VGcollect Checking In Thread (May 2019 edition)

[kashell]

Collecting for me is still about the same - I just buy the games I intend to play (PlayStation generation and up) and if I like it after finishing it, I'll keep it. Otherwise, I donate it. In fact, I'm accumulating a pile of games that are getting ready to go to the donation bin now. It's been therapeutic downsizing. I've unsubscribed to places like LRG because I already have enough to play, plus all but one of the games from those places (Nurse Love Addiction) have been let downs.

But, really, I've always been 95% gamer, 5% collector. Collecting just came with not getting rid of my favorites. It's still fun to go to a game store, but with how cut throat and sneaky this hobby has gotten, I'm over the "thrill of the hunt" and the what-not.

Also! I'm really having fun replaying games, which also curtails buying new ones. It could be to go for missing trophies, or just to replay something I know like the back of my hand (MMX4, Valkyrie Profile, etc.) to kill some time.

Outside of gaming, I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons (love it) and re-watching favorite anime.

Oh, and I got married last month. Take that, Pence. <3

[undertakerprime]

I FINALLY got a PS4 for my birthday in March. Yes, I’m a little late to the party, but dropping that kind of money is not something I can do very often. GameStop was having a sale on used games so I got Fallout 4, Uncharted 4, the Last Guardian, MGS Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain. First thing I did when I got that sucker home was get on PSN to buy Mega Man 11 and Bloodstained Curse of the Moon. Also got Dragon Age Inquisition, then got on a DuckTales kick and got DuckTales Remastered on my PS3. It’s been a LOOOOOONG time since I had this many brand new games to try.

Played through Uncharted 4, and now I’m working on FO4. It’s been a while since I last played FO3, so it took me a bit to get the hang of it again, but now I’m off and running. (Holy crap, Diamond City is Fenway Park!! LOL)
Still haven’t tried all the new games out yet. I don’t really like the idea of playing through 3-4 games concurrently

But, really, I've always been 95% gamer, 5% collector. Collecting just came with not getting rid of my favorites.

This is exactly me. I don’t really go out and buy up a bunch of games just to add to the collection; most of my older games were bought at original retail over the last 30 years, and I rarely sell anything. Nowadays, games are a luxury, and I usually wait until they are discounted before I buy them. I dislike preordering because you’re paying full price for a game that may not even be any good.

[kypherion]

For collecting I'm planning on getting the remaining 4 Trauma Center games soon (I have second opinion already). I also plan to get the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on switch within the month. Other than that I'm just trying to trickle in games and stuff related without spending too much. Yesterday I got the Smash bros. Ultimate fighter pass so I'll wait to buy some games.

For personal stuff I've just had a full schedule recently so I don't have a ton of free time for games, but it's gonna improve halfway through June.

[sworddude]

I'm largely disillusioned with collecting because of companies like LRG. 

Allot of collectors that I know of since LRG started have been focussing more on collecting those retro indi titles than actual retro games. And not just a few many came aswell as other companies newest being super rare games or something?. I think allot of collectors with to many choices are kinda overwhelmed wich makes retro original or newer titles as a whole to allot of people less special and that's never a good thing.  Only the very hardcore collectors still try to get those and probably just for the sake of having it

I've seen it happening to allot of collectors who especially collected LRG. Those kinda people don't mind downloading stuff anymore just to many collectors editions out there  Also If I would talk with many of those collectors they will only get the titles that they want the most and allot of people don't even mind to just download it instead of getting it physical.

Personally I just keep it at the old stuff except for bloodstained curse of the moon kinda avoided them indi retro titles like the plague.

Personally still collecting but less stuff needed for the collection. Some pretty decent deals in the past few weeks though not complaining. Finally came around to play some of the wii titles atm shadows tale. This game to many ico vibes

[turf]

I’m still here. I lurk mostly until one of you yahoos says something that I have to add to.

I haven’t had time to play many games lately. I’m still playing RDR2 and I bought it on release day!

