Foreword
A man must fortify himself and understand that a wise man who yields to laziness or anger or passion or love of drink, or who commits any other action prompted by impulse and inopportune, will probably find his fault condoned; but if he stoops to greed, he will not be pardoned, but render himself odious as a combination of all vices at once.
~ Apollonius of Tyana
Three months. Quite a break I took there. Life. :D
This is essentially a non-update as far as I'm concerned, but what can I say? Been burdened with work and have honestly been making some pretty bad gaming decisions insofar as making definitive reviews goes. This will be a break “what I've been playing, but got nowhere” kind of deal. As far as update structure I did some streamlining to cut down on real estate and kept one quote at the top instead of the usual, and I also removed descriptions from images. I doubt anyone was reading those but it means one less step for me when writing these. Funny thing is creating the image probably took more out of me than the writing part.
Ongoing Journey
I swear to god this section has become almost filler and part of non-updates I only include when there's nothing to review. On the other hand, I have been playing stuff. It's just that most of it has been long running titles or being spread out across multiple games. Bottom is on top of logging into Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2 for the dailies. Three MMORPGs are already too much even if I rotate them on semi-regular basis for now. Let's dig in.
I knew nothing about the series The Dwarves is based on and bought the game on a whim. Now I kinda want to track down said books and give them a read. Thinking back on it, for what is supposedly a short-ish game going on what I've heard from other people this has bene installed on my HDD since forever. Should fix that soon.
Current Impressions?
Odd. I think it took me a good hour or so to acclimate myself to the way The Dwarves does basic stuff.
Although they're nothing alike, I think I can draw certain parallels to Of Orcs and Men because both games EXPECT you to learn how they operate and don't pull back punches. Traveling the overworld? Unless you cheese it with a guide you have to accept the fact optimal decisions are not as obvious as you'd expect them in the CYOA manner game presents them. Doing combat? Oh boy, “mass combat” system is something. The just of it is characters fight on their own when near enemies, but you manually activate abilities and items. This lends a weird ebb and flow to game's combat as you, for the lack of a better phrase, learn to game the system to make the most out of executions and animation timing. Most fights so early in have definitely been by the skin of my teeth kind of affairs... and I like it.
It has been good three months since I reviewed Rogue in my last update and would you believe I installed Unity pretty much the next week after? Nothing really to add here as I'm catching up to Assassin's Creed titles. Going at this rate I'll probably catch up to Odyssey in 2020 if I'm lucky.
Current Impressions?
I'm couple of hours after Arno gets initiated so its obviously still very early, but I like what I've experienced so far. Generally. Helix Episodes blueballs after you play the prologue section is something I'll never forgive Ubisoft for. Other than that I really like the gear customization, going back to different weapons types after last few games featured nothing but swords as well as massive incline due to addition of a crouch button and sneaking playing a somewhat bigger role. Pair it with deadlier combat and you can't counter-kill half of Italy anymore.
What I don't like is this piss poor co-op implantation restricted only to specific missions. On the flipside of the gear customization I don't think I'll really like gear PROGRESSION, though. There are clearly superior threads and you'd be a fool not to aim directly for those over anything lesser. Item benefits could also be telegraphed a bit better. Gonna keep at it and see how it evolves over time.
My experience with Naruto up until last month – big fat zero. Then I got roped into reading the manga, read 100 chapters and wanted to watch the show instead to get all the BELIEVE IT nonsense. Realized show is full of filler and looked up if there's a way around it. Found Naruto Kai. Watched both parts. Now I'm a Naruto expert, bakayaro konoyaro.
Current Impressions?
Turns out doing the above was a good call because Ultimate Ninja Storm tells you just about the barest cliff notes imaginable to get you up to speed story-wise. It's a loose fighting game at heart where exploring Konoha village for scroll and ingredient collections is rudimentary at best. Heart and soul of the game is in fights which is odd because I don't think it's particularly tight combat system, or even close to that as a matter of fact. Still, I find myself having fun playing as memorable characters aka Rock Lee = best boy, and wondering whether splurging for the trilogy upfront was a smart financial move.
