Yeah, I expected it as well, even though I purchased it on release, being in my Impatient Gamer state of mind. It also happened back when they released the Lost Valley DLC. I just think that they don't have the resources to adequately play test a game, being such a small developer. They do stick with it though and eventually make things right. First hotfix was released today:Just as I expected. Solasta Palace of Ice DLC is riddled with bugs. The developers already started patching it, but it appears that some of the bugs made into other campaigns as well... This means that the DLC goes on the patient gaming list for now.
I saw the hotfix on the news list for the game. The DLC needs some time and attention. After that everything will be fine. I don't plan to play Solasta anymore before Baldur's Gate 3. Then there's BG3 and other isometric RPGs will have to wait. So I'll probably grab the DLC in a more distant future on some sale.Yeah, I expected it as well, even though I purchased it on release, being in my Impatient Gamer state of mind. It also happened back when they released the Lost Valley DLC. I just think that they don't have the resources to adequately play test a game, being such a small developer. They do stick with it though and eventually make things right. First hotfix was released today:
Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Palace of Ice - Hotfix 1.5.48 - Steam News
Hey there folks! Hope everyone's having fun with the new campaign! We're here with our 1st round of Hotfix to make sure we exterminate as many bugs as possible. Fixed more "WaitForEvent" errors, which as the name implies are errors that make the DM stand up to grab a coke in the fridge while the...store.steampowered.com
Yeah, that was a major let-down, considering it had Will Wright and Soren Johnson in the team—plus the big DRM fiasco.Spore
A big one for me was when devs stopped putting out demos, which were necessary back then to know if the game would run on your PC. Crysis 2 probably also contributed, I almost definitely bought that at or soon after release—it wasn't open world, which killed it for me.turning point
These days only indie titles receive demos from time to time, but there's another option. Steam allows to return any title without giving a reason, if you played it for less than two hours. GOG has a similar policy, but it's even more flexible, because you have one month, if I recall correctly and there's no time limit. The only condition is that you don't send these requests frequently. It's a good way to test the title. If you don't like it, just get a refund.A big one for me was when devs stopped putting out demos, which were necessary back then to know if the game would run on your PC. Crysis 2 probably also contributed, I almost definitely bought that at or soon after release—it wasn't open world, which killed it for me.
I have more games that I'll probably be able to play for the rest of my life. I'm closing to 1000 if you count all of the platforms. That's why I'm making a little shift in my buying policy. I have almost all classic titles that I want. This means I won't be buying too many older titles in the future (except maybe for some boxed games from time to time that didn't make into digital distribution, but there's a finite number of those). I'll be focusing on buying new games and since those aren't cheap this means less games bought in overall. I doubt there will be more than 3 new AAA titles per year that I'll want to get and not all of them will be bought on the release date. This will allow me to play and finish games at faster rate than the rate at which new games appear in my library. In time it'll result in a situation where there are less and less games from my library that I never touched. That's the theory. We'll see how it works...Which brings me my next point. my ever growing collection of unplayed games. its come to the point that i just have to look objectively and realize that perhaps i should finish some of those before buying new ones.
Yeah, Starfield is number one for me this year; I'll buy it as soon as it's available for purchase (might even take a look at any collector's edition, if there is one). There's that undefined quality to Bethesda's single player, open world RPGs that I can't find in any other game.The only upcoming game I plan to buy is Starfield, because there's something about Bethesda games that I can't find in any other game. Though realistically my wife will probably buy it before I do, as she is far more impulsive than I am and she loves the idea of Starfield as well.
I have more games that I'll probably be able to play for the rest of my life. I'm closing to 1000 if you count all of the platforms. That's why I'm making a little shift in my buying policy. I have almost all classic titles that I want. This means I won't be buying too many older titles in the future (except maybe for some boxed games from time to time that didn't make into digital distribution, but there's a finite number of those). I'll be focusing on buying new games and since those aren't cheap this means less games bought in overall. I doubt there will be more than 3 new AAA titles per year that I'll want to get and not all of them will be bought on the release date. This will allow me to play and finish games at faster rate than the rate at which new games appear in my library. In time it'll result in a situation where there are less and less games from my library that I never touched. That's the theory. We'll see how it works...