As for collecting, I don’t buy much. Haven’t in a few years. I even kicked around the idea of getting shed of some stuff.
I still dig my collection. I enjoy the piss out of having all these games.

[tpugmire]

I’m still here, haven’t really bought any games lately. All my extra money is going to an old Vespa that I’m restoring. Also, congrats on the wedding Kashell!  Since I deactivated my Facebook account, I have no idea what’s going on with y’all.

[wartoy]

It makes me sad that the enthusiasm in this hobby is really on the decline. It doesn't seem to be just here either, but also my local area, including various gaming/collecting groups I belong too. I think that retro gaming and collecting hit its peak a couple years ago and has been steadily on the decline since. I definitely don't fault anyone for wanting to downsize, sell everything off, or just no longer have interest in gaming and/or collecting, but it makes me sad to see some of you who were so prominent on here lose so much interest in something you were so into up until recently. Again, I am not saying anything bad about you or faulting you for anything, just a bummer.


I feel like I knew this time would come eventually, I just thought I'd enjoy it a lot more since it means less competition and cheaper prices in light of less demand, but honestly the more this hobby decreases in popularity, the sadder it makes me...

I agree .  It feels like some of the magic is missing and I can't put a finger on it. I always thought i'd love it because less resellers and overblown prices and all the hipsters would get into the next wave. But it seems lifeless.  More so then it even was before the big surge.  But I think it will slowly recover.  And I think the golden part of this waiting period is that once it's over, boy the stores will be flooded and cheap I think.  I think were still in the proccess of some collectors selling off that weren't really into it. We just have to stay happy and keep up with the current collectors who keep passion alive. Like Soera, TheFlea and like the guinness guy that recently took the title.  And AVGN who still posts amazing content.


My main reason for not posting as much lately can be boiled down to writer's block. I know it sounds silly but I am pretty nutty and over critical of myself.  And I end up coming on here and typing out a big thread and then thinking it's stupid and deleting it. Or thinking I have posted it before.  I should get in the habit of hitting the post button with no regrets . 

I hope everyone has a happy May.   I will be attending the American Heritage Museum in MA.  They have a ton of tanks there.  And tanks are rad 

Hey marv don't sell yourself short most of your posts I've really enjoyed. Their usually well thought out and entertaining and imaginative. 

[redblaze57]

Still here. My job just had a huge rush order that took over a month to complete. My hands have been hurting from 10+hours of wiring so I haven't done much gaming outside of building MTG Commander decks. But hey OT+bonus+steak dinner makes all of that worth it. Been watching more Anime (Rising of the Shield Hero is my current favorite) and catching up on some movies. Also yard work.

[NickAwesome]

I still really enjoy the collecting aspect of the hobby and even though I have been super busy these past few months, I have still fit in some time to collect, sort and occasionally even play my games.  I just officially finished law school last week and now will take the next few months off work to study for the Bar.  While studying will take up most of the time, not having to work and being at home will honestly increase the amount of time I spend gaming which will be a welcome change. 

We just moved last month and our new place finally has a dedicated game room. It has been so exciting to have space to display everything and also have it functional for playing a variety of different systems.  I got an awesome Sony Triniton with a ton of inputs so with a couple of switches and large power strips, I can have everything hooked up and ready to play. 

I've largely dropped out of following new releases other than Sekiro.  I need to go back and play that some more.  I've been playing a lot of GBA, mostly Castlevania- Aria of Sorrow was amazing, Harmony of Dissonance- eh I'm not feeling it.  Might have to go straight to the DS titles.  I just also finally finished Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 for the first time tonight.  I always got to the NY level and got frustrated and gave up several times as a kid.  I'm glad I gave it another shot, and it's pretty great on Dreamcast. 

