Polygon: "I've changed my mind about Days Gone." Anyone else feel the same?

https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/6/18252021/days-gone-ps4-preview-impressions

I'm starting to think this game actually has potential. Also check out this video from PlayStation Access on "Days Gone - 25 Things We Learned From The First Few Hours".

What do you think, SW? Have you changed your mind about Days Gone? Or do you still feel the same about it?

Polygon.

Probably has something progressive and that alone has changed their mind.

The men hug and cry together, GOTY material.

Dayzz Movie-Turd, it's not an Xbox game so a solid 8.0 or higher fur chur. lol :P

The swarms looked cool but the latest previews actually made me be even less hyped about it. Looks like an ok 6/10 game that will probably be screed an 8 here and end up just below 80 on MC.

Well it’s not a SNES retro looking PC Indy so it won’t get a 10. Kids that were born in 1996 and after love to reminisce for consoles they never grew up with.

Like being born in the 90’s and wearing a Goonies T shirt.

Mehh game doesn’t look like it have original thing in it, that being said it looks solid enough and have some nice graphic. 8/10 would be my guess!

Not really a great source for video game critique. And I've never written the game off in the first place.

http://www.freezepage.com/1551881226VQRYLHGVNH

Freezepage version.

TLDR: Critic realizes that an early demo doesn't say it all. They changed the main character to be less macho, changed his lines, and now the game is amazing.

This article is just more fuel for my argument that Polygon should be removed from Opencritic/Metacritic.

Did Sony send them all on a free trip to the midwest, all expenses paid?

Open World Zombies > Resident Evil 2

This games a lock for 9/10 imo

Never use Polygon for anything at all. And as for Days Gone, it doesn't really peak my interest and it's a pass here despite I enjoy playing Zombie games. I'm more excited for both Dying Light 2 & The Last of Us Part 2 as my top 2 Zombie games to play.

For those who are hype for Days Gone, hope it meets your expectations :)

You know, I posted that as a joke refusing to give them a click. But after reading it, literally -

In the last few years, the fashion has moved away from overly familiar pissed-off mid-30s white-man protagonists. A young woman is the star of The Last of Us Part 2. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey featured a woman as an (optional) protagonist. Gears 5will star a woman. Even Battlefield 5made the effort to subvert narrative shooter protagonist norms.

HE MEANS TO BITE BACK

Sony Bend stayed with straight, white Deacon St. John, but has softened him. I’m curious about how he’s changed in the two-plus years since he first appeared, and why I find him much more tolerable than when he first appeared. So I asked game director Jeff Ross.

That Colin Campbell guy must have been shoved in a locker one too many times.

What a pleb.

Polygon lol. What cup said.

I think you probably hit the nail on the head.

The game look solid and deeper than your average RE survival game.

Meh, it still looks as average as ever. The shooting also looks incredibly unsatisfying.

These guys have been making nothing but third person shooters: Syphon Filter, Uncharted Golden Abyss, ... I'm sure this game will turn out good.

Sounds solid from several sources. Nothing this game is doing so far is reinventing the wheel, but at least it's not going to embarrass itself like another console maker that publishes games. Days Gone probably would have come out on top in the February slate if it didn't slip.

I don't really like zombie games but I do like open world games. I'll probably pick this up. My guess is it will probably score 8's and 9's across the board. 8 on Gamespot.

“While I’ll admit that I initially rolled my eyes at yet another Gruff White Male Protagonist™ in a grim world - especially one with such a Gruff White Male Protagonist™-ey name as Deacon St. John”

-IGN

That’s what they think about the game so far. They hate it because they character is a straight white male.

Recently they posted an article bashing Kratos for the same thing.

What I find hilarious is Mario and Link are straight white males but no one ever says anything. I guess “it’s okay when Nintendo does it”. Hypocrites!

I can’t wait until the social justice warrior trend dies

Activism under the guise of journalism. And then they scratch their heads as to why many gamers resist them, and come up with hyperbole conclusions rather than the simple fact, people don't like being told what to think, regardless of what it is, wither you're a googoogaga toddler or an adult. People trying to influence you with narrative inherently makes people push against it.

