Review Dragon Age II Review Extravaganza

[Sceptic]

So the combat/gameplay was "dumbed down" but it's redeeming quality is choices and consequences, but the Codex still condemns it? Almost as if C&C was never important to an RPG in the first place.

Not sure if serious...

 

[relootz]

17 may is the day something good will happen guys, just wait.

 

[Shannow]

I know, we've had big CRPGs before that were designed for console and ported to PC (like Oblivion), but this is different. Instead of just an interface that's obviously not made with us in mind, it's everything. Every fucking thing from the ground up is a console game aimed at console audiences. Earlier big-budget RPGs with console releases and console interfaces were attempts to shoehorn a version of CRPG that we could recognize (albeing streamlined, albeit real-time) onto console and make it palatable to the console crowds. Despite your hate of them, they functioned as attempts to incline consoles. If you were stuck in a world with no PC and an Xbox 360, these games actually made your life much better (even if you personally might be too full of rage to want to play them).

DA2 is different. It's a redesign of the CRPG concept, an attempt to build a home-brewed console WRPG genre that gives consolers what consolers want from the ground up, instead of just feeding them dumbed down versions of our games. Of course, the product is perhaps even more dumbed down than ever, but it's not a hand-me-down PC-based conception of a game with a console-ized interface. This is the real new shit. PCs are a distant afterthought. PCs are not even the inspiration for the game anymore.

Have you ever heard of a game called MEh?

 

[SlowLane]

...
But imagine a world where gaming journalism was more like the real journalism; if no review site would take bribes then developers would actually try to make a good game instead of relying 90% on hype.

Imagine a world where the fan base is capable of rational, independent thought. Are the drooling, lobotomised fans the creation of the media or is the state of the media a creation of the drooling, lobotomised fans?

The Metacritic User scores make for a fun read, even if they are rigged, and will certainly have some affect on the all important initial sales. I do hope this causes some discomfort in the board room, I hope it also has some affect on the opinions of Todd 'The Hatchet' Howard. DA is beyond salvation but there is perhaps still hope for Skyrim.

You know what's funny? Have you tried to imagine what the suits are thinking about the backlash the game gets from the players? Imagine a few guys in suits, sitting at a round table, each with a laptop in front of them looking at metacritic and saying: "Hey Bob, check it out, people HATE our game!" " Yeah, you're right. You know what this means? THE GAME IS NOT ACCESSIBLE ENOUGH! BIOWARE WTF R U DOIN????"

<shudder>

 

[Shannow]

So the combat/gameplay was "dumbed down" but it's redeeming quality is choices and consequences, but the Codex still condemns it? Almost as if C&C was never important to an RPG in the first place.

Not sure if serious...

IIRC, Sarvis was dumbfucked for arguing that C&C isn't possible in a (story driven) RPG. Seems like he's still butthurt about it.
But he has a point, doesn't he? Arcanum is part of the Holy Trinity (to my everlasting astonishment) and has nothing of merit but C&C. One can argue that Bio's writing is shit and its C&C laughable at best, but that has elicited very little criticism compared to graffix and gameplay. MEh also has shit writing, laughable C&C, shit graffix, shit UI and shit gameplay but it's far more accepted.
I realize some is a matter of scale and some is disappointment due to further dumbing down of Daaoh, but if I wanted to troll the co'x I'd also start pointing out the "hypocrisy".

 

[FatCat]

17 may is the day something good will happen guys, just wait.

something that good that everyone will fap to it for a few years and will remember it for 100.



P.S you mean Fable 3 for pc or brink ?

 

[Sceptic]

But he has a point, doesn't he?

Only if you're willing to believe DA2 does have C&C because a Gamespot review says so.

I'm also not sure I agree with "Bio's writing is shit and its C&C laughable at best, but that has elicited very little criticism compared to graffix and gameplay". DA's writing (entire franchise, even the books) has been criticized rather consistently, and the only one who's praised DAO's "C&C" consistently is VD. I can't personally comment on DA2, as I haven't played it, and I honestly don't think I'll be able to get myself to.

 

[Forest Dweller]

In the meantime players give DA2 average of 3/10 points.

