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The Jimquisition - Indie AAA
- Thread starter TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
- Start date
Zombie James
Banned
Didn't he give Hellblade 1/10?
Killer Queen
Banned
He went back and changed it to a 7/10 because he couldn't complete the game due to a glitch. So he gave it 1 point for every hour he played and enjoyed
He removed the review quickly and had it removed from metacritic. His actual score was a 7 and it would have been higher if he hadn't encountered a progress stopping bug.
MrS
Banned
The biggest PR stories surrounding Hellblade upon its launch were Jim's piss poor, spiteful review and the permadeath debacle. These topics were at the forefront of conversation when Hellblade launched. While Hellblade has been successful, NT could have done a better job with the PR, if only to allay customer fears.
I do enjoy Jim's grovelling and backpedalling RE Hellblade though, as if it will somehow erase the 1/10 score he gave it. We haven't forgotten, Jim, and your constant praise of the game won't make us forget either.
I do enjoy Jim's grovelling and backpedalling RE Hellblade though, as if it will somehow erase the 1/10 score he gave it. We haven't forgotten, Jim, and your constant praise of the game won't make us forget either.
Corleth the Fey
Member
Will check this later and I expect - as always - greatness from our one true lord Jimothy Sterling.
Can't read the words 'Triple A' though without hearing Jim's snarling and condescending high pitched delivery of said phrase - and I'm all the better for it.
Can't read the words 'Triple A' though without hearing Jim's snarling and condescending high pitched delivery of said phrase - and I'm all the better for it.
Plumpbiscuit
Member
I'm a supporter of Jim and have been for years but I wasn't feeling this episode. He's endlessly praising the game he gave a 1/10 due to a game breaking bug; the very complaint he has against AAA games. He only changed the 1/10 to a 7/10 after people told him how deluded he was into doing that. He also failed to mention companies like Larian Studios proving Original Sin can sell hundreds of thousands without a publisher.
Not a great episode imo.
Not a great episode imo.
Niceguydan8
Member
It just comes off as a bit weird because Jim is championing a game that he was originally needlessly edgy and vindictive about.
Leafhopper
Banned
MrS
Banned
He insults his viewership by thinking we're so dense that we don't see what he's doing: overpraising Hellblade to make up for the bad review. I don't believe he is being sincere.
The review damaged his integrity. We both know it to be true.
PopcornMegaphone
Banned
Nah, if you've followed both Hellblade and Jim, it's not difficult to see why Ninja Theory's approach to Hellblade's development would appeal to him and I don't at all have a hard time believing that he very much wanted it to succeed. Which may have also contributed to his rather emotional overreaction upon encountering that rare, game-breaking bug.
Maintenance
Member
This is such a strange attitude. The way he actually made up for the Hellblade issue is by making a video about it and changing his score quickly. If he were truly invested in being insincere, there would be no reason to do so.
Also, "integrity" means, in part, owning up to mistakes, which he did.
He gave the game a 1/10, it broke for him so he couldn't complete it and that kind puts a damper for any reviewer to say good things about a game no matter the initial reaction of presentation.
They fixed the bug, he completed the game, changed the review gave it a 7/10 and liked it.
Thought that was quite fair. Everyone else gave the game good scores so his 1 wasn't very influential on the big picture in the Metaverse but people remain spiteful about it.
GamingPheasant
Banned
Hellblade needed a few more trophies, I need a reward for killing so many Northmen at the final fight.
MrS
Banned
That depends on whether you believe he changed the review for the right reasons (i.e. it being a shit review) or whether he did it for optics because of the scores Hellblade was getting elsewhere.
You shouldn't feel inclined to make excuses for his bad reviews.
I've followed Hellblade and Jim for a while too. I noticed that in the video he posted today, he doesn't miss an opportunity to gloat or pat himself on the back, particularly in the first half of the video. It saddens me that his content has just turned in to a self-congratulatory wankfest.
TeamLeftMatch
Member
So, did you actually look at the review or did you just see a 1 and throw your hands in the air and yell "He hates this game burn him!!!?" Jim priased this game a lot, like he said in the original review he would have given it an 8 or 9 if for not that bug. He later changed the score to better reflect that. Jim isn't trying to save face buy prasining this game, he liked this game before but that bug ruined it for him (on the topic of that a 1 is too harsh for him and taking a point off his original score is fine by me. Reviews review based on their experience and if Jim felt that the bug ruined part of it that's his choice.)