Ah, finally a potential super-patient emerges! Anyone who can be patient about this thread is a true heroi've been a bit silent on the whole Patient gaming thing
I operate the @Zloth principle, which thankfully he didn't copyright—"Will I play within 6 months?"… if not, don't buy.bought the game when i should have waited
There are easy ways to swap Steam games in and out of your playing drive from another larger storage drive, maybe a cheap 4GB HDD for example. We've discussed it here before, shout if you need a link.that 100GB+ storage is making me think twice
You too, and everyone else subscribed to Epic's weekly freebiesmy ever growing collection of unplayed games
There are easy ways to swap Steam games in and out of your playing drive from another larger storage drive, maybe a cheap 4GB HDD for example. We've discussed it here before, shout if you need a link.
You too, and everyone else subscribed to Epic's weekly freebies
I have got my Steam backlog down to 1 game now, and soon to start into GOG—I haven't played all, but have hidden ~600+ of no interest, left maybe 100 visible as 'sometime possibles', and run a few dozen thru the 'looks interesting' filter.
I've also mostly sorted my ~700 games on BigFish, as in a simple list of the very best games worth a slot in the Replay Pantheon. When I get to Epic, I expect at least 90% will be 'not interested', so it shouldn't be too daunting.
A related problem is of course the multiple copies phenomenon—when you have over 100 games with 2+ copies, something's amiss!
Fantastic, a style of gaming who's only skill requirement is the ability to wait a LONG time for huge price drops!Gadzooks, we don't have a thread to which we can direct the unfortunate! How… er, how unfortunate
We're all sorry about this—since PCG stands for Patient Clever Gamers, there's just no excuse for such an oversight
What is Patient Gaming?
Not a genre or style of play, but rather an approach to acquiring games. PGs—ie Patient Gamers—do not buy on or near release… we leave that to the sadly unfortunate, for whom as said, this thread is a public service.
But to try and keep it general, I propose a PG is just someone who makes a conscious decision to wait for some period beyond release day.
Benefits of Patient Gaming
Quality
♣ Bugs—they're fixed;
♦ Bugs—they're not fixed, and you know they won't be;
♥ Bugs—unofficial community patches are available, which fix a lot of the problems;
♠ Bugs—stop rewarding companies for releasing with bugs!
♣ Mods—if the devs made their game modifiable, there will be dozens to thousands of mods available, aimed at improving every sub-par aspect of the game.
♦ Replay—as a PG, I replay because I love the game… not because the release was a mess which has since improved.
"Most games I looked forward to this year were buggy, broken and had terrible servers/problems connecting for several days/weeks"—DXCHASE
Help
♣ Walkthrus, videos, articles, forum threads… loads of these available for the original game. Forums will also cater to the recent state of the game, with all kinds of workarounds and similar advice for unfixed bugs.
♦ Recent player reviews—some of excellent quality—so you can assess the current state of the game.
Cost
♣ Hardware has been crazy recently, with GPUs alone costing more than I've ever spent on a complete mid-range gaming PC build. You save many hundreds of dollars by not needing recent models—my 1060 GPU is currently 4 generations behind and will be at least 5 before I build again, while my i7-7 CPU is now 6 gens back, but I've been playing Far Cry 6 with great enjoyment of its beautiful world.
♦ If you're a weird player like me, the help mentioned above may not mean you'll enjoy the gameplay—I've bought many games which ended up 'not doing it' for me. That's not fun on a limited budget—buying very cheap means you can take the risk… without much risk.
♥ All major expansions and minor DLCs included in the Palladium-Plutonium-SuperDuperium-GotY versions of the game.
♠ Time. Time is a cost for many busy people, who have limited gaming time—don't waste it on poor experiences.
♣ All on sale for 50-90% off retail price!
General
♣ If you can train yourself to become a PG, then you can apply that to other areas of your life—after all, it's well known that 'patience is a virtue'. Pardon the signal.
♦ Relaxed, wide-ranging play—you avoid the subconscious urge to speed thru a game so you can brag or at least hold your own in the latest gamer chat topic. Go where you want, explore at leisure, play when you want… start over after you've got the hang of the mechanics and the lay of the land on Easy.
