If there is something about a game that a person dislikes, such that they wouldn’t even buy it in a sale or refunded it, then a 1 would be a legitimate subjective score.
That’s not “bombing”, anymore than a fan giving it a 10 is “boosting”.
It’s no more a problem than someone awarding a 9 due to some very personal subjective reason for liking a game, which I fully believe happened with a certain mainstream review.
The question is whether professional reviews should be held to higher standards.
Players can give subjective ratings that will naturally tend to bias to one extreme or other.
But should media sites be reviewing with the wider consumer base in mind? Or just giving their personal preference?
Are they telling us what they personally like or dislike (in which case we might as well look at user reviews), or is the service they provide to tell us if most of us would like it?
I don’t know the answer, but I don’t like the attitude of disregarding user reviews, no matter how extreme the score, as bombing/ fanboying.
@GamingFan4Lyf the problem is, even DLSS Quality leads to a softer looking image than native resolution.
Perhaps not to the average gamer though, but if you showed me native 4K and then with DLSS Quality side-by-side, I'd tell them apart in a Pepsi challenge.
Back in the day when PC's could actually run games smoothly at native 4K (around the early 1080ti era), I wouldn't use any AA at all.
@ShogunRok I've been a fence sitter, but on the playthrough's I've watched, it seems that a fair amount of dialogue uses contemporary American-English and colloquialisms that seem out of place in a game where people are using shields and swords etc.
As out of place as Aragorn shouting, "here come dat boi! Waddaup!" when he sees Frodo.
Plus that Marvel movie-esque dialogue where every other line is an attempt at a witty quip.
I've only seen half a dozen playthrough episodes though, so I'm curious given your extensive experience, if that type of dialogue/language is a small minority of the game in your view?
Or is it a majority, but it just doesn't bother you?
I guess that Marvel dialogue must be popular with a lot of people as the movies would alter it following focus group testing otherwise.
Plus Americans obviously speak American when sat around a board playing D&D!
So I get why the developers could have thought it was fine, and why many gamers and reviewers have no problem with it.
Dunno about you though, but even an American accent in a quasi-medieval fantasy setting is a complete killer for me, in the same way if everyone in Young Guns 1 and 2 had been talking with an English accent and Tolkien-esque dialogue, I'd have turned it off at 5 minutes.
Don't get me wrong, I know that if I had a time machine and went back to the middle ages, I wouldn't understand a word anyone was saying as it doesn't resemble 21st century English.
But those tropes and expectations are a vital part of suspension of disbelief to me, even if they aren't historically accurate.
I don't know if you know of the old kids TV series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men? It was basically taking a group of people from 1990's London, and placing them in the setting of Robin Hood.
It was played for laughs with how those modern people with their modern knowledge lived in the Robin Hood time period. That's exactly how DA Veilguard looks to me when I watch it......only they aren't playing it for laughs... It's meant to be as serious as Game of Thrones.
Without Parole seemed fairly pleased with it, albeit not as high a score.
The repetition in environments does sound like a real fly in the appointment to me. I'd rather the game be 5 hours instead of 9 and it not get old and repetitive.
Only other downside is the dark environments will likely be a mura grain-fest, something that ruined the PSVR2 version of Paradise Hotel for me.
With £700 having hit my Credit Card this month already, I might wait for a sale on this one!
Very disappointing from gamers not buying this, when a company actually tries to be bold instead of copy pasting endless sequels.
I think the "2" harmed it. A large chunk of gamers were little kids when the first one game out. So in a story based game they might feel "I never played the original so won't understand the sequel, so there is no point".
The remaster of the first one was a good idea to break that, but I don't get the impression it sold in large numbers. There wasn't much hype and my friends didn't care.
Can't wait. Getting stressed about whether I will get it on launch day from the PS Store.
This game is one of the main reasons. I'm currently happy with the frame rate. It's bad in towns but it's ok in combat.
I'm using the lowest settings and have VRR.
The problem is that it looks atrocious. So all I want from my Pro is higher resolution and detail. Just give me the appearance of the high settings from the base model, but with the frame rate of the low settings.
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Re: Metacritic Responds to Ongoing Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review Bombing Campaign
If there is something about a game that a person dislikes, such that they wouldn’t even buy it in a sale or refunded it, then a 1 would be a legitimate subjective score.
That’s not “bombing”, anymore than a fan giving it a 10 is “boosting”.
It’s no more a problem than someone awarding a 9 due to some very personal subjective reason for liking a game, which I fully believe happened with a certain mainstream review.
The question is whether professional reviews should be held to higher standards.
Players can give subjective ratings that will naturally tend to bias to one extreme or other.
But should media sites be reviewing with the wider consumer base in mind? Or just giving their personal preference?
