Metacritic: Universal Acclaim !

[constantine]

Pillars of Eternity on Metacritic:

 

90/100 based on 59 critic reviews

 

85/100 based on 1525 user reviews

 

 

:D

 

I think this speaks louder than any rpg codex review.

[Ink Blot]

Nice numbers.

[Ohioastro]

I'd add that these numbers are running around the highest of any current game - so, no, this isn't some quirk.  And it includes both the pro reviews and user reviews - the latter are typically far lower if there is a substantial unhappy user base. (Compare Dragon Age Origins with Dragon Age 2, for example,.)

[Volourn]

"I think this speaks louder than any rpg codex review."\

 

Are you REALLY that butthurt over one review? HOLY MOLY!!

 

 

Get over it.

[constantine]

My reply is on the other thread, Volourn.

Edited April 27, 2015 by constantine

[luzarius]

POE is amazing, I'm hoping POE 2 will be moddable. 

[Xarastier]

I'd add that these numbers are running around the highest of any current game - so, no, this isn't some quirk.  And it includes both the pro reviews and user reviews - the latter are typically far lower if there is a substantial unhappy user base. (Compare Dragon Age Origins with Dragon Age 2, for example,.)

I beg to differ.  Since 2012 Chris Roberts' Star Citizen kickstarted Crowdfunder hit over an ohioastronomic $80,000,000 this month, and has yet to be a game!! 

[Guest 4ward]

i’d rather reviews had traffic colors, green for good, yellow for so-so, red for skip it. Back in the early 90-s i played frontier first encounters, the sequel to elite. I had a blast, freely flying around, upgrading my ship, getting credits for dispatching other ships before they went into hyperspace mode. We had no internet reviews back then i think and i read mag reviews and one famous german mag gave it 49 score (!), i was like ‘WTF?!’ I mean look at the score metacritic rates Dragon Age_Origins, it’s basically the same like the PoE score, yet i can say that i’ve played this game only once completely through and also another origin story and that’s it. That game never felt that it had a story, it only picked up late in the game when meeting Loghain, the combat didn’t really won me over, in fact i had one of the worst combat experiences in a game ever when masses of the same kind of enemies rushed at me and i just somehow had to survive, i think that was in that Redcliffe sp? battle. I try to read as many reviews and forums as possible and my personal taste decides whether the points that are brought up are nitpicks or concerns. I don’t play this game, but from reading the forums i know it plays different than the old IE games which – dare i say – i adore. I’m coming back here to check if there’s some news regarding Obsidian and PoE and whether changes will get implemented. Obsidian looks to be the only company which thinks that 2d rpgs are worthwhile making so i’m curious about them and their future plans.

[ShadowStorm]

I don't put much stock in Metacritic aggregate score for the professional reviews, but the customer reviews are a very good indicator on how the game is. Dragon Age Inquisition has great reviewer scores and a *very* low user score.

 

Reviewers *can* be bought, but the people can't. 

[Michael_Galt]

Ok.  So, the average between those two numbers is roughly an 88%.  An 88% is LESS than an A.  A solid "A" would be 94-97%.  That is practically impossible on metacritic, so the real number to achieve is probably 92-93%.

 

For instance:

 

Baldur's Gate.  Critics 95, Players 93.  That averages to 94%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn

 

Baldur's Gate: Critics 91, Players 90.  That is basically a 90%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/baldurs-gate

 

Kotor 2: Critics 85, Players 83.  That is an 84%, though I personally feel it was slighted.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii---the-sith-lords

 

Kotor: Critics 93, Players 90.  91-92%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic

 

Arcanum: Critics 81, Players 90.  Averages to roughly 86%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/arcanum-of-steamworks-and-magick-obscura

 

F: NV: Critics 84, Players 84.  84%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/fallout-new-vegas

 

Planescape: Torment: Critics 91, Players 94.  Averages to around 92.5%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/planescape-torment

 

So, basically, it is under-performing.  Almost all of those games scored higher scores, and that is over time (meaning, far more reviews).  A handful had slightly lower scores (Kotor 2, F:NV and Arcanum), but it wasn't by much.  That basically just affirms that it IS a really good game, but it ISN'T an AMAZING game.  Hopefully, POE 2 will surpass even those games that still hold that title.

