Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I never look at numbered scores personally; I just read the review. I want to know the experience the reviewer had. Because I like a wide range of games or am not bothered by certain things that may drive someone else batty (or am driven batty by something a reviewer might ignore), I just try to see if the experience the reviewer had might mean that I will at least somewhat enjoy the game. After that if the game is not made by a dev I trust, I watch some no commentary let's plays or if I'm lucky demo it via gamepass.

Numbered scores are pointless. They give the illusion of a consistent standard across the medium when, really, expectations diverse wildly based on genre and the experience of the developer. Moreover, games often excel in certain areas and not others, making it difficult to consistently score games on a 10-point scale without misrepresenting the quality of the game in certain regards.

Numbered scores traditionally simply convey how much you need a game in your library. I'm not sure where folk started to infer it was some measure of how good a video game is (like video games have fallen to some set, specific format.) 10/10 does not mean it's a perfect game. Just an essential purchase. I get SONY and AAA games tend to review like hollywood blockbusters, and can almost turn their nose up at a game just wanting to be a game. But honestly, if they revere gaming to be some sort of artform, why on Earth do they praise what is as boring as a landscape on a biscuit tin so highly? Art moved on from that decades ago! I dunno.

@GrailUK Is that a fair take though? If a game is a 10 but a genre you don't like, it isn't essential for your library. It just means that game is technically sound (which should be the main focus of a review and is often ignored for some reason) and then from there is enjoyable to the reviewer. I do agree at the game snob effect, as game discussion has devolved into a popularity contest with a few hot takes and lots of insults. Granted, it is a mainstream hobby so I'm wondering if articulate discussion was every truly the norm.

@Ryu_Niiyama Well, if it's a 10, it normally means even folk that don't like the genre have a good chance of liking it. Afterall, my eclectic taste in game genres stems from giving well reviewed games a try. But like you said, the main point of a review is to find a reviewer with a similar disposition to yourself. They are just opinions (and why a 10 can't mean perfect) so it makes sense to find someone you typically agree with. I used to like ZZap64 magazine that would have a main overview of the game, some score %ages and a couple of folk giving their opinion (which didn't always agree).

@GrailUK
In my opinion, Gameplay does really matter than graphics.
Games with AAA graphics just made me sick.
Games with interesting gameplay such Overcooked All You Can Eat / KeyWe / ARMS / ACNH will make me get into the games.

About games scoring, it was very subjective.
I will give instant 0/10 for every Soccer games since i completely dislike soccer sport and will never ever want to play those games but i can give 10/10 for DDR since i really crazy in love with DDR games.

You can tell how good a game is going to be for you just buy watching gameplay.

But the scores are pointless. I called it, too. When people started saying it would be a 90+ game, I said nope. Knew right away that wouldn’t happen. It may get a 10 from one or two sites, but Nintendo games don’t aggregate over 90 nowadays unless it’s Zelda or Mario. Doesn’t matter how incredible the game is, they just don’t. Whereas AAA mega-budget and mega-graphics Sony exclusives get 10’s like they’re going out of style. Even when a game does everything it can to be terrible, reviewers are like uh… it’s boring, repetitive… don’t care, take a 10 anyways. And that’s why I can’t trust review aggregates for just about anything anymore.

I’m not saying Nintendo games get judged unfairly, just that there’s a clear double standard. And without consistency across platforms, aggregates lose specific meaning. They’re still useful for a ballpark figure, nothing more..

It’s best to find a single reviewer that aligns with your tastes as closely as possible, where the deviation between what they rank a game and what you would rank that same game is minimized. Or, just skip trying to interpret scores altogether and trust your instinct. I knew Metroid Dread would be better than Super Metroid, and that game is routinely listed as one of the greatest video games of all time. So as far as I was concerned, this is going to be one of the best video games I’ve ever played. Don’t give a rats keister what anyone else has to say about it. I trust my own instincts.

But yeah, a lot of ppl get very angry at Nintendo games reviewing well. Or doing well for that matter. The Monster Hunter subreddit has been overrun with people who have basically been praying Rise would fail, the game wouldn’t get a G-rank expansion and the series would abandon Nintendo. The sheer amount of salt toward that game’s success astounds me even today.

@GrailUK I do miss multi-person reviews... I think EGM had them (I haven't read a physical game publication since middle school so I could be wrong) and I know people hate Famitsu but I respect them for still having that. I don't always agree with their takes, but I usually don't go into a review to be convinced, I go to gather information. I find myself looking into the technical breakdown or dev war stories of games. Likely I prefer the technical breakdown because I love fighting games and I spend hours reading about frames and combos (since I don't have the free time to play/train anymore) but dev war stories are always interesting...and why I still can't see games as art (I also don't see most art as art as it like games or movies or books are often formulaic with a need to appeal to the lowest common denominator because artists have to eat too. That's not a slight...most people don't have the luxury to create exactly what they want. ) even though that argument is often made. Some of the stuff dev teams go through makes me want to hit anybody that accuses a dev team (not the devs not the publishers) as lazy, with a shoe...a steel toed one.

