The Gamespot review

[Valmy]

 

People still read Gamespot? That said, I think 8/10 is fair. 

 

People keep saying this, but no it's not. Not coming from Gamespot, which operate on a 6-10 scale with inflated value on a triple AAA publishers. 

 

 

That is really the key point isn't it? This is not a big publisher game (I mean I like Paradox but I don't think they have that big of a cache yet). This is Indy-ish. In that context 8/10 is a good score. If this was a AAA budget game backed up by a powerful publisher that would be a disastrous score.

[Malcador]

Was a pretty good review. Rather pleased at the amount of you people that are upset over it.

[Stun]

How can he say D:OS is a 'glimpse of the future' but PoE is treading the fine line between clone and homage?

Well, I can't read his mind and say exactly what he means by that. But from playing both games I can say that these two statements are flat out true.

 

PoE DOES tread that fine line between clone and homage. That's one of its endearing qualities. I didn't back its kickstarter in the hopes of getting something cutting edge and "innovative". Did you? I backed it in the hopes that it would deliver the exact opposite - Something that pays homage to the IE classics, and faithfully reproduces that elusive "feel" that was exclusive to those games. A clone with a different rule set and setting is totally what we did get.

 

 

As for D:OS being 'a glimpse of the future'....IDK. Considering how well it does its turn-base combat and how fundamentally vital to gameplay it makes its environment interaction, and its semi-classless hybrid system, I'd say that D:OS might indeed be a glimpse of the future.... of turn based RPGs, and how RPGs will do their class systems going forward. Here's hoping.

 

 

But whatever. We're dealing with two "good guys" here, not Good vs. Bad. As Fantasy RPG fans, we should be applauding the success of Both games, since they're so much better than anything the Big Publishers have been offering us lately.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Stun

[Tylaris]

There is a limit to how far personal likes/dislike can affect someone's rating whether it's a book, movie, video game or anything else. And for a professional critic that should be as minimized as possible. I have no objection to this score... while I consider it even better than BG II or Torment, I would rate it the same.

10/10 is a game that will never be made, 9 is nearly flawless, so 8 would be something that excells at several areas while could use significant improvement in others.

What I don't get is how Dragon Age 2 can receive exactly the same score? Or even higher one for the Inquisition that lacked depth, focus and character in practically every aspect of the game?

[NathanH]

 

People still read Gamespot? That said, I think 8/10 is fair. 

 

People keep saying this, but no it's not. Not coming from Gamespot, which operate on a 6-10 scale with inflated value on a triple AAA publishers. 

 

 

Looking over their recent reviews, Gamespot have given 9/10 to 2 PC games this year (Hotline Miami 2, The Talos Principle) and 10/10 to none. So, 8/10 is a strong score for a Gamespot PC review.

[Emc2]

There is always going to be people with different tastes, and you shouldn't expect game critics to be totally objective, as long as their opinion is their own. Personally I sometimes wonder how some writers get to the sites they are writing on. Many lack the basic information-checking skills, I've seen so many s***storms raised from very speculative articles.

 

Some people here are stating their opinions as absolute truth, and they can't accept others. It just doesn't work like that. You shouldn't base your opinion on a game on the score the site gives it but instead on the negatives/positives they mention on the review. You should consider if the negatives are enough to kill the enjoyment of the positives in your opinion. Sometimes the negatives might even be positives on your book. Nearly every site has different rating standards. That is the reason why they should dump every single attempt to measure game's value compared to other games and focus on the single game (and possible sequels/prequels etc.).

 

My personal rating would be maybe a bit higher than IE games. I consider it one of the best games I've played. This is the first game since Dark Souls when I've not looked forward to the ending and finally finishing the game.

[Stun]

What I don't get is how Dragon Age 2 can receive exactly the same score?

The real question you should be asking is: Why was DA2 reviewed in the first place? Because it's not a game. It's a con job that was mis-marketed as a game. A virus. A DDoS attack against RPG fans and the genre as a whole. Edited April 7, 2015 by Stun

[Rumrunner711]

An 8 out of 10???

At most, I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

 

 

Seriously though, why care what some random reviewer gives a game?

I tend to go by reviews from my friends, I trust their judgement much more and they trust mine since we know each others gaming tastes.

 

And rating systems are pretty vague anyway.

I rate Pillars 15 Copper Skeyts and 1 Zombie Cat. (Which is pretty freaking good in my book!)

