Has a Demo ever changed your mind or do you already know what you want before you even play the demo?  Do even play demos?  Well do you?

I've played the demo for God of War 3 and it made me not even want to play the real game.  It was a piss poor representative of the final product.  Due to that little slip up, I STILL haven't played GoW3.  I plan to get it in the near future, though--but only because of word of mouth.  Conversely, I never had any interest is Little Big Planet.  I downloaded the demo during a slow gaming week and realized that this was a game I needed to own.  So, are there any demos that changed your opinion for better or worse?

--Oh, play the Enslaved:  Journey to the West demo (European PSN).  I got a feeling it's going to change a few minds.......

Yeah the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo prevented me from buying the game for more than year because I thought it was awful. I so regretted waiting to finally buy it as it was amazing.

I agree for the most part... the demo GOW3, left me unimpressed so when my brother rented it I was still playing another game, and didn't bother renting it again.

I played uncharted in the store... and it was underwhelming. Now I'm not the biggest uncharted fan in the world... but I wouldn't have waited a whole year to play it, if I knew it was gonna be as good as it was.

Mafia II... Demo was bad didn't buy.

Just Cause... Didn't like it, didn't buy/rent.

Ditto with Kane and Lynch II

Valkyria Chronicles... the demo was really boring... I almost bought it, but the demo turned me off... I finally was out of games to play and wanted an HD game so I gave this a shot... and it was great.

FFXII demo... didn't like the demo, but I bought it anyways because it's final fantasy.

Maybe some of these games were good, and maybe some of them sucked.

Now there is one game that I wouldn't have boughten, but I bought because I absolutely loved the game

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
Due to the negative perception of the tomb raider series... I debated ever really to try the demo. The demo was awesome in my opinion. And I bought it and loved the game as well.


So basically... demo's help me not buy games I might normally buy/rent. I'm happy cause it saves me money, but atleast for me personally, demo's have turned me away from a lot more games than convinced me to buy.

Now there's some franchises such as Final Fantasy (the mainline ones) that I'll buy no matter what... (though actually I bought the JP advent children so I could have the blu-ray movie with the FFXIII JP demo). As well as WRPG bioware games... I'll basically no matter what as well, no matter if the demo's are good or not.

^^You know, I have that exact Tomb Raider demo on my 360 right now.  It's 2GB, I think.  I never even bothered to try it because I felt they changed the game too much.  I guess I have to give it a try.  You sold me on it.

--Another demo that sold me on the game was Sam and Max:  Season 1.  I loved that demo so much, I bought the game right that second.  And if the Scott Pilgrim demo wasn't so long, I would've gotten it.  Sometimes, less is more.  I guess demos for downloadable titles matter more than any other.  You don't get the background on these games like you do on most retail games.  With games on the PSN, XBL, or VC, it's pretty much "Bam!  Here it is!!  Buy it if you feel lucky."  There's a reason I own more downloadable titles on the 360 than I do on the Wii and PS3 combined:  Demos for every single title.  I'd have NEVER considered games like Uno, the Maw, or Super Stardust without a playable demo. 

Well, I can say. I've haven't played the old tomb raider enough to really say how it compares to the new one. Though, even though I heard they're different... i'm interested in playing the old ones now... still figuring out which ones to play tho.

part of the reason I liked it a lot, was the local co-op was great. I needed a game to play with my brother. Where each person tasks have to put their character use to solve the clever (but mostly easy puzzles).

Single player was fun too. But you should definitely play the demo, and see if it fits your tastes.

The story, was obviously really silly... and unintentionally or intentionally campy/funny :P

OT: I agree, the PSN, XBL, VC Downloadble I've only boughten games I could play a demo for... (Minus, ports of PS1, N64 games which I probably shouldn't have boughten :P).

I love XBL because of this too.

mistake. :-/

Demos are important because the hands-on experience gives you a perspective that reading reviews just can't, especially with gameplay mechanics.

Tried the Enslaved demo. It definitely feels a little clunky, but at the same time it takes me further into the world and the characters than watching videos. Some good and some bad I suppose.

I disagree.

I've never downloaded a demo in my life. I have a certain philosophy I follow before a purchase. 

1- Sequels to games I like

2- Reading reviews

3- Watching gameplay videos (one of the more recent techniques)

4- Word of mouth

You disagree?  How can you disagree with me asking a question!?

--BTW, thanks for teaching me how to embed! I'm abusing my new power, now!!

Yeah, I thought the thread title was a statement, didn't see the question mark til  later.