Source
r/patientgamers•
rer1

Methods for technically assessing games prior to buying them?

Discussion

How do you avoid buying games that are technically unstable and buggy, especially in cases where the publisher is doing its best to try and avoid a refund?

Big reviewers sometime fail to mention how unstable a game is, even quite some time after its launch, which is understandable since they have very little testing resources. For instance, I recently bought The Division 2 after many reviewers praised it's seemingly stable launch, though the game seem unstable for many and Ubisoft are avoiding refunds.

And on the same note, how do you know that a game has become stable after you've patiently waited for a while?

I recall everyone shitting on Batman Arkham Knight for being quite broken on release to PC, but after a while it was claimed to have been mostly fixed, so I "gambled" and bought it and was relieved to find that it truly was fixed.

Posted May 22, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

312
eachla23•

It's such a hard thing to pin down really, because of the ever changing nature of games with patches. I think when we tend to come to games later here, it's usually after all the patches have been done and put out, so we tend not to see them. I think worst comes to worst, steam user reviews (while being quite a mess) can still give you an idea if a game is particularly broken - people get pissed.

3
rer1OP•

Oh but what about games that are not on steam? :)

2
Digbedog•

Nearly every game has a dedicated subreddit.

1
rer1OP•

From my recent experience with Division 2, those subreddits are more likely to silence any problems or criticism towards a given game.

1
aabicus•

Some games have demos, like Doom 2016. Those are rare in today’s day and age.

If a friend owns the game on Steam, he can share his library with you via Family share.

You can also buy it, play for less than 2 hours, and refund for your money back.

I know a friend who pirates each game and buys it if it runs properly, but I wouldn’t recommend doing this since (a) you’ll be tempted not to buy it legally after it’s installed and (b) you won’t know if the game is fully updated, so in your Arkham example you might not get a version with bug fixes added.

2
rer1OP•

I would love to have more demos available. I just bought Mutant Year Zero after playing the demo and I'm really happy I did (the game is technically more than 6 months old but I would be hesitant to call myself patient for buying it only now).

You can also buy it, play for less than 2 hours, and refund for your money back.

That's true for Steam, but not for other platforms (say, Uplay). Also, I'm not so sure if you can do that if you purchased a steam-key someplace other than Steam.

I know a friend who pirates each game and buys it if it runs properly

And the third argument goes for online games which really cannot be pirated.

1
Ominous77•

Watch gameplays from other people that actually bought the game.

1
rer1OP•

That's the first step, which helps me understand if I'm even going to like the game, but as I said most reviewers and "let's play" youtubers are not necessarily going to experience problems, and relying solely on them doesn't indicate what's the state of a game.

1
Ominous77•

The next step is reading all you can in places like reddit, not in games-related news sites.

1
Torterrain•

Although I'm going to talk from book perspective, because usually when I'm interested in a game I try not to find any thing especially story and lore wise about them, I think it still applies. I first look how many have liked it. Then I look what critics have hated about it and then I read a 3 star review about it.

I think that the middle ground is where it has been best assessed in.

1
rer1OP•

My problem is not with assessing if I'd like / enjoy the game, but whether I would be even able to play it. Some games are broken for a small but significant portion of the customers.

1
novato1995•

I almost always search for Part 1 Gameplay/Walkthrough on YouTube and assess it myself. It also helps to look at the comments below so you see what tips a/o frustrations people are currently having. If that method doesn't go, I typed the name of the game and "is it worth it" on Google, and I get countless Reddit comments that either defend it or praise it. Then I go on gut feeling.

1