Jefflarz

@Aurelito said:

3) Ruleset? Did you think this was a DnD based combat system? No! RPG's have long since grown into something away from tabletop RPG's. Deal with it.

Yes, but some of them have grown into hairy cell leukemia.

You mean they're rare and very easy to manage in comparison to similar cases?

I mean good pull on the obscure scary sounding ailment, but you should at least know a thing or two about it before referencing it!

Just found this topic, might as well use it.

Hello.
I'm Jeff.
I am 21.
I go to college.
Biochemistry is what I do.
Video games are pretty neat, huh?
Yeah, I like them too.
Good bye!

If the world ends or doesn't, it's not like you can do anything to change it anyway, so why stress?

I've always considered myself to be in the "very smart" category as I've been able to kick high level biology courses, organic and biochem around with a quarter of the effort most of my classmates put in. Even so I still get tripped up by pretty basic things such as general physics and many of those humanities based subjects that many people who are considered to be average students would scoff at. We all have an overall set of strengths and weaknesses and then even more layers of strengths and weaknesses within those two original categories. I find tests that try and quantify these sorts of things to be somewhat mystifying as they ignore all sorts of things that would factor into a strength or weakness. No multiple choice test can accurately capture a thought process and most essay prompts are incredibly contrived.

I'll be taking the MCAT this thursday, we'll see if that proves anything useful. Though I suppose my rambling is taking me off topic here...

Jumping in after reading a post or two on the first page. I'm pretty special and unique.

Just to add to my individuality, I'll probably never return. It's the perfect crime.

Straight Jack has always been my whiskey of choice, but I really need to spread my tendrils and try some other brands.

Bioware, you've blindsided me once again. I'm going to need a while to digest this news.

Patrick, you have my respect for reporting this news properly. I just don't get why any sort of video game news outlet would spoil and entire game before we even.

No, seriously. I really just don't get it.
I mean it's one thing to post an endgame spoiler about a week before a game's release. There's a risk for some people getting unwanted spoilers, but it's only a week or so before the game's and even then usually it's just a detail of the story or some sort of hidden reward. This was the entire damn story just laid out in a blog post for the world to see before the game was even announced. Hell I couldn't care less about CoD, but this is still ridiculous.

Again Patrick, I commend you on not sinking to such levels for the sake of being an edgy journalist. Kotaku just done screwed the pooch on this one.

I'm currently holding off on my decision until I see some reviews and full impressions. R* has done some funny marketing up until now and I can't quite say that I fully understand how LA Noire will play. I really need to know just how much GTA it's going to be, how much departing from the norm it's going to be and just how fun it is, but I don't feel any real indication of these things yet.

I'm hoping for the best though, good meaty single player games have been pretty sparse as of late.

" @Jefflarz said:

" @Vodun said:

" @CaLe said:

" @Vodun: Metacritic just throws numbers together and gives an average. It's people that give it power. I see no reason to hate the site itself. "

In truth what I really hate is the idea of trying to quantify a game's quality by putting a score on it. It's not something you can measure, it has to be described. Metacritic is just the ultimate evolution of this horror, it's not unlike trying to determine if someone is a criminal by measuring their skull.... "

No, it isn't. Metacritic is a compilation of opinions that have been assigned numerical values to give a quick idea about the general consensus of a game. It's a number that can give someone who might not be dumping paycheck after paycheck into video games, or the other things on the site, a quick idea on whether or not a product is considered to be of high quality. For people who aren't that into video games, it's all they need. Yeah, forcing numerical values on to an opinion isn't always representative of a game's quality and people who actually play games on a regular basis shouldn't make decisions off a Metacritic score alone, but it's hardly some sort of scourge on the gaming community.The real problem is the idiots that act like Metacritic is the end all, it's not. Metacritic should be used to get a quick idea on what the general opinion of a game is, nothing more. "

Hey, if you're fine with only the standard games which fit into mold A43-6D getting any kind of attention then metacritic is the bee's knees. The problem is that games which might drive the development of games forward with some kind of innovation, but lack a little in development for one reason or another, get shafted.

The players themselves also get screwed; You might actually have enjoyed that 6.5 game, but you won't give it a second glance because you didn't take the time to look into it and see the real reason it got a slightly lower score. You would actually have been fine with what the reviewers complained about, but since you only go by the score you miss out.

And your argument that people with not that much money to spend, you shoot down yourself by arguing that metacritic is good for getting a "quick idea". So it's better to spend money on a quick idea rather than actually researching? I would say if you only can afford very few games per year it's even more important you form a real opinion of what is out there, rather than throwing your cash at the game with the biggest number next to its name.

Metacritic assumes every person has the same basic opinions, needs and wants. If that were true then it would work. The problem is that people disagree quite a bit (like you and me).

"