FaintDeftone
Junior Member
I was ready to pull the trigger until I read that it deletes your save file if you die too much. I'm a parent of a two year old and I don't have the time to be having my save files deleted and forced to start over.
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Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Review Thread
- Thread starter Savantcore
- Start date
OrbitalBeard
Member
Agreed.
It's weird because apparently the default difficulty is on the easy side, with even the more positive reviews saying how you can get away with just not thinking much during fights. But if you turn up the difficulty option, permadeath is still there, so it's just... maybe they'll patch something in.
And honestly, they could've just improved the complexity and difficulty of combat and NOT had permadeath but...
jim2point0
Banned
Or maybe. Just maybe... he reviewed a game after reaching a game-breaking bug, got pissed at said game, and gave it a review score that reflected how that game made him feel.
It's just one possible alternative. Just sayin.
digoutyoursoul
Member
Sony having their best year for a while, impressive line up. Will pick this up for sure.
MrS
Banned
1) permadeath is being over blown. the game isn't easy but it's not Dark Souls either. it gives you ample notice when you're nearly dead and you have time to react accordingly.
2) you can cloud save and avoid permadeath all together if it's a dealbreaker
I think Ninja Theory dropped the ball by not addressing Permadeath prior to launch because it seems a lot of people are turned off by it.
Dangansona
Member
Not sure what my opinion is on the original 1/10 score and MC. I guess I do lean more towards saying it's not Jim's fault and Fuck Metacritic. I wish that site would just disappear.
Seeing all this "oh Jim + respect after this" non sense I wonder how would people react if it was Arthur Gies for example doing the exactly same thing : being completely unprofesional ( because Jim was and its not the first time ), getting clicks over this unprofesional act and then a few hours coming with another video ( wich means more clicks ) with some weak excuses cause probably he realized he went to far this time even for his fans that usually acept anything he writes.
Jim should drop scores asap its not the first time and wont be the last (at least at this level I think he wont repeat, the backslash was beatiful ) where he clearly give a number completely out of reality, he could continue with reviews tho.
Jim should drop scores asap its not the first time and wont be the last (at least at this level I think he wont repeat, the backslash was beatiful ) where he clearly give a number completely out of reality, he could continue with reviews tho.
SolidSnakeUS
Member
Jim did get metacritic, or contacted them anyways, to have it put as a review in progress instead of the 1/10.
poor comparison given that Gies is infamous for digging his heels and never accepting he's wrong even when faced with irrefutable facts
Gies would never come out with that second video, he would stand by the 1/10 and block anyone on Twitter who tries to engage him in conversation about it.
deriks
4-Time GIF/Meme God
I consider this bullshit.
jim2point0
Banned
If they both came to the same conclusion and actually did something to rectify the situation, I'd personally have the same reaction. I'm not some diehard Jim Sterling fan though, either. I think he comes off a little unprofessional here simply because he forced Metacritic to retract his review. If I were Metacritic, I'd consider giving his review scores a little less weight or remove them from the scoring factor entirely for a little while.
Me too. I wonder how many reviewers actually encountered this... because I'd straight up uninstall the game if it happened to me.
Yeah I really don't get it. Doing something completely impulsive and unprofessional because you can't control your "gamer rage!!!!" (lol) over a bug, then retracting it right after just comes across as even more ridiculous. Like, I get that a bug is frustrating but there are so, so many ways to get around giving it a 1/10 if you were genuinely interested in giving a fair overview of what the game is all about.
It's obviously worth mentioning in the body of the review but like... if he was working for anyone else he'd probably be fired over such a miscalculated move.
Look in the end, retracting it was a good move but like.... control your damn frustration a LITTLE and maybe it wouldn't have happened to begin with. Obviously reviewers can never be absolutely objective, but they shouldn't just exist to convey the basest and most knee-jerk thoughts about games either.
It being called "interactive art" by at least one reviewer is enough to make me question whether it's worth playing. I like story, I like graphics, but if the gameplay isn't there, then I'd rather just watch someone else run through it.
It's not as big a deal as some people want it to be.
This was from Eurogamers review:
Plus you can always plonk it down to easy difficulty anyway.
Reviewers are not protectors of justice and gamers. They should review the game and that's it.
The point is not personal its profesional.
Place any other infamous name instead of Gies and you would have the same result.
Jim should come with an angry video saying he wont review it anymore or would review it later.
Instead of it he decided to give a completely non sense 1/10 just because he was mad.
