Are most Collector's Editions even worth it??

[Dice]

Seeing the amount of drama in the Xenoblade 3 thread because Nintendo's website keeps dying/crashing, or dealing with scalpers.... Ive just totally lost the love.

After moving around several times, and seeing how much crap from CE's gets stuck in "random stuff drawers", or the figures being pretty sub-par, or OSTs and artbook being cute lil 10 track previews or 50-page booklets (often incomplete).... I dunno, I'm kinda over them.

I'm 100% not saying that ALL not worth it. If you're a hardcore fan of something and the CE seems worth your while, then have at it -- it feels like a sweet treat on top of the main course. Who doesn't love extra cool stuff repping your fav games? And some of the goods are genuinely great! I still have my Legend of Heroes "Bracer Badge", and the original Zelda Skyward Sword was a fucking STEAL since it CAME WITH the fancy Wiimote you NEEDED (which on its own retailed for a little less than price of the actual bundle).

But this shit is absolutely not made equal; or on the flip side: The game itself isn't what it's cracked up to be and you just blew ~$100 on a CE for a crap game (I bought Final Fantasy Type-0's CE...at the SE website, which charges some weird-ass premiums to ship for some reason).

.... But fuck. Too often it's just...stuff. Crappy fake coins, poorly made collectables, or dorky postcards I will 99% never use unless ironically. I have enough blank notebooks to last me a few decades too.

Xenoblade is one of my FAVOURITE series', and I just couldn't be tempted to deal with the website issues.

How are you with CE's Era?
Any good ones you wanna brag about?
Any terrible ones you want to show off?

I got the Xenoblade X one! The artbook was actually pretty big (only reflected some of the total materials in their later released artbook), and came with a really cool Zohar/Lifehold USB with the OST on it (again, incomplete).... The USB is unfortunately the WORST and didn't work for anything other than those tracks (and barely), and you'd have to break the thing apart and attach it to an actual USB if you wanted to use it for something other than limited OST sampler....

Again, this was a rare GREAT bundle and the music CD was a nice touch (IIRC that Zelda Symphony concert was new at the time too). Also, pre-ordering was not a headache, and, from my knowledge, never had shortage issues (unless you didn't have it pre-ordered). No shitty My Nintendo website or fake limited quantities that Nintendo seems to live for these days.

 

[OGlol]

If you wanna make some money in a few years nintendo ones are usually a safe bet, outside of that, I have not found a CE that I liked enough to drop $200+ bucks on.

 

[Hektor]

no.

 

[Seda]

Personally I think pretty much all CEs are just cheap junk that ultimately end up in a closet or whatever.

 

[Transistor]

Nah, not really.

 

[Lakeside]

I have transitioned from a LOT of collector's editions to just a few. I'm even selling off many of the ones I own because I'm turned off.

The current Nintendo debacle is something I'm trying to sort thru b/c I own the first two. Maybe I should just dump them.

Likes: Tidy boxes; soundtracks; bonus in-game stuff; art books; repro arcade art; small figures
Dislikes: Huge boxes; huge items (helmets, etc); steelbooks

 

[Baphomet]

Nope , none are worth it.

 

[Deleted member11191]

It depends.

If i lived in the U.S i would buy them in a heartbeat

 

[Kadzork]

It really depends.

I have taken more to editions with artbooks as they are nice to collect but if they just have plastic tat I tend to pass.

 

[CloseTalker]

The only ones that seem worth it to me are the ones with high quality statues. High quality being the key there, because a lot of the cheaper statues are truly hideous.

Otherwise, you're usually paying a $50-100 premium for a bunch of little goodie bag bullshit that will live forever in a drawer until you throw it out

 

[Ashodin]

Metroid Dread special edition was totally worth it and I love every inch of it

 

[mattynunchucks]

Nope. They are a way to pad launch day profits by hooking the hardest of the hardcore.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

I really like artbooks.

I also like to display them. CEs, I mean.

So, yeah.

 

[Siggy-P]

No but I do like Steelbooks. GAME used to give them away when you'd come in the first few days of somethings releas because they'd always have a surpluss.

I had a tomb raider one cheap because no one else wanted it. came with some neat fanart book and a tomb raider figure. cute and not a funko.

 

[Linus815]

I had a period where I bought CE's left and right....and no, not at all. The only ones I actually still value are the ones that come with a nice statue. The rest is just junk sitting inside the box in storage.

