Humble Bundle Thread

For most of us CAGs, the $13 tier is just full of DLC for games that we got previously bundled.  If you do not already own the dollar tier, you will get plenty of playtime from that alone.

To be fair to Stardock, not a bad "rebundle" if you do not own the games already and if you like 4x and their style of scifi RTS.

Star Control Origins appears to currently off the market.  

 
Neuro5i5 said:
Canceling my Columbia House subscription was the worst.
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Not me! I would never reply to the mailers saying I didn’t want the movie of the month so they’d always send it. Then I’d just send it back to them to get my money back. After something like 9 times in a row I got a letter from them saying that I had yet to fulfil any of my required purchases, but that they were cancelling my membership and to please not sign up again.
 
I am interested to see what the headliners are for the next monthly and the first weekly bundle next week.  There have been sacrifices made to the bundle gods that we should see show up.  

Divinity Original Sin reaching the sale price of $10 would be nice to headline a monthly but I think it is selling too well.  Insert joke about Fallout 76 headlining.  

I keep thinking Darkest Dungeon might show up as a headliner as well.

Black Desert Online though is probably more likely to headline.

 
waabulo said:
I am interested to see what the headliners are for the next monthly and the first weekly bundle next week. There have been sacrifices made to the bundle gods that we should see show up.
Divinity Original Sin reaching the sale price of $10 would be nice to headline a monthly but I think it is selling too well. Insert joke about Fallout 76 headlining.
I keep thinking Darkest Dungeon might show up as a headliner as well.
Black Desert Online though is probably more likely to headline.
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Black desert online is really cheap and an MMO. Maybe it's ok as an unlock but I would pause my sub for any month that its a headliner
 
There's a terrible new book bundle up today. And I do mean terrible. It's full of completely ridiculous crap. And that's not even my subjective opinion. Too bad, really, because the featured charity is awesome.

waabulo said:
For most of us CAGs, the $13 tier is just full of DLC for games that we got previously bundled. If you do not already own the dollar tier, you will get plenty of playtime from that alone.
To be fair to Stardock, not a bad "rebundle" if you do not own the games already and if you like 4x and their style of scifi RTS.
Star Control Origins appears to currently off the market.
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Eh, I couldn't even justify a purchase to give keys away--that's how many people probably already have most of the stuff in this one.

Insomniac_34 said:
Humble "Help Fund Our Legal Battle Against the Original Star Control Creators" Bundle.
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Blandlytasteful said:
Interesting. There's also a bonus coupon for 33% off Star Control Origins. Wonder how long that'll stay on sale in the humble store.
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Is this a real suit or are you making a joke? It had been my understanding that Stardock actually had the original creator's blessing on this endeavor. Huh. I found the link. It looks like a mess, and I'm actually not that surprised, just disappointed.

The Steam status of the game is a little weird. The DLC are available for purchase, but the base game's store page appears to have vanished. If you go to the Stardock page, the base game is available for purchase (it's much cheaper than the original price of $35ish dollars--$19.99), but only directly through Stardock or a site called Sonkwo, which appears to be Chinese or Japanese. I'm guessing that the coupon provided in the bundle can be used on the Stardock site.

Well, I wouldn't buy the season pass at this point. I wouldn't lay odds that Stardock will win this one. This reeks a bit of Wardell just figuring out the cheapest way he could get a license for the IP, which may not have been the smartest or best way, so he could do something he wanted to do. I've said it before and I suppose it bears repeating at this juncture: I used to have some respect for that guy, despite his ultraconservative political views (there are sections on his site forums where he debates the reality of climate change--you can guess which side he's taking), but after the harassment allegations, the Fallen Enchantress debacle, and this latest mess, I'm not sure these guys should be in the games-making business at all.

 
warreni said:
Well, I wouldn't buy the season pass at this point. I wouldn't lay odds that Stardock will win this one. This reeks a bit of Wardell just figuring out the cheapest way he could get a license for the IP, which may not have been the smartest or best way, so he could do something he wanted to do.
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It's a trademark. Stardock is the owner according to the US Patent and Trademark Office. There is no licensing involved. The fact that the heads of an Activision studio decided to issue a DMCA take down on December 31 -- and not coincidentally at the end of the Steam Winter Sale when a lot of people make their purchases -- instead of letting the legal process play out tells me it was done in bad faith. Notice that they have also not indicated anywhere what Stardock's game specifically and allegedly infringes upon.

edit: You posted a Kotaku link, which is a laughable source for anything.

