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[MasterCornholio]

Ragnarok, imo is not a 94 mc game and no where near the same level of god of war 2018...yet somehow it scored the same metacritic. That's where we are with game reviews in my opinion. It's nothing against the game. It's against review culture and the way its all handled. Ragnarok and final fantasy xvi were admitted to not play the side content and more mainline the games and got good reviews. This doesn't tie up with my taste where I do everything and those games fall from such highs when you 100 percent them. For me as a player, anyway.

If you look at starfields ign review he's hardly scratched the surface of the game. Reviewers with 100 plus hours are absolutely praising it and saying the side quests etc are really very good.

Dan Stapleton played thw main quest, admits he's got loads to go back to and can't wait to. Lots of quests he never even touched and he gave it a 7/10 to have the review live for the review embargo. Not a good look on such a big game imo.

The people I trust, fextralife, ACG etc and those posting 100% playthrough reviews say its Bethesdas best game and amazing.

Doesn't add up but gives me great food for thought when I get into it later.

Well there you go both games are fantastic and worth buying. It's as simple as that. At least you accept it.

 

[SRTtoZ]

Sales? Where we're going, we don't need sales...

This right here. Game Pass just needs games to be decent-good. They don’t have to rely on huge hits like Sony does to sell games. My first few hours in Starfield are quite boring so far but I heard it gets better.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Hilarious to suggest that the Oscar Best Picture winner would be universally touted as the best film of the year.

That’s not how that works. It’s an award. One award. One with a lot of attention but that doesn’t render it definitive.

In fact, very often the Oscars have awarded Best Picture to meh films.

There is no “the” GOTY, there never has been and there never will be. However much marketing bucks the Dorito Pope pumps into hyping up his own brand.

See how you keep moving the goalposts...

The Oscar best picture doesn't need to be a consensus pick, but it is THE pick. It's the most prestigious award and if you ask what was the best picture for 1967, people will refer to the best picture winner at the oscars, even if it isn't the consensus best picture amoung audiences or even critics.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

There is literally an industry accepted GOTY involving major publications, whether you recognize the validity of that is like saying there is no best picture and the oscars don't count, because there are also the golden globes and mtv movie awards, baftas, critics choice, and individual publication's awards...

You just made my point for me. Thank you.

There's the Oscars. There are also many other awards. There's no 'movie of the year'. There are a sea of opinions.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Ragnarok, imo is not a 94 mc game and no where near the same level of god of war 2018...yet somehow it scored the same metacritic. That's where we are with game reviews in my opinion. It's nothing against the game. It's against review culture and the way its all handled. Ragnarok and final fantasy xvi were admitted to not play the side content and more mainline the games and got good reviews. This doesn't tie up with my taste where I do everything and those games fall from such highs when you 100 percent them. For me as a player, anyway.

If you look at starfields ign review he's hardly scratched the surface of the game. Reviewers with 100 plus hours are absolutely praising it and saying the side quests etc are really very good.

Dan Stapleton played thw main quest, admits he's got loads to go back to and can't wait to. Lots of quests he never even touched and he gave it a 7/10 to have the review live for the review embargo. Not a good look on such a big game imo.

The people I trust, fextralife, ACG etc and those posting 100% playthrough reviews say its Bethesdas best game and amazing.

Doesn't add up but gives me great food for thought when I get into it later.

I actually agree with you entirely here.

I thought Ragnarok was super average and felt very rushed. I think I gave it like a 7.5/10. Whereas God of War 2018 is probably closer to an 8.5 or 9.

I personally don't enjoy most side quests and prefer a strong main story.

I think the review industry leaves a lot to be desired, but it was never going to be perfect.

Two people can play the same game and one person thinks it's a 7 and another a 9 and they can both be genuine and professional in their deliberation.

This is where I feel like aggregate scores help out, but you also have platform specific reviewers who pump games up, sites that are in bed with publishers for access and favoritism, and you have sites that like to sandbag specific platforms and publishers.

Honestly, what we need is a site like 538 that analyzes individual sites and their skew and gets a more sound aggregate based on bias and divergence from the mean.

