Randy, you molest your employees with that mouth?!

Most of their customers don’t listen to them. Not hear and disregard, never listen in the first place. Have no interest in game industry gossip.

I guess I’m not premium enough to give you my money, Randy.

Game development as a service.

A fair point but I was meaning from a cultural vandalism angle.

Final Fantasy VIII, why are you crying?

Arguably copyright is worse.

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Here’s the link to the actual content: https://gbstudiocentral.com/news/gb-pixel-art-jam-2025/

Wolfenstein (2009): uses Return to Castle Wolfenstein footage. I’ve not played the 2009 game but I immediately felt that there was a bit of graphical disparity there!

That was the point of my question, to be honest. I don’t understand. Cheating in a single player game to experience it I get. Unlimited ammo, all unlocks, that kind of thing - it lets the game be played differently. But against other players it seems completely pointless from my perspective.

It’s an entertainment option, not a self-imposed obligation. Should I be trying to systematically polish off my watch list too?

I added them because they seemed like things I might like to watch when in the right mood. It’s not a to-do list.

I have a library of games. There is zero obligation to play any of them. They are all simply there as options for when I feel like gaming.

But if one cheats then it’s not a real win?

I meant multiplayer games in general. People do it in games with no loot mechanics.

What’s even the point of cheating in multiplayer?

Another vote for KeyWe!

so how do you know you’re going to enjoy the games you’re buying if they sit in your library past the refund window?

Knowing that about any given media before consuming it is an impossible ask, so that’s a bit of a deadend to start with. I make my purchasing decisions based on a combination of developer reputation (e.g. FTL was great and Into the Breach was awesome too), reviews (not from any major game sites, I’m talking about friends and similar), and experience with the genre.

Also, as I’ve said elsewhere, I’m spending less than the cost of a pint of beer. Any given game doesn’t have to deliver all that much to justify its cost.

Even if I don’t enjoy it, perhaps my wife will, or eventually my daughter.

Do you not worry they may end up being unplayable bloat “polluting” your library?

I don’t really understand the concept of what you’re asking. I understand the words but the emotional meaning is completely lost on me. There’s a load of assumptions underpinning it, from what I can see. Is someone else supposed to be looking at my library and drawing conclusions about my character based on it? If so, I couldn’t possibly care less. Or is it a convenience thing, like finding a game would be hard? There’s text search and there’s not an insurmountable quantity regardless.

Or something else? I don’t get what you’re asking, sorry.

Or do you have a super broad taste and you enjoy everything?

I don’t know how broad the average taste is, I’m afraid I have no point of comparison. I’ve played most genres over the last 30+ years and there’s only a few I find tedious (sports games, medieval fantasy-themed stuff, simulation-focussed stuff). What is a normal breadth of taste?

I really enjoy looking at my library and going: “Damn, I could launch any of these games right now and have a great time!” which wouldn’t be true if I have a bunch of shit I don’t enjoy playing and can’t refund.

Whilst I have some stuff that I wouldn’t enjoy, most of what I have was bought because it had some appeal to me. I don’t buy many games, I’ve just been buying them for decades so it adds up.

I prefer having a large selection so there’s always potentially new fun things hiding in my collection. Knowing everything about it removes some of the mystique, essentially.

It’s also worth noting that I don’t know what I’ll enjoy anymore. When I was a child I really enjoyed management games, for example, so on the one hand they have nostalgic appeal, but on the other I have enough to manage in my life now so find them exhausting. There’s also an element of enjoying things that others don’t - I spent a lot of time playing Godus and listening to audiobooks. People do not like that game!

You can perhaps start to see why I don’t like the concept of a “backlog” - my perspective isn’t built that way!

I really don’t think it’s a particularly hot take. The very term “backlog” normally refers to obligations. Plenty of people suffer from productivity guilt and applying that kind of framework to something that by its very nature is designed to be unproductive feels like a dreadful idea to me.

The “point of the product” isn’t to provide theoretical novel entertainment value by sitting, unplayed, on my digital shelves. Bold take here, but I’d suggest the point of a video game is to be played.

I see it as its job is to provide an option for entertainment. To use another flawed analogy, whilst ideally I’d like to wear everything in my wardrobe at least once I don’t feel bad that my jeans see much more use than my tuxedo. I don’t avoid buying a pair of shorts because I already have plenty of shirts. My goal is to have a good selection of options available in the hope that I’ll never find myself short of something suitable.

I grew up playing games in the '90s. I remember running out of new things to play. It was miserable!

So I make a point of having a large library so there’s always things hiding in there that I might enjoy. The last thing I want is to have played everything in my collection. The very notion of a “backlog” is strange to me. It’s a library or a collection, not an obligation. Trying to min/max it doesn’t feel particularly healthy framing to me.

Fair enough - I’m only aware of the sales where things are discounted enough to trigger my IsThereAnyDeal notifications!

I may need/want to buy with the same money.

Most of my purchases are when the price is low enough to essentially be a rounding error in my spending. I’m rather stingey like that!

I know they exist (the sales by topics) but my emphasis was on “most”.