Surprisingly, the same happens in the console pages.

XBOX with 3.4, and Playstation 3 with 2.7 in average.

?

Bad news bros. It seems Biowhore fanboys PR team have activated and are flooding metacritic with inane 10/10 opinions as we speak.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-ii/user-reviews?page=1

The contrast is jarring.

 

[Lothers]

The game is shit. As simple as that. Darth Roxxor - Wr NEED YOUR review. Err... what choice?

 

[Crolug]

Those 'reviews' are a pile of bollocks!

 

[ortucis]

So the combat/gameplay was "dumbed down" but it's redeeming quality is choices and consequences, but the Codex still condemns it? Almost as if C&C was never important to an RPG in the first place.

Not sure if serious...

Yeah, I have been playing for like 7 hrs and I have made a lot of choices. Yet to see any consequences though, but my guess is that consequences will be = 2 min encounter in some alley.

I must say that the level designers did a good job designing a huge city. Too bad they forgot to populate it with anything interesting.. or like.. people who aren't zombies. For a game that focuses on one location, they sure did a shitty job making it come alive.

Also, there isn't anyone other than 2-3 people with yellow exclamations over their head, standing as far as possible to talk to. You have to walk all the way to one person and then back.. luckily there are portals to other dimension areas in every corner. Also, inventory is like Mass Effect 2.. in-fact, whole game feels like a mix between Mass Effect 1 and ME2. I guess they were experimenting for ME3 and wanted to see how this kind of gameplay will work in advance.

 

[Shannow]

But he has a point, doesn't he?

Only if you're willing to believe DA2 does have C&C because a Gamespot review says so.

I'm also not sure I agree with "Bio's writing is shit and its C&C laughable at best in Daatoo, but that has elicited very little criticism compared to graffix and gameplay". DA's writing (entire franchise, even the books) has been criticized rather consistently, and the only one who's praised DAO's "C&C" consistently is VD. I can't personally comment on DA2, as I haven't played it, and I honestly don't think I'll be able to get myself to.

I thought that was clear. I even went on saying how writing, etc in another Bio game was shit too without it getting the same uniform pounding Daatoo is getting on the codex...

 

[Fallin' daggers]

Bioware has never made anything worth my money since BG2. Biodrones are a terrible fan base.

 

[Pika-Cthulhu]

Looking at Metacritic, I see lots of 10's that are blatant bumping the ratings. Copy pasted reviews for XBOX, PC, and PS3 from the same person giving it a 10.

From my brief time watching /v/ threads, there was no consensus, and they only voted negative to the blatant fanboys pumping 10.

http://www.metacritic.com/user/ChemMasta

This one is okay, he gives the XBOX a 9 without having played it, but at least it isnt blatant copy pasta, I would count that vote because he believes in the game.

http://www.metacritic.com/user/antiall
http://www.metacritic.com/user/GHawke
http://www.metacritic.com/user/TheTopazWombat
Copypasta with an axe to grind vs XBOX release. Gave XBOX 2, and PC 10, with the same review.
http://www.metacritic.com/user/holymcmoly
http://www.metacritic.com/user/MinMaxdaMIghty
http://www.metacritic.com/user/aribter
http://www.metacritic.com/user/VidyaGaymen
Biodrone counter trolling a misconception that /v/ is doing it as a deliberate act.

So out of 28 ranks ot 10, we can see 7 with a copy pasted replay on other platforms, well, 6, one was kind enough to compose an entirely different review.

There are three 9's (four lights?), five 8's, two 7's, seven 6's, two 5's, nine 4's, fourteen 3's, twenty 2's, thirty two 1's and over fifty 0's.

Discounting the 10's and 0-3 score, you arrive at an average of 6.035 (many more numbers after this) If you drop the 4's, you get an average of 7, and 7.235(more numbers) if you drop the 5 and below and do not count the 10's.

This is the user scores however, so take it as you see it, but scoring so low on metacritic even by removing the extremes, and even if I were to add half of the 10's as a legitimate score, the results would be.

