What convinces you to check out and then maybe buy a game?

With all the games here at GOG and elsewhere, my days could be filled, certainly for a good while, checking them all out, and then regular catch ups.

No doubt like many of you, I follow a set of criteria.

Title and Price are the first two criteria for me, and they determine whether I delve into a game any further.
Of course most criteria are subjective to certain aspects of yourself.
NOTE - DRM-Free, at least for me, goes without saying.

Title can determine if I will even look at a game, if Price is not acceptable. Of course, in that scenario I am just looking at whether to add to my Wishlist or not. And normally I don't look too deeply if this is the case ... don't want myself to get urges too strongly for something that is expensive. I just check enough to see if I might be interested enough to look deeper into the game at a later, lower cost, point.

Of course, Title can be a bit like judging a book by its cover, so Price is something that can override any Title appeal, and cause me to delve deeper.

So I guess, while not being the only factor, Price is the most important one for me.

Of course, some games are so well advertised ahead of time or related to games we already know or love, that for me at least, they go straight to the Wishlist based on that, and I don't dig any deeper until they achieve a Price that seems okay to me or getting close.

When a game gets close to what I consider a fair or good price, I delve deeper. I look at what I am getting for my money. Are there any DLCs, and what are the extras? What is the general consensus on the Soundtrack, and is that included separately. I also look at download size and year and game genre. Size can certainly indicate quality in some situations.

Once I have decided to look deeper, I also check out the usual reviews and screenshots and even the video(s). Sometimes if I need more than is provided, I checkout Wikipedia ... if an entry or article exists. I may on rare occasions visit youTube.

I am a bit ambivalent about Reviews, as they can be so subjective.
So screenshots are often more important, and when they don't seem to reveal enough, I check out the video(s).
I certainly don't bother with video though, unless I am borderline over a possible purchase or the same for adding to my wishlist.

Of course, in reality, everything contributes in most cases ... unless I am just a big fan that has to have.

Many games I do take a punt or risk on, though that is usually at the lower price end of the market. For a low cost, I am prepared to take a chance on something new, something that appeals enough emotionally or intellectually.

Is this pretty much the case for most of you?

That question asked, I know that many of you have values very different to mine, and some even seem to have more money than sense ... or are just lost in a gaming addiction ... maybe even go without food etc to have that game you must have.

A kickass trailer helps...

I find many trailers just flashy propaganda, and less than helpful.

I want to see what the game really looks like.

Many trailers often just jump around too quickly all over the place, which is also frustrating.

The best trailers, like screenshots too, are those that give real substance.

True i suppose. Reminds me of Starward Rogue which i got. The tutorial and trailer made it seem like you'd get a lot more vocal interactions, while it ended up being a rogue-lite twinstick shooter increasing in difficulty/length each time you actually succeeded. Which is sorta too bad.

And yes too much jump-cutting is annoying, and no gameplay at all (assuming there's no other trailers) won't let you see the meat of the game.

I suppose the best indicator is if it shares any details with other games i've loved in the past. Example, RingRunner which i always say is good, is a heavy reminder of a previous game Operation: Inner Space so i had a pretty good idea of how to play it already.

Moreso, when TotalBiscuit was alive is if he has a WTF is [Game] then it would give you a good review or at least 15 minutes of gameplay while he talked about it and you could see what he was talking about.

Have you found anybody close to TotalBiscuit's style of making reviews?

What I liked about TB's reviews was that he actually played the game while making his commentary. He usually had multiple saves to make his point clear, when he explained an issue with the game, or when he described a game mechanic. He gave examples of games that did it similarity/different than the game he's reviewing. I hated that occasionally he ate or drank during his reviews, and he sometimes repeated himself, especially near the end when he was sick, but other than that his format was perfectly suited for me.

I've tried watching TheCompletionist/DexBonus/Jesse Cox and many other people TB invited on his podcast, but these guys are all youtube personalities/entertainers. The people that watch them do it as fans of theirs, not for the games they are playing.