To this day I have no idea how I keep getting into MMORPGs when I already have barely enough time on my hands. Am I glutton for punishment? I've had previous stints with FF14, going all the way back to original beta days before A Realm Reborn overhauled the original version. Took me a while to dope out that, yes, free trial accounts actually require free trial clients or game won't even recognize your account.
Current Impressions?
Well, it's Final Fantasy and MMORPG. Pretty different from when I tried it years ago, but something that hasn't really changed is the presentation. I still have issues with... surface diffusion, I guess? Game has issues conveying materials stuff is made from so most of the stuff gives off this vibe as if it was made of foam, polyester or aluminum. But the style itself is great and instantly evokes nostalgia for series veterans. Going beyond that it's a pretty standard representative of its genre in sub-20 levels with some standouts like Leves and exhausting crafting you can really get into hardcore. Ability to level all Jobs on one character is a godsent solution to having myriads of alts running around. I like it so far. I started out as a Pugilist, but created a new Roegadyn Archer not long into the original run.
*Proceeds to do the math on whether subbing to one game would be cheaper than buying 10+ new ones each month.*
Quizzical
After almost a half year break it's time for another Quizzical and I believe this one might be near and dear to us. You know, sort of people who amass vast library of games and then need to get around to actually playing them. To cut things short - where do you stand with video game bundles?
- Do bundles have to feature some highly specific games to raise your interest or are you more of a generalist?
- What’s the perfect sweet price point you’re looking for? On the other hand, what are your maximum and minimum in terms of how much you’re willing to pay?
- Do you actually CARE where you’re getting your games from as long as the price is right? Is the so-called “gray market” a factor in your purchases?
- Have there been any memorable bundles that have stuck with you? Any you regret skipping?
As usual I'll put my own opinions down, but I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on this stuff.
Glancing at my library might convince you to call me a liar, but would you believe not even ten years ago I was staunchly against digital games? At the time I still saw absolute value in retail games and their packaging, but what my younger self, who didn't really buy new games, failed to realize was that he was basing this on 20+ year old experiences. Compared to packages of the ye olden days buying boxed versions of modern games basically just gets you a DVD/Blu-ray, pamphlet masquerading as a manual and usually a code for additional content download. From what I hear nowadays not even complete games are included and you have to download gigabytes upon gigabytes just to play on launch day. Having realized this I decided I might as well go digital where things are cheaper and easier. Fast forward and I'm on BLAEO.
Humble Bundle specifically was my gateway drug into affordable games and titles I would never in my life pay anything close to full price or even half off. Those early days were great before all the trash started gathering in throwaway bundles. Even to this day HB has treated me right, and I'm even subscribed to their Humble Monthly service where trend of trying out unlikely titles has lived on. Fanatical aka Bundle Stars was my second port from home because site has these specific bundles which stay around seemingly definitely. Inclusion of Star Deal has also been a great attraction if game in question strikes your fancy. Third site was IndieGala before they started rejecting my payment method, but that has been resolved by simply paying with PayPal if I feel like it. One reason in particular in care for IndiaGala is because payment is in dollars compared to my usual euro currency. I'm still waiting for the blessed day when publishers are going to wake up and realize those two don't convert 1:1.
How do you fare?
I would agree that the diffusion on FFXIV can look a bit jarring. But most of the areas in the game look absolutely stunning imo, especially if you add in some ReShade magic.
Story tied into basic system progression features heavily in the game and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
I also suggest to not view it as a conventional MMO where you can just blaze through the story to make it to the endgame. View it as a single player JRPG, as a usual Final Fantasy game if you will. I will say the story in A Realm Reborn (Lv 1-50) can be lackluster and dragged out for too long. But get past that and you’ll see a huge improvement in Heavensward and Stormblood. As a whole XIV’s plot line stands as my favorite atm.
