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Forums - Sony Discussion - Bloodborne Review Thread - MetaCritic 93% ~ GameRankings 91.47%

mornelithe on 23 March 2015
Torillian said:
mornelithe said:

Well, that speaks of some issues right there.  First, you have devs utilizing reviewers as a pathetic means of stress testing?  Awful.  Blizzard uses this bullshit line when they horrifically screw up a launch in WoW (Met a guy on one of their QA teams at Blizzcon, said they usually stress test w/ 30-50 people...what the hell??).  The problem I have with that is devs and publishers (at this point), have laundry lists of people who play their titles (uplay, steam, origin, battle-net etc...), to claim they weren't able to stress test properly, is blatantly false and kind of tells be they're cutting corners.

Actually asked Bashiok (Blizzard/WoW), why they don't simply send out a worldwide communique to all active WoW players and say, we need you to log in on the PTR, and go to this area to fight this boss for X amount of time.  Framing it as a stress test.  You can't tell me several hundred thousand bored individuals wouldn't do it, just for shits and giggles.

Now, for a company like Evolution, they could simply rely on Sony's most avid group of users (going by gamer time/score etc...), and see if they can get people to log in en-masse to do stress testing for a new/upcoming game.  Make them all sign NDA's (or tie it into PSN EULA for those specifics services etc...), and ban accounts if people are posting video (if the company feels that strongly about it).

And reviewers then, at this point, should also know better.  If they know that they're on a sterilize network, that hardly reflects reality...shouldn't they simply scrap all MP facets of the review process until post-launch?  I hate to keep bringing up Driveclub, but, that was a huge failure on Evolutions part, but quite a big failure on reviewers part as well.  Granted, a reviewer will never know that a launch will have issues to the extent that DC did, but the picture they painted was clearly not reality.  And that would push me (if I wrote) to be cautious about MP reviews, pre-launch. 


All very fair points, and I'll answer on the reviewer side of the comments.  

I agree that any review before the actual release of a game should let the reader know that the actual functionality of the multiplayer could change for launch and therefore their experience will differ from that of the reviewer.  In a perfect world I think I'd prefer that reviews are written a week after launch for online focused games to let the network stabilize, but unfortunately that isn't always the case.  

I know it's not, and that's where the reviewers do themselves and their readers a disservice.  I can't imagine what it's like for a follower of a specific reviewer, to make a purchase based upon something written by someone they trust.  Only to find that part of the game is unplayable, and the reviewer didn't mention they hadn't tested the live version of the network.

Granted, this issue is a new and emerging one, or at least, I don't think it's been quite as important until the last few years, given the...foibles that've gone on in certain games MP portion (GTA, BF, DC, Diablo 3, etc...)  But, the issues have become so impactful that I don't think it's very genuine of any reviewer not to mention this as a standard MO, moving forward.

I also agree that reviews should be written a week after launch, because I just don't think you can get all the facts about a game (esp. important ones like game breaking bugs, network breaking infrastructure issues, depth of the game etc...) when they're all rushing to get their review out faster than anyone else.  I think that kinda encourages quick and poor writing.



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mornelithe on 23 March 2015
GribbleGrunger said:
Here's a review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz7SlFqGMm8

Interesting, he says he didn't review MP because the servers weren't ready w/ his review copy.



DakonBlackblade on 23 March 2015
mornelithe said:
GribbleGrunger said:
Here's a review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz7SlFqGMm8

Interesting, he says he didn't review MP because the servers weren't ready w/ his review copy.


This review is obviously from a fan of the series, wich means he praises the game more than average, but if he thinks its a 9.5 Im sure as hell gona love it to bits since Im a fan as well.



mornelithe on 23 March 2015
DakonBlackblade said:
mornelithe said:

Interesting, he says he didn't review MP because the servers weren't ready w/ his review copy.


This review is obviously from a fan of the series, wich means he praises the game more than average, but if he thinks its a 9.5 Im sure as hell gona love it to bits since Im a fan as well.

Well, I didn't really give his score much attention, because he wasn't reviewing all of the game.  I liked what I heard from what he's done thus far, but the score is meaningless with only part of the game having been tested.



