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When a 96 Metacritic is not enough.
- Thread starter ZZZZ
- Start date
Bryank75
Banned
My advice would be to change out Halley Gross for someone who balances Neils writing and is aware of over-dependence on contrivances, deus ex machina or uncharacteristic changes in logic.That's why you gotta love Sony, they seek
It seems to me that Bruce Straley was a really good match for Neil in terms of writing arrangements and that was totally lost...
The whole team succeeded except for the story team. Graphics, sound, level design and gameplay are 10/10.
Mista
Banned
I saw a bit of it. He was really struggling
Don't understand how you can finish a game you're not enjoying. Baffles me
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Many times in 20 years doing this job, both on the positive and negative side. I mentioned it in my first post above. No one ever tried to push me to change my mind, implicitly or explicitly, nor I have any reason to believe it happened here.
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Mista
Banned
Fair enough. I hope we don't reach to that point because there will be 0 integrity in the reviews from there and on
Shifty1897
Member
I haven't played it yet, but most recent metacritic user reviews are giving the game 4s and 5s, complaining about the story and strange narrative. I think when outlets like Kotaku and Vice start posting stories saying bad reviews of the game are from bigots and can be ignored, red flags go up in my brain.
Halo is Back
Member
Bryank75
Banned
It has serious issues in the story but the game is not a 4/5.... in fact I find it hard to score due to the quality of the rest. It's a 95+ in everything except story. In story.... it is a 5 or 6. So overall, you could say...8? 8.5?
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Let's be realistic here.
Any PR who has done the job for more than 2 weeks knows very well that trying to persuade a journalist to change their mind would be absolutely disastrous.
First of all, a lot of journalists are way too proud of their own opinion, and they're very likely to make a fuss about it, but even if they did not, a negative review changed to be less negative after publishing would be EXTREMELY suspicious and controversial.
No one wants to go there, neither the journalists nor the PR, especially with the climate we have today. The only case in which I could see a review being withdrawn and changed is because the journalist was caught literally not doing their job correctly (like not played, plagiarism, and such), and that normally comes with very public apologies and such.
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Chromata
Member
Reminds me of the modern day review scale.
If it's not a perfect 10, it's worthless.
I don't think this is the fault of the review scale, it's more reflective of consumer expectations. The gaming industry is so ridiculously competitive that the vast majority of attention goes to the very top (games that get 7/10 or higher). There are plenty of games that are worthy of the lower scores and 5/10 might even be the average in regards to raw volume if you reviewed EVERYTHING, but that doesn't happen because it's a waste of time.
Alanah Pearce made a good video on this discussing the review scale and her time reviewing games for IGN, she brought up a lot of good points.
ZZZZ
Member
Woah there, i'm not bashing the game anywhere here.
I think it's embarrassing for the PR of gaming companies to give reviewers a call whenever they didn't like their game, but apparently this is normal and expected in the gaming industry.
I disagree with this and in my opinion shouldn't happen.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Why? As a reviewer (well, mostly former, since when I changed outlet I moved to work exclusively on news and some non-review opinion pieces) I'm absolutely happy to elaborate on my feedback so that it can be conveyed to the developers.
Maybe they'll ignore it, but maybe they'll take some of it on board for the next time and use it to improve their work. Everyone wins.
Azurro
Banned
This is a heavily story driven game, how can a game with a terrible story be an 8 when the whole point of the experience is the story? The production values could elevate it to a 6 or 7, but the actual experience remains broken.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Yup.Reminds me of the modern day review scale.
If it's not a perfect 10, it's worthless.
I remember early game mags from the early-mid 80s which gave games an F- on their A+ to F- scale.
Every issue of PC Gamer I remember reading in the 90s would always have some trainwrecks with a score less than 20 or 30%. Getting an 85% or higher was tough,
Good luck trying to see that in modern review scales. All about the almighty buck and getting early previews.
I've yet to see any review site or editor debate the modern usage of the 6-10 scale (meaning every game is at minimum decent) which just about every game site uses for the past 15 or so years.
Bunch of assholes. And they wonder why gamers can think their site or reviews are shilly scummy articles.
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ZZZZ
Member
The PR job is to make the company they are working for look as best as possible to the public.
The fact that PR firms are giving calls to journalists who reviewed a video game in a more critical fashion than his peers, the meaning of that conversation is already established.
