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[aristabulus]

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BTW, does anyone know about the trading cards and the like? Will these stay if you refund (I see the biggest possiblity for abuse here)?

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From what I can tell, they seem to have changed card drops so they don't start until after 2 hours of play. Makes farming a lot more tedious, but I understand why they needed to change that.

I can confirm this.  During the sale I was idling, to make cards to sell for the 89 cents needed for Hero Siege.  The process took longer than it had previously, because the cards didn't start dropping until after the 2 hour mark.

Steam cards are worth actual cash monies to someone out there?

They were worth actual monies from day 1 (though not much individually), because Valve set it up that way.  Three guesses why, but you'll only need one.

[BurnedToast]

Because those people, instead of telling a hundred other people on the internet that it's terrible, can simply recieve a refund, vent their proper opinion and not spend days at a time on the steam forum trash talking the game until someone offers a refund.

LOL, a good point. I think the average of positive ratings overall will raise (I mean, if I refunded a terrible game why should I write a negative review?)

BTW, does anyone know about the trading cards and the like? Will these stay if you refund (I see the biggest possiblity for abuse here)?

I think it's probably the opposite. Bad reviews will rise for two reasons:

1. People will take more chances on games, since they know they can get a refund. Thus, people will end up buying more games they don't like.

2. Less post purchase rationalization. People no longer need to convince themselves maybe the game is not so bad after all. Previously, you buy a game and you're stuck with it.. so maybe you leave an angry review, or maybe you try and make the best of it. Now? leave that angry review and refund it, you're not invested in it at all.

Steam cards are worth actual cash monies to someone out there?

You can sell them in the steam marketplace for typically 3 - 6 cents each.

[Aklyon]

Between 3 and 14 cents each, if you counted since the beginning.

[a1s]

They were worth actual monies from day 1 (though not much individually)

So, you're saying they can be sold as sets for more money? Intriguing. Smells of a market bubble, but intriguing nonetheless.

[10ebbor10]

They were worth actual monies from day 1 (though not much individually)

So, you're saying they can be sold as sets for more money? Intriguing. Smells of a market bubble, but intriguing nonetheless.

Not really no.

They're worth money because people need them to complete sets. The sellable gains from that set are often worth less than the cards.

[Sean Mirrsen]

People complete sets, or craft badges, or do lots of other various things. It's a sort of a game-within-a-game-distribution-system sort of thing. Like an MMO slash TCG, with money instead of mana.

[stoney834]

When trading cards first came out it was about 6 months before I had to actually pay real money for a game on steam.  They've gone down a bit in price since then, but still if you've got a big library ~30-40 cents per game soon adds up.

[Bohandas]

A lot of times I'll purchase a lot of games at once during a sale and won't get around to some of them until more than two weeks after purchase. Furthermore, a lot of games have game-breaking bugs or bad design decisions that don't become apparent until more than two hours in (for example, I'd love to have gotten a refund for Half-Life 2, but it took me more than 2 hours for it to dawn on me that the plot wasn't ever going to get more interesting, that there were only going to be about half as many weapons as in the first game, and that with the sole exception of the gravity gun they were all poorly rendered and poorly programmed. Plus it took me over 2 hours to get to the gravity gun and be disappointed by it; The unskippable cutscenes alone probably cost me well over an hour by that point.)

[Shadowlord]

You... hated Half Life 2, and think Half Life 1 was better? Well, that was unexpected. (Although if you had bought the orange box, you'd have gotten TF2 and portal free, and that was a pretty good deal... at the time... Until they gave portal away for free repeatedly, and turned TF2 free)

[Bohandas]

You... hated Half Life 2, and think Half Life 1 was better? Well, that was unexpected.

I purchased Half-Life 2 under the impression that it was a first-person shooter. But it turned out that it was actually a really boring visual novel with some driving levels thrown in.

(Although if you had bought the orange box, you'd have gotten TF2 and portal free, and that was a pretty good deal... at the time... Until they gave portal away for free repeatedly, and turned TF2 free)

Speaking of Portal and Half-Life, is Dr.Freeman supposed to be a brain-damaged aphasic like Chell? What's his deal?

[Aklyon]

One who expects good results out of gamefaqs has only read their faqs.

[Shadowlord]

Valve's idea was that if he doesn't talk, the player should be able to put themselves into the character more easily than if he says things that you don't agree with, but since HL2 gives you essentially no choice - the plot railroads you, the conversations railroad you, all the people talking to you are immortal and don't even notice if you shoot them, etc, it just feels artificial and fake.

Hell, you have more choice in the Witcher series, and you're just playing Geralt, rather than a character of your own creation. For an RPG where you have practically unlimited choice, and it actually feels good, you have to go back to Morrowind, IMHO.

But if you want an FPS, not an RPG, what sorts of FPSes do you like? (Personally I like ones with plots, and don't care for ones with no plot, so I'm probably not the best person to give advice if you hate plot, but like you said, there's no choice in HL2)

(We should probably be in a different thread. :V)

[a1s]

HL2 gives you essentially no choice - the plot railroads you, the conversations railroad you, all the people talking to you are immortal and don't even notice if you shoot them, etc, it just feels artificial and fake.

It's an FPS, dude, not a CYOA. How much meaningful choice did DOOM have, or COD?
(SO:tL was the "exception" that proves the rule- it was still over 99% rails)

[Bohandas]

HL2 gives you essentially no choice - the plot railroads you, the conversations railroad you, all the people talking to you are immortal and don't even notice if you shoot them, etc, it just feels artificial and fake.

It's an FPS, dude, not a CYOA. How much meaningful choice did DOOM have, or COD?
(SO:tL was the "exception" that proves the rule- it was still over 99% rails)

Yes, but DOOM never pretended to be meaningful and artistic. Furthermore, even in terms of actual FPS gameplay Half-Life 2 is a hell of a lot more linear than the DOOM.

[a1s]

It's an FPS, dude, not a CYOA. How much meaningful choice did DOOM have, or COD?
(SO:tL was the "exception" that proves the rule- it was still over 99% rails)

Yes, but DOOM never pretended to be meaningful and artistic.

You're right, the plot to DOOM is literally "John, you must fight the demons!". However most "modern" FPSs do offer plot (and no choice) - they're supposed to be action movies with (IRL) skill checks in the middle.