 

[Frenzy-kun]

After the gamergate scandal, I trust no more the media. They follow interests, and I could believe that there are plenty of interests from some media to not to support this kind of games.

[PermTrouble]

Meh, I think 8/10 is still good.

 

I like Pillars, but do kind of wish they included more of a 3rd person perspective.  I remember first playing Dragon Age: Origins and thinking it felt like a natural evolution of those old IE games.

 

2 & 3 not so much.  But dat origins bro

[kalel78]

its hilarious to see the reaction of the internet when it comes to mainstream critic reviews:

 

a game you like gets a 9 or a 10 - "GAMESPOT IS THE BESTEZ!"

 

a game gets a little lower score than you were expecting - "GAMESPOT IS THE WORSTZ!  THEY ARE BIASED TOWARD BIOWARE AND EA!"

 

personally im ok with their review.. if anything i consider gamespot to be one of the few mainstream sites to watch.. they may not be perfect.. but they sure are better than IGN.. and for the most part ive always felt that gamespot reviews are fair.

 

stuff i find annoying in POE

the pathing in the game is not very good IMO, which can make positioning a chore sometimes.

graphics are good mostly.. but i think games like divinity are a little better.

there is some strange sound issues.. put on a good set of headphones and have your characters navigate the map at 2x speed.. tell me there is no issues with the sound.

 

 

stuff the mainstream audience may find annoying:

you actually have to READ and the game has a TON of lore which can overwhelm some (and seemed to do so with this reviewer).

stats are important and the decisions you make regarding those stats can have drastic implications on how your character performs (i.e. "a number of complicated systems".

you may not be able to fight every mob in every zone right away.. you might have to backtrack (i.e. "difficulty spikes")

 

so when you factor in the bugs and some of the old-school systems.. you can see why he gave the score he did.  personally i think the game deserves a mid 90s score even WITH the bugs i mentioned above.. but this guy's review is totally reasonable IMO.

Edited April 7, 2015 by kalel78

[k1rage]

yeah 8/10 is really not to bad

 

I always hated 1-10 rating systems

 

I like how PC gamer does things 1-100

 

they gave Pillars 92%

 

PC gamer is actually the only mainstream reviewer that I even half trust

[DocDoomII]

Scores are useless.

Take the content of the review and use it critically to apprise the product.

[Keldrath]

 

 

 

Someone actually feels that the user review on Metacritic are worthwhile? Are you serious? 40% of the user review are made by people who rate it 10/10 to "counter the negative reviews" or just because they looooove the game and deliberately ignore its flaws (and as much as I love PoE, it's not worth a 10 at this stage). Another 35% are nutjobs and trolls who rate games a 0/10 because they don't like the publisher, don't like the genre or have issues with how their mothers potty-trained them. And there in the middle, being completely drowned out by the noise from both camps, are a few people who give a reasoned, thorough review of a game's pros and cons. Not at all worth wading through the sludge, if you ask me.

How do you explain the sharp difference between the users score and the official critics'one of DA:I? Personally i learned to don't trust official critics since when RTW 2 was relesead in a very obscene condition (more than one year of patching to fix it), despite the high scoring received by the most popular game critics.

Anyway for me 8/10 reflects the current bugged/beta-like status of the game that partly ruins the combat experience, so i think is roughly right.

 

I explain that by realizing that:

1) There's an enormous number of people out there who will rate any EA-published game a 0/10 just because they hate EA. Don't get me wrong, EA is a poster-child for bad corporate behavious, but that has nothing to do with the quality of games published under their logo.

 

2) Very many people have very strong feelings about BioWare in general and the Dragon Age franchise in particular. If these people see anything that deviates the slightest little bit from the game they imagined in their heads prior to release compared to the game they actually got, they'll spew their bile on Metacritic and post a 0/10.

 

That is just not true. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/mass-effect this has a good score. Why? because it is a good game.

People rate bad EA/Bioware game the score they deserve.

 

People still trusted Bioware and felt they could "Do no wrong" when that game came out, and EA was disliked but not as reviled as they came to be shortly after.

 

With Mass Effect 2, Bioware did fairly well, though many core fans didn't like the new approach, especially how they made it more of a cover shooter than a "true rpg".

