Yeah I paid about $10 for each, but it's totally worth it if you like to spend time with a game. The story line is nonlinear, and your choices matter, so you can get different endings/charaters/etc. depending on the choices you make.
In Spectral Souls, there are three different armies that fight against each other in a war. Your decisions influence who is winning the war at certain times. This influences what kind of ending you get. In addition there is a "true" ending which you get by choosing a certain decision path, and this "true" ending unlocks a special post-game dungeon. However, once you beat the game on any ending, you get to do the story over again, where you get to keep all your weapons, items, spells, etc. The game is designed for you to play through a few times until ultimately going into the "post game," which is like a dungeon with much harder battles.
There is also a (fairly complicated) method for making your equipment and skills. You have to buy or find them, the enhance them and develop them into something new. (E.g., Iron Sword->Silver Sword->Platinum Sword->Mithril Sword->etc.) And then there are special combinations to make new items. You also make new skills this way.
Blazing Souls is a similar type of thing.
So to actually play either game, you have to spend a whole lot of time building your characters and your items. So for play value, the price tag is fully justified. I think I got Spectral Souls around a year ago, and in the past year I've pretty much only played that and Blazing Souls. So 6 months of play each for ~$10.
