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Post by vysethebold on Nov 5, 2006 15:11:16 GMT -5
As a hardcore but smart gamer, I often am conflicted about buying special editions. Most of them have very little to offer the gamer. Most of the time a special edition will only give you a metal case, an art cell, and/or stupid trailers of the game you already bought (like FFXII and RE4). Most of the time the companies make enough of these "special editions" and they aren't even worth more than the regular editions and you can find them used all over the place. Plus, they get an extra $10 out of you for nothing special. I wanted to get your opinions on the matter. Personally, I think I'll only buy special editions of a game in the future if they've added features, characters, or new levels to the game (like in the special edition of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Jade Empire, and Mortal Kombat: Deception), if I think the game will be especially rare, or if the special edition is the same price as the regular edition.
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Post by The bag of sand on Nov 5, 2006 15:14:29 GMT -5
I have never gotten a special editon game i dont think.
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Post by kal on Nov 5, 2006 15:26:31 GMT -5
I despise all special additions that introduce some *exclusive* feature. Because to begin with they'll sell so many copies of the Special addition that the feature won't be special and on the same flipside of the coin the feature isn't worth the extra $5-10 they'll charge relative to the effort.
See the thing is, back in the day you didn't pay extra it was just expected that games would come with crap, Star Control 2 has this enourmous booklet that's just storyline and so many games came with maps that'd now be sold in a *special addition*. It's offensive! mind you the special addition of Return to Castle Wolfenstien was nice, mmm metal tin.
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Post by YourAverageJoe on Nov 5, 2006 16:27:50 GMT -5
What about that KoF 94 thing? Wasn't that one actually worthy of being called "special"?
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Post by bioniccommando83 on Nov 5, 2006 17:43:32 GMT -5
The only real "special addition" packaging and the like I really cared for was how Working Designs prepared Lunar 1 & 2 for the Play Station. It was also the only way they sold the game (the hardbound strategy guides and the like being extras), which made it a lot more palitable of a buy, even at a higher initial cost.
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Post by Discoalucard on Nov 5, 2006 18:36:31 GMT -5
I'm a sucker so I usually end up buying these. Some have been worth more than others - the Halo 2 package had a nice documentary, as does the FFXII one. I have yet to check out the Splinter Cell bonus disc, though the packaging for that was a bit underwhelming. Ditto with Oblivion although at least that looks cool on the shelf.. I guess it depends on the game - something like Prey doesn't really seem deserving of one. The Perfect Dark Zero one is entirely useless. I hope the Gears of War one is decent.
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Post by megatronbison on Nov 5, 2006 20:13:57 GMT -5
I quite liked the UK special edition on Symphony of the Night- the music CD and art book were worth it I thought. The special edition of Zelda Ages/Seasons rocked too- a shirt, GBC+GBA covers, pin badges and boomerang were really worth the extra cash imo... Maybe I have been lucky having not bought special editions that sucked
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Post by Neo Rasa on Nov 5, 2006 20:28:00 GMT -5
I'm a sucker so I usually end up buying these. Some have been worth more than others - the Halo 2 package had a nice documentary, as does the FFXII one. I have yet to check out the Splinter Cell bonus disc, though the packaging for that was a bit underwhelming. Ditto with Oblivion although at least that looks cool on the shelf.. I guess it depends on the game - something like Prey doesn't really seem deserving of one. The Perfect Dark Zero one is entirely useless. I hope the Gears of War one is decent. The Gears of War one comes with an artbook that contains most of the stuff from that Destroyed Beauty book that was given out at E3. The case is at least badass looking. Prey's special edition had cool miniatures but the actual packaging for the disk was poorly executed to be generous.
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Post by michiyoyoshiku on Nov 5, 2006 23:38:32 GMT -5
I got the DJ Max Prestge came with alot of crap I didn't need
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Post by jameseightbitstar on Nov 6, 2006 0:28:10 GMT -5
Games should not need Special Editions, pure and simple. This is simply further proof that gaming is becoming more about marketting and commercialism through gimmicks, and less about marketting and commercialism through companies actually making good games.
