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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Mar 2018 at 12:00 AM
Default Used PS3... Worth it?
So a thought that had occurred to me in my ongoing struggles with building a gaming desktop and contending with overpriced GPUs is that a used PS3 and used games from the stores in my area would actually cost LESS than the difference between the current and recommended prices on GPUs, and it would give me way more options in the meantime so I wouldn't be getting bored waiting for graphics card prices to fall!

Trouble is, I have NEVER owned a console of any sort, and haven't even played one since I was a kid and got really excited whenever I could visit a friend who owned an N64, so I don't really know much about the technology! I do know that the majority of games that I'm interested in are available (sometimes exclusively) for PS3, so I'm not really looking at any other consoles, but I wanted to see about a few things...
  1. Is there anything I'm likely to run into trouble with by buying a used console?
  2. Do I need to buy anything beyond the console, controller, and games in order to use them?
  3. Is there a NEED for internet connectivity for the console, or is that just a way of speeding things along?

And really, anything else that you think is important to know in considering whether this would be a good use of my time and my ~$200!

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Scholar
#2 Old 15th Mar 2018 at 8:04 AM Last edited by mithrak_nl : 15th Mar 2018 at 8:15 AM.
I can understand why you want to postpone a gaming pc. Graphics cards, memory and CPU's are way overpriced atm.
But a PS3 on the other hand is quite old by now. It is 10 year old hardware.This console can be emulated on PC now. Also, most ps3 games run only 720p and the few 1080p there are often have graphical problems (low fps, screen tearing, popup etc). PS3 looks quite dated now imo. I also think that PS3 games are kind of expensive compared to older PC games.

I don't know if you have Steam, but that platform has a ridiculous amount of games. There are curators and youtube channels that mainly play games and avoid the well known mainstream stuff, so you can get an idea of what those less known games are like. There are so many indy developers with great games now. And many of those games don't have high requirements.

I can see the attraction of console gaming though, because it is plug n play and you can sit on your couch in front of your telly. But it is so ridiculously overpriced on the long run. While with a platform like Steam, you only have to lag 1 or 2 years behind and you get -75% sales for games that still cost a lot on console. Then there is GoG for cheap old games and humblebundle. So even if you have a potato as PC, there should be still loads of games for you to try out.

Some examples :

Prison Architect Prison management/build game. Even though the graphics look simple, the game is incredibly fun.

Ori and the Blind Forest Lovely platformer. Very beautiful, but quite difficult for people who never play platformers.

Opus Magnum Awesome puzzle game. This developer makes very unique puzzle games.

ABZU This is more like an experience then a game. Kind of like the many walking simulator games. A story that unfolds in a beautiful environment.

These are just some examples of games I really like. They are full priced atm, but they are often a lot cheaper in sales (except Opus Magnum because it is still very new).
Scholar
#3 Old 15th Mar 2018 at 9:07 AM
i may not be able to fully answer each question, but i'll at least try.

1. there is always a risk of getting a bad console, though in my experience the PS3 has been very reliable. my only problem came from the original hard drive going bad, though i've also had mine for about 6 years and played the hell out of the poor thing. so i think your biggest problem would potentially be the console itself if the previous owner didn't take good care of it.

2. as long as it comes with everything to connect it (power cable, hdmi cable) then nothing comes to mind that you would need other than the things you listed. make sure that when getting wireless controllers that you also get the cable to charge them. also depending on the size of the hard drive in it you may end up needing a bigger one, then again that might not even be an issue especially if you don't buy digital downloads

3. internet isn't required, though it could be helpful. some games will have updates that would most likely be useful to have, and i'm sure there will be some games out there that might really have problems without updates too. i'm sure most games will be just fine without it, though if you can connect it to the internet i would at least do it for game updates. other reasons to have it online would be for online play and the digital store, then again i'm not sure how many games still have servers online and with the digital store you can probably get better deals on physical games than digital ones.

if you don't mind that the graphics won't be as good as on a nice PC then there are a lot of great games available on the system. as long as you do your research and find those that would interest you the most and find good deals on games then i think it could be worth it. one thing to note about the hard drive is that some games require you to install game data to it, so if you get a console with a smaller hard drive and get a lot of games that install to it you may end up filling it pretty fast. also some game updates can be pretty big too, so keep that in mind when it comes to hard drive space.