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Bragr
Banned
Every streamer I watched was disappointed by it, everyone, and I didn't just watch the troll streamers either. Naughty Dog must have been so annoyed watching the streamers play it.
Bragr
Banned
Paracelsus
Member
"You don't get it".
Also, please read the comments.
joe_zazen
Member
vice doesn't score. & it is funny that the outlets that don't score had mixed reviews, some very negative, but all early scored reviews were ten out of ten. Prolly just coincidence
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Agreed.The 90's magazines were the best video game journalism ever was.
I played both console and PC with my siblings. I skewed more to console, but we collectively bought tons of games and mags.
PC Gamer and COmputer Gaming World were awesome PC mags even though I didn't take much interest in all those strategy/sim games they'd always had unless it was something like Heroes of M&M or Steel Panthers. Looking at some old mags from archive sites, some of those mags were 300 pages. Ya, lots of ads, but the amount of text was insane. And the mag was maybe $7.
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Spokker
Member
I read the entire article and my only question is, when did the video game industry, the creators, the fans and the critics, get so far up their own asses?
I wasn't planning on playing this game but my wife got it for me on account of Father's Day and all. She knew I loved the first one and doesn't keep up with the Internet Hate Machine.
Since I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I was determined to play it and have fun despite the fact that everybody, including the developers, said this game wasn't supposed to be fun. You're supposed to sit there like a sad sack. It became my form of defiance, then, to have fun when I wasn't supposed to.
There was an early bit where you have to hook up a gate to some generators. I was all done plugging in a cord when I decided that instead of walking all the way around a trailer, I chose to break the window and go through it.
I start busting up laughing because it just shows how lazy I am even in a video game.
In another early scene you're supposed to run away from the totally-not-zombies but I fight them for a few minutes out of stubbornness and exclaim, "I'm fucking Super Ma'am!" And start futily punching them and dying over and over. I give them credit for respawning you quickly. I like that in a game.
Here they crafted a carefully cinematic narrative, and the second they give me control I fling myself off a cliff.
As long as you have an imagination and a sense of humor, you can have fun with almost any game no matter how much grimdark shit they want to shove into it.
I wasn't planning on playing this game but my wife got it for me on account of Father's Day and all. She knew I loved the first one and doesn't keep up with the Internet Hate Machine.
Since I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I was determined to play it and have fun despite the fact that everybody, including the developers, said this game wasn't supposed to be fun. You're supposed to sit there like a sad sack. It became my form of defiance, then, to have fun when I wasn't supposed to.
There was an early bit where you have to hook up a gate to some generators. I was all done plugging in a cord when I decided that instead of walking all the way around a trailer, I chose to break the window and go through it.
I start busting up laughing because it just shows how lazy I am even in a video game.
In another early scene you're supposed to run away from the totally-not-zombies but I fight them for a few minutes out of stubbornness and exclaim, "I'm fucking Super Ma'am!" And start futily punching them and dying over and over. I give them credit for respawning you quickly. I like that in a game.
Here they crafted a carefully cinematic narrative, and the second they give me control I fling myself off a cliff.
As long as you have an imagination and a sense of humor, you can have fun with almost any game no matter how much grimdark shit they want to shove into it.
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Jubenhimer
Member
More like Arrogant Naughty Dog.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
You're making a giant assumption based on a rather superficial view of the job of a PR.
The PR's job isn't just to make the company they're working for look as best as possible to the public. That's ONE of their jobs. The other main job is to act as a bridge with media. As I already explained, another of their jobs is to provide the company with a detailed report on reviews, including varying degrees of feedback depending on what the company requests. This is simply a fact.
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#Phonepunk#
Banned
So pathetic of them to call the reviewer.
We all know games journalists are glorified clerks there to facilitate the selling of games but when the masks slips like this it’s a little too uncomfortable.
We all know games journalists are glorified clerks there to facilitate the selling of games but when the masks slips like this it’s a little too uncomfortable.
Gamerguy84
Member
Its not a secret that Polygon isnt too favorable towards PS. They are part of Vox media. I havent seen many positives come from them.
Media is all over the place in games. I dont trust any of them honestly. I do my own research on purchases. I also cant vouch for whoever this is but they dont like Polygon.
www.accelerated-ideas.com
Media is all over the place in games. I dont trust any of them honestly. I do my own research on purchases. I also cant vouch for whoever this is but they dont like Polygon.
