I think Kevin VanOrd is testing us once again with his KoA review...

I would respond to some of the serious points in this thread, but it would get swallowed by most of the thread's ridiculousness. I will say that this thread was my main source of entertainment during my commute tonight, however. I am grateful for the incredible entertainment!Kevin-V

I had one question for something that caught my ear in your video review. I believe it was, "Everything you do is pretty much like the last thing you did." Also something about not caring for why you're going from point A to point B in a quest.

With Skyrim, it rarely felt like I ever did anything that wasn't exactly what I just did a few minutes ago. One quest I'll be in a Nordic dungeon. The next quest will also send me to a Nordic dungeon, but this time it goes up and it might have one of the three puzzles that are existant in this game. When the game had me doing something different, it was great. Now if only that actually happened more than a few times, I would appreciate the game a lot more.

As for not caring where I'm being sent to, I rarely if ever had an interest in where I was being sent because it would result in nothing more than a gold reward and equipment I didn't need. After a certain amount of time, which would've been not even half way through the game, gold and equipment became useless. I had no use for it because I had already acquired better than I was receiving. It felt like nothing ever changed in the world, and my character never had an impact. Guards still ask if I'm fetching mead for the Companions and ignore the fact I'm now their "leader." The beggar is still just a beggar despite me donating what seemed like 1000 gold to him. No one knows that I'm the Arch-Mage of the College, but they still remember Saarthal.

What exactly is Amalur doing different (or not) from what Skyrim did in regards to those two elements? The reason I'm brought this up is because I heard a few references to Skyrim in the video, though not pertaining to those statements I picked out, and I thought they needed more explanation as to what it does differently from last year's main RPG. Also is the balancing and difficulty as bad in Amalur as it is in Skyrim? With Skyrim, even on the hardest difficulty, as long as you have a resistance potion, dragons aren't anymore of a threat than that Bandit I found wandering the forest.

[QUOTE="NeonNinja"]

[QUOTE="Assassin_87"]

That's all this place is. It's just entertainment. I wouldn't dare take anything in System Wars seriously or personally, and I doubt anyone who posts in here takes even their own posts seriously.

At least, I hope that no one does. :?

Assassin_87

Now I'm confused.... are you taking your own post here seriously? Because if you're not that means you're serious. But if you are that means you're going against your own views therefore....... ????????............................................ Hm.................................................................

I was taking my post seriously.

But I wasn't SERIOUSLY taking it seriously. :cool:

Nah I just think KoA looks like an average RPG

[QUOTE="donalbane"]

Personally, when I experience cognitive dissonance because a reviewer I like gives a game I like a bad score, I go with, "I no longer trust this reviewer." (Not that I'm a fan of Amalur... haven't even tried the demo yet, though I surely will do to the shameless Mass Effect 3 tie-in. Kevin V lost me right from the get-go with his harsh - some would say lazy - treatment of my beloved Tenchu-Z.)

Kevin-V

Don't worry. I've got your back bro.

I expect a check in the mail within the week.

[QUOTE="donalbane"]

Personally, when I experience cognitive dissonance because a reviewer I like gives a game I like a bad score, I go with, "I no longer trust this reviewer." (Not that I'm a fan of Amalur... haven't even tried the demo yet, though I surely will do to the shameless Mass Effect 3 tie-in. Kevin V lost me right from the get-go with his harsh - some would say lazy - treatment of my beloved Tenchu-Z.)

Kevin-V

It's good to know that atleast SOMEBODY appreciates my threads :D

Btw, I will give you five, count it, FIVE dollars if you change Nier's score to a 9.0. You don't have to accept the bribe here, because obviously that would look bad on your part, but seriously consider. Do it for the children!

It's good to know that atleast SOMEBODY appreciates my threads :D

Master_ShakeXXX

I liked this thread too. :(

[QUOTE="Master_ShakeXXX"]

It's good to know that atleast SOMEBODY appreciates my threads :D

ChubbyGuy40

I liked this thread too. :(

God bless you. *hands chubby guy a cookie"

What is this... I don't even...

Oh Shake shake shake shaaaaake... I know you love your underdog games but, duuuuude, what am I going to do with you??? :lol::lol::lol:

LMAO this thread. It's a conspiracy!

Nier sucks.

!

Nier sucks.

Aljosa23

Have to agree with that,I gave in to all the hype from the folks here and got it,and aside from the music I found the game to be really mediocre.

At least it was really cheap lol.

pictures and video i see of Nier look like garbage. Reckoning is fun and looks pretty good even being cartoony as it is

Have to agree with that,I gave in to all the hype from the folks here and got it,and aside from the music I found the game to be really mediocre.

At least it was really cheap lol.

Arach666

[QUOTE="Aljosa23"]

!

Nier sucks.

Arach666

Have to agree with that,I gave in to all the hype from the folks here and got it,and aside from the music I found the game to be really mediocre.

