The game-buying commitment thread

Doing OK so far - I got the platinum for The Last Of Us II this afternoon, a game which has defined my backlog for a couple of years! Bought it on launch, played it for a few hours (reaching Seattle) then got caught up in the PS5 hype, and the rumours that TLOSII might get some kind of PS5 upgrade (yeah, right), and so I parked it. Decided to start again in the run up to Xmas and it's fantastic, easily one of the best games I've played - so much so that I went straight into NG+ to mop up the remaining trophies.

Although I haven't bought any games in 2022 yet, I did take advantage of an offer on Shop To to top up my credit - a £50 card came in at 18% and I haven't seen those kind of discounts on PSN credit for over a year (I may have missed offers, I know!). I will probably pay the £10 upgrade fee to get the PS5 versions of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted Lost Legacy (classing that as one game...

) but deliberately kept my PSN funds low enough that I don't have enough to be tempted into getting Horizon Forbidden West in February - that's kind of a win, right?

TonyDA wrote:Doing OK so far... Although I haven't bought any games in 2022 yet, I did take advantage of an offer on Shop To to top up my credit - a £50 card... deliberately kept my PSN funds low enough that I don't have enough to be tempted into getting Horizon Forbidden West in February - that's kind of a win, right?

Hey, Tony, you've made a strong start to the project! Maybe you'll be tempted with that credit but, yeah, the Uncharted upgrade will bring that balance down.

jawa_ wrote:How's everyone getting on these past couple of weeks? I've avoided game purchases although there have been two close calls!

The first one was Red Faction Guerrilla Re-mars-tered which was only £1.59 or something on the Switch eShop...

I was quite tempted by the exact same thing. I was almost not going to count it as well, as it was less than £2. I was just thinking that it would be hours of fun destructive blasting for the kind of loose change you'd find down the back of the sofa.

I mean, before we all went contactless.

But then I remembered this thread, and didn't buy it. But I also thought - I've got loads of games I buy like this and never get round to them. So, it's a waste. Instead, I spent that £1.59 on frozen raspberries (top tip, breakfast porridge fans).

Anyhoo. It did make me crack on with a game I'd bought months ago and only played for about 10 minutes of instead - Tomb Raider definitive edition, on Stadia. I really enjoyed it, and plan to actually play this game a bit more instead of being distracted by new shiny baubles.

Although, I'm nearly in the bought / played / completed thread territory there, so I'd best leave it at that.

So, still zero.

Abacus wrote:...But then I remembered this thread, and didn't buy it... I spent that £1.59 on frozen raspberries...

Amazing, Abacus! :lol:

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Abacus wrote:...It did make me crack on with a game I'd bought months ago and only played for about 10 minutes of... So, still zero.

Good for you, man. I suspect that many of us have got a couple of games (maybe more :shifty:

) that we haven't played and it's a great idea to dive into one of them when we're being tempted to purchase a shiny new one.

What always trips me up is when there are big eshop sales on Switch and I see a load of indies on my wishlist are discounted :lol:

will stay away from those this year unless there are some real deep discounts

ITSMILNER wrote:What always trips me up is when there are big eshop sales on Switch and I see a load of indies on my wishlist are discounted will stay away from those this year unless there are some real deep discounts

Definitely, Milner! I'm someone who is quite often* running refreshes on DekuDeals and PSPrices and I'm trying to cut that out. I've found that if I can make myself step back for a few hours after seeing a deal, I can often then resist making the purchase. The danger - for me - are those sudden impulse purchases.

*All the dang time.

I'm doing good so far. Been content with my backlog and finished five games in 2022: Skyward Sword HD, Inside, Guacamelee 2, Pokémon BDSP and Katamari Damacy Reroll. Admittedly, some of those were quite short and the others I stuck the groundwork in during the last week or so of 2021 when I had Covid and had to stay inside.

Still, a little victory to stay off the eshops, Hot UK Deals and Deku Deals.

My resolve may be tested in a week or so by Pokémon Legends Arceus, though I am still allowed to get a game in January. I'm tempted as it's Pokémon and I usually do get them at launch )they never go down in price) but having just played BDSP I am not sure how much drive I have for a new one so soon. Also worried it may be a bit iffy. We shall see...

Abacus wrote:
jawa_ wrote:How's everyone getting on these past couple of weeks? I've avoided game purchases although there have been two close calls!

The first one was Red Faction Guerrilla Re-mars-tered which was only £1.59 or something on the Switch eShop...

I was quite tempted by the exact same thing. I was almost not going to count it as well, as it was less than £2. I was just thinking that it would be hours of fun destructive blasting for the kind of loose change you'd find down the back of the sofa.

I mean, before we all went contactless.

But then I remembered this thread, and didn't buy it. But I also thought - I've got loads of games I buy like this and never get round to them. So, it's a waste. Instead, I spent that £1.59 on frozen raspberries (top tip, breakfast porridge fans).

Anyhoo. It did make me crack on with a game I'd bought months ago and only played for about 10 minutes of instead - Tomb Raider definitive edition, on Stadia. I really enjoyed it, and plan to actually play this game a bit more instead of being distracted by new shiny baubles.

Although, I'm nearly in the bought / played / completed thread territory there, so I'd best leave it at that.

So, still zero.

How odd, I went through the same process with red faction for 1.59.