Halflife 2 predicated an SJW future. With aliens. All these shitty attempts are being politically relevant and Halflife 2 done it with no intention. Incredible stuff.

Should've made another SF game

Really? Lol. Kind of surprised by that. I just assumed Kratos was largely embraced by the gay community.

Here you go... Interview with GoW 3 lead designer, Todd Pappy by a writer for GayGamer:

FB: So, one of the things I find interesting is the sexualization of video game characters. Because despite what some people would have you believe, it really happens all the time.

TP: Right.

FB: But mostly it's female characters who are highly sexualized.

TP: Absolutely.

FB: So I was wondering, when the character of Kratos was being designed, was there was any thought put to the fact that he's kind of a gay icon?

TP: Wow! (Laughs)

FB: Yeah, I mean I could show you any number of photos of gay porn actors featuring these totally ripped, shirtless bald guys with little goatees. I mean, I'm sure that's not something you really thought about.

TP: No, no it wasn't. What we were going for was really more of an animal. So basically when they first started designing him he had armor and all these other accoutrements and so we started taking that stuff off and that feeling of rage started coming across....

FB: Well, he's definitely a very hyper masculine character.

TP: Yes, definitely.

FB: I just think it's funny because so many of these male characters are designed this way, very hyper sexualized, and I don't think a group of heterosexual guys sitting around working on these things really realize that there's this whole other subsection of people who are going to see it that way.

TP: Right.

FB: Kratos has been on our list of hottest male characters voted by readers for the last couple of years.

TP: (Laughs) Wow, really? Even with the big scar and everything?

FB: (Laughs) Absolutely!

Link.

Personally I agree with you - I don't get why this stuff bothers people either way. It just seems so petty.

I think it looks about the same level as say WatchDogs 1, Sleeping Dogs etc. A good solid open world games. Mechanically it's totally fine. The problem is that there are so many great OW games these days. So you have to pick and choose. Days Gone just doesn't have the most interesting theme for me. I much rather play a western (Red Dead), Spiderman etc. Biker culture is stupid. And the world is just post apocalypse 101.

I may pick it up sometime though.

Yeah it's becoming a long list. Polygon, Kotaku, IGN, Eurogamer, Waypoint, (and I would half include GiantBomb for their moderation...) are all political sites now, some of them even stating so themselves, that sometimes bring us gaming news, but have made themselves obsolete when it comes to gaming critique/reviews. No integrity, no consistency. Yet, importantly, pretending to be game critics. We can never trust their reviews to be based on the quality of the game instead of punishing the game for some random element that clashes with their 'us vs. them' ideology and authoritarian desires. Using their position as a critic to push an agenda and twist the truth of things. Right now they tend to be open about it, but I wonder how long it takes for them to hide their true intentions and just rate games surprisingly low for featuring a protagonist of a gender or race that they disapprove of.

I wonder if ExclusivelyGames will manage to keep politics and gaming separated. That was the whole reason it was brought into existence.

Nah I don't trust Polygon. I have watched a few previews that are down on it. Its a run on the mill open world game. To be fair that can be said for most games. The problem for me it doesn't even look technically impressive to mask the generic nature. Its not HZD where you can accuse it of that but cleary you can see the quality there. This one sadly looks the cheapest of Sony's games. The animations look to have this jankiness feel to them. The shooting needs more feedback or something. It needed to be very unique to stand out. Sadly that is how i feel. I will keep the hype low and open for it to surprise me maybe.

The snowflakes here crying over the "straight white male" commentaries are laughable.

I'm not saying a reviewer is not allowed to have racist or sexist tendencies as a person but if they let it affect their reviews then I do think it undermines their reviews a little. Because at that point why are you really reviewing the game? Is it to push a narrative or is it to actually show people whether the game is good or not? Are you using the review to garner votes for the next election or is it testing the game on its merits? Because the two can be in conflict with one another.

