The Return Of The Nameless One?
Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun, it appears that Planescape: Torment may be on queue to be rereleased very, very soon (October 30th soon) at £17.99. A few things seem odd, particularly as it is raises the question of who owns the rights to the game these days and whether or not this will see legal action. Also, searching the US Amazon listings provides no such luck (thankfully my copy is staring at my back right now).
However, going through RPS's comments, a decent debate has popped up concerning the price of the game; namely, is it too high? The game will be a decade old this December, though it is often highly lauded and seems to be many reviewer and critic's darling. At the same time, a quick perusal of sites where others can sell their copies shows that it can easily range from $20-95.
Then again, I was the chap running across Chicago to get a copy of Ico from a GameStop after asking at my local one for help, even with the $30 price tag. Pricing points have been on my own mind a lot of late, which is likely why this has caught my eye, and the chance to nerd out about Planescape again--though I cannot say how favorably the game would be received by a broader audience.
Which leaves me wondering how much you all are willing to pay for older games; particularly if the game in question is considered a cornerstone and reference point by many? Are the consoles getting it right by and large?
VorpalBunny
Posted to Miscellany on 28 October 2009
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: black isle studios, interplay, pc, planescape: torment, pricing, shenanigans, united kingdom
Ridiculously overpriced. They bundled the entire Baldur's Gate collection together (and Icewind Dale) and re-released them on DVD for £5 cheaper than that.
PST is great, but very very dated. No way should it be almost as much as a brand new game without some serious repolishing or extra content thrown in.
I totally agree with Poltergasm. PST is a fantastic game, but this pricing is a bit nonsensical.
I understand that PST actually had missing content in it's original release that modders had opened up via patching. Re adding that with improved resolutions and some new content would justify a larger price in my opinion, but then, this really is an exceptional game.
There is a major difference in the case of ICO vs. Planescape. ICO is limited. Either it is sold out and you are getting a used copy, or it has been sitting there for a while. Either way.
And the pricing of Planescape through the used market is the same. It is the only way to get the game (for the moment) and costs are high for it.
Back when the SNES Chrono Trigger was the only version, carts were selling at $70 MINIMUM, and sometimes upwards of $120. The cartrage is OLDER now, but becouse of the re-releases, it is now around 33$. And the Re-releases were also limited things.
So, yea, the current value is high, but a remake or rerelease should bring them down as more enter the market, sating demand. So using the used market price is not really a good way to go about it for this sort of thing, in my opinion.
Considering what a used copy goes for on ebay (the "budget" jewelbox version can go for 30-40 bucks while the big box version sells for considerably higher than that) the price isn't *too* bad.
The price is absolutely fine, and definitely what the game deserves.
Nothing important in the game is dated. Oh noes, graphica. Who cares?
Just being able to get it on a DVD makes it worth the price, IMO, let alone being able to get it at all.
If they release it technically updated to today's standards, namely vista-compatible, supporting 16:9 monitors and no need for disc swapping, then the price is okay. I've been looking for a copy for years now, and I really don't understand why don't they release it via steam or gog.com?
Oh dear me. I guess I must be terribly lowbrow for liking to play a game in resolutions higher than 800 x 600 and with sound quality that doesn't sound like the voice actors are being smothered with a duvet.
I'll be off prostrating myself before the PST Zealots for daring to damn their baby with faint praise.
PST is an excellent game, but lets not descend into a fan-fest fap-frenzy and pretend its stood up to the test of time unscatched.