As for your questions:
- In the past I would’ve bought bundles without batting my eye if I don’t have most of the games already. Nowadays I’ve limited my bundle purchases to games that I caught my interest in though. Much better than before, but not by much lol. Humble Monthly is about the only thing that I can’t stop from purchasing at all though.
- $15 is the most that I would pay. But even so I would not buy it if the tier only contained one or two games, especially if those are fairly new/do not catch my interest. Past that price point I would not buy the bundle.
- Yep, I have bought from most online stores, but I’ve never touched grey markets for the games cause I’m too paranoid.
- Capcom Rising and Sekai Project Bundle were a total bang for the buck for me. There was also a Playism Bundle in Humble Bundle which had several shmups that I was interested in. Never bought the bundle cause I was tight on money though.
Yeah, that’s the general impression I got from the game so far. I think with progression laid out the way it is FF14 makes it a lot more difficulty to rush towards end game.There is plenty to do and new players [green sprout icon] running around everywhere. Only consequence of having a free trial is everything’s kinda quiet as I imagine actual subscribers communicate within their Free Company and Link Shells. I really dig it so far and slower paced combat is great for gamepad.
Humble Monthly is about the only thing that I can’t stop from purchasing at all though.
I’ve actively tried to avoid buying new stuff for half a year precisely because I get games from Humble Monthly and even those I barely try. Not to mention possibilities of getting duplicates.
$15 is the most that I would pay.
High roller. :) My problem is I see a great bundle only to realize I own at least something in it so I stay away and look to either win what I want from SG or buy it elsewhere.
What do you think about console bundles Humble Bundle has done couple of times?
I think with progression laid out the way it is FF14 makes it a lot more difficulty to rush towards end game.
Well, it is certainly doable if you no lifed. But I’ve seen couple people in my FC which got burned out in a matter of weeks after doing so. There are some parts which got dragged out for too long, so I’d say better take it slowly lol.
Only consequence of having a free trial is everything’s kinda quiet as I imagine actual subscribers communicate within their Free Company and Link Shells.
There is another barrier to free trial users, they can’t send friend request to other people. Only accept requests. So imagine this: You got several people playing the game on free trial and got to the dungeon sections. They went on to try creating a party to discover they can’t befriend each other. Unless they meet at the same map and form a party, they would need someone who’s an actual subscriber to befriend all of them to create a party on the fly. It’s generally agreed that the free trial doesn’t give a good impression of the game’s community features thanks to all those barriers.
And yeah, the game is overall pretty nice even if you decide to play with gamepad. I don’t really do it, but I sometimes do botanist and fishing stuffs with gamepad.
High roller. :) My problem is I see a great bundle only to realize I own at least something in it so I stay away and look to either win what I want from SG or buy it elsewhere.
It’s only the maximum price that I’m willing to purchase lol. There are only specific instances where I buy those, like the Capcom Rising or Humble Sekai Bundle. Both are total bang for the buck for me imo. I don’t really use SG anymore, so I trade some of my duplicates on SteamTrades or other trading subreddits for the few games I want on a bundle.
I don’t buy console bundles. I don’t have a PS4, and the 3DS/Wii U bundles contain games that I already own on Steam. I also make it a priority to play all games I own on Steam, so I will definitely not touch those games on console. Plus, the former can only be activated on NA PSN accounts, which is a hassle since I live in Australia. You can make an NA account without a VPN, but eh, it’s not worth the effort even if I do own a PS4.
There is another barrier to free trial users, they can’t send friend request to other people. Only accept requests. So imagine this: You got several people playing the game on free trial and got to the dungeon sections. They went on to try creating a party to discover they can’t befriend each other. Unless they meet at the same map and form a party, they would need someone who’s an actual subscriber to befriend all of them to create a party on the fly. It’s generally agreed that the free trial doesn’t give a good impression of the game’s community features thanks to all those barriers.
That’s definitely a problem. Add to that players with gamepads who don’t chat by default and you have a really quiet game.
