with what they want for the dlc I typically won't buy it.  Off topic and more about consoles but I am still annoyed that in fire emblem when they added in 2 playable characters to the eagles route. And I flat out refuse to buy that pokemon over priced dlc that costs 5$ less than I paid for sword. 

 
Metro Exodus DLC Stuff / Info.

Expansion Pass - https://store.steampowered.com/app/924220/Metro_Exodus_Expansion_Pass/

  • Reviews for Metro Exodus: Expansion Pass (for Two Colonels DLC & Sam's Story DLC) are sitting at "Very Positive".
  • Looks to be around 8-13 hours in total for the entire Pass.
The Two Colonels DLC - https://store.steampowered.com/app/889920/Metro_Exodus__The_Two_Colonels/

Sam's Story DLC - https://store.steampowered.com/app/889921/Metro_Exodus__Sams_Story/

My Notes/Thoughts:

  • Also used Steam-reviews and for HowLongToBeat for info.
  • I dunno, but 8-13 hours of new content in the Metro Exodus: Expansion Pass sounds around and/or can be around or a little big longer than BF5's War Stories 4 Mini-Campaigns (and intro & epilogue) altogether. [shrug]
 
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Souffrir said:
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Wow. Were you not thrilled w/ the story stuff and/or character stuff like in...

  • BG1 & BG 2+TOB?
  • NWN: Hordes expansion?
  • Jade Empire?
  • KOTOR 1?
  • Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate?
  • DA2 and its DLC's?
  • DA: Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC?
  • Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3?
    (I can understand complaints of ME3's base-game ending, but most of it was still really good in its journey)
 
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Ex~ said:
I can't imagine I'd ever miss the Metro Exodus DLC, I've heard even the base game gets a bit long in the tooth.
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I enjoyed the base game and I like the Metro series more than most people probably do (I've even read the novels) but you can absolutely just play the base game and get a complete experience and be done with it.

I think DLC user ratings probably skew high since most people aren't going to buy DLC for a game they didn't like or play the DLC if they didn't enjoy the base game (unless its fully integrated into the base game). The audience that's judging an Epilogue style DLC is going to be self-selecting for people already favorably disposed.

 
MysterD said:
<p>

Wow. Were you not thrilled w/ the story stuff and/or character stuff like in...

  • BG1 & BG 2+TOB?
  • NWN: Hordes expansion?
  • Jade Empire?
  • KOTOR 1?
  • Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate?
  • DA2 and its DLC's?
  • DA: Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC?
  • Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3?
    (I can understand complaints of ME3's base-game ending, but most of it was still really good in its journey)
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I haven’t played BG, JE, NWN, DAI, or ME3.

And for the rest of it, no. Bioware—at least back in the day—was good at character banter and gameplay systems. They were okay at creating an illusion of choice and as good as anyone else at attempting to bring the P&P RPG experience to a video game, which to be fair isn’t at all good, but it’s a damn tough thing to do so A for effort.

Bioware has never been good at gripping writing, interesting characters, satisfying character arcs, original world building, or strong plots. I never once felt invested in the story or characters in any of their games that I’ve played. They’re also not very good at gameplay that deviates from P&P RPG conventions.
 
The DA:O DLC that integrated with the game was fine.  Shale was good, the rest was okay but mainly an excuse to get more loot.  The DLC outside the main story (the Lelianna and Morrigan stuff) was pretty meh and you weren't missing anything much to skip it.  And plot from those that's useful to future games is up to the devs to integrate -- I shouldn't have to play through a dull DLC like Witch Hunt just to know what's going on in Inquisition.

That side DLC "expansion" or whatever (Awakening?  Can't be bothered to look) was not only pretty bad to the point of being silly but also retconned/ignored in DA2.

 
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BMXJouster said:
Speaking of Metro Exodus:

https://www.gematsu.com/2021/04/metro-exodus-pc-enhanced-edition-launches-may-6
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That Digital Foundry video in there is awesome, if anyone got 41 minutes to spend looking at the old-version v. new EE version w/ the differences there.

New version looks amazing:

https://youtu.be/NbpZCSf4_Yk

Also, new FAQ posted with all kinds of info on Metro Exodus: PC EE versions with saves carrying over from old to new on certain stores; new chapter unlock feature; etc etc:

https://www.metrothegame.com/news/the-metro-exodus-pc-enhanced-edition-arrives-may-6th

 
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Syntax Error said:
I enjoyed the base game and I like the Metro series more than most people probably do (I've even read the novels) but you can absolutely just play the base game and get a complete experience and be done with it.

I think DLC user ratings probably skew high since most people aren't going to buy DLC for a game they didn't like or play the DLC if they didn't enjoy the base game (unless its fully integrated into the base game). The audience that's judging an Epilogue style DLC is going to be self-selecting for people already favorably disposed.
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That and most people don't even bother to review things in the first place. If the dlc was free you'd probably see a better skew of reviews too.

 
madjoki said:
Valve sued for removing keyless activation in efforts to kill Humble Bundle.
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Joke's on Valve; IGN is busy killing Humble all by themselves.