At least it was really cheap lol.

That's because it wasn't on PC :P

[QUOTE="donalbane"]

Personally, when I experience cognitive dissonance because a reviewer I like gives a game I like a bad score, I go with, "I no longer trust this reviewer." (Not that I'm a fan of Amalur... haven't even tried the demo yet, though I surely will do to the shameless Mass Effect 3 tie-in. Kevin V lost me right from the get-go with his harsh - some would say lazy - treatment of my beloved Tenchu-Z.)

Kevin-V

OK, I officially feel like a dumbass now. :cry: My applogies, Kevin.

[QUOTE="Arach666"]

[QUOTE="Aljosa23"]

!

Nier sucks.

Master_ShakeXXX

Have to agree with that,I gave in to all the hype from the folks here and got it,and aside from the music I found the game to be really mediocre.

At least it was really cheap lol.

That's because it wasn't on PC :P

[QUOTE="Arach666"]

[QUOTE="Aljosa23"]

!

Nier sucks.

Master_ShakeXXX

Have to agree with that,I gave in to all the hype from the folks here and got it,and aside from the music I found the game to be really mediocre.

At least it was really cheap lol.

That's because it wasn't on PC :P

Omg this game is ****ing awesome. I'd say Kevin was pretty spot on with his review. If you like great combat, tons of loot, and deep character progression this game is a must play. I think he was a tad too harsh on the world and story though. It's nothing outstanding but it hasn't done anything to detract from the experience thus far.

Oh, and the Mass Effect armor set is badass.

Omg this game is ****ing awesome. I'd say Kevin was pretty spot on with his review. If you like great combat, tons of loot, and deep character progression this game is a must play. I think he was a tad too harsh on the world and story though. It's nothing outstanding but it hasn't done anything to detract from the experience thus far.

Oh, and the Mass Effect armor set is badass.

Master_ShakeXXX

Sounds pretty good glad you like it. Although i can't take credit for the game lol.

As for why he gave the score ---> I think, in my humble opinion, that it was the man's opinion on this game, and opinions are going to differ.

That is all.

Well, here's Machinima's review for anyone interested. They gave an 8 with some insightful info.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNluWlw-8o4

my buddy rented this and when i got to his house he was all "zomg! todd mcfarline was involved in the game design!!!" then we played it and i was all, "damn todd mcfarline has apparently been playing a shytload of world of warcraft." :lol:

anyway it was fun, a 7 or 8 sounds about right from the few hours of it i played.

Back in 2010 Kevin reviewed what would eventually become the greatest game of the generation, Nier, and in a brilliant and inspired move he scored it a 5.0. I don't believe this was coinicidence. In my humble opinion, he knowingly gave one of the greatest games ever a mediocre score as a way to test us the gamers, to see if down the line we could look past what the mainstream game loving critics think and recognise a niche title for the masterpiece it is. That test ended up being a resounding success.

I'm getting the same vibe from his KoA: Reckoning review. Perhaps this is a test to see if we will still recognise it as a legendary title down the line. Opinions?

Master_ShakeXXX

he has his opinion, you have yours

no one considers nier the best game this gen, deal with it and shut up, stop making yourself look like such an idiot, for a change

Really?!

Let's be honest people. Yes, Kevin messed the review, instead of a 5 he should have given it a 6-7. Now please let's move on.

Really?!

Let's be honest people. Yes, Kevin messed the review, instead of a 5 he should have given it a 6-7. Now please let's move on.

glez13

I don't think anyone actually cares what Kevin V thinks.

No one cares about these stupid pony gifs either, but I just keep posting them. I'm sure Kevin V has a similar mentality.

[QUOTE="Master_ShakeXXX"]

Back in 2010 Kevin reviewed what would eventually become the greatest game of the generation, Nier, and in a brilliant and inspired move he scored it a 5.0. I don't believe this was coinicidence. In my humble opinion, he knowingly gave one of the greatest games ever a mediocre score as a way to test us the gamers, to see if down the line we could look past what the mainstream game loving critics think and recognise a niche title for the masterpiece it is. That test ended up being a resounding success.

I'm getting the same vibe from his KoA: Reckoning review. Perhaps this is a test to see if we will still recognise it as a legendary title down the line. Opinions?

The_RedLion

he has his opinion, you have yours

no one considers nier the best game this gen, deal with it and shut up, stop making yourself look like such an idiot, for a change

I haven't played Amalur yet, but if Gamespot wants to start utilizing the full 1-10 scale it's fine by me. You know something is wrong with the reviewing process when a game that scores an 8.5 is called a "flop".