I have a bit of a dilemma, before this thread started I had a plan to upgrade to the Nintendo switch online expansion pack, so that I could include the animal crossing dlc for my partner's Christmas present (which is a hit as she's been playing it every day). Naturally this meant I had access to a couple of N64 and Megadrive games, but I didn't actually buy them, I just unlocked them.

So do I get to keep my zero games purchased for myself benchmark or not? I'll let you guys decide :slol:

As for accessing my backlogue, I have been playing Daemon X Machina I got on cart reduced at Argos ages ago as well as installing Borderlands the pre sequel which I've played online for around 3 hours. I could have easily instead played new games I bought in a sale.

Parksey wrote:I'm doing good so far. Been content with my backlog and finished five games in 2022...

"Nice moves", Parksey! Visiting older games and finally giving 'em a go can seem like fresh games :-)

.

Parksey wrote:...My resolve may be tested in a week or so by Pokémon Legends Arceus... We shall see...

There's certainly no shame in buying games, man - it's just a fun challenge to see if we can stick to our personal goals. If you feel that Arceus is a part of your plan, go for it!

Green Gecko wrote:...I have a bit of a dilemma, before this thread started I had a plan to upgrade to the Nintendo switch online expansion pack, so that I could include the animal crossing dlc for my partner's Christmas present (which is a hit as she's been playing it every day). Naturally this meant I had access to a couple of N64 and Megadrive games, but I didn't actually buy them, I just unlocked them.

So do I get to keep my zero games purchased for myself benchmark or not? I'll let you guys decide ...

Ah! I see a puzzle here, Gecko! Well, I guess you need Online in order to use Animal Crossing's online aspects... and the N64 and MD games could keep you from splashing out on more expensive games... so there could be value in getting the Expansion Pack.

Well it's less about the guilty of buying Arceus because of the plan/commitment to clearing the backlog and buying fewer stuff when I have titles to play, more the general malaise after finhsijg BDSP, and am I buying it just because it's a new Pokémon game that's out, or am I buying it because I'm excited to play it.

It's an unknown entity too, with the new approach, but that does sort of intrigue me regarding a Day One purchase. It's not something I'll feel massively guilty about getting if I do buy it, because it's probably going to be a purchase somewhere down the line (unless it is universally decried as abjectly awful).

I really can't emphasise enough that there definitely shouldn't be "shame" or "guilt" for anyone who signed up here in buying games. Games are fun and buying them can be exciting, too; we're just trying to cut back a wee bit as, in some cases, we either have other games that we haven't played yet, and/or we want to tighten our belts a little.

Please don't feel pressured, game-buying commitment folk! This exercise is just a way of helping us to have a think before we dive in to gaming purchases. And everyone seems to be happy with how their plan is progressing so far :-).

I'm willing to accept that my buying of NSO expansion pack is 0.5 games as I had residual benefits from buying another game (albeit for 1 year) for somebody else.

Well, it certainly seems as if you've stumbled across a bit of a loophole.

But I'd say it doesn't count towards your total. In a lot of ways it's similar to people with e.g. Gamepass subscriptions that are already paid for in advance. More; in this case they're an incidental benefit of a gift.

I guess instead I'm more looking at this as being us trying to not waste money on stuff and being more mindful of the things you do buy.

So, I'd say you should rinse those games for all they're worth whilst laughing maniacally.

I may well do that. :lol:

It is kind if gamepass but with no way near the value unless you really like n64 games and subpar emulation.

Tbh, it's pretty good. Emulation on the switch is something I can't be strawberry floated with.

Measured by how much enjoyment she is getting out of it, and how zero strawberry floats she gives how I purchased it, it's worth it.

It's 100% something I was going to buy anyway, but £20 seemed pretty expensive when happy home designer for 3ds is still like £4.

It's very good content though, I've enjoyed the daily tours of cafes and restaurants. And for some reason a lion who wanted their holiday home full of toilets for their guests :lol:

My Nintendo Online annual sub ran out just over a week ago and I haven't renewed it. I'm now paying for just one console online fee - for PlayStation - and it feels good :-).

Apparently there is a new sale today on the PS store. Haven’t even looked at what’s included!

TonyDA wrote:Apparently there is a new sale today on the PS store. Haven’t even looked at what’s included!

Excellent determination, Tony! I did look... and, thankfully, there wasn't anything too tempting!

Just remember, if you ever do look at a sale, check the sites like PS Prices, Deku Deals etc. to check how often it goes on sale and whether this is the lowest price ever.

A lot of the sales work on FOMO and to push you into thinking you're getting a time-limited special deal. A lot of the times, these games are dropping down to those prices 4-5 times a year.

I'm trying to pick up stuff that rarely goes on sale - I got Into the Breach on Switch last year, as it hadn't been on sale since about October 2020, which is quite unusual for an eshop title.

Parksey wrote:Just remember, if you ever do look at a sale, check the sites like PS Prices, Deku Deals etc. to check how often it goes on sale and whether this is the lowest price ever...

Oh, definitely, Parksey; I always keep an eye on those discount tracking sites.

I feel that I'm getting into this now. I *almost* bought the add-on packs for Dead Cells last night as they were on sale in the eShop... but I held off as I know that I won't actually play them for ages anyway. It felt good resisting the sale!

Now watch as tomorrow I buy three copies of Gas Guzzlers Extreme or something :slol:

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The mother-in-law bought me £50 PSN credit for my xmas from which I bought Disco Elysium. Not sure if this counts :shifty:

The game-buying commitment thread

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