Used Game Challenge

[Skyblade]

I recently picked up a used copy of Golden Sun: The Lost Age from Gamestop, and when I started playing, I decided to take a look at the old save file still on it. He had saved right before one of the optional super-bosses, the Star Magician, and had apparently given up after being unable to defeat him, prompting him to sell the game.

So, I decided to have a go at it. I reviewed his party set up (underlevelled and with too few Djinn, but decently geared), and give the fight a try.

It was a very interesting experience, and it forced me to approach the battle in a very different way from my usual fighting style. Fortunately, he had Shade and Granite, as well as PP regenerating items on his party's healer, but the fight was very long, hard, and fun. And I did eventually kill him.

Have any of you tried a challenge like that before, and what are your experiences with it?

[Quindiana Jones]

I like getting car racing games like NFS and looking at the old saves people have. It's interesting to see other's ideas of good looking and cool. I like doing this with any games that have customisation of some sort, to be honest.

[Shattered Dreamer]

I can't say I've had the same experience as you guys but myself & my flatmate used too both play manager mode in Fifa 09 & we used to watch each other to pick up on different strategies, players to buy in cheap who get better quickly. Twas great craic!

Also myself & another mate used to swap AOE 1-3 saved games of games in progress that was also pretty awesome!

[NorthernChaosGod]

I've never bought a cartridge game used before, so I can't say that I have.

In a similar vein, I've done plenty of those RPG challenges like no magic, starting equipment only, etc.

[Iceglow]

Well, I'm honestly surprised by the fact there was save game data on the cart still. Pretty much every cartridge based game has a data erasing option (some like nintendogs/pokemon require manically complicated button commands to activate so as to prevent accidental data wipe) and normally employees of stores selling pre-played games are taught to always wipe the data off the game so the files are gone and the game appears as pristine as possible.

[Shoeberto]

I ran into this more when renting games for the SNES and N64. It was always kind of cool to see what the end of the game was like from someone else's file, but usually I'd just start my own game on a free slot after tooling around on it.

[Ramza Beoulve]

Well, I'm honestly surprised by the fact there was save game data on the cart still. Pretty much every cartridge based game has a data erasing option (some like nintendogs/pokemon require manically complicated button commands to activate so as to prevent accidental data wipe) and normally employees of stores selling pre-played games are taught to always wipe the data off the game so the files are gone and the game appears as pristine as possible.

Yeah, but when you get that used game on a street market, they don't have that kind of "standards".

I got an used Rockman Zero game (as in the the azn version), and it had a end-of-game save. It was without used elfs, and on hard mode. I left it for later and played the game. It was quite the test.

[Vermachtnis]

Funny you should mention this, cause the copy of VI Adv I'm playing had an end game file on it. He had a boring set up though; Celes, Terra, Edgar, and Locke. And he didn't even have Gogo or any Economizers or well anything remotely broken.

[Skyblade]

Well, I'm honestly surprised by the fact there was save game data on the cart still. Pretty much every cartridge based game has a data erasing option (some like nintendogs/pokemon require manically complicated button commands to activate so as to prevent accidental data wipe) and normally employees of stores selling pre-played games are taught to always wipe the data off the game so the files are gone and the game appears as pristine as possible.

Actually, almost every cartridge game I have ever bought used has had at least one save file on it still. Usually I simply delete them myself to avoid spoilers, though. With Golden Sun: The Lost Age, however, I already knew basically everything about the game (I was picking up a second copy), so I decided to give the old save a go.

[theundeadhero]

Almost every used one I have ever bought had saved files on them but nothing I was ever concerned with.

[Shotgunnova]

When I bought Ogre Battle 64 there was a savefile pretty well in the game, but I overwrote it to avoid anything remotely spoilerish. S'pose most of the fun of playing as someone else's party derives from already knowing what's what.

[Quindiana Jones]

Used memory cards always have save data on them.

[Jiro]

I love finding save files on there. I like seeing how much better I am then them after I start playing.

[Elly]

never happened to me, i don't buy used games, and i don't sell mine since i've never baught a bad game... i learned my lesson on selling my games back when the PSX first came out and i sold my Sega Genesis/CD/32X and all it's games, i regret it to this day...