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[jayu26]

Unbelievable.

Gamespot youtube review, top comment.

I hope Carolyn was ready for this. Due to her sexual orientation, this shit was going to happen no matter what score she gave to this (a high profile) game.

 

[Ravensmash]

Gotta love him. He's not for everyone but he's extremely enthusiastic about things that he enjoys and, although prone to hyperbole, you can't argue that he isn't articulate.

Even if he is hyperbolic, why are people so up in arms about it?

Yet again it seems like a select few are insistent on grabbing a tiny quote from a much bigger piece of text and analysing it to the point where any valid criticism is lost in a sea of similarly hyperbolic attacks

That Gamespot petition is disgusting

 

[thuway]

Gamespot gave it a 9 and people are already going into meltdown mode over a 9? Instead of losing faith in humanity, I choose to instead laugh at those poor pathetic souls.

There is a post a few pages back where a poster is claiming this game will be the greatest game to ever exist. The hype is metastasizing.

 

[hipbabboom]

All I heard while reading the last two pars: waaa waaa waaa waaa

It sounds like he didn't enjoy playing an evil person. "Kindness is it's own reward" seems about unjustifiably good evil seems bad but it's rarely ever asked for motivation.

 

[Vidpixel]

Watch out, they [gamespot comments] have a petition going to fire the reviewer.

https://www.change.org/petitions/gamespot-staff-fire-carolyn-petit

This is beyond the realm of dumb.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Burned by GTA4 hype? That's sort of how I felt. I liked the game but the hype was just insane.

I feel like waiting and seeing with GTA5.

I loved GTA 4. I think Just Cause 2 ruined open world games for me.

 

[TheContact]

I think it's somewhat fair to criticize the game given the nature of choices games give you with gender and romances today, but I don't think it's fair to factor that into review scores.

 

[Zornack]

Remember when video game websites would have Top Ten Sexiest Video Game Girls lists? And now everything that comes out is misogynistic. Quite a turn. Hopefully the industry will settle and find somewhere in the middle that's not quite so bombastic, but I doubt it ever will.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Is it more tolerable than GTAIV? Some of the social commentary/satire in that one made me want to stab myself in the head.
Though it did some of the funny well.

Depends on what you hated about 4. It doesn't have anything as overwrought as "I keeled peepel, smaggled peelpel" or 4's ham handed moral platitudes.

There are still plenty of strawman "ASSHOLE LIBERAL" "ASSHOLE CONSERVATIVE" one-note characters but they're usually at least well acted and kind of funny.

 

[UrbanRats]

I hope Carolyn was ready for this. Due to her sexual orientation, this shit was going to happen no matter score she gave to this (a high profile) game.

Well comments sections are some of the worst shit on the internet, that's why you must never pay attention to them.

Depends on what you hated about 4. It doesn't have anything as overwrought as "I keeled peepel, smaggled peelpel" or 4's ham handed moral platitudes.

There are still plenty of strawman "ASSHOLE LIBERAL" "ASSHOLE CONSERVATIVE" one-note characters but they're usually at least well acted and kind of funny.

Yeah, it should be fine.

I mean i know i must never expect subtlety from R*s writing, but at least they're going back to the more absurd and tongue in cheek tone, it seems.
I'd rather have their simpleton satire than their weird moral ruminations.

 

[jett]

whenever reviewers lay on hard the hyperbolic cross media comparisons, in this case with dickens, it always feels like it comes from a place of insecurity. like you have to shout about how each major game with a story is a transcendant, socially concious piece of contemporary art to justify devoting your profession or at least a significant amount of your time to videogames.

That makes sense. It's really sad, but it makes sense.

 

[Jburton]

Man the payola train must be pretty powerful if a transgendered woman (understandably) sensitive to misogyny still has to give it a 9.

Disappointed she didn't give it lower. GTA games deserve to be called out for their regressive bullshit, misogynistic and otherwise. The Housers come off as more disturbed and unbalanced with each new game, seriously.

And yet it still sells by the bucketload, the audience laps it up.

Calling for that reviewer to be fired is all kinds of fucked up.

 

[Dukey]

Sessler, you're taking your job too seriously.

You mean he seems to be really enjoying his job.

 

[-COOLIO-]

I believe Sesslers quote is truthful but dressed up to be partially satirical of the blowback such comments have gotten recently. Citizens Kate, Oscar worthy etc. Not that I have a problem with any of these personally.

