My Order arrived on release date

Sometimes I have this feeling that I'm always complaining about the editions I buy. I wonder what people who read this blog think about it. Am I crazy for spending extra money on pricey editions and games just to complain about? Do I really like most of the stuff I post here or is it just a fetish or an addiction to buy every single one of these? Kinda...

The Order 1886 is another one of those games I'd love to be playing right now, but unfortunately I can't. Not until I solve my problems at home, and that will take a few months. By the time I'm done, I'll probably move on to other games and this one will be left behind. There's a top three this year that I want to play no matter what, unless of course they add DMR or require online connection all the time. No matter how hardcore I am, I do not support that. I just hope that everything is solved by the time those big games come out. 

This Blackwater Edition was a major disappointment. I do welcome smaller editions for cheaper prices, so I don't really complain about the fact that we didn't receive one of the huge editions with large statues as those released in the US. But if I'm going to spend additional money on one game, then it rather be worth it. I rarely ever buy brand new game releases unless they have a limited edition, and even still I don't buy all the limited editions on release date. I just do that when I'm guessing it will be sold out or when I truly like the game and/or the edition related to it. 

It's pretty clear that this game was one of the big hits, and big hits are usually very sought after. Considering this, I've made up my mind about picking this edition on release date. Unfortunately, as the edition was heading my way, I had the chance to open one and see the contents. I was rather disappointed. First of all, the necklace it comes with or whatever that is, is pretty pointless. In my opinion, it's not interesting, charismatic, whatsoever. It has little meaning to me. Secondly, the exclusive cover of the game inside this edition is horrible. The regular game has a much prettier cover and they could have easily added that one with the name of the edition of it if they wanted it to differ from the regular solo version. Even the steelbook edition is much prettier and for a moment I considered that to be the best purchase. The problem is that I hate steelbooks, even when I have to keep them sealed. I already quit buying all the Portuguese editions, so I won't bother getting that one as an extra. The rest of the content in this edition is fine, but it feels not enough. I don't care about DLCs but still got one of those papers with a useless code I'll probably never activate.

The edition doesn't come sealed. I mean, it does come sealed with your good old sticker on the box flaps, but not with cellophane or shrinkwrap. It comes in one of those types of clear plastic cases that allow them to print all the useless information almost nobody cares about while sparing the actual box from having all that trash directly on it. It also makes these editions look neat. The same type of plastic cases that get easily scratched if they are mishandled by distributors, stores and warehouses, which they obviously are and all parties involved in the making (including designers) know about that. They then look ugly, worn out, old, no longer mint. When used copies pop up at stores, they'll probably look even worse. Adding some cellophane around the box provides additional protection before the edition is sold but nobody cares. In the end, they are just concerned about sales. Nobody is concerned about professionalism, nobody is concerned about taking these things more seriously. They are just videogames and videogames are just  I'm not an expert about limited editions and packages, but I also don't get paid to put these on sale and do an average job at best.

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Instantly worth it just because it's Zelda

Yeah, Majora's Mask for the 3DS arrived and so did this little Special Edition that I obviously had to get. It reminds me of the moment when I originally bought the Limited Edition Adventure Set for the N64, the first huge purchase that made it to my collection back in 2005 or 2006 I believe. It's been around 10 years!

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Following the alternative path

Being a huge Tomb Raider Fan, I couldn't help but get the newest PS4 version of the latest Tomb Raider game, entitled Definitive Edition. This game received a very small CE that wasn't released over here but for less than 50 euros for a PS4 port, I couldn't really complain and decided to buy the digipak version of the game.

However, I will probably stop collecting new gen videogames so seriously now that the newer generation came out. It's a little hard to explain how I feel using English grammar, but since this blog is written in english since the beginning it would make no sense to change that now. 

 I have been assembling games since I was 12 or 13, during the Sega Saturn and Playstation 1 age. I started collecting more seriously a few years later but now I am getting a little tired. I still love collecting but companies are trying to milk the cow to death and I am having personal issues with that. First, the DLCs came. When I first heard about it I was a little reluctant. It was supposed to be something good to extend the lifetime of a particular game. But then they started with all that crap such as extra costumes and completely useless additions that do not affect the gaming experience in any way. Suddenly, many DLCs started to come out on the game's release date. Some were exclusive to certain editions whereas others were available if you preordered the game from a particular store. That's like buying a puzzle where some pieces are missing: you can still assemble it, but you'll end up with a few empty spots in the end. DLCs are not something that you can really collect. The most dramatic case I know of is Asura's Wrath. The game was actually offered to me by a very nice friend but I wouldn't buy that game unless it was brand new and the price was bellow 5 euros. Why would you even buy a game where you are forced to pay extra if you want to see the real ending? Those DLC could pretty much come inside each game disc on release date. But no, many think it's a better idea to actually sell another copy of the same game with all the extra stuff a few months later. How many different Skyrim editions are there already? Even being a DLC enthusiast, I never paid for a single DLC.