 
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warreni said:
The Steam status of the game is a little weird. The DLC are available for purchase, but the base game's store page appears to have vanished. If you go to the Stardock page, the base game is available for purchase (it's much cheaper than the original price of $35ish dollars--$19.99), but only directly through Stardock or a site called Sonkwo, which appears to be Chinese or Japanese. I'm guessing that the coupon provided in the bundle can be used on the Stardock site.
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Weird. Yeah, 19.99 on Stardock's own page. On Humble Store, it comes to 24.11 counting my monthly subscriber 10% plus the coupon. That coupon is just a humble store coupon, not like a code I can copy and paste to Stardock's site, so I don't see any way I could use it there.

Interestingly, when I click on that coupon on the humble store, the link is dead. I can stil search the game and find it, but the other coupons I have, (Beholder 2 and Shadow Warrior 2) both take me to store entries for their respective games. Gonna go ahead and second the whole, maybe don't buy that season pass thing.

 
d8onausa said:
It's a trademark. Stardock is the owner according to the US Patent and Trademark Office. There is no licensing involved. The fact that the heads of an Activision studio decided to issue a DMCA take down on December 31 -- and not coincidentally at the end of the Steam Winter Sale when a lot of people make their purchases -- instead of letting the legal process play out tells me it was done in bad faith. Notice that they have also not indicated anywhere what Stardock's game specifically and allegedly infringes upon.
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Okay. I don't really have an ax to grind, other than being a past and present Stardock customer. There's probably a little more to this than a trademark, however. I'm still inclined to think that waiting for the legal dust to settle before the game was released would have been the best way to go on Stardock's part. If certain things needed to be tweaked before release at that point, it would be easy to do and, frankly, most of this process would have been invisible to the average customer.


d8onausa said:
edit: You posted a Kotaku link, which is a laughable source for anything.
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If you say so. The Google machine shows similar stories at PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun and probably dozens of other sites if you're not a Kotaku fan.


Blandlytasteful said:
That coupon is just a humble store coupon, not like a code I can copy and paste to Stardock's site, so I don't see any way I could use it there.

Interestingly, when I click on that coupon on the humble store, the link is dead. I can stil search the game and find it, but the other coupons I have, (Beholder 2 and Shadow Warrior 2) both take me to store entries for their respective games. Gonna go ahead and second the whole, maybe don't buy that season pass thing.
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Okay, that's information I didn't have, although it makes perfect sense. I wouldn't be surprised if they quietly removed it from the bundle before the bundle expires. The base game has also gone missing from GOG's store.
 
Black Desert Online as a headliner would be in Black Ops III Starter Pack territory in terms of headliner quality.

For this month, Just Cause 3 XXL is a strong value, with all of the DLC included. Trading some random Chrono.gg game that was released a few weeks ago for it proved to be an excellent deal. Game itself doesn't have nearly as strong of a first impression as Just Cause 2, and performance issues are still present, especially for console users. Better gameplay tools than Just Cause 2, with the presence of the wingsuit, but the environments are quite a disappointment compared to 2, as there's a lack of variety. Just Cause 4 seems to be better in this category than 3. Still a fun open world game though.

 
The Star Control case is a hot mess. Steam auto took down the game when getting the request, GOG took extra time because of the holidays apparently.

I'll side with Stardock at this point given the actions of the SC2 devs in the past year or so on this case and over 20 years regarding their game. They basically released the source code back in 2002 and let a freeware version be developed and then an HD remaster. You can download them at http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Why they're so upset now is rather odd given they didn't buy the trademark and SC3 stuff from Atari in 2013 or from Stardock who offered them at cost. One theory is they were under Activision so couldn't purchase it then or it would be under Activision's ownership or just a non compete clause/can't work on their own side projects. This ignores that they could have bought the rights themselves as individuals (or some baloney dummy corp) and sat on it for another 20 years. I guess $400k was too much for them.

