Then maybe you can explain an 8/10 innovation score for SWTOR
Maybe you can define to me a universal definition of what is innovation? because it has different meaning for different people. Since you love to blow GW2 trupet in every topic...what is innovation in GW2 means? doing something completely different and unique? or improving on existing features? innovation could very well mean both and same time neither.
I mention GW2 only when mentioned allready actualy. I'm being very realistic as to what to expect from the game.
But yeah... innovation is both of what you mentioned. What does TOR do better or has created uniquely to deserve an 8/10 innovative score.
Then if you're so kind as to take a few other mainstream MMO games you've played that were released before TOR was... and mark them the same way.
It shouldn't take too long.. and it will prove my point.. or shut me up.
Prove your point about what? that no two people would agre on same definition of what is innovative? you still haven't givenme what you consider innovation. For me personally innovation means doing something different / improving on existing features and implementing non standard MMO features... SWTOR does it all so i would also give it 8/10 any day.
Sorry if i disagree with your version of what is innovation doesn't mean SWTOR is any less innovative just that it is not the innovation you were looking for.
Dude I thought we were talking the same language
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
Show this to me?... and I'll shut up
Sigh..there we go again. Why would i want to show you anything when your idea of innvoation is not same as mine? i just discribed why i think SWTOR is innovative.... for you it could be doing something completely new which no MMO has done it yet. So where is your innovative MMO and why you think it is innovative? it is a simple question.
I really don't want you to shut up... i won't be able to get my entertainment out of grumbling and teeth gnashing.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
So far in just a couple of weeks, there have been 21 positive reviews on Metacritic (80+) not including the MMORPG.com review of 87. I know, they were all paid by EA, right? Maybe it really is a good game? Now I'm sure there will be a couple of attention whore outlets that feel a need to post a 4 to get attention and drag the score down, but this pretty significant sample of reviews IMO is a sign of a successful well polished product. You don't have to like it, but can some of you (you know who you are) at least acknowledge that maybe to the 'majority' it isn't as bad as you think it is? Why would that be so hard to admit?
I think the problem isn't that the game isn't good, look at DCUO. 8.0 Review On here, it's a good game just like SWTOR but when u reach end-game, what do you do? I think people are just tired of the same thing being recycled over and over and just want a good game. SWTOR is just the excuse to let their anger out =/.
SWTOR is good, DCUO is good, look where it ended >_<.
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
Show this to me?... and I'll shut up
Sigh..there we go again. Why would i want to show you anything when your idea of innvoation is not same as mine? i just discribed why i think SWTOR is innovative.... for you it could be doing something completely new which no MMO has done it yet. So where is your innovative MMO and why you think it is innovative? it is a simple question.
I really don't want you to shut up... i won't be able to get my entertainment out of grumbling and teeth gnashing.
Stop dodging the question, why dont you and all the other fanboys who think this game deserves 10/10 or w/e high score tell us how "innovative" it is and the features it has that makes it different?? Make me understand how a game with 2006 graphics should be this good according to you? lets say i know nothin about the game, state some of the Innovative features that are unique to SWTOR.
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
Show this to me?... and I'll shut up
Sigh..there we go again. Why would i want to show you anything when your idea of innvoation is not same as mine? i just discribed why i think SWTOR is innovative.... for you it could be doing something completely new which no MMO has done it yet. So where is your innovative MMO and why you think it is innovative? it is a simple question.
I really don't want you to shut up... i won't be able to get my entertainment out of grumbling and teeth gnashing.
Stop dodging the question, why dont you and all the other fanboys who think this game deserves 10/10 or w/e high score tell us how "innovative" it is and the features it has that makes it different?? Make me understand how a game with 2006 graphics should be this good according to you? lets say i know nothin about the game, state some of the Innovative features that are unique to SWTOR.
I think what is innovative about SWTOR has been discussed like a million times already, and i myself have explained it many times but the point remains what is innovation for me could mean nothing for you and vice versa. So to counter my point give me an example of what you consider a innovative MMO and why? i never said SWTOR deserves 10/10 but i do think it deserves 8/10 because it has a lot of different and non standard MMO features.
By the way posting on alt account is bannable. *wink*
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
Don't even mention VO because that has been done already,starting with eq2 seven years ago.
An innovation doesn't have to be new, only presented in a different way. Maybe TOR is getting decent "innovation" scores because those writers actually consider the full definition of the word?