 

[The Smoking Bun]

So Rockstar tried to tell a profound and deep story full of satire but fell flat on their face? Again? Tell me something new. RDR must have been a fluke because it was universally loved while the GTA games have been getting dumber in terms of story. And at this point developers should really take up the challenge and make a game with a balanced female protagonist. We need to mitigate the "LOL! GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN!" environment we have created.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

It's clear that some reviews are not like the others. 10 or not, the Edge review is very well-written, touches upon everything it needs to touch and makes me really excited for the game

Recommended reading for sure.

So Rockstar tried to tell a profound and deep story full of satire but fell flat on their face?

What makes you draw that conclusion?

Edge:

Michael, the retired bank robber living in Los Santos under a new identity after faking his death at the climax of the opening flashback, is, by contrast, a character who could never anchor a GTA game by himself. His story – a faded hoodlum in therapy, whose wife cheats on him, whose kids hate him and who finds himself increasingly irrelevant in a city that prizes youth and beauty more than anywhere else on the planet – simply doesn’t fit the traditional GTA mission template. Yet his inclusion enriches the story and its setting, adding in modern Californian themes like therapy, infidelity, the emptiness of wealth and young America’s unquenchable yet unfussy thirst for fame. You can’t shoot your way round those. His story can be cutscene-heavy, but is so vividly realised and finely delivered that you won’t even notice, much less complain. And even if you do, there’s enough bombast elsewhere to make up for it.

The Strangers & Freaks side missions, meanwhile, are character-specific but make up for the absence of switching by filling out the richness of the world with a supporting cast that typifies modern California in all its vapidity. In town you’ll find paparazzi, celeb stalkers, fitness freaks and adrenaline junkies; out in the sticks lie Minutemen, and rednecks shooting critters for kicks. All are shot through with Rockstar’s signature dry wit, and introduce you to locations and distractions you might otherwise miss – a triathlon across Vespucci Beach, perhaps, or a BMX race down Mount Chiliad.

There are wrinkles, but none so serious as to prove ruinous. The game’s treatment of women – every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at – is a real concern until you realise that it applies to the male characters as well. As Trevor, there’s a forced torture scene that will make you thoroughly uncomfortable until five minutes later when, back on the road, you misjudge a corner, kill a handful of pedestrians and laugh out loud, and it becomes apparent that Rockstar has made quite a powerful point, one that will later be acknowledged by one of the protagonists. We are all despicable people.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Story talk aside, I feel these are the most important things, as they seriously hurt GTA IV:

You soon realise that, rather than the gangster flicks of GTAs past, you’re now playing an episodic TV show. It’s a construct that’s as well suited to lost Los Santos weekends as it is the sporadic two-hour sessions of the time-poor, one that doesn’t just keep up the pace during downtime but also drives the best set of missions the series has ever seen.

No longer do we have to forgive a colossal open-world’s mechanical shortcomings as we wrestle with cumbersome controls: this is Max Payne’s weighty gunplay, Midnight Club’s vehicle handling and Red Dead’s animation.

 

[K.Sabot]

I hope there is some sort of parody about people freaking out over review scores in the game.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Man the payola train must be pretty powerful if a transgendered woman (understandably) sensitive to misogyny still has to give it a 9.

Disappointed she didn't give it lower. GTA games deserve to be called out for their regressive bullshit, misogynistic and otherwise. The Housers come off as more disturbed and unbalanced with each new game, seriously.

or maybe at the end of the day they found the script occasionally misogynistic, but not bad enough to drag down the entire game.

 

[Fjordson]

I hope Carolyn was ready for this. Due to her sexual orientation, this shit was going to happen no matter score she gave to this (a high profile) game.

I wish this wasn't the case, but I've seen those sorts of comments pop up before with her reviews. Not the first time she'll have to deal with it sadly.

 

[Jarmel]

IGN is getting really fucking predictable.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

I think it's a bit of missing the forest for the trees.

In a game of psychopaths, sociopaths, killers, violent criminals, drug lords, mafiosos, etc the part that bothers someone is the not ideal treatment of women?

That's like judging Adolf Hitler, and focus weirdly in some petty flaw of his personality instead of the whole exterminating jews thing.

Even if we give it as a valid complaint, a bit of mysoginist behavior is "expected" in the setting of gang members, crime veterans, sociopaths and the like, for realism sake.

