So Bioware can´t do no wrong..
- Thread starter EndR
- Start date
DuckThor Evil
Legend
I think that if a site which doesn't use decimals gives a game 10/10 or 5/5 people don't consider it as being as high as 9.9. Nobody complains if game gets 5/5, so it's just matter of perspective.
Karma Police
Regular
The more I read about this game the more excited I am about it.
Although I wish there was a co-op mode.
Although I wish there was a co-op mode.
My take is : Don't trust anything but Edge Magazine. (and even it can't be 100% accurate)
Read the whole review (and a few others) to get as much insight as you can, to see whether a title can please you or not.
I can't stand Doom 3 having had so many great reviews, or Morrowind, or... and so on and so forth.
It looks like websites are giving a title to be tested by the one the most likely to appreciate it... BAD thing.
As a side note, I've never liked any bioware game (except NWN ONLY FOR THE ONLINE COMMUNITY) to date, or even hated them, but I'm really looking forward to this one, somehow it reminds me ShenMue.
my 0.02€.
Read the whole review (and a few others) to get as much insight as you can, to see whether a title can please you or not.
I can't stand Doom 3 having had so many great reviews, or Morrowind, or... and so on and so forth.
It looks like websites are giving a title to be tested by the one the most likely to appreciate it... BAD thing.
As a side note, I've never liked any bioware game (except NWN ONLY FOR THE ONLINE COMMUNITY) to date, or even hated them, but I'm really looking forward to this one, somehow it reminds me ShenMue.
my 0.02€.
The #'s on reviews are all relative.
The thing that gets me is a lot of people do not read the review comments or spend the time to understand the reviewers standards. Not all companies consider an 80% or 90% score the same. To some companies a 70% is a good score meaning it is an average game that fans of the genre will enjoy; to other mags a 70% is a junk game to be avoided.
In all the most IMPORTANT thing to remember is that games will never appeal to EVERY gamer. e.g. Doom 3. I am not a fan of it, and many here are not. But you know what? I know a LOT of gamers who love it. it creeps them out. And they love the simplistic "Shoot everything" type game. I think it is asbsurd to expect everyone to want and like a specific game. We recently discussed that very subject in relation to Metriod Prime. EXCELLENT game. Quality is outstanding, story is great, very smooth and refined. Really and excellent piece of software. But it is NOT a FPS and it is not for everyone (I did not like it). But for me to say, "I hated it for reason X, Y, and Z" makes the assumption that those same reasons apply to everyone. Someone may not care about X and Y, may love Z, and elements A, B, and C are what they were after to begin with.
So games like Doom 3 or Morowind may not appeal to everyone, but the entire grading scale is silly. Every person I know likes different games. That will always affect their tastes and ratings. The key is to read the reviews and see if the Pros and Cons are acceptable and to guage the general quality of the game. If you rely on a % score you will tend to be dissappointed and at ends with the reviewer. I know, I used to review games
The thing that gets me is a lot of people do not read the review comments or spend the time to understand the reviewers standards. Not all companies consider an 80% or 90% score the same. To some companies a 70% is a good score meaning it is an average game that fans of the genre will enjoy; to other mags a 70% is a junk game to be avoided.
In all the most IMPORTANT thing to remember is that games will never appeal to EVERY gamer. e.g. Doom 3. I am not a fan of it, and many here are not. But you know what? I know a LOT of gamers who love it. it creeps them out. And they love the simplistic "Shoot everything" type game. I think it is asbsurd to expect everyone to want and like a specific game. We recently discussed that very subject in relation to Metriod Prime. EXCELLENT game. Quality is outstanding, story is great, very smooth and refined. Really and excellent piece of software. But it is NOT a FPS and it is not for everyone (I did not like it). But for me to say, "I hated it for reason X, Y, and Z" makes the assumption that those same reasons apply to everyone. Someone may not care about X and Y, may love Z, and elements A, B, and C are what they were after to begin with.