I don't know if that makes me a snowflake, but it makes me uncomfortable when they start pushing their censorship or hate speech on us, to the point that I have to question their status as actual game critics.

(I have said a long time ago that gaming sites are better off not talking about politics because their talks are pretty much always one-sided. They are generally incapable of having a discussion on that level and looking at things from multiple angles. It takes a form of abstract thinking that they are clearly not equipped to do. And mixing that sort of black-white thinking with their role as reviewers is a terrible idea.)

IGN commented reviewer said he was sick of the white male leads and that his name was "I guess too white or something"

I was lost completely lost. Its a video game. Is LOTR too white there was enough latinos and blacks in it? Were there names too white.

These people need to stop reviewing and let someone else get in there and do a real review I don't care if the guys white.

Interesting how Polygon and IGN previews both make a point of the character being a straight white male ?

I bet the same people would also claim that their comments aren't racist, if asked ?

@KungfuKitten: It does. You're making a fuss over a non issue point.

I hope so. I hope it's just them stating those things for variety's sake. I hope that's all that's behind this article of Polygon, but I sincerely doubt that considering their past.

Almost like a cabal. But eh, doesn't matter. Gamers are dead.

@KungfuKitten: that's exactly what they're doing. This protagonist archetype is present in a lot of games nowadays.

Uncharted

TLOU

Mass effect

Just cause

Dead Space

Max Payne

Just to name a few on the top of my head. It gets tiresome to see this archetypes over and over, it's why Aloy was so praised, it's why AC origins main character was praised.

Diversity is a big thing right now and playing safe with the same archetypes will make you look bad. Plus the whole "get woke go broke" failed completely, as you can see in recent black panther and other movies success. Times have changed and developers have to move with it.

Trying to purposefully direct people into making you look bad, will make you look bad, RElcloud.

Making it an issue, for everyone else, will manufacture an issue, RElcloud.

That's, generally how propaganda works.

@uninspiredcup: are you mad, snowflake?

I wish Polygon did not play the part of "Overly Invested Neoliberal Identity Politick Media Hero" so much. They make it all too easy to write off their critiques. Their ratio of valid observations to self-interested pandering leaves a lot to be desired, and I say that as an avout leftist.

@SolidGame_basic: It still looks pretty generic. If it's good, I'll play it. If it's mediocre, it'll be skipped.

I feel the same about it as I did before: It looks like it could be pretty good and has some potential.

i agree with him about the shooting, it looked a bit lightweight. kind of reminded me of vanilla stalker in that weapons lacked punch.

for me it really could go either way. a 7 is probably a safe bet. there's a lot of stuff that looks promising. things like the game having both audible and visible stealth meters gives me hope there's depth to the gameplay. but for a zombie game it didn't look very atmospheric, visually it's nothing to write home about, and there's always the danger it'll have one of those awful grindy levelling up labyrinthine skill tree things a la ubisoft needing you to complete oodles of banal side quests to unlock the fun stuff

Poolygon. Nah. I'll wait for someone else.

You read Polygon? Why?

Well, I'm definitely not pre-ordering it, but I agree that it's starting to look like it could be fun. I'm in "wait and see" mode now where I used to be in "lol hell no" mode.

I'm looking forward to this game. That being said for Polygon to like it Deacon must be bisexual.

I don't need anyone's opinion... I have seen gameplay footage and it looks interesting enough for me to either buy at launch unless the game is completely horrible and hated gets Anthem level of scores everywhere or I'll wait and get it when its £30 or less.

The Animation on the zombies looks terrible though.

I'm waiting until release and a few reviews. I'll more than likely pick it up, as it does look quite good.

Have you seen crackdown 3's animations? There stiff as hell just look at people jumping in crackdown 3 mario 64 has better jump animation and that came out 20 years ago.

Its the worst XBOX IS THE WORST!

Ive stayed the course... looks like a zombie hoard game, and I remain interested.

That's, quite literally, the most incorrect you could possibly be... Congrats?