Every damn pro game review turn around 80/100 to 90/100 for every single game that is out. There is nothign really to see here.
Every single player rating of this game turn around 4/10 to 6/10 and it is definitly the right score for this game.
*rolls eyes*
Yep i take the overall score right, not each critic individually, i'm not that dump as you wish i'm. Meta critc have 1182 player reviews, thats quiet a good sample, and would be enough for most statistic data, and ye the score is 6.1. They are other good samples of player reviews around the net as well and they are all here.
Every damn pro game review turn around 80/100 to 90/100 for every single game that is out. There is nothign really to see here.
Every single player rating of this game turn around 4/10 to 6/10 and it is definitly the right score for this game.
*rolls eyes*
Yep i take the overall score right, not each critic individually, i'm not that dump as you wish i'm. Meta critc have 1182 player reviews, thats quiet a good sample, and would be enough for most statistic data, and ye the score is 6.1. They are other good samples of player reviews around the net as well and they are all here.
Talking about aggregate of reviews is not same as saying 'every single review....' However i would take professional reviews over user scores any day especially on sites like meta critic where it is more about fanboy vs hater compeition and the real purpose of reviewing a game gets lost somehwere in that e peen flexing.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
Show this to me?... and I'll shut up
Sigh..there we go again. Why would i want to show you anything when your idea of innvoation is not same as mine? i just discribed why i think SWTOR is innovative.... for you it could be doing something completely new which no MMO has done it yet. So where is your innovative MMO and why you think it is innovative? it is a simple question.
I really don't want you to shut up... i won't be able to get my entertainment out of grumbling and teeth gnashing.
Stop dodging the question, why dont you and all the other fanboys who think this game deserves 10/10 or w/e high score tell us how "innovative" it is and the features it has that makes it different?? Make me understand how a game with 2006 graphics should be this good according to you? lets say i know nothin about the game, state some of the Innovative features that are unique to SWTOR.
"but i do think it deserves 8/10 because it has a lot of different and non standard MMO features."
This quote is a joke right!? So SWTOR is your first MMO out of the face book genre I take it.
I have to admit, I was beyond excited when I found out another Star Wars MMO was on its way... I signed up to the forums in 2008 and waited 4 LONG years. When I finally got my hands on the beta a few months ago I cant even begin to describe how let down I was. The world feels completley dead and empty. Mobs stand in one place, hardly any movement. Non hostile animals that should be roaming literally either fly in one place or sway back and forth.
I figured maybe the cantina would be bustling with life.. NOPE. Just a lot more of the same. standing around doing nothing. no random conversations... no animations.
everything is so stale. No exploration, lots of railroad tracks (even on the minimap!). To me it seems like they took away everything about what an MMO should be which is socializing and doing things together. I know the new generation of gamers is apart of that problem as well but they sure didnt do anything to try and engage people.
I must say I did enjoy pvp and the classes along with being in the star wars universe but I also wonder.. if SWTOR was called "SpaceBattle" how many people would really give two ships about this game?
Back on topic I do have to wonder how someone can give this game an 8/10 on innovation. There is absolutley NOTHING new or innovative about this game. Nothing. The only thing I would give an 8/10 to in SWTOR would be how smooth the launch went.
Do people even really understand the score rating of game reviews, it in actuality works on a 5-10 scale with 7.5 or 8 depending on the rating system being the average. They barely if ever use the other half of the scale, so in actuality anything thats score an 8 is mediocre, a 5 is just plain bad and 9+ is anything worth a dam. Everyone by now should have already learnt to take the review score of a games journalist with a grain of salt.
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
Show this to me?... and I'll shut up
Sigh..there we go again. Why would i want to show you anything when your idea of innvoation is not same as mine? i just discribed why i think SWTOR is innovative.... for you it could be doing something completely new which no MMO has done it yet. So where is your innovative MMO and why you think it is innovative? it is a simple question.
I really don't want you to shut up... i won't be able to get my entertainment out of grumbling and teeth gnashing.
Stop dodging the question, why dont you and all the other fanboys who think this game deserves 10/10 or w/e high score tell us how "innovative" it is and the features it has that makes it different?? Make me understand how a game with 2006 graphics should be this good according to you? lets say i know nothin about the game, state some of the Innovative features that are unique to SWTOR.
"but i do think it deserves 8/10 because it has a lot of different and non standard MMO features."
This quote is a joke right!? So SWTOR is your first MMO out of the face book genre I take it.
