Indie Bundles: worth it?

[Das_Regal]

Like many users, the first indie bundle I bought came from Humble. I paid a cent for it and received a bunch of high quality titles with steam keys. It was a great experience and sold me on the idea. Since then, I've bought damn near every Indie Bundle that I've come across. Some of them are still pretty decent, but there's been some serious drift over time.

Prices have shot up, there's new beat the average incentives where the good stuff typically is, and the overall quality of the games has gone down significantly. Where before these bundles were ruled by small art house games (Braid, Spacechem, Trine, etc.), Paradox, Kalypso, and other B/C "indie" publishers have taken over in a big way.

I've gotten to the point where I don't buy indiscriminately anymore, only if something really catches my eye, and I'm thinking about raising my standards even further. My Steam Library is littered with crap, I almost wish I could delete some of it.

I think the worst thing of all is that Indie Bundles actually discourage me from purchasing indie titles otherwise. It hurts when I pay 3.75 for something that eventually gets bundled for $5 with a ton of other games.

I wish we could return to older pricing models and toss the Indie Bundle concept in the garbage. I think it gives too much money to crap games and not enough to good ones.

 

[Richard Kain]

In general, I would say bundles are actually pretty good, especially for indies. I haven't hit up the Humble Bundle before, but I have purchased several of the indie bundles on Steam sales. Sometimes those bundles contain a few games that aren't my thing. But that's fine. I don't mind throwing a few dollars to other indie developers who were smart enough to pair their game up with titles that I am actually interested in.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Well, one man's crap is another man's treasure. Humble is actually low on my list of bundles and I think their bundles tend to be pretty predictable and safe. I enjoy having a variety of bundles with a variety of games and have probably played games I got from IG or IR or Groupees a lot more. I don't really care about supporting bad games or having them in my library though. The whole point here is to support indie developers because in the long run more indie devs equals more games equals more choices and more competition which is great for gamers both for variety and pricing.

Paradox and 1C and Kalypso are indie compared to the big dogs and do cater to a different crowd so it's always good to help them out too IMO.

 

[KillerRamen]

I think they're a pretty good value, but I've been holding off on most of them nowadays. I have too many PC games and I'm just not going to get to most of those indies like ever.

 

[Megazell]

You don't have to wish for any changes. Just don't support it and support those retail models that do what you want.

Humble Bundle are awesome, IMHO. It's PC retail done, correctly. NO DRM, Multiple methods of game access, PWYW (within limits), introduces small development houses and supports charities (if you want).

If I was into paying for software, I would go that route over traditional retail.

 

[crystalklear64]

I find that I never play more than 5 minutes of most of the games in those bundles. They just aren't typically very good compared to the professional stuff that I get for cheap anyway.

A quick glance at my steam game list has the 0 hours - .2 hours played section full of games from these bundles.

So, no. I don't think they're worth it.

 

[itachiitachi]

I'd say it depends on the bundle, about every humble bundle is worth it, atleast for a $1, most are worth the $5 or $6. There are a lot of copycat bundle sites that aren't worth it.

Some of my favorarite games: Bastion, Beat harzard, dungeon defenders, braid, aquaria, atom zombie smasher, SPAZ, binding of Issac, Cave story +,Defcon, tourchlight, wizorb, all came from bundles.

 

[Drizzt]

I'm weird in that I don't find the bundles a worthwhile investment unless I'm both interested in playing every single game in the bundle, and I don't already own any of the games individually. As a result I've never bought a bundle because none of them have ever satisfied both requirements. In a way I'm glad because I don't have a ton of games that I'll never play littered in my Steam library. I don't even care if I buy the games individually and pay more because keeping the other titles that I wouldn't otherwise play out of my library is worth it for me. Like I said, I'm weird, but those are the reasons I've never understood why everyone gets so hyped up on the indie bundles. They're clearly not worth it for me but they are for others.

 

[Megazell]

^ You can reg games individually in some bundles and then trade the other games with others either as gifts or for other games...or in GMG case for cash towards another game.

 

[DaiMonPaul]

They're definitely worth it for me, but I don't buy every bundle I see. I usually only get the bundles where I'd play a minimum of half the games. Take the current IndieGala Flash bundle. I could only see myself playing maybe one of those games, so I'm going to take a pass on it. It's still a fantastic deal, but just not one I'm interested in. The last IndieGala Colossus probably wasn't as good of a deal, but it was better for me since I was interested in more of the games. It's hit or miss as to what I'm interested in, but almost all the bundles are "worth it" in pure monetary terms (versus normal sale prices).

 

[uncle5555]

This last humble bundle was crap IMO. I honestly think they're running out of good, indie titles to pimp out. (maybe not, but it feels that way) or they aren't making the effort to find the gems out there (like the Free Bundle did) that haven't appeared in any bundle before.

The themed ones, I don't care for the most either, but yeah when they start adding so much stuff from previous bundles it's not even worth it for me to drop $1 down to get them (considering I hate most of the titles on offer for this last one as it is)

And thanks for the heads up on Wizorb, I was going to buy it on XBLIG, only to find out I got it in HB6...:lol:

 

[lordwow]

I didn't buy this last one, especially since Dungeon Defenders was previously included. But I've bought almost every other one. As long as there's not overlap and some good games (there's always been one or two I've really wanted, and the rest are just bonuses), I'll usually throw in my $5 and give it to charity.