Whatcha Been Playing?

[Magical_Isopod]

I really want to pick up Astral Chain, but I'm really quite frustrated with how belligerent Nintendo is with their price drops. I honestly don't want to pay full price for any of their games on principle alone. I rented it and played about 4 hours, really enjoyed my time with it. But no way in hell am I paying $80 for a Switch game.

[Magical_Isopod]

So I got tired of FF7R, but I read up on how it ends and uh... No spoilers, but not what I was expecting. Totally killed my interest in this Remake project. Y'all in for a surprise, play it til the end.

[Suits]

I honestly don't want to pay full price for any of their games on principle alone.

Demand the quality, refuse to pay for it.

You keep swinging Champ .

[KSubzero1000]

I get that the discrepancy between Nintendo's price policy and the rest of the industry's can be frustrating at times if you're after that one Nintendo game that never seems to get any cheaper (trust me, I've been there), but I think it's important to keep in mind that it's the Xbox / PlayStation / PC games that often end up being devalued over time due to a lack of demand, and not Nintendo who are artificially inflating their prices.

Games cost a lot to develop, and paying 15€ for the latest AAA game in a sale should not really be the default.

[Suits]

So years ago, I picked up a very lovely (brand new) version of 007 Goldeneye on the Wii.

Done it, very enjoyable with the motion controls enabled with the custom settings.

[dezm0nd]

So... someone really likes a game but doesnt want to pay for it.

... okaaaay

I usually pay for Nintendo stuff outright as I know, for the majority, that its gonna be high quality and if I don't like it, I can move it on at a decent price.

If you like Astral Chain, buy it, play it and sell it on to recoup costs.

Easy.

[ratsoalbion]

Also Astral Chain is currently the equivalent of $58 Canadian (£33 digital) or around $60 (£35 physical) here. which seems like a reasonable proposition for a highly rated (87% average/97% recommendation) game with a decent completion time (20 hours for the main story/79 hours for the completionist) to me.

[Simonsloth]

I dug out the PSVR last night in an effort to entice my wife into playing something with me. I don’t think I’ve played it since resident evil 7 despite gradually buying more and more VR games as they came out.

After a brief go at the doctor who Game which my son wanted to watch (it’s terrible) and the strangers things experience which is free and equally terrible we put on beat saber.

She won’t let me have a go! After about 2 hours she asked why I’ve hidden this from her and it’s the best thing she’s ever played. Today she feels sick and hungover despite no alcohol so likely hasn’t got her VR legs yet. After she went to bed I played Tetris effect and didn’t stop for 4 hours!!!! Quite often when I turn on the games console I look at the clock and choose a time to stop. With VR you sort of lose track of time. It’s so bizarre.

Also worth noting there is a distinct improvement in visual quality on the PS4 pro.

[Suits]

See, I do miss my PSVR for those moments.

It never fails to deliver when you have a proper session on PSVR.

[KSubzero1000]

See, I do miss my PSVR for those moments.

Hey, what happened to it? I thought it was a total hit with your family members. Did you sell it after all?

[DomsBeard]

Resident Evil 3

Continues to amaze and infuriate in equal measures, so much so I'm going to have to restart the game.

Had probably one of my favourite sections in Resident Evil ever with Carlos however the end again is a test of patience where you're placed in a horde situation where it's pure luck to get through, they've even introduced these little battery points to help you cheese it through. Playing it on hardcore and cannot dial it down. It's probably 50% git gud but all the playthroughs I've found have all been mouse and keyboard so it's probably my aiming.

After having two days off it the most videogames thing of all time happened and I did it first time

[Suits]

See, I do miss my PSVR for those moments.

Hey, what happened to it? I thought it was a total hit with your family members. Did you sell it after all?

Yeah, lol, so I’d reorganised my TV, AMP, CRT, consoles, etc.... thing and forgot to make room for it !!

So I boxed it up and put it in the loft.

I then tried to palm it off on Dez, who had solid his PS4 and thought I’d just chuck it up on FB marketplace for £200.

It went within the hour.

I’ll get the new version on PS5 though, when it eventually arrives.

[duskvstweak]

I can't seem to focus on a game these days so I'm bouncing back and forth between Super Meat Boy, Dynasty Warriors 8 and Rocket League. I don't know what's going on with me, outside of being in the same apartment everyday all day.