In terms of collecting goals, I'm down to 59 for the complete NA set for PS1 and a complete retail longbox set.  For a true full set, I'll eventually need all the crazy expensive and rare black label variants but I'll be satisfied for a while just having a complete set of every game released in NA on PS1. It's been a fun collecting goal and gave me something to do not law or school related. It looks great set up on my wall too. I still have a rather large want list for a wide variety of consoles but I've cut my list down in half in the last year or so. For many consoles, there are only 15-20 games still on my radar.   Eventually I'll probably slow down to a point where I don't need much more.  I would like to get a Turbo Duo/CD and maybe NeoGeo someday but I am in no hurry.   

Our largest reseller in the PDX area just opened his own retail store so the dream of retro is apparently still alive in Portland.  He seems to be able to make a good living off it for now, but I'm curious what the next 5-10 years hold in store for the scene here.  Even the shittiest stores around here still seem to stay open for some reason so I don't know if our area is an anomaly or what.  It also helps that I am part of a lot of Collecting FB groups.  I wish the conversations were better sometimes, like they are here.  Many of the people on there just like to brag/argue/whine about everything which gets grating at times.  But I snag a lot of great deals on there so it's worth wading through all the bullshit most of the time. 

Anyways, I still enjoy this hobby, I really enjoy being a part of this community and I hope all is well with each of you!

[Cartagia]

I'm still around as well!

I've tapered off on purchasing quite as much, primarily so I can spend time getting through my backlog.  I'll still pick up stuff from wishlists, etc if I run across a good deal (or even if they aren't on my wishlists).  I don't spend as much time actively game hunting, though I do enjoy buying and flipping other stuff from yard sales, etc.  I actually just moved a sofa out of my game room / office so I have a lot more room that I need to figure out what to do with.

I've been pretty stable with work and the like lately, even though there's been a lot of shifting upper management.  It's made things a tad more stressful, but nothing outlandish.

[ignition365]

Oh, and I got married last month. Take that, Pence. <3

Congrats, Kash.

[justin8301]

My collection is pretty much at the point where I have everything I want that I can afford with the exception of a few common games here and there that I just haven't found the right price on yet; so I haven't really been adding much to it. But that doesn't mean my passion for gaming is gone! I kinda made it my goal this year to play more games and I've been doing an OK job of it, Finished 24 games so far this year. Just started up FF12 Zodiac Age on the switch and thats where a lot of my time will be going for now.

[emporerdragon]

Still getting things, but other expenses and collections are chipping away at that budget. For instance, my minifridge in my game room burned out and I decided that instead of just replacing it, I decided to upgrade it as well. So, I've got a 120-can capacity cooler on the way now.

My biggest growth game-wise has been more digital though, as I'm still growing my Team Fortress 2 Inventory. I just picked up my 150th Unusual and am right now the 903rd richest person in the game. I'm also plugging away at my quest to make a $4-5,000 gun in the game (3.1% complete).

As for gaming, I've been replaying Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon lately, as since it's the current free game for Xbox, the online community is active again, which makes that final grind for the last achievement much more bearable (provided I can find people that can handle Inferno difficulty).

[ferraroso]

Well... collecting has changed a little bit to me in the last year or so. After passing the mark of a thousand games, it became harder and harder to find things that I want for a reasonable price so, I finally entered that state of buying much less games than I used to do, but purchasing some more expensive ones like The King of Fighters '98 for the AES and Elevator Action Returns for the Saturn. Well, I believe that is understandable after a collection reaches a certain amount of games... What has being annoying me is huge amount of guys I see going through the "Junk" section (in Japan, "junk" doesn't mean something that doesn't work, it just mean that you can buy it for cheap, but withouit warranty) of stores such as Hard-Off and scanning every corner of it while holding their cellphones in order to check how much something is worth online. These sections used to be the best place to find some rare or unusual stuff, but in the last couple of months, or so, I've even seen people waiting in lines just to look inside of a box of PC-Engine or Saturn CDs... For me this is really starting to take away all the fun of going to this kind of shops...

[spac316]

I'm still around and updating my collection in the database. Still collection wrestling games.