So games like Doom 3 or Morowind may not appeal to everyone, but the entire grading scale is silly. Every person I know likes different games. That will always affect their tastes and ratings. The key is to read the reviews and see if the Pros and Cons are acceptable and to guage the general quality of the game. If you rely on a % score you will tend to be dissappointed and at ends with the reviewer. I know, I used to review games
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
It's ridiculous to nitpick over Jade Empire's score at IGN.
Outpost.com has the Limited Edition for just below $39 shipped, regular is $35. I snapped the LE up.. good price.
It's the second game I've ordered from there (Zelda: The Minish Cap was no.1) and after saving a combined $15+ on only two games.. I think I'll go there more often.
Johnny: Yeah, it is ridiculous. Now, if it were a GameCube title I'd say go hog-wild. You knew that was coming.
It's the second game I've ordered from there (Zelda: The Minish Cap was no.1) and after saving a combined $15+ on only two games.. I think I'll go there more often.
Johnny: Yeah, it is ridiculous. Now, if it were a GameCube title I'd say go hog-wild. You knew that was coming.
DeathKnight
Regular
Console Gold review: 98%
http://consolegold.com/Reviews/review/375.html
Highest rating they've given to a game, ever.
http://consolegold.com/Reviews/review/375.html
Highest rating they've given to a game, ever.
I would just like to comment on reviews.
Don't look at the number the reviewers give. INstead look at the reviewer . Get to know what games they like and dont like and find out which ones mesh with your views.
In terms of movies entertainment weekly has 3 reviewers . There is one reviewer who likes what i like and when he gives a movie an a i agree and when he gives it a d or an f i agree. There is one lady however that when she hates a movie , i love it and when she loves it , i hate it
Don't look at the number the reviewers give. INstead look at the reviewer . Get to know what games they like and dont like and find out which ones mesh with your views.
In terms of movies entertainment weekly has 3 reviewers . There is one reviewer who likes what i like and when he gives a movie an a i agree and when he gives it a d or an f i agree. There is one lady however that when she hates a movie , i love it and when she loves it , i hate it
DeathKnight
Regular
TeamXbox review: 9.7/10
http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/925/Jade-Empire/p1/
GameZone review: 9.8/10
http://xbox.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r22863.htm
In typical (and predictable) Kasavin fashion, Gamespot review: 8.4/10
I'm not going to link it. If you feel inclined to give them the hit then you can go ahead and do so.
http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/925/Jade-Empire/p1/
GameZone review: 9.8/10
http://xbox.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r22863.htm
In typical (and predictable) Kasavin fashion, Gamespot review: 8.4/10
I'm not going to link it. If you feel inclined to give them the hit then you can go ahead and do so.
DeathKnight
Regular
Keep deluding yourself into believing that.
EGM: 10, 9.5, 8.5
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=2017767&did=2
Games Domain: 10/10
http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/xbox/jade_empire/review/96345
EGM: 10, 9.5, 8.5
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=2017767&did=2
Games Domain: 10/10
http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/xbox/jade_empire/review/96345
DeathKnight said:
I agree :?
I still have no rational clue how GS could rate HL2 lower than UT2004 and Halo 2, and HL2 was up against both for Shooter of of the year award... and somehow HL2 won
Ok, so both Halo 2 and UT2004 came out before HL2, got better scores, and presumably HL2 got a lower score because previous games were better... yet somehow it was deemed the better shooter in a head-to-head contest. I think HL2 was better, but I get the very strong feeling a LOT of GameSpot reviews of major releases are intended to be different. I think they like to stir up controversy because it drives traffic which in turn drives profit. And there will always be a) gamers who will agree (no one likes the same games) and b) fanbois who will agree because it is ammunition against other fanbois. I know I would be out of place saying this if it were just one example, but I have seen GS do this for years.Btw, I do understand their arguement about the reviews... end of the year awards are a committie, individual game reviews are the opinions of an editor... I just disagree with this method because it completely invalidates their entire system. If that is the case GS editors do not represent the views of GS. While fine and dandy, it COMPLETELY tears down any meaning of a % score. If John rates one game 80%, but Mike a lesser game 85%, the entire % scale is totally worthless. And the fact that GS just "happens" to have controversial reviews on major releases that represent the views of a single editor indicates my belief is correct that they pic editors to do certain reviews to ensure they have some "heat" from the community.