I did like how the lawsuit alleges that Epic Game Store is a failure, having spent upwards of a billion bucks to obtain a <2% share of the PC games distribution market. I could see Valve's lawyers going back to Apple making the same argument and Sweeny's response that those numbers are totally out of context and EGS is really kicking ass and totally going to explode any day now.

 
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If I remember right, there was a brief period where you could just click a link from Humble's library and it would auto-activate the game on Steam without going through the key approval process.  Most of us actually disliked it as it made it harder to give/sell excess Steam keys (you had to use the gift link)

 
I would also guess dev's/pub's don't always want to rely on Bundle Sites for sales & unit-moving in high volumes either. They (dev's and pub's) probably want more $ from them (Fanatical, Humble, etc) too...to have the game arrive in Bundles.

And they all (Bundle Sites and dev's/pub's) probably get tired of insanely devaluing the games and feeding the gray market too.

 
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Souffrir said:
Wait, how’s Apple involved in any of this?
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Apple is currently engaged in a lawsuit from Epic over Fortnite and Apple's cut of their iOS store and all that. Part of Apple's response was that Epic shouldn't be telling them how to run a game store when Epic has dumped all this money into EGS only to be incurring substantial losses year over year. Epic's response was "Those aren't losses, those are investment" and the promise that Epic was going to become super profitable and awesome, just you wait.

Now this suit is alleging that Valve is shutting anyone else out of the market and part of their supporting evidence is that Epic has dumped $800m+ into EGS only to see losses year after year and grabbing less than 2% of the market. The obvious response from Valve would be to use Epic's own words that they're actually a tremendous success in the making -- which would mean that Valve doesn't have their alleged lock on the market after all.

 
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Syntax Error said:
If I remember right, there was a brief period where you could just click a link from Humble's library and it would auto-activate the game on Steam without going through the key approval process. Most of us actually disliked it as it made it harder to give/sell excess Steam keys (you had to use the gift link)
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Techically it used keys, but just that Humble activated them on your behalf. Which kinda ruins their point of "someone who has access to keys can steal those", which it does not prevent because of that.

http://web.archive.org/web/20150227101049/https://blog.humblebundle.com/post/107906804069/changes-in-steam-key-redemption

This says it was little over year, so 2014-2015-ish.

 
MysterD said:
Wow. Were you not thrilled w/ the story stuff and/or character stuff like in...

  • BG1 & BG 2+TOB?
  • NWN: Hordes expansion?
  • Jade Empire?
  • KOTOR 1?
  • Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate?
  • DA2 and its DLC's?
  • DA: Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC?
  • Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3?
    (I can understand complaints of ME3's base-game ending, but most of it was still really good in its journey)
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Those were all Bioware games and most of them were released when an expansion was usually worth the $30.

Hordes of the Underdark was expansion #3 if I remember right and the only one worth the money (Fighter/Clerics were OP and super fun). DA1 was the first game that had day 1 DLC with that extra quest, character and armor with pre-order.

 
Tibor said:
Those were all Bioware games and most of them were released when an expansion was usually worth the $30.

Hordes of the Underdark was expansion #3 if I remember right and the only one worth the money (Fighter/Clerics were OP and super fun). DA1 was the first game that had day 1 DLC with that extra quest, character and armor with pre-order.
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Hordes was the second expansion. Shadows of Undrentide was the first one. Shadows was fine, but definitely not as good as Hordes.

 
It's been over 3 weeks and still no key for the Pathfinder: Kingmaker Explorer Ed. I bought.

Meanwhilst, the game's on sale again.

 
Was thinking about jumping on the $9 per month deal because I anticipate getting the Metro Exodus bundle this month, but then realized you have to get last month's garbage F1: 2020 bundle as one of those three months.

 
Yeah, it's fairly decent all around. Metro and CSD are the big ones for me, but even the lesser known stuff like Relicta, Fury Unleashed, Size Matters and Family Man seem like they might pique my interest.

 
Oh man, this is a tough decision.  I want Fury Unleashed and Cook Serve Delicious 3, but I already have the headliners and am not sure about the others.

 
Hamble repents, brings back the charity sliders.

https://blog.humblebundle.com/2021/05/05/an-update-on-bundle-sliders/

We recently announced our initial plan for redesigned bundle pages which would no longer include sliders that let customers fully control what percentage of their order went to Humble Bundle, charity and publishers/developers.

We’ve heard everyone loud and clear and apologize for the way these changes were rolled out. We are now taking a moment to pause, collect constructive feedback and be more transparent about the path forward.

Today, we’ll be turning sliders back on for all customers on our bundle pages while we take more time to review feedback and consider sliders and the importance of customization for purchases on bundle pages in the long term.

In the coming weeks, we’ll roll out the updated design which will include sliders that work exactly as they did previously. Once the new design is live, we will continue to iterate on it, incorporating feedback from the community into its ongoing evolution.

Part of that future development will include exploring different approaches to the sliders and how splits work, along with new ways to incorporate charity into other parts of the user experience.
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