Most of the reviewers on youtube just use prerecorded gameplay, and they just drone on until they hit that 10 minutes mark. And because properly scoring a game, has been turned into a farce, they don't even offer a proper encompassing score for the game. That's why I stopped reading written reviews. It used to be, that you had to justify giving a score to a game. You actually explained why a game might be deducted some points. But then reviewing moved away to just writing about the feelings and the experience, and at the end, giving the game a 9.7, and call it a day.

The closest I've found is AngryCentaurGaming. And while he occasionally has a slightly more sedate video review, that you can follow comfortably, most of the time the guy talks at the speed of sound. And most infuriating, when he tries to get his point across he uses analogies, but he speaks so fast that it's not immediately obvious, if he is saying the game does something competently or not. So you can either lose 2-3 minutes of information, while you try to wrap your mind around what's he trying to say, or you have to pause the video and think about.

Also, if nothing else, I like AngryJoe's scoring system. 5 is a generic/average game. 10 is NOT a perfect game, it's a game that he will be using from then on, as the benchmark for future scoring. Does the currently reviewed game live up to the perfect 10 he gave the previous game?

We had a good TV series here in AUS, called Good Game, that ran for many years, but has now finished, which is a real shame ... though it has some offshoots. Some shorter episodes do turn up now and then, so it is still kind of running, but not regularly.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Game_(TV_program)]Good Game (Wikipedia)[/url]

https://www.facebook.com/ggtv.au

One of the offshoots, is Good Game Spawn Point, which is very very popular but aimed mostly at a younger demographic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Game%3A_Spawn_Point

https://www.abc.net.au/abc3/goodgamesp/

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/good-game-spawn-point

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmhZtDQ-CPcYkPNhgaWkbdQ

I've been kind of hooked on the show since I came across it. Game reviewing done mostly right in my opinion ... considering the constraints.

I dont care much about the title, I look at the genre first. I like Racing, Shooter, (A)-RPGs, ... and I rarely/never play Point-Click, Visual novels, ...
Sometimes I look at the publisher as well, because buying Paradox-games is walking on a tightrope ... there might be million of DLCs (and i want complete games). Or Interplay (see next section) ...

Price
Is it worth the money (€uro per hour).
Then there are publisher like Interplay. Raising the prices to give 50% discount, so you'd end up paying the "normal" price. For games, that I like, but are unknown to me to this point, I usually wait for RWarehalls post or check the google-spreadsheet (history - were there better discounts to wait for. My backlog is long enough and i'm patient :-)

Screenshots are next: does it look like i want to play it? I'm a bit fed up with "oldschool 8bit pixel retro look". Was nice for some time, but it seems like everyone is jumping on the train nowadays

User reviews is part 4.
Are there any showstopper, like not fixed bugs/crashes, abondend games, suspicious EULAs, linking to publisher-acocunts, Galaxy-Requirement(!!), ...

Youtube/Gameplay videos are next, so I get a feeling for a game, if i'm unsure at this point - i dont do that for all games, maybe like for 50% of the games.

If everything except price matches, it goes to the wishlist. Otherwise it goes to the checkout


/edit typo ...

* Screenshots
* Genre
* Price
* Ratings / Reviews
* Gameplay footage on YouTube
* Short video reviews on YouTube (<10 min, ideally quick reviews of ~3 min)

I hardly ever watch trailers or even read the descriptions, and the title hardly plays a role in my decision either, unless it's something like "The coolest RPG", "You Have to Win This Game" etc. (which tells me the devs are not very imaginative and thought their game a joke).

Genre is secondary to me, just another criteria to factor in, especially in regard of other criteria. But then I like variety in game type.
That said, I am a sucker for FP Shooters like Quake etc. So price is usually the only thing I hold back on there. That is something I find hard to be subjective with. Sometimes it seems fairly obvious, other times not.

