Poll: Have you ever bought a game you knew nothing about before seeing in the store?

Lightspeaker

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Dec 31, 2011
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Used to do it a hell of a lot back in the PS1 days and to a large extent in the PS2 todays. Not so much anymore.

Sometimes I struck lucky (Front Mission 3, anyone?). Othertimes...well lets just say I wasn't so lucky (anyone remember a game called Conflict Zone?).
 

Chaos James

Bastion of Debauchery
May 27, 2011
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Back when I was a wee lad and had a bundle of Christmas money to spend as I pleased, I naturally went to the Games Section of the local Zellers (Canadian. Think Walmart). I owned a Gameboy Advance, but the only game for it was Mario Kart Advance, which I shared with my brother. Needless to say, I was thrilled with the chance to buy my own game to play on it. So I browse the shelf beyond the glass, looking at all the box covers and names, looking for something I would like, maybe a Mario or Zelda game, something I played on the SNES I would recognize. Then...


The box instantly caught my attention. What was it? What kind of game? Spikey hair; Was that Cloud from Final Fantasy?

We asked the associate to grab the game out of the display case so I could look at the other side. A Fantasy Adventure was teased at on the back as I saw screenshots of pixel-y landscapes. Reading out the back-of-the-box facts to my dad to explain why it would be a good purchase (more so to convince myself), and exited to the store with a brand new game I knew nothing about.

Once we got in the car, I popped it into my GBA and started it up. Headphones in and the cold winter hair making you feel bundled up, the opening theme played as it showed the mountain top and flashed the bright title of "GOLDEN SUN". Diving in, I began a game I would find out was a Turn-based RPG, something I sort of wasn't expecting, and despite a moment of doubt on my purchase, I dove forward into an enthralling quest in a game I would later read in Nintendo Power was almost on par for praise alongside Super Smash Brothers Melee.

Nowadays, I read reviews, research the game, watch Youtube reviews and LPs, and overall research a game before I purchase it. Back then, I had to roll the dice, and luckily that blind purchase was an amazing title. Didn't even rely on the brand recognition of Nintendo titles I had come to rely on either.
 

DementedSheep

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Jan 8, 2010
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I bought Primal 2nd hand with no knowledge of it except what was on the box.



Protagonist was a little annoying and the controls didn't feel as fluid as they could have been but it was decent.
 

Shoggoth2588

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Aug 31, 2009
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This happens when I get used games from my local indie-shop. Revengers of Vengeance? Eggs of Steel? Krusty's Super Fun House? Deja Vu, Spirits & Spells, Sakura Wars ~So Long, My Love~, Shadow Master, Space Griffin VF-9, Zero Divide, Choro Q, Okage...I had no idea what I lot of these games were when I bought them. I don't buy NEW games unless I know (more or less) what I'm going to be getting. Reviews only tell you so much and youtubers can only so you so much more after all...
 

Summerstorm

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Sep 19, 2008
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Man, i was bored and young...

So yeah, i bought this:


Sudeki... yay?

Don't judge me!

(Barely remember anything about the game though, can't be too bad... or good)
 

Savagezion

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Mar 28, 2010
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josemlopes said:
Clive Howlitzer said:
I have indeed. That is how I discovered Planescape: Torment. A successful venture I say! It was much more common in the old days before the internet was the way it was now.
So this cover managed to pull you in?


Didnt expect that.
How can that cover NOT draw you in? Seriously, a tribal blue zombie. Although I have bought many games I have never heard of before. I do need a deal for that though. They often turn out to be crap but every once in a while you find games no one talks about that are total gems to you. I have a long list of 'classics' that I wouldn't have played otherwise like Planescape, Arcanum, and Tropico but also some oddball titles that I rarely see anyone mention today like Folklore, Age of Wonders 2, and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes.
 

CannibalCorpses

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Aug 21, 2011
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I used to do it all the time...spot a jrpg i'd never heard of and then impulse buy it based on the screenshots on the back of the box and my desire to be challenged. It's how i got into Suikoden, Vandal Hearts and Wild Arms.

I've done it with FPSs...The original Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Half Life, Soldier of Fortune, Kingpin

But to be honest i come from the Commodore 64 era where there was barely any media coverage of games and far more games came out than could be reviewed. There was never a 'buzz' around a game because nobody had heard of anything. You had box art and game name to go on and the very reasonable 99p a game so it wasn't that important if you made a wrong decision.

Fast forward to today and you'll find trust in developers is at rock bottom and people are justifiably cynical about any release. So many broken messes make it to market and so many of those broken messes get hyped to excess before release that you need many sources of information to get a true picture. 40 quid on a whim is a lot...40 quid on a whim from a market that gets caught lying all the time is just insanity tinged with naive hope.
 

L. Declis

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Apr 19, 2012
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I used to do that, back when I could get a game for £20 for the PS1 or PS2, and there were bargain bins with actually good games in it, and I didn't really have to buy them myself.

I have picked Armoured Core, Mass Effect, Freedom Fighters, Jade Cocoon, Medieval, Rome: Total War, anything that was 40k (I remember the hype when Dawn of War released, christ).

But I agree with Cannibal Corpses above; today, when companies are willing to ship terrible pieces of shit for full £60 prices with unimaginative gameplay... I can't afford to waste money anymore.