Just my pet theory
As you can tell I do not put much stock in GS reviews scores (and I tend to get annoyed with how they will praise a game and give it an 84%, but then complain about another game nonstop and give it a 92%... I guess as a former editor I find their coverage spotty... but that is my opinion).Well, I played Jade Empire for about 8 hours yesterday. It's great so far. OXM's comment that dialogue is sparse is fricking laughable. There's WAY more dialogue per setting than in KOTOR.
The framerate does dip in the odd circumstance (i.e., camera gets forced really close to the player). I've found it to be quite stable, though. I haven't even gotten close to dieing because of it.
The camera is imperfect, but what 3rd person camera system is perfect? Give it a second or two (which should be easy if you don't suck) and it'll right itself. Given that Jade Empire is not nearly the speedy game that Ninja Gaiden is, I think the camera is quite alright. Plus, if it really bugs you, pause the game and move the camera yourself.
As for the game length, there's quite simply no way I will finish in 20 hours. Bioware specifically designed the game to have a shorter critical path than KOTOR but have about the same amount of content as KOTOR. So if you're not finding and completing sidequests, then you have no one to blame but yourself for the game's length.
And I can already see the game's replayability should be high. So even if you think the game is too short, you should have good reason to play through it at least twice.
Personally, I don't see how Jade gets an 8/10 for graphics. The graphics are stunning. The biggest graphical fault is that the Xbox can't handle the game at higher than 480p with no AA. And when that's the case, 80% is just too low. Of course, this is just my opinion.
The fighting system is simple but not easily mastered. When you have 30 styles, you can't make each one of them have its own control scheme. That'd be insane. The interface is kept simple and identical for a good reason. Switching between styles, attacking, defending, hampering, etc. all make for a great rock-paper-scissors combat experience, IMO. I could only do what Greg says if I set it to easy. And then only maybe. He acts like you only face one guy at a time which is quite wrong. When multiple guys are after you, you can't adopt such a simple plan.
Summary: Play the game for yourself. It's good enough to warrant your interest. Chances are, you'll find it to be excellent.
The framerate does dip in the odd circumstance (i.e., camera gets forced really close to the player). I've found it to be quite stable, though. I haven't even gotten close to dieing because of it.
The camera is imperfect, but what 3rd person camera system is perfect? Give it a second or two (which should be easy if you don't suck) and it'll right itself. Given that Jade Empire is not nearly the speedy game that Ninja Gaiden is, I think the camera is quite alright. Plus, if it really bugs you, pause the game and move the camera yourself.
As for the game length, there's quite simply no way I will finish in 20 hours. Bioware specifically designed the game to have a shorter critical path than KOTOR but have about the same amount of content as KOTOR. So if you're not finding and completing sidequests, then you have no one to blame but yourself for the game's length.
And I can already see the game's replayability should be high. So even if you think the game is too short, you should have good reason to play through it at least twice.
Personally, I don't see how Jade gets an 8/10 for graphics. The graphics are stunning. The biggest graphical fault is that the Xbox can't handle the game at higher than 480p with no AA. And when that's the case, 80% is just too low. Of course, this is just my opinion.
The fighting system is simple but not easily mastered. When you have 30 styles, you can't make each one of them have its own control scheme. That'd be insane. The interface is kept simple and identical for a good reason. Switching between styles, attacking, defending, hampering, etc. all make for a great rock-paper-scissors combat experience, IMO. I could only do what Greg says if I set it to easy. And then only maybe. He acts like you only face one guy at a time which is quite wrong. When multiple guys are after you, you can't adopt such a simple plan.
Summary: Play the game for yourself. It's good enough to warrant your interest. Chances are, you'll find it to be excellent.
I'll line up with GS on the combat. It's too much of a button mash for my tastes in an RPG, and it lacks the depth of a real fighter like VF. Also, the character development has nowhere near the depth of NWN, or even other action-RPGs like Diablo II.
Not to say it's a bad game, but I wouldn't give it a 10/10. A 9/10 would be a close call.
Not to say it's a bad game, but I wouldn't give it a 10/10. A 9/10 would be a close call.