Review Dragon Age II Review Extravaganza

[Jaesun]

It's potential advertisement offers actually.

 

[Shannow]

Boat loads of cash from EA sure doesn't hurt PC Gamer's reviews.

It's potential advertisement offers actually.

One does not exclude the other. In fact, the advertisments are the requirement for the cash. And positive reviews are the requirement for advertisments, exclusive inter/previews, etc. I'd also add a culture of non-critical thought. Influenced by an industry where everything is "awesome", everybody is friends and nobody dares to shit where the ones they should be critically observing eat. Those problems are not exclusive to the gaming industry and media...

But hey, as long as we have thread-incliners and inrocking pollacks to review games for us, who needs the media-whores?

 

[Risine]

There's too much money in play to let spotty immature kids calling themselves game journalists draw their opinion to 'consumers'.
Game magazines are nothing more than publisher's products showcase, and that has been the case for a very long time now.
And that won't change as long as magazines main profits come from publishers and are not controlled by passionnate people.

 

[The Ninth Circle]

Game reviews in a nutshell: You want the next AAA exclusive? 9.0 or above. You don't give us that, you lose thousands of potential sales to your competition. Other magazines follow suit with the hype due to advertising dollars as well and not wanting to look like the "outside looking in" guys. EA spends how many millions on magazine/website advertising, who would be naive enough to believe this doesn't sway reviews for their titles? Why do you think Game Informer get all the Bethesda exclusives, both preview and reviews?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Game reviews in a nutshell: You want the next AAA exclusive? 9.0 or above. You don't give us that, you lose thousands of potential sales to your competition. Other magazines follow suit with the hype due to advertising dollars as well and not wanting to look like the "outside looking in" guys. EA spends how many millions on magazine/website advertising, who would be naive enough to believe this doesn't sway reviews for their titles? Why do you think Game Informer get all the Bethesda exclusives, both preview and reviews?

Yet in the end, I usually don't pay any attention to those. I read the more honest reviewers and/or look at youtube videos to decide for myself.

 

[Shannow]

Yet in the end, I usually don't pay any attention to those. I read the more honest reviewers and/or look at youtube videos to decide for myself.

And how long did it take you to adopt that stance?

 

[grotsnik]

Lest we forget, the exact process TopWare was accused of using on Destructoid was -

1) Order a site skin featuring Two Worlds 2.
2) Pay half the money for said advertising.
3) Hold back the rest of the cash while wheedling for a 8.5/10 score.

 

[commie]

Edge magazine gave it a 6/10...Quite a bit of incline there, considering the usual derp, even if some of the praise DA2 got for its combat is disturbing:

Each button press – whether you’re using a simple primary attack or an ancillary special move you’ve acquired through level upgrades – feels consequential.

Push a button and something awesome happens eh? Regardless, the review is quite tepid( I've seen more detailed criticism elsewhere) but the score is refreshingly shit, which is what people take notice of anyway.

Here's the link: http://www.next-gen.biz/features/dragon-age-ii-review?page=0,0

 

[Morgoth]

Buttons & Consequences - the new shit.

 

[hyttenhoof]

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...

I've been lurking this board since 2008, and this post finally urged me to register.

Now that that's said.

I frequent /v/, and here's the interesting part. /v/ only became interested in metacritic BECAUSE the score was already below 5, there was no threads saying 'let's downvote it'. It's just that /v/ has an incredibly negative view on the game, and since we discuss the page so much, some of our reviews and ratings appear naturally.
It's not some great conspiracy.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Yet in the end, I usually don't pay any attention to those. I read the more honest reviewers and/or look at youtube videos to decide for myself.

And how long did it take you to adopt that stance?

More of a recent thing. Back in 2004 or so. Shit, I still make mistakes but at least I minimize my derp.

 

[The Ninth Circle]

Game reviews in a nutshell: You want the next AAA exclusive? 9.0 or above. You don't give us that, you lose thousands of potential sales to your competition. Other magazines follow suit with the hype due to advertising dollars as well and not wanting to look like the "outside looking in" guys. EA spends how many millions on magazine/website advertising, who would be naive enough to believe this doesn't sway reviews for their titles? Why do you think Game Informer get all the Bethesda exclusives, both preview and reviews?

Yet in the end, I usually don't pay any attention to those. I read the more honest reviewers and/or look at youtube videos to decide for myself.

Most people are morons, swayed by hype and reviews.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Most people are morons, swayed by hype and reviews.

Can't argue that.

 

[circ]

I'm swayed by huge tits. BioWare almost delivers.

 

[BelisariuS.F]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/revie ... age/711453

Gametrailers gave it 9.2 and people are mostly upset about this score.

 

[Xor]

Because it's too high?

