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Arts and Entertainment => Film, Music, Sports, and more => Topic started by: Jutter on February 14, 2013, 09:19:00 AM

Title: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jutter on February 14, 2013, 09:19:00 AM
Free to play versions of games are often cripled compared to the experience you pay extra for, and open source material can be a bit tricky to get firing on all pistons. But while wallets are growing slimmer in financially dire times, there's increasingly more fun to be had for free these days... if you know where to find it. I thought it would be cool to devote a gaming-thread purely to fun you can have for free.

So there you have it. Share your links/reviews/setup instructions here, and they'll all be in one neat compilation for people to consult in times of boredom.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jutter on February 14, 2013, 09:22:38 AM
To kick things off with an obvious choice, here's tip number one:

Open up a STEAM account. It's for free, and so are several games on offer there.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Plu on February 14, 2013, 09:35:05 AM
Zero-K (//http://zero-k.info/)

Running on the open-source Spring engine, Zero-K plays a bit like Total Annihilation but with a greatly updated UI. Easily supports 10v10 games with players commanding vast armies.

Steep learning curve, but very rewarding to play! Give it some time to figure it out.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jutter on February 14, 2013, 09:37:06 AM
Retrogaming heaven. If you want emulators and roms; this russian website is the place to go.
8 -and 16 bit consoles. 16-bit arcade (Capcom and NeoGeo).
http://emu.kulichki.net/ (http://emu.kulichki.net/)
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jutter on February 14, 2013, 10:01:29 AM
Visual Pinball/PinMAME

If you've never caught the pinball fever, you can discover what the appeal is for free. An open source program called Visual Pinball, over the years, has been used to faithfully recreate some of the best pinball tables of all time, and it's all out there for free on the internet.

Don't be discouraged if you can't get things running at once. You might need to lower the resolution, and it can sometimes take several downloads before you've caught a working table/rom pair, but you'll get the hang of it soon.

Just download/install the latest shake&bake version of Visual Pinball from VPforums (you need to open a free account first).
-Unzip tables in the table folder (both VP tables and PinMAME tables will be accepted)
-Place the zipped roms in the PinMAMEROMS folder
-Load the table through the File dropdown menu
-Press the PLAY button on the user-interface to start the table.
(if things go wrong there, chances are you need to hunt down an alternate romset for the regarding table)
-Press F2 to get a list of keyboard commands. You can also assign keyboard-commands to joypad-buttons.

Two places to look for tables are VPForums and Pinball Nirvana
(desktop versions is what you want, unless you can use your monitor in portrait-mode somehow; then go for the cabinet versions)
http://s640.beta.photobucket.com/user/j ... d.mp4.html (http://s640.beta.photobucket.com/user/jutter2/media/flipperen1_zps14f857fd.mp4.html)
Keep in kind that some recreations are flawed. Sometimes it's nothing a helpfull nudge can't fix, but sometimes it also means the balls gets stuck and you can't play on.
In such a case keep your eyes open for updates that fix the problem.
One name to remember is JPSalas. His recreations tend to be the best ones out there.

Roms can be available there too, but if one stop is all you want to make, then I reccomend pulling your ROMs from IPDB (the Internet Pinball DataBase)
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: SvZurich on February 14, 2013, 11:43:06 AM
Path of Exile is nice so far.  No pay to win.  No real currency either.  Sell items in a barter exchange for useful items like identify scrolls or random enchants.  Pay for cosmetics and pets and dance moves only.

The Marvel Heroes game is okay, but a bit boring so far.  In it you can pay for boosts, to unlock heroes, and for costumes.  Overall, I hope it gets more polish during its beta.  I already paid to unlock all heroes and costumes on release, and a perma boost to loot and XP.  Current closed beta testers got a 10% discount, which I used on the $250 Ultimate pack that came with $100 of in game cash too.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Hydra009 on February 14, 2013, 11:51:07 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fr ... line_games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_massively_multiplayer_online_games)
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: aitm on February 14, 2013, 11:55:18 AM
My monopoly board is missing the race car.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: ilostmypass on February 14, 2013, 12:20:30 PM
Uhm. LoL (league of legends) is pretty cool. 3vs3 or 5vs5 on a individual and team strategy 3D game. There are payable benefits that in no way provide advantage for the player who buys them.

http://www.transformice.com (http://www.transformice.com) is a free typical childish game to pass the time. It has some physics and creativity envolved! Over 3M members (average 40k online) and 5M maps. Quite easy to learn, friendly community, and fun if you have the right mindset :)
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: BlackL1ght on February 14, 2013, 12:26:10 PM
Planet side 2. Just go get it.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: leo on February 14, 2013, 09:03:56 PM
Quote from: "BlackL1ght"Planet side 2. Just go get it.
Hey what's up ?
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jesus on February 14, 2013, 09:53:13 PM
League of Legends is really fun.



