For whatever reason it seems like my last post is gone. Not sure why. So i'll rephrase it:
@caseyrybek, I apologize for such an inflammatory post. But the idea that any dissenting opinion must be bias is something that really, *really* gets under my skin. I really don't like the idea that someone can just not like something other people like without it being a result of deep-seated bias against something. Individual people have individual opinions, and favoring the collective score over the individual review is something that legitimately bothers me. People should look at different reviews and different opinions and make their own decision, not look at a 78 on Metacritic and go "oh I guess Jeff's review was wrong."
What really gets under my skin is the "Metacritic style" elitisim that goes on in movies, games, and everything across the board. I know people who won't give anything with a lower than 80 metacritic score a look because "it's reviewed bad, so it must be bad." Part of the reason this bugs me so much is because of the ever evolving standards in pretty much any industry. What people accept one year, could become tired and faded in the years following. Which is why using just numbers to justify peoples opinions on things is silly.
Haha, yeah that's kinda the point I was going to make. It has nothing to do with reviewer bias, which is the dumbest thing anyone could say. The reality is, you can't get by on competently made action games with uninvolving mechanics anymore. That B world where games could do that way back when is dead. Your mechanics have to be fresh, engaging, evolving, etc. At least in today's game world. But hey both The Order and this are very pretty, very competently made show pieces for each console.
Completed the game yesterday (also for reviewing purposes) and I don't agree with this review at all to be brutally honest. (That's fine of course, everybody has their own opinion)
Gameplay-wise I can kind of see what you're getting at, there's nothing really special about it but there's also nothing wrong with it. Missed potential, sure but in essence the gameplay an sich ain't worse than let's say, the last Tomb Raider.
But for me it was definitely the story that kept me going. Maybe I was more involved by the fact that I read every single e-mail or any other text they throw at you, but it just builds up in a very exciting way, nicely paced, combined with the perfectly okay TV show. I do agree that the end feels very rushed and even leaves openings for DLC or a sequel. That sucked.
Ah well, I find two stars very harsh cause I'm sure a lot of Xbox One owners would really enjoy a story-driven game like this.
We live in a different time than 3 or 4 years ago though. Games don't get away with just being competent anymore. I had a feeling when I saw Drew's coverage of this that it would get poor reviews. Which honestly sadly doesn't speak to the actual quality of the game. It's impossible to tell the quality of any game these days in most cases.
It feels so strange though, that making an interesting game world, with an interesting set up and competent (if un involved) gameplay literally gets ragged on completely. In days gone by, games like this probably would of reviewed at least 3 stars or higher, and even the reviewers themselves would of been way more positive about what they were seeing. But just because something is pretty and competently made means shit all in today's world. It's a hard life for video game developers honestly.
Yeah this thing is going to have to run quiet, still be capable of doing what it says it can and not overheat. On top of that there is no way any game can run on this that can't on PS4, if your not going to properly upgrade our console, and the majority of us just invested in this new platform a few years ago as it is, can't really expect people to invest in 4.5 the same way.
I just hope they don't basically make you have to invest in it because all the games just run like crap on PS4 compared to PS4.5 I'm fine if it's, PS4 titles still look good but are more often say 30 FPS and 1080, and PS4 4.5 you get 4K and 60 FPS constant or something. But it also still takes pressure off developers to fix the games they have on current platforms, which is beginning to become a huge problem as it is.
PS Move seemed to track terribly back when they came out, it doesnt seem like that was magically fixed on PS4.
They always worked perfectly for me. That shaky movement was present in GB coverage of Move before. I don't know why that is. I'm getting no jitter even in a pointer mode.
Yeah my friend purchased 4 move controllers way back when, and they all worked perfectly one to one. No shaky jitters or disconnects. Keep in mind that a good reason we could be seeing the GB crew experience the odd issue is that they aren't set up in a environment that is super friendly to that type of stuff. They are on a set, with lighting, multiple people scrunched close together to fit into the set camera's while still trying to get the move to register on the PS camera. Jeff even said no way he could of tried it from his spot, and he isn't that far from Brad. Things like this work a lot better in the ideal conditions, conditions that most users at home will have.
To those complaining about the model switch, it's a common bug right now in the game. If you switch serves and come back it becomes fixed.
As for the game, it's alright. It's dense as shit, and the amount of systems for EVERYTHING is so complicated that a Quick Look is never going to be the format to determine if you like it or not. I mean there is a Horse Breeding system in this game, as an example. There are systems for pretty much everything, from individual NPC favor, to trading fish, the list goes on. I've only played 4-5 hours, but the pure action combat and the colorful style has been enjoyable. The dialogue can be hit or miss, but there have been a few story things that weren't pure awful.