Plus, the former can only be activated on NA PSN accounts, which is a hassle since I live in Australia.
Which is really strange. Not you living in Australia, but rather the fact PSN has regions as well. Not to mention Humble Bundle has regular given different games to people as part of Humble Monthly if something could not be redeemed in their country.
Add to that players with gamepads who don’t chat by default and you have a really quiet game.
Not really though, one thing that FFXIV does which is miles ahead of most online games is that you have an auto-translator feature. Not exactly auto-translate in the sense of Google Translate, but you can use one from the many predetermined phrases for the chat which will automatically change depending on the language of your game client. Not only is it useful for console players who may not want to type, it’s also useful when you are pugging with people from other regions.
I have to say the community is quite thriving, it’s just free trials have multiple barriers to play in parties if you don’t know any actual subscribers.
Which is really strange. Not you living in Australia, but rather the fact PSN has regions as well. Not to mention Humble Bundle has regular given different games to people as part of Humble Monthly if something could not be redeemed in their country.
At the very least I can understand why they give different games on Monthly. They can’t control whether someone can redeem a game on their country (dev sets the key restriction), so giving a different game is tolerable. I mean, it could be worse. Sometimes they even outright don’t give anything to replace it. For example, the recent Overwhelmingly Postive Bundle has Hotline Miami 2 (which is banned in Aussie), and I won’t receive anything in lieu of that if I get the bundle.
With that said, the PSN bundle always strikes me as strange as almost all of them can only be activated in NA while the most recent one (the THQ bundle) is not. I guess some sort of licensing deal with Sony is in place?
Do bundles have to feature some highly specific games to raise your interest or are you more of a generalist?
What’s the perfect sweet price point you’re looking for? On the other hand, what are your maximum and minimum in terms of how much you’re willing to pay?
Do you actually CARE where you’re getting your games from as long as the price is right? Is the so-called “gray market” a factor in your purchases?
Have there been any memorable bundles that have stuck with you? Any you regret skipping?
Being one of those with very little expendable income, a bundle has to feature at least one or two games that I’m truly interested in (depending on the price). The perfect price point? The cheaper, the better of course! :D Less than €2 works quite fine for me, if it’s more than €2 then it has to have some really neat game(s). I’ve bought a bundle for €5 two or three times, anything more than that is unfortunately out of my reach most of the time. I mean, if I didn’t buy any other bundle, I could probably cough up like €20 once a year, but… it’s the pit that we who don’t have much money tend to fall in: spending €20 at once is too expensive, spending €1 twenty times is cheap >_<
It’s kind of the same with buying games from the Steam store, by the way.
Besides Steam, I pretty much only buy from IG, Humble, Bundlestars (still like their old name better, haha) and occasionally Groupees. Used to buy from IGS too, back when the site was legit.
The most memorable bundle? I suppose that’d be the one that introduced me to the world of bundles, a very old Groupees bundle gifted to me by my friend, who also introduced me to Steam :) Ah, memories.
The perfect price point? The cheaper, the better of course! :D
Perfect. :D Having entry level $1 tier is great and it more often than actually not has something I want. Same logic with smaller payments vs one big payment applies to me as well, but honestly it’s because you get to mix and match far more with the former. Not to mention game prices sink like stones these days which means you want to play them right now this very instant if you’re willing to pay more. I’m not usually that hype.
Besides Steam, I pretty much only buy from IG, Humble, Bundlestars (still like their old name better, haha) and occasionally Groupees.
How has your Groupees experience been so far? Are they worthwhile?
it’s because you get to mix and match far more with the former. Not to mention game prices sink like stones these days which means you want to play them right now this very instant if you’re willing to pay more. I’m not usually that hype.
