One of the problems with online shopping, especially with games, is overindulging. When you go to a restaurant, you don’t order food when you are full. If you see something on the menu you like, you come back again to the store at a later date. It is too easy for gamers to create huge backlogs. It really takes some self-discipline to make sure you don’t create a giant ‘collection shelf’ in digital space.
At first, I was going to buy all these games at this weekend’s GoG sale. Then, I realized I should get one game. Only Thief and Deus Ex are the ‘classics’ on this weekend’s GoG sale. While everyone says everything there is a ‘classic’, it isn’t. Tomb Raider 1+2+3 probably isn’t worth it because the first game has been remade, the second game is awful, and the third game is OK. However, is it worth paying $3.99 for Tomb Raiders 1-3 as opposed to buying each individually on PSN for more? Absolutely. Anachronox was dated even back when it was released. Unless you love turn based JRPG combat, you likely won’t have a good experience with it.
Every game claims they are ‘unique’ and a classic but only Thief and Deus Ex are. Thief is truly a unique game, and it hasn’t been surpassed yet. You know what a classic is when that type of game hasn’t been surpassed.
Anyway, if GoG is lately doing sales on all games by a company, I’m saving up for Ubisoft (Might and Magic, Heroes games) and Origin sales (which game of Origin would I buy? How about ALL of them!). Anyway, I won’t do any more posts on GoG unless something truly interesting comes out.
GoG has three weaknesses. One, there are very few multiplayer games available and most of the multiplayer games aren’t functioning due to company servers having been taken down long ago. Second, there is too few racing and sports games. There’s like six total in the entire 500 game library on GoG. You’d think they could put up some good golf games or baseball games or something. I suspect the GoG crew are more of the ‘RPG/Adventure’ game fans and those game fans don’t intersect well with the racing/sports game types. Third, there isn’t enough social activity. Games are primarily social. I’m not sure what GoG could do to improve that, but we all remember the moment when X console came out with Y game. We remember when Z PC game came out and how people we knew played it.
Believe it or not, I’ve only purchased six games from GoG so far. Master of Magic (tired of screwing with DOS BOX), Master of Orion (tired of screwing with DOS BOX), Star Control (could never get 1 to work right), Rollercoaster Tycoon (remember loving what little I had played), Outcast (played some of it, know its good. Want to play it all), and Silver (went in blind just to try something completely new to me). I’ve already played several complete games of MoM, MOO, Star Control 1, and making my way through the first vanilla list of campaigns of Rollercoaster Tycoon. I haven’t yet installed Outcast. I’m currently in the middle of Silver (interesting game, but I don’t recommend a buy).
Only game I’ll be getting is Thief. I played it some long ago, loved it, but now I can play it full. No point in buying the Thief sequels when I haven’t consumed the first game yet. (Deus Ex and other games I have in other incarnations like on CD).
Reader, let us make it a goal to not buy games when we have a backlog. We’re not like those filthy Steam users who have hundreds of games they’ve never played and keep buying more. I only have one game in my backlog: Outcast (it’ll be two once I buy Thief).
The biggest value I find with GoG is with the strategy games since I don’t have to mess with the CD or DOSBOX or copy protection. For the first time ever, it is nice to click an icon and immediately go into Master of Magic. I’ll probably buy Alpha Centauri since I won’t have to mess with the disc and all that. If only the Alien Crossfire expansion was available!
People say there are no good games to play. They sit at the restaurant of the Game Industry and wonder why the food gets more bloated but less filling… and why it becomes harder and harder to eat. The solution is to become an Old School Gamer and feast on yummy classics while the gaming market burns.
