Patient Gaming

[Brian Boru]

Patient Impatient Gamers Club

Revered club founder:

 

[Zloth]

You mean it wasn't Roger??

 

[mainer]

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.

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

 

[Sarafan]

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

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.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've become increasingly more patient over the years. A big turning point was when I got Spore. I had followed the hype for about two years before the game came out and the actual game was such a huge disappointment compared to the stuff they showed during development.

Since becoming a parent I have so little time for gaming it's just not worth it to buy new games, especially not with the amount of games I already own that I still want to play.

The last game I bought on Steam was Conquest of Elysium 4 on November 26, 2020, which I think was a bit of an impulse buy. I've only bought some DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2 since, after I got the base game as a birthday gift.

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.

 

[Brian Boru]

Spore

Yeah, that was a major let-down, considering it had Will Wright and Soren Johnson in the team—plus the big DRM fiasco.

turning point

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.

 

[Sarafan]

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.

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.

 

[Johnway]

i've been a bit silent on the whole Patient gaming thing, but yes i too practice restraint when it comes to buying games.

i rarely buy games on launch day and few that i have were because the price was going up after EA or some special offer and for the most part i've lucked out. I don't really play competitive multiplayer, so all the pitfalls of FOMO are negated and the multiplayer i do play is usually PvE and rarely i have little interest in those. I would like to play vermintide 2 after getting a free copy but that 100GB+ storage is making me think twice. (even though i have nearly 500gb free).

Generally speaking it takes a lot of restraint and willpower to not splash cash, not going to lie, there are many times i am tempted and even crumbled and bought the game when i should have waited. Like getting Resident evil 2 the complete edition for £22. I haven't gotten round to playing that game and you see it for less then a tenner sometimes...

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. Its not like the old days where you had a few retail copies and once they're gone; good luck finding another one (so system shock 2/thief gold etc commanded high prices). Of course with the likes of ebay and then steam/online retailers its usually not a problem now. Also bundles have ensured that it pays to wait. Oh and epic store gives the game away so other times i get games i want and don't need to buy them.

Like most people i also like to get everything in one neat package (GOTY editions etc) and waiting ensures i get everything at an affordable price and/or give me some perspective as to whether to wait or buy something. naturally games that constantly release new DLC makes things expensive and i have to do more background research or waiting before committing. Some games i'm prepared to wait as the price never changes or deviates from a particular price. Sekiro for example hasn't dropped from £24 in sales or divinity original sin 2 hasn't dropped to more then 11.99 so i can wait and snag those another time.

I would say my price point has dropped to "As cheap as i can get it without illegally pirating it". For the most part i use isthereanydeals.com as well and set a price point/discount and if the stats suggest a particular trend i decide whether to buy or not. In 7/10 cases, if a lowest price is reached, chances are it will happen again or go lower. other times i just surf around and see if there is anything worth buying and just grab them. Again, depends on the game itself, stuff from activision/blizzard rarely drop in price and so if there is a deal for like £20 or less, serious consideration for purchase.

Tbh, growing up in a poor family i've sort of set a mentality for saving money. I could bore you all, but this post is getting a bit long.

 

[Sarafan]

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.

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...

 

[Frindis]

I'm being patient and waiting for Dead Island 2 and Dying Light 2 on sale with all DLCs. Probably gonna take some time, but I have Dying Light 1 to enjoy while I wait.

 

[mainer]

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.

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.

I know there will be bugs and multiple patches after Starfield releases. I know that there will be those who say that the combat is boring, or just mock Bethesda's games in general, some without ever having played them. I know it will probably be a better experience two years down the road after the modding community has a chance to work on it.

None of that bothers me, as I know that for me it will be hundreds of hours of immersion and exploration that I will enjoy greatly. It's rare these days to see a large game developer/producer focus solely on the single player experience and gameplay (ignoring the multiplayer options, online-only, and monetization), and I applaud Bethesda for sticking with that formula.