Ignoring half of the 10's, and 0-3 scores. 7.357
Ignoring half of the 10's and 0-4 = 8.2727
Ignoring half of the 10's and 0-5 = 8.766

Almost in line with the professional critics scores, and that is being generous with picking scores.

Then again, you can only really judge it for yourself after playing it 7 times.

Edit: also, a statistician would hang me for this, its awful to read.

 

[Drakron]

Almost in line with the professional critics scores, and that is being generous with picking scores.

A 8 of a AAA title from a "professional" review means the game did not make his computer implode, its the lowest ranking they award to a AAA title if they even wrote then (the Escapist review mentions "auto-attack" that is actually missing from the game due to a error, it might been that review copies had the auto-attack working but still, its not as if they were unaware of the problem and not going back and review the article says *A LOT* about the writer and the editor).

The only thing you proved was "lies, damn lies and statistics" because you just decided to cherry pick up the data that would reach the conclusion you wanted.

Also COOL STORY ANIKI with /v/ ... Trolling, now does it works?

Edit:

HOLY MOTHER OF GODS! This is just priceless ...

That's a 4chan raid. Those are not serious reviews.

We're well aware of what the 4chan folks are up to and they're desperation to sound more important/numerous than they are. I mean, is there any wonder why multiple people have suddenly been running here going "OMG look at the Metacritic user reviews!" when nobody has ever done that before? Seriously.

Which is too bad, as it certainly makes those with legitimate, constructive criticisms harder to pick out amidst the dross. Be that as it may, we will listen to feedback and come to our own conclusions-- it will be all the feedback, however, and not just that provided by those determined to be the loudest and/or most obnoxious.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic ... /6436625/3

Well apparently its now 4Chan to blame instead of the good old Codex ... Lets see the tune they will be singing when their next game comes out.

 

[circ]

Jew conspiracy.

 

[Rhalle]

Jew conspiracy.

Goldman (Art Director), Silverman (Head Salesman) and Laidlaw (Project Lead) frown on your shenanigans.

 

[coldcrow]

Torrented it, played it until that city and deinstalled.

Uh. I am not even sure what to say about it.

Linear, over-the-top, juvenile unbelievable crap? And that is just judging it from the story-angle.
Funnily it applies to the combat too, stupid staff moves of mages, respawning filler critters instead of actual challenge, instagibbing opponents, by the gods the list goes on.

The target audience is pretty obvious and that is why this game will still sell quite good.

 

[Yeesh]

Well apparently its now 4Chan to blame instead of the good old Codex ... Lets see the tune they will be singing when their next game comes out.

Look, I really, really don't have an opinion on this game, but don't you think it's a little suspicious that the Metacritic user reviews, which indeed we have not been paying too much attention to heretofore, are so very much lower than those user ratings from other sites like IGN, Gamespot, Gamestats, Gameinformer, etc? I don't give a fuck, really, but don't we seem a little biased to be focused to tightly on the one very, very low score that's clearly a suspicious outlier?

I mean, right? You honestly think that's the legitimate, properly democratically derived, non-tampered-with score, and all the other ones are fake?

 

[jiujitsu]

Haha. 80/100 in actuality is more like 50/100. Everything is embellished these days.

 

[Drakron]

Look, I really, really don't have an opinion on this game, but don't you think it's a little suspicious that the Metacritic user reviews, which indeed we have not been paying too much attention to heretofore, are so very much lower than those user ratings from other sites like IGN, Gamespot, Gamestats, Gameinformer, etc?

No.
You are buying that /v/ anons are writing all those negative reviews because they are trolling but why? You realize that /v/ LIKED Mass Effect 2?

Besides there are currently 290 negative reviews, even if /v/ was on it then you would have dozens but certainly not nearly three hundred.

Also you have the reverse, users with only DA2 reviews giving it a 10.

Are we getting a well deserved backlash? likely but saying 4Chan is doing it because they are trolls is as much of a excuse that saying the Codex is doing it because its not turn based.

I don't give a fuck, really, but don't we seem a little biased to be focused to tightly on the one very, very low score that's clearly a suspicious outlier?

What is interesting is the number of low rating scores, even if they were "trolling" ... why pick DA2 and not another much higher profile game (like Crysis 2)?