 

[Yeesh]

I frequent /v/, and here's the interesting part. /v/ only became interested in metacritic BECAUSE the score was already below 5, there was no threads saying 'let's downvote it'. It's just that /v/ has an incredibly negative view on the game, and since we discuss the page so much, some of our reviews and ratings appear naturally.
It's not some great conspiracy.

I really wasn't endorsing a conspiracy view so much as I was reacting to the prevailing wisdom ITT that the metacritic score was an untampered with, unbiased representation of the public's view of this game.

And again I find it logically questionable that on the one hand we roll our eyes at the intimation from whomever that the low, low metacritic score represents tampering (conspiracy? Stop being stupid!), while all nodding in agreement with the charges that EA Games controls every single other source of reviews on the internet (stop being stupid! It's a CONSPIRACY!)

No, I don't think there's a conspiracy anywhere. I think Bioware rushed out a mediocre, not-too-good-but-probably-not-terrible game that's garnered a disproportionate amount of hate in certain circles we so cherish, and people are expressing themselves as people on the internet do. But a higher volume of expression does not mean the representation of a wider group. Which is to say, I'll bet most people like DA2 just fine.

Did we expect anything different?

 

[Drakron]

Yeesh, you apparently are under the impression that User Reviews are done by people that are attempting to be both critical and fair.

They are not.

The real problem is this:
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Riccit ... -9062.html

What happens is this, projects that rate over 90 in Metacritic are now considered a success for the producer since its a "quality title" as EA really acts as a corporation were actually put effort is something done by the people bellow, managers are the typical "how can I look good for the upper management?"

Mr. Laidlaw must be sweating because DA2 is unlikely to meet its goals, its not going to sell 10 million (that in hindsight just seems someone talking his ignorant ass off) and its not going to get a ranking of 90 in Metacritic.

(10 million target source link)
http://www.videogamer.com/news/10_milli ... arget.html

 

[J_C]

10 million? What were they smoking? Only a handful of games can breach the 10 million mark. DA2 doesn't excell in any way, hype alone won't make it a ten million hitter. They can be happy if they sell a few million.

 

[circ]

I wouldn't expect 10 mil if this were a glorified DLC, which it is, with DA: O combat atleast and half the inane content removed, which is oh most of the content. I mean jeez, Kirkwall? Who designed this shit? And the combat, encounters, quests. How can you seriously ask full price for this and even call it a AAA game? Or even a budget game. I would be seriously ashamed to be associated with this in its current state.

 

[racofer]

Add another review to the list:

http://www.videogamessuck.com/review437.html

0/10

...Yeah, way to keep the serious fucking tone of the game when my rogue is jumping around the game like a fucking monkey stabbing people all around the map. Way to go dipshits

Gone is the beautiful wood looking interface that you got in DA:O that was functional and extremely usable and was instead replaced with WHITE ON BLACK. The inventory which used to be a detailed Tome that you would open is not replaced by WHITE TEXT ON BLACK BACKGROUND. It looks like a fucking iPad reject interface that Steve Jobs would have pissed out if he was a retarded down syndrome infested child. They clearly did NO user testing and instead with their 12 month development cycle, just farted out the first thing that came to mind and everyone suffers for it.

]Now as a quick side note, it is obvious by looking at Metacritic that the reviews were paid off. With sites like PC GAMER AGAIN stating that this is better than the original in every single way. FUCK YOU PC GAMER, you cock sucking low fucking assholes. You are the bane of real reviews and help to fuck people out of money by causing them to buy shit instead of providing real reviews to people. You are the lowest, greedy, cum swapping dick sucking assholes and you deserve to have your fucking shitty headquarters burned down where you print your bullshit greedy lies on paper.

Seriously, look at Metacritic, the game is scoring 7 and 8s with only shitty review sites like XBOX Magazine giving it 9s and 10s. The Escapist is another shitbag as well who praised the game with LIES. You can smell the fucking money just changing hands. Bioware must have spent all their fucking money paying off reviewers instead of actually putting it into the game. If you look at the users reviews they are almost UNANIMOUSLY negative against the game on PC, PS3 and 360 because real users are NOT PAID OFF like those fuckers writing this shit. All review websites should be on your fucking shit list. Fuck you guys. Dragon Age 2 was fucked by Bioware and we the consumers got a big fucking dick up the ass. This game is a fucking abomination.

 

[Yeesh]

Yeesh, you apparently are under the impression that User Reviews are done by people that are attempting to be both critical and fair.

They are not.

The real problem is this:
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Riccit ... -9062.html

What happens is this, projects that rate over 90 in Metacritic are now considered a success for the producer since its a "quality title" as EA really acts as a corporation were actually put effort is something done by the people bellow, managers are the typical "how can I look good for the upper management?"