And just like weight and fashion changes for shirts, I may change my schedule and interests not to fit games I bought years ago.

Where one draws the line on min/maxing is deeply personal. I’m happy to take a risk that my tastes will remain close enough to justify the purchase, evidently you feel otherwise. Neither of us are wrong (other than you, obviously - we’re arguing on the internet so I need to be needlessly confrontational, it’s the law or some old charter or something).

I was mostly replying because I don’t think your way is wrong but I don’t think mine is either. I have at least a thousand games in my collection. Unless something really enticing is released that calls to me (rare) then I always have fresh experiences waiting in my library. It’s probably cost a few thousand pounds over nearly twenty years and I feel that’s a reasonable trade-off to have that facility.

It’s not the result of frivolous spending or poor impulse control. It’s a deliberate choice to min/max in a different direction. I too use IsThereAnyDeal and slowly hoover up titles that I’ve got my eye on. I rarely immediately play things I pick up!

get your backlogs under control

Why would I want to deplete my entertainment options?

That’s like attempting to watch everything on a streaming service. The goal would be to run out of novel entertainment, which seems antithetical to the point of the product.

I may be from another generation (I am in my 40s), but I don’t get the point of spending money on a title I don’t know if I will have ever time or interest to play.

The price isn’t static. If one buys during a sale then it’s available whenever one feels like playing. Much like stocking up on shirts during a sale at a clothes shop - clothing options are then available at home. Of course buying games one isn’t interested in would be strange behaviour but I don’t think anyone else is suggesting that’s normal behaviour.

Also, this feeds stale mechanics, since most titles are bought in bulk during sales that are usually centered around game categories.

Aren’t most sales seasonal?

But it at least stops cheating, right?
Right?

Given that this is Lemmy and we have advanced technology - I hope OP edits the title to fix it.

Probably:

• Fallout 2
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
• Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

Fallout 2 isn’t as refined and tight as Fallout but I personally enjoy it more. It’s arguably far too big but as I’ve played it so many times (unusual for me - I’m usually a one-and-done person when it comes to time sink RPGs) that isn’t a bad thing. I enjoy the writing, mechanics, and atmosphere. Also I voice a robot dog in a mod for it.

Red Alert 2 is the best C&C game ever. I do not care for any of the 3D ones and Red Alert 1 is rather too difficult for me. However RA2 I have finished on hardest difficulty several times. I’ve never really bothered with the multiplayer for it outside of co-op because I don’t play to be competitive. I tend to take my time and like it that way.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is maybe my favourite point and click RPG. I go back to it every few years and it always sucks me in. I know most of the puzzles off by heart but I’m more there for the sense of escapism and gentle humour. There’s other amazing point and click games but for whatever reason this one really speaks to me. It’s not even a nostalgia thing - I’ve only ever played the 2009 director’s cut! I’m old enough to have played the '90s version but never did.

Honourable mentions:

*Startopia
*The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
*Theme Hospital
*What Remains of Edith Finch

Startopia’s music, humour, and gameplay are all top notch. Runs on a potato, makes me laugh, and features my old pal, Arona.

BoI:R is great. I’ve put a ridiculous number of hours into it. The latest DLC has made it a bit too big for my tastes but in general I enjoy it a great deal.

Theme Hospital is like Two Point Hospital but tighter, funnier, and prettier. Lots of fun.

What Remains of Edith Finch is art. It’s funny, moving, tragic, and beautiful. I encourage everyone to play through it. It won’t take that long - a few hours. Such a fantastic experience. Gone Home is pretty damn good too.

I gave Chrono Trigger a fair whack and just got bored. I suspect JRPGs just aren’t for me.

Disc only for me as the digital pricing on the MS store is rubbish compared to second hand discs.

I’m still waiting on a reason to upgrade from my Xbox One X.

I don’t know what that is but you lost me at “Windows”.

I tend to think of it something like this.

Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare was excellent.

I quite like most of the The Binding of Isaac DLC (although sometimes they’re a bit too big, to be honest).

The Vietnam DLC for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was also rather good. I didn’t get to play as much of it as I might have liked but I remember it being more than just a resin.

Bonus: Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge (an expansion pack rather than DLC admittedly)

I could see what it was going for but it felt like a chore to play so I stopped.

The term “over-embroidered” springs to mind.

There have been some great games with development times that long.

Can you name some? I don’t mean to be derisive, I just literally can’t think of any right now.

Unfortunately they’re not significantly more fun despite that.

Yeah, I’ve been watching from the sidelines and still haven’t seen anything that moves the needle sufficiently.

Where are the games?!

What a soundtrack!

In that case you should go for it as you’ll know pretty quickly whether it’s fun for you.

I think that depends more on your income level. Is $30 a lot to you?

It’s about £22 to me and whilst I’d say the game is a lot of fun (I played through it in 2019, I think, on my Xbox One X) I personally wouldn’t pay that much for it. However I spent a long time poor, so I’m rather price sensitive even though I probably don’t need to be quite so hesitant any more.

I enjoyed Wasteland 3 a great deal too.

I rather enjoyed Gears Tactics a few years ago.