I have to admit, I was beyond excited when I found out another Star Wars MMO was on its way... I signed up to the forums in 2008 and waited 4 LONG years. When I finally got my hands on the beta a few months ago I cant even begin to describe how let down I was. The world feels completley dead and empty. Mobs stand in one place, hardly any movement. Non hostile animals that should be roaming literally either fly in one place or sway back and forth.
I figured maybe the cantina would be bustling with life.. NOPE. Just a lot more of the same. standing around doing nothing. no random conversations... no animations.
everything is so stale. No exploration, lots of railroad tracks (even on the minimap!). To me it seems like they took away everything about what an MMO should be which is socializing and doing things together. I know the new generation of gamers is apart of that problem as well but they sure didnt do anything to try and engage people.
I must say I did enjoy pvp and the classes along with being in the star wars universe but I also wonder.. if SWTOR was called "SpaceBattle" how many people would really give two ships about this game?
Back on topic I do have to wonder how someone can give this game an 8/10 on innovation. There is absolutley NOTHING new or innovative about this game. Nothing. The only thing I would give an 8/10 to in SWTOR would be how smooth the launch went.
8/10 for Innovation... heheh... sure.. give me more positive reviews.. ... please..
Dont see whats funny. The companion system, crafting system, voice overs for an entire MMO, are innovative. Having quests that people just dont see a wall of text and hit accept and role play instead is innovative..because no MMO has done that across an entire game. The only thing close was AOC tortage and that was 20 levels that lasted a couple of days which didn't have choices like we have in SWTOR.
Hmmm! that made me think of an innovative MMO
I'll just pick a general fantasy one...Ill include aliens in it(fantasy with aliens is the catch!), then I'll add joker companion that will tell jokes to you all the time you play, maybe I'll even add violet sun instead of yellow one! boy Im good! and finally I will have 200 classes that are almost the same...no MMO had 200 classes before me!It even doesnt matter they differ in 2-3 abilities! I HAVE 200 classes!
The rest is basically wow - now gimme credits for my bright ideas! 'Cause screw gameplay, THIS IS innovation
And I dont even need gazzillion baggillion dollars for budget
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
Every damn pro game review turn around 80/100 to 90/100 for every single game that is out. There is nothign really to see here. Every single player rating of this game turn around 4/10 to 6/10 and it is definitly the right score for this game.
*rolls eyes*
Yep i take the overall score right, not each critic individually, i'm not that dump as you wish i'm. Meta critc have 1182 player reviews, thats quiet a good sample, and would be enough for most statistic data, and ye the score is 6.1. They are other good samples of player reviews around the net as well and they are all here.
Talking about aggregate of reviews is not same as saying 'every single review....' However i would take professional reviews over user scores any day especially on sites like meta critic where it is more about fanboy vs hater compeition and the real purpose of reviewing a game gets lost somehwere in that e peen flexing.
Number have their own benefits. When using a good enough statistical sample data, the fact they are hater or lover mean nothing. It is part of the sample and even out, that's exactly why people use statistics, its rough number and have less emotional or interest value attached to it than words.
Now if you want some nice descriptions you probably would better read the pro, that's for sure.
Every damn pro game review turn around 80/100 to 90/100 for every single game that is out. There is nothign really to see here.
Every single player rating of this game turn around 4/10 to 6/10 and it is definitly the right score for this game.
*rolls eyes*
Yep i take the overall score right, not each critic individually, i'm not that dump as you wish i'm. Meta critc have 1182 player reviews, thats quiet a good sample, and would be enough for most statistic data, and ye the score is 6.1. They are other good samples of player reviews around the net as well and they are all here.
Talking about aggregate of reviews is not same as saying 'every single review....' However i would take professional reviews over user scores any day especially on sites like meta critic where it is more about fanboy vs hater compeition and the real purpose of reviewing a game gets lost somehwere in that e peen flexing.
Number have their own benefits. When using a good enough statistical sample data, the fact they are hater or lover mean nothing. It is part of the sample and even out, that's exactly why people use statistics, its rough number and have less emotional or interest value attached to it than words.
Now if you want some nice descriptions you probably would better read the pro, that's for sure.
If you were on a one person for one vote concept, then using data samples might mean something. Meta critic not so much.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
The thing with user reviews, from my view, is that they really don't matter. If 10 million people rip it apart on metacritic, but 2 million people love it and sub, it's going to look pretty bad on metacritic, when the game is actually a huge success and people playing it love the crap out of it.
