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What influencers you in buying any game?

BruceVC

Magister
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
7,698
Location
South Africa, Cape Town
Hi All

I was pondering something, what things influence us to buy a game? We all have our own preferences and when new games come out we either buy them or dont for various reasons but what are your 3-5 factors that are the most important? Mine are in order of significance

  • My own personal experience in playing a game : Any game I have played and enjoyed basically means I will always buy a sequel. So that means I always buy games from Bethesda, Larian, CDPR, Bioware, PB and others
  • My family and friends : I have 2 active gaming brothers and several friends who are gamers so their recommendation often matters
  • Other gamers : The opinion of gamers on websites like Codex also can influence me
  • Gaming websites: Gaming reviews on various gaming sites and then Steam and GOG forum opinions can motivate me
 

Moaning_Clock

SmokeSomeFrogs
Developer
Joined
Feb 7, 2021
Messages
655
Often random browsing or something mentioned on the codex or by some youtuber. Sometimes it's just a hefty sale.

I rarely discover something through reviews, aside from checking out a blog or something.
 

perfectslumbers

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 24, 2021
Messages
1,198
The biggest thing is whether I trust the developer or not, and I'm much more prone to buying indie games because they aren't 90 dollars. Game reviews tend to be pretty useless but in depth analysis of a game that happens long after it comes out can inspire me to buy something.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,182
Location
Bjørgvin
For me: it must be on GOG, it must be on my chronological play list, and it must be at least 75% discount.

Very rarely I'll buy a new (or "new") game at full price to support a small/indie developer like Grimoire and (before Triumph Studioes were bought up) Age of Wonders 3.
 

Denim Destroyer

Learned
Joined
Mar 20, 2021
Messages
425
Location
Moonglow, Britannia
I have a rather specific set of criteria that must be met before buying a game.
  • Is the game expensive? $40 is the max I will pay for a game
  • Does this game have a bunch of DLC/microtransactions? If so odds are I will skip it as that tells me the developer is willing to nickel and dime people for content
  • Is it a game or one of those story focused "games." I have no tolerance for games that remove player agency in name of storytelling.
  • Does the game have a unique premise? I like games that try something new even if it doesn't work out
  • Is it AAA? Gets ignored 99% of the time.
  • Does it have good reviews? I will check GOG and Steam reviews if available otherwise I look for comments elsewhere online.
  • Does it look like the developer cares? If yes then that is a huge bonus
 

BruceVC

Magister
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
7,698
Location
South Africa, Cape Town
For me: it must be on GOG, it must be on my chronological play list, and it must be at least 75% discount.

Very rarely I'll buy a new (or "new") game at full price to support a small/indie developer like Grimoire and (before Triumph Studioes were bought up) Age of Wonders 3.

I always try to support GOG, and Indie developers, as much as possible because I believe in the importance of competition and free market economic principles

I have no issue with buying games directly from the likes of Steam, Ubisoft or Epic Games but the more alternatives the better because its not ideal to have monopolies in the gaming distribution market
 

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
5,861
  • Devs that are decent human beings
  • User reviews (the masses may be dumb, but they're right about some things)
  • Codex... but only for RPGs

What doesn't matter:

  • Journalists
  • Streamers
  • "Professional" reviewers
 

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
5,861
Codex... but only for RPGs
There are other genres?

header.jpg
 

normie

️‍
Patron
Zionist Agent
Joined
Mar 9, 2019
Messages
3,724
Insert Title Here
aesthetics
if indie, japanese or slav - buy
if kwanzian or gaynadian - trash
prevalence of darkazoids in the cast (>1? into the trash it goes)
how it depicts women (not as sex objects, mothers or cute silly creatures to be caren of? TRASH)

no faggot games from faggot devs or publishers
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
Patron
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
27,385
Location
Copenhagen
I will buy a game if I can immediately see it has a combination of high production values and hits my personal beats (party-based, tactical combat being the most important one). Or if it looks interesting and is VERY cheap. I will buy (almost) any traditional, Western-style party-based RPG. If blobbers with decent production values were actually a thing anymore, I'd probably also D1P them, no questions asked, regardless of price.

Lately I've begun keeping a Steam Wishlisht bc of the "interesting and cheap" part. So I'll wishlish interesting games that I don't know much about and are therefore too expensive. My backlog is large enough that I can afford to wait for years until snatching up a game on a ridicoulous sale. That way, I don't care if I like the game. Incidentally kind of the same reason I don't buy huge RPGs like Pathfinder or Cyberpunk until at least a year - often more - has passed since official release. Might as well wait for bugs to be ironed out and DLC to be released.

Very rarely I'll see a video review from a YouTuber I trust (like Super Bunnyhop) and that'll motivate me to try a game. Did that with Metro, which I regret, but also Papers Please, which I loved.

Beyond that, it's either word of mouth from friends or great "post reviews" from Codexers. The latter matters a great deal for which smaller games I end up actually playing. So Codex is probably top 3 reasons I end up buying a certain game. Hell, sometimes Codex is the only reason I know a game exists.
 
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Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
Patron
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
18,647
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I always buy games from Bethesda

:facepalm: How old were you when you found out your parents were siblings?

But to answer the question:

Price, whether it's any good (hard to find out these days with all the paid shill "reviews"), how bored I am and how long my to-play list is. Probably 60% of the games I have on Steam, I spent less than an hour on.

Sometimes, if I like a small indie developer I will pre-order just to encourage them.
 

Drop Duck

Learned
Joined
Dec 22, 2020
Messages
687
I was pondering something, what things influence us to buy a game?
If there are cute animals in the game I buy it. That friendly fella Sukhāvatī recently got me hooked on Super Auto Pets, all it took was one look to sell that game even if it hadn't been free to play. I also buy games instantly if they have physical dice throws. There is something about throwing dice around that is good for your soul.
 

Van-d-all

Erudite
Joined
Jan 18, 2017
Messages
1,557
Location
Standin' pretty. In this dust that was a city.
* Genre - while I play most I genuinely despise some, like sports.
* Impression - at first glance, if the game even looks interesting from screens and gameplay videos.
* Developer history - if the devs released good games before, if they fix bugs, listen to feedback.
* Positive ratings - if the overall rating of the game is actually positive (>5/10) in a meaningful number (100+) of votes.
* Negative ratings - if the negative (<5/10) ratings point out valid issues or are just retards whining.
* Price - if the game's current price (discounts etc.) looks adequate for the type of game (ain't paying $60 for pixel art retro indie).
 

Van-d-all

Erudite
Joined
Jan 18, 2017
Messages
1,557
Location
Standin' pretty. In this dust that was a city.
while I play most I genuinely despise some, like sports.
Even classics like Speedball 2 or turn-based games like Blood Bowl?
Blood Bowl and Carmageddon are ones I actually played a bit, but ultimately I prefer to spend that time on other games. Analogically I liked most Supergiant games (Bastion, Transistor, Hades) but Pyre bored me in few hours. There's something about stiffness of synthetic rules excluding enemy elimination that just feels pointless to me.
 

Reinhardt

Arcane
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
29,232
My own personal experience in playing a game : Any game I have played and enjoyed basically means I will always buy a sequel. So that means I always buy games from Bethesda, Larian, CDPR, Bioware, PB and others

:lol::lol::lol:
Bethesda is the only studio in this list you can actually buy game from (few years after release of course, after mods fixed it) and actually have some fun playing it.
 

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