I was responding to posts like this:
I’m asking them if they’re hesitating about the cost, why bother to force it now? It’ll be cheaper and better later. If no one had expressed dismay at forcing themselves to buy it early, I wouldn’t have said anything.
Sure, I have a backlog of bunches of $5 games. On the other hand, I buy enough games at five bucks to not feel bad for an instant when I decide to treat myself to something I want “new”.
I won’t pay $60 for evolve, since it’s 5-player co-op, it doesn’t depend on having a thriving community - I will easily find 4 friends to play with when we all get it because the game is $10 or less. But I see your point in general.
But even using that example, if I pay $60+5, I will eventually experience everything you experienced in your RPG, except it’ll be better because it’ll have gone through a round of patches, got bundled into an ultimate edition with all the DLCs, and probably received a bunch of gameplay-improving mods.
Imagine if someone aged whiskey and made it better, but then sold it for you for cheaper than it would be if it were new. That’d be clearly better, right? Except you’d say “well, I don’t want to wait 18 years for this whiskey to age” - but you could buy the whiskey that’s 18 years old right now, has already been aged, and is on the market for cheap, while you wait for the current whiskey to age. Better all around.
And to be clear, I don’t come into every thread for a new game and say “ugh, why are you guys paying full price for a new game” - the thing that made me post about it was that there were some posters that seemed to have this “ugh, I guess I’m gonna have to pay full price for this” attitude. That’s why I asked myself why the hell you’d force yourself to do that.
And the Inquisition has …
been Delayed, while I install new drivers.
I could buy KOTOR now for $12.50 (actually surprised it is still that expensive although to be fair I think it was a couple years before Skyrim ever went on sale).
Will I have as much fun as they time I actually bought it 11 years ago at full price?
Hell no.
Eleven years ago it was bleeding edge graphics and I was part of the community excitedly exploring that world and it was a fucking blast!
Now I can get it for a fraction of the price, all patched up, endless guides written and every secret discovered.
For my money I am MORE than happy I played it 11 years ago instead of today (and before you say 11 years is too long and that 2 years is fine I’ll submit there is little practical difference beyond graphics).
In the end pretty much everything is cheaper somewhere down the road. I don’t know how to tell you that occasionally enjoying something new and fresh with an excited community is worthwhile.
You know how fast prices go in PC gaming, so you know an 11 year old example is silly. The time frame is months, not years or decades. “Bleeding edge graphics” is not a very relevant factor for console multiplat games. Especially not on the timetable of months.
I just got the far cry franchise pack for $10. Far Cry 3 was $60 a year ago. Far Cry: Blood Dragon is only 6 months old. On top of that, I got all the DLC for the games. And as a throw in, they gave me Far Cry 1 and 2, because what the hell. Am I really missing out much by playing Far Cry 3 a year late, or Blood Dragon 6 months late? They’re patched/improved, I got the DLC which means I got them in their most complete form… Or for a mere 600% of the cost, I could’ve got a likely broken buggy Far Cry 4 instead.
Anyway, I don’t want to hijack this thread any further. If you want to make a thread about the merits of buying games new, I’ll participate.
You’re a year off on Far Cry. FC3 was released in Nov 2012. Blood Dragon in April 2013 (though BD was only $15 at release anyway). Last year, both were bundled for $15 at this time.
I bought Skyrim at full price and all DLC.
IIRC it never went on sale for over two years (maybe longer). If it did I missed it but mostly it remained a full priced game the whole time.
My suspicion is the shittier the game the faster it shows up on sale.
I still intend to get the game, but I can wait. I don’t expect to wait long enough that all the DLC is out, much less all available in a cheap package deal. I do like to be in on the conversation that we have on Le Dope after big games are released, but hell I haven’t even played through Awakening. The all-DLC package was available at a bargain well after I had exhausted the original, and it was a massive enough game that it’s hard to even contemplate getting into it again.