On top of that, too many important games are only coming out in digital format. That's actually good. Well, in theory at least. Producing so many physical copies is a waste of resources and digital copies are supposedly cheaper (not in every case..). But companies are not concerned with that. They only do that because they can cut production costs in games they don't expect to sell so well and hopefully increase their profit. Nothing new here... And suddenly they came up with a "wonderful" idea: Free to Play. Some games are actually very good and do a decent job where you don't really need to buy anything unless you want to progress faster in the game, such as Warframe. Others however are cancer in my opinion, such as that Free to Play Tekken. I am a huge Tekken fan but I downloaded the game and I couldn't stand more than half an hour. But the main issue I have with Free to Play games is, again, you can't collect them, you can't actually own a physical copy of that game, you have to buy too many DLCs in order to progress. 

Another problem I see with collecting games is the enormous amount of editions that come out for the same game in different countries and sometimes for unbearable prices. It all started with Modern Warfare, the game that receive the 189 euros  edition with night vision googles. Right now we have Titanfall for the XBone which has an edition priced at almost 300 euros and it doesn't even include the game inside the package. I started collecting CEs and LEs when they were 10 to 30 euros more expensive than the regular game and when they were really special. Nowadays each important game gets at least one edition and half of them end up in the bargain bin. 

Then we have the steelbook fever. Steelbooks do look beautiful but the materials used are bad: cheap metal that rusts. They are not made of stainless steel or aluminium, they're just well handled cheap metal. If you're unlucky enough to live in a country with average to high humidity during the cold season like me, they tend to rust much faster and that's almost inevitable. Some people seem to live in a dream world and believe steelbooks don't rust, or simply rust when they are scratched and painting is chipped due to bad handling. That's completely wrong. I gave up collecting steels unless they come factory sealed or kept in vacuum, but most editions nowadays include one steelbook and people are not happy if they don't...

Finally, we also have the terrible attitude from companies like Microsoft. The Xbox 360 did something quite amazing and became a popular console all over the world, competing against the older videogame giants such as Nintendo or Sony. Me, being a Sony fan, bought one of these. And now I even own three. My 360 collection is just about as big as my PS3 collection. But now they just trashed the small empire they've built over the years around the world and decided to produce a console 100% oriented towards the US market, ignoring most of the other smaller countries. They were even able to upset the US costumers with all those rules about used games etc etc and decided to step back. Now I live in a place like many others in Europe and around the world that didn't even know when and what would be released here related to XBone by the time I originally wrote this post a few weeks ago.

All these things together become a nuisance for a collector like me. I am sticking with PS4 for this generation and I will definitely slow down my collection habits this time. With so many great games I am still missing in my retro collection, it's now time to spend more time and money to get those games instead of the overpriced CEs coming out from now on.

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Since we were talking about AC...

Here's a little extra I received not too long ago: the exclusive Austrian wooden box of Assassin's Creed Revelations. This one was also for the Xbox 360 and it was very cheap: only 14 euros. The game is used, but I just wanted the box anyway :). It's called Black Edition, which is not the most original name for an AC edition considering the second instalment already received something with the exact same name. 

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Controllers everywhere

Just a small update with two bundles that took me some time to get (because their prices took too long to drop :P), both for the 360: the Halo ODST Special Edition bundle with the green controller (not a big fan of that controller...) and the Sega Rally Online Arcade Wireless Speed Wheel bundle.

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And yet another country exclusive

It took me quite some time (several years...) to finally get something I've been wanting to buy for a long time. It's not rare or expensive, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to buy it. Then suddenly a factory sealed copy appeared before my eyes and I though that was the moment to finally get it. Sorrym don't get too impressed, because it's nothing that special. It's just the french version of Gran Turismo 2 with a slightly different cover, double CD case and bonus disc with extra content. Totally worth it, since GT2 is still one of my racing faves out there. It's still factory sealed with a couple tiny cracks on the case that don't worry me that much.

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Temporary insanity

I remember when the first game came out: it looked great and it was amazing. So I preordered the second game, but it was pretty annoying to play.

And now here we have the 3rd game: Far Cry 3. I wasn't expecting to buy this so soon, but the price was too good and the reviews and screenshots looked great as well, so I was really tempted. I might give this game a try when I have the chance. It's not a bad edition at all. I'm glad it's not huge like so many others.

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A little love to Forza

I guess I won't take too much time talking about Forza, a great driving sim created for the Xbox. The latest games were pretty good, but I didn't have the chance to give Horizon a try. Unfortunately, unlike the previous games, there was no Portuguese release, so I just took my chance of getting the Collector's Edition from Game UK as soon as the price dropped to something I was willing to spend on it. And so here it is: Forza Horizon Limited Edition. Edit: Actually, I don't know what happened to the picture so I'll update this post later :o

And now something a little more special... Well, actually, not really. It may be rare, but it's not that great: the spanish exclusive Forza Motorsport 3 Press Kit. It barely comes with anything else but a larger outer box and a promotional copy of the game. I think it also came with a key chain but I believe it's missing. I need to confirm this.

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Another Piece.

