By many accounts, including this review, the summary of the articles all seem to be similar. That is, well polished, bug free, nice graphics, good support, however, nothing new to see, bland quest system, and forgettable gameplay.
Just curious, but is this what it takes to get a 8.7 rating these days. Is this how low the gaming community's standards and expectations have gone? For any developer to release a stable, trouble free release is so shocking, so amazing in recent years that this is a shining star in the MMORPG world. Forget the quality of the game design, as long as it runs, it's awesome!
Look, I'm sure it's a fine game. Much succes to them, and I hope people have fun playing it. But really, giving it a "GREAT" rating simply because people have a relatively bug free gaming experience just shows how low expectations are. Pretty sad really.
Good example to see the difference between movie critics and these so called game reviewers. While, the movie critics are not afraid to give most of the new rubbish with multimillion budget, which everybody seems to love, ratings like 30%, these game reviewers are always rating everything between 7 to 9, no matter how bad the game is, just because it's praised by the sheeps. And Rift? That wouldn't score more than 30% if the game-reviewers would be so harsh as movie critics.
Why even bother have a scale from 1-10 if the games you rate are always 7 or better. Personally I feel Rift is a good game if someone has never experienced an MMORPG before, with that said, Rift has quite a few short comings that I think many veteran players will agree either gives the game to much of a "been there - done that" feel or completely misses the boat. In my opinion, based on my experience with the game, I see it only rating a 6.5 at best.
Yes, being a veteran gamer, having played games on the commadore 64, I would very much agree every game is a "been there-done that." The only difference is, is how well the game is made and if i'm having fun in that game. And having played many a game in my life, i have to say i am enjoying myself in Rift quite a bit. Therefor i would have to disagree with that low balled score that you quoted, as i wouldnt even give it to AoC for its decent graphics and attempt to change melee combat.
I think the score is just fine. WoW-lovers will find plenty to hate, but the game is slick, fun to play and crammed full of content. It's devs are responsive to player-needs and in more than ten years of MMO's I have not seen a better launch. It won't be to everyone's taste but, for those coming to it without an axe to grind, it has plenty to offer.
I think the score is just fine. WoW-lovers will find plenty to hate, but the game is slick, fun to play and crammed full of content. It's devs are responsive to player-needs and in more than ten years of MMO's I have not seen a better launch. It won't be to everyone's taste but, for those coming to it without an axe to grind, it has plenty to offer.
Logic dictates: I don't like WoW, so I won't like Rift either.
It's even true in this case. There's more similarities between them than differences.
Very fair review. For those knocking it or the score, I can only assume you have had your eyes closed to the releases lately the huge problems andunreliability issues. Rift is not going to set the world alight with all it's features but it certainly begins it's life so well polished that you cannot really moan about it initial playability from launch. Furthermore is has some beautiful touches and a world event one month after launch, if this is the level of their commitment and if it continues like this in the coming months and years then I would see this title as being well placed to give even the monster that is WoW a run for it's money. Like another poster I have been playing since C64 days, tried many games bisited many MMO's from launch even got to the stage where I promised not to join any game at launche ever again. Rift has made me believe again that it is possible to launch a stable game, for that alone I suspect that they are to be applauded and rewarded.
Do what thou wilt, and harm ye none. - Witches Rede
Very fair review. For those knocking it or the score, I can only assume you have had your eyes closed to the releases lately the huge problems andunreliability issues. Rift is not going to set the world alight with all it's features but it certainly begins it's life so well polished that you cannot really moan about it initial playability from launch. Furthermore is has some beautiful touches and a world event one month after launch, if this is the level of their commitment and if it continues like this in the coming months and years then I would see this title as being well placed to give even the monster that is WoW a run for it's money. Like another poster I have been playing since C64 days, tried many games bisited many MMO's from launch even got to the stage where I promised not to join any game at launche ever again. Rift has made me believe again that it is possible to launch a stable game, for that alone I suspect that they are to be applauded and rewarded.
A Kia runs well off the showroom floor, it still doesn't make it a Lexus.
(Wow isn't a Lexus either).
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug. 12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
in all seriousness though, this is MMORPG's review and not "said persons" review... why all the hate.. this score is based on what MMORPG thinks not what people who didnt enjoy the game thinks about the game etc.. you can take the score to heart or play the game and give it your own personal score etc..
I think the score is just fine. WoW-lovers will find plenty to hate, but the game is slick, fun to play and crammed full of content. It's devs are responsive to player-needs and in more than ten years of MMO's I have not seen a better launch. It won't be to everyone's taste but, for those coming to it without an axe to grind, it has plenty to offer.
Logic dictates: I don't like WoW, so I won't like Rift either.
