I used to dive right in. But after a lot of bad experiences doing that (and a few really good ones), now I always learn what I can beforehand. If there is early access or a free trial, so much the better.
While I have come to feel this is prudent, I do miss the surprise of logging in without any idea of what to expect.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
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then i decide if i want to spend the big bucks for it, or just wait for a sale. usually i wait for a sale :P .... the game has to be pretty damn special for me to pay full price.
if it's under 20$ i might just try it.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
As for Early Access and Pre Orders though, just no.
These days i rarely even buy a game during the launch period, but wait a few weeks to see what happens, or a few months if i don't think its worth the initial price and as i am not so much in a rush to jump into new games anyway i can afford to be patient and save money if i don't think the initial price is a valid one, Sea of Thieves springs to mind here as a more recent example of an overpriced game that has 'issues' though honestly i am not sure the game is worth buying once it hits $20, maybe?
I don't buy EA(early access) or beta games. I have so many game options, I can patiently wait till launch.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
Mostly...because i have humble monthly and get lots of games for a steal so some i just load up and try them out and see if i want to invest any time in them. Others are clearly not my thing and will never get installed.
MMOs tend to last me a long time so I want to know if it is worth the bother or not, it have nothing to do with money (but for me to crowdfund something takes a lot of research, I ain't funding something unless it seems to be my kind of game) but time and I hate wasting 2 weeks on a MMO and then notice that only the first 20 levels (out of 80-100) was fun and the rest were pathetic.
Well, it is a little about money because I don't want to give money to crappy game designers. I want to support people that makes good games, not bad. Wasting 60 bucks on something stupid is not an issue but giving money to people that hardly should be encouraged to make games is bad.
Just welcoming you to the Pub forum, we get so few "common" posters here, most seem to start in game specific forums and are green before they come here!
Aloha Mr Hand !
2) look at steam, read reviews, if passes then step 3
3) look at YouTube gameplay and/or twitch, if passes then step 4
4) if it is free or there is a demo then download and try game, if not, wait for a sale, if passes then step 5
5) choose only 1 or 2 titles that have passed step 5 as I only play 1 game at a time.
6) if I don't like then return within timelimit.
Cryomatrix
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
Beta tester maniac
i get my enjoyment from endgame activities, both pvp, raiding and the community / social aspects. These features don't tend to be well reported and the mechanics that make these features interesting are even less well reported. I don't want to spend weeks / months slogging through boring leveling, only to find out the endgame is fundamentally flawed due to shit power gaps, or an engine that can't support large numbers, or a lack of social features, or whatever it may be.
For single player games I'm less fussy. I do tend to research most games at least a little bit but I'm definitely swayed a bit too easily by popular games. For example, I bought rocket league after seeing endless reviews/articles about awesome games, despite the fact that I hate sports games. Played it for a few hours and yep, it sucked, god knows why I bought it. Same thing with Elite: Dangerous. Read all the awesome reviews and stories but didn't actually watch any gameplay, developers seemed solid so I bought it. But, I haven't even installed it, let alone played it.
Just enough to know if it's something I might like. Since what I enjoy might not be the same for others, I don't give review scores much weight. I do give "what" people say more weight.
So if someone says a game is grindy, non-issue. If it's long? Very much a non-issue.
If people complain about subjective things "I didn't like the story/They didn't do the IP justice compared to the last installment" then that's also a non issue.
I don't like having too much spoiled because if I research the heck out of something it will lose a lot of "discovery".
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.