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[Frumple]

Well, flat out, the HoMM series (especially 2 and 3) are basically some of the perennial fantasy 4x games -- they get mentioned in the same breath as Masters of Magic and stuff like Age of Wonders (Or rather, the HoMM gets mentioned in relation to the latter as a direct and major influence, along with MoM), and helped define the overall genre. Insofar as history goes, they're pretty big deals, and they're still very solid, very good games, to this day. S'one of those things you play just to have played, seen the earlier roots, experienced some of the history... that sort of thing. And still enjoy yourself, 'cause they're pretty great. There's definitely worse things out there to drop a tenner on.

[Sirus]

Well, how accessible are these games? I tried to play some older games but got put off by the lack of documentation, both in-game and out. Spending five minutes just trying to equip a single character (looking at you, Wizardry 6 <_< ) isn't fun. Not having the slightest idea what any of the stats effect, or what each class does, or what each race is good at (again, Wizardry 6) is not what I'd call fun either.

[Frumple]

From what I recall, it's all pretty straightforward, and a lot of it has tooltips (or... something. Forget, but whatever. Manual, if nothing else, and a straightforward one at that.). HoMM3 in particular is pretty easy to pick up, from what I recall.

[Sirus]

Good to know!

[loose nut]

Yeah, Wizardry 6 is old enough that it's from the era where you were expected to read the manual and use it to fill the blanks in the interface (though GameFAQs can fill in the blanks). HoMM III comes from the era where they still printed manuals but nobody read them.

[Mech#4]

A brief outline if you like:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Movement takes place on an overworld map where you move heroes around who have a limited number of movement points. Armies are attached to a hero and consist of seven different types of units (Generally, Horde/weak, standard melee, ranged, high damage glass cannon, Heavy unit, magic user and super unit).
Game turns are split into days with every seven days starting a new week. Units are spawned at the beginning of a new week which then need to be bought from their respective training hall.

Heroes gain experience through either chests found on the overworld map or combat. Heroes gain specialisation skills as they level up (Like, better catapult usage, fire magic specialisation, more movement points) but you get three choices at semi-random (It's choose one or two which are upgrades to specs you already have and one new one) and can also find items which they can equip.

Combat is turn based on a grid (Hexagonal in HoMM3, square in HoMM5 and 6) with units represented as a single stack of that unit type where all their health and damage gets added together (You can split stacks but you can only have 7 different stacks in an army).

I would say HoMM5 is easier then HoMM3, but certainly if you play one you'll be able to play the others. The games are quite remarkable in keeping the same basic system pretty much unchanged through all of the sequels.

[Sonlirain]

I wouldn't say HOMM4 is bad. It's just different due having some Warlords (A game series that goes by that name) inspiration and a bit more RPG elements to it.

[Dutchling]

I'd say HoMM4 is better than HoMM6 at least, but then again, most if not all games are >.>

I also liked it more than 5. 4 was actually something new, while playing 5 is like playing a clunkier 3.

[Anvilfolk]

That's what I said. Once you created your Steam account, you're stuck with the region. I'm not even sure it's linked with the credit card, to be fair (and you could use paypal as a proxy), though I didn't tried when I could. However, to use an account (to buy something) in a different region, you have to use a country tag in the address, like the link Flying Dice gave.

That's strange. I'm originally from Europe but have spent the past few years moving back and forth and haven't had any problems buying games in US or European currency - and often connecting through a VPN to pretend I'm in the US to get cheaper games

[Gamerboy4life]

With two hours left on the clock, I'm eyeing Risk of Rain.

Anyone recommend it? I've heard it's a pretty good game, a bit popular with people here. Is it worth seven bucks?

[Kaje]

And still ridiculously unimpressed by the sales...

[Lightningfalcon]

Risk of Rain is awesome.  I have found that it's not one of those games that you can play all day, but it's very easy to sink an hour into.   The art style is good, the music is amazing, and the classes each have a very different feel to them.   

[nenjin]

And still ridiculously unimpressed by the sales...

Has it become a tradition to actually get bitter about what is in the Steam sales? Yeesh.

[aristabulus]

And still ridiculously unimpressed by the sales...

Has it become a tradition to actually get bitter about what is in the Steam sales? Yeesh.

I think that may just be a Standard Portion of Internet Hyperbole(tm); treat it as such. 

For Steam's Thanksgiving/Xmas sales, I feel like they've done a good job at having variety.  On previous major sales there was a fair bit of repetition between what bubbled up in daily, flash, and community sales.

I was rather unimpressed with GOG's format this year.  Too many bundles with things I didn't necessarily want, and not enough single games at good discounts.  The pick-one-of-three deep discount thing was a decent idea, but most of what displayed was chaff.

[BigD145]

Kerbal is back on sale. $16 US. Spacebase is on Flash sale. $12 for something that still doesn't have much to it, but it's cheaper than $25.