Candescence
Member
He immediately retracted his review, released an in-depth video apologising for what might've been a brash decision and explaining how the score came to be and what was going through his mind at the time and the unexpected circumstances that lead to it, and revised his review ASAP, along with getting Metacritic to actually take down the original review score, which nobody thought would happen because Metacritic doesn't normally do that. And this was all because of a review that was otherwise positive but the score was brought down by a showstopping bug (one that basically made the game unplayable without outright restarting the entire game) that he thought was completely unacceptable.
That doesn't sound like damaged integrity to me.
I don't even know what's indie anymore. Hellblade is from a dev that's been around for a long time, nobody considered them indie dev before, but now they are only because they self-publish games. On the other hand, many indie games are actually published by big publishers. So what the hell is indie anyway?
Plumpbiscuit
Member
Break it down. Indie = independent (from publishers). If you're self-publishing you're indie. If a publisher buys the rights to your game you're still indie, if a publishers buys your studio then you're not indie anymore. 'Least this is the way I define it.
They fixed the bug, but I don't believe Jim has finished the game and definitely not without entirely replaying it. Neither was it the reason he changed his score. He changed it because, after letting the initial frustration cool off, didn't reflect how he honestly felt about the "playable" part of the game.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
MrS
Banned
Years. This isn't a Breath of the Wild style review where a 7 was acceptable but a little off. His original Hellblade score was a massive outlier.
I do believe he gives a shit despite the protestations of his fanbase to the contrary. That's his schtick. He wouldn't keep replying to Pitchford if he didn't give a shit. Sterling cares about his place on the games media totem pole. The guy revels in it.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I think given the scope of many triple A games these days and the cost of higher quality asset creation it's really disengenous and downright ignorant to claim that Hellblade is comparable to a lot of triple A games when it directly wears the things they had to do to remain within a reasonable budget on it's sleeve, like the increased linearity, the lack of a dynamic camera, the lack of enemy types etc., game costs balloon not because of bloat but because of scope. I hardly think anyone would call games like AC:Syndicate, Far Cry Primal, Horizon Zero Dawn, Witcher 3, or Watch Dogs 2 bloated experiences when they remain reasonable in their scope and world size but are still incredibly expensive to make because of the tech required to make them and the fact that it takes longer to do so even with reusable code and assets. And it's absolutely not like the gaming community isn't asking for increased scope, we stopped asking for that when we lambasted the hell out of the order 1886, a game that's also incredibly linear and curated as an experience that's also polished to a T, for being too linear and scripted and bought millions of copies of Horizon Zero Dawn, The Witcher 3, and Breath of the Wild while chanting:MORE OF THIS PLS DEVS!
Candescence
Member
This too. Jim Sterling has a reputation for bucking the trend when it comes to review scores, especially for big games, and marking down scores for games that indulge in practices he heavily dislikes, such as microtransactions.
What happened with his review of Hellblade had nothing to do with what other critics thought of it. Anyone insinuating otherwise clearly doesn't know Jim very well.
Plumpbiscuit
Member
Nah that's his witty sarcasm at play, he really did give Hellblade a 1/10. After people rightfully called out his delusions he had to "sleep" on the decision only to realise his 1/10 was dumbfounded and changed it to 7/10.Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
Shhhhh, lies and slander.
AC Syndicate is the textbook definition of a bloated experience bro. Half the game was the same 3 types of missions being repeated to clear the map.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
It was similar activities in different mini sand boxes of varying difficulty, in the same way that in Witcher 3 we always have to use detective mode to scout out a beast while Geralt tells us about it or have to take down bandit camps in Horizon Zero Dawn. It's contextualized by the story provided in the game like the two above examples as "taking the city back district by district" so yea I wouldn't call that an example of bloat compared to the borderline endless amount of side quests in Unity.
NullPointer
Member
Loved this bit, and I hope to see this point made with more titles over time.The Jimquisition said:
This is harder to talk about because "bloat" can be a judgment as to whether a game has an overbroad scope. In other words, would a smaller version of said game be equally well-recieved and comparatively profitable?
Edit: I should note that I really enjoyed Syndicate. But I dont think I would have enjoyed it any less with 30% of the side missions cut from the game.
MrS
Banned
I have for the most part but when I saw Senua in the video thumbnail it sent my bullshit senses tingling.