Also, I don't have the time to game willy-nilly either; if I want to play a game, I have to REALLY want it, because I have bills and such to pay, holidays and anniversaries to save up for and so on.

So I can only buy games I KNOW I can trust buying, I have heard it's good and I am interested... and usually when it's price has dropped. Frankly, video games as far as value goes has significantly dropped in my mind.

I used to play Dawn of War or Civilization 2 or Super Mario Bros. for hundred of hours, and now? I'm lucky if a game offers more than 10 hours of gameplay.

Even the best games this generation like Skyrim? Bland, artificially lengthened, samey, copy-pasted quests, big but full of nothing boring story, what a waste. However, I admit I have high hopes for MGSV and FFXV (that summon demo).
 

JemothSkarii

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Nov 9, 2010
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I've done it a couple of times, but there's one in particular which sticks in my mind:

Soul Nomad and the World Eaters.

I'd dabbled in (and greatly enjoyed) the Disgaea games at this point, and when I was walking through K-Mart I saw it on the shelf. This was at the point where PS2 games were phasing out. I was all 'Man, this is great cover art' and bought it because it sounded cool.

I don't regret it.

It was a tactical game (which I love) which had a rather dark interesting story with some fun thrown in. The music was fantastic, the cast was great. Then there was also all the side parts and unlockable second story mode.

So damn enjoyable. Rock'n Rocks still gets me hyped.
 

Denamic

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Aug 19, 2009
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First time I ever did that, I got Star Ocean 2. Turns out, I didn't need free time anyway.
 

Chester Rabbit

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Dec 7, 2011
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Buy them no.

But rent them hell yeah that's how it used to go all the time. No internet (or computer) didn't really read the gaming magazines just wanted the demo disk.

You would go into Blockbuster (or Microplay) pick a game with an interesting cover or that you saw a commercial for(hi Crash), look at the back of the box and take a gamble.

I cam out on top often with this. Discovered games like Army Men, Castlevania Dracula X, Warlock,Crash Bandicoot 2, Clay Fighter, Kirby Superstar, Resident Evil 3 ect.

*sigh* I miss being able to rent games instead of having to do hard research to make sure a game you were interested in was worth 60 or 30 bucks.


Well actually there was one time my dad and I bought a game we had not even the slightest clue about. But that was because we thought we were buying Soul Reaver and paid no attention to the text saying Blood Omen on the cover.

JemothSkarii said:
I've done it a couple of times, but there's one in particular which sticks in my mind:

Soul Nomad
How was that game anyway? Been curious about it but cautious because it's a David Cage game. Is it a David Cage game before he was at his Cageiest?
 

William Ossiss

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Apr 8, 2010
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Way back in the day... I had a choice between two games I knew absolutely nothing about. One was Donkey Kong Country, the other was Super Mario RPG.

I chose Mario, and never looked back.
 

kasperbbs

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Dec 27, 2009
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Way back during the PSone era i bought a bunch of games that i knew nothing about except for whats on the cover, got burned a lot that way, but at least they were used and i could trade them in again for a dollar or two. Now i have internet and i know more about games before their release than i did back then when buying them.
 

waj9876

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Jan 14, 2012
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Not often, but it is how I got my hands on what has become one of my favorite games, if not my favorite game, of all time. Steambot Chronicles. I just saw it one day at like, Gamestop or something, and bought. It has flaws, many of which shouldn't be on a PS2 game, but it was charming as fuck.
 

theevilgenius60

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Jun 28, 2011
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Sometimes I'll stop by the store after a reeeeealy stressful day at work and pick up something that catches my eye to cool down. It's how I found Persona 4. Great purchase that lead to dozens of others. Also, picked up Assassins Creed that way. Had plenty of losses this way, but way too many wins
 

Flammablezeus

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Dec 19, 2013
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Lego Star Wars on PS2 stands out as an early one. It was nothing at all like what I was expecting (what, a Lego game where you don't actually build things out of Lego?!) but I still really enjoyed it for what it was. Viva Pinata on 360 was another one, but it did come bundled with my 360 so it probably doesn't really count.

More recent examples are things like Flower, Journey, To the Moon, Gone Home and The Stanley Parable (well, the mod version anyway. When the standalone game came around I knew what to expect of course.) I enjoyed all of these, and on top of that I realised while playing them that going in without ANY prior knowledge to them was definitely the right decision.
 

conmag9

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Aug 4, 2008
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It's extremely rare. Normally, I like to go in armed with a general idea of what I want. Or I get the games as gifts, which I'm pretty sure doesn't count for this poll.

The only proper exception I can recall was Bravely Default. I knew basically nothing about what it was all about, but I'd just bought a very cheap 3DS and needed a game or two to supplement Pokemon Y and Fire Emblem. Fortunately for me, it turned out pretty good but I probably wouldn't do that again all the same. Too risky.
 

Timeless Lavender

Lord of Chinchilla
Feb 2, 2015
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Yes, it happened to me once at my local game store. I was just looking around and found an interesting game which is Darksiders. The cover looked so beautiful that I decided that I should purchased it. It was an epic game and also made me a big fan of this franchise.