 

It wasn't until Dragon Age 2 that people lost faith in Bioware altogether, that's where their bad reputation comes from, that game in particular, and the trend leading up to it. Mass Effect 3 cemented it in the eyes of gamers and many are still boycotting it to this day.

 

At this point there is so much bad blood between the gamers and EA/Bioware, that nothing they do at this point can get away from heavy trolling and score abuse by random people. They are still trying to salvage their reputation, and I think they did a rather good job with Inquisition.

 

That's why it is the way it is, told to you from someone who witnessed it all unfold over the years firsthand.

[Tychoxi]

Just - wow. I can't believe the score Kevin van Ord gives PoE. 8/10, when he gave Dragon Age : Inquisition 9/10. AND Divinity Original Sin?!! Is he for real?

 

PoE is not perfect, but 8/10?

 

Something is definitely up here. Did the devs p*ss Van Ord off??

 

How can he say D:OS is a 'glimpse of the future' but PoE is treading the fine line between clone and homage? I lost interest in D:OS pretty quickly, the world is just too fairytale and garish, and everything is covered in either slime, fire or ice!!

 

I'm shocked by this review. Genuinely shocked.

 Scores are worthless anyway.

[k1rage]

Scores are useless.

Take the content of the review and use it critically to apprise the product.

 

wise words

[Archaven]

Scores are useless.

Take the content of the review and use it critically to apprise the product.

 

But that's not how the industry works. A 9/10 drive sales. I bet Bloodborne gets a good sales boost because of 9/10. Was it perfect? No framerate issues? No 40s loading respawn loading times?

[DocDoomII]

 

Scores are useless.

Take the content of the review and use it critically to apprise the product.

 

But that's not how the industry works. A 9/10 drive sales. I bet Bloodborne gets a good sales boost because of 9/10. Was it perfect? No framerate issues? No 40s loading respawn loading times?

 

The industry works that way because people don't read the reviews, and just look at the scores.

Remove the scores and you'll see that the industry will change.

[ednanf]

Wait... is 8 a bad score?

 

If you took tests at school/university, based on a scale of 1-10, and your score was 8, would you really find it bad? Really?

[k1rage]

Wait... is 8 a bad score?

 

If you took tests at school/university, based on a scale of 1-10, and your score was 8, would you really find it bad? Really?

yeah most of the time an 80% would be a let down for me

[evensong]

Number rating systems are ****ing dumb in general, in my opinion. A number requirement forces the reviewer to dumb down all their emotional response, thoughts on the game's internal logic and how the game relates to the genre and real life and so on - into a number that is poorly suited to reflect any opinion or thought on its own, let alone several combined.

 

Imagine this system for any other kind of review. "I read H.D. Thoreau's Walden, it was exciting when he lost the axe head in the pond and fished it out again, but I'll have to subtract points for his sub-par bean growing skills. 3/10, try harder next time!"

[Archaven]

Wait... is 8 a bad score?

 

If you took tests at school/university, based on a scale of 1-10, and your score was 8, would you really find it bad? Really?

 

7 isn't a bad score either. Let's say Bloodborne score a 7/10. Let's talk about the sales figure then.

[DocDoomII]

Wait... is 8 a bad score?

 

If you took tests at school/university, based on a scale of 1-10, and your score was 8, would you really find it bad? Really?

Eh, I know personally of someone who cried because he didn't get a 10 in a test in high school.

[ednanf]

 

Wait... is 8 a bad score?

 

If you took tests at school/university, based on a scale of 1-10, and your score was 8, would you really find it bad? Really?

yeah most of the time an 80% would be a let down for me

 

You must be very cool!

 

 

Wait... is 8 a bad score?

 

If you took tests at school/university, based on a scale of 1-10, and your score was 8, would you really find it bad? Really?

Eh, I know personally of someone who cried because he didn't get a 10 in a test in high school.

 

Yeah, there’s always this guy. Don’t be this guy.

[Monte Carlo]

Reviews are the views of one person. They throw in some pros. They throw in some cons. You might even know the reviewer's personal bete noir or preferences and factor that in too.

 

But, at the end of the day, it's a review. Not every review can be milk and honey, but dammit 8/10 is pretty solid IMO. 8/10 in a genre I enjoyed in the first place? That would never put me off considering a game. Ever.

 

This game is pretty niche and has some issues. It's going to provoke strong reactions one way or another. It has received a warm reception from the mainstream gaming media overall, so I think chill pills all round.