First post, by SKARDAVNELNATE
- Rank
- Oldbie
I frequently shop Amazon and Ebay looking for old games to add to my collection. I try to find listings that include the box and manual. Usually I get a good price.
Sometimes the seller will confuse rare with valuable. Dark Reign: Battles Of The Outer Rim is a collection of individual levels with a launcher. Similar to Add-Ons released for Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, and Heretic. It's not particularly good but when looking for a copy I kept finding listings at $50 for just the disc in a paper sleeve. I eventually did give in when I found a boxed copy for around $30.
Often I have a good experience with games I order. Other times it seems that online sellers have no idea what they were selling. While looking for Dark Seed 2, I first got the Mac version because the system wasn't specified. Then there was this instance where I think the listing was intentionally deceptive in addition to the seller not knowing better. I did finally get a good copy on the 3rd try.
On my first attempt to purchase Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive the seller was unaware the game was a 6 CD set and only sent me discs 1, 2, and 3.
Some sellers just don't take the effort to look at their item. When I first ordered Master Levels for Doom, I got the Master Levels flip case holding a Doom 2 disc.
What was supposed to be the CD version of Isle Of The Dead turned out to be CD World - Volume 11. The front of the jewel case advertised it as Isle Of The Dead but had a few blurbs added on setting it apart from the original artwork. The back of the jewel case listed 15 other shareware games included on the disc.
There are situations where the original item wasn't very distinctive to begin with. I wanted the Quake expansions and ordered Aftershock expecting a 3 episode continuation that ties in with the story. I got Aftershock Deluxe which is just a collection of individual levels with a launcher. The one I wanted was Aftershock Advanced Levels. Now Advanced Levels sounds like it would be a collection of levels and Deluxe sounds like it would have the most features including the expansion. In addition to that confusion they have the same artwork and disc label. The only way to tell which disc does what is to install them and find out. There's also an Aftershock Toolbox which is easier to identify.
Not only are rare games often mistaken for valuable they're hard to search for. Battles Of The Outer Rim kept giving me results for Star Wars items. Plus, I want to make special mention that Ebay's spell correct is especially frustrating when looking for games with weird names. Quake 2: Zaero keeps getting turned into Zero and gives listings for another Quake 2 expansion, Ground Zero.
