[General Discussion] Biggest Blind Risk Buy

Have you ever bought a game without knowing anything about it, but saw it in the store and thought it might be good? Did it turn out well or not?

I bought X-Wing (PC) waaaay back in the day without knowing anything about it. I remember my dad saying that sometimes games don't look as good as they do on the box, but I couldnt resist the idea of flying an xwing in an asteroid field or flying up against a Star Destroyer. Good thing the game was excellent and way ahead of its time. Had alot of fun with it. Now I enjoy the Rogue Squadron type games more than the flight sim type, but back then the game was gold.

Any others?

How ya doing, buddy?

My biggest risk would be when the Gamecube first released and had a bundle package. I bought a Gamecube, but I also had to buy three release games. I was short one game, so I went with Super Monkey Ball as my blind third choice.

Super Monkey Ball- This was an interesting spin on the game Marble Madness (ah, memories). The single player requires very precise control and is near impossible to beat on the harder difficulty levels. The multiplayer is where the game is at, though. My friends and I have gone for hours on end playing Monkey Race Grand Prix.

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I'm usually very cautious when buying games. For me, new games and even recent used games are too expensive to take leaps of faith on, so I usually study reviews before I buy anything. I live about three blocks away from a really well-stocked game store, so if something catches my eye, it's easy for me to run back to my room and read up on it a bit.

Now, with that said, my Nintendo DS was a bit of a blind purchase. The system had been out for a while when I bought mine, and I only paid $50 for it after selling my Game Boy Advance, but I wasn't very familiar with the system or games. It was a good buy, though...between Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Meteos, and my heap of cheap Game Boy Advance games, I probably use it more than any of my consoles.

Oooh...I remember playing X-Wing (and Wolfenstein) on a friend's computer back in 1993 or 1994. That game must have drove my parents nuts, because I constantly nagged at them to buy me a PC for about a year afterwards!

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Silent Hill2 on Playstation2

I'd taken a Friday off college for whatever reason and ended up browsing a local games store to see what the new releases were. It must have been the Silent Hill2 release day, because I remember there were a lot of posters for it in the window. Anyway, I knew nothing about the game, other that its predecessor had done fairly well (which still, I've never played). Truth is the PAL packaging probably helped influence the decision to buy it.

In the end I loved the game, so I was happy with that blind purchase.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I only buy games I'm actually interested in after reading articles about it and so on, so I usually never make any blind purchases when I'm at the store. However, I was at Wal-Mart just browsing around one day when I saw they had Sid Meier's Pirates! (the remake) for a low price. I checked the box and such and I was influenced to buy it from the a) low price, 2) blurb that claims it is open-ended, and 3) it sounded interesting from the screenshots.

I played it when I came home and was instantly addicted.

THE END.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'd have to say for me it was Star Wars:Shadows of the Empire (I could've sworn I posted this on the "Games you regret buying" thread, but either it got deleted or I forgot to hit "post reply") on the N64.

The game was $70 (the most expensive cartridge I ever bought), and after playing through the awesome first stage, where you fly a snowspeeder and take down AT-AT's with the rope and everything just like in the movies, I was quite disappointed with the rest of the game. The fact that the game went down to like $49.99 about a month later also ticked me off (and now I tend to wait till games and systems go down in price before I buy em).

Interesting trivia: the first stage on SOTE was so fun that Lucasarts made an entire game out of it, dubbed Rogue Squadron. That game would go on to make at least 2 more sequels, Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike (although the third one kind of sucked), and

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm usually cautious about buying things, especially games. I know what I want to buy, and I make my decision before the game even comes out. I look at reviews and everything... except that one time.

I bought Clayfighter 63 1/3 for like $65 on the N64... the game fucking sucked.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Void

I'm usually cautious about buying things, especially games. I know what I want to buy, and I make my decision before the game even comes out. I look at reviews and everything... except that one time.

I bought Clayfighter 63 1/3 for like $65 on the N64... the game fucking sucked.

Ouch. Sorry brohhim... that bites. :doh:

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Shadow Hearts 2. It wasn't because I didn't know what I was getting, but because I knew I only had about 55 in the bank. It came out to 54.something and while I enjoyed the first few hours of gameplay when I got home, I was freaking out all night. It was an impulsive purchase and I expected to pay for it, but I managed to have more money in the bank than I thought (150 bucks). How I thought I had less I have no idea.