[Magical_Isopod]

I honestly don't want to pay full price for any of their games on principle alone.

Demand the quality, refuse to pay for it.

You keep swinging Champ .

Well when I exist in an economy where calling work "precarious" would be a generous compliment, dropping $80 a pop for every single infinitely-reproduceable video game seems absurd to me. Especially when dozens upon dozens of high-quality games are being released for lower prices. Then you have most western publishers discounting their games to 25% of their original value within a year or two of release... For instance, I'd have normally never played the Dead Space games, but the $15 used and $20 new, respectively, were what I felt to be great pricepoints for me to take a gamble on them. And I wound up loving them!

So to have Nintendo arrogantly asserting that their games are of such a higher stock that they ought to be less accessible to the working class... Yeah, I take a lot of issue with that. It's attitudes like that that make it hard to do anything but cheer for pirates.

But to be fair, if Astral Chain were available for $58 here in Canada, I'd probably have a go at it once some of my eBay listings move. But it's only dropped below $80 once, and only at one retailer, and only for a week.

[Magical_Isopod]

I can't seem to focus on a game these days so I'm bouncing back and forth between Super Meat Boy, Dynasty Warriors 8 and Rocket League. I don't know what's going on with me, outside of being in the same apartment everyday all day.

I wouldn't necessarily blame yourself, I think sometimes we just need certain games at certain times. For instance, I'm really craving a turn-based JRPG right now. It's entirely possible, too, that you're just not too fond of any of these games. I have that happen, where I try to cut into the backlog and I just bounce on my first 2 or 3 attempts.

But yeah, times are weird. Sometimes all we really need is a good lay-down, or something productive around the house.

[Flabyo]

We’re not going to do the ‘because it’s digital and can be copied infinitely it has no value’ thing are we?

Those of us that make the things have to eat too you know.

[Magical_Isopod]

We’re not going to do the ‘because it’s digital and can be copied infinitely it has no value’ thing are we?

Those of us that make the things have to eat too you know.

That wasn't where I was going with that, but I will say, I'm far, far more likely to spend $80 on a physical thing I can resell than $40 on a digital license that has no value. If I wanted to make expensive gambles, I'd just go to a casino. I've been burned too many times on bad games with good reviews.

[duskvstweak]

I mean, Resident Evil 3 Remake sold 2 million copies in five days as a full price game during "precarious times". I'm sure Half-Life Alyx and Final Fantasy VII Remake and Animal Crossing and Doom Eternal are all doing fine sales-wise. It's not Nintendo's responsibility to make sure consumers are budgeting well.

Plus, that's the benefit of niche title that's a console exclusives on a best selling console. They can charge full price or with very low discounts because you're not getting that or Mario or Zelda anywhere else.

And, any "deals" "freebies" "let's help you out" marketing with games going on now is still just marketing for the companies and franchises involved. I'm sure there's plenty of altruistic giveaways right now, but a "Stay Home, Stay Safe, Play Games" sale with 30-50% discounts is no less cynical than normal holiday sales.

[Cass]

My husband and I live in an economy where all our electronics are imported and our exchange rate is pretty terrible, which puts all Nintendo hardware and games squarely out of our price range. We did consider getting a Switch at one point (for the exclusive Nintendo games), but since hardware is roughly twice as expensive here the value proposition becomes a lot harder to justify. Our ability to game is predicated almost entirely on:

1. Games being available on PC
2. Games eventually receiving moderate-to-heavy discounts.

All of which is fine, world's not going to stop turning because I can't play Breath of the Wild, but it's not just those of us who are unable to budget who get priced out of Nintendo games.

[KSubzero1000]

I'm far, far more likely to spend $80 on a physical thing I can resell than $40 on a digital license that has no value.

Honestly, I feel the same.

The tangibility of physical games is of massive value in my eyes. It's not even about the potential of re-selling them, since I don't think I've sold any game in over a decade by now. Maybe if we ever got to the point where digital games qualified as the actual property of the buyer as opposed to glorified licenses tied to publisher's empty promises, I might change my mind on that. For now, I have no issue paying MSRP for a physical game that I'm looking forward to at launch. Whereas I don't really feel comfortable paying more than €20 for any digital game.


PS: And yeah, Cass brings up a good point. Not everybody is going to have the same options to pick from.