@Anti-Matter I'm with you on graphics. I much prefer art style over realism which has it's own set of criteria for what I like.

As for scoring 0/10 for a soccer game. I'm not into football (to give it it's proper name hehe). I don't watch much TV. I'm not into cars. I like video games. And I have to say, I have played some ace footy games that felt great to play (I couldn't give a monkeys about real players etc) and couldn't mark them a 0 because it's football.

@Ryu_Niiyama A popular arguement for games being art is that they are interactive. Like dance or performance isn't lol.

Multi person opinions is how you gravitate to certain reviewers. And if everyone agrees, then you know it's a more universal game etc. Defo my fave style of review.

Trailer 2 was the last Metroid Dread footage I watched, the contents of that trailer made me avoid all future promo so less spoilers appeared (even during the September Direct as soon as the Metroid Dread segment started I scrolled down on the Nintendo Life chat page to avoid watching it).

Only 2 days to go!

@JaxonH A lot of that is the hope that Nintendo goes the way of SEGA. If Nintendo started putting Mario on everything and a potato, I'm certain a lot of the salt would go away. Brand Loyalty is just tribal loyalty in the modern age and the only winners (usually) are the companies. I don't really care either way, as while I'm a self described Nintendo fangirl, I'll buy anything that is fun and on the big 3 and PC (I don't have the vision for mobile gaming but I don't hate it the way others do and I also commend it for being a more welcoming space for female gamers, but even with my iphone 11 that is an eye roasting I don't want) so my only issue is the hope that non first party or first party funded games go multiplat. I don't get that, I mean I get from a finance perspective why a dev/publisher may stick with one platform, but the "rules" that a game should only be on a certain platform makes me look around for the cult leader.

Games should be for everyone and on as many platforms as can run them...also why I don't share the uproar with cloud gaming. I would have killed for cloud gaming (if it had been possible on dial up LMAO) or game pass as a little girl; sadly I had to settle for blockbuster rentals, emulation (which was still slow on dial up) and flash games, because money was spent on books, clothes and food in my parents' house, not games (baring bday and santa day of course).

However most of that comes from the fact that most gamers don't pay attention to how gaming is made (as in dev cycles) or how companies are run. The rest are just irrational nutjobs (I'm not taking that back... some people are just crazy and that's how it is) or you get the ones that don't care actually so long as they can argue somebody down (tip toeing into crazy). I never understood the lack of interest in where your money goes, as personally everything I'm a consumer of...I'm a stock holder of, if possible.

@GrailUK Also I'm surprised you are even in here, I figured AiAi would have kidnapped you for like a week.

Here's an hour or so of docked footage of Tetris Effect. Looks great. Still plenty of pretty particle effects.

Apparently the screen is zoomed in by default in handheld mode.

@Ryu_Niiyama Hahahah. Oh no fear. Played it every day since Friday. It's not going anywhere anytime soon

Ugh Tetris Effect still hurts to look at. I was hoping it had something to do with the xbone version. guess it's just Tetris 99 and tetriminos for me.

Playing Nickelodeon All Star Brawl right now. Funny game.

I do think there is a place for scoring things, especially for the purpose of recording and organising. But I also think people focus too much on what the score is and not enough on what the review is saying, which is why many drop the scores, as they often ending serving more as a distraction than anything else. There is no real way to apply a unified value to a single number, you can rate a 100 titles all at a 7, but it doesn’t mean they are all of equal quality because they will likely have different metrics to which to be valued against.

Likewise with graphics, I think anyone who acts like graphics don’t have value in the conversation of the value of a title are utterly deluded but I do also think people can over emphasise the importance of graphics as well. I do, however, personally think technical performance and art direction are more important than just the fidelity of a title.

@Ryu_Niiyama I believe Tetris Effect has an option to lessen the 'flashiness' of the particle effects in the settings menu. Have you tried that?

As an update, the flip cover survived a wash. It'll never look brand new again, but at least now it's a bit less grimy.

_{And it smells nice}

@Ralizah I have not but I think it’s the color scheme actually that is the issue. Even the menu hurts. I’ll play around with the options though. Last time I tried to play it hurt so bad I had to take some painkillers and sit in the dark for the rest of the evening. Sometimes being monocular is weird.