Now we even have people going agaisnt MC instead of Jim lol
Wanting to play a game about the fear of loss and failure but not wanting having to fear loss and failure
This is actually the reason I'm playing it. Different audiences though.
Papo Swing
Member
Well, when the bad is 4% of the scores then something is wrong or look fishy to me. I had no hype for the game but was looking at how it did. It seems to be reviewing well except that one score that seems like a call for attention more than anything. You don't go from 8 to a 1 because of it.
I know it is not exactly the same but the first time I saw Batman Begins power went out and I had to leave. I did not rate it 1/10 because of it. I gave it another chance especially since I was liking it.
Ok could not get through it. This video makes him seem like a bigger asshole to me. He did a controversial review, now has a video explaining his controversial action? Win win clicks for him right? It's all an attention grab in my eyes.
It is especially maddening because he himself says in the video this is a scenario that has never happened to him, but that as a critic he has thought about before and how to deal with it...yet his reaction to it actually happening is acting like an ass and giving it a 1/10 out of spite; even though he was enjoying it at an 8/10 level. Screw that dude. His opinion means nothing to me now, this reaction video cements it.
Well, Jim Sterling showed his true form (starfox analogy).
The guy wants clicks and subscribers. Terrivle reviewer. He's a living joke who is so focused in his own world that he is capable of destroying people's reputation just to keep getting clicks.
Welcome to the youtubers world...
The guy wants clicks and subscribers. Terrivle reviewer. He's a living joke who is so focused in his own world that he is capable of destroying people's reputation just to keep getting clicks.
Welcome to the youtubers world...
jim2point0
Banned
No, I wouldn't want to have 5 hours potentially erased. I would not play through that again. I'd just uninstall it.
I guess it's working then.
I also want to feel Senuas pain after every hit she takes, bring it on.
I would prefer a true ending that you can only get when you are not dying xy times. I love rogue likes, but Hellblade is Forced Walking-The game. But so far, on auto, the game is pretty easy and I dont know how often you have to die till you face permadeath.
The problem, as usual, is not Jim's review but the insane focus in gaming on review scores in general and Metacritic in particular.
The fact that these review scores/numbers are taken so damn seriously while completely ignoring the actual review content/text that goes with them is just sad. It has by now completely devolved in a petty and silly length measure contest without any regard for sublety or nuance.
Nobody cares about details and personal feelings anymore, it's just a pure onedimensional good/bad measure and any critic who is an outlier must be insane/seeking attention/has no taste/is not a good gamer/etc. And even if that was the case, so what?
The fact that critics are divided on a game/movie/whatever should be celebrated not punished and cried down. Going down that path leads to a boring homogenization of games where soon everything will be the same, no rough edges but also nothing exciting anymore, just one large gray soup of sameness.
If you treat games like a product with one single measure of quality (its metascore) you will eventually get just that: a soulless product, nothing more. Something that everyone likes, that nobody hates, but also something that nobody loves.
If people want games to be something that can be more than just a product (and I hesitate to use the word "art" here, so as not to open THAT can of worms), people really have to stop to throw a hissyfit everytime someone has a different opinion than them or the majority. Otherwise they are directly responsible for making gaming more and more homogenous, boring and uninteresting.
All IMHO of course.
The fact that these review scores/numbers are taken so damn seriously while completely ignoring the actual review content/text that goes with them is just sad. It has by now completely devolved in a petty and silly length measure contest without any regard for sublety or nuance.
Nobody cares about details and personal feelings anymore, it's just a pure onedimensional good/bad measure and any critic who is an outlier must be insane/seeking attention/has no taste/is not a good gamer/etc. And even if that was the case, so what?
The fact that critics are divided on a game/movie/whatever should be celebrated not punished and cried down. Going down that path leads to a boring homogenization of games where soon everything will be the same, no rough edges but also nothing exciting anymore, just one large gray soup of sameness.
If you treat games like a product with one single measure of quality (its metascore) you will eventually get just that: a soulless product, nothing more. Something that everyone likes, that nobody hates, but also something that nobody loves.
If people want games to be something that can be more than just a product (and I hesitate to use the word "art" here, so as not to open THAT can of worms), people really have to stop to throw a hissyfit everytime someone has a different opinion than them or the majority. Otherwise they are directly responsible for making gaming more and more homogenous, boring and uninteresting.
All IMHO of course.
Interesting combination if you think about- if the core gameplay is fun, it's (slightly) easier to deal with lost progress, since you'd still enjoy getting back to where you were to some extent. Focus on replayability and all. If not, well then fuck it I'm hitting up YT.
