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Re-re-re-review... please stop
Meltdown
Member UncommonPosts: 1,183
For the love of Pete, please stop the nonsense. I just read the re-re-review of Vanguard and I'm wondering where the ridiculousness will stop. If you haven't read it look here.
I have a lot of problems with this review (innovation 7/10 for a 4 year old game is such a contradiction... unique yes, innovative... huh?) I can't decide if I'm more pissed about the high scores for certain portions, the contradicting statements, or the ridiculousness OF A THIRD REVIEW OF A GAME. Let's go re-re-re-re-re-re-re-review the original EQ while we are at it. I'm sure it will get a 7.5 and say everyone should be playing it. People can re-re-review to their hearts content, but why does MMORPG.com keep making these news-worthy?
Or at least if people are going to do re-re-reviews can you at least use the same criteria as the first two... its all over the map.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
Comments
You aren't forced to read them.
However, I find it a little lame, too... especially if it's for a game I care nothing about, e.g., EQ1. But hey, that info might be useful for some. If they did a re-review of EQ2 and mentioned that they had opened up a EQ2X PvP Server, then that post would've led me to the game.
Actually With the game getting Dev attention after over a year of getting none. Launching its first Patch just a few weeks ago, with another coming shortly down the path. Its a good thing to see a re review of an old game.
Just because you might not have liked the game or the style of the game personally doesnt mean everyone sees things the way you did.
Vanguard section of this site has also been fairly active as of late. Why? Because it keeps getting mentioned in other forum section as a comparison.
So many people are tired of same ole same ole. WOW clones that are coming out. Alot of people either 1 never tried or even heard of Vanguard. or 2. Played it during its buggy launch and left. Vanguard offers something different than all the other WOW clones that are coming out or have recently come out. It offers a VAST EXPANSIVE OPEN Wold. That is non instanced, and non thempark forced.
It has been greatly improved since launch. People might appreciate hearing this from a reputable source. The high Scores Vanguard is recieving I believe are warrented. I havent played the game myself in 2 years. I am personally thinking of maybe going back reading this review is just re enforcing my decision. Giving others a bit of recent knowledge of this game is actually a good idea.
Re-reviews, are perfectly fine for me. Once a year, or when a game puts out an expansion, or update.
The only issues i have are when they are NOT re-reviews.
To be a re-review, you need to have the SAME person do it. Otherwise you have a review, not a re-review:)
And since it is a totally different person, you also have a totally different gaming out-look, and maybe even a different like or dis-like of a TYPE of gamer doing the review.
So this and other sites need to make sure to put those distinctions right up front and make sure to say if it is a RE-Review or a REVIEW. They really are 2 different animals.
This would be true but for one thing, has the game changed in the last couple of years, or is this just an agenda lead review to play to their audience?
I mean there has been a LOT of talk from SOE about dragging Vanguard back to active production, but little in the way of action from them yet. To re-review it now is not helpful when doing it after its gotten some attention would be better. I would have liked to have seem them use it as a platform to pressure sony to do more to pick the game up and use the resources freed up by SWG's closure to push it back into relevance.
QFT.
I have to agree with the OP on this, though. It's getting ridiculous. We don't have to read them, true (and a lot of times I don't). However it's turning into a lot of desperate attempts to convince people that an old / failed game is now good. I see this a lot w/ FFXIV as well.
People should preview a game before it launches (if they are lucky enough to experience it), review a game after it launches, and review any expansions or major (and i do mean major) content updates.
There really is no need to keep going 'well this game has been existing for 3 years now, time for another review!' While MMOs do change, the majority of the time it comes down to 'are people still playing?' which can be answered pretty quickly. I have yet to see any MMOs that magically get better over-time with no content updates.
Thank you, thats one of things I am aluding to. As far as someone talking about me not liking the game, on the contrary I pre-ordered Vanguard, played it for months, loved the crafting and group-oriented gameplay. If I had a group of friends who liked this style of PvE gameplay I might consider playing again. Gameplay I agree is the best part of VG, easily 9/10.
My beef is less with the game and more with how mmorpg.com and others are portraying the game. Just come out and be honest about the game, I thought thats what reviews were for. Also if the game HAS changed considerably over the course of months don't call it a re-re-review, just review the current state of the game.
For instance don't use "Innovative" as criteria for a game that was released 4 years ago and has not added much of anything "innovative" since release. Don't use "Value" as criteria with a 7/10 score, but then in the Cons say that its hard to justify paying the sub fee. Don't use "Polish" for a game that has had 4 years to be polished and submit 7/10 as an acceptable value. The criteria needs to be different.
**edit**
Additional posts while I was writing this. I agree that the whole re-review from a person who didn't write the original concept is a bit confusing as well.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
I don't really have an issue with the re-review. Its optional to read and all that.
Honestly its no worse then previewing the same few "upcoming" MMO's in 100 different articles. Or making a new news story every time an employee of a company announce their launch date could slip.
Besides they don't have to do a re-review of EverQuest... since they will have articles about its new expansion.. I'm sure the writer would have been perfectly happy to be doing the first review on a Vanguard expansion.... or writing about an actual announcement that wasn't really just a rehashed non announcement.
I like re-reviews. Things change. Content is changed and or added. Policies change. The market changes.
A re-review is perfectly fine. Don't read them if you don't like them. Other people like them though so why would you want to ruin it for them?
Well, they must have heard I like reviews so they put an extra re in their reviews so I can read some more reviews.
Re-reviews are great.
My brand new bloggity blog.
Yep. MMOs are always changing and so it is our policy to re-visit as many of them as we can as often as we feasibly can. Generally, we give about six months between re-reviews for a particular game. It may take longer, but I imagine it would rarely, if ever, be sooner.
edit
If you guys really want to do a proper re-review, do the following:
1. Same person that initially reviewed it, gives the re-review.
2. Said person needs to be playing the MMO semi actively for at least a year, have multiple characters capped and has had extensive experience playing all end game and optional content. Doesnt mean they have to clear all the raids on every difficulty, but they need to have experience with the day to day of all the game's features after leveling up.
3. Highlight the differences between the initial review and this new one. What were the problems in the first review? Have they been addressed? Have they added anything new that negate old criticisms? Go beyond bug fixes.
If you did that with your re-reviews, they might actually be helpful and offer some insight. So far, every re-review ive read has pretty much said "hey this game wasnt so great when it launched, but now its bug free and has a lot of content!" Well no shit lol. Didnt really need a re-review to figure out that MMOs get patched up and get bug fixes long after launch.
I know you guys have a tough time reviewing MMOs because they are hurried out at launch and most reviews only talk about the leveling experience and some meager non-combat tidbits at best. So here's your chance to do a proper MMO review a year after a game launches.
Reviewing older games can be very helpful.
Developers update games and the game can change a lot over time.
Developers may add new content.
Hardware changes too and some old games do not look good on modern hardware.
Microsoft's operating system has changed over time and not all old games will install or run on the latest operating system.
Player populations change over time and this can change the player experience.