The History of Polygon - The Worst Gaming Journalists Around | Accelerated Ideas
www.accelerated-ideas.com
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eot
Banned
This is not at all true, at least for the magazines I read growing up. It's more like the opposite actually. Review score inflation has been decreasing with time, not increasing. A '7' used to be trash, if I see it now I believe the game is actually quite okay.Reminds me of the modern day review scale.
If it's not a perfect 10, it's worthless.
Like, magazines that had the 100 pt review scale would distinguish great games by whether they were 92 or 94, not if they were a 10 or a 9, but 15 or 45 were both trash.
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Yoboman
Member
He probably made like $50k ad revenue off of the series
SleepDoctor
Banned
When you have to embargo part of the game from the review, your review has no merit.
That's why I don't trust anyone paid to review games. Fan impressions > critics reviews.
That's why I don't trust anyone paid to review games. Fan impressions > critics reviews.
tkscz
Member
1. So bad you might have fun making a joke out of it
2. Just bad and not worth your time or money
3. Meh, you can take it or leave it. Played it safe, wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about
4. Took some risk that paid off, worth buying and playing once or twice
5. Is a replayable master piece. You'll come back to this years later and still have a wonderful time
Mista
Banned
Very good point
deriks
4-Time GIF/Meme God
It's for the audience.
Inside Gaming hates The Sims, but they played because sometimes we have shit like this:
Kuranghi
Member
Mista
Banned
Funhaus are my favourite!
saintjules
Member
Or also just list the Pros and Cons at the end of the review article and leave it at that. Other than that, I like ACG's rating scale.
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Lionel Richie
Member
Its not a secret that Polygon isnt too favorable towards PS. They are part of Vox media. Not to mention MS donated 3/4 of a million dollars to them back in 2012. I havent seen many positives come from them.
Media is all over the place in games. I dont trust any of them honestly. I do my own research on purchases. I also cant vouch for whoever this is but they dont like Polygon.
The History of Polygon - The Worst Gaming Journalists Around | Accelerated Ideas
This is your take to the idea the Sony might be pressuring a review outlet that didn't overrate one of their games?
diffusionx
Gold Member
I hate game writing for all sorts of reasons, but a big one is that it is completely untrustworthy. Considering how many fans are angry about the shit story and characters (something Polygon doesn't mention in their piece), I find it hard to believe that not a single mainstream game writer felt this way playing the game (no, Vice doesn't count, it's not 2008 anymore). Yet, every review was a 11/10. There's no way a site was going to give this game a bad review, and they knew it, I knew it, so what's the point? Publishers have all the power in this relationship and are not afraid to use it. They don't do it for every game, but when they do, it's easy to see, because every review is the same.
This dynamic has been in place for 20 years at least, but back then, we didn't have any other options. Now we do. I simply don't know why any gamer would take any professional game reviews seriously at all, ever. Especially when we can hop on YT or other communities and find people we trust.
This dynamic has been in place for 20 years at least, but back then, we didn't have any other options. Now we do. I simply don't know why any gamer would take any professional game reviews seriously at all, ever. Especially when we can hop on YT or other communities and find people we trust.
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Drunkensamurai
Member
MrS
Banned
That review was bullshit and disingenuous. How can any reviewer say 'It is as if its only inspiration is the original game' about TLOU2? TLOU2 plays like Resident Evil 2 Remake and MGS V a lot of the time. It's influences are obvious. Any reviewer worth his salt should be able to see it if your average gamer can.
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Paracelsus
Member
That is nowhere near close to the actual public perception of things.
95-100: Dick-measuring contest for GOTY/GOAT, if you dare claim the vote is not earned or bloated brace for flamewars.
Low 90s: great, possible GOTY
85-90: good, depending on how starved the market is you still have some people dick waving around
80-85: uh oh, what happened
< 80: red flag
We're talking mostly AAA and AA budget games.
Anything below 85 for such games is considered a red flag.
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The only thing that changed is that due to journalism thriving on hype and shilling way more than when we still had paper magazines, you often cannot trust any score higher than 90-92. It could be true, but it probably isn't.
.Pennywise
Banned
Yes, anyone who gave TLOU II less than a 11/10 should be ashamed and at the very least kill themselves and Sony is the very best thing to have happened to this world and we all shall love and praise Druckmann.
deriks
4-Time GIF/Meme God
Kuranghi
Member
brap
Banned
I mean he's a nazi so that makes sense
Roman Empire
Member
I like ACG scale of: Buy, Wait for a Sale, Rent, or Never Touch It.