What was the last risky video game purchase you made?

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Probably GTAV. Last one I played was 3 and the GTA games have always been "ok" for me, the sort of games I'll abandon shortly after getting into double digits because although not bad, they don't really grab me in any way. But having watched watched a lot of multiplayer lets plays it seemed like a lot of fun online. I don't really have any gaming friends so I figured the odds would be rather long. Turns out you need friends to play with. 11 hours, uninstall. Typical.

Losing out on a technicality is Mordhiem because my sister bought it for me for Xmas. Being a warhammer game got me interested but at the same time also got me worried. In general most of these smaller studio GW games are a case of crossing your fingers and praying "please don't be shit" over and over and are often so lightly reviewed it can be difficult making an informed opinion. Mordeim seemed generally to have good press but I had a few niggling doubts.
I've not got far in, so maybe it opens up later, but I just can't be bothered to slog through all the matches that play out pretty much the same way. Stay together, overwhelm individual enemies and win, or split up, and they will probably do the same to you.

 

[M0rp43vs]

For the first time in half a year, I looked through the Steam shop page and saw a re-release of ADOM. Now I am a big fan of Roguelikes so I have a passing knowledge of ADOM but I was wondering if I was spoiled by newer roguelikes and would I be able to get into an older, more unforgiving one (haven't touched Nethack in years because of it).

So I took the plunge, bought it, installed it and actually had fun with it. It helped that I had recently gotten into tabletop games so suddenly all the skills and stats and junks finally made sense. It felt like a less silly, more well put together Elona.

There's just something about an old-school Roguelike dungeon crawler that's so likeable. Maybe it's the customisation and ADOM has a ton of those (Not in appearance, but in race and classes).

 

[Itsuki93]

I suppose for me it would be Asphyxia. Not only did I know nothing about it but I'm not usually a fan of visual novels, I find them boring and they normally have a very weak story and no character development. I was blown away and loved pretty much everything about it and am very glad that I bought it.

 

[Xerosch]

GTA 5 and Fallout 4 were kinda risky for me because I didn't like their direct predesessors. Got a hyped or hoped the developers would do something new. I ended up not enjoying either of the two games and put them on the 'maybe someday' pile after about 5-6 hours.

There's just something that turns me off in every GTA I've played so far. I think I'm simply not able to see the parody aspect and end up with really annoying characters.
As for Fallout 4, I was very bored with Fallout 3. And that's basically what's been happening with Fallout 4, just a lot quicker. Bethesda hasn't been able to write anything interesting for quite some time now...

On the other hand I didn't know anything about 'Talos Principle' and 'Party Hard'. Both ended up in my 2015 Top 5.

 

[teqrevisited]

I haven't taken a risk buying a new game without research in a long time. The last game I bought with minimal research was probably Persona 4.

I kept hearing random people say it was good good. Then I heard about some kind of murder mystery element to it, the fact it was a jRPG, which I hadn't really touched since Final Fantasy X despite lauding 1 - 10 as games that I've enjoyed immensely, and that it was all done in an anime style. This was when I began to doubt whether I'd like it. I don't watch any anime. I'd seen bits here and there but nothing that I would ever consider watching.

Having completed the game multiple times and bought a Vita primarily for Persona 4 Golden, to then complete that multiple times and make it one of the only games I've gone out of my way to get 100% for, I can safely say that I regret nothing. I still don't watch anime but it got me playing games with that art style that I perhaps might not have touched. Disgaea being a great example. A great, time-devouring, example.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't make risky purchases.
The closest thing would be getting the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection, because I regard Kojima's writing skills on par with the first inanimate object that comes to mind at any given moment (sponges!). Nevertheless the collection comes with 8 games and I bought it for the price of 1, so I figured odds are in my favor and I didn't take much of a risk buying it.

 

[happyninja42]

Well, by the OP's criteria for a risky purchase, mine would have to be Life is Strange. It's definitely not what would be considered my standard zone for game genres, but it's become one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I tend to research most games I intend to buy and not really impulse buy anything unless its pretty cheap. If you could call it a game however I would say my last impulse buy on a reasonably priced game of which I knew hardly anything about would be Steins Gate.

For the first two hours I was unsure if it would deliver but at the end the risk definitely paid off. One of the best experiences I have had on a digital format. If I classed it as a game it would be up there near the top.

Come to think of it my top 3 games of all time I would all consider risky purchases but then again I would consider some of my worst games of all time the same.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Out of risky ones. Well, I got Darkest Dungeon the week it was released on Early Access. Bugs and glitches outside, I guess it payed off.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I want to say "The Magic Circle", as all I had to go on was the trailer and concept... But then again I picked it up on sale so... (BTW, game was TOTALLY worth it, it was amazing)

So I can't really remember. Most of my games are either bought for cheap on sale, or are from genres or developers I like, or they're recommended by friends or Extra Credits.

That said, I might be making a risky purchase next week. I'm kinda interested in Final Fantasy Explorers (It looks like An uber customizable FF skinned PSO), but a lot of the Japanese reviews are iffy about it. So...If I DO pick it up (because I want me another portable action RPG that isn't Monster Hunter), then it'll be a risky purchase.

...Or I might just wait for the english reviews, then maybe buy Fantasy Life instead which a friend is begging me to play. ...Or maybe I'll just say bollocks to it and get back to Rune Factory 4 which I have only completed one of the 3 storylines for... I dunno.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Red Ninja: End of Honor

Yeah, that shit did not end up working out. Gambled and lost hard with that game. I have played games where the camera is your enemy, I am an 89 baby I grew up through that, but holy fuck this game! Not only that but the inverted camera controls really fuck with me and there is no way in changing them and that along with the awful rubber banding camera are a death sentence for boss battles.

