When it's the only way, go digital?

[mailman187666]

I'm starting to not like the pricing on digital games. I downloaded "The Witness" when it was new. I played and enjoyed it but I wish I could pass it along to someone else or even sell it online for an extra $10 for gas money. I'll probably not play it again unless I show it to someone who is curious about the game.

I really want to play I Am Setsua, but $40 for something that's only digital sucks. If I don't like it after a couple days, I can't loan/give/sell to anyone else. Then they will come out with a physical retail version or a heavy discount the game.

I got "Inside" for Xbox One. I am not a big fan and I spent $20 to download it, and I just went back to older games I bought. I guess vids ain't what they used to be.

[kupomogli]

Digital sucks imo. Despite Yakuza being one of my favorite on the PS2 and PS3, platted both Yakuza 3 and 4, I refuse to purchase Yakuza 5 on the PS3 until it's $10 or less because it's digital only. If the game came out at retail, just like Yakuza 3 and 4, I'd have purchased it day one at $60.

I'lll rarely buy digital, but when I do, it's very cheap. I'm patient enough to wait for the flash sales for however long it takes. Even though I don't like digital, there's also convenience, and any time a favorite PS1 game hits $3 or less, I'll pick it up. PS2 games go on sale but I don't bother, they can only be played on the PS3, and in that case I can juse use my disc. Can't use the disc for the Vita and don't have to go through the hassle of creating an eboot file on the PSP. Anything before the PS1 though, I'll emulate on my PSP if I want to play it portable.

[celerystalker]

I just won't pay for digital. I'm sure I miss out on a good or great game here and there, but there are more than enough video games out there to take up my time. I do like to keep an eye out and snag it if one gets a physical release now and then, but I'm content if I don't get to play a game in digital-only format.

[PreZZ]

I always bought physical in the past, but now that xbox one and ps4 games need mandatory hdd install and huge patch updates, I dont mind buying digital. If you have someone you really trust, you can share your account and all your digital games can be shared and even played online at the same time, it makes a lot more sense and on psn you dont pay taxes (16% sales tax here! thats 93$ for a new retail game!) I still buy a lot of physical games on my vita and 3ds, wii u and all retro consoles. But games not running from physical media like before sucks and uses precious hdd space, 500 gig gets filled really quick.

[Tanooki]

Your beef is why I primarily won't buy digital games unless they're of the free to $10 range and $10 tends to push it unless you have some screwball bundle like those entire seasons of pinball arcade for 1/2 off 1-2 times a year (so they're $15) as you get 10-20 tables. I will also rack up google survey pocket change to buy stuff too on android. I don't think it is fair if the game is shit or you're fed up with it, you're stuck. Game reviewers mostly these days are a mix of fanboy and paid liars, it doesn't help get a solid feel on a game you can't return or resell if it blows. Once things go entirely digital I'm out unless you have a GoG like solution that spreads like fire (or I'll just buy from them.) Sure you're still stuck, but at least you own it, and they do those insane 50-90% off sales so it stings far less.

[mailman187666]

I am a PS + member, so I would think that within a certain amount of time I Am Setsuna should get some form of discount eventually. I am almost finished with the Odin Sphere remake on PS4 and have been eyeing Setsuna as my next game, since I saw it was similar to Chrono Trigger. By the time I'm done with Odin Sphere, No Man's Sky will be close to release.

Seems like it only makes sense to buy expensive digital games if:

1. You don't have any physical releases on the horizon you are looking forward to.

2. It is discounted or becomes free to subscribers.

3. You have the disposable income at the time of release.

If it were a $20 or even a $25 download, I'd probably be playing it and not posting about it.

[Tanooki]

I recently let go of PSN. I got bored again of Destiny with my nephews more busy with more important stuff so I let PS+ die when I had to change up my card.

I'm in this weird spot with it all, not sure what I'm going to do anymore with this stuff. I Am Setsuna looks nice but it's also on PC, surely never to hit gog just Steam because Square sucks, so I can always watch for some 50+% off sale that way which I doubt PSN would ever match.

[BlastProcessing402]

I had to resort to digital for The Old Hunters, since they didn't release the complete Bloodborne version physically in America. I still feel dirty, but I bought it using credit I already had on Amazon, so I could sort of justify it that way. If I'd had to buy it direct from Sony, I don't know if I could have brought myself to do it.

[Zthun]

I'm starting to not like the pricing on digital games. I downloaded "The Witness" when it was new. I played and enjoyed it but I wish I could pass it along to someone else or even sell it online for an extra $10 for gas money. I'll probably not play it again unless I show it to someone who is curious about the game.

I really want to play I Am Setsua, but $40 for something that's only digital sucks. If I don't like it after a couple days, I can't loan/give/sell to anyone else. Then they will come out with a physical retail version or a heavy discount the game.

I got "Inside" for Xbox One. I am not a big fan and I spent $20 to download it, and I just went back to older games I bought. I guess vids ain't what they used to be.