***************************************************************

Getting back to the patient/impatient gamer idea, I don't know if I've become more patient, but more the fact that many new releases, especially from the "AAA" game developers/publishers, have the focus on multiplayer-type options, online-only requirements, and monetization elements. There's also an increase in the "Souls-like" and "Rogue-like" tags in games, especially RPGs. None of those game elements interest me, and are in fact a deterrent to me to purchase a game.

I'm not knocking any of those elements, as I know millions of gamers enjoy at least some of them, but they're just not for me. I don't needlessly knock a game I've never played, but it does affect my buying decisions. I've only purchased two new games this year.

My one compulsive purchase was Encased (an isometric RPG similar to Fallout 1 & 2), and that was mainly due to the fact that it was under $5.00. The other was the DLC, Palace of Ice for Solasta, which is a continuation of the main campaign for high level D&D characters. Having nearly reached the halfway point of 2023, the only other new games I currently have a strong interest in are Starfield, Baldur's Gate 3, and the System Shock Remake. So I don't think I've really become more patient, just that there are less new games that interest me than there used to be years ago.

 

[Johnway]

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...

yeah being selective helps reduce the amount. That said, looking at 2023, i've acquired 30 games on steam... Most of them were free or in a bundle. I think when it comes to games that come in a bundle its worth considering snagging it. if there's plenty of games that you want and haven't acquired, its definitely worth a look. But if there is like one or 2 games and expecting me to pay 20 for stuff i have i nope out of it.

Console games is where being patient doesn't really pay off. nintendo's games rarely drop in price compared to pc games and Same with the other consoles at times, so thank god i don't have a console.

Looking at my collection, a large number of them are indie as opposed to AAA games, but its pretty bad to see games i bought 5+ years ago not getting a look in. its partly why i'm playing the rise of the tomb raider atm, bought it for like a tenner for the 20th anniversary edition and turns out i could have got that game for free with epic...

That also reminds me, to make your investment worth your money (or at least justify it in my mind), play it immediately. Easily done with multiplayer games but for indie games its always worth waiting, the reality is that the prices for those games usually have the deepest discounts...

 

[Brian Boru]

i've been a bit silent on the whole Patient gaming thing

Ah, finally a potential super-patient emerges! Anyone who can be patient about this thread is a true hero

bought the game when i should have waited

I operate the @Zloth principle, which thankfully he didn't copyright—"Will I play within 6 months?"… if not, don't buy.

that 100GB+ storage is making me think twice

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.

my ever growing collection of unplayed games

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!

 

[Johnway]

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.

The simplest thing is just is indeed just buy another HDD, My pc has room for another SSD M2 but honestly with 1tb i should be fine. i currently have 3 games installed (one "main" game, path of exile and Chivalry 2). I've never used up all the 1tb but watching it slowly balloon isn't helping. i suppose its like spending money as well. I conserve space.

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!

Ah yes duplicates. not going to lie, i've sometimes bought games on steam not realizing i had it on epic and thats embarrassing. Multiple copies of the same game as well because i got it free. I have 2 copies of some games either via epic or steam remasters. I've got 2 copies of Bioshock 2, DOW, Darksiders, COH. i think i got some of the other stuff when i started randomly punching codes of windows live games into my steam account and got them free. So i can probably discount 10 of the games on my list as already as been played. Still a large number though.

The good news is that my blizzard/activision account i've beaten all the games (or in my case starcraft 2). origin, whilst i have freebies, its just jedi fallen order and i got that last year for free.

Ubisoft, apart from the free games (namely anno games), i need to finish off wildlands, assassin's creed odyssey and southpark.

GoG is a blackhole of freebies. I rarely buy games on there tbh. But the collection always keeps increasing...

Then throw in my raspberry pi and all the console games on THAT thing. So playstation, megadrive, snes, nes, mame, neogeo and yeah thats going to be an issue. Working on it, weekday lunch times i plug away at it. ATM i'm playing Front mission 3 and that has kept me busy for the last 4-5 months...

 

[Zloth]

I operate the @Zloth principle, which thankfully he didn't copyright...

Well of course, not - I patented it, as my lawyers have explained to you on numerous occasions.

 

[Frag Maniac]

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

Reddit
The 10 Levels of Patient Gamers
I love this post! And that sub-reddit has over ½ million PG members!!

