Forgive the false literary allusion but do allow me to inject some "earnestness" into the whole fiasco surrounding Destructoid's abysmally low review of Dragon Age. As my username suggests, I play RPGs, not only that, I am the RPGIST, a unique blogger whose nature encompasses the entire scope of the genre. This is my forte, my publishing niche, and I am grossly offended by Jim Sterling's deprecation of Bioware's latest and possibly greatest entry to their already reputable pedigree.
I believe Jim might be suffering from fatigue as he is responsible for reviewing a wide range of titles not just the limited experience with RPGs. It takes an unusual amount of patience to enjoy more
"old school" RPGs which is offered by Dragon Age. Though, rest assured, I am constantly drawing parallels to Bioware's magna opus: Baldur's Gate 2. One must not only craft a compelling story, but a vast and interesting world with an addictive combat and multifarious customization system. Is Dragon Age better than BG2? Doubtful, DA is more scaled-down to the "mainstream'd" younger generation of 360 owners. For example, there is no more dice rolling in the character creation menu, and the allocation of skills appears to be more abundant.
Barely worth a purchase *scoff*
In all honesty, the review staff at Destructoid overall, and it's self-ascribed "non-lenient" review policy is appalling. I am new to Destructoid so I went back and looked at the Burch's review debacle of Mass Effect. It was given a 7.0 with strong caution against buying a 50 hour game with top-notch production values. I am beginning to see a disturbing trend where reviewers play games they genuinely do not want to play apparently. If one approaches a game with a half-assed attitude then one's not going take out a whole lot of the overall experience. This is probably why I would never agree to review games in genres I typically do not appreciate. I would underestimate the value of the game and my review score would be terribly biased and deflated as a result.
Suppose for one second that say "Two Worlds" was accidentally programmed onto a Dragon Age disc, I could understand the shock of playing a terribly underdeveloped title with a nonexistent budget. However, my impression of DA is an overly pleasant one. The graphics may not be great, in fact, that may be its greatest pitfall on the 360. However, the art-direction clearly makes up for the technical flaws in this game. Just take the city of Ostagar, it sits near a range of mountain which reminds of the splendor in Lord of the Rings. This stunning vista was clearly not implemented in the graphics department but the soul of the idea is still there. Lastly, I find Sterling's attack on the difficulty level absolutely absurd. In fact, IGN's review clearly stated that it was significantly LESS difficult than on the PC version. You can probably play through 80-90 % of DA without using tactical pauses on the 360 version. If difficulty is suddenly a "bad" thing then why is Demon's Souls metacritic so high? I can't wait for that review to appear on Destructoid.
My recommendation is simply to add more enthusiastic staff who are still able to balance objectivity with their own expectations and biases. If this is simply a matter of pro forma policy, then I would never, as a publisher, send out advanced review copies to this site. In fact, I would ban it from metacritic.
Jim Sterling, astringent connoisseur or fatigued ribald?
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I know you are new, as you say, but even still, calling a 7.5 "abysmally low" is pretty ridiculous. Based on this post and your general expectations for what reviews should be, you are in the wrong place my friend.
"Non-lenient" =/= "reviewers play games they genuinely do not want to play" or "a half-assed attitude."
I can understand why people would want Jim to review the PC version of DAO, but this is just silly, plain and simple.
Most of the staff are definitely not RPG-first gamers, and it is hard to see the site I love publicly distance themselves from some of my favorite games... but in the end it does give perspective on the genre.
I'm sure if every staff member reviewed every game we could all find someone we relate to. When launch reviews get page views you can't always match up a gamer to a game. You can trust the Dtoid staff members to be completely honest though, and that's what counts.
"I know you are new, as you say, but even still, calling a 7.5 'abysmally low' is pretty ridiculous."
So if Killzone 2 got a 7.5 or heaven forbid the ultimate pinnacle of PS3 ownership -- MGS4, would there not be a shitstorm following? DA was my most expected game of this year. To say I am disturbed is a mild description.
"abysmally low"
"7.5"
wut
Please see the Official Destructoid Review Guide for an explanation of our reviews process, and why a 7.5/10 is not an "abysmally low" score (in fact, it signifies a "good" game here on Destructoid).
Okay we can go there:
7 -- Good (7s are solid games that definitely have an audience. Might lack replay value, could be too short or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.)
Let's see DA does not lack replay value (fact), not too short (fact),has faults that are easily ignored in the context of (open to discussion I suppose).
Everything to me points to an inaccurate review even by your own standards.
*in context of its totality
Edit.
You know, there is a reason for text in reviews, not just numbers.
"You should definitely play this game if you love RPGs, and for BioWare nuts, this is an easy buy." It is an RPG. Jim said people who like RPGs should buy it.
Sounds like you're just bitching because a game you like didn't get the score you wanted it to.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh
As much as I think you getting way to angry at them, I do agree with you.
Many reviews on destructoid simply lack objectivity based on personal bias. And while it's equally improper to give a game to someone that will literally gush over it, I do feel as if destructoid seriously does a game disservice by giving review duty to people who simply do not respect what it is and where it's coming from (I'm speaking in gameplay standards rather than story or theme). Jim Sterling on several occasions has made statements that show him to not respect either the PC (the base and truly proper platform for this type of game) and RPG's in general. As a result, it cost the objectivity of the review.
I also feel that on many occasions, Jim Sterling tends to jump to conclusions with out sufficient evidence or experience to confirm such feelings. I feel this often costs him the credibility of his statements and reviews.
Though I do find him to be pretty damn funny.
But seriously, he didn't like it, and that's fine. A review is an opinion based guideline after all.
The only thing I could ask is for someone to weigh in on the superior PC version. I'm playing both right now, and nearly all of the problems Jim had in the review are fixed on PC.