Downsides of Patient Gaming
Spoilers
This probably mainly affects story-based games, but most games can be spoiled if you don't avoid coverage. Not an issue for me tho, I like to know a lot about a game before deciding it's worth my time—so it's a different personal consideration for every gamer.
MultiPlayer
Unless a game is a classic, the multiplayer scene will decrease over time and there will come a time when it's no longer practical, or maybe even the servers have been switched off. PG definitely works best for single-player gaming.
Hype, memes, chat
PG misses out on all the early community excitement and interaction—this can be a negative if your gaming motivation is mainly social, or of course a positive if you want a more considered view of a game before deciding to jump in.
Compatibility?
Probably not a concern for PC gaming on Windows, most old games work fine in Windows 10 or else work in 'Compatibility Mode'—eg I got 1995's original Command and Conquer to work easily 3-4 years ago. But it is a possible problem
Sources
Forbes
Patient Gaming Will Save You Time And Money
GrownGaming
Patient Gamer: Is It Time to Actually Become One?
WhatNerd
What Is “Patient Gaming”? 5 Reasons to Be a Patient Gamer
The 10 Levels of Patient Gamers
I love this post! And that sub-reddit has over ½ million PG members!!
Oh good point—I remember specifically Firaxis removed the 'CD in drive' requirement for Civ4 after they issued the final 3.19 patch. I'll add this to OP, thanksA lot of AAA titles once they become cheap have also lost their DRM service
I refer you to the current Diablo 4 thread if you need to develop a deeper appreciation for this rare and precious mastery!only skill requirement
Actually I was referring more to DRM like Denuvo, which has been know to affect performance on some games.Oh good point—I remember specifically Firaxis removed the 'CD in drive' requirement for Civ4 after they issued the final 3.19 patch. I'll add this to OP, thanks
That said, I probably could have waited, as I've been playing this Doom mod called Ashes 2063, that is utterly fantastic and my goal is to complete that first before moving on. It's absolutely worth a go, especially being free, as the design on display is absolutely impeccable; I love the fact that I'm constantly switching weapons, because I always seem to be running low on one gun or another, but seem to have a solid amount of ammo for another. Really feels natural the way I end-up switching between guns as their ammo depletes. The level design, creature design, creature placement and flow of the game is just wow; I can't believe this game costs nothing.
I had a quick opportunity to play the first part of ashes 2063. Although it was primitive in places, i enjoyed it. Although, i played it on arcade mode (the games ultraviolent difficulty) and honestly it was a cake wake as i was never short on ammo and even after fighting the final boss, i was walking around with most of my heavy weapons with over half ammo left over. I guess having the chainsaw around made saving ammo piss easy.
Thinking back when i played the wad i think i might have made it easier by accidentally leaving beautiful doom enabled. It also messes with the weapons and i suspect that i got some of my Doom2 weapons in some of the areas. Namely the chainsaw/rocket launcher.I really like how this review contrasts with the one @Johnway wrote:
Thinking back when i played the wad i think i might have made it easier by accidentally leaving beautiful doom enabled. It also messes with the weapons and i suspect that i got some of my Doom2 weapons in some of the areas. Namely the chainsaw/rocket launcher.
But i don't know, i played it on an easier difficulty mode so it was more a shooter rather then a survival game and ammo/resources were more abundant. But its nearly 2 years since i played the first ashes game. The sequel (ashes afterglow?) is even better even if there were a few bits that could do with a bit of work.
I just buy games when I want them. If a sale is right around the corner, I'll usually wait. It doesn't make me impatient, though. Impatient implies there's a cost to what I do that doesn't outweigh the benefit, and for me, getting to play my games when I want outweighs any minor benefit I'd get from waiting for 2 years to buy. By then I wouldn't even want the game anymore, so I'd lose out entirely.Gadzooks, we don't have a thread to which we can direct the unfortunate! How… er, how unfortunate
We're all sorry about this—since PCG stands for Patient Clever Gamers, there's just no excuse for such an oversight
What is Patient Gaming?
Not a genre or style of play, but rather an approach to acquiring games. PGs—ie Patient Gamers—do not buy on or near release… we leave that to the sadly unfortunate, for whom as said, this thread is a public service.
But to try and keep it general, I propose a PG is just someone who makes a conscious decision to wait for some period beyond release day.