This is a great read, but the piece about Destiny kinda bugs me. I was that guy who thought vanilla Destiny is bad and people who liked it should feel bad, but I never really gave it another thought behind it. I just felt that people should feel bad for liking bad games. But after reading this I feel like there is something else that made me feel that way towards Destiny fans. I think I was just afraid that Destiny would set precedent for others to follow. That may also be the reason why I have the same feeling about modern military shooter genre in general. I thought I was put off by the blatant jingoism but it turned out I rarely -if ever- care about the theme or messages in shooter.
Don't get wrong. I do now think I was wrong in guilt-shaming people on liking Destiny or whatever games I think it's bad, but now I know the reason behind it.
I don't know why you'd feel that Destiny setting a precedent for others to follow is a bad thing. Even if you dislike Destiny. This is one thing that constantly happens in the video game industry that never happens in other creative works. This idea that if something is successful, and you think it's bad, that suddenly all successful things will be bad. Maybe it's driven by the fact that games used to a lot smaller medium, and the amount of games released per year were lower. Thus the variety is lower.
That isn't the case anymore, I promise. Bro dudes and casual fans alike enjoy their CoD, their Destiny (me too for that matter, Destiny anyways) and their recycled sports game. There is creatively lots wrong with a lot of those franchises. But guess what? A ridiculous number of games, all from different genres, all that explore different things release year after year after year now. If you think something is bad and others like it, it doesn't matter. Like what you like, because even if in your a minority they make games for every single group now. I mean how many reboots must we see from Kickstarter or even indy/retro inspired games on Steam before people realize that a game for them is getting made, right now, somewhere in this world. You will never be starved for a game unless you have crazy minute tastes that are literally in like the 0.005 percent of the world. And are crazy picky on top of that. :P
Metal Gear is unique in that it feature both the highest and the lowest points for female characters in games. With Quiet being on the lower end of the spectrum, Meryl and the Boss on the higher and characters like Sniper Wolf somewhere in the middle. Truly a bizarre mix of strong, determined leading females and dolls to be oogled from variously lurid angles.
Very interesting, I never really thought about that before. I wonder if because of that, the perceived implications of presenting a female character like Quiet so low on the spectrum doesn't rub as many people the wrong way as say, Bayonetta, or a litany of other examples.
As much as we all seem to forget, there are women in the world who LIKE being sexualized, oogled, and enjoy presenting a very base sexual appeal. Not all women, of course not. So to a certain degree, there isn't anything that unrealistic about presenting someone that way.
It really makes me wonder if the connectivity of humanity in today society is part of the problem. This article (which was very well written, great job @halexandra64) makes note of the amount of judgement being given for people to like specific games, referencing Destiny and how it has this public perception among most people who play games as "bad." Well it's easy to build up that perception when you are always surrounding yourself by like minded people. It's one of the strangely great, and horrible things about the world we live in. You can always find someone to agree with you. Always. The internet is littered with humans, and most people carve out communities with as many like minded people as possible. It leads to people having very strong opinions, and feeling very confident that those opinions are objective facts, because they are supported by so many others.
It's why the sexism arguments in games is so tough, because not only is it subjective but it's subjective about fictional characters. If someone wants to dress up and be overtly sexual in the real world, we accept that it is their choice and we can either agree or disagree about it. But there are no choices for fictional characters, just their creators. Which is where you see a lot of the hate get thrown around.
At the end of the day for me I guess this article just reaffirms my belief that you can distinctly dislike the way something you enjoy handles something, without turning it into such a big deal.
Just quoting this post because I wholly agree with you. I maintain that parts of the animated series, especially as it grows it's legs and it's maturity stand out as some of the best Star Wars stuff that exists period. Up there with Episode 5 quality. I still maintain that people overrate the hell out of Episode 4 and 6 as well. But yes, the Darth Maul arc was brilliant, and don't forget Cad Bane as well who was one of the coolest villains. Hell how about the storyline in which Obi-Wan forges his death, and pretends to be a bounty hunter in an attempt to infiltrate a criminal organization? That isn't even starting on some of the great arcs that involve the named Clone troopers either. Man what a great show when it got started!
I find it hilarious that the Maul they showed as an example of bad/insane Star Wars EU was from Clone Wars, which is canon and pretty much the best thing to ever come out of Star Wars, outside of like ESB. The Maul stuff in particular in Seasons 4 and 5 is utterly fantastic, and his first appearance is downright creepy:
Loading Video...
Oh, and he gets better, more human looking legs in Season 5:
But seriously, Clone Wars is absolutely amazing past like the movie and some of the first season episodes. There's a whole arc that is basically Apocalypse Now, there's a zombies arc and whole bunch of other great stuff; like a two parter that is a massive send-up to Godzilla and Kaiju Movies. Plus it fleshes out Anakin waaaaaaaay more than the Prequels ever did and makes him an actual likeable character, and it gets super emotional near the end, to the point where the Season 5 finale had me shedding genuine tears.
It's on Netflix, so check it out if you need a Star Wars hit before TFA comes out.
devise22's comments