If it makes you feel better, I Am Setsuna is just OK. It's not anything near the quality of Chrono Trigger; it's basically the equivalent of what Mighty Number 9 is to Rock Man. It's not a bad game, but it falls flat in comparison. Chrono Trigger is too high of a bar to live up to, and it will probably go down in history as one of the, if not the, best RPG ever made.

I've always said, Chrono Cross' only downfall was that it wasn't Chrono Trigger...

[WCP]

I really want to play I Am Setsua, but $40 for something that's only digital sucks. If I don't like it after a couple days, I can't loan/give/sell to anyone else.

You mean you want to actually "OWN" your games instead of a long-term rental or long-term lease ? Are you crazy ? I thought the whole idea of ownership died years ago...

/Sarcasm

Yeah, I totally agree. I have this old-fashioned quality where I actually like to own shit. I know it's a quaint belief in these modern times where everybody wants to rent and lease things in digital walled gardens where they have almost zero ownership rights. Personally my take is this... if i can't sell it to somebody else, do I really own it ?

[Gameguy]

If it's only available as a download there's no reason to buy it, just download it for free. Either way you can still play it just the same.

[eskobar]

I have purchased a few digital games and it was ok at the moment because I played them. But after I changed my PS3 I finally understood what were the disadvantages of digital games ...

I partially regret the purchase of those games and dlc but mostly for preservation issues, because a few of them are not physically available and there is no hint of that happening in the near future, so when the PSN is not available that game would simply disappear ...

The digital experience is different also, when you have an history of updates, if you try to recreate what happened when the game was released, the experience wouldn't be the same for a great deal of games ...


Hopefully one day there would be a Mass Effect with ALL the dlc included in physical format.

[mailman187666]

I don't mind getting digital games. If it's something I know I want and it isn't available on disc, fine. I know what I'm getting and I'm choosing to spend my money on it. It's when a game cost $40 and is digital only is when it becomes a difficult decision. If I end up not liking the game, it seems a big waste that I'm stuck with.

[Tanooki]

That's my biggest beef, being scammed on paid for reviews and planted 'customer' reviews on various sites for a $20 or a $40 game, then it blows and you can't return it. In recent years I've noticed a 24 hours trend on google play where if it sucks, you can request a refund and they disable the game for you to delete. I think if the console kids would do this, more would be accepting. As it stands though I tend to cap out in the $5-10 range on a game unless i'm already well familiar with it, may inch up to $15 but that's obscenely rare (so far been just Soul Caliber and a discounted Final Fantasy game or two.)

[kupomogli]

Digital sucks imo. Despite Yakuza being one of my favorite on the PS2 and PS3, platted both Yakuza 3 and 4, I refuse to purchase Yakuza 5 on the PS3 until it's $10 or less because it's digital only. If the game came out at retail, just like Yakuza 3 and 4, I'd have purchased it day one at $60.

Hey kupomogli. I'm you from the future. Yakuza 5 still doesn't get a physical release, but it's free on PS+ next month.

[Gamevet]

The only digital game that I've paid more than $10 for on consoles were After Burner Climax and Radiant Silvergun. Getting a physical copy of Radiant Silvergun isn't going to happen, so I gladly accepted a digital enhanced copy.

The PC front (pun intended) is a lot worse. I paid $60 for Star Wars Battlefront and I can honestly say that it was the biggest waste of cash I've ever spent on a digital copy of a game. It sucks that there are very few titles on the PC, where you can actually get a physical copy of a current game.

[bb_hood]

When Rocksmith 2014 was released I spent 60$ for the digital download. Since then Ive spent well over 500$ on additional content. No regrets whatsoever. They are constantly releasing excellent content.
Buying the digital version was probably a better choice then the hardcopy.. I play this so much (almost every day for the last 3 years) that the disc drive would probably have exploded by now..

[PizzaKat]

Ive only bought digital on games that are expensive such as The Misadventures of Tron Bonne and Mega Man Legends. Then the older games from PS1 with a couple of PS2 these all cost a few bucks. I got them from their flash sale.

[Sailorneorune]

There are quite a few games that are worth the digital asking price that aren't worth the secondhand physical asking price.

(going from US/JP PSN and US Wii/Wii U Virtual Console)

Megaman Legends 1, 2, Tron Bonne
Castlevania 3, Rondo of Blood, Chronicles, SotN
Pulseman
ToeJam & Earl
Shining Force 1, 2
Phantasy Star 4
many TG-16 games (esp. Dynastic Hero)
Namco Museum 1-5, Encore (Encore is JP only)
Harmful Park
Rakugaki Showtime
LSD: Dream Emulator (don't know much about this one, but it's probably worth the $7 or so based on how much people seem to like it)
Silhouette Mirage
Metroid Prime Trilogy
EarthBound
Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Metroid Prime Trilogy

Then there are the games I consider worth buying digitally because I think they're great:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 1-3 (either Wii or 3DS), Dual Destinies, Spirit of Justice
Picross e and 3D Round 2
Pushmo
Harmoknight

With the exception of the Ace Attorneys and Picross 3D Round 2, these are all $20 or less.

[BlastProcessing402]

If it's only available as a download there's no reason to buy it, just download it for free. Either way you can still play it just the same.

Yeah okay sure. good luck with that on anything past PS360.