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Post by kyouki on Nov 6, 2006 8:02:12 GMT -5
I despise all special additions that introduce some *exclusive* feature. Because to begin with they'll sell so many copies of the Special addition that the feature won't be special and on the same flipside of the coin the feature isn't worth the extra $5-10 they'll charge relative to the effort. See the thing is, back in the day you didn't pay extra it was just expected that games would come with crap, Star Control 2 has this enourmous booklet that's just storyline and so many games came with maps that'd now be sold in a *special addition*. It's offensive! mind you the special addition of Return to Castle Wolfenstien was nice, mmm metal tin. Man isn't this the truth. I remember back in the mid to late eighties buying computer games and excitedly opening the box on the bus ride home to see what goodies were including. You'd at the very least get a very nice manual... and every once in a while you'd pick up something like Ultima 7 and get a beautiful manual filled with hand drawn artwork and written in character (!), a full color cloth map, a "getting started" guide, and a black rock! Of course, games back then could be pretty damned expensive (if I remember correctly Ultima 7 was around $60+).
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Post by ahnslaught on Nov 6, 2006 8:20:55 GMT -5
If a special edition is actually special, it's totally worth it for fans of that game. Take FFXII or Oblivion special editions, for example - Oblivion gives you a DVD and a book that gets you even deeper into the world, and FFXII has the interesting history DVD, and comes with the steel case which is very nice.
On the other hand, if they are "special editions" like Devil May Cry 3, it sucks because it makes the people who paid $50 for a game only a couple of months ago feel ripped off. That kind of crap is just stupid - it just leads people to wait and never pay full price for popular games.
Me personally, I have no problem buying special editions at a price premium if the game is special to me in some way and comes with decent stuff. Kinda makes up for the fact that I barely pay full price for most games anymore.
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Post by vysethebold on Nov 6, 2006 10:23:02 GMT -5
I actually agree with the companies with the special editions of games like Devil May Cry 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Virtua Fighter 4. I mean the company hears what the fans don't like about the game and goes back, makes the game better, and rereleases the game for a budget price. While I agree that the companies should make the game good in the first place, the above mentioned games are already great, just enhanced by the Special Editions. Anyone with the original can replay the game with more and different content and compare them especially since the price is not too high. The way I see it, the companies have a second chance to make the game even sweeter than they originally intended. I guess I'm coming from the other side of your argument, ahnslaught, because I usually have a good sense of which games will get one of these rereleases/ Greatest Hits printings (except Shadow of the Colossus, not that I'm complaining that people finally paid attention to a game I like). When I see that a game is really popular (keep in mind I do work at a Gamestop) I can see which titles will be reprinted. When the new printing comes out I just buy the Special Edition or if it is a regular Greatest Hits game I'll buy a used copy of game without that crappy Greatest Hits packaging but still get the game for a low price. I did this with Kingdom Hearts 1. I got a perfect condition regular version of the game for $20 when Sony announced they were going to print it on the Greatest Hit label. I still haven't bought Kingdom Hearts 2 because of this reason. The special editions that I hate are the ones that cost more money than the regular edition, yet offer nothing but a couple of crappy incentives. I know I'm not going to get Working Designs level of bonuses, especially now that they are dead, but I think that the special editions that I've been seeing lately could have had much more that just a metal case.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2006 17:03:51 GMT -5
You'd at the very least get a very nice manual... and every once in a while you'd pick up something like Ultima 7 and get a beautiful manual filled with hand drawn artwork and written in character (!), a full color cloth map, a "getting started" guide, and a black rock! Actually, Ultima VI came with a black rock (a moonstone, to be exact), when again Ultima VII came with a Fellowship medallion. Anyway, the only special editions I own are of "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and "Ys: The Oath in Felghana" and I'm proud of owning them both (especially the latter). I don't mind all these released special editions, because it's always good to have choices to choose from.
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Post by kyouki on Nov 6, 2006 20:52:55 GMT -5
Whoops!! Good catch.
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