Are they telling us what they personally like or dislike (in which case we might as well look at user reviews), or is the service they provide to tell us if most of us would like it?
I don’t know the answer, but I don’t like the attitude of disregarding user reviews, no matter how extreme the score, as bombing/ fanboying.
Re: What Is PSSR for PS5 Pro?
@GamingFan4Lyf the problem is, even DLSS Quality leads to a softer looking image than native resolution.
Perhaps not to the average gamer though, but if you showed me native 4K and then with DLSS Quality side-by-side, I'd tell them apart in a Pepsi challenge.
Back in the day when PC's could actually run games smoothly at native 4K (around the early 1080ti era), I wouldn't use any AA at all.
Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard's First PS5 Update Incoming, Adjusts Balance and Fixes Bugs
@ShogunRok I've been a fence sitter, but on the playthrough's I've watched, it seems that a fair amount of dialogue uses contemporary American-English and colloquialisms that seem out of place in a game where people are using shields and swords etc.
As out of place as Aragorn shouting, "here come dat boi! Waddaup!" when he sees Frodo.
Plus that Marvel movie-esque dialogue where every other line is an attempt at a witty quip.
I've only seen half a dozen playthrough episodes though, so I'm curious given your extensive experience, if that type of dialogue/language is a small minority of the game in your view?
Or is it a majority, but it just doesn't bother you?
I guess that Marvel dialogue must be popular with a lot of people as the movies would alter it following focus group testing otherwise.
Plus Americans obviously speak American when sat around a board playing D&D!
So I get why the developers could have thought it was fine, and why many gamers and reviewers have no problem with it.
Dunno about you though, but even an American accent in a quasi-medieval fantasy setting is a complete killer for me, in the same way if everyone in Young Guns 1 and 2 had been talking with an English accent and Tolkien-esque dialogue, I'd have turned it off at 5 minutes.
Don't get me wrong, I know that if I had a time machine and went back to the middle ages, I wouldn't understand a word anyone was saying as it doesn't resemble 21st century English.
But those tropes and expectations are a vital part of suspension of disbelief to me, even if they aren't historically accurate.
I don't know if you know of the old kids TV series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men? It was basically taking a group of people from 1990's London, and placing them in the setting of Robin Hood.
It was played for laughs with how those modern people with their modern knowledge lived in the Robin Hood time period. That's exactly how DA Veilguard looks to me when I watch it......only they aren't playing it for laughs... It's meant to be as serious as Game of Thrones.
Totally agree about the lack of nuance.
Re: Metro Awakening (PSVR2) - One of the Most Immersive VR Games Ever
Without Parole seemed fairly pleased with it, albeit not as high a score.
The repetition in environments does sound like a real fly in the appointment to me. I'd rather the game be 5 hours instead of 9 and it not get old and repetitive.
Only other downside is the dark environments will likely be a mura grain-fest, something that ruined the PSVR2 version of Paradise Hotel for me.
With £700 having hit my Credit Card this month already, I might wait for a sale on this one!
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Lays the Foundation for a New Modern-Day Narrative
AC needs to fragment into two franchises.
1, An open world historical RPG that is NOT based in the AC universe and with NO modern narrative.
2, Classical AC games in a smaller more constrained world, closer to the original titles.
Re: Alan Wake 2 Trapped in Financial Dark Place, 'Most' Development, Marketing Costs Recouped
Very disappointing from gamers not buying this, when a company actually tries to be bold instead of copy pasting endless sequels.
I think the "2" harmed it. A large chunk of gamers were little kids when the first one game out. So in a story based game they might feel "I never played the original so won't understand the sequel, so there is no point".
The remaster of the first one was a good idea to break that, but I don't get the impression it sold in large numbers. There wasn't much hype and my friends didn't care.
Re: How to Transfer Data from PS5 to PS5 Pro
I have 1GB internet so will just install it all clean.
If I can transfer my 2TB SSD, I will have 4GB to play with and can install literally every game in my library that I'm likely to want to play again.
I was shocked to hear that I could transfer games by moving my SSD across though. As I thought the console always formatted new drives by default.
Only time I've ever gone to trouble to transfer something instead of simply downloading it, was my Animal Crossing Island when I got my Switch OLED.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Set to Run Significantly Better on PS5 Pro, Early Footage Reveals
Can't wait. Getting stressed about whether I will get it on launch day from the PS Store.
This game is one of the main reasons. I'm currently happy with the frame rate. It's bad in towns but it's ok in combat.
I'm using the lowest settings and have VRR.
The problem is that it looks atrocious. So all I want from my Pro is higher resolution and detail. Just give me the appearance of the high settings from the base model, but with the frame rate of the low settings.