Reviews are pointless. Pro and user ones. The only thing pro ones are useful for is finding a description of the features and if the game is in a working state. User reviews are good for, well not much most of the time. I don't put much stock in the opinions of someone who takes the time to post: "THIS GAME SUCKZORS1!! Only total NOOBs would play this thing. SUX. " that's what most of those user posts boil down to, and there's no indication if most of them even bought the game and played it for any length of time.
Originally posted by moosecatlol I'm still trying to figure out what is so new about companions.
What is different in Bioware games is that they are not and never were seen as pets as it is usually in most mmo. In Bioware games, they used npc companions to fill the lack of group usually associated with pen & paper groups of adventurers. So you kind of should have a more "human" relation with those npc. Which end up being not only ridiculous in a mmo setting because you can find real human companions to your adventure, but turn out to be a mess tbh, since the worst nightmare of mmo is the personalization of your character and companion definitely goes at the opposite to resolve that problem. So it became kind of a bastardization, and deliver the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do when first used by Bioware. It was supposed to give you more of an immersion feeling in the first Bioware games, and probably helped here back then. But it just do the opposite in Swtor, because everyone running with their companion in an mmo is definitely an immersion breaker.
I'm still trying to figure out what is so new about companions.
What is different in Bioware games is that they are not and never were seen as pets as it is usually in most mmo.
In Bioware games, they used npc companions to fill the lack of group usually associated with pen & paper groups of adventurers. So you kind of should have a more "human" relation with those npc.
Which end up being not only ridiculous in a mmo setting because you can find real human companions to your adventure, but turn out to be a mess tbh, since the worst nightmare of mmo is the personalization of your character and companion definitely goes at the opposite to resolve that problem. So it became kind of a bastardization, and deliver the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do when first used by Bioware. It was supposed to give you more of an immersion feeling in the first Bioware games, and probably helped here back then. But it just do the opposite in Swtor, because everyone running with their companion in an mmo is definitely an immersion breaker.
Personally, I am loving the companion system. Use them or don't at your option AND they make a nice filler if you can't find that 4th man, but do not make me want to use them instead of getting another teammate. They can craft/gather while you quest, sell junk gear AND even have their own missions. I would say the ONE thing BioWare made a msitake on with the companions is that they gave them too few "comments" to be said at various times and that can get a little old, but nothing to whine about.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
The thing with user reviews, from my view, is that they really don't matter. If 10 million people rip it apart on metacritic, but 2 million people love it and sub, it's going to look pretty bad on metacritic, when the game is actually a huge success and people playing it love the crap out of it.
Reviews are pointless. Pro and user ones. The only thing pro ones are useful for is finding a description of the features and if the game is in a working state. User reviews are good for, well not much most of the time. I don't put much stock in the opinions of someone who takes the time to post: "THIS GAME SUCKZORS1!! Only total NOOBs would play this thing. SUX. " that's what most of those user posts boil down to, and there's no indication if most of them even bought the game and played it for any length of time.
I have to agree with you somehow here. The only people that should benefit from review are the developers actually, because it give them a good idea of where they messed up. For a player i don't think it should matter much, they just should try the games, they are few mean to do it like beta and trials. But it kind of do the opposite, most dev probably don't give a damn about them, and new players don't want to pay for crap so they base their decisions on reviews.
Every damn pro game review turn around 80/100 to 90/100 for every single game that is out. There is nothign really to see here.
Every single player rating of this game turn around 4/10 to 6/10 and it is definitly the right score for this game.
*rolls eyes*
Yep i take the overall score right, not each critic individually, i'm not that dump as you wish i'm. Meta critc have 1182 player reviews, thats quiet a good sample, and would be enough for most statistic data, and ye the score is 6.1. They are other good samples of player reviews around the net as well and they are all here.
Gamespot has 1491 votes with a total average score of 8.8. This site (MMORPG) has 306 votes with the total at 8.48. But, seriously, these are just numbers. Arbitrary, and subjective. Somehow I feel there is an undercurrent in all of this bickering that subconsciously supposes that a majority view is the right view. Personally, regardless of reviews, I will be happily playing both TOR and, when it's ready, GW2. Both! Because two games I love to play is pure 10 out of 10.
Whether people like the game or not, both sides need to realize that these are opinions and neither side is right. If you really like the story, you'll probably like SWTOR. If you're tired of traditional gameplay, then you'll probably dislike it.