Or you can resort to pirating like all the kewl kids out there.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: _Xenu_ on February 14, 2013, 11:09:07 PM
Quote from: "Jutter"Retrogaming heaven. If you want emulators and roms; this russian website is the place to go.
8 -and 16 bit consoles. 16-bit arcade (Capcom and NeoGeo).
http://emu.kulichki.net/ (http://emu.kulichki.net/)
This. Emulation rules, though I tend to prefer Nintendo.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: _Xenu_ on February 14, 2013, 11:10:47 PM
Quote from: "SvZurich"Path of Exile is nice so far.  No pay to win.  No real currency either.  Sell items in a barter exchange for useful items like identify scrolls or random enchants.  Pay for cosmetics and pets and dance moves only.

The Marvel Heroes game is okay, but a bit boring so far.  In it you can pay for boosts, to unlock heroes, and for costumes.  Overall, I hope it gets more polish during its beta.  I already paid to unlock all heroes and costumes on release, and a perma boost to loot and XP.  Current closed beta testers got a 10% discount, which I used on the $250 Ultimate pack that came with $100 of in game cash too.
Do you ever suspect you might be spending too much money on games?
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: SvZurich on February 14, 2013, 11:34:02 PM
Yes Xenu, I do.  I've bought Fallout 1 and 2 both 3 times already.  Original CDs, compilation CD with Tactics, and on Steam.  Every time a $60 game comes out that I want (I'm looking at you, Batman Arkham series!), I try to wait for its GOTY edition to go on sale.  With Arkham City and Borderlands 2, I failed.  I did okay with Fallout 3, won with Fallout New Vegas, and am waiting for Skyrim's GOTY edition so I can rebuy it with the DLC included (as I did with Fallout 3 and Borderlands 1).
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Plu on February 15, 2013, 03:19:24 AM
$250 doesn't sound like a lot of money to spend on games. I probably have over $1,000 in boardgames at home. And I've only really started collecting them for the past year.

Hobbies are expensive. There's people who drink that kind of money away in a few months. Most people spend more on their TV.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Horsefly on February 15, 2013, 06:25:51 AM
Dota 2 is a pretty fun game, I've got a few beta invites if anyone wants them. Tribes is awesome, Planetside 2 is fun if you've got friends, but the F2P game that really stands out here is APB Reloaded (//http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APB:_All_Points_Bulletin). If you like open world crime games like GTA, you will love this game. There is nothing more fun than driving a souped up car through the city with 3 friends hanging out the windows shooting anything that moves.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: SilentFutility on February 15, 2013, 06:37:23 AM
Quote from: "Plu"$250 doesn't sound like a lot of money to spend on games.
It is a lot of money to spend on one game though!
I don't spend any money on gaming at all, just play a bit of CS:S every now and then.

Quote from: "Plu"Hobbies are expensive. There's people who drink that kind of money away in a few months. Most people spend more on their TV.
This is true. A proper hobby is an expensive luxury.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Plu on February 15, 2013, 07:21:13 AM
QuoteIt is a lot of money to spend on one game though!

Depends on how much fun that game is. If you can spend thousands of hours on it, I don't think $250 is a lot of money. It's pretty cheap, even.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: _Xenu_ on February 15, 2013, 08:16:26 AM
Quote from: "SilentFutility"It is a lot of money to spend on one game though!
I don't spend any money on gaming at all, just play a bit of CS:S every now and then.
Hell, I just play Nexuiz. FPS type games are all pretty similar anyway.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jutter on February 15, 2013, 09:45:24 PM
Obviously masturbation's a splendit "gratis" option also, but this is a gaming thread. So why did I bring it up? Is figuring that out a computergame? NO! So nevermind, and erm...
...hey LOOKATTHEFREEFIRSTPERSONSHOOTER!!!

https://register.perfectworld.com/bl_splash (https://register.perfectworld.com/bl_splash)

Blacklight retribution

This game has novel ways to make free-to-play worthwhile. Three initial games should earn you enough credits to rent killer gear for a day, and that's when the fun starts, without spending a penny.