The SC2 devs seemed to only get upset when Origins hit beta last year and then put up a announcement for their own sequel using the Star Control name, which they aren't legally allowed to do. They're also crowdfunding their legal campaign. That sticks in my craw given they don't seem to be poor old 1990s Accolade devs turned poor indie devs since their studio sold out to Activision in 2005 and continues to work for them.

Their response as to why they filed DMCA requests right after the court ruling allowing them to is here:

https://www.dogarandkazon.com/blog/2019/1/2/injunction-junction-court-instruction

I can agree on some of those points of similarity but their first point is literally: "Interstellar travel uses hyperspace". Welcome to a gazillion different games in the past 25 years dudes. That includes Star Wars who has used lightspeed and hyperspace across movies, books and games.

The judge's ruling is somewhat laughable in her understanding of how DMCA takedowns work these days. To paraphrase, Steam and GOG don't legally have to take down material so its not likely that they will respond to a request, despite then acknowleding that if the vendors don't take down the game they lose immunity from lawsuit.

 
Almost everything in their table is something that you cannot trademark or copyright. I hope legal precedent winds up being set here by Stardock suing the living shit out of them for a frivolous DMCA take down resulting in revenue loss and reputational damage.  The icing on the cake would be Activision shuttering Toys for Bob to avoid further guilt by association, though I would want the other employees to be transferred and not let go.

 
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You know, I freaking love Star Control. I played them all on various platforms and even still have my treasured Genesis cart of Star Control and 3DO disk of Star Control 2.

It figures that, after decades of waiting, the lone sequel being offered falls into a legal quagmire. My first preference would have been a new SC game with full co-operation of, or even just the blessings of. Toys for Bob. Alas, we have a standoff that just punishes the fans.

I'm sure if the No One Lives Forever franchise ever saw the light of day again it would suffer a similar fate. :bomb:

 
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Yeah, there is a sequel to NOLF.  It's called No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way.  There's also a spinoff that takes place between both games called Contract J.A.C.K.

 
Humble Bundle is getting hammered or something. Overall decent unlocks. Darkside Detective and Sundred were on the wishlist. Observer looks interesting too. I'm not crazy about the early unlocks for next month having own (Yakuza 0) or owned (The Division) both. Also no way is The Division worth $49.99 MSRP. Just inflating prices there.

 
This is the first month in a while I am considering skipping. Not sure who thought The Division base game was a good early unlock. 

 
Ended up not buying the January bundle.  I think it's an overall good bundle with games I would have played but probably not before they're bundled again.

I'll be getting February for Yakuza 0.

 
nitrosmob said:
Humble Bundle is getting hammered or something. Overall decent unlocks. Darkside Detective and Sundred were on the wishlist. Observer looks interesting too. I'm not crazy about the early unlocks for next month having own (Yakuza 0) or owned (The Division) both. Also no way is The Division worth $49.99 MSRP. Just inflating prices there.
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I just reviewed with isthereanydeal - The Division was bundled 3 times in 2016 (Jan, Feb and Jun) each time at a $75 tier which I think is the record for the highest tier without paywhatyou want to have your name on Humble's site in the high contributor list.

Yakuzo has a MSRP of $19.99 which is fairly priced and has already been on sale. I agree with you about The Division should have a lower MSRP. To be somewhat fair, it has been on sale for $7.50 which is a great price. As stated above, this is a simple way of promoting Division 2. We are likely to see Capcom having a bundle this year as Resident Evil releases next month and Devil May Cry 5 later this year.

Observer was a nice unlock for me.

 
Insomniac_34 said:
Sundered, QUBE 2, and Observer are all games I've been interested in, so all in all this was a nice day of unlocks and reveals.
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I'm glad to see Sundered, but the other 2 were already free with Twitch Prime. Overall, still a pretty good bundle even if most of it didn't interest me too much.