 

[Montauk]

See how you keep moving the goalposts...

The Oscar best picture doesn't need to be a consensus pick, but it is THE pick. It's the most prestigious award and if you ask what was the best picture for 1967, people will refer to the best picture winner at the oscars, even if it isn't the consensus best picture amoung audiences or even critics.

Lol it is not THE pick. There is no THE pick.

Plenty of people - including film critics - thinks the Academy frequently picks mediocre films.

In your example people would not speak about the ‘best picture’ of 1967.

They would say the Best Picture, as in the specific Oscar award, if they were talking about the Oscar winner or perhaps highly awarded films.

If you asked people what the best film of 1967 was, they wouldn’t automatically say “whatever the Best Picture was”

Look at the whole way you’re talking. Nobody talks to their friends about what their best picture of the year was. That’s an Oscar award name!

That’s not how people talk about films. Stop confusing marketing and brands with some kind of definitive standard.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Lol it is not THE pick. There is no THE pick.

Plenty of people - including film critics - thinks the Academy frequently picks mediocre films.

In your example people would not speak about the best picture of 1967. They would say the Best Picture, as in the specific Oscar award.

If you asked people what the best film of 1967 was, they wouldn’t automatically say “whatever the Best Picture was”.

That’s not how people talk about films. Stop confusing marketing and brands with some kind of definitive standard.

Lots of people and critics think the academy picks mediocre films because their favorite movie wasn't nominated or didn't win. That's not how this works or how it could ever work.

If you ask anyone what the best movie was, they'll probably give you their opinion, but if you ask someone what won best picture, they'll refer to the oscars, because the oscars is the most prestigious award. The same is true of TGA.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

Lots of people and critics think the academy picks mediocre films because their favorite movie wasn't nominated or didn't win. That's not how this works or how it could ever work.

If you ask anyone what the best movie was, they'll probably give you their opinion, but if you ask someone what won best picture, they'll refer to the oscars, because the oscars is the most prestigious award. The same is true of TGA.

The Game Awards is a three hour advertisement.

It is in no way 'prestigious'. You are talking insane amounts of drivel.

 

[Stardust_Dragon]

By itself, no the review scores by critics won't make major shifts one way or another, but looking at the Steam forum so far for the game, makes me wonder just how those user reviews on Steam are going to be like once the game launches next week for everyone ...

Spoiler: Steam forum screenshot

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The Game Awards is a three hour advertisement.

It is in no way 'prestigious'. You are talking insane amounts of drivel.

These are the publications that vote for TGA

Voting Jury | The Game Awards

Celebrate the best in video games and see what's next - Live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

thegameawards.com

Tell me more how that isn't prestigious. All award shows are advertisements.

 

[MasterCornholio]

By itself, no the review scores by critics won't make major shifts one way or another, but looking at the Steam forum so far for the game, makes me wonder just how those user reviews on Steam are going to be like once the game launches next week for everyone ...

Spoiler: Steam forum screenshot

I haven't really looked through reviews yet but what's this about the space exploration?

Isn't it supposed to be like NMS?

 

[Montauk]

Lots of people and critics think the academy picks mediocre films because their favorite movie wasn't nominated or didn't win. That's not how this works or how it could ever work.

If you ask anyone what the best movie was, they'll probably give you their opinion, but if you ask someone what won best picture, they'll refer to the oscars, because the oscars is the most prestigious award. The same is true of TGA.

I just went over this. If you ask somebody what the Best Picture of a year is, that’s asking somebody what the Academy awarded the Best Picture award to.

Stop writing Best Picture in lower case, when it is essentially a brand name for the Oscars at this point.

Of course if you asked somebody what THE Best Picture is, then it is obviously whatever the Oscars Best Picture winner was because that’s what Best Picture means given how high profile the Oscars are.

However, if you speak or write like a normal person you might ask somebody what the best film of a year was and they would most likely reply with their own pick, followed by the most highly rated films of the year.