Benefits of Patient Gaming
Quality
♣ Bugs—they're fixed;
♦ Bugs—they're not fixed, and you know they won't be;
♥ Bugs—unofficial community patches are available, which fix a lot of the problems;
♠ Bugs—stop rewarding companies for releasing with bugs!
♣ Mods—if the devs made their game modifiable, there will be dozens to thousands of mods available, aimed at improving every sub-par aspect of the game.
♦ DRM—A lot of AAA titles once they become cheap have also lost their DRM service [ETA via @Frag Maniac]
♥ Replay—as a PG, I replay because I love the game… not because the release was a mess which has since improved.
"Most games I looked forward to this year were buggy, broken and had terrible servers/problems connecting for several days/weeks"—DXCHASE
Help
♣ Walkthrus, videos, articles, forum threads… loads of these available for the original game. Forums will also cater to the recent state of the game, with all kinds of workarounds and similar advice for unfixed bugs.
♦ Recent player reviews—some of excellent quality—so you can assess the current state of the game.
Cost
♣ Hardware has been crazy recently, with GPUs alone costing more than I've ever spent on a complete mid-range gaming PC build. You save many hundreds of dollars by not needing recent models—my 1060 GPU is currently 4 generations behind and will be at least 5 before I build again, while my i7-7 CPU is now 6 gens back, but I've been playing Far Cry 6 with great enjoyment of its beautiful world.
♦ If you're a weird player like me, the help mentioned above may not mean you'll enjoy the gameplay—I've bought many games which ended up 'not doing it' for me. That's not fun on a limited budget—buying very cheap means you can take the risk… without much risk.
♥ All major expansions and minor DLCs included in the Palladium-Plutonium-SuperDuperium-GotY versions of the game.
♠ Time. Time is a cost for many busy people, who have limited gaming time—don't waste it on poor experiences.
♣ All on sale for 50-90% off retail price!
General
♣ If you can train yourself to become a PG, then you can apply that to other areas of your life—after all, it's well known that 'patience is a virtue'. Pardon the signal.
♦ Relaxed, wide-ranging play—you avoid the subconscious urge to speed thru a game so you can brag or at least hold your own in the latest gamer chat topic. Go where you want, explore at leisure, play when you want… start over after you've got the hang of the mechanics and the lay of the land on Easy.
Downsides of Patient Gaming
Spoilers
This probably mainly affects story-based games, but most games can be spoiled if you don't avoid coverage. Not an issue for me tho, I like to know a lot about a game before deciding it's worth my time—so it's a different personal consideration for every gamer.
MultiPlayer
Unless a game is a classic, the multiplayer scene will decrease over time and there will come a time when it's no longer practical, or maybe even the servers have been switched off. PG definitely works best for single-player gaming.
Hype, memes, chat
PG misses out on all the early community excitement and interaction—this can be a negative if your gaming motivation is mainly social, or of course a positive if you want a more considered view of a game before deciding to jump in.
Compatibility?
Probably not a concern for PC gaming on Windows, most old games work fine in Windows 10 or else work in 'Compatibility Mode'—eg I got 1995's original Command and Conquer to work easily 3-4 years ago. But it is a possible problem
Sources
Forbes
Patient Gaming Will Save You Time And Money
GrownGaming
Patient Gamer: Is It Time to Actually Become One?
WhatNerd
What Is “Patient Gaming”? 5 Reasons to Be a Patient Gamer
The 10 Levels of Patient Gamers
I love this post! And that sub-reddit has over ½ million PG members!!
I'm maybe halfway through Afterglow currently and it is much better, though it's certainly different from what I expected after finishing 2063. Very much enjoying it still, after a frame of mind shift to understanding that it was structured differently.
Do think you must have had something enabled, as I haven't yet encountered a rocket launcher in either game and while there is a chainsaw analogue, it's not quite the same.
Think I'm playing on normal difficulty and the shooting isn't necessarily super challenging, but the resource management is what I'm finding I'm enjoying the most. Definitely have had times where I've died, but generally this is mitigated by a reload and knowing where and what monsters are coming up.
My review is so glowing probably because I'm a sucker for resource management. Think this is the reason the original Diablo is my favorite of the series--though I haven't played 4--because it feels much more survival horror than monster murder fest.