How ya doing, buddy?

Earthbound!

I took a bet with my dad to stand outside nearly naked for 10 minutes in winter. He said he'd give me 1000$.

I lasted about one minute or so before it was too much and came in.

Fast forward some weeks. We were taking a trip to Wal-mart. about an hour away (back in the days for me when there wasn't even one close...geez)

I was allowed to pick out one game to get for the SNES. I must have spent about 3 hours looking at them, wondering if this one would be good or that one would be fun. It was the days when I'd get maybe one or two games a year, and picking like that was absolutely unheard of.

I settled on Earthbound because it came in the rocking huge packaging, promising a player's guide and the game. I wanted an RPG, not really knowing what an RPG was, so I pretty much guessed what it was by the screenshots (it looked different from Final Fantasy 2 (IV)!).

In the end, it has to be one of the most influential gaming decisions I've ever made. While I didn't pay for it myself, I didn't get an opportunity like that very often, and considering my age and the ignorance toward all things gaming at that point, I'm really lucky I didn't pick a shit game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Lucky with Earthbound there


I've bought a few items on blind risk, but the two most memorable purchases of mine were Wild Arms and Breath of Fire IV.

I just got Wild Arms at a used game sale at the local video store, because I had just gotten a PS1 for Christmas, and I needed a game for it. I didn't know the first thing about what I should have/would have picked. The only two games that caught my eye were Wild Arms and Persona. I thought Persona looked neat with the 3D navigation and it was obviously in better condition than WA which was in an ordinary jewel case and photocopied cover art. However, something drew me to pick Wild Arms. In the end, I grew to love Wild Arms and it's actually my favourite RPG franchise now, and has yet to be topped (barring Valkyrie Profile) =)

Breath of Fire IV surprised me since the last I'd seen of Breath of Fire at the time was Breath of Fire II, which I had been so eager to try for the SNES. Looks like I skipped out on hearing about BoF III so I thought: "Why not?" So BoF IV became my favourite out of the BoF series, and so I got to hear some great music and play a great game. Going back to III, I realized for sure that I liked IV better.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I usually only buy blind if things are less than twenty bucks, so I don't really regret most of my purchases. Although purchasing Hoshigami for $50, hoping for something comparable to Final Fantasy Tactics, was a big mistake. While two of my favorite games (Shadow Man and Metal Gear Solid 2) I only paid $5 for.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Blind purchases? Wow, that's long ago, way before I had internet, and only if the relevant mags hadn't received a test exemplar or I'd overread the previews. The only ones I do remember right now are Excalibur two thousand something AD (an absolutely horrible game), Blood Omen I stumbled upon on the first day of sale (one of my all-time faves and an unpremeditated purchase I'm most glad of to this day), Battle Arena Toshinden II instead of its rival Tekken (I was impressed to say the least) or Shadowman (if I had only waited for the test of the PSX version instead of buying it on grounds of the N64 test and expecting this crapfest to be only slightly inferior), all for the PSX. Before that... Dragon for the SNES (I didn't exactly regret it, but I'd have expected much more for the price tag), Super Star Wars (one of the very few games I've beat seven times, so I got my money's worth), and before that Super Castlevania IV, another one of my all-time faves and the game which introduced me to CV. Going further back in time... Curse of the Azure Bonds for the C64 was probably my first purchase on blind faith. It didn't exactly glue me to the TV, but it was 2nd hand and therefore cheap. I remember it fondly anyway, just because those were the days *sigh*

One thing's to be said in favor of unpremeditated purchases: You will never have that feeling of giddiness and hopeful anticipation, when you can't wait to get home to unwrap the game and try it out, with a game you know enough about beforehand. These days I find out about new games months and months before release, and I read several tests before I decide whether they warrant a purchase or not; then I order it and wait for the postman to ring, all thanks to the internet. But I miss that peculiar feeling of buying a game, not knowing what to expect, hoping for the best and wanting the bus driver to put the pedal to the metal so I can finally find out. If I were rich, I'd buy all games this way

Zorro

I was speaking idiomatically.

Fatal Frame II was a random purchase, and it turned out to be interesting.

