$60 a Month: Episode X
his month I’m starting something new. It’s not drastically different but it will have an effect on the budget each month. So far I’ve been counting Goozex trades as being essentially free. At first I counted the shipping costs toward the budget each month but I felt that didn’t really apply because it opened the door to factoring in things like gas for a trip to GameStop or something that felt too anal retentive. So I started marking each Goozex trade as Method: Goozex, Cost: Trade.
But the truth is that Goozex charges a flat $1.00 fee for each game you trade in. For light-traffic traders it barely makes a dent; Goozex themselves often run “free trade” promotions and I’d guess an average Goozex user sends out only a game or two each month. But I’ve been sending a lot more than that out and receiving a significant amount in return. Since I’ve refilled my Goozex trade credits several times in the last few months I thought it was only fair that I start counting that toward the budget. So now each Goozex game will be listed as a $1.00 purchase regardless of points value just to keep things even.
Will the new rule change my budget-keeping abilities? Click on to find out.
Budget Breakdown
Coming into May I still had a hefty chunk of change left in carry-over. Most of that is a result of March’s sparse offerings and the fact that I did most of my acquisitions last month via Goozex. Of course now I’m taking a $1.00 hit for each Goozex game so I’ll have to keep an eye on that, plus this month brought with it a con and all its Dealer Room glory. Still, I had a lot to work with, bringing $45.09 and when you include this month’s allotment I had $105.09 to spend.
Here’s what happened:
Games List
- Kingdom Hearts
Platform: PlayStation 2
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
A PlayStation 2 game I grabbed off Goozex for a few points. As you’ll see below I had a lot of pretty big trade-ins on the service so I started dipping into my older wish lists to find stuff to spend those points on. I played about an hour or two and found it a little bit slow to start. I’ll give it another shot somewhere down the line but unless it really hooks me during that session it’s likely to get sent back to Goozex since I don’t have time with all these great games piling up to force my way through a mediocre older title. - God of War: Chains of Olympus
Platform: PSP
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
Sometimes Goozex is even better than Gameznflix/GameFly or brick and mortar rental stores because it’s technically cheaper and you don’t ever have to worry about it clogging up a rental slot (and therefore costing you money month over month) or having to finish it in a certain amount of time. Other times, like with Chains, it could have easily been a GameFly swap-in since I finished it in under a week and had it back out the door a couple of days later. But for $1.00 it’s hard to argue and I really enjoyed the game, while I had it. - Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Platform: PSP
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
After finishing God of War: CoO, I decided I liked the action gaming on PSP thing so I fished around on Goozex for other games that might fit the bill. I liked Tools of Destruction on PS3 before I had to return the rental so I thought I’d give this a whirl. It’s decent but not great and it will probably end up headed back to Goozex next month. - Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Method: XBLA Purchase
Cost: $20.00
I don’t dislike RSPD, honest. However, I don’t love it and at $20 it’s a heavy hit to my budget for a game I’m fairly lukewarm about. What really concerns me is that they plan four games in this series and if the price remains consistent that works out to an $80 game which is simply too much for something I’m not completely in love with. I’ll probably finish this Episode and then leave the rest until they either find a disc-based home I can grab from Goozex or they drop the price down to what I feel it’s worth (about $40 for the whole shebang, based on the initial two hour impression). - Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Platform: Xbox
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
This was a great pick up. For the cheap price of the trade I ended up with one of my favorite NES titles ever (Mega Man 2) plus a slew of other Mega Man games I never got around to playing. I do wish the emulation was a little more full-featured the way it is on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PSP and frankly I’d rather have these games in a handheld format anyway, but it’s hard to complain about what I got for the price. - Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Platform: Xbox
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
I picked this one up because I had gotten partway through it on the original Xbox, liked it a lot, but had to return it because it was a rental and never got back to it. Via the magic of Goozex and the plethora of points I accumulated this month, I grabbed it for a song. I played back through the introductory chapter to test it and it holds up quite well, but I have a lot of newer games to focus on before I dive into this one too deeply. I’m shelving it as a rainy-day title for some slow summer month in the future, but I feel it was a solid acquisition. - Overlord
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
Pretty much my game of the month, I even put down GTA IV in favor of playing through this funky, funny send up of fantasy stereotypes. It’s got clever gameplay, an enjoyable campaign and it even includes online multiplayer (which I haven’t tried yet). I’m not exactly sorry I waited almost a year to play it since it might have gotten buried beneath BioShock but I do hope it found enough of an audience to start a franchise because I know when this game is over I’m going to want to see more of it down the road. - Final Fantasy VI Advance
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Method: Goozex
Cost: $1.00