Oh, and I like the Yakuza 6 whisky glasses.. actally use them too

 

[Couleurs]

Usually not. I don't give a shit about soundtracks I'll never listen to, art books I'll never look at, or garbage Dollar General quality knick knacks that fall apart before you get it out of the box.

 

[Síriocaz]

Maybe their contents aren't worth it but the prices people are willing to pay years later sure is.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Depending on what you want out of a Special/Limited/Collector's/tchotchke edition this answer will vary. A simple art book won't do anything for me, as most are just CG renders and/or small and pointless anyway. A soundtrack will do it, but it needs to be complete and not some "selected tracks" crap like NISA did for a few of their titles.

OTOH, giving me a full soundtrack, a decent-ish artbook and maybe some other random and unique things for another $20-$40? I'll bite. That's the only reason I ever preorder stuff from Idea Factory or whoever smaller publishers.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Depends on what you're buying them for. Are you looking at them from the perspective of getting items to use? No, they aren't worth it. A CD and a plush isn't worth double the price of a game. You generally don't buy these things for any practical use. They are, as the name implies, collector's items. They are for sitting on a shelf and displaying more than anything. In that regard, they are as worth it as buying any other piece of collectable for a game you like.

I do have a fair number of them. I grab Atlus ones when I can. They used to be better though. Catherine's original CE is hilarious, with very high production values. Persona 5 was also really good. But lately they've gone downhill. Soul Hackers 2 CE is an ovepriced joke.

I also really liked the Final Fantasy XIII-2 one. It wasn't too elaborate but it was classy.

 

[Deleted member 91227]

Never been to worth it to me, but I've just never been a collector type and haven't wanted statues, soundtrack CDs etc.

To those who like collecting things, it just varies by the quality of what's on offer. Essentially the Marie Kondo idea—if whatever's included sparks joy in people who buy and own it it's worth it. That said, a lot of things probably aren't worth the hassle it takes to buy them, especially in the era of scalpers with bots etc. Companies really need to find better ways to sell things directly to fans, but I have no idea what the solution is.

 

[Aurc]

I feel like if you just buy these willy-nilly, for any game, you're doing it wrong, and of course you're going to naturally flood your place with a bunch of junk. I pre-ordered Metroid Dread: Special Edition, and it's one of the only SEs I own. I'm happy with it, because I've been waiting my whole life for a sequel to Metroid Fusion, and I like having a special version of Dread. Was it worth it? Yes, absolutely, but only because it's not just another SE to add to a growing pile. It's something I genuinely wanted to own.

Btw, Dice, I'll likely have to end up ordering one of your prints soon. This piece is genuinely gorgeous (as is all of your work)!

 

[Neverx]

Depends, if it's just a steelbook + artbook (like XC3s) or bundled with a controller (smash, Skyword sword) then I prefer to go for the special edition as I love steelbooks and prefer useful items or artbooks. What I don't care for is a bunch of random notebooks, and trinkets or subpar figures as I'd much rather buy a higher quality statue compared to the often cheap figures stuffed into CEs.

It also depends on the series, I only go for CEs for series that are my favorites rather than every game I'm hyped for.

 

[Swiggins]

Some are, most aren't I'd argue.

Atlus' Collectors Editions for Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal were both outstanding and they were fairly reasonably priced as well.

Both of these are fairly substantial CE's and both were approximately $100 if memory serves correctly.

 

[Petruccis Biceps]

I don't buy them anymore. I don't care about steel books or art books or figures or anything. I end up looking at them for a minute and that's it. The only thing that would get me to buy a collectors edition is if they include something like a full soundtrack(depending on the game of course).

 

[Lobster Roll]

It's almost always a pile of junk.

 

[sir_crocodile]

I only get them if they seem to be the only way to get the full soundtrack cd to something I want, or if they have something really cool (not a crappy statue or random tat)

 

[Ferrio]

Most state side collectors stuff seems pretty shitty. Some of it used to be nice in earlier generations, stuff just kept getting cheaper.

 

[Lkr]

nope but i'm a sucker for getting a steelbook for an extra $10 if I end up going physical

 

[TaySan]

I haven't bought a collectors edition since the Last of Us. Don't care for them anymore I just care about the game.