[Amentep]

The only opinion that ultimately matters to me is my own.

[gkathellar]

ITT: "I have an opinion, and these critics agree with me. Therefore my opinion is right. Suck it, Sensuki!"

 

Never mind the metacritic is methodologically questionable at best.

[TheisEjsing]

Okay, I dislike the way the codex review is presented as much as the next guy, but this is too much. Stop making new threads about it. It's one review which most can agree fails to keep it's points, both valid ones and not, in moderation. But just because most reviewers love the game, doesn't mean that everybody should. 

[jackjack]

It's Metacritic. Good for a laugh, but pretty worthless at its stated purpose.

I still say it's an 8/10, myself.

[kaiki]

As flawed as Metacritic is, it still holds weight with publishers enough as to be the determining factor in if developers get bonuses or not on their projects. Now I'm tempted just to send $5 in the mail to Obsidian for getting that high metacritic score on PoE XD

 

If anything I hope the critical acclaim helps Obsidian get more work from publishers that look at the devs in a new light.

[Matt516]

Metacritic is opaque, holds too much power, and I don't like it.

 

That is all.

[Naurgalen]

All this hipsterish "metacritic is bull****" thing, is starting to get on my nerves.

 

Is metacritics criticss score bull****? Yes, totally.

 

Is the user score totally bull****? Not really.

 

Ofcs its not perfect and CAN be abused, but the score is just a little PART of what makes useful metacritic, the other (far more important) part being the comments. Just reading a couple + the score you can almost instantly have a good idea of how good the game is, if the score is trying to be manipulated by a playerbase, if the reactions are moderate or totally opposite, if the game is suited to only a limited player-base or the masses and much more. You just need to read between the lines a little.

 

For example: I think a score of 85/100 for PoE is almost on the spot. Its a real solid game with good improvements and some problems that can (and will) be ironed. It certainly isn't a classic just yet, and I feel that most people just bash if because of that. But it is near, and knowing the problems that Obsidian had, the limited budged & time, the built from scratch world, engine (and no, I'm not referring to unity), mechanics, story and so much more + all the inexperience of being one of the first successful kickstarter projects in the world makes me real positive. People totally forget (or don't know) the problems that a big and new project from literally 0 implies.

 

Now that Obsidian has the foundations, they finally can create the new classic.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Naurgalen

[Ohioastro]

The user reviews flag games that had significant issues at release.  That's actually valuable and useful.  If there are bugs that actually matter to a lot of players the users will complain; the usual couple of people with problems won't impact scores.  If the game just isn't fun for a lot of players it will show up.

 

To understand Metacritic, look at Steam achievements.  They are really revealing about what the typical game player actually does.  For PoE:

 

Completed Act I  - 44.3%

Completed Act II - 16.5%

Won the game - 5.7%

Won the game at PoTD - 0.2%

 

I really doubt that these sorts of numbers would have been any different in the era of Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale.

 

Most people play games for 10 or 20 hours, and are happy doing it.  So Metacritic measures first impressions and polish, and it is very good at doing so.  If I look over games that got low user scores I see either bugs (Total War Rome 2) or design flaws (Dragon Age 2) as the culprit.  Sometimes the issues get fixed later (Civ 4 and TW Rome 2 are much more stable than on release, and Civ 4 was my favorite of the series); other times not  - there is still no proper PC interface for Dragon Age Inquisition, and it still has a lot of MMO fetch quests.