Yeah, that’s true. And I agree, I’m not the type who buys stuff on day 1, either. Or rather, I wouldn’t do that, even if I had the money to buy those €200 special editions (plus €60 for the actual game, because the game is rarely included in these overpriced editions, haha!). No point, really :)
Honestly, Groupees are pretty bad nowadays, in my opinion. They’re a bit like IndieGala - they used to offer some very decent bundles once upon a time, but turned into a site that just keeps throwing shovelware at us :/ But as far as purchasing goes, they’re legit. Never had any issues with them, personally.
Good info.
I mean, I would certainly pay more than I pay right now, but that’s more due to wanting to support the devs I like. You could make me more inclined towards that if devs were self-publishing like Larian is, for example, so I knew all of the money is going to them. When you consider how much money goes where you realize people actually responsible for creating the said game don’t get that much.
These figures obviously aren’t as exact when dealing with digital stores or Steam specifically, but it’s still defeating.
Yeah, it’s pretty lame how the industry works :/
Man, I sooooo love your Graphics! <3
You know me - complain about screen real estate in my posts all the time only to have the cover take half of it. :D
Since it’s usually cheaper for me to buy from steam or other sellers with regional price because my currency is terrible compared to the dolar, I usually avoid bundles. They must to include a couple games that I’m interested in order for me to buy it that price tier.
This whole “gray market” thing is insignificant. Those stories about CC fraud and people literally stealing games from the devs are just anecdotes. The real bulk of people on G2A and other similar websites are just regular people selling games from bundles they bought in bulk (inclunding HB monthly) and people who exploit regional price differences. They buy in countries like mine and resell for europeans/americans making a small profit. It’s just pure capitalism.
One of the first humble monthly was the only one that I regreted not buying it. It has Stardew Valley, Kathy Rain, Rebel Galaxy, etc. Great bundle.
Since it’s usually cheaper for me to buy from steam or other sellers with regional price because my currency is terrible compared to the dolar, I usually avoid bundles.
For me that’s insane seeing as usually I can barely buy one game, even discounted to 50%, for how much I get in comparison with bundle prices. That’s going mid-tier range, too. Speaking of the gray market I actually fully agree. Just because publishers decided I belong to a certain region and should be able to pay what they’re asking for their games it does not mean I should be barred from cheaper alternatives. If I can find a good deal I’ll absolutely go for it.
One of the first humble monthly was the only one that I regreted not buying it.
My very same regret. I still haven’t found Stardew Valley at an acceptable price and damn thing’s been on my wishlist ever since.
$1 = R$4 (My currency). Besides that difference, buying games directly from steam here is ~33% cheaper thanks to regional prices. All that combined makes it hard to find a bundle that really peaks my interest.
Like I said that’s crazy to me. Although, I do have to admit I’m envious. So not even gray markets can tempt you with their prices?
Have you ever seen any bundle that tempted you other than that Humble Monthly you already mentioned?
Gray Market prices are usually key bought in regions like mine during sales, so I have no need to buy from them, except if I missed a sale or something like that.
Yeah. I’ve bought a couple bundles. Including some monthlies. For example, I got a 3-month subscription a few days ago because they ofered me a copy of Kingdom Come for “free” with the sub. Since Deep Silver prices are terrible here, it was worth it. Cases like that used to be uncommon, but it’s happening more and more as publishers are “updating” their prices in my region thanks to people reselling keys (and our currency going to shit). Thanks, gray markets! >.<
First it’s nice to see you posting again, even if it’s what you call a non-update :p
As for my view on bundles, I’m a bit “picky” when it comes to them as I’ve tried since I’m in BLAEO to control what I add to my backlog. Unless I’m insanely hyped for a game or wanna play it immediately for some reason (like MHW i wanted to play at release with friends) that doesn’t happen often, I grew tired of seeing a game I paid full price get bundled before I came around to play it, so I usually play what is already in my backlog and wait for a game to be bundled. I’m not a blind bundle buyer, usually it has to have either a game or more on my wishlist or that I want to give to a friend in for me to consider buying the bundle. Sometimes I’ll try to find a bundle split instead if it’s just for a game, because I’m trying to not be hoarding games from bundle anymore.