Zombie James
Banned
Yeah, I watched it. My initial reaction was based in the description in the OP. Seemed weird he'd sing the praises of a game he scored that low, as temporary as it was.
Hellblade and Jim simply found themselves in a perfect storm resulting in the initial score. There have been many discussions by both games media and games media how the review scale (should) work, many people suggesting that a 1 should be reserved to unplayable or unfinishable broken games. But not taken in consideration was what should be done when that game was in fact good, and the progression halting bug be a fringe case. Jim didn't didn't derive any pleasure from giving Hellblade a 1. Rather, him being so frustrated by the bug, penning up his review in anger, combined with what he himself has said about the review scale, is what did make him swing to a 1.
Had he stuck with his initial score, that would be totally fine. Outside of his score, the review was honest about the game and Jim's experience with it. Him later changing his score is equally fine, as the review didn't really change, but he changed how to evaluate what Hellblade DID bring to the table.
Bringing this thing around to this weeks episode, it's actually funny to hear Jim talk about the fact that getting rid of publishers will allow for greater "artistic integrity". Would Jim have had to report to a publisher/editor, or have had his review run past his peers, would probably have resulted in less "journalistic integrity" and not having published his original score.
However, utmost respect to how Jim dealt with the situation, being open and honest about it. Everybody butthurt over the initial score, or thinking Jim changed it because of underlying politics can ram their cramped sphincters over a comically large purple dildo bat.
Had he stuck with his initial score, that would be totally fine. Outside of his score, the review was honest about the game and Jim's experience with it. Him later changing his score is equally fine, as the review didn't really change, but he changed how to evaluate what Hellblade DID bring to the table.
Bringing this thing around to this weeks episode, it's actually funny to hear Jim talk about the fact that getting rid of publishers will allow for greater "artistic integrity". Would Jim have had to report to a publisher/editor, or have had his review run past his peers, would probably have resulted in less "journalistic integrity" and not having published his original score.
However, utmost respect to how Jim dealt with the situation, being open and honest about it. Everybody butthurt over the initial score, or thinking Jim changed it because of underlying politics can ram their cramped sphincters over a comically large purple dildo bat.
Whitephantomzx
Banned
Sooo people are pissed that he gave it a 1 when it had a game Breaking bug and then adjusted it when it got fixed am i missing something or isnt that the whole point of review????
Stone Ocean
Member
King of Custard
Member
I don't how you can say you've followed Jim for a while then imply he changed his review due to peer pressure? I mean seriously?!?!?
Jim Sterling change his reviews due to peer pressure?
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Triggerhappytel
Member
Not really related to the video specifically, but I used to watch all of Jim's stuff and I've really tired of his style recently. Losing interest in the kind of language and crass tone he goes for, I guess.
Mr. Phellps
Member
I mean, I get his intention... But I'm confused by how he dismisses the title of "AAA indie" as a good thing, when the entire video is about Hellblade blurring the lines between... Indie and AAA.
If Hellblade shouldn't be compared to AAA, if it's not AAA because of the things it refuses to do, then what makes it different from a myriad of indie games that do the same? Why is Hellblade different and deserving of an entire episode about it?
If Hellblade shouldn't be compared to AAA, if it's not AAA because of the things it refuses to do, then what makes it different from a myriad of indie games that do the same? Why is Hellblade different and deserving of an entire episode about it?
Is Jim having a laugh trying to compare Assassin's Creed Unity to Hellblade?
One game which is a linear and focused game with fixed enemy encounters.
To an open world game that tried to have 1000's of NPCs on screen at once all active, with co-op multiplayer.
The scale of the games are literally the polar opposites.
One game which is a linear and focused game with fixed enemy encounters.
To an open world game that tried to have 1000's of NPCs on screen at once all active, with co-op multiplayer.
The scale of the games are literally the polar opposites.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
It depends on the game. Again from the perspective of the audience it's so much easier to discuss arbitrary percentages of what could or couldn't be cut from a game, (especially given the context of just how much content gets cut in the first place). But rarely do we take into account the consideration and purpose behind stuff like side content. Syndicate for instance has side content that works as a faster way to level up and gain money which feeds back into your upgrades for yourself and your upgrades for your gang on top of helping familiarize with several of the mechanics in the game, (fight clubs as an obvious example). You start cutting the stuff that feeds into that and then you have to redesign several aspects like making the main quest give out vastly more exp and money than it already does, which makes the side content less compelling.