Is it Fanboy Friday already? How the time flies...
I give this blog 10* out of 10!!
*I'd rate it lower but I don't want to hear anymore bitching and moaning from you.
@Buddha
Wow man. So much respect lost for this statement alone:
"simply lack objectivity based on personal bias."
For fucks sake.
He liked it. He enjoyed it. Said so in the review. But he found fault with it. And so we have a score, among many scores, and a review that speaks well to someone that wasn't already sold on the game.
7 -- Good (7s are solid games that definitely have an audience. **Might** lack replay value, could be too short or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but **the experience is fun**.)
This game isn't for everyone, but its damn fine for its niche. That's a Destructoid 7, and its nothing to baw about.
Do you need the validation of a higher numerical score from Destructoid to justify your purchase of the game? If you enjoy the game, isn't that all that matters?
We can debate semantics all day long but ultimately what matters most is not what Destructoid or anybody else for that matters thinks of the game but rather what you think.
Toasty.
What Krow said.
Far from having to be objective, reviewers have a responsibility to be subjective. Otherwise they're just reeling off facts. Only by being subjective can a reader get a sense of what it might actually feel like to play the game, which in the end is all that really matters when making an evaluation.
Obviously tasted differ and there will always be reviewers whose opinions line up closely to your own. Personally I tend not to pay much attention to Destructoid reviews because I have learned that most of the reviewers don't really line up very well with my experience. But that's not the fault of the reviewers, it's just that we're looking for different things.
As for the score, what everyone else said about your ridiculous 'abysmally low' statement. And why are you comparing the score against the description for 7? With a 7.5 score shouldn't it be somewhere between 7 and 8, where 8 is '8s are impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.'?
I thnk 7.5 is fair and it does not say that is a bad game at all.
I do agree that they need to be more PC friendly over here, it is not fair to do a solo review on a console, you should play the PC version and then as they have said on Kotaku go for a review, as they sais on kotaku "the two versions are like night and day".
Im playig the game on the PC and enoying it a lot.
I thnk 7.5 is fair and it does not say that is a bad game at all.
I do agree that they need to be more PC friendly over here, it is not fair to do a solo review on a console, you should play the PC version and then as they have said on Kotaku go for a review, as they sais on kotaku "the two versions are like night and day".
Im playig the game on the PC and enoying it a lot.
You don't know what "bias" means, and your blog still sucks.
Destructoid's review is just one of many hundreds of reviews for the game. If you're looking for a more positive review Giantbomb gave Dragon Age a 5 out of 5. Why is it so important to you to have Jim Sterling enjoy this game more than he did?
The vistas near Ostagar are very poorly done when compared to older console games like Oblivion (where you could see to the distance and it was much more "interesting" with less object repetition of the same trees with mist to cover their lack of variety). I was hoping for graphics comparable to many of the newer PS3 games and I'm certainly glad that I was forwarned that the graphics were poor - they are. Look at Killzone 2, Farcry 2... other games - and the graphics for DA:O are just "ok".
The review was done on the console version because that's the version the majority of us here will play. The review was honest and helped to adjust my expectations. I'm glad he mentioned the strength of the story - because I persevered and I really am enjoying the story in the game. I've played the Baldur's Gate PC games, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Sacred 2... lots of other RPG's - and the rating given was a fair rating. For RPG fans (especially Bioware fans) this game is enjoyable. For others, it may not be. He's not rating this as an "RPG gamer" the rating is from "just a gamer" - which most of us are.
Man I'm gonna save you a lot of heartache and tell you that this place is not for you. I hate to lose a member of this community i love, but you're bitching is worse.
This... this is kind of lame.
Also, there are a few noticeable knowledge gaps here. I'll only name one, and it's where you say: " I can't wait for that review to appear on Destructoid."
a) If you looked up the game on the site, you'd find a non-review, and the game won't be reviewed any further.
b) If you listen to the site's main podcast, Podtoid, you'd know that despite the difficulty, this site's reviews editor loves the game.
Not going to blame for a lack of knowledge, you are new, but I'd put a bit more effort into research before you write such a scathing blog.
Did you read the review, or just the number at the bottom? Because I got the idea that it was a good game that I might want to pick up, but is now a few slots back on my wish list.
It's this sort of thing that makes me hate review scores.
preach the truth good sir.
Wait wait wait. Are you saying we should trade one bias for another? HAHAHAHAHAHA. You even admit your bias, whereas Dtoids reviewers make an effort to put their bias aside. You're silly.
I am not inexperienced with RPGs. I love them and I was looking forward to Dragon Age. I also think Demon's Souls is one of the best games of the year. Dragon Age was not as great as I hoped it would be, yet I still said it was good. Your standards are ludicrously high.
WHAT HE SAID!
*he being anyone who said something that will shut people up about review scores once and for all.
Tired of hearing all you bitching and moaning. Blog about something productive. Like asian women or pancakes.
Reading blogs like these makes me sad. A 7.5 is not "abysmally low." That's just ridiculous to make that assumption.
I'm going to break one of the rules of "How to respond to a review" and compare Dtoid's DAO review with their inFAMOUS review. They gave it overall a 6.5. They made a lot of valid points in the review but get this I enjoyed the game anyway! Wow shocking!
Now given the fact that you are a self-described RPG enthusiast, it's probably a given that you'll enjoy Dragon Age. All you're doing is complaining that somebody gave a game an "abysmally low" number that didn't match up with the number you gave it in your head.
Seriously just shut up and play the damn game.
I haven't really been involved much with this site...but it's hilarious over here!
A review is made...people get upset...then the author writes a piece insulting his viewers! Classic!
And people keep coming back for more!
Bunch of masochists! :)