I think the most disappointing thing is how disappointed I was with Wizard of Legend since I had been excited to see it. I should probably give it more time, but it didn't grab me much when I played it and it was a bit too hard.

Never played a Yakuza game before even though I think I "own" 3 through PS+. Maybe now would be a good time to start with 0.

 
rcsample said:
I believe there was a sequel. I would be up for a remaster of both 1 and 2....
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BMXJouster said:
Yeah, there is a sequel to NOLF. It's called No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way. There's also a spinoff that takes place between both games called Contract J.A.C.K.
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I actually have a jewel case copy of NOLF2 I bought at either a thrift store or Half Price Books years ago. I should get around to installing that some time...

 
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nny said:
I think the most disappointing thing is how disappointed I was with Wizard of Legend since I had been excited to see it. I should probably give it more time, but it didn't grab me much when I played it and it was a bit too hard.
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FWIW, it took me a good 12-15 hours before I beat Wizard of Legend for the first time. After that, I started winning 3 out of every 4 runs. If you haven't already, try starting with the yellow robe (increased critical chance/damage) and the Vampire's Eyeglasses relic (regenerates health with every crit), then build your run around that. Also, use the wiki so you know what relics do prior to purchase.

That said, while it's a fairly decent game, once you start winning at a consistent rate, the game simply isn't much fun any more. Too much repetition, not enough enemy variety, and the button-mashing combat loses a lot of its appeal. I got a good 20-ish hours out of it and am satisfied, but I have no desire to go back until the devs complete the Sky Palace update later this year.

 
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07ron said:
What is this cesspool everyone talks about where you can unload keys you don't want? Link?

Thank you.
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https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/327125-steamorigin-etc-buyselltrade-thread-read-the-op-one-post-every-three-days/

There are a couple resellers in there who usually buy the early unlocks for halfway decent prices. You can do better price wise with a little effort but I like the simplicity of just selling to them.

https://www.steamtrades.com/ also has people who routinely buy humble gift links.

 
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Insomniac_34 said:
FWIW, it took me a good 12-15 hours before I beat Wizard of Legend for the first time. After that, I started winning 3 out of every 4 runs. If you haven't already, try starting with the yellow robe (increased critical chance/damage) and the Vampire's Eyeglasses relic (regenerates health with every crit), then build your run around that. Also, use the wiki so you know what relics do prior to purchase.

That said, while it's a fairly decent game, once you start winning at a consistent rate, the game simply isn't much fun any more. Too much repetition, not enough enemy variety, and the button-mashing combat loses a lot of its appeal. I got a good 20-ish hours out of it and am satisfied, but I have no desire to go back until the devs complete the Sky Palace update later this year.
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Thanks for the tips. That was another thing that turned me off, not knowing what to buy. Using the wiki will probably make me like the game some more.

 
Reveals and early reveals aren't bad objectively, but none of it really excites me. I already had Observer from Twitch Prime, but I'll keep it anyway. Outside of that only keeping Yakuza and Darkside Detective

 
Eh, this was pretty disappointing. 
Observer was on Twitch Prime, Regions of Ruin was dirt cheap around Thanksgiving ($2.40 on steam, $1.80 on humble), Just Cause 3 was dirt cheap everywhere for a long time, and Sundered was 75% and all over the front page all winter sale long. 

It's probably silly of me, but it'd be a lot nicer if we were getting stuff that wasn't seeing 75% off sales on the regular, especially since Humble seems to want to continue to flout the Monthly as it's marquee offering. 

But hey, another month  and they're still not Groupees level disappointing, so that's something, right?

 
Wasn't The Division free on UPlay or something? I seem to have it there and I've never played it. I'm pretty sure I've never purchased anything at that store.

So, yuck for The Division.

As for January -- eh, there have been worse. I'm not completely unhappy, so that's a plus.

BMXJouster said:
Yeah, there is a sequel to NOLF. It's called No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way. There's also a spinoff that takes place between both games called Contract J.A.C.K.
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Yep, I have all of those -- NOLF 2 is the bomb -- I was really referring to the series needing a new entry. What a shame.

 
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