It's even true in this case. There's more similarities between them than differences.
Depends on why one doesn't like WoW. I hate the cartoon theme of it, but other than that, consider it possibly the best themepark MMOs out there - So I like Rift a lot better. Still, wish it felt less like a themepark, and wish it had a less instanced less gear-grind oriented endgame. Also wish making alts were more fun, especially since its even easier to hit the cap level in than WoW. So I'd give it an 8 or so, deducting a point each for those things, and chalking its lack of sandbox elements up to a difference in taste.
I'd only give it closer to 9, if I were grading on a curve, considering how awful just about all the competition is. I am hoping GW2 or SWTOR will be better, but experience dictates: not likely - and not soon enough. For most gamers looking for a new MMO to play, this one should be good for passing a few months, at least.
Hell, maybe they'll even have a better endgame before anything better comes along. Not that I'm holding my breath for it, though.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Good stuff -- I like the dual review format. That way, people can't just blame Bill (who seems to be everywhere, playing everything, and writing about them all!).
I stopped reading where you called the release coming 2-3 years too late and just a couple of month before the real next-gen games hit the shelves a "lauch with perfect timing".
This game is the new definition of generic and just a few weeks after release you see people already being tired and bored of the same stuff they did for 6+years in other games already.
Well, Trion missed their "perfectly timed launch" by just a few years it seems...
I stopped reading where you called the release coming 2-3 years too late and just a couple of month before the real next-gen games hit the shelves a "lauch with perfect timing".
...
Well, Trion missed their "perfectly timed launch" by just a few years it seems...
I think it may have been an allusion to the Cataclysm fallout without just saying lolBlizzard.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug. 12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
While I think the actual score was too high, I really like the rating format. We had a ramp up of 5 things Rift did right/wrong. Then a review with a second opinion. No sales pitch. Well done.
You cannot compare MMORPG.com reviews with reviews from other sites. Rift is, without question, an above average MMO. Here, an 8.7 is an above average score. That is a B+. Not perfect, not even exceptional, but certainly better than the majority of releases. I can't believe anyone would think this game deserves a 7 or less.
With almost all MMORPG review scores between 7.5-8.7, I guess this is one of the better games. I still wish you guys would make a greater distinction between good games and bad games. AION got an 8.7 upon initial review, then an 8.0 on re-review (which said the game had improved, laugh). So, again I wish you had some type of formal numerical score.
Aside from that, I wish we could here a bit more about the endgame. It appears from the reviews that you don't want to go through the grind again of leveling, so hence most of the game is likely to be spent at endgame content, which is either raiding or PvP. I'm personally more interested in PvP, and unfortunately it seems that Rift is destined to be an unbalanced game, which is unfortunate but predictable. My guess is that after about 3-4 months, players will figure out which are the FOTM builds and that's about all you will see going forward.
Comments
By many accounts, including this review, the summary of the articles all seem to be similar. That is, well polished, bug free, nice graphics, good support, however, nothing new to see, bland quest system, and forgettable gameplay.
Just curious, but is this what it takes to get a 8.7 rating these days. Is this how low the gaming community's standards and expectations have gone? For any developer to release a stable, trouble free release is so shocking, so amazing in recent years that this is a shining star in the MMORPG world. Forget the quality of the game design, as long as it runs, it's awesome!
Look, I'm sure it's a fine game. Much succes to them, and I hope people have fun playing it. But really, giving it a "GREAT" rating simply because people have a relatively bug free gaming experience just shows how low expectations are. Pretty sad really.
Decent review... but 8.7 seems abit overated.
Good example to see the difference between movie critics and these so called game reviewers. While, the movie critics are not afraid to give most of the new rubbish with multimillion budget, which everybody seems to love, ratings like 30%, these game reviewers are always rating everything between 7 to 9, no matter how bad the game is, just because it's praised by the sheeps. And Rift? That wouldn't score more than 30% if the game-reviewers would be so harsh as movie critics.
REALITY CHECK
Yes, being a veteran gamer, having played games on the commadore 64, I would very much agree every game is a "been there-done that." The only difference is, is how well the game is made and if i'm having fun in that game. And having played many a game in my life, i have to say i am enjoying myself in Rift quite a bit. Therefor i would have to disagree with that low balled score that you quoted, as i wouldnt even give it to AoC for its decent graphics and attempt to change melee combat.
I think the score is just fine. WoW-lovers will find plenty to hate, but the game is slick, fun to play and crammed full of content. It's devs are responsive to player-needs and in more than ten years of MMO's I have not seen a better launch. It won't be to everyone's taste but, for those coming to it without an axe to grind, it has plenty to offer.