As for the grey market sites, it’s not my thing, as I feel like it’s often keys that are scammed from the devs on the pretense that it’s for promotion/reviews purpose just to then be resold on the grey market. I know not all the keys come from that kind of practices, but it makes me feel guilty to risk to feed those kind of scammers rather than waiting for the game to get to a price I can afford at that moment.
Thanks, glad to be around still. :D
I’m afraid it took me far too long to adopt the same mentality and finally stop adding games to my library, games I knew fully well I would most likely never play. What you say about paying for a game only for it to pop up bundled while having never been played at all is something I dread.
Which bundle sites do you frequent?
Mostly Humble (even though I had an horrible experience with them a few months back and am now unable to receive any support if anything is defective, under false accusations from them, so I tend to really think twice before buying from them now), Fanatical has been pretty good too, and sometimes indiegala (mostly when they have those artifex bundle, as I find they rarely have quality bundles most of the time). I might have bought once on groupee a long time ago but I wouldn’t say i frequent them. Oh, I think i’ve bought a few HoG bundles on DiG when they use to make them too.
As for not adding everything and anything from bundles that then i’ll never touch, it took me a while too before I joined BLAEO. Last year though I went through a purge of my steam account. I started here on BLAEO and went through all the games, filling my won’t play list. And then I removed all those games from my steam account. It felt as good as decluttering my apartment did. The only exception were some games that were linked to others I wanted to play (humble used to do that, give one key for the whole bundle).
Mostly Humble (even though I had an horrible experience with them a few months back and am now unable to receive any support if anything is defective, under false accusations from them, so I tend to really think twice before buying from them now)
Really? That’s unfortunate. I heard they were dicks about gifting keys and gifts links to others if that was your problem as well.
Yes, that is what happened, I gave some keys directly instead of using the gift to friend link and they used that to say i was a key reseller and that i would never receive support from them anymore including if a key i buy is defective. Which is what is making me a little reluctant to shop from them :/
Do bundles have to feature some highly specific games to raise your interest or are you more of a generalist?
I think bundles have changed my buying habits in this regard, I feel like I’m more open to buying and trying different types of games outside of my usual tastes. I’ve seen this as a big positive, more variety in gaming is always welcome. It usually comes down to looking at Steam reviews and trailers if I see a bundle with mostly new games to me, and if I see something interesting and the price is right I’m willing to take a bite. In most cases, bundles that I buy have at least 1-2 games that have already been on my radar and I’m willing to pay a bit more for a bundle in those cases.
What’s the perfect sweet price point you’re looking for? On the other hand, what are your maximum and minimum in terms of how much you’re willing to pay?
I think staying under 10€ is a comfortable price range for me, and aside from regular HB Tier 3 and Monthlies we rarely see bundles above that price range anyway. The way how Monthly works is a bit unappealing to me, I’ve only subscribed when I’ve considered the early unlocks alone worth the price. So far that has happened twice. :)
Do you actually CARE where you’re getting your games from as long as the price is right? Is the so-called “gray market” a factor in your purchases?
Yes, I personally don’t shop in grey markets. While I understand the argument that people should have the right to trade and resell keys they’ve bought just like any other consumer goods, I’ve seen enough cases where I don’t consider these reseller markets as consumer friendly.
I also think that key markets where games from cheaper regions are resold for profit can be harmful in long term for average consumers. If popularity of reseller markets comes to a point where publishers consider that region locks aren’t enough to fend off the problem, they can always consider raising the prices in those cheaper regions.
Have there been any memorable bundles that have stuck with you? Any you regret skipping?
I don’t remember bundles that I regret skipping, but thinking about most memorable ones the first Humble Origin Bundle stands out since it was among the first bundles I ever bought, and it certainly had a “wow” factor in it! I think I didn’t even have a PC capable for gaming at that time, but bundles certainly lured me into PC gaming instead of just playing on consoles.