would games on a nice PC look and run better than on a PS3? in most cases definitely, but i think there is a lot of fun to be had with a PS3 as long as you can accept the fact that the games won't look or run as well. so i would do more research and check out the games and see if you could find enough of them to make it worth it to you. my opinion is that it would be worth it just because of how many great games there are on the console, but i think it's for you to look into it more and see if it would be worth it for you.
Scholar
#4 Old 15th Mar 2018 at 8:29 PM
I guess you are determined to get a PS3 then. It is just that I find it weird. Games on PS3 are still expensive. And the older they are the bigger the difference with the sales for PC version.

I mean, apart from the more relaxed in front of the telly setting (which nowadays can be done with PC too with Steam in big picture mode), the games are not that distinctive anymore. Not on the PS3 anyway. Except maybe for fighting games. You will have more choice of those for the PS3. But all the other genres (racing, shooters, JRPG, platformers), is all cheaper and at least same quality on an old PC. And action games can be controlled with automatically detected controller since about a decade on PC. You can have 5 good JRPG's on PC for the price of one on that 10 year old console. Same goes for other action games, for any older then 2 years. And those older pc games can be run on a potato.

Unless you plan to mod the PS3. That would make it completely different.

Sorry, I just don't understand the reason for buying an old console other then modding or nostalgia Well, and maybe when you plan to buy more controllers and play games on splitscreen etc.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#5 Old 15th Mar 2018 at 11:19 PM
See, you're looking at it as being about 10 years in the past, but compared to my experience with games (and especially console gaming), a PS3 would be 5-15 years more advanced than anything else I've played! I'm sure you're right about graphics and the games showing their age compared to modern ones, but that's not the comparison I'm making, and I'm equally sure that I'd be more than happy with the graphics compared to the games I AM used to!

And I'm certainly not doing this instead of a PC, I'm doing it as a stopgap until the GPU market figures itself out!

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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#6 Old 16th Mar 2018 at 6:23 AM Last edited by Zarathustra : 16th Mar 2018 at 6:50 AM.
@haywud , that's definitely good info to have! Having now looked into the systems available in a little more detail, (and realizing that a PS3 would also mean I don't have to buy an independent Blu-Ray player, which I'd been planning on soon) I'm even more convinced that some variation on this is a good approach for me at the moment, so I have a couple more questions if you don't mind!

The used media store I trust most in my area right now has a Slim 320GB for $130, a Super Slim 250GB for $125, and a Super Slim that I'm assuming based on price comparisons is a 500GB for $150. Based on looking at user reviews that have negative things to say about the console's physical durability, I'm inclined to shy away from the Super Slim models a bit more, but if there's a good reason to think otherwise, I could be persuaded fairly easily. I'm also thinking that memory space isn't gonna mean much to me if I'm buying used disks instead of digital downloads; is this right? And I know backwards compatibility with PS2 games stopped after the first model, so that's out the window at this point... is there any compelling hardware or software reason to prefer a Super Slim over a Slim?

EDIT: @ajaxsirius , do you perchance have anything to recommend on this front too? You've given me a lot of useful info on the PC side of things...

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Instructor
#7 Old 16th Mar 2018 at 1:05 PM
I own Playstation 1, 2, 3 and 4. There are many good games that I can't really say goodbye in each console. For example, both Playstation 1 and 2 are consoles for RPG heaven. Playstation 1 has the killer Final Fantasy 7 up to 9, Chrono Cross, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona and Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, Digimon World 1, 2, and 3 and so on. Playstation 2 has Final Fantasy X and X-2, Final Fantasy XII, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Persona 3 and 4, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Valkyrie Profile 2 and so on. Playstation 3 and 4, though they lack RPG games, they have some good shooting games like GTA IV and V, The Last of Us and Uncharted series. To ask is it worth buying an old console? I'd say yes even if there's already emulators for Playstation 1 and 2 (and soon Playstation 3).