Even violent criminals have a down ass chick. Even sociopaths have a partner. Drug Lords have the wife that hold it down when he There's gone and knows the security keys to all his safes? I mean there no excuse sometimes. What about Bonnie and Clyde?

I love GTA for life but if the game can't try to get some strong women in there, why should it not be pointed out? GTA has been blasted for its violent behavior for years by news outlets. It's not something the world or even parents don't know when their kids want it, but the portrayal of women in the game is barely talked about. I'm just saying. If someone can point it out, the last thing anyone should do is ignore it. I do want to root for a woman someday in a GTA. I want to be able to call her my down ass chick.

 

[Deified Data]

And the satire is poorly conceived because it comes off as misogynistic. Ding!

I try to have the presence of mind to separate overt sexism from unintentionally implicit sexism.

 

[antitrop]

whenever reviewers lay on hard the hyperbolic cross media comparisons, in this case with dickens, it always feels like it comes from a place of insecurity. like you have to shout about how each major game with a story is a transcendant, socially concious piece of contemporary art to justify devoting your profession or at least a significant amount of your time to videogames.

Adam Sessler does have a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from UCLA...

 

[Gorillaz]

Still reading the reviews but jeff at giantbomb was the most down to earth one so far. Grounded review

 

[marrec]

I hope there is some sort of parody about people freaking out over review scores in the game.

Rockstar has, in the past, taken review scores just as seriously as anyone on the internet... so I doubt it.

 

[Certinty]

I think it's somewhat fair to criticize the game given the nature of choices games give you with gender and romances today, but I don't think it's fair to factor that into review scores.

Pretty much the same view I have, which is why I can understand the frustration of many however I do think quite a few are going too far.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I try to have the presence of mind to separate overt sexism from unintentionally implicit sexism.

So did they, clearly, considering the game still got a 9 and didn't get thrown in a trash bin. Or rather, she was at least able to weigh out what she found offensive vs. the rest of the experience.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

There is a post a few pages back where a poster is claiming this game will be the greatest game to ever exist. The hype is metastasizing.

Well....it probably will be. It certainly will be to me. Considering San Andreas is my favourite game of all time it's not an unreasonable expectation. I'm sure there are plenty of others that feel the same way. The game will be the greatest game ever to some people. It will not to others. Opinions and all that.

 

[Theecliff]

So is every review thread for an anticipated game destined to turn to shit? Some of you guys really need to stop.

 

[Hindle]

GAF should do thier own Sessler style comments.

Here's mine. GTA V I feel genuinely has the ability to bring peace to the world, such is this games awesomeness that all of the worlds major conflicts would be ended if everyone plays it.

 

[Guevara]

So Rockstar tried to tell a profound and deep story full of satire but fell flat on their face? Again? Tell me something new. RDR must have been a fluke because it was universally loved while the GTA games have been getting dumber in terms of story. And at this point developers should really take up the challenge and make a game with a balanced female protagonist. We need to mitigate the "LOL! GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN!" environment we have created.

This is kind of how I feel. Enjoy the game based on the mechanics. Disregard the """"""humor"""""" and story as much as possible. Same as it ever was.

 

[FTF]

Gamespot gave it a 9 and people are already going into meltdown mode over a 9? Instead of losing faith in humanity, I choose to instead laugh at those poor pathetic souls.

Yeah seriously, I saw the outrage petition link before the actual score, expected in the 7s, and literally laughed out loud when I saw it was a 9.

 

[Derrick01]

GAF should do thier own Sessler style comments.

Here's mine. GTA V I feel genuinely has the ability to bring peace to the world, such is this games awesomeness that all of the worlds major conflicts would be ended if everyone plays it.

It doesn't work as good if you're not scanning your thesaurus that you have sitting next to your work PC.

 

[captainnapalm]

Whatever your feelings about the quality of satire in GTA games, you have to concede that yes, it is in fact satire. The things the reviewer complains about, the ads and stuff, are clearly intended as such.

So the GTA writers had to first identify troublesome aspects of society in order to send them up. In other words, they're agreeing with the reviewer that these things are bad.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

IGN is getting really fucking predictable.