Please stop equating ‘Best Picture’ and best film. Best Picture is a specific thing, a specific award. To speak of the best film can mean all sorts of things.

Sorry, but the Oscars don’t have any definitive claim to shit.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

These are the publications that vote for TGA

Voting Jury | The Game Awards

Celebrate the best in video games and see what's next - Live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

thegameawards.com

Tell me more how that isn't prestigious. All award shows are advertisements.

Tell me how it is. Most of that list consists of websites containing consumer reviews of wildly varying quality.

In no way does it represent 'prestige', unless you think that unpaid volunteers writing reviews for Press Start is the equivalent of Pauline Kael writing for the New York Times in 1969.

The Game Awards is nothing. It's Geoff Keighley marketing product. To people like you.

 

[Montauk]

These are the publications that vote for TGA

Voting Jury | The Game Awards

Celebrate the best in video games and see what's next - Live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

thegameawards.com

Tell me more how that isn't prestigious. All award shows are advertisements.

Went over this earlier - lots of GOTYs is more useful and interesting than one. It brings more attention to more games.

And the most broadly popular games get the most GOTY nods anyway.

Don’t know what the fuck gaming journos were huffing when they voted for It Takes Two as the best game released in 12 months, but whatever.

If it doesn’t come down to one single (baffling) pick then you get a lot more interesting and rich picture of what’s popular in gaming that year.

Again this is just laziness. People want everything compacted down and simplified. This is all part of the same trend.

You all want one number (MC) and now you want one award. Do you know how many reviews I read for games I’m interested in? Loads.

But you all want one number to rule them all, so you don’t have to do anything as taxing as read reviews.

I went over every GOTY award article/video for Outer Wilds (at least 6 nods btw!), because I loved that game and I’m not lazy.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Tell me how it is. Most of that list consists of websites containing consumer reviews of wildly varying quality.

In no way does it represent 'prestige', unless you think that unpaid volunteers writing reviews for Press Start is the equivalent of Pauline Kael writing for the New York Times in 1969.

The Game Awards is nothing. It's Geoff Keighley marketing product. To people like you.

I've never watched TGA and I've never bought a single game because it won an award at TGA, but that doesn't change that nearly every major gaming publication on the planet lends their credibility to TGA by voting in their award categories.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I'm a movie buff, I adore film. I rarely know what films win awards at the oscars.

I hope I get this way with video games but I'd probably have to stop coming here.

Would probably be better for all of us if we did but where's the fun self deprification in that?

 

[BlueLyria]

If a 88 can hurt the sales of a game, I hope no one that has bought any of the A / AA japanese games I play has ever looked at their MC scores.

 

[StueyDuck]

Game Journos don't really count. Most people know to ignore them these days.

Gamepass is the thing that's gonna do wonders for player counts and probably hurt "sales numbers".

Either way reviews won't effect a thing

 

[Mibu no ookami]

If a 88 can hurt the sales of a game, I hope no one that has bought any of the A / AA japanese games I play has ever looked at their MC scores.

When it is the difference between selling 30 million copies and 15 million copies... Yeah, I think an 88 (again 87 on XS) and likely to drop from there, will "hurt" the game's sales.

I love how people want to ignore context of a game that costs hundreds of millions of dollars and is going to probably get tens of millions if not hundred million in advertising and ignoring that yes an 88/87 can limit the ceiling of the game's sales and if this game sells 10 million copies across PC and XS, it would likely have flopped commercially after 8 years in development.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

I've never watched TGA and I've never bought a single game because it won an award at TGA, but that doesn't change that nearly every major gaming publication on the planet lends their credibility to TGA by voting in their award categories.

So, can you tell me a little bit about Press Start's credibility, and the prestige that it brings to The Game Awards?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

So, can you tell me a little bit about Press Start's credibility, and the prestige that it brings to The Game Awards?

Not everyone who votes in the Oscars is prestigious and the same is true of TGA, but it is representative of the largest publications in gaming and there is value to given a voice to smaller publications as well. The collective is what makes it prestigious, not necessarily the individual members.