And one less edition to worry about: the Special Edition box set for One Piece Unlimited Cruise. This game was split in two, unlike the Japanese versions, and they are basically ports of the Wii versions. It's a shame they split this game in two parts. I'm still missing a particular edition of One Piece, but right now this is one less to worry about :)

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Slipcases. Because you know I don't like steelbooks.

Battlefield: Bad Company Gold Edition - slipcase version.

I've had my bunch of chances to get the steelbook version of this game in factory sealed condition but for some particular reason I didn't feel like buying it - the fact that I don't like steelbooks was reason enough for me to hold back when I had the chance. I was actually more focused on getting the slipcase version that came out in region 3 countries (Asia I believe) and I finally managed to find a good deal locally for a mint condition copy, not sealed though. I was blad that I got it. Now I need to find a copy of the Limited Edition of the second game. And now that I think about it, I'm still missing the older games, the ones before bad company.

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I thought the meaning of 'rim' was related to a dirty sexual act.

There isn't much to say about this, except the fact that (don't hit me) I don't like the game and I'm saying this before I even had a chance to play it. I preordered this game, and for the 3rd time in 2 months I forgot to cancel the preorder and it arrived at my door. Great...

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That epic moment when you find something that you've been looking for years!

Yup, after a very long time I finally managed to grab this rare Transport Tycoon + Mouse & Mat set for the Playstation 1. I can imagine why this is so hard to get: it was probably very expensive and not that many people wanted to buy the game. The condition isn't perfect, but it's better than T could expect and the seller was really friendly! I couldn't be happier :)

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How tough could it be to get a Crystal?

Damnn, another final fantasy game, yet another limited edition going insane on ebay after it became sold out. Stipud HMV decides to cancel my order one week before the release that, when it's already too late to find it in any other place. But suddenly they have a few more copies in stock. Zavvi, on the other hand, pulled a very dirty stunt... The edition was available for sale on their website for 59 pounds. It became sold out pretty quickly. The game gets released and this edition pops up on their ebay outlet store for TWICE AS MUCH. Seriously, WHY????

I had to get this edition from local stores. If it wasn't for that, I would have missed the PS3 version because it was pretty hard to get. I eventually picked up both, being such a Final Fantasy Fan... actually, I was a fan of the original 3 PS1 titles, and that's still one of the main reasons that makes me collect all games and editions from the series. If it wasn't for that, I'd not worry so much with buying the same game/edition for both consoles...

Right now I'm only missing the two exclusive slipcases and the blue slipcase for PS3 of the original FFXIII game.

Oh and I can't forget to mention that I also have the two preorder tin cases, one for each console, both factory sealed. My only complain is the fact that this is a steelbook and no matter how good people consider them, they rust where I live - and no I don't live in a pond, I live in a sunny country actually. Overall it was a fairly good preorder bonus to be honest.

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There's only one World. Fake.

It took me a very long tome to finally decide to buy this edition, until I couldn't hold any longer and bought it. I left behind two other editions from the previous game, the smaller Premium Edition and the most recent Velvet Edition, which unfortunately I don't think I'll get any time soon. The game itself looks pretty good but unfortunately the reviews were not that great. This is yet another game I never really planned to play but I believe it has some gameplay issues looking at the videos. I can't really judge the game without playing. This "Strict Limited" (yah right...) Royal Edition includes a good looking tough box, a Dragon Queen Hand-painted figure and a small hard cover artbook among other goodies. It's pretty nice, slightly bigger than Assassin'c Creed Black Edition but still has an acceptable size, not TOO large... I'd rate it 8/10.

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Ratcher & Clank All for (yet another) One

Yep, it's here, the newest title from the series. I always preferred Jak over Ratchet but game developers don't seem to think likewise so Jak never had the opportunity to have his own game published on PS3. Sucks. The Portuguese Edition is fully in Portuguese (obvious comment is obvious) but what I meant to say here is that even the title this time was translated unlike the previous game that retained the original English title. That sucks though, I would prefer to see the English title because that's the official thing. Does Sony think the Portuguese Market is just like the Spanish one or something? It ain't.

So here's this particular variant that you'll not get because you don't care: Ratchet & Clank: Um por Todos Edição de Coleccionador, which translates to "Ratchet & Clank One for All Collector's Edition" (Captain Obvious to the rescue). See, you now know how to write some stuff in Portuguese! Isn't that awesome? I waited a little bit to see if the price of this game would drop, and it happened last weekend.

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Kingdom Hearts pain to get...

With the newly released Collector's Edition titles for PSP (I'm talking about Persona 2 and Trails in the Sky...) I remembered I have been missing a particular PSP Edition for a long time now and it was becoming a pain to find a factory sealed copy. It's the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Special Edition in factory sealed condition. Damn it was not that easy to find a good price for this thing as all the deals I've found for a seald copy were usually 50 euros or more. Finally I found a place selling that for almost half the price. It was now or never folks... so I got it =)

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More Tomb Raider...

The latest addition to my Tomb Raider Collection: the Tomb Raider Gift Pack. This pack comes with 3 collectable cards, a set of playing cards, mouse mat and a compressed XL t-shirt, as well as a sticker for the playstation console. Nothing special here, this is only for fans or collectors.

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