Thanks to everyone who entered and showed interest, and special thanks to those who participated in the conversation - for what it's worth, you've been added to my whitelist! And for all of those who completely ignored my request, bah, humbug!
Note: please do not spam "thank you" because it feels like it lacks sincerity. I would much prefer you be creative or join the discussion below :)
Edit: Forgot to mention, this is a game gift, so I will be adding the winner after the giveaway ends! :D
So this game is, uh... well, it's a fine game, just a fine game, you know? I believe it's still in Early Access. The gameplay is... well, it's just so... fine.
Okay, let's be real here - this game is pretty meager, even for a Dr. Mario clone, and the real reason I initially bought it was because it has trading cards (it was $30 at the time!... though I used a coupon). I saw it had trading cards, thought the name was intriguing and projected that there would be all sorts of fun bells and whistles, since it was a $30. It does have six or seven game modes, but they're all just variants on the same idea - put 3 matching shapes together and turn it into another shape.
I will say that the game mechanics seem to have improved some since I last played this a few months back - more interesting things seem to happen - but the intentionally slow gameplay, sparse black background and off-putting music make this a chore to play at times. It's not to say puzzle games like this need to be terribly complex - Tetris is still a great game despite being simple as dirt, but it has frenetic pacing and a killer soundtrack - but this feels a little thin at the price point (now $15, so make of that what you will). In short, this is a PERFECT game to get for free :D
Tell me friends, what is the worst game that you've bought and PLAYED (not idled) to get trading cards?
I can't remember playing a bad game just to get the card. But I played FaeVerse Alchemy on my gf's computer and well... It's not that bad I think. Sure it's not a revolution and it was not worth the 30$ they asked first but it can be cool from time to time. :)
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It's a fine game, but the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I felt about it :| I don't know, it's not outright bad - I did find a way to while away 4 hours playing it. I just wish it was more complete, especially for how much they're charging (I guess this is what you get from Early Access games, eh? :P ) In any case, someone is going to win this and they are going to probably feel much better about the game than I did.
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Who plays games; much less bad ones? I only have time to idle.
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With the 2 hour wait time now, I can't really blame anyone :\ I wonder if Steam tracks that kind of stuff and is planning to respond to it?
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I'd be surprised if Steam isn't tracking everything. They're certainly capable. On the other hand, they have to realize that if there is a way to game the system, people will do. It just boils down to a question of whether behavior is against the ToS.
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I definitely think they'd prefer to have people play the games to earn cards, but it's such a hard thing to implement and enforce. You could tie it to achievements, but then games would have to support achievements AND have cards (which I don't think every developer would want to do). I also don't think they'd want to upset the metaphorical apple cart - trading cards are a good business, and it HAS to be good for them, with however much they've made off of market tax alone. It's just not a good look when you tell developers "people play your games long enough to earn trading cards and then they stop."
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As I understand it, both the dev (or the publisher) and Valve profit from trading card transactions. And for the devs, the sale of the game is already made, so whether a user actually plays or not or only plays to drop cards is not materially relevant. In any event, cards or no cards, the good games will get played. If Valve made a change to the way cards drop such as tying them to achievements, it would inflate the prices in the card market. In fact, since the two hour minimum was added, I have seen card prices rise slowly.
So unless someone did something flagrantly inappropriate, it is not in Valve's interest to ban or punish their paying customers.
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I agree, I don't think Valve will do anything, but I think it's an interesting conversation to have :P
As for the developers, maybe they don't care as much once they get paid, but I think most people hope that the devs stick around after launch and provide support for errors and stuff. I don't think it's a stretch to think that devs care to some degree about feedback on their game (though I'm sure making money off of it outweighs a lot of things). I just think of it like if I made a little indie game and heard back that people were only playing it to get Steam cards and then uninstalling it, I'd be a little bummed. Maybe a developer should go into the business of making games that just generate Steam cards :P
(Also, interesting point about card prices, I had noticed but hadn't even thought of making that connection. Good point!)
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If I were a game developer, I would certainly want folks to play my game. I don't think cards are really factoring in to a player's decision to actually play or just idle.
Valve has the capability to manipulate the market in a lot of ways. So far they haven't generally done so, but the sales are good opportunities for them to change the course of the market. The introduction of gems is a good example. Lots of junk got recycled into gems and this certainly affected the market. If you remember the gem prices crashed and then Valve reset people's inventory during the last Winter sale.
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I just find the item market and economy fascinating in general. The gems thing has been a fun thing to track, though I'll admit I don't remember the price crash (perhaps because I didn't start trading until the tail end of that sale).