 

[MadPanda]

By itself, no the review scores by critics won't make major shifts one way or another, but looking at the Steam forum so far for the game, makes me wonder just how those user reviews on Steam are going to be like once the game launches next week for everyone ...

Spoiler: Steam forum screenshot

For 234k CCU peak, I wouldn't say that's something to worry about.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

Not everyone who votes in the Oscars is prestigious and the same is true of TGA, but it is representative of the largest publications in gaming and there is value to given a voice to smaller publications as well. The collective is what makes it prestigious, not necessarily the individual members.

You know you're just making stuff up at this point, right?

 

[TrueGrime]

For 234k CCU peak, I wouldn't say that's something to worry about.

Not bad for a $100 a pop sell for the Premium Edition.

 

[jm89]

With a huge budget, no playstation sales and it being on gamepass on Xbox. They better hope they sell a shit ton on steam and get alot of gamepass subs for it otherwise

 

[TheRedRiders]

I think the PC and Xbox crowd have less of an obsession with review scores compared to the Playstation crowd. I think it's a good thing, games are not movies, and how we enjoy games is so highly subjective, it's dangerous to rely on review scores.

 

[Portugeezer]

Well, we're never going to know and it'll sell well regardless of not having 90+ on Metacritic.

But it's not a Zelda/BG3 level GOTY contender, and that kind of buzz around the Internet helps sells games these days.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

You know you're just making stuff up at this point, right?

What did I make up? Big specific.

 

[Wildebeest]

High 80s is bad?

When did anything less than 90 become bad?

95 average game
90 bad game but not offensively bad
80 bad game
70 abysmal

 

[Marvel14]

Do you think this thread will be shut down?

 

[squidilix]

No, fallout 76 is a dogshit and it sells well

 

[Majukun]

wasn't fallout 4 more or less the same in terms of scores and sold bajillions?

only real obstacle is releasing on a console with low userbase, pc could recoup that, but why buy it if it's on gamepass?

 

[GymWolf]

Majority of people are gonna play this one on gamepass.
And bethesda hardcore fanboys that want to possess the game for future mods and shit are gonna buy the game even if it score 15\100.


There is nothing to hurt.

 

[BlueLyria]

When it is the difference between selling 30 million copies and 15 million copies... Yeah, I think an 88 (again 87 on XS) and likely to drop from there, will "hurt" the game's sales.

I love how people want to ignore context of a game that costs hundreds of millions of dollars and is going to probably get tens of millions if not hundred million in advertising and ignoring that yes an 88/87 can limit the ceiling of the game's sales and if this game sells 10 million copies across PC and XS, it would likely have flopped commercially after 8 years in development.

Starfield is a different case imo, Yeah it might've been the factor for breaking those kind of sales.... if Gamepass wasn't a thing. It is a game that's gonna sell a boatload on pc after years and many sales though.

 

[eNT1TY]

GoTY Edition will be on Playstation next fall...

 

[yazenov]

wasn't fallout 4 more or less the same in terms of scores and sold bajillions?

only real obstacle is releasing on a console with low userbase, pc could recoup that, but why buy it if it's on gamepass?

No, fallout 76 is a dogshit and it sells well

Unfortunately for MS, this game doesn't have the Fallout brand attached to it's name. It's not comparable as this is a new IP.

Also, it's not on PlayStation.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Unfortunately for MS, this game doesn't have the Fallout brand attached to it's name. It's not comparable as this is a new IP.

Also, it's not on PlayStation.

So what if it isnt attached to Fallout? Are you saying its less recognizable because its a new IP? I swear some of you just dont know how to enjoy gaming and instead do these deep dive takes, already hating on a game nobody played yet, talking about bugs you personally havent experienced and forming your opinion on someone elses thoughts. The race who will write the first review equals to most of the time, unfinished campaigns and opinions of someone that has another 5 games to review in the same week.