Logic dictates: I don't like WoW, so I won't like Rift either.
It's even true in this case. There's more similarities between them than differences.
Very fair review. For those knocking it or the score, I can only assume you have had your eyes closed to the releases lately the huge problems andunreliability issues. Rift is not going to set the world alight with all it's features but it certainly begins it's life so well polished that you cannot really moan about it initial playability from launch. Furthermore is has some beautiful touches and a world event one month after launch, if this is the level of their commitment and if it continues like this in the coming months and years then I would see this title as being well placed to give even the monster that is WoW a run for it's money. Like another poster I have been playing since C64 days, tried many games bisited many MMO's from launch even got to the stage where I promised not to join any game at launche ever again. Rift has made me believe again that it is possible to launch a stable game, for that alone I suspect that they are to be applauded and rewarded.
Do what thou wilt, and harm ye none. - Witches Rede
A Kia runs well off the showroom floor, it still doesn't make it a Lexus.
(Wow isn't a Lexus either).
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
7.5 at best.
Demand a Re-review ASAP
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in all seriousness though, this is MMORPG's review and not "said persons" review... why all the hate.. this score is based on what MMORPG thinks not what people who didnt enjoy the game thinks about the game etc.. you can take the score to heart or play the game and give it your own personal score etc..
Depends on why one doesn't like WoW. I hate the cartoon theme of it, but other than that, consider it possibly the best themepark MMOs out there - So I like Rift a lot better. Still, wish it felt less like a themepark, and wish it had a less instanced less gear-grind oriented endgame. Also wish making alts were more fun, especially since its even easier to hit the cap level in than WoW. So I'd give it an 8 or so, deducting a point each for those things, and chalking its lack of sandbox elements up to a difference in taste.
I'd only give it closer to 9, if I were grading on a curve, considering how awful just about all the competition is. I am hoping GW2 or SWTOR will be better, but experience dictates: not likely - and not soon enough. For most gamers looking for a new MMO to play, this one should be good for passing a few months, at least.
Hell, maybe they'll even have a better endgame before anything better comes along. Not that I'm holding my breath for it, though.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Good stuff -- I like the dual review format. That way, people can't just blame Bill (who seems to be everywhere, playing everything, and writing about them all!).
I wish you good luck in life with that attitude.
*shakes head*
My brand new bloggity blog.
The boobs are simply too small on female chars seriously how am I meant to play this
Good review and very honest...
"It would be awesome if you could duel your companion. Then you could solo pvp".--Thanes
I stopped reading where you called the release coming 2-3 years too late and just a couple of month before the real next-gen games hit the shelves a "lauch with perfect timing".
This game is the new definition of generic and just a few weeks after release you see people already being tired and bored of the same stuff they did for 6+years in other games already.
Well, Trion missed their "perfectly timed launch" by just a few years it seems...
I think it may have been an allusion to the Cataclysm fallout without just saying lolBlizzard.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
[quote]The only thing that would make it better would be a Looking for Group tool, which we’ve been told team is devising.[/quote]
Also, there's a mistake in the review. There are 4 warfronts, not 3. The 4th is Port Scion and is available at level 50.
And I quote IGN "Quality compensates for a lack of originality."
True everywhere I go for this reviews of this game.
Peace and Beaverly Love
While I think the actual score was too high, I really like the rating format. We had a ramp up of 5 things Rift did right/wrong. Then a review with a second opinion. No sales pitch. Well done.
You cannot compare MMORPG.com reviews with reviews from other sites. Rift is, without question, an above average MMO. Here, an 8.7 is an above average score. That is a B+. Not perfect, not even exceptional, but certainly better than the majority of releases. I can't believe anyone would think this game deserves a 7 or less.
fair review in my opinion. An above average score for a decent mmorpg
With almost all MMORPG review scores between 7.5-8.7, I guess this is one of the better games. I still wish you guys would make a greater distinction between good games and bad games. AION got an 8.7 upon initial review, then an 8.0 on re-review (which said the game had improved, laugh). So, again I wish you had some type of formal numerical score.
Aside from that, I wish we could here a bit more about the endgame. It appears from the reviews that you don't want to go through the grind again of leveling, so hence most of the game is likely to be spent at endgame content, which is either raiding or PvP. I'm personally more interested in PvP, and unfortunately it seems that Rift is destined to be an unbalanced game, which is unfortunate but predictable. My guess is that after about 3-4 months, players will figure out which are the FOTM builds and that's about all you will see going forward.
A game that brings Nothing New to the table gets an 8.7
Because its "Well Polished"?
So thats what MMORPG.com bases 98% of its reviews on.
Polish.
Fantastic.