To be honest though, I can't even take gaming site reviews seriously anymore. It's not that they're being paid off, but at the same time, there's a disincentive to be critical. There was recently this article about this reviewer who gave Uncharted 3 an 8 (seriously, an 8!) and caused a backlash from all the fans who want reviews to basically just confirm their opinion. http://www.giantbomb.com/news/when-a-mostly-positive-review-becomes-controversial/3764/
Why take the risk in pissing off and alienating a huge part of your fanbase with a negative review? I'm not even talking about companies pulling advertising dollars but who knows if that isn't also a real concern. As Creslin's other thread shows, every decent MMORPG gets 80+ no matter what.
I'm not making any judgments about TOR, I'm not bashing it. All I'm saying is that 22 reviews of 80+ doesn't necessarily mean they did something right. What it means is that they didn't do anything terribly wrong.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it."-Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
Comments
Dude I thought we were talking the same language
I alrleady agreed with your opinion on innovation. What I'm waiting for is the aspects of TOR that you find innovative and that deserve an 8/10 innovation rating.. I mean EIGHT OUT OF TEN.. that's pretty high.. so it must be innovastive pleeeenty.
Show this to me?... and I'll shut up
..Cake..
Sigh..there we go again. Why would i want to show you anything when your idea of innvoation is not same as mine? i just discribed why i think SWTOR is innovative.... for you it could be doing something completely new which no MMO has done it yet. So where is your innovative MMO and why you think it is innovative? it is a simple question.
I really don't want you to shut up... i won't be able to get my entertainment out of grumbling and teeth gnashing.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
I think the problem isn't that the game isn't good, look at DCUO. 8.0 Review On here, it's a good game just like SWTOR but when u reach end-game, what do you do? I think people are just tired of the same thing being recycled over and over and just want a good game. SWTOR is just the excuse to let their anger out =/.
SWTOR is good, DCUO is good, look where it ended >_<.
Stop dodging the question, why dont you and all the other fanboys who think this game deserves 10/10 or w/e high score tell us how "innovative" it is and the features it has that makes it different?? Make me understand how a game with 2006 graphics should be this good according to you? lets say i know nothin about the game, state some of the Innovative features that are unique to SWTOR.
I think what is innovative about SWTOR has been discussed like a million times already, and i myself have explained it many times but the point remains what is innovation for me could mean nothing for you and vice versa. So to counter my point give me an example of what you consider a innovative MMO and why? i never said SWTOR deserves 10/10 but i do think it deserves 8/10 because it has a lot of different and non standard MMO features.
By the way posting on alt account is bannable. *wink*
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
I'm still trying to figure out what is so new about companions.
An innovation doesn't have to be new, only presented in a different way. Maybe TOR is getting decent "innovation" scores because those writers actually consider the full definition of the word?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/innovation
in·no·va·tion
"something new or different introduced:"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovation
: a new idea, method, or device
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Every damn pro game review turn around 80/100 to 90/100 for every single game that is out. There is nothign really to see here.
Every single player rating of this game turn around 4/10 to 6/10 and it is definitly the right score for this game.
*rolls eyes*
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
Yep i take the overall score right, not each critic individually, i'm not that dump as you wish i'm. Meta critc have 1182 player reviews, thats quiet a good sample, and would be enough for most statistic data, and ye the score is 6.1. They are other good samples of player reviews around the net as well and they are all here.
Talking about aggregate of reviews is not same as saying 'every single review....' However i would take professional reviews over user scores any day especially on sites like meta critic where it is more about fanboy vs hater compeition and the real purpose of reviewing a game gets lost somehwere in that e peen flexing.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty -- Mahatma Gandhi
Yes my master.
Currently Playing: SSFIV AE, SFxTekken, SWTOR, WoW. Waiting for: GW2, Resident Evil 6.
Do people even really understand the score rating of game reviews, it in actuality works on a 5-10 scale with 7.5 or 8 depending on the rating system being the average. They barely if ever use the other half of the scale, so in actuality anything thats score an 8 is mediocre, a 5 is just plain bad and 9+ is anything worth a dam. Everyone by now should have already learnt to take the review score of a games journalist with a grain of salt.
Lol haters making alt accouts now? rofl
Currently Playing: SSFIV AE, SFxTekken, SWTOR, WoW. Waiting for: GW2, Resident Evil 6.