 

[09philj]

I tend to weigh up purchases to the point of agonising over them. Arguably buying a Vita and Persona 4 Golden was a risky purchase just because I dropped so much cash on it at once. I will, however, give almost anything free a go, which is how I ended up playing Katawa Shoujo. I'm so glad it was free, because if it had had an attached cost I never would have tried it, and I adore that VN. Me and currency don't part easily.

 

[Silverbeard]

I'd say Templar Battleforce. It's a top-down turn based strategy game that has players commanding a squad of battlemechs (basically) against hordes of alien enemies. It showed up on Steam's front page one day so I saw the gameplay trailer, said 'huh. This looks more Wahammer 40k than most Warhammer 40k!' and I bought it.
It's been a great purchase so far. Decent campaign, decent strategic possibilities, decent writing and decent in-game lore and universe building. All around a decent game.

 

[mrdude2010]

Edit: duplicate post

 

[mrdude2010]

I got the Fear series pretty cheap, but I had no idea whether I would like it or not. Other than that, pretty much all of my video game purchases are safe bets. I suppose I bought Kerbal Space Program before I even knew whether they would finish it or not, but even the demo version was worth the $15.

Also, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I bought Huniepop

 

[Burgers2013]

I usually do a lot of research on a game before buying now a-days since it's so easy. The last "risky" purchase I made was fund the Kickstarter for Dreamfall Chapters because I loved the 2nd game. That did not pan out. I only got to play the first chapter because I couldn't figure out how to get the remaining chapters to work as they came out. Never heard from Red Thread when I tried to contact them about what I was supposed to do. The game wasn't supposed to be released in a chapter format to begin with. That just happened because the team couldn't come even close to meeting their deadline. The first chapter was only okay. I'm not particularly sorry I did it because when I funded it, I knew that it could end up being a disaster and was okay with that risk.

This didn't dissuade me from ever funding a Kickstarter ever again, but it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth either.

 

[Sabitsuki]

My last 'risky' buy was Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson for the 3DS, though it may be more appropriate to call it a 'risqu?' purchase. Eh? Eh?

Anyway. I tend to avoid these very fanservicy types of games when its not something that immediately draws me in. I find it's very difficult to get an honest accurate opinion of them since they tend to be extremely polarizing for the theme of their content. The sheer amount of praise for its apparently highly competent brawler gameplay made me crumble on that though, despite my initial hesitance to humor it. I figured it would have to be at least passably fun, which could be enough for a handheld game.

Unfortunately this particular risk burned me pretty hard. The game is atrocious. It's clumsy, it's simple, it's boring. It has little to no nuance. Bosses run at you with mindless attack spammy AI. Both your characters and the enemies move too much to accommodate the tiny 3DS screen and you'll be constantly pestered by off-screen ranged attacks. The game locks its simplistic combos behind level walls, literally sending you through the entire first stage with your only combo being 'X, X, X, X, X', and slowly drip feeds you other basic combat actions over the course of the game.

It doesn't even have a cute fanservice oriented story, it tries to take itself so damn seriously to the point that I was cringing through every single one of the very frequent cutscenes. Characters spew out heavy-handed backstory like they just couldn't get it out fast enough. The opening narration is an exhaustive explanation of "Good Shinobi" and "Evil Shinobi" but how actually people have "both good AND evil inside them", and it's just so trite and pointless, it's like listening to someone explain the duality of man to a 1st grader. One of the first major bosses is a massive twisted demon that goes on about bathing in the blood of innocent shinobi. Its a story that just has absolutely no fun with itself for being about weirdly well-endowed teenage ninja girls that rip eachothers clothes off.

It has been a very long time since I paid full price for a game that gave me such an immediate and consistent feeling of 'I am just not having any fun at all.'

 

[CaitSeith]

I think the most risky way I buy games is if I hear it recommended by someone I trust, but telling me almost nothing (or being really vague) about it. The exception was Monster Hunter Tri, which I bought as part of a bundle with a Wii Classic Controller Pro (and let me tell you, it really needs it), and I ended up liking it. Returning to the pseudo-risky purchases, the latest one was Song of Saya (Saya No Uta), which is a visual novel described as "like Silent Hill, but with no holds barred, and no restrain for taste".

 

[Jak2364]

Uh, well most recent would be The Division. I know I know, it's not even out yet, but I saw it for around $30 and for some reason I just can't help myself when it comes to getting new releases that cheap. I guess we'll see if it ends up disappointing me as much as Destiny.

As for a gamble I can actually judge, I bought Ys VI: The Ark Of Naphishtim during the last steam sale. I've always been driven off by the kinda cutesy art of games like that because it's typically attached to games I don't get into very much. I'm so glad I took the $5 plunge. I bought the rest of the series and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Playing through Ys 2 and on my 3rd playthrough of Ys Origin before I jump into The Oath In Felghana. I really hope they port Ys 7 and Memories Of Celceta to PC so I don't have to get them for my Vita. Also 8 could use a US release date.

 

[lacktheknack]

I saw Punch Club, a retro-esque fighting managerial sim, which looked like the lovechild of Alter Ego and Streets of Rage balanced on a unicycle.

I bought it.

Turns out, it's more like Alter Ego crossed with Rocky crossed with a Jet Li parody. I like it.