It’s one of those games I don’t really have time for but I’m determined to squeeze in however I can because I’m historically terrible at completing Final Fantasy games and this is one I really want to say I worked through to the end. That being the goal, you can’t say this wasn’t the right price and the right format to enable such a feat. The addition of the quicksave option makes it great for keeping in the DS’ GBA slot while I rock a different game in the DS proper. - Lost Cities
Platform: Tabletop Board Game
Method: Retail
Cost: $17.28
I picked this up at a comics/games shop near my work after searching for it online and shops near my house. I sort of scored, sort of settled on this copy because it was the only one they had but it has some damage to the back of the box. Because of that I got a pretty good deal on the game (which usually retails for about $25). It was listed at $19.95 and I got them to knock off 20%. I bought it primarily because I loved the XBLA version I picked up last month and wanted to play it with my wife. - Catan Dice
Platform: Tabletop Dice Game
Method: Retail
Cost: $12.99
I played the imported European edition first at a friend’s house before I bought it at the con. It just came out Stateside and I grabbed one of two copies they had (my buddy Aaron snagged the other). It’s a good game that captures the general feel of the classic board game it’s based on but while it supports a large number of players it’s better in smaller groups. Good for when you’re short on time but have too many people to play Catan Card Game instead (which is two player only). - FBI
Platform: Tabletop Card Game
Method: Flea Market
Cost: $4.00
I’m a little disappointed with this game. I only played a single two player game so that isn’t sufficient to make a final determination on its quality but while the exterior package design is stark and attractive, the card art is hideous and gaudy and the mechanics don’t lend themselves well to two players. It may be a better game with more participants but so far the only good thing about this purchase is the low, low price. - Conquest of Pangea
Platform: Tabletop Board Game
Method: Flea Market
Cost: $10.00
I never got a chance to play this one in May. It seems to get semi-sour reviews on Board Game Geek, suggesting it has more potential than actual quality but perhaps the low $10 price tag will soften any rough edges.
List Breakdown
I’m quite pleased with the overall results. I would have liked to find a few more deals at the con flea market, but it was so crowded and overwhelming that I probably gave up before I had a good chance to find something great. I also realized that my value-knowledge is much more robust when it comes to video games than tabletop games; sometimes I was able to identify good values and typically you can’t go wrong with anything under $10 but while I know that grabbing Final Fantasy VII in good to near mint for $20 is a steal or that Marvel vs. Capcom on the PS2 can fetch more than it sold for new these days, I’m still mystified when it comes to board games. Is $60 a good price for a used copy of Talisman? Should someone spend $75 on a well-used but complete copy of Space Hulk?
So I have some green-ness when it comes to board game shopping, but I’m getting a little better. And of course some of it comes down to personal preference. For example, one of my all time favorite board games is DungeonQuest; but I don’t own a copy because it’s out of print, popular and complete sets sell for over $100; more if it includes the expansions. While that’s a little out of my price range, I’d pay up to $75 for it (even without expansions) if I ever found it and that’s far more than I’d ever pay for any other boxed board game, even games that usually retail around that mark (I’m looking at you, Descent).
Sacrifices
This month I offloaded some pretty heavy hitters that had been essentially collecting dust on my shelf, including: Halo 3, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Silent Hill 2, Dementium: The Ward, Gears of War, CSI: Hard Evidence, Project Sylpheed and God of War: Chains of Olympus. I actually finished God of War and I wasn’t the least bit sad to part with CSI: Hard Evidence but I was a little torn about a couple of others. I wish I had found the motivation to play Project Sylpheed but despite its enjoyable demo I never found myself reaching for the retail copy. I also put in a college try on Dementium before giving up. It’s a good idea and a decently executed game that just wasn’t for me. I like that they were trying to bring some mature titles to the DS, but I just couldn’t feel the clunky graphics and awkward control scheme.
I sort of hesitated to let loose of Halo 3 and Gears of War, but they’d sat there for so long without being touched that I couldn’t justify keeping them any longer. There are some games I love so much I can’t get rid of, even if I’m not actively playing them (Oblivion, Dead Rising, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow) but when I’m honest with myself I can look at those games and see me playing them again in the future. I don’t see myself ever wasting more time trying to beat General RAAM on Insane or working through Halo 3′s campaign again. And I gave up on multiplayer in both games long ago.
I may end up requesting Halo 3 again if someone I know expresses interest in doing some co-op campaigning, but my days as a solo Master Chief are pretty much done with so it’s no great loss after all.
Results
Of my $105.09 budget I ended up spending $71.27, leaving me with $33.82 to carry into June. All in all I’d say that’s a pretty respectable bit of budget management (note that I’ve had significant carry over for the last three months) for a 12-game month. Most of what I picked up was at least solid if not superb and nothing was a huge waste of time or money.
Looking ahead, next month has the release of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition plus Ninja Gaiden II, The Bourne Conspiracy, LEGO Indiana Jones, Metal Gear Solid 4, Supreme Commander on 360, Space Invaders Extreme, Alone in the Dark and Bionic Commando Rearmed. I know I don’t have enough to grab them all brand new, so what will be my strategy? Check back next month to see how or if I can pull it all off.