It used to be that with pre-orders, you could actually get some bit of kitch, like the frost giant miniature from Icewind Dale II. Now, it’s virtual goodies that I find for the most part I don’t use in-game. All that crap from Mass Effect that wasn’t that great and was not helmet-optional, for example. Doesn’t even compare to what will be available from the mod community. My completionist imp has gotten old and just can’t obsess like she used to.
Nah, I bought it for 50% off the late winter (February?) after its November release. Sales were rare though and, as I recall, GMG quickly ran out of stock on the keys they had for the 50% off price.
That’s a big part of it. Also, some publishers discount quicker than others. Probably the best comparison for DA:I would be Mass Effect 3 since both are EA/Bioware titles. It launched in March 2013, was 50% off during the summer, $10 by winter and $5 by the following spring. By that point, it was mainly a platform for selling its DLC. That also assumes sales; right now the base price for ME3 is still $20.
I have a suspicion that DA:I’s pricing will be a little more sticky – in part due to the excitement around it and its very favorable reviews and in part because publishers are discounting less/slower these days. More discounts capping at 66% instead of 75% and base prices taking longer to go down. There was a mad rush to the bottom in sale pricing between 2010-2012 and it feels like more of a correction period now.
I often wait for games but I preordered this even though I probably wont have time to play it until next week. Call it a premium on playing it now.
I think it’s more like being given the choice to pay to see the movie now with all your friends, or being told that in a year you’ll be given the opportunity to see a special extended edition in IMAX, for free, but by yourself. The quality and the price may in fact be better, but sometimes I want to see the movie now, when it’s hyped and when all my friends are also seeing that movie. Sometimes I’m totally cool with waiting for it to pop up on Redbox.
But I’m not making poor choices by deciding to pay now. That’s what opportunity cost is all about. Enjoyment of a game is completely subjective, so if I decide that my enjoyment will be greater by having gratification now instead of later, then buying the game now is the correct decision for me. One and done.
For me, the cost of something always matters. I’m not poor now, but I haven’t forgotten what it was like. Every purchase gets a need vs want analysis. If I couldn’t afford it I wouldn’t buy it. Period. But I still think about it.
The movie analogy does work, because as you said, it’s the community in the moment. Games are the same. Sure I could wait but part of the entertain comes from discussing things with others. Six or nine months from now, if you wait, the community has already discovered what you’re seeing and won’t be as interested as you are. To be sure, there are many advantages to waiting, it’s just up to the individual to decide what’s best for their situation.
I can wait for movies, they don’t interest me as much. Different strokes and all that.
I’m excited to play this because the series has proven, to me, that it’s entertaining, to me.
Got it installed, took a quick look this morning, looks real good. After work the saga begins.
I am enjoying the game so far. A few nitpicks…
I wish the game was better at letting you pick something up by clicking on it without being within a very short distance of it. I constantly find myself trying to pick something up only to find I am a few lines of resolution too far from it. Kind of annoying.
Along with #1 I find it difficult to discern if I am close enough to a monster to actually hit it. More than once I find myself windmilling at nothing but air.
I am only a couple hours in and have been taking my time but so far I am very pleased with it. One reviewer noted that things really pick up about 15 hours in so looking forward to that.
Or at least autostepping you toward it it if you are only 10 feet or so away.
I also may need to remap. I always prefer left click to interact, right click to fight. I keep walking up nose to nose with merchants and quest-givers and blasting them with my bow.
Both of these keep on being incredibly annoying - I’ve played 11 hours and I’m still not used to either. Combat is getting a bit better by now, but being a half-step beyond looting range, then running at the chest, stopping and turning around just looks stupid and feels awkward … and there’s so much looting to do so you see it constantly.
I only had time to play a little today, the intro seems a bit rushed and I’m not loving the PC controls, but I’m hoping I get used to them.
Have it in my hot little hands but won’t be installing until Thursday at best 