If you are not interested in experiencing the negative feelings this game is trying to convey to the player via this mechanic why are you even interested in the game to begin with?
Without having started the game yet, as I understand this mechanic isn't there to actually make you replay the game over and over again (dynamic difficulty is in play as I read) but to simply make you fear that it could happen, just like the protagonist fears failure herself.
Sounds like a masterful way of story telling in videogames to me.
Solid 8.5/10 from what I've played so far. Honestly, I haven't had a feelsgoodman while gaming in ages, but damn...I felt that "RDR crossing the river with music playing" feels last night while playing Hellblade.
As for the permadeath thing: come on folks. It isn't THAT big of a deal. I'm on hard and haven't had an issue at all. FFS put it on easy if you don't even want to have the slightest challenge. You'd have to die an INSANE amount of times to even trigger the mechanic.
As for the permadeath thing: come on folks. It isn't THAT big of a deal. I'm on hard and haven't had an issue at all. FFS put it on easy if you don't even want to have the slightest challenge. You'd have to die an INSANE amount of times to even trigger the mechanic.
jim2point0
Banned
From what I've seen, the game's combat is not one of its strengths. It seems serviceable at best. It's also a very linear game. It doesn't seem like something I'd replay very often, or at all. So I think I'd really feel the sting of lost progression.
Permadeath makes more sense in titles where you aren't seeing the exact same thing over and over again. It also makes more sense when failure means you lose 30 minutes to an hour, not potentially 5-6 hours.
Oh boy, using review scores as blackmail. I'm glad this industry hasn't sunk that low yet.
I was agreeing with you. The game doesn't look fun to play, although serviceable. (Which is what some of the positive reviews note) I'm not too worried about the permadeath if it is really a case of "you have to be really shitty at games for it to kick in".
Conkerkid11
Member
He's supposed to be a professional though. That's why his scores are added to the aggregate score on Metacritic and Opencritic.
He's supposed to be a professional, and in this situation, he behaved unprofessionally.
Yes, it's an unfortunate bug that's likely to get fixed promptly, but this isn't the first game to have a game breaking bug like this. Other games in this same situation just lucked out and happened to have save states prior to that save which bugged out.
Breath of the Wild had a gamebreaking bug for awhile there. If I recall correctly, so did Skyward Sword, and that didn't have save states. Every Bethesda game has several gamebreaking bugs like getting stuck in elevators and whatnot, and Jim gave Fallout 4 a 9.5/10.
Devs aren't perfect, and with all the other positive scores the game received, it's possible that through all the runs testers of the game did, none of them encountered this bug.
They take a few minutes to complete. Awful? no. Imaginative? not so much. There's been PLENTY of games recently that have had the "orient your view to augment the environment" mechanics lately.
jim2point0
Banned
Yeah, I'm just saying he didn't do it for clicks or attention. I believe he overreacted due to his emotions at the time. See here, I mostly agree with you:
The review system works best when reviewers are honest about their individual impression of a game. Then, when seen in the context of other reviews, you get a clearer picture.
It's 2017. Nobody is just seeing a Jimquisition review. His experience with the game is an experience that a player could have, so it should be represented honestly. If Jim doesn't encounter a game-breaking bug in Skyward Sword that isn't part of his experience, but it might be for another reviewer. And with many reviews you'll get a approximate idea of how big the problem is, which in Hellblade's case appears to be not very big at all.
So the fact that his review is part of an aggregate justifies his decision to highlight a game-breaking bug with harsh criticism. It is a valid impression of the game - anger.
Dwight Schrute
Member
Click Sterling
Glitter and Gold
Banned
I think that's a failure in design worth addressing in itself.
Well I mean the general consensus seems to be that the game isn't getting those feelings across with this mechanic. It seems to be taking more people out of the experience than anything.
People aren't fearing loss because of its presence, they're either not noticing or worrying about it at all, or experiencing it and ending their play experience right there.
You can argue the intent of the developers all day, but at the end of it what matters is how people interpret what they've made and it seems like they've really missed the mark with this feature in particular.
I don't know a lot about the game, but does it tell you that it's a possibility? Because that would be enough.
Just to have the threat looming over you, even if you're unlikely to encounter it, might be part of the intended experience.
Savantcore
Unconfirmed Member
Eurogamer enjoyed it in their 'Essential' review:
Seems like a good implementation to me, and an effective one at that.