What do you Look for in a Game Before you Buy It?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

What are you looking for in a game before you buy it? Signs of a quality developer? (Ie, trailers that don't spoil the big moments). A reputable history? What are you scanning review specifically for?

[Deleted]

If it's a genre I like, I usually first see if Totalbiscuit has made a WTF of it. I also check with friends if they have or haven't played it and ask them for their opinion of it, that's usually enough to decide whether or not it's worth a try.

If neither of the above is possible for the given game I usually pirate the game to try it out, if I like it I buy it, if I don't I don't.

I don't trust "game journalists" or their reviews to be any good.

[MetroStratics]

If its a World of Warcraft expansion.
Otherwise, not much of a point.

[Ferocity]

Setting - must be fantasy world (a bit of sci-fi is acceptable).
Size - I am not buying the replayability as choosing different option in dialogue on next playthrough in CRPGs.
If it is CRPG - no tunnel'ish dungeons, no level-scaling and no stupidly low caps on everything.
Diversity of game world.

[May90]

Everything. Before I buy a game, I want to know its gameplay, quality of the plot and characters (avoiding spoilers, of course), ratings out of 5/10 and subratings (music, gameplay, story, etc.), diversity, replayability, etc. The developer doesn't matter to me much, although I always pay much attention to titles from Blizzard, Bioware and Obsidian. And, of course, I always watch some sample videos on Youtube before deciding whether to buy or not to buy.

[cFortyfive]

I just buy shit these days that I am vaguely interested in by the description even if I might end up stopping to play it after 10 minutes. Certainly not reading reviews or some equivalent crap.

[BarelyLegalBear]

Just about everything as well. I like a game with a really good story and graphics are a huge plus for me. If the game has horrid graphics, i just cannot play it unless the gameplay is fluid. Tried playing The Witcher 1 and was hoping to enjoy it but the graphics and the combat ruined it for me. Skipped to The Witcher 2 and enjoyed the hell out of it. Gameplay was smooth and the graphics were amazing. I don't buy games with bad reviews either, i just don't. I will not waste my money on something that i will most likely hate. If it has good reviews, i'll usually give it a try. Company is a huge deal as well. I've played all of Blizzard's games and have enjoyed every single one of them. Even if the game has bad reviews and i really like the company, i will normally play the game.

[Mirishka]

My bullet point list is pretty much:

Good story

Whether or not the game is FUN (most important)

Ability to customize/upgrade my character (e.g. Shepard/Mass Effect) or play as many characters

Interesting gameplay or new gameplay mechanics

Whether or not the experience is self-contained or something that is obvious sequel-bait

If its from a company/developer I enjoy (Blizzard, Bioware, Nintendo, etc)

I don't care about the reviews/metascore of a game. I've enjoyed games with 50-60 metascore and been bored to sleep (literally) by games that rank in the 90s. At the end of the day I prefer to form my own opinion about games.

[Arcanimus]

I look for a cracked version to try, because I'm not spending money on a potentially crap game, since most companies don't offer demos anymore.

Also, it has to not be a Call of Duty/Battlefield/Halo clone (or the real thing for that matter)

[Dezerte]

The ethics of the developer & publisher are very important to me. I'm also concerned with how well-made the game is (e.g. how configurable is the game? how optimized is it?). To top it off, I need to know how it feels to play it which can be difficult as demo's are rarely released nowadays, YouTube clips of people playing the game are probably the next best thing.

[steristumpie]

1. Genre'
2. Production quality
3. Big name company willing to throw lots of money at it to ensure ongoing content patches and balance finetuning.

I may be shallow, but it is what it is.

[Deleted]

Singleplayer Games
1. Genre: RPG > RTS > FPS

2. Story.
*Does it have a good single player experience or is just lazy trash designed for multiplayer where the single player is a tutorial or is just there for the lols?
*Is the story complex and with numerous twists or is it just some predictable, cliche riddened, middle school essay? Sorry for the trash talk, I just bought Wasteland 2 and expected to see a Fallout game. Silly me.
*Are the player's actions affecting the world?

3. Production values. Some developers push out games with below average graphics for the time they are releasing the game at, npcs voiced by the same 3 actors or even by the same 3 unprofessional actors or close to no voiceacting whatsoever, as well as outdated mechanics. (Risen 3).