I know I’m grateful for sites like IsThereAnyDeal.com when you consider just how many bundle sites there are. It’s popular to rag on Humble Monthly and call each new one the worst Monthly ever, but I think there definitely were some were they skimped out and went with already bundled or older titles. Most recent one seems to have been that and caused an outroar over it.
I also think that key markets where games from cheaper regions are resold for profit can be harmful in long term for average consumers. If popularity of reseller markets comes to a point where publishers consider that region locks aren’t enough to fend off the problem, they can always consider raising the prices in those cheaper regions.
I doubt it. They probably realize low prices is the ONLY way some regions will ever buy games legally. I would also imagine region locks work just fine for most gamers out there because going the route of VPNs and such is probably too much effort. I simply see nothing wrong with going for the best offer I can find as long as it’s all legal, of course. Maybe it’s time industry reconsidered its expenses instead of looking for ways to nickel and dime their trusty customers.
I know I’m grateful for sites like IsThereAnyDeal.com when you consider just how many bundle sites there are.
Oh yes, ITAD is an amazing tool. It’s really convenient to get a simple email notification if games you want go on sale or are featured in a new bundle.
I doubt it. They probably realize low prices is the ONLY way some regions will ever buy games legally. I would also imagine region locks work just fine for most gamers out there because going the route of VPNs and such is probably too much effort.
Fair point. I agree most gamers won’t consider VPN as an option whether it’s the inconvenience, personal reasons or the risk of doing something against TOS (although I’ve understood Valve isn’t policing it very actively). The portion of buyers taking advantage from regional prices is probably much smaller in reality than the impression I get by reading discussion forums about these topics.
Maybe it’s time industry reconsidered its expenses instead of looking for ways to nickel and dime their trusty customers.
I’m not sure if lower expenses would stop them trying to squeeze as much money as they can from gamers. :/ Although I’m happy that the most blatant monetization schemes have been called out and lynched in public, but certain game companies like to try testing the limits of what’s acceptable.
Personally I love how popular PC games are and I love game bundles. I grew up playing mainly pirated games because legal games were very expensive here, young me would be floored that I now have over 500 games I own legally (or at least, the license to play them) and can play whenever I want. Most of games I have are from bundles and I think they are great; you can not pay much and still get good games and discover some great gems. Having a backlog is not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion, it’s just another form of collecting things you are vaguely interested in but most likely will never use that most people do in real life. As long as it doesn’t ruin your finances and make you forget real life responsibilities it’s all fine for me.
Humble Bundle is still the best currently, though I’m not fond of blind purchase so far Humble Monthly is worth the price. Their bundles have all great games, and all of them have a $1 tier that I can still purchase even when I’m tight on money. Fanatical is getting really good too, their bundles the last few months have been fantastic. Indiegala is lower quality but I like that I can pay very cheap for some great gems, and they are good for giveaways :P. I don’t do Gogo and Otaku except for a few with surprisingly good games, and I don’t touch grey market sites because I’m simply too paranoid (though I may use them in the future for games unavailable on official stores in my country). I wish I can buy on Greenmangaming, they have indane deals but they don’t take credit cards form my country.
For sure. I went on this absolute shopping spree when i discovered digital sales and a lot of that was because bundles had such great deals individuals sales could not measure up to. Expanding your backlog becomes a problem when you’re adding more than you’re clearing, though. :D
From what I understand a lot of fear mongering, and negative impressions you read about online, about such sites generally comes from people who never really look at what they’re buying and think for a second. Do some bad things happen with stolen cards? Sure, but a lot of deals I see are usually just people selling unwanted keys and it’s no coincidence they overlap with when Humble Monthly reveals their games, for example.
I used to buy from GMG until one day they randomly changed my currency to pounds and I sure as hell am not paying in that.
I know that most of the time you won’t get scammed if you are careful but I just can’t trust getting keys from third party, the risk is still there and unless I’m really desperate I’d rather not touch those sites. Also price is set by the sellers which I’m not fond of, in many cases I can get better price waiting for Steam sales due to regional price.