Kevin V is the poster boy for why people can't take reviewers seriously. It's like how he gave Duke Nukem Forever a 3.0 just because he seemed to have a hard on because it was delayed. Even before the review was released he was on GS trashing the game. How can you take a reviewer seriously when they are trashing a game on message boards before he posts what is supposed to be an impartial review? We all know it wasn't a great game, but it sure didn't deserve a 3.0.

I haven't played Amalur yet, but if Gamespot wants to start utilizing the full 1-10 scale it's fine by me. You know something is wrong with the reviewing process when a game that scores an 8.5 is called a "flop".

Vari3ty

The "flop" is not a label made by the gamespot reviewers, and in no way a part of the review process. In fact they categorize an 8.5 as "Great".

Flop here in System Wars is merely part of the forum metagame when a game's score fails to meet its hype, the hype being the score the game was predicted to have. And to be clear we go by the letter grades (AAAA, AAA, AA, etc...) not by a specific score, so the difference between 8.0 and 8.5 doesn't matter.

So if a game was hyped at AAA but scored AA, it's a flop here in SW. Or if it was hyped AA but scored below that, 7.5 or less, than it's also a flop.

[QUOTE="Master_ShakeXXX"]

Back in 2010 Kevin reviewed what would eventually become the greatest game of the generation, Nier, and in a brilliant and inspired move he scored it a 5.0. I don't believe this was coinicidence. In my humble opinion, he knowingly gave one of the greatest games ever a mediocre score as a way to test us the gamers, to see if down the line we could look past what the mainstream game loving critics think and recognise a niche title for the masterpiece it is. That test ended up being a resounding success.

I'm getting the same vibe from his KoA: Reckoning review. Perhaps this is a test to see if we will still recognise it as a legendary title down the line. Opinions?

The_RedLion

he has his opinion, you have yours

no one considers nier the best game this gen, deal with it and shut up, stop making yourself look like such an idiot, for a change

The game is the sh*t. Go play it seriously. I'm going to be playing this as much as I'll be playing Skyrim. mrmusicman247

This man speaks the truth. I'll be playing Skyrim back-to-back with it as well since the new patch supposedly fixed it.

Btw if anyone was put off by the quality of the demo, the full game is infinitely better. The framerate is as smooth as butter and I haven't experienced any glitches thus far, which were pretty abundant in the demo. The game is technically solid.

Put in some more Reckoning game time last night. The more I play it, the more enjoyment I'm getting out of it.

[QUOTE="Vari3ty"]

I haven't played Amalur yet, but if Gamespot wants to start utilizing the full 1-10 scale it's fine by me. You know something is wrong with the reviewing process when a game that scores an 8.5 is called a "flop".

AdobeArtist

The "flop" is not a label made by the gamespot reviewers, and in no way a part of the review process. In fact they categorize an 8.5 as "Great".

Flop here in System Wars is merely part of the forum metagame when a game's score fails to meet its hype, the hype being the score the game was predicted to have. And to be clear we go by the letter grades (AAAA, AAA, AA, etc...) not by a specific score, so the difference between 8.0 and 8.5 doesn't matter.

So if a game was hyped at AAA but scored AA, it's a flop here in SW. Or if it was hyped AA but scored below that, 7.5 or less, than it's also a flop.

I didn't make myself clear. It's not the reviewers fault for a game being called a flop, but it is their fault for reviewing games on a 7-10 scale, thereby when a game does come along and gets an 8 or so it's generally believed to not be a good game because it's generally on the lower end of the "actual" ratings scale which people here on SW use to judge a game.

[QUOTE="Kevin-V"][QUOTE="donalbane"]

Personally, when I experience cognitive dissonance because a reviewer I like gives a game I like a bad score, I go with, "I no longer trust this reviewer." (Not that I'm a fan of Amalur... haven't even tried the demo yet, though I surely will do to the shameless Mass Effect 3 tie-in. Kevin V lost me right from the get-go with his harsh - some would say lazy - treatment of my beloved Tenchu-Z.)

Master_ShakeXXX

It's good to know that atleast SOMEBODY appreciates my threads :D

Btw, I will give you five, count it, FIVE dollars if you change Nier's score to a 9.0. You don't have to accept the bribe here, because obviously that would look bad on your part, but seriously consider. Do it for the children!

Am I not that important to remember?:|

Kevin V is the poster boy for why people can't take reviewers seriously. It's like how he gave Duke Nukem Forever a 3.0 just because he seemed to have a hard on because it was delayed. Even before the review was released he was on GS trashing the game. How can you take a reviewer seriously when they are trashing a game on message boards before he posts what is supposed to be an impartial review? We all know it wasn't a great game, but it sure didn't deserve a 3.0.

coasterguy65

Reviews aren't supposed to be impartial. Objective reviews wouldn't be at all interesting or helpful. If a critic doesn't like something, there's no reason they should pretend to no opinion on it outside the official review.