Hmmm! that made me think of an innovative MMO
I'll just pick a general fantasy one...Ill include aliens in it(fantasy with aliens is the catch!), then I'll add joker companion that will tell jokes to you all the time you play, maybe I'll even add violet sun instead of yellow one! boy Im good! and finally I will have 200 classes that are almost the same...no MMO had 200 classes before me!It even doesnt matter they differ in 2-3 abilities! I HAVE 200 classes!
The rest is basically wow - now gimme credits for my bright ideas! 'Cause screw gameplay, THIS IS innovation
And I dont even need gazzillion baggillion dollars for budget
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
Number have their own benefits. When using a good enough statistical sample data, the fact they are hater or lover mean nothing. It is part of the sample and even out, that's exactly why people use statistics, its rough number and have less emotional or interest value attached to it than words.
Now if you want some nice descriptions you probably would better read the pro, that's for sure.
If you were on a one person for one vote concept, then using data samples might mean something. Meta critic not so much.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
Reviews are pointless. Pro and user ones. The only thing pro ones are useful for is finding a description of the features and if the game is in a working state. User reviews are good for, well not much most of the time. I don't put much stock in the opinions of someone who takes the time to post: "THIS GAME SUCKZORS1!! Only total NOOBs would play this thing. SUX. " that's what most of those user posts boil down to, and there's no indication if most of them even bought the game and played it for any length of time.
Shadow's Hand Guild
Open recruitment for
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http://www.shadowshand.com
What is different in Bioware games is that they are not and never were seen as pets as it is usually in most mmo.
In Bioware games, they used npc companions to fill the lack of group usually associated with pen & paper groups of adventurers. So you kind of should have a more "human" relation with those npc.
Which end up being not only ridiculous in a mmo setting because you can find real human companions to your adventure, but turn out to be a mess tbh, since the worst nightmare of mmo is the personalization of your character and companion definitely goes at the opposite to resolve that problem. So it became kind of a bastardization, and deliver the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do when first used by Bioware. It was supposed to give you more of an immersion feeling in the first Bioware games, and probably helped here back then. But it just do the opposite in Swtor, because everyone running with their companion in an mmo is definitely an immersion breaker.
Personally, I am loving the companion system. Use them or don't at your option AND they make a nice filler if you can't find that 4th man, but do not make me want to use them instead of getting another teammate. They can craft/gather while you quest, sell junk gear AND even have their own missions. I would say the ONE thing BioWare made a msitake on with the companions is that they gave them too few "comments" to be said at various times and that can get a little old, but nothing to whine about.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
I have to agree with you somehow here. The only people that should benefit from review are the developers actually, because it give them a good idea of where they messed up. For a player i don't think it should matter much, they just should try the games, they are few mean to do it like beta and trials. But it kind of do the opposite, most dev probably don't give a damn about them, and new players don't want to pay for crap so they base their decisions on reviews.
Gamespot has 1491 votes with a total average score of 8.8. This site (MMORPG) has 306 votes with the total at 8.48. But, seriously, these are just numbers. Arbitrary, and subjective. Somehow I feel there is an undercurrent in all of this bickering that subconsciously supposes that a majority view is the right view. Personally, regardless of reviews, I will be happily playing both TOR and, when it's ready, GW2. Both! Because two games I love to play is pure 10 out of 10.
Whether people like the game or not, both sides need to realize that these are opinions and neither side is right. If you really like the story, you'll probably like SWTOR. If you're tired of traditional gameplay, then you'll probably dislike it.
To be honest though, I can't even take gaming site reviews seriously anymore. It's not that they're being paid off, but at the same time, there's a disincentive to be critical. There was recently this article about this reviewer who gave Uncharted 3 an 8 (seriously, an 8!) and caused a backlash from all the fans who want reviews to basically just confirm their opinion. http://www.giantbomb.com/news/when-a-mostly-positive-review-becomes-controversial/3764/
Why take the risk in pissing off and alienating a huge part of your fanbase with a negative review? I'm not even talking about companies pulling advertising dollars but who knows if that isn't also a real concern. As Creslin's other thread shows, every decent MMORPG gets 80+ no matter what.
I'm not making any judgments about TOR, I'm not bashing it. All I'm saying is that 22 reviews of 80+ doesn't necessarily mean they did something right. What it means is that they didn't do anything terribly wrong.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." -Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
This just in, all 22 reviews were paid off to say nice things.