Borderlands 2, The Penny Arcade Trilogy, and Dungeon Defenders DLC. I couldn't stop myself.

I'm trying to be moderate. Some deals are just too good to miss, but I'm not buying stuff just because it's cheap. So far I only got Darksiders Franchise pack, Saints Row: The Third Season Pass and bought some heavily discounted games to give away on SteamGifts. Still hoping to get Natural Selection 2, Immortal Throne expansion pack for Titan Quest and the complete edition of Dungeons of Dredmor.

I got a Wii U. For the Wii U i got Nintendo Land. I played it for around 4 hours today.... I'm kinda obsessed with it.

So far I only bought Resonance for like 2 dollars because I'm all kinds of poor at the moment. I really recommend it for any fan of classical point and click adventure games, it has good oldie looks, but the mechanics are a little different. :3 Primordia is also one I'm enjoying quite a lot, and it's made by Wadjet Eye Games also. <3

Diablo II Battle Chest: $19.99 on Amazon. That game came out in 2000.

I will openly admit, a tear came to my eye.

Just voted. This will be cool.

BR! You are right! Don't let Borderlands loot lottery take the Cheeries again!

I'm just being pithy. I really disliked Borderlands 1 but I haven't played the 2nd. I think the loot system in the first one is total bunko and the quests were boring, but the skill trees were pretty good.

I agree with BR. The Walking Dead for GotY!

Though I must say, I'm surprised Mass Effect 3 isn't on the list. For all the criticism about the ending, it is still a really solid game.

My basic issue with Diablo style loot systems is this:

It speaks of shitty design to me. By stimulating the casino/gambling bit of the gamer mind and playing on our desire to watch numbers go up, you avoid actually designing your game. Item drops can be powerful rewards for exploration or, in the best of cases, they can recontextualize the rest of the game.

Consider doing a side quest to get a powerful weapon in an RPG. You're rewarded for going out of your way and seeing more of the game. The developers choose how powerful it should be comeasurate with the difficulty of the quest and can tie it in thematically. I'm on board.

Consider finding a new item in Super Metroid. When you get a new item, you reconsider every area you've already been to because you have a new mode of traversal or ability. That game is very well designed.

And then think about finding a random, more powerful bit of armor in something like Torchlight 2 (which I really liked, btw). Even rare loot is usually not a huge jump in effectiveness and even when it is, it's gated by level requirements. So the pleasure you get is that of watching numbers go up and very rarely of a new ability, like a status effect of some sort. Those status effects are usually already available, without the numbers going up, from shops and the like.

The rare loot you get is barely more empowering than the loot you already had. You're just trading a viable strategy for a very slightly more viable one, with higher numbers, brighter colors and cooler names. Very little actually changes. The fact that it's random means it more or less happens continuously throughout the game. Rare loot is not rare. Playing Torchlight 2, I was finding rare and magical loot constantly. On a given run, I'd find 2 or 3 unique pieces of equipment. When I would find something really exciting, level limits and class restrictions undermine the very thrill that they're hoping to create. Because of this, the effect is a constant marginal increase in your character efficacy, that isn't tied to your actions. That's Progressquest. If you're going to be random, have the courage to be random. Then, at least, it's like a slot machine and you feel like you can really hit the jackpot.

It's also annoying to constantly have to be picking up trash items to sell as the games basic economy. Specifically with Diablo (haven't played 3, just 1 and 2), the rhythms of the game are set by trips to and from the market. It's a game about selling junk you find on the floor. Sometimes you get a nice bit of equipment that is VERY rarely a big jump up, but it's not because of your performance or for exploration or for anything you actually DID.

Again, I'm basing all of my experience on Diablo 1 and 2, Torchlight 1 and 2 and Borderlands 1. It's possible Borderlands 2 is different. Does it have stat/class/level requirements to undercut you when you win the figurative slot machine? That shit drives me bonkers.

I also like a lot of these games, but it's in spite of the loot side. What these games do really well, I think, are skill trees. I love character customization, I just don't want to pick up a whole lot of Shoulders of the North which grant +.03 frost resistance along the way.

Also, random dungeons generally don't seem to add much. It's sort of neat that it's different every time but are the layouts ever considered? Designed? Neat? Most of the time in those games, there are a lot of dead ends with pottery in them.

It's not that I'm against randomization. Consider something like Binding of Isaac where each item you get is random. The difference is there are few, if any, insignificant upgrades. Each item is a meaningful improvement or, even better, drastically changes the way you play the game. Diablo-likes are literal seas of meaningless upgrades.

Thanks sir Thumb, thanks Spock, that was fun! Congrats to other winners!

Damn, I got used to Spock.

This is the best surprise ever. Thank you so much!
I just wanted to state that, winning aside, the site name was certainly a suitable choice, because my experience with it has been nothing but cheerful indeed!

From the moment I joined I noticed the staff has been very thoughtful towards its users, and I hope this community will grow as beautifully as it deserves <3

This looks wonderful, and this reminds me. I need to pick up Catherine soon.