DakonBlackblade on 23 March 2015
mornelithe said:
DakonBlackblade said:


This review is obviously from a fan of the series, wich means he praises the game more than average, but if he thinks its a 9.5 Im sure as hell gona love it to bits since Im a fan as well.

Well, I didn't really give his score much attention, because he wasn't reviewing all of the game.  I liked what I heard from what he's done thus far, but the score is meaningless with only part of the game having been tested.


That would make sense if he had given the game a 8 and said he docked points because it lacked online, it doesnt when he gives the game a 9.5. You can gauge if a game is good or bad without going online, if the online is atrociously bad you can simply stick to single anyway would not make sense ot dock points, if online is the best thing ever created youd add some points but what can you do when the servers arent up and reviewers have to review before launch.

 

This is not a coop game, nor a PvP game its a single player game with fun online elements, you can evaluate it pretty acuratly without ever going online, specialy cause theres a bunch of ppl who play Souls games ofline to begin with.



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Nate4Drake on 23 March 2015

Dear OP, you probably missed my post; I said 90%. May you update the List ?



”Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

Harriet Tubman.

GribbleGrunger on 23 March 2015

It was Souls fans that weren't too impressed with Dark Souls 2. The very people you want to review Bloodborne are Souls fans.



 

The PS5 Exists. 


bigjon on 23 March 2015

Just called GameSpot they said I can.pick up the game at 6:01 pm! Going to hit that up on the way home from work. This is when living in Hawaii helps in gaming. If lived on the east coast I would have to.wait til.after.work Tuesday.



End of 2009 Predictions (Set, January 1st 2009)

Wii- 72 million   3rd Year Peak, better slate of releases

360- 37 million   Should trend down slightly after 3rd year peak

PS3- 29 million  Sales should pick up next year, 3rd year peak and price cut

mornelithe on 23 March 2015
DakonBlackblade said:
mornelithe said:

Well, I didn't really give his score much attention, because he wasn't reviewing all of the game.  I liked what I heard from what he's done thus far, but the score is meaningless with only part of the game having been tested.


That would make sense if he had given the game a 8 and said he docked points because it lacked online, it doesnt when he gives the game a 9.5. You can gauge if a game is good or bad without going online, if the online is atrociously bad you can simply stick to single anyway would not make sense ot dock points, if online is the best thing ever created youd add some points but what can you do when the servers arent up and reviewers have to review before launch.

 

This is not a coop game, nor a PvP game its a single player game with fun online elements, you can evaluate it pretty acuratly without ever going online, specialy cause theres a bunch of ppl who play Souls games ofline to begin with.

No, that's how you evaluate a game.  I prefer reviewers who give the entire picture, not just the parts they're interested in.  That's the difference between a player, and a reviewer.  A player may not care for the MP portion, or the SP portion, but a reviewer is paid to review both portions.  Not meant as a slight toward you, by the way, I expect reviewers to put a bit more effort into their work, than an average player.  That's all.



Nate4Drake on 23 March 2015
mornelithe said:
DakonBlackblade said:


That would make sense if he had given the game a 8 and said he docked points because it lacked online, it doesnt when he gives the game a 9.5. You can gauge if a game is good or bad without going online, if the online is atrociously bad you can simply stick to single anyway would not make sense ot dock points, if online is the best thing ever created youd add some points but what can you do when the servers arent up and reviewers have to review before launch.

 

This is not a coop game, nor a PvP game its a single player game with fun online elements, you can evaluate it pretty acuratly without ever going online, specialy cause theres a bunch of ppl who play Souls games ofline to begin with.

No, that's how you evaluate a game.  I prefer reviewers who give the entire picture, not just the parts they're interested in.  That's the difference between a player, and a reviewer.  A player may not care for the MP portion, or the SP portion, but a reviewer is paid to review both portions.  Not meant as a slight toward you, by the way, I expect reviewers to put a bit more effort into their work, than an average player.  That's all.

Not necessarily true.  Some reviewers are serious while others are not; sometimes it's more reliable the opinion of an experienced player than a so called 'professional reviewer';  you never know. It depends from case to case.



”Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

Harriet Tubman.