LGBTQ+. Fans of RAMMSTEIN, GOJIRA and Architects. Check out my favorite YouTube channels: Second Thought, Adam Something, Climate Town, and Not Just Bikes
Scholar
#8 Old 16th Mar 2018 at 7:48 PM
As far as I can tell there is no real difference in the Slim and Super Slim models other than the their physical qualities, and a couple of minor things I could find with some online research. The Super Slim apparently has a different power supply and actually uses slightly less power, but apparently that also isn't very much of a difference it seems and won't really matter. The other difference I could find was fan noise, the Super Slim is apparently quieter than the Slim, though honestly I find my Slim to be pretty quiet as it is. If there are a lot of bad reviews about the Super Slim's durability I would stick with the Slim. I did read one review saying that the Super Slim was not only a cheaper looking console (which I agree with actually) but also feels cheaper in quality too which probably explains the reviews on bad durability. In terms of software it should be identical no matter which version of the PS3 you get since I believe the firmware in them is all the same. I think the only advantage to getting a Super Slim would be that the hardware itself isn't going to be as old as the Slim which may be better for reliability, then again if durability is an issue on the Super Slim it may not even matter.

You will need a decent amount of space for game installs since some games require it, but yeah as long as you don't end up downloading digital games you may not need bigger than a 320GB drive. I could be wrong but I don't think the game installs from the physical versions will add the full game data to your system like a digital download would, so 320GB should be enough to last you a while I think. Even if you did fill that space replacement drives won't cost too much and it's really easy to replace in the Slim model, if I can do it anyone can. I had the 320GB drive in my Slim until it started to die, and while I probably didn't need a bigger drive at the time I got one anyway and I'm glad I did because I ended up putting a lot of digital games on it after that. Looking at my PS3 right now I see that I have 49 total digital games on it including PS3 games then some PS2 and PS1 classics, and some of those digital games are pretty large like Gran Turismo 6 (27GB when updated), GTA 5 (20GB updated) and Diablo 3 (15 GB updated) for example. Then there is the install data for 13 of the 15 physical games I own for it, and it all adds up to 88GB free space left out of the 500GB total. Also some of the update data can be rather large too for some games, so if you connect to the internet and update games (which I would recommend) you could need a lot of space for that too.

I actually used to use my PS3 as my Blu Ray and DVD player, and while I'm sure some of the more advanced players out there might be better I find the PS3 does a pretty good job. So hey you wouldn't need another device for DVD or Blu Ray playback either.

@legacyoffailures Nice list of games. I haven't played all of those you listed, but I have played most of them and for anyone that is a fan of RPGs those are some great examples of why a console is a good idea to get. Really nice to see you list Chrono Cross, too many people seem to hate it because it isn't just like Chrono Trigger but I love the game and it has some of the best music I think I've heard in a game too. There are some nice RPGs you can get on the PS3, I'll list the ones I have.

Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, Diablo 3, South Park The Stick of Truth, Tales of Xillia 1 & 2 (though 2 is way too much like the first game in my opinion), Nier, Skyrim, Fallout 3

Oh and I also have the Mass Effect trilogy and Tales of Graces F though I just never got around to playing those. I also forgot to mention Demon's Souls, that one I did play and is a hard though satisfying game when you finish it.
Instructor
#9 Old 16th Mar 2018 at 11:35 PM
@haywud I've played both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross and to me, they are both good games but Chrono Cross has a deeper story than Chrono Trigger. Plus its ending is a tearjerker.

I think I'm going to try Tales of Xilia like you mentioned. I've got the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Mass Effect 3, but o I think I'm going to purchase the console versions. Seriously, my PS3 collections are way less than PS2 and PS1 ones and I only have 4 games so far for PS4.

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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#10 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 12:21 AM Last edited by Zarathustra : 17th Mar 2018 at 2:44 AM.
Thanks folks... Having just returned from the store where I bought a 320GB PS3 Slim, I'm gonna spend the next... however long, figuring out how to get everything to work. I'd still welcome feedback/suggestions from people on how to get the most use out of the system though!

ETA: Looks like challenge #1 will be figuring out whether I'm getting motion sick from my general ineptitude at using a controller, or if it's the way games are set up...

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Scholar
#11 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 5:35 AM
@legacyoffailures I have to agree about Chrono Cross. When I first played it I really didn't understand the story all that well, but after replaying it several times (mostly because I wanted to try and see all of the many playable characters) I started to understand it a lot more. Overall I find it to be a very emotional game, there are just so many things that can happen that trigger all sorts of emotions.