It took me about a week to get through the first mode in the game, and even without any real weapons, I found the battles enjoyable. The story was also unusual and somewhat disturbing, and it was the only reason why I wanted to continue playing.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Void

I'm usually cautious about buying things, especially games. I know what I want to buy, and I make my decision before the game even comes out. I look at reviews and everything... except that one time.

I bought Clayfighter 63 1/3 for like $65 on the N64... the game fucking sucked.

I did the same thing and rather enjoyed the game. I put a fair amount of hours into the system and its got a good amount of deph. I was able to achieve a 784 hit combo with almost all the characters.

My other risk purchases include:
Cruisin' World - I had fun playing this game. My second racing game other than Mario Kart SNES
Fzero - It was 10 bucks so I thought it was a steal. Good game.
Silicon Valley Space Station - For 5 dollars at blockbuster, I couldnt pass on the deal. Unfortunately the cartridge was broken...;_;
Snowboard Kids - Same deal as Silicon Valley but the catridge works. Score
Marvel vs Capcom 2 - Impulse purchase for 40 bucks. I thought it was worth it.

FELIPE NO

well this is not a game but more of a console add on for the sega genesis called "the activator" or something like. basically you could control your character w/o a controller and just move your hands and legs within the contraption ( it was shaped like a circle and you attach the part together)... it was such a let down though... but it was pretty cool idea at the time.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I've never really had too many impulse buys that have failed me, so I'll list some of the better choices I've made-

Sword of the Berserk - Guts' Rage for Dreamcast. That is a solid game that I definitely do not regret buying.
Tomba! for PS1. Such a fun and deep game that always got more fun on the 2nd or 3rd time through.
Shadow of the Colossus for PS2. One of the best decisions I've ever made in terms of gaming.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I bought Thunder Force V just on the knowledge that it has Working Designs' logo on it. It turned out to be a pretty good shump, and I've put a decent amount of playtime into it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Kind of embarrassed to say, but I started late in terms of opening my eyes to the gaming industry.

That being said, I did a blind risk buy when I got Final Fantasy IX (apparently there was VII, VIII, and IX available and I picked the highest number). I don't regret my decision and it turned out to be a very nice RPG.

Aside from that, I also bought Black Dawn. Not a shabby game at all, although the opening video did turn me off initially.

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A lot of the stuff I bought for NES was completely random, and a lot of the blind buys were really crappy. I think Lifeforce was a blind buy for me though, and that was certainly a cool game.

Other than that, I bought Toejam and Earl for Megadrive for a friend of mine for his birthday once. I had forgotten about it completely, and my mother absolutely insisted that I should get something for him (she paid for it! ), and so I just grabbed a game on the shelf which turned out to be Toejam and Earl.

We played that game so damn much, it's great.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Er, that Fire Emblem game I picked up recently was only due to it's ultra cheap price ($20). Haven't played it much, but Secret Stones seems alright.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Silent Hill was probably the biggest I have ever bought like this. I got it when it was just released, and I had got some money for my birthday which I was saving for a GameBoy Color. I was only about 9 or 10 about this time so getting money for games didn't happen often, and I decided i'd screw the GBC and go get Syphon Filter. But when I went to get it, Syphon Filter was delayed a month or something stupid, so I just saw Silent Hill was released and got it. One of the best things I have ever done. Ever.

How ya doing, buddy?

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. It was a bundle package with the two expansions. I got it for the PC and there goes 500 hours of my life. Then I discover mods...there goes 1500 hours of my life...

Oh, and of course, Starcraft. It really was not completely blind. My friend's family had a guy who was in Alpha testing, so I saw a bunch of stuff that was actually never released. Then I buy it and start playing online. I still have everything and bust it out to play on occasion...speaking of which...*goes to try and install it*

FELIPE NO

yea,I did...one day,I decided to see what would happen if I baugh an unkown game instead of a popular one(mario,LoZ,halo....you know,the big star games)and I came across star ocan:'till the end of time.and I must say..it's one of the best games I've ever played!!! XD but the only downside to it was that it was almost like watching movie.....TOO MANY LONG MOVIES!!!XDD

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

There have been very few times when I made any real purchases while being completely ignorant of the game. Excluding the 16-Bit era [before I had a PC], only a few games come to mind. Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, Suikoden 1, and Unreal.. These days I always look at a review, video clip, article, or hear about the game from a friend.

Jam it back in, in the dark.