Sometimes I will look at the artwork in a game, and if that is outstanding and the game is cheap, that is enough for me to not see much risk. I have gotten several point'n'click games on that basis. A soundtrack can factor like that too ... a good way to get cheap music.

Certainly many gamers out there play it safe, and stick to just a few genres and publishing houses, and thus don't mind paying more for what they consider a sure winner. They are probably often the loudest complainers though, when an expectation isn't met.

I only really play a few genres, so I buy almost everything in those genres to be honest. The real question is how do I prioritize and choose what to play day one for $60 versus months later at discount. There are some developers like Obsidian and Arkane who I trust and buy their stuff ASAP. Otherwise I usually watch a 30 minute clip of unedited gameplay on Youtube.

RPG, Graphics, Watch some videos, Previews,I ignore and use my own judgement and not some wanker's advise. Price is not an option as I just purchase it or wait for a TPB version. And waiting on Gog to bring is like that movie..Never Ending Story...sing along.

It's title and platform first for me. If it's on Linux and the title is mildly interesting (or only Windows and the title looks very promising - Mac doesn't come into it for me) I'll have a look at genre and screenshots. If it's a genre I'm interested in and the screenshots don't look horrible I'll move on to the description and reviews looking for pros and cons (like not being procedurally generated or incomplete). I'll buy it straight away if the price is low enough for how good it looks. Otherwise, it'll go on my wishlist to wait for a decent price (or if it's not on Linux I'll leave it off the wishlist and see if I remember it next time it goes on sale). I look on isthereanydeal.com too to see how the price has changed over time (if it has the same discount every few months it can probably wait).

At the end of the day, a game is just a game, and some spend an awful lot on such a pastime, which is a luxury to many.

Says me, the collector, who has over 800 games at GOG now ... in two & a half years. Most I got pretty cheap though.

Some factors:
* Is the game available for my platform? If the game isn't available DRM-free, or if the game doesn't work on Linux, or if the game is demanding enough to require a discrete graphics card, then I do not even consider the game. Having a native Linux version is a plus.
* The genre. Note that this is complicated by the fact that the "RPG" label is put on games I don't consider RPGs at all, and even within RPGs, I prefer those that focus on gameplay rather than story, and I prefer non-tactical battles to tactical battles. (RPGs aren't all I'll play, but actual RPGs are one genre I like.) The subgenre is also a factor; when it comes to platformers, I prefer metroidvanias and troll platformers over precision platformers, for example. (Troll platformers include games like Syoban Action; precision platformers include games like Celeste and Super Meat Boy.)
* Price. I am willing to pay more for the game if it does well on other factors, but it is still a consideration. (Note that I include not just monetary costs, but also factors such as the moral cost of getting the game, for example; this means that a game that is obtained through less-than-legal methods, even if it doesn't cost money, still has a price for this purpose; of course, since I consider DRM to be unethical, DRM-encumbered software (including those with no monetary cost) is considered expensive for this purpose. Also, note that I consider keys for DRM-encumbered storefronts to have negative value; given the choice between a version with both DRM-free and DRM-encumbered keys sold together and one with just the DRM-free version, I will take just the DRM-free version (assuming equal cost); this has led to me deliberately avoiding the $1 steam keys by paying only 99 cents.)
* Does the game have queer characters? If so, that's a major plus, provided the game doesn't engage in queer-bating. (I actually bought Timespinner on release because of this, and the fact that Metroidvanias are a genre I enjoy (though not as much as my favorite types of RPG).)

First of all it's genre. I love cRPGs, especially the classic, isometric ones. When a game is a cRPG, I automatically consider it as a potential buy. Then it's pricing. I tend to buy games only when they're on sale. When I'm not decided whether to buy a certain title I read about it, watch screenshots and trailers. These can convince me to buy it. We don't have unlimited time to play all the games we want, so we need some selection criteria. The above are sufficient for me. :)