If you've never played a Tales game before and like RPGs definitely give it a try, and if you enjoy Xillia then give some of the other Tales games a try too since I find most of the other games I've played to be better. I remember Skyrim being kind of laggy and had problems with freezing on the PS3, then again I don't think most of those problems came until I had put a very long amount of time into the game.

@Zarathustra I don't think you really need to change most of the settings on the system, though if you do decide to change them and don't understand anything just Google it like I had to do with some of them since you can usually find the answers a lot easier that way. One thing I would suggest when looking for games is that you should try and find out if any games you're interested in have a version that already comes with the DLC. Sometimes those versions of games can be cheaper than just buying the DLC by itself, and if you can get all the content for a fair price you might as well. What kind of games are you into anyway? Maybe I, along with others that check here, could recommend some games that might be worth trying.

It could just be that you aren't used to using a controller, maybe you just need time to adjust to it.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#12 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 5:12 PM
Haha, the two games I got to test out the system were the first Uncharted game, and Skyrim, and yup, Skyrim is laggy and freezes all the time! It'll be going back to the store... I'm still practicing with the controller and Uncharted, trying to get a feel for it (and get good enough to hopefully not make myself motion sick), since I have a week in which I can return everything for a full refund. At this point it's still a no-risk venture for me, so I'm certainly not gonna just give up on it immediately!

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Scholar
#13 Old 19th Mar 2018 at 2:02 AM
I ended up getting Skyrim on my Xbox 360 expecting it to be better since I had a much better experience with other Bethesda games on the 360, yet even though it didn't lag as much it seemed to freeze even more than on the PS3. Maybe my luck is just horrible though. Be careful with those open world Bethesda games like the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games since those seem to struggle on the PS3, if you want to play those stick with the PC versions especially since you can get all sorts of unofficial patches for them that really help. Have you tried updating Skyrim by the way? I know from personal experience that even the fully updated game can lag and freeze, but from what I remember an unpatched game is far worse and I remember seeing some people say it was unplayable.

It's good that you have some time to get a feel for the system and everything, so definitely don't give up on it. Just remember not to push yourself too much trying to get used to it, I'm sure you already do but remember to take breaks when you start to feel bad. At least if you can't get a proper feel for things you can always take it back without having to worry, and hey at least you tried.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#14 Old 21st Mar 2018 at 4:37 AM
Well, I got to the point where I was able to get the games to behave more or less as well as I wanted, and it was still making me motion-sick, plus (and I am annoyed at myself for not having thought of this before buying the console) I don't tend to enjoy storyline-based games that much, since I always either feel like I'm missing content (when I play through without help) or that I'm missing the challenge of the game (when I play with a guide so that I don't miss content)... this is why The Sims is a better game for me, I guess. At any rate, I got all my money back, so no real harm done... Oh well.

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Scholar
#15 Old 21st Mar 2018 at 7:00 AM
Stick to PC gaming I guess, maybe console gaming just isn't for you. I'm pretty much the same way when it comes to games, I don't mind story driven games but most times I want something I can just pick up and play. Are you the kind of person that follows a guide just so that you don't miss anything? I've lost count of times when I would be playing a game only to have to stop and check an online guide to make sure I've done everything that I can. At least in The Sims games you can turn it into basically whatever you want, and don't need to worry about missing anything. Hey you gave it a try and it didn't work, and you didn't lose anything in the process either.
Field Researcher
#16 Old 24th Mar 2018 at 6:28 PM
Neither myself nor my family have owned any console since a PS2 (even though I had copies of that console's versions of The Sims and Bustin' Out). It was also our family DVD player for a time.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to hear you got all your money back. Stores in my area have very stringent return policies, if not flat-out "all sales final; no refunds" signs plastered all over the place.

Only reason I'm chiming in on this thread is I also had quite some time where I was unable to play Sims 2 or much of anything at all for that matter and was also considering stopgap solutions. At times when I buckled and asked for a ride into town I was reminded that any money spent on something that wasn't what I needed was money wasted, and I was better off saving it. So think of it as being $200 on your way towards what you need.
 
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