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I'm completely in awe of the markets-both official and not that have grown from the Steam ecosystem. When I discovered that TF2 keys were being used as currency outside of Steam, I was amazed.
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I wonder how many papers there are on the Steam economy (theses and whatnot). I'd be really interested to read up on how it compares to various economic theory. Anyways, Valve really created an interested monster :)
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I thought this was a tetris-clone but with more complex mechanics (make more of the same symbol and they make a super-symbol of the family or somesuch). I haven't gotten any games for the cards alone. ;p Does it count if I thought it would be good but then was frustrated/bored to death/something/gave up?
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Sure, I'll allow it :P I've played a couple pretty bad games long enough to get cards in the past (before I realized I could idle them) and believe me, I really felt like I earned those cards. Rabbit Hole 3D was one in particular (that I bought right before they gave it away for free!) that, uh, "failed to live up to expectations." What've you got? Anything bad enough to use Steam's new return policy?
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Nothing that bad but I Have gotten a game I was really looking forward to finishing ( adventure) and a game breaking bug meant I couldn't go past through half the storyline...even played it twice , still got stuck.. Ad I got another game that I thought would be a funny little indie rpg and about 90 hours of grinding later I just gave up(need to finish it...some day).
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Yeah, I know what you mean. I got like 15 hours into UnEpic before I realized I would probably never finish it (I was only like 1/4 of the way through the game at that point). The game was fun enough, there's just so many games OuO
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Yea, my 99 grind one was 3 stars of destiny, the story makes you go through fast and you just have to grind your level to oblivion if you want to hope to reach high levels...And that just sucks. I mean I like jrpgs but not even Final Fantasy XII felt that much of a chore - and it was! The adventure one was a Sherlock Holmes one that involved Cthulhu in it. Pity because I wanted to finish that and see the end and how you got there. :(
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I have 3 Stars of Destiny in my library right now >_> and I already idled it. I WAS planning on playing it proper here in a little bit buuuut now I'm feeling a little leery. Well, at least thanks for letting me know what I'm getting myself into.
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Ooops? >> Well, I suppose you could finish it without actually grinding but then you miss out on the optional bosses/equipment if you win X tournament etc etc. There was some tournament at a big town/city and even though I had grinded up like 20 levels there, I still couldn't beat it with about half of my characters ( it is a one character versus a few waves of mobs thing and the more characters that manage it the better the bonus equipment you get as a reward, obviously). Even so, I still found it tricky at areas even with all the grinding I did. I think I am about 75% done plot-wise so one of these days I will just finish it without bothering to level up anymore, see if I can do the optional stuff without 99 party and work from there.. Good luck with your playthrough!
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Thanks for sharing!
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Thx <3
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Worst game I've played for cards was probably Dead Bits
Just didn't feel that well done and the difficulty scaling was weird so I made it 3/4 through the game no problem, then couldn't progress at all.
And the music was so loud! No volume controls >.<
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Ahh I forgot about Dead Bits (probably a mental block). That game was... appropriately priced. But at least I got my cards! ....
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"Finding Teddy." Listening to screechy noises is not a fun thing. I wanted to complete all the achievements, but no. I don't think I can bring myself to play it again.
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Interesting you say that, because that was actually a game I was thinking about looking into. Maybe not so much anymore :( Was it just constant screeching?
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Sorry for the late response! I found all the "song" minigames to be extremely screechy. I'd recommend watching some playthrough video and see if you find the sound screechy. I am quite sound sensitive due to having Aspergers Syndrome and the notes were unbearable to me.
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Thank you!
i would probably say offspring fling? i played about 2 hours for trading cards, got all drops but one and then left it on idle for the day and didnt get a drop again until i started playing it again ;-; the game was fun? but i mean, its the worse one i played just for trading cards
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:( This game actually does look like some fun. Was it just not interesting enough to keep playing, or did it control goofy or something? Or are you just saying that it's a game that you only played because it had trading cards?
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hmm well i got the game as part of the humble bundle, and back then, when the trading card beta had just came out cards were selling for 3-4 times what they are now usually. so most of it was the money, but i also didnt really find it all that interesting. it was cute, but my personal tastes are usually something with, i guess deeper game play? something like Civ or XCOM is something more to my taste or fps
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Gotcha. The trailer markets it like an SNES platformer (not necessarily my forte either), so I could see how it could get... tiring. I'll keep that in mind for potential future purchases, thanks!
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and thank you sir!
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While I didn't actually "BUY" it, I did actually try playing this game for a while while it dropped cards.
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This always looked like the worst, cheapest made game. In your mind, is it worth even 1 ref ($0.12)?
