But you know that you’re bored.

That doesn’t mean you’re an expert. It does mean that there’s something about that game that keeps you from playing further.

Yeah, but I think there’s a big difference between saying “I understand what this game is” and “I’m a total badass”.

Personally, I’ve played two hours of Path of Exile. By no means am I great. But have I played enough of it to know that I enjoy it?

Yeah, it’s fun. And as far as free-to-play games are concerned, it’s awesome.

Thing is, though, I already own many similar games. So I’m not so compelled to continue with Path of Exile—not because it’s bad but because those other games don’t have in-app purchases.

There’s a reason I put “PC” in quotes.

Yes, the C64 was—and is—a personal computer. But when people often say “PC”, what they mean are DOS and Windows machines.

That’s funny because Civ 5 is my absolute favourite in the series. I can play that game forever.

To me, Civ 6 is the one I felt profound disappointment. By no means is it awful. I just feel it didn’t reach the height of Civ 5.

But of course, everyone experiences fun differently.

How so? Arcade-style games aren’t confined to physical arcades. Plenty exist on PC. Raptor: Call of the Shadows, for example, was never in arcades but plays exactly like one.

The core design philosophy—short sessions, high intensity, replayable loops—is identical. So I don’t see how the logic doesn’t apply. A fast-paced game is still a fast-paced game, no matter where you’re playing it.

That’s probably due to how your Lemmy app renders Markdown. In other apps like Voyager, it’s numbered correctly.

I bought a Steam key for The Ascent on Fanatical for $0.62. It was part of a bundle.

A few weeks ago, I finally beat Shadowgrounds and talked about it over here:

https://lemmy.world/post/29179804

I like this game a great deal.

Lots—too many to mention.

One of my favourites is Divine Divinity. This was made by Larian Studios back in the day. In fact, their first title.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is also a standout.

Dungeon Siege is also tremendous.

Likewise Titan Quest is excellent.

Really, there’s so much good in this genre.

When you’re in an arcade, how many games do you tend to play?

Personally, I easily play around 10 within an hour.

I’ve done that quite a few times, actually.

Legally, I can download all my installers from GOG, store them to a hard drive, and make a duplicate of that hard drive as a redundancy.

And believe me, I’ve thought about that.

What keeps me from doing that is the price of storage. One title alone can be 120GB.

This is ultimately why I don’t pirate. It costs me $20 for a 128GB SD card. But if I’m buying that game for $4 off Steam, it’s cheaper to store that game in the cloud—especially if I only average a couple hours of play per game.

There’s also the convenience of knowing the game will likely work, I (mostly) don’t have to edit DLLs, and malware is unlikely.

The only reason to pirate is for some bizarre moral reason, which I don’t share. It really is easier to just pay a couple bucks—store indefinitely, get to work immediately.

If Valve does something evil, then I’ll adjust when that time comes. For now, I have full access to my entire library, and this has been the case for the past 12 years I’ve had my account.

As far as I’m concerned, you’re thinking so hard about the legal risks of buying games legally, you’re not taking into account the legal risks of piracy.

You think game publishers haven’t sued the living tar out of pirates?

There’s a guy named Gary Bowser who was sent to prison for selling tools that hacked the Nintendo Switch. And when he got out, he still owed $10M.

So if you’re worried about risk, at least acknowledge where the real hammer comes down.

I don’t have to play through them all, though. I’m content with a few minutes.

Why should video games provide hours of entertainment?

When I grew up, that wasn’t the expectation. You played Donkey Kong for a moment, then you moved over to Galaga.

You’ve gotta shake off this weird myth that price equals quality. I picked up Quake 4 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein for $0.64 each. If that’s slop, hand me a spoon.

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Don’t worry, I’m working on that.

Okay, but you know how many games became my favourite even though nobody talked about them—but I bought them because the price was right? A stunning amount.

GOG has some crazy good deals. Right now, you can get Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War for free:

https://www.gog.com/en/game/warhammer_40000_rites_of_war

Another game that everyone should buy – because it’s incredible – is Blake Stone: Planet Strike. That’s selling for $0.57 right now.

Well, let’s take a look at the games I bought today:

• Ground Control Collection was $0.51. This includes Ground Control Anthology (Ground Control and Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy) as well as Ground Control II. That’s three games – which ends up being $0.17 each.
• Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death was $0.60.
• Anuchard was $0.67
• Men of War: Red Tide was $0.59
• Moonbase Commander was $0.44

Based on today’s hauls, that’s $0.40 per game.

I wouldn’t call these games shovelware. But they’re either old or they’re indie.

Occasionally, though, I do end up with a somewhat recent AAA title. Back in March, I got Far Cry 5 for 95% off – which ended up being $4.