When I got my PSX in 1997, the games sure felt like a good deal at $50 after paying $70+ for cartridges for years. I only got one new game per year at full price for my SNES. I also generally felt happier buying on PC because new games were also less than consoles for a while.
Now with the indie scene, there is a lot more variance, even though I also occasionally grab top-shelf releases. I still think FTL might have been the best $10 I’ve ever spent on a game. At the same time, I paid $60 for Persona 5 Royal right at launch even though I had played the original game, and I still thought it was incredible value.
Vampire Survivors: still really addicting, my save files was deleted, so I started all over. As soon as I reach library level, then it’s all about farming / grinding.
I played several games last week,
The Secret of Monkey Island: is still a really funny game
Call of the Sea: dropped it after first hour, the first person camera is making me nauseous. I had the same issue while playing Maquette, weirdly I don’t have much issue when playing FPS (but I don’t play them often)
TMNT Shredder’s Revenge: it’s an okay game, playing it solo is kinda annoying, since enemies tend to knock you back, and there’s a recovery time.
Hi-Fi Rush had me going back to play through the Devil May Cry series earlier this year, and I didn't finish them before 2023 releases started popping off, but I left off at DMC4. I seem to remember the impressions of it back in the day being so-so, but I really enjoyed what I've played of it so far, and it feels the most like what Hi-Fi Rush became out of the series thus far. 1 and 3 were great, but 4 seemingly keeps what made those good without as many rough edges.
I’ve finished 1 - 3 recently, and I wanted to finish the entire DMC series including DmC.
I’m not a good DMC player, tend to mash buttons bit too often. After all the DMC games, I wanna start with Ninja Gaiden, properly learning the blocking based on a YT guide I’ve seen.
R&D as an analogy, if the game does something new, creates a new experience then it’s worth extra because you can’t get it anywhere else until poor copies appear in a few years
Replayability and Flow. Length doesn’t matter look at AC games. But I could re run RE games or Respec new build in Elden Ring and feel the rush of making decisions on the fly and anticipating the dodge when an enemy could almost touch me
Beauty, same as movies I guess when you get to experience people’s creativity, not in overproduced generic stuff like Amazon or Apple TV shows or Asscreed, but when there is a good art direction. Good design beats out fidelity any time
I almost never buy metroidvanias before they go on sale pretty heavily because there are just so many good choices, but I played the absolute hell out of that first flash bike game that you controlled balance front and back. This is that, but with a big map to explore and combat I'm really enjoying. You block bullets with your bike, reload ammo with a backflip and a bullet parry with a front flip, and aiming your gun is bullet time, but because you're aiming in the air a lot, you still have to pay attention to your rotation, so there's a nice tension to it. I'm two bosses in, and both are decent takes on the unique flavor of their mechanics. I'm hooked hard.
Steam has a demo so you don't have to buy it without knowing if it clicks for you.
Minecraft hands down. I’ve put more time into that game than any other in my life. I constantly go back to it, and almost everyone I meet online plays it or has played it. There is so much enjoyability from a game as limitless as that
I've been playing some Mario Wonder too (both co-op and single player). I'm not the biggest 2D platformer fan, but I think it does a pretty good job. I'm surprised at how difficult some of the levels have gotten so far (4 and 5 star difficulty levels ain't no joke). I'm not sure if I'll finish it, but there's fun to be had for sure.
I'm also closing in on finishing Chrono Trigger for the first time. I'm enjoying it, though I think the PS1 and PS2 era JRPGs are more up my alley. This game definitely oozes charm though, and I can see why many consider it a classic. After I beat it I'll probably try Chrono Cross again, though last time I tried playing it the game froze twice early on just talking to people...
I think so, though there are some optional levels they may struggle with. If they play as Yoshi they won't take any damage, which might help. Alternatively, someone more experienced could play as Yoshi and the kid could ride the Yoshi through some of the more challenging spots.
Price per unit time suggests that the only value of a game is in how much time it consumes.
The value calculus is going to be different for everyone but for me, I tend to look for:
A game which is a game first and foremost rather than an entertainment experience. That is to say: something that demands decision making of me in which I can either increase or decrease the payoffs of those decisions. Games which focus heavily on cinematic scenes, heavy QTEs, or long dialogs disinterest me.
I am often willing to take a punt on a game that tries to do something creative and interesting.
I tend to not like games that demand a high degree of memorization and/or dexterity.
Games which perform well. A recent example of a regretful purchase I made was with Shin Megami Tensei V. I adore the series but the framerate on the Switch really brought my experience down to a level where I just didn't want to play anymore.
The weights of these things will change from game to game and other elements may enter or exit the equation from time to time, of course.
I definitely agree that you shouldn’t (just) measure a game’s value by playtime. I prefer a shorter game that’s an interesting and exciting experience all the way through over one that is longer, but feels drawn out.
My Ghost Recon team in my second playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 got past level 8, and they may as well have ascended to godhood then and there. There are several achievements for killing some boss or another before they get to do some kind of attack, but this team just bursts them down before they get the chance to take a second turn. I'm in Act 3 now and just checking out a few remaining plot threads that I missed in my first playthrough.
I'm also trying to finish a run of 30XX. It's good, and the level generation is slightly less repetitive than its predecessor, but it's mostly just more of the same. New bosses and such, and the game is still good, but I was hoping for more of an iterative improvement over the first game.
I guess Diablo 2 but I didn’t have the possibility to buy it back in the day. Buying games wasn’t as straightforward as buying a CD of music where I lived.
Been playing Mario Wonder that last 2 days, but I gotta put it down and finish The Legend of Zelda: The Monish Cap. I was on the last dungeon. Great game, I don’t know why I waited so long to play it.
I recently discovered Snowrunner and have been having a ton of fun playing on the switch! I’ve also rolled down the same hill multiple times 🥲 though I’m learning to tame the mud
It is! Last night I discovered the fleetstar had awd in the garage 🥴 I’ve built two bridges, fixed two rockslides, and pulled the truck to the farm in the time since!
Larger and/or gamey games 1€/h. Here I put games such as the Tomb Raiders, cRPGs etc.
Narrative experiences 5€/h. Stray Gods and other high quality intense experiences. Often short and with limited replayability. Like seeing a movie a second time.
bin.pol.social
Gorące