[QUOTE="The_RedLion"]

[QUOTE="Master_ShakeXXX"]

Back in 2010 Kevin reviewed what would eventually become the greatest game of the generation, Nier, and in a brilliant and inspired move he scored it a 5.0. I don't believe this was coinicidence. In my humble opinion, he knowingly gave one of the greatest games ever a mediocre score as a way to test us the gamers, to see if down the line we could look past what the mainstream game loving critics think and recognise a niche title for the masterpiece it is. That test ended up being a resounding success.

I'm getting the same vibe from his KoA: Reckoning review. Perhaps this is a test to see if we will still recognise it as a legendary title down the line. Opinions?

Master_ShakeXXX

he has his opinion, you have yours

no one considers nier the best game this gen, deal with it and shut up, stop making yourself look like such an idiot, for a change

Nope, just pointing out an idiotic thread.

[QUOTE="The_RedLion"]

[QUOTE="Master_ShakeXXX"]

Back in 2010 Kevin reviewed what would eventually become the greatest game of the generation, Nier, and in a brilliant and inspired move he scored it a 5.0. I don't believe this was coinicidence. In my humble opinion, he knowingly gave one of the greatest games ever a mediocre score as a way to test us the gamers, to see if down the line we could look past what the mainstream game loving critics think and recognise a niche title for the masterpiece it is. That test ended up being a resounding success.

I'm getting the same vibe from his KoA: Reckoning review. Perhaps this is a test to see if we will still recognise it as a legendary title down the line. Opinions?

Master_ShakeXXX

he has his opinion, you have yours

no one considers nier the best game this gen, deal with it and shut up, stop making yourself look like such an idiot, for a change

make no mistake, pointing out your stupidity doesn't mean I'm mad

why would I be mad? I'm not the one whinning over review scores ;)

luckily I'm secure enough to enjoy what I do without needing a review to tell me so, andnot to get angry and blame the reviewer when he doesn't :)

The_RedLion

WAY OT.... But this sig cracks me up :lol:

[QUOTE="The_RedLion"]

santoron

WAY OT.... But this sig cracks me up :lol:

I'm enjoying this game alot.

one of those rare times I say to hell with scores. If it had a big developer name behind it and a big franchise name Kev would have AAA's it.

[QUOTE="The_RedLion"]

santoron

WAY OT.... But this sig cracks me up :lol:

it's all dreman999's work ;)

[QUOTE="santoron"]

[QUOTE="The_RedLion"]

The_RedLion

WAY OT.... But this sig cracks me up :lol:

it's all dreman999's work ;)

I felt Mass Effect 3's demo was more tactical than a lot of SP shooters, or RPGs like Fallout 3 & New Vegas.

But I'm also one of those people who doesn't think Gothic/Risen has 'deep' or complex combat.

Kevin V is the poster boy for why people can't take reviewers seriously. It's like how he gave Duke Nukem Forever a 3.0 just because he seemed to have a hard on because it was delayed. Even before the review was released he was on GS trashing the game. How can you take a reviewer seriously when they are trashing a game on message boards before he posts what is supposed to be an impartial review? We all know it wasn't a great game, but it sure didn't deserve a 3.0.

coasterguy65

That never happened. At what point was I trashing the game? I'd never played it until I had a full retail copy in my hands. Where was this post? What on earth are you talking about? I had a hard-on because it was delayed? In what magical realm of fantasy did this happen? I could have trashed the fact that it was delayed; everyone made fun of that. But I had no reason to think DNF would be better or worse than any other game I play.

Honestly, folks, you absolutely slay me. I can't tell if the insanity is real, or if it's just an act.

As for Amalur, a lot of critics have echoed most of the same points. Someone asked what makes the go-there-do-that in Amalur different than what you do in Skyrim. Really? There is remarkably variety in the context of Skyrim's quests. In Amalur, you go kill a bunch of stuff and collect something. In Skyrim, I manipulated a big machine and rescued the Mage's College from near-extinction. I hid in a coffin and overheard a creepy conversation. I took a stand, and changed the political landscape. I could have chosen to kill a bunch of cannibals--but I decided to join them. I made my way up the side of a foggy mountain and spoke to a dragon. I entered a mystical realm where I did battle with a formidable foe. I became a werewolf. I became a vampire, and the game drastically changed as a result.

I can pass on dozens of stories of moments and quests that stood out because they were given great context, and that context was so different from the quest that came before. In Amalur, I killed and looted. I have no cool stories to share about the things I did in Amalur. Hell, I can tell you about quests in Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, and Planescape: Torment that stayed with me. In 6 months, ask yourself: who were the cool people in Amalur? What were the awesome things I did? What place did I visit that will be emblazoned in my mind?

Amalur is a lot of fun. But it isn't a lot more than that. And that's fine! But I don't for a minute believe that it is a top-tier RPG. But it a very fine one.

(PS: I gave Duke Nukem Forever exactly the score it earned :) )