Highest hours of gameplay per dollar paid

So... after a little fannying about in the thread about the worst games ever, and a conversation with a friend about the best-value games - what have you guys played that's given you the best value for dollars paid for the game? Free games don't count, for obvious reasons, and I guess that for fairness' sake one should also assume all games are at full price.

I'm a-gonna say Minecraft tops my list, with a ratio of approximately one bajillion hours to the US$~~20+ pricetag. Seriously, it's gotta be at least 20-to-1.

Betrayal at Krondor also ranks pretty highly on my list, since I finished it about a couple dozen times. And then we get into the highly-replayable strategy titles like X-Com and Civilization...

 

I played Minecraft like crazy before. xD
Now im kinda bored but im hoping v1.8 will change this, whenever it releases.

 

Never played Minecraft, but the game I have probably gotten the most bang for the buck from is Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. Between the DLC and the fan stuff there is a lot of game there.

 

Probably Diablo II (I got both classic and expac cdkeys for $19), I probably put in a few thousand hours into the game over the last 7 years, no exaggeration.

Really, one level 90 character (leveling / grinding) fully decked out (magic finding) would take me 2 months of gameplay (so about 50 hours or so), and I have made dozens of level 80~90 characters over the years.

Every other game pales in comparison.


edit: so I did some finger counting, each ladder I made 3~5 high level character, and I've played in 6 ladders so far. so that's about 24 characters. 50h/char * 50 chars = 1200 h. over $19, that's 63 hours / $1. Beat that

 

I've got some 300 hours in civ 5 and got that for $40, so 7.5h/$... but then I've got a handful of games (gta4, stalker games ect) I got on steam sales for like $5 that have 100 hrs each, so those give the most value @ 20h/$ CoH will probably surpass them all when I start playing that, a $5 RTS....

 

NBA 2K10 has about 280 hours for me... bought it for $20.

Other than that I have too many games to focus on one or two.

 

Team Fortress 2.

I got it as part of the Orange Box that cost $30 at the time, and I've got a little over 700 hours in it, which is the most I have in any game.

 

600hrs+/$2.5 on CS:S...

a good server makes all the diffrence


and

6/$0 portal

the world ends when you /0 so I win

 

Fallout 3 + DLC. I have quite alot of hours on that game!

 

Where the heck did you get CS:S for 85% off?

 

Any free to play game would have a ratio that cant be beaten even if you only played it for 10 seconds.

 

for me it's probably Warcraft 3. bought it a few years ago for $25 (the battlechest), but I probably have a good 200-300 hours in it. with something I have record of, mass effect 2. got it for $15 and played 55 hours.

EDIT: I guess I had over 700 hours in Runescape when I played that. I paid for membership for about 8 months, so $40 for that 700. so 18.6h/$1

 

Definitely Guild Wars
and I'm hoping Guild Wars 2 will be able to deliver

 

For me Battlefield 2, bar none. Even though I paid $50 and $30 later for expansions, I put in over 700 hours.

 

a local used game store, that was before the orange box came out...

I think its been that cheap during a few steam sales too.

 

for me, the old Starcraft with expansions, Mech commander gold on a LAN and Age of Empires 3

 

I had no way to measure, but I spent 9 months playing one game of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Who knows how many hours on Bad Company 2 online
A lot on Battlefield 2142 probably more than Bad Company 2
60 + hours on Just Cause II
70 + hours on Mafia II

 

Diablo 2 .... I have played for years and years ...

Also Final Fantasy 3 and 7 ...

 

StarControl 2 as well !!!

One of the best games ever made

 

Gotta be counter strike.

But recently, Terraria. Just bought it recently. So great.

 

Anything under 100 hours doesn't count lol.

I'm sure any avid gamer has at least one classic game that they've had for many years and have played on and off totaling way more than 100 hours.

 

I remember that game along with mechwarrior 3... I loved it sooo much, then a dog munched the disks...

 

Fallout 3 + DLC. For 30$, logged in a lot of hours. And still not even close to down with everything, or made another account. Something like 100+hours, which still pales in comparison to everyone else

 

800+ hours L4D2, pre-ordered 10% off 44.99.

17-18 Hrs/$1

 

I don't have the numbers, but EVE Online. I'd imagine well over 1000 hours played and I only paid the first two monthly subs (you can buy game time with in-game currency, if you make enough )

Based on 1000hrs that's 56hrs/£!!! And it's probably more...

 

Ultima 7 (Black Gate) should be my Top. I played that game so many times!!. Maybe all the games back then, because I used to have plenty of time to play them over and over again. X-com: Ufo defense and Apocalypse must be close to ultima... Civilization 2, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Hospital, Kyrandia... a lot of games that I play more than 100 hours each. I don't want to go on consoles (so many J-RPG beaten played), just PC.

On my Steam list, there are no 100hs game. Bioshock: 25 (at 5$), Borderlands: 20 (7,5$). I believe King's Bounty will be on the top of the Steam list so soon... can't stop playing it. Sometimes is frustrating, but addictive.

 

Diablo 2 inc expansion pack without a doubt, most likely >1000 hours online gameplay making dozens of characters, leveling and pvp'ing (here's to Euro-PvP).

Second place, SC2, expensive at first but love all of the custom maps!

Third place, Orange Box, TF2 = loads of hours online and HL2 mods have lots of little gems (Zombie Master!)