Other splendid examples of a simillar nature (like HAWKEN) are soon to surface in this here little thread y'all.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Jutter on February 15, 2013, 09:49:50 PM
oh... and yee-haw.
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: SvZurich on February 16, 2013, 02:56:49 PM
Whoops!  I misspoke, it was $200, not $250, just doublechecked.  As a beta tester, it was $180 for me as I got a 10% discount.

$200 to unlock all of the heroes in the game at release, all of their costumes including a few enhanced costumes exclusive to that package (Spider-Man's black suit, animating with tendrils is one example), get $100 of ingame currency, permanent 5% bonus XP and bonus item find boost, and a few more items.

See for yourself, and remember, items are being added to this Ultimate set daily.

https://marvelheroes.com/on-exit (https://marvelheroes.com/on-exit)
Title:
Post by: Jutter on February 16, 2013, 09:43:36 PM
200 bucks?  :shock:
I love ya, but you're giving the "for free" concept hidious stretchmarks.
Does this game have a free-to play feature?
Title:
Post by: SvZurich on February 16, 2013, 09:55:02 PM
Yes it does, Jutter, and I did try its beta for free before buying.  You are offered 5 heroes to choose from for free play, and have a very slight chance of another hero dropping for you as an unlock, same with additional costumes.  

5 out of 26 characters.  You get 1 for free unless you get very lucky.  Not sure if you can earn ingame currency to purchase more, but the regular currency can be used to buy buffs and gear.

For my $180, I get every character on release, every costume on release, $100 of ingame currency, and perma buffs.  Characters and costumes added later will not automatically be mine, but I will have $100 credit to purchase future characters/costumes with.  

So if I want to run around as Deadpool without a mask or in pirate regalia, I can!  I can switch to The Maestro version of The Hulk at will, or play as Emma Frost.  If I want to be Iron Man in the costume from the upcoming movie, I can be.  I can also be Symbiote Spider-Man with alien tendrils pulsating.  If I want to switch to Squirrel Girl (WTF?) or Power Man himself (Luke Cage), I can.  I will run around as Dark Phoenix for certain, and Ms. Marvel!  

A free player may be 1 of 5 starting characters.  That's it.  

If you purchase a "Founder" pack, you can specialize in 1 character with 2 costumes, a team with 2 costumes each (usually 4 members, or just Deadpool with several costumes and more ingame currency than you paid for the set), or every character and costume in the game at release.

Do take a look at the link I posted earlier.
Title:
Post by: SvZurich on February 16, 2013, 09:57:45 PM
Jutter:

Specialize in a single character:  http://presale.marvelheroes.com/presale ... packs.html (http://presale.marvelheroes.com/presale_en_us/starter-packs.html)

Specialize in a team or Deadpool: http://presale.marvelheroes.com/presale ... packs.html (http://presale.marvelheroes.com/presale_en_us/premium-packs.html)

Get everything:  http://presale.marvelheroes.com/presale ... -pack.html (http://presale.marvelheroes.com/presale_en_us/the-ultimate-pack.html)
Title:
Post by: Weltfrieden on February 16, 2013, 11:21:29 PM
Look out for The Elder Scrolls Online (//http://elderscrollsonline.com/en/) to come out. It will be a F2P MMORPG. I'm psyched!
Title: Re: FUN4FREE
Post by: Plu on February 17, 2013, 05:12:17 AM
After some comments from a friend, I tried League of Legends again. He was right, it is much more fun since the updates the past year or so.
Title:
Post by: LoneQuietus on February 17, 2013, 06:14:07 AM
If anyone else is using a netbook like me, I'd recommend Kongregate (//http://www.kongregate.com) It has literally thousands of flash-based games. Many of them are quality. I've been playing games on that site for 2 years. I've probably played over 3 dozen games.
Title:
Post by: Plu on February 17, 2013, 06:48:17 AM
I can totally suggest Kingdom Rush and Kingdom CCG (no relation beyond the name) as Kongregate. The first is one of the best Tower defense games I've played thusfar and the second is the only F2P trading card game worth playing without paying through the nose.