discussion How do you decide which games to keep downloaded?

[Deleted member 254876]

I often find myself at a point where I've downloaded a ton of VNs, a good 2/3rds of them being pretty bad, and then needing to do a big clean-out to save some hard drive space. A lot of the time it's an easy choice to dump games, but I often find a few months later I'll remember one and wish I still had it around.

So what things do you take into account when deciding if a game is going to survive the cull? Quality obviously, but any other key features that stand out?

 

[nsfgames]

If I've completed it and there's no reason to go back, it's gone.
If it has a ridiculously large file size, it's a candidate to go (maybe replaced with a compressed version).
If it has more paths I haven't explored, I'm more likely to hang onto it even if it's huge (like Being a DIK).
If it's abandoned and I've played through what's there, it will generally be likely to get the axe if space is short.

I'm sure at some point I've deleted something and regretted it later, but that's just how she goes sometimes.

 

[kamas]

all about story impact and make you hard to forget i have a few game that still at my pc for around 6 years now cuz it;s have good story even dev been abandon it

 

[SilentHunter]

First of all, I never download games until at least the third update has appeared.
I'm reading the annotation . If I'm interested in something, I'll go ahead and move on.
MOST IMPORTANT. I read reviews. Unfortunately, they are not available on this site. I'm looking in other places.
If everything is OK, I download it. It takes only 30-40 minutes to figure out if I'm interested in this or not. If I am not interested in the game, then I delete it without the slightest doubt. If I'm interested, I download every update.
It often takes many years for a developer to work on a game (I'm not talking about milking machines like Summertime Saga). It's all the more pleasant to see the finale.

 

[pornus]

for me, it's how many of the girls/ routes I like and how many scenes i want to look back on (could be h scenes but I'm mostly referring to funny moments/ dialogue).

It also helps if the scenes I like are uploaded on youtube. Hence why I uninstalled Muv-Luv but still have kinkoi

 

[JasonCam5]

games that are worth replaying. Games that I think might disappear or are hard to find, so I end up keeping them
Of course abandoned games fit the criteria too

 

[smurfko]

Personally it depends on how hard I nut to the content. I've played Monochrome Fantasy 20+ times and I still keep it on my drive even if I end up relying on the same old tactics.

 

[fuckboi123123]

For me, it's all about how much I enjoy it and if its got the right tags i enjoy. the game could have 100 routes but if its not clicking with me its gone.

 

[Hadiri]

I have Old 2 TB external harddrive that has like every game I've played and liked enough to play again.

 

[Garbolin]

Size always determines how long it stays on my drive. I enjoy Koikatsu but it being 50 some odd gigs ended with me playing what I want to see from it then it getting the boot

 

[bobby3183]

to be honest, i dont really delete many games. i have 300+ gigs of games, some of which are dupes(as in previous versions) as i havent gotten around to deleting them. i still have eternum 0.2 installed lol. but a few years ago i had to cut them down as i was changing my pc and could only transfer so much.
but i would just keep what one you enjoyed. if you need a limit then have a top ten or something, then when you get a new one one the list you can get rid of the one you replace. then just keep them separate from the ones your playing.

 

[muschi26]

If I had the space, I would keep everything, but since I don't, it's mostly about what games and stuff I consistently come back to. There's not much point in hanging on to a game if I've completed it and never intend to play it again.

 

[xafap]

I usually rather get more drives than deleting anything. But I delete games if I don't have a reason to keep them - which rarely happens.

 

[Ethanol1]

If the games are small enough, I just delete them permanently, else I keep them in some external storage

 

[Bandiger]

I usually delete everything unless I plan on coming back to it later. Sometimes I keep the compressed files if it's a final version. No point in keeping anything that might have updates or be abandoned by the time I decide I want to get back to it.

 

[panicdragon]

I delete as I go. I rarely want to go back and replay anything. When I'm done, I'll usually delete all the game content but keep the top folder name and put it into either a folder called 'Waiting' or 'Done'. Means I can tell from the download file if I've played it before. Apparently I have a terrible memory.

 

[Mitomo727]

Either get an external hard drive for maximum hoarding potential or zip the games you're unlikely to touch any time soon. Failing those two, afraid you'll have to start picking off the one's you'd least mind losing.

 

[Phoenix2011]

I can be a bit obsessive with how I manage my storage so I'm usually looking for a way to trim it down. For games I just have to ask myself "am I ever going to play this again?". If the answer is no then it's an easy delete. If yes then I'll keep it around for a time and see if the answer is still true later.

 

[Ignis344]

If I finished the game 100% I usually delete it to free up space which is very hard to do as I am naturally a hoarder but available space decides, if it's a small game that I love replaying it's staying, a large game that I can't download it again easily it's staying also if things gets desperate it's gone also when I download pirated games I usually keep most of the compressed setup files for easy download if needed but then again free space decides all

 

[xrdctfvygbuh]

Anything I like enough, once finished, gets zipped up and goes on an external drive and is subsequently never touched again. Anything I haven't completed is kept until I do.