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If you can laugh at it and get enjoyment that way, then yes.
Otherwise ... not really.
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Thank You!
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Even though I enjoyed playing it (and 100%'ing it), "Pixel Puzzles: Japan" gameplay is really awful u_u
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I remember getting really frustrated when a piece I needed floated under another one :|
Although the frog was nice (it was a frog, wasn't it?)
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Yeah, that overlapping pieces were really annoying, and as far as I remember it was a Koi Fish :p
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Thaaaaat's right, a koi fish! I did like that part. Have you played any of the other Pixel Puzzle games? Has it given you an undesirable and insatiable urge to complete digital puzzles? :P
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No, I haven't played any other of them. And yes, I suffered that urge by the time I finished the game :(
By the time going, I'm fighting that struggle with a bunch of League of Legends games along with several FIFA 15 Ultimate Team packs (almost as disappointing as being a kid and having no presents on your birthday/christmas)
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Thanks
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I used to be leery of idling. Now, I do it all the time. There was a brief period, though, when I'd install and play games to get cards.
I generally don't get games I don't want unless they just happened to be in a bundle. I don't think I've actually played any game in my Steam library I didn't want to like.
Worst? I dunno. Off the top of my head:
Rhythm Destruction wouldn't have been too bad--maybe even good--if I had a controller at the time.
Depth Hunter 2 isn't terrible, but it's a grind to do certain things--including waiting for cards to drop!
Influx isn't too bad, but I have no reason whatsoever to replay it.
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I can honestly say that I've seen the names of these games before but never looked into any of them. If I might ask, what was your inspiration for getting them or what drew you to playing them? Just curious.
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I think I got all of those in bundles, but I wanted to give them a chance.
Rhythm Destruction is a SHMUP crossed with a rhythm game--sounds neat to me.
Depth Hunter 2 is a game where you swim around catching and photographing fish--I'm cool with laid-back games.
Influx is one of those marble games--you control a ball through mazes/puzzles. I liked Switchball (not available on Steam), which is similar, so I'm willing to give that kind of game a chance.
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Depth Hunter sounds kind of neat, I might check that out. Thanks for the feedback!
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Thanks to everyone who's responded so far and put up with my near-constant line of questioning :D And to all those who responded with "thank yous" BOOOOOOOOOOOO
Well I'm glad everyone else is having not-terrible experiences with their previous games. Perhaps I'm simply a crotchety old man inhabiting a younger man's body. I'm going to toss out one more rough game experience, and if everyone tells me I'm wrong, I'll KNOW I'm just rapidly becoming a cranky old coot.
When I first started getting into trading, I went through my old Humble links to find games with cards and found a game called "The Whispered World." I had seen a similar-looking game on the marketplace called Deponia with like a trillion sequels, and I heard generally good things about that game, so I figured this game would probably be worth a go.
Little did I know that I would be inhabiting the whiniest, most cowardly hobbit-looking, floppy-eared-having dope to be animated since Snow White had her seven dwarves. I couldn't stand him! Maybe it was the fact that I got stuck almost right away; maybe it was the fact that I just wanted cards; maybe it was the fact that he sounded like they walked into a local clinic during cold season and pulled the first guy they saw off the bench to come voice their character. You know how in RPGs, the idea is that you're inhabiting the character on the screen, and you're the one living out the adventure, like that person is a stand-in for you? This character made me feel worthless and obnoxious to everyone around me, and made me feel bad for being alive. All I know is my experience with the game was awful, and by the end I was grinding my teeth, clicking every pixel on the screen in an attempt to both move the story forward and get away from my character. I have never closed and uninstalled a game quicker than I did after that 4th card dropped.
Now that I've issued a review that I'm unable to backpedal from at all, has anyone else played that game, and are they willing to tell me that I'm crazy? Or am I perhaps justified for once in my less-than-stellar opinion? :D
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I forgot the name of the game, but it was a really terrible one, i got it a while ago before idle master came, i tried it and it was soooooo bad. So i just kept playing for 3 hours and the cards weren't fully dropped (it was at the time when usual card drop took one or two hours top). So i just gave up.... luckily there's idle master now. But i really seldom time use it. I prefer to at least give games a chance.... So much that i have 45-ish games with card drops remaining T_T
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Thank you for the chance
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Thanks so much for this giveaway and good luck to all :)
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Thanks so much!!
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Thanks :)
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This comment was deleted 5 years ago.
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thanks a lot for your great giveaway
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Thanks! :D
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thanks
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Thanks for the chance
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hey bro. cool game
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