[Naurgalen]

Yes, the score. But

 

The user reviews flag games that had significant issues at release.  That's actually valuable and useful.  If there are bugs that actually matter to a lot of players the users will complain; the usual couple of people with problems won't impact scores.  If the game just isn't fun for a lot of players it will show up.

 

To understand Metacritic, look at Steam achievements.  They are really revealing about what the typical game player actually does.  For PoE:

 

Completed Act I  - 44.3%

Completed Act II - 16.5%

Won the game - 5.7%

Won the game at PoTD - 0.2%

 

I really doubt that these sorts of numbers would have been any different in the era of Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale.

 

Most people play games for 10 or 20 hours, and are happy doing it.  So Metacritic measures first impressions and polish, and it is very good at doing so.  If I look over games that got low user scores I see either bugs (Total War Rome 2) or design flaws (Dragon Age 2) as the culprit.  Sometimes the issues get fixed later (Civ 4 and TW Rome 2 are much more stable than on release, and Civ 4 was my favorite of the series); other times not  - there is still no proper PC interface for Dragon Age Inquisition, and it still has a lot of MMO fetch quests.

 

That´s why reading comments is so important: Mass Effect 3 can appear as the most awesome of the trilogy by FAR if you didn't finished it, but almost every single comment warned you of that. Skyrim is a just above average game, but in the comments mods are noted and those are the reason it was so awesome. (Until Valve+Bethesda just murdered it for profit, but that's another topic) People need to read more .

[Gfted1]

Less than half finished the first act and less than 6% finished the game? Huh.

 

I wonder what the average is.

[kaiki]

Less than half finished the first act and less than 6% finished the game? Huh.

 

I wonder what the average is.

 

Not sure about all games but there was a good article that listed the stats for Bioware games. It came out to be around 40% finishes their games.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-13-less-players-completed-mass-effect-3-than-finished-mass-effect-2

[Rosveen]

Due to recent paid mods shenanigans, angry users voted Skyrim down to 8.0. I'm sure Bethesda haters will take some comfort in knowing that PoE is now officially better perceived.

[mystang89]

Ok. So, the average between those two numbers is roughly an 88%. An 88% is LESS than an A. A solid "A" would be 94-97%. That is practically impossible on metacritic, so the real number to achieve is probably 92-93%.

 

For instance:

 

Baldur's Gate. Critics 95, Players 93. That averages to 94%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn

 

Baldur's Gate: Critics 91, Players 90. That is basically a 90%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/baldurs-gate

 

Kotor 2: Critics 85, Players 83. That is an 84%, though I personally feel it was slighted.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii---the-sith-lords

 

Kotor: Critics 93, Players 90. 91-92%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic

 

Arcanum: Critics 81, Players 90. Averages to roughly 86%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/arcanum-of-steamworks-and-magick-obscura

 

F: NV: Critics 84, Players 84. 84%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/fallout-new-vegas

 

Planescape: Torment: Critics 91, Players 94. Averages to around 92.5%.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/planescape-torment

 

So, basically, it is under-performing. Almost all of those games scored higher scores, and that is over time (meaning, far more reviews). A handful had slightly lower scores (Kotor 2, F:NV and Arcanum), but it wasn't by much. That basically just affirms that it IS a really good game, but it ISN'T an AMAZING game. Hopefully, POE 2 will surpass even those games that still hold that title.

I won't say whether this game is great or not. It's fun for me and that is all I really care about but I did want to point out something that you said. With most of those games the reviews are over time which also means there is more time to correct mistakes and bring out expansions for the late comers to give better reviews.

[McMayhem]

Let's not forget the current status of consumers today. Look back at all the "Holy crap, I have to actually read?!?" posts from a while back and you will see that most of today's gamers can barely keep their concentration focused for one act, let alone a full game. 

[Naurgalen]

Less than half finished the first act and less than 6% finished the game? Huh.

 

I wonder what the average is.

 

 

Note that I and at least 2 friends haven't finished the game because of time reasons. PoE is a long game and we study and work at the same time.