What shows its many people were disappointed and now are voicing it, EA sure as hell is stropping down ANY criticism so who the hell are you going to believe?

I mean, right? You honestly think that's the legitimate, properly democratically derived, non-tampered-with score, and all the other ones are fake?

In user scores? you kidding me?
To start you have "I like the first 2 hours so here is a 10" mentality, then you have the fanboys were they give a 10 for similar reasons, then you have the plants and finally you have the "I dont like it, here is a 0".

User reviews are for most part useless outside when you aggregate them so you have a good idea of how well received it is because the 10's will be balanced out by the 0's, like it or not that is it.

The fact DA2 is having so many negative reviews shows you cannot just alienate your fanbase with a sequel that is a complete departure from the original, the only reason ME2 got away with it was because they actually improved on several sections and the original was just a Action Lite RPG and STILL they are saying ME3 is going back to having more RPG elements.

You want to know what I think?

I think Dragon Age:Origins failed to meet sale targets so some ... idiot decided since ME2 sold a lot they would rush a sequel using the ME2 elements so DA2 sales (their target is 10 million sales) would cover DA:O loses.

They are reaping what they sow, the fact people are getting fed up and rebelling against this bullshit is welcoming for me.

 

[GarfunkeL]

DAO sold more than ME2, right? The thing is, making DAO took many years - they made DA2 in under two, so as to reach the EA publishing schedule and that shows in everything.

 

[Cynic]

You know what it is? These are the reviews from all the people out there who never go on a forum. They bought the game, believing the bs hype and thinking it was going to be a true sequel to DA:O and what they got was a box full of plastic shit. This is assuming they didn't think DA:O was plastic shit, because well why the hell would they buy DA2 then.

It is not 4chan it is NOT the codex, it is pissed off customers who are venting their frustration at being lied to, fucked over with Day 1 DLC, and sold a game they didn't want.

End of fucking story.

 

[Hirato]

Bad news bros. It seems Biowhore fanboys PR team have activated and are flooding metacritic with inane 10/10 opinions as we speak.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-ii/user-reviews?page=1

Bioware did it again. Simply amazing, the gameplay the story the everything. The graphics on this game could give modded Crysis a run for its money. The people who are hating on the storytelling just don't get it. It's obviously too deep for them. And don't get me started on the characters accompanying Hawke. Merril is just soooo cute. I want to nom her head and giggle and squee every time I see her. Some people may dislike the changes but they just need to get past the fact that games evolve. No longer are we stuck with a silent protagonist with which we just choose lines of words to reply with. I mean who wants to read all those words? Certainly not I (but maybe some nerds do...lol). Now we have a fully voice acted character that speaks with super realistic emotions expressed in each sentence. Which is great because the dialogue is amazingly deep. You can choose between the peace loving diplomatic guy, the angry lets fight now guy, and the sarcastic witty guy for like every single response you make! Certainly no other game matches Bioware in its depth in character choices. You can literally do anything.

Absolute gold.

 

[Yeesh]

They are reaping what they sow, the fact people are getting fed up and rebelling against this bullshit is welcoming for me.

I'm just going to bow out of this one, as it's not my area of expertise. All I know about 4chan I've learned from this site, and I don't actually know what /v/ is. Does 200 or 300 anonymous ratings seem like an insurmountably tough job for a reasonably coherent group of people on the internet? Not to me, but again I don't know. It is a fact that this one site has far, far lower user ratings than every other site with user ratings I listed. Instead of a 7 or 8, on Metacritic the game's a 3. It's textbook cherry picking to be pointing to that 3 and saying, "A Ha! La Revolution has begun!"

And I also want you to recognize that you're simultaneously deriding DA2's community people for engaging in crazy conspiracy theories about the low rating while yourself maintaining that EA games is actually controlling all review sites other than Metacritic and shutting down all criticism.

So they made a game that is a 7 or an 8. Is that so unfeasible? Again, not really my concern, but it doesn't sound like a buggy, unplayable, no fun piece of shit that would deserve a 3. But maybe it is.

But Arcania's metacritic user score is 7.2. I'm just saying...