Edit: forgot, but the classic - Master of Orion, that has sunk a lot of hours at little cost

 

Counter Strike Source.
Bought it for $20. I've played it for about 670 hours.
33 hours/$1

 

Half-Life 1 + Mods (CS, TFC, etc...). So many hours into that game I don't even know where to begin. Those were the days.....

 

World of Warcraft @ 300~ Days Played

This was when the game was good, between Vanilla & BC (the first xpack) several years ago.

Command & Conquer 3/KW @ 400-500hrs played.

Best RTS ever made imo.

Heroes of Might & Magic 3 @ 500hrs + since it's 1999 release.

---

I've barely gamed this year. Quit the MMO's and play the occasional Heroes or C&C match due to work/school/band and my very successful health-fitness plan.

When the new Star Wars MMO/D3/Heroes 6/BF3 releases, I'm sure I'll drown my time into them

 

Left 4 Dead 2 - 838.4hrs played so far.

Scav ftw!

 

TF2 got it with the Orange box for $30 i think and I have almost 1000 hours on it...

my next closest game would be guild wars which i have a couple hundred hours, but that includes 2 expansions I paid for.

 

What about TF2?

xx hours of play/$0 = ??????

 

Counter Strike 1.6 ~ 1000 + hours @ 9.99$
Counter Strike: Source ~ 1500+ hours @19.99
Call of Duty 4 ~ 1500+ hours @ 49.99$

 

C&C Generals and Zero Hour. Campaign/Skirmish takes easily 45min to an hour. Played it hundreds upon hundreds of times. There have been days when I played through the Generals challenge on hard in one sitting. Easily 5 hours. $30 for C$C:The First Decade.

 

Team Fortress 2, as told by Mastershroom

And Left 4 Dead 1/2 too.

 

My favorite RTS too! I sure hope they make a sequel, but more importantly do it RIGHT! C&C Generals is still a great and fun game to play.

 

Guild Wars, Rune of Magic, World of Warcraft, League of Legend, and WAR ROCK!

 

I spent 20 minutes googling the new 2011/12 C&C and almost every website thinks it's Generals 2, so it's coming! ...(hopefully)

It actually will because it's Generals turn for the trio rotation.

Red Alert 3 > Tiberium Twilight > Generals 2.

Looking forward to it ^_^

China Tank FTW

 

Let hope EA don't screw up

 

US Laser General FTW!

Good to hear though, hope it's true!

Mainly liked them because of defensive structures in the beginning were powerful giving you a chance to build up your offense. I played air strike and col burton more than anything even as laser general only because laser turrets were so powerful up front letting me build up quickly and defending against any early attacks.

 

1. Oblivion - so far around 700 hours (not even 2 complete playthroughs), cost approximately $10-15 (bought it as part of steam sale with Morrowind GOTY and a few other games) - works out to $0.01 - 0.02 per hour of gameplay.

2. Civ 5 - around 400-500 hours ($50 - works out to around $0.10 per hour of gameplay)

3. Based on the info I've read about Skyrim so far, I would estimate 5-10 playthroughs of around 400+ hours each, spread out over a period of several years, so roughly $0.02 - 0.03 per hour of gameplay at $60 pre-order price.

 

I'll respond with the opposite...

Remember AOL Games? A few of the the games that they had on there were fantastic! I played Cyberstrike, Air Warrior, and Legends of Kesmai. A whopping $1.99 per HOUR!!! The parents were pissed that month.

 

TF2.... The game that gets the lil lady to casting dirty looks as soon as I boot it up.

 

Yep! Laser Gen always. Of course, china and just about any GLA army were very good. GLA is so cheap and efficient. But, always revert back to USA somehow. Plus, it's fun to play Skirmish against 4-5 medium/hard armies with the money hack just to see if you can survive. About to break it out now and play-at work. I know it's wrong but.....I'm addicted.

 

Deagle: I kinda stopped playing a few versions ago - just got a little bored, and distracted by work and other stuff. 1.7 looks pretty neat, though, with the pistons officially in the game now.

JTOverath: Loved Oblivion too, and must have sunk hundreds of hours into it, but unfortunately that came with a ~80ish dollar price tag (Oblivion + Knights + Shivering Isles... but no horse armour), which cuts into its ratio something fierce.

Jerg: Ah, Diablo 2! Yep, that one definitely goes way up there.

Hakira: No sale-price shenanigans!

Mastershroom: Mmm yes, that old favourite of bargain-hunters, the Orange Box...

Whitrzac, Vicious: Free games are outta consideration, for that same reason.

Tree Burner: You actually paid to play Runescape? Was it actually worth it?

George: Ah yeah, Terraria. I'm at about 6-to-1 on that one, so far.

Mkelliny, Dead2world: Holy mother of... 800 hours on L4D2? Geez.

ALX: Eve always looked somewhat attractive to me, but the difficulty curve I keep hearing about has put me off trying it. I don't really have 100 hours to put into learning how to play an MMO

Assault: I played King's Bounty... and then gave up when it got ridiculously hard. Or maybe I just suck too much at it. The odds really seem quite overwhelming at times, though.

 

Yeah GLA is a thorn in my side as a US player. Several encampments or whatever you call it, clumped together take out just about anything. But nothing a particle cannon or nuke can't fix!

I might have to install it again. I love it.

 

Unreal Tournament 99 (GOTY) - 500+ hours, got it for Christmas

 

Good one. UT got my attention for a while too.

 

AOL was so evil.