The last game you beat,did you like it and what are you playing next?

[taggart6]

Just beat From Dust. Pretty short game with a an interesting concept. Worth the 3 bucks I paid for it. The ending blew in my opinion.

[James]

Just completed: Penny Arcade On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness 3.
Rating from me: B-
Game purchase price: $5
Gameplay value estimate: ~$4
Game playtime: 14 hours (included grinding for a good 5-7 hours)

++
Great SNES FFII (FFIV) style gameplay and graphics.
Great storyline and dialog
Some amazing pieces of music

--
Repetitive music & sound effects (worse actually than a lot of old SNES games)
Grindfest to try and get 100% completion
Story does not conclude, instead promises another game. (Pet peeve)


The writing from Jerry is amazing, but something was definitely lost in not having Mike do the drawings for the world. I would have liked a more in depth experience. But overall, I would say that if you see it on sale for under $3, pick it up and play it. It's worth it.

Next up is... I don't know really.

[Timman_24]

I played through Dear Esther last night. The main thing the game has going for it is the writing and the level design/graphics. There is not any interaction except triggering dialog as you wander the island. The level design is phenomenal. The first 15 minutes or so are a little low key, but eventually I saw somethings that made Skyrim dungeons seem extremely vanilla. These guys need to pair up with Bethesda to show them how to design caves. The later night portions of the game are fantastic as well.

The portion of the game that gets the most praise by critics is the story. The prose is heightened, maybe too much at times, but the way it plays off of the music and ambiance makes for a very unique experience. Some individual dialogs were incredibly written, especially some of the illustrative writing during the last half of the game. The story itself is pretty vague and leaves a lot up to the player's imagination. With that said, this game evoked more emotion and thought from me than practically any game I've ever played. I actually felt deeply sad and moved during the back 2/3rds of the game.

Overall, it was definitely worth the 2.50! Supposedly, I can play it again and get more of the story. I've heard the game can be played up to 4 times before all the story is told. Very interesting piece.

[Snakespy]

Finished the Battlefield 3 campaign. It was ok. As we all know you play BF for the multiplayer anyways.

[fastitocalon]

Struggling to get through Mass Effect 3, feeling like a chore.

[Timman_24]

Just completed: Penny Arcade On the Rainslick
Game purchase price: $5
Gameplay value estimate: ~$4
Game playtime: 14 hours (included grinding for a good 5-7 hours)
But overall, I would say that if you see it on sale for under $3, pick it up and play it. It's worth it.

Next up is... I don't know really.

Hmmm, this is strange to me. An experience that keeps you interested for 14 hours is valued at only $4? Games seem to have been incredibly devalued. What's interesting is that the game wouldn't be worth buying at $5, but at $3 go for it. I'm pretty sure the time invested is worth much more than $2 dollars either way, so the price is the least of my concern.

It is kind of sad for indie game developers. I mean, its good that they can survive pricing their games at impulse buy levels, but its sad that people expect the prices to keep getting lower. Will we be talking about 50 cent games eventually? I spend more at subway than on most of the games I buy and it feels kind of crappy considering how much time goes into making them.

[Snakespy]

Remember 10 years ago when a $30 game that lasted 15 hours was well worth it? Those times are gone. All those intuitive and awesome ideas have been used up multiple times. One thing to remember, these Indie games may be very "one of a kind" and intuitive, but, that's not what most people want. Across all kinds of media this is just what happens. Hollywood anyone? Even a lot of books have gone this way. You must strive to survive and in the end, a company is something looking to make money. Not something that is looking for positive kudo points from fans.

[fastitocalon]

If a games gives me 1 hour of enjoyment per $1 spent I'm happy. I should look through my playtime and see what game has given me my biggest bang per buck.

[monroeski]

I don't think hours played is a good metric for value. It works to a point, of course, but if hours played was that close to being the most important factor then in the grand list of best video games JRPGs would be second only to things like Civilization.

Even if I've played Beat Hazard for far more hours than Uncharted, for instance, I still wouldn't pay the $40-$60 for Beat Hazard near release that I would consider a decent price for Uncharted near release.

Going by the dollars/hour metric the movie theater would never be a good deal if you have access to basic cable.

[James]

Hmmm, this is strange to me. An experience that keeps you interested for 14 hours is valued at only $4? Games seem to have been incredibly devalued. What's interesting is that the game wouldn't be worth buying at $5, but at $3 go for it.

Fair enough. I guess with having less time to play games, watch movies, etc. I start to feel like certain things aren't worth the money. When DVD's came out, I thought they were on great sales at $15. Now I won't pay more than $8 for a DVD, and $15 on the outside for a bluray. As you can guess, I don't buy many Blurays. Games are the same. I haven't spent more than $15 on a game in a very long time. Anything over $5 or so gives me extreme pause before I will buy it.

If a games gives me 1 hour of enjoyment per $1 spent I'm happy. I should look through my playtime and see what game has given me my biggest bang per buck.

I can't do this. The time I sunk into Dungeon Defenders would destroy the metric. It's like $.0001/hr or something for me.

[Vindir]

I can't do this. The time I sunk into Dungeon Defenders would destroy the metric. It's like $.0001/hr or something for me.

If you go by the hours listed on my profile it is $0.02 an hour.

[PowerCreep]

Finished up Portal 2 single player and co-op. Pretty amazing game. It has been quite some time since I played the original game but 2 seemed like more fun; probably because of the co-op element.
Still trying to finish Batman:AA and Vanquish. In the meantime I also started Red Dead Redemption.

[proxops-pete]

Most bang for the buck?! That would be easy... RPG-wise, Baldur's Gate II! I poured easily 150+ hours for $40. As for shooter, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warrior. I sank 300+ hours playing coop with good guys from tGP.

[SewerUrchin]

My biggest bang for the buck: Orange Box

If that doesn't count due to being more than one game, then TF2. I have over a thousand hours into that game (and that is without hardly playing since the trade system was implemented).

[Kamakazie]

Most bang for the buck?! That would be easy... RPG-wise, Baldur's Gate II! I poured easily 150+ hours for $40. As for shooter, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warrior. I sank 300+ hours playing coop with good guys from tGP.

300 hours! Have you played Future Soldier yet? What are your thoughts?