 

[AAION]

The only one I've gotten was the MGSV CE
All it had was some in game items and a gauntlet model... which had typos on the printing...

 

[ciddative]

I'll normally go one step down from the top package with the statue and get the "Special" for artbooks or steelbooks or whatever.

No I don't need Ellie's backpack lmao

The only one I've gotten was the MGSV CE
All it had was some in game items and a gauntlet model... which had typos on the printing...

Click to shrink...

Man, I was so hyped for MGSV that I got the shitty UK CE (half-scale arm) and imported a Japanese CE (with the proper scale arm) also.

 

[Lemony1984]

Almost never.

The best thing to do would be never to buy a CE up front. And then 6 months after release if you still want it, buy it a resale prices. Usually it'll be cheaper, but even for the expensive ones, the money you will have saved not buying shit CE's will more than cover it.


All I really want from a CE is a full size hardcover artbook and maybe a steelbook. Fuck off with your terrible statues.

 

[Musubi]

I can't even remember the last CE I bought. Once I freed myself of that nonsense I was so much happier. It's almost always just garbage.

 

[Mass Effect]

The answer is usually "no," but sometimes you get something good like the Skyward Sword LE.

 

[AuthenticM]

I like steelbook cases and artbooks.

 

[Lotus]

I'm 100% not saying that ALL not worth it

Click to shrink...

Well I'll say it, they ain't 😒

 

[Luigi87]

Most are not. I've mostly stopped chasing after LEs.

Fire Emblem Fates absolutely was for having all three games on one card.
Heck, I don't know what happens to FE Fates Revelations digital when eshop closes.

 

[nihilence]

Most are not worth it. Unless you really like to have a few pieces to show off.

I have the Gears 3 Epic Marcus, mgsV hand and the MK9 book end.

 

[Pheonix]

Nope.

Now limited editions (and by that I mean actually limited), are a totally different matter.

 

[Saladin]

Only the ones that have a figure. God of War 2018 and Witcher 3 collector's editions for an example

 

[ConfusedOwl]

I'm tempted by the Xenoblade CE but ultimately no, I don't think it's worth it for me. I like art books but I'd rather buy a standalone version that covers an entire series instead, and I don't care about steel cases. Trying to fight scalpers and bots is also really annoying.

 

[WhtR88t]

Putting in "extra" crap that costs pennies to produce, but charing big increases. They are literally designed to exploit and make more profit from the biggest fans.

 

[shadowman16]

Takes up more space, comes with loads of shit, costs more... I dont know what part of that would sway me. Ive sworn off CE's after being burned once too many (SFIV then InFamous SS). I just get the thing I want (you know, the actual games).

 

[hydruxo]

I'd say no, because collector's editions are usually overpriced and the main item is a statue most of the time. I don't have room for a bunch of video game statues and a lot of the time those statues are kind of gaudy anyways. Then most of the other items are knick knacks I won't look at again.

I think the smaller special editions that don't cost much more than the base game and have an art book, steelbook, & OST are fine though. I'll get those sometimes because they don't have all the extra junk. The Horizon Forbidden West steelbook was gorgeous.

 

[TheKid]

Nah, they're junk. And the games are usually the 1.0 disc with no dlc or patches so they Will be worthless eventually. If you're looking to make a buck only order Nintendo special editions. I saw the fallout 4 limited edition pip boy edition I donated to goodwill when I moved out still there, lol it's just bloat

 

[rochellepaws]

I like the ones that are a little more unique and not just the usual template of a steelbook, artbook and music CD. I'm much more interested in display pieces, plushies or accessories like a controller.

 

[TheChrisGlass]

I've always been a sucker for the DJ Max Limited Editions.

 

[skeezx]

like most CE's look like an absolute joke to me, but i'm not much of a 'collector'

 

[Cubeikon]

Yeah, I used to buy many of them but moved away from it mostly. I still like Steelbooks and buy them whenever I have the chance to but the time for LEs/SEs have almost passed.

Two SEs I really liked are the one from Bioshock 2 with the OST on CD, the OST for Bioshock on Vinyl and a really fleshed out hardcover artbook with 100+ pages I guess.
The other one is from Alan Wake with the OST on CD and that cool in-universe book with for example FBI reports about the incidents in Bright Falls and some short stories by Alan Wake.

But other than that it's mostly stuff that ends in some drawer.

 

[Slayven]

I wanted the fridge one for COD