 

[yazenov]

So what if it isnt attached to Fallout? Are you saying its less recognizable because its a new IP? I swear some of you just dont know how to enjoy gaming and instead do these deep dive takes, already hating on a game nobody played yet, talking about bugs you personally havent experienced and forming your opinion on someone elses thoughts. The race who will write the first review equals to most of the time, unfinished campaigns and opinions of someone that has another 5 games to review in the same week.

Could you not put words in my mouth? Where I did have an opinion on this game? I don't hate the game nor care for it personally.

I'm just replying to the above posts stating that this game is a brand new IP and it won't be carried by its band recognition such as Fallout. It's a fact.

Chill the fuck down.

 

[feynoob]

Unfortunately for MS, this game doesn't have the Fallout brand attached to it's name. It's not comparable as this is a new IP.

Also, it's not on PlayStation.

Means nothing.
It's Bethesda game with mods.
I think you need to go out of twitter and forums, if you want to actually measure this game.

 

[kaizenkko]

... what has this got to do with Starfield's review scores correlating with their sales expectations?

Starfield: *reviews with an 87MC sitting alongside PlayStation titles such as Spider-man, Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon*
NeoGAF: "Another big loss for Phil and his team."

The difference is that Sony don't desesperated need a game to score that good, the overall public perception about Sony is that they develop some of the best games in the market. Microsoft, by the other side, needs to prove themselves. They have buy Bethesda for what, 9 billions? That's a lot of money and, at the end of the day, they still can't develop a game who match Sony's best studios creations (The Last of Us, God of War).

 

[feynoob]

The difference is that Sony don't desesperated need a game to score that good, the overall public perception about Sony is that they develop some of the best games in the market. Microsoft, by the other side, needs to prove themselves. They have buy Bethesda for what, 9 billions? That's a lot of money and, at the end of the day, they still can't develop a game who match Sony's best studios creations (The Last of Us, God of War).

Why does MS need to match Sony?
MS main issues have always been consistency, not the quality of their games.
It's something which I always criticize them.
If they can provide that, then Xbox image will change.

 

[mxbison]

They won't hurt but they also won't boost them.

Will probably sell about as expected which is a lot.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

What did I make up? Big specific.

This is how the Oscars are decided: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/03/awards-insider-who-votes-for-the-oscars

It isn't randos with blogs - ala half of TGA's voting list.

Not everyone who votes in the Oscars is prestigious

But, they are members of AMPAS. Not by random writers at the Verge. Get the picture?

 

[alphachino]

Why does MS need to match Sony?
MS main issues have always been consistency, not the quality of their games.
It's something which I always criticize them.
If they can provide that, then Xbox image will change.

Consistency is impossible for MS to achieve because they have a super high churn rate at their studios and are dead set on mainly hiring short term contractors. MS studios are doomed to failure until there is a change at the very top.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Y would i spend money for something that i can play it for "free" on gamepass ?

I ll use that money to play something that isnt on subscriptions services like Lords of the Fallen.

 

[kaizenkko]

This thread is about whether or not the scores will 'hurt sales'. Most people do not read video game reviews, and have no idea what the metacritic score is. People on enthusiast forums may, but they don't make up the bulk of the game's sales. Sony wants high metacritic scores because that's one - of many - vectors that they use to measure a game's success. If a game has a horrible metacritic score but sells phenomenally well (like, say CoD?), do you think Sony cares?

They don't. They care about revenue. The average chump with an Xbox isn't pondering what Eurogamer thinks. They are buying stuff advertised on the dashboard, or stuff that their friends say is good, or games with ads at bus stops.

Days Gone got good sales, but what happens with the sequel?

 

[MMaRsu]

Lmao pc gamer and ign has been shit for years.

Game is an easy 9

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

Days Gone got good sales, but what happens with the sequel?

Clearly the sales weren't enough.

Do you think that Sony would refuse to make a sequel to a game that made an insane amount of money, and was hugely popular, but didn't have a high enough Metacritic average?

Come on.

 

[bosnianpie]

I don't think it will hurt the sales, the game got a good score. However it hurts its' ambition to be a GOTY-contender and also the image of being one of the most important projects among Microsofts newly acquired studios.

 

[jm89]

Game is an easy 9