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Dragon Age II


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Well Dean you have to realize that it was only done in response to all of the people trolling/spamming metacritic with 0s. Which is really unfair.

 

While 4chan n co dropping the score is a dickhead move, and I'd imagine folks would be smart enough to notice the huge difference between the press reviews and the user reviews, it is very very murky waters for employees to be pushing up review scores on their own products. Not saying companies don't do that, but the general trick is to not be caught because it's deeply deeply frowned upon.

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Enough people that potentially games can live or die on their metacritic ratings.

Personally I don't use them, but I do put stock in user reviews on other sites and equally suspicious of PR sounding glowing reviews.

It's a dirty habit and one I'd of hopped Bioware were above, but apparently not.

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The Day metacritic dies an ignoble death is the day I'll be happy. Of course I'll be sad for those who lost their jobs, but if they're good statisticians they could get a job in defence or worse meteorology.

 

My issue is that means, medians and averages are in no indicator of the quality of an entertainment output product (Saying that since technically a TV, VCR,/DVD/BR players, consoles, etc can count as an entertainment device and those do need to be rated on basis of reliability). The weighted sum of opinions is just that a sum of opinions. How on earth can that be given a value, It's like going through an argument, weighing all the options and everyone's points and lifting a huge scorecard saying 7!!!

 

Metacritic in other words is Numberwang.

 

For reference:

 

 

I'm sorry this is all so OT. On the subject of Dragon Age, I've no expectations but I'm pretty much going through the game with the same excitement I have for the Game of Thrones show (i.e. non-existent). So it's bound to end up being a better experience in the end.

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Well we can always make a thread on reviews and metacritic (I think we actually have one btw) if you want.

 

I guess we could. I didn't see one via the search but mind you I just searched metacritic and not reviews. I was just responding to that image that I'd seen circulating around. I hate seeing this bizarre inflation in review scores.

 

But yeah sure.

 

On the subject of Dragon Age, I knew what it was going to be. And I got spoilered a bit via Gaf but the complaints are common now. In fact some of the stuff I'd posted as spoilers earlier in this thread are actually the complaints now from those who played. It's interesting really. Hence playing with zero expectations is probably the best way to get something out of it :)

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I'm not done yet, but from what I've experienced, and what I've heard is to come...

 

It's a good game. I really feel that. It is not a great game, as most Bioware games are. It is enjoyable and worth my time, but I will not ever raise it up as an example of what a game should be. Its lasting legacy? Showing me once and for all the dangers of time constraints. EA forced Bioware to work really, really fast on this game, and it BLEEDS missed potential because of it. When time constraints can cause even a Bioware title to suffer so fiercely, then it's all too easy to understand why other devs suffer under them.

 

I hope they actually get the time they need to make DA3 something special.

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Enough people that potentially games can live or die on their metacritic ratings.

Personally I don't use them, but I do put stock in user reviews on other sites and equally suspicious of PR sounding glowing reviews.

It's a dirty habit and one I'd of hopped Bioware were above, but apparently not.

 

Oh, don't get me wrong, the actual metacritic score is a huge deal to EA. They want flagship games to hit a 90. Anything below an 80 is a failure.

 

But that's the aggregate score. Nobody gives half a shit about the user review section because it's completely worthless.

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Somebody on Reddit put it best for me in terms of the plot.

 

 

DA2's biggest failure compared to Origins is that I had no control over the major plot events. The Qunari will ransack the city regardless of my diplomatic skills. Anders will bomb the Chantry regardless of whether or not we're lovers and whether or not I support him. The Keeper will become possessed regardless of whether or not I give Merril the tool to fix the Eluvian. My mother will be killed by a blood mage regardless of whether or not I cooperate with Depuis.

 

 

Those specific points in question had mega-eyebrow-raising antics from me.

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So I just read today's Penny Arcade post which talks about this game, and something he said in there really rang true for me: the game (and specifically the story) seems more like the kind of thing you'd see in a franchise tie-in novel or comic, not something you'd see in one of the main-series games.

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So I just read today's Penny Arcade post which talks about this game, and something he said in there really rang true for me: the game (and specifically the story) seems more like the kind of thing you'd see in a franchise tie-in novel or comic, not something you'd see in one of the main-series games.

 

It's like I keep telling everyone: DAII was more of a prequel to DAIII than a standalone game. I've played it through at least three times now (one for each class), and it definitely gives off a feeling of a prequel. The fact that it was all technically a story through Varric's retelling pretty much cements that belief.

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apparently those were an update from the other beta drivers. Went ahead and installed them, I'm guessing the game has a 60 fps cap? I'm hitting that pretty steadily now. That's more like it.

 

I'll have to try some other games too, see if I run into any troubles that would make me want to roll back.

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So... does this mean DA2 isn't selling as well as they'd hoped?

 

Oh no, it is. DA2 broke 1 million sales in two weeks, though it's worth noting that this is slower than ME2 which broke 2 million in one week.

 

I'm not one to complain about free games though. Already gave the free copy I got out of it to a friend.

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So... does this mean DA2 isn't selling as well as they'd hoped?

Oh no, it is. DA2 broke 1 million sales in two weeks...

I know it's not doing poorly, but "it's doing well" and "it's doing as well as they'd hoped" are two entirely different things.

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So... does this mean DA2 isn't selling as well as they'd hoped?

Oh no, it is. DA2 broke 1 million sales in two weeks...

I know it's not doing poorly, but "it's doing well" and "it's doing as well as they'd hoped" are two entirely different things.

 

In that case, it's probably just "doing well".

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