Mr. Laidlaw must be sweating because DA2 is unlikely to meet its goals, its not going to sell 10 million (that in hindsight just seems someone talking his ignorant ass off) and its not going to get a ranking of 90 in Metacritic.

(10 million target source link)
http://www.videogamer.com/news/10_milli ... arget.html

The scary face guy is talking about critic scores, not user scores. He's using metacritic because it's metacritic, which is to say he's using it to say that he wasn't happy with the average of ALL gaming magazines and sites. Metacritic's user scores are not mentioned, and more importantly are not calculated the same way at all. As we know.

10 million? What were they smoking? Only a handful of games can breach the 10 million mark. DA2 doesn't excell in any way, hype alone won't make it a ten million hitter. They can be happy if they sell a few million.

Jesus, did no one actually read what he said? Here's the exerpt. I'll bold the question and answer so no one gets lost:

In a marketplace where one game can sell 25 million copies.

10 million is the sales target BioWare is aiming to achieve with its future releases, studio co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk has told VideoGamer.com.

At the Develop conference in Brighton earlier this month Zeschuk spoke about BioWare's fortune to have had a few "minor" hits. But if the likes of Mass Effect and Dragon Age are considered minor, what's needed to be classed as a major one?

"Well, we need to sell 10 million units," said Zeschuk. "That's actually the new target, right? We do Top 10 games, our stuff is quite successful. I know Mass [Effect 2] is number eight so far this year, in North America.

Jesus, I don't care about Bioware and I don't care about Dragon Age 2, but this is just like groupthink over here. The words are right there, read them.

He's saying well we want a hit, a really big hit, bigger than the minor ones we've had so far.

And the journalist says, damn, you think ME and DA were minor? So what's major to you?

And the guy says, I mean we want to sell like 10 million! That would be awesome!

It's not a sales projection. They were just aiming high, because as the first line says, other games have (apparently) hit the 25 million mark, and ME and DA came nowhere near that. I don't care if DA2 doesn't either, just stop acting like you found a quote where Bioware says, "DA2 is going to sell 10 million copies for sure!"

 

[Drakron]

10 million? What were they smoking?

Since that come from Gregory Zeschuk mouth, medical marijuana.

Also if you want to know, Halo (2 and 3) sold around 8 million and not many games have passed the 10 million sales mark that just makes that comment even more detached from reality, in fact I have no idea what he means by "25 million" since the only games that reached that high are Wii games like Resort, his comment about Blizzard is also strange as StarCraft 2 did not done THAT well as WoW is a powerhouse that dominates MMO but still, its "only" have 12 million subscribers.

Edit:

The scary face guy is talking about critic scores, not user scores. He's using metacritic because it's metacritic, which is to say he's using it to say that he wasn't happy with the average of ALL gaming magazines and sites. Metacritic's user scores are not mentioned, and more importantly are not calculated the same way at all. As we know.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3542 ... pery-slope

Metacritic scores were worked into the development teams’ objectives

And there is this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... or-FIFA-11

H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S

It's not a sales projection. They were just aiming high, because as the first line says, other games have (apparently) hit the 25 million mark, and ME and DA came nowhere near that. I don't care if DA2 doesn't either, just stop acting like you found a quote where Bioware says, "DA2 is going to sell 10 million copies for sure!"

I already pointed that no, that is bullshit as only a fewi games sell as much and on this generation, they been Wii games and there is the fact he said it.

 

[circ]

Add another review to the list:

http://www.videogamessuck.com/review437.html

0/10

That's a score I can agree with.

 

[Yeesh]

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3542 ... pery-slope

Metacritic scores were worked into the development teams’ objectives

And there is this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... or-FIFA-11

H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S

You realize those are both taken from the same single conversation, right? Why post it twice?

And again, he's talking about metacritic as a shorthand for the average of all critical scores, which is to say he's using metacritic as shorthand for "the critics". Again, this has nothing to do with the user score, which is calculated the same way as every other sites' user scores, but is for whatever reason much, much lower than every other sites'.

And getting away from the user score issue, so what? A critical score is a metric, and companies like those. Don't we want companies to try and make games that will rate well with critics? Isn't the critical system at least working a little if DA2 is getting lower ratings from critics than DAO, when the codex hated DAO but hates DA2 more?

Anyway whatever, I don't want to get lynched. This isn't an area of concern for me, I just find the logic behind the some of the things said here sloppy. Why would this guy be challenging his teams to get good metacritic scores if EA was buying them anyway? Why are we mad if he changes course and tells the teams to focus on giving gamers what they want instead of the critics if we have no respect for gaming journalism anyway? I don't even know who this guy is and I don't care. But do we really have to point out every single thing EA and Bioware do and say GOD WHAT ENORMOUS ASSHOLES even when they're doing the same stuff as everybody else?