4. Controls. Is the game meant for the consoles and thus is more or less unplayable on the PC with keyboard and mouse?

MMOs
1. European servers. Some game companies don't think having European servers is mandatory.

2. F2p/b2p/monthly sub. For the record I don't play f2ps nor b2ps, they're always trash.

3. Annoying mechanics. Lots of game developers believe encouraging griefing by allowing player looting in pvp, is a wonderful idea. Also other developers believe their game doesn't require a fun leveling experience, hence why they make it very grindy and boring (Wildstar).

4. End-game. Once leveling is finished, how will the game keep me entertained for more than the 1-2 weeks I needed to hit max level? Some developers think end-game is about having a sandbox where the player is expected to make his/her own fun. I find this idea ludicrous and believe all MMOs should have dungeon and raid tiers being pumped out every so often. Needless to say I don't play sandbox MMOs as there are really only two ways to build a career there: pvp (which I enjoy but not if that's all I do) or crunching numbers (which I don't give a rat's ass about).

[Arcanimus]

I look for a cracked version to try, because I'm not spending money on a potentially crap game, since most companies don't offer demos anymore.

Also, it has to not be a Call of Duty/Battlefield/Halo clone (or the real thing for that matter)

Quoting self to make a point: Anyone who doesn't answer this in the current day and age is only working against themselves, funneling money into games and companies that dont deserve reward or profit.

[Deleted]

Quoting self to make a point: Anyone who doesn't answer this in the current day and age is only working against themselves, funneling money into games and companies that dont deserve reward or profit.

One of the major reasons so many developers turn toward the console market and never release a PC version, is piracy. You may think you've won something by not paying for a bad game (many don't pay even if they liked the game as once they played on their pirate version, why buy the original?!) but you've only won a very small prize, as in the long run other developers will shy away from releasing their games on PC only to lose a lot of profits to piracy.

So don't fucking whine about this and that game never having a PC release or being a crappy port to PC if you ever used a pirated copy of a PC game - YOU contributed to that happening.

[Mirishka]

Quoting self to make a point: Anyone who doesn't answer this in the current day and age is only working against themselves, funneling money into games and companies that dont deserve reward or profit.

I'll answer your post. People like you are the reason many game companies have went out of business. People like you are the reason many games aren't released on PC. People like you deserve jail time for being lazy assholes who think you're entitled to steal what the rest of us pay for.

In short, fuck off.

@moderators - sorry but I have no tolerance for idiots who openly admit to stealing and pirating games.

[BarelyLegalBear]

One of the major reasons so many developers turn toward the console market and never release a PC version, is piracy. You may think you've won something by not paying for a bad game (many don't pay even if they liked the game as once they played on their pirate version, why buy the original?!) but you've only won a very small prize, as in the long run other developers will shy away from releasing their games on PC only to lose a lot of profits to piracy.

So don't fucking whine about this and that game never having a PC release or being a crappy port to PC if you ever used a pirated copy of a PC game - YOU contributed to that happening.

I completely agree with you on this here but what the fuck does this post have to do with this. It is completely irrelevant to the thread.

[Deleted]

I completely agree with you on this here but what the fuck does this post have to do with this. It is completely irrelevant to the thread.

I was answering to Arcanimus, I think his comment deserved a response.

[Doctor Professor]

I'll answer your post. People like you are the reason many game companies have went out of business. People like you are the reason many games aren't released on PC. People like you deserve jail time for being lazy assholes who think you're entitled to steal what the rest of us pay for.

In short, fuck off.

@moderators - sorry but I have no tolerance for idiots who openly admit to stealing and pirating games.

Can you provide links to studies showing that piracy is actually hurting profits? Most people who illegaly download software are people who would not buy the game for retail price anyway. Games like Minecraft would never become so widespread if it weren't for millions of "illegal" downloads boosting it's popularity.

[Ryuji]

I usually check for reviews or opinions of people I trust and then make a judgement call unless it's WoW expansions or Mass Effect related then I insta-buy.

[Deleted]

I usually check for reviews or opinions of people I trust and then make a judgement call unless it's WoW expansions or Mass Effect related then I insta-buy.

Many people, myself included, just lack the patience to wait for reviews to come in, especially if we have nothing else good to play at that moment. We will just hurry into buying something that we think it could be awesome. More often than not, we have to deal with buyer's remorse as consequence. Still, we pay for it and we don't contribute to game developers thinking twice before releasing their game on the PC, and that's an acceptable sacrifice.