Fantastic, a style of gaming who's only skill requirement is the ability to wait a LONG time for huge price drops!

I would say you "missed a spot" though. A lot of AAA titles once they become cheap have also lost their DRM service, which in some cases can be beneficial to performance.

 

[Brian Boru]

A lot of AAA titles once they become cheap have also lost their DRM service

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

only skill requirement

I refer you to the current Diablo 4 thread if you need to develop a deeper appreciation for this rare and precious mastery!

 

[Frag Maniac]

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

Actually I was referring more to DRM like Denuvo, which has been know to affect performance on some games.

 

[BeardyHat]

I find patient gaming to be so much easier now that I have less time for everything. I still listen to gaming Podcasts, follow news, etc, etc, but I just can't muster the care for the latest and greatest thing, especially when I look at my 20-year old Steam Account and see so much that I haven't ever touched.

It's become significantly easier for me to get an itch for a game and start looking through my library to see what I have or even to think of all the games I missed in the last 30-years and decide to try one of them, especially since I often either own them or can pick them up on Steam or GoG for cheap.

I did recently have a moment though and picked-up the new System Shock. I played System Shock for the first time in 2020 (That whole thing about playing games I missed) and loved it to bits, so I was pretty excited about the remaster, especially since it sounds like they've kept everything pretty similar.

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.

 

[Pifanjr]

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 really like how this review contrasts with the one @Johnway wrote:

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.

 

[Johnway]

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.

 

[BeardyHat]

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'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.

 

[Zloth]

Now what is THIS that I find in my very own PC Gamer magazine!? The "Extra Life" section, which is a collection of little articles recounting the joys of playing games sometime after the hype has died down, is led off by none other than Baldur's Gate 3! THREE! It isn't even properly released yet, and it's showing up in the Extra Life section!

Clearly, we have much work to do, fellow Patienters.

 

[ZedClampet]

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

Reddit
The 10 Levels of Patient Gamers
I love this post! And that sub-reddit has over ½ million PG members!!

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.

This would be like calling a soccer player who scores right away instead of waiting for the last few seconds impatient.

 

[Johnway]

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.

its the only explaination tbh. Which is a bit galling considering it was supposed to be set up in ZDl in such a way that Any of the WADS custom assets would actually supercede beautiful dooms one.

But its a moot point as by the time i was playing Ashes afterglow i dropped it completely. Theres no rocket launcher in the game, the closest is probably the master blaster or the killer pig. The former just shoots fire as opposed to explosives.

I wouldn't say that ashes was too dry when it came to ammo and resources there's plenty of resources available to upgrade your stuff and/or give you options. yes, i had to switch weapons back and forth but thats part of the course when it comes to Doom wads, if you're running low on one type of ammo or whether you're facing off against enemies that drop a certain type of ammo you might as well use that gun as well. (Eg shotgun bandits, switch to shotgun). Sometimes you adjust for particular threats using heavier duty weapons or the crowbar for weaker ones (like your bog standard cannaibals). Of course, being a doom wad, monster infighting was always something i tried just to last that bit longer especially useful for tougher/trigger happy enemies all too keen to shoot through the crowd of melee based monsters.


But getting back to topic at hand, even when i have the money to buy resources or stuff ingame seem to save it. Either because life lessons has taught be that the items usually free to find later on, the game shopkeepers are ripping me off, i find better alternatives if i hold off and/or i save it for a seriously bad rainy ingame day. Stardew valley i made millions and still didn't want to spend money and was hording it like some sort of dragon for reasons i don't know. The draw back is that sometimes you have to spend money to make money and too often opportunties/progression come knocking sooner if i was prepared to commit/gamble. I dunno, its just feeling short on cash worries me. Even though i won't spend any of it!

The only exception is probably Path of exile where i make the exception to splash hard earned currency because i have no room in stash or i have to progress to higher maps and/or get gear whilst i still can. Once its gone in the players store its gone. As someone who doesn't craft their own gear (let someone else waste their time and resources) i have to splash the chaos orbs to get ahead or move forward and hope my investment pays off or i make my investments back.