Sure but this one looks to be worthy of a high score. I really have no expectations but this looks much better than GTA4. That's all I can go by but I'm not buying into all the hyperbole I read in the spoiler thread and some of these reviews.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

Stupid GTA reality distortion field. I KNOW I ought to wait it out for some sort of equalization and consensus to form here on GAF, as I've never actually enjoyed past GTAs, but the hype is undeniable and I've got money to burn :l

 

[Alienous]

Adam Sessler does have a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from UCLA...

I've never understood the point in getting a degree in anything other than a science.

...

In any case, the quote from his review is a joke, right? Jumping on the hyperbole train we've seen with the writing of modern games. Surely?

 

[Jarmel]

Man that Sessler quote is worth than anything IGN has said about GTAIV.

God damn.

 

[Haunted Tank]

This Gamespot thing feels like a case from Chatterbox.FM. Life imitating art.

 

[Ravensmash]

I believe Sesslers quote is truthful but dressed up to be partially satirical of the blowback such comments have gotten recently. Citizens Kate, Oscar worthy etc. Not that I have a problem with any of these personally.

The thing that confuses me is that a lot of criticism levelled at game reviews is frequently evident in other forms of entertainment write-ups also.

That's not to say that examples of explicit hyperbole are excused from discussion, but it almost feels like the next logical outrage will be over calling a game 'good' because it lacks the 'objectivity that should be displayed by esteemed writers etc etc ramble ramble'

Perhaps what I'm saying is, I understand the disdain for hyperbole - I often cringe at it myself, but I'm never sure why it's brought up in such an exaggerated manner.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Can't wait for the backlash on this one.

 

[The Smoking Bun]

Even violent criminals have a down ass chick. Even sociopaths have a partner. Drug Lords have the wife that hold it down when he There's gone and knows the security keys to all his safes? I mean there no excuse sometimes. What about Bonnie and Clyde?

I love GTA for life but if the game can't try to get some strong women in there, why should it not be pointed out? GTA has been blasted for its violent behavior for years by news outlets. It's not something the world or even parents don't know when their kids want it, but the portrayal of women in the game is barely talked about. I'm just saying. If someone can point it out, the last thing anyone should do is ignore it. I do want to root for a woman someday in a GTA. I want to be able to call her my down ass chick.

Good point. Developers like Rockstar get a free pass because of the superior technical quality of their games. Make sure the shoot-bang is good enough that people don't care about the inherent ugliness of the game world or the characters. I'd say Dan Houser hates women but then what about Bonnie McFarlane from RDR?

 

[marrec]

Stupid GTA reality distortion field. I KNOW I ought to wait it out for some sort of equalization and consensus to form here on GAF, as I've never actually enjoyed past GTAs, but the hype is undeniable and I've got money to burn :l

You know you're going to be disappointed either way, might as well get it over with sooner.

 

[Jarmel]

Sure but this one looks to be worthy of a high score. I really have no expectations but this looks much better than GTA4. That's all I can go by but I'm not buying into all the hyperbole I read in the spoiler thread and some of these reviews.

It's stupid when every time a great game looks to be coming out, they just dump a 10 on it. They don't seem selective at all about it anymore.

 

[MajorPain]

Escapist reviewer should be playing something more like this:

Becuase this reviewer makes valid points about what he does and doesn't like about the game you're going to bash him. I agree with him more than I do with the other reviewers whom seem to be caught up in the GTA hype.

 

[ironcreed]

Official Playstation Magazine review - 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKAFItezF8

 

[Ingueferroque]

That Escapist review is clickbait, no?

It's like going into a Tarantino movie and expecting it to be a Disney production.

 

[SMZC]

A part of me really dislikes the overblown GTA hype. Reviews such as these paint the picture that there's nothing like the GTA series, quality-wise, in the entire industry. I've got my copy of GTA V preordered and I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on the game, but it just baffles me that this series gets these kinds of reviews every. damn. time. It's unfair to a lot of other great games out there which may be just as great as GTA, but they don't ever get this kind of enthusiasm from reviewers.

 

[Red Blaster]

Make sure the shoot-bang is good enough that people don't care about the inherent ugliness of the game world or the characters. ?

sure, as long as the main characters aren't sanctimonious dickweeds like john marston and niko

tommy vercetti clones are fine

 

[AngryMoth]

Don't think it will influence my opinion of the game but seeing these reviews is giving me a real eye rolling "it can't be that good" feeling. Nevertheless I'm excited to play it tomorrow.