Topic: Mario Kart 8 - OT

That's terrible advice! It means you'll end up wasting your money on a lot of rubbish. It also would put an even greater power in the hands of big developers to reel people in with flashy trailers and impressive previews (that have no connection with the overall game quality).

is studying the day before a test good? i thought it wasn't good.
i can't get mario kart off my head, i just. can't. wait

Lol well you'll have to be suspicious of 95% of indie games then. Most games that are reviewed ahead of schedule are the ones that have spent millions on marketing and therefore everyone is anticipating them. A lot of smaller, but equally good, games can't afford to do that!

"Its not over till the fat lady sings"- anything you do can benefit you for that exam, just don't do too much and have breaks/an early night. I usually study before exams, only because I can't not to have a day where I don't study due to having Too many xp

My strategy before exams has always been procrastinate until the night beforehand, then decide to study all night but end up just gaming all night instead, then going to the exam with no sleep and no study and just winging it.
It's always worked out pretty well for me, but can't say I'd recommend it.

This.

no, your suppose to study material in 15 to 30 minute intervals a day, everyday within 2 weeks notice of any given test.

... I was talking about scores, not the reviews themselves.

There are a huge range of exams people take in real life. No single piece of advice works for all of them. I've had exams that needed 2-3 days of revision (high school level), some that required 2 weeks and some that required 4 months (Masters degree).

Ok, fair enough (although that's not what first message seems to say, you say just play it and find out for yourself.)
I'm not entirely sure what the difference is though. The whole point of reviews and scores is just to get people's opinions on things. The only difference between a review and a score is that one is quicker! That's how I see it anyway.

I don't think it is terrible advice. I think a lot of people put too much faith in reviews. There are have been 6s that I have enjoyed more than 9s. Most reviews have to look at graphics, sound, and writing and weight them evenly against design. Design is the most important to me because it gives everything else meaning. Without good design everything else is just for show. Design is what you actually interact with. I think people should learn what a bad game is and not judge games based off cosmetic things (graphics, sound, writing) or reviews. Just my opinion.

I am not saying graphics, sound, and writing aren't important. I am just saying that, in my opinion, graphics, sound, and writing are there to support the Design.

Right, I agree it's important not to take reviews too seriously. Some of my favourite games of the last 5 years scored less than 80 on metacritic (Tales of the Abyss on 3DS comes to mind). But I think overall they do more good than harm. It's better to take them too seriously than not consider them at all, that's all I was trying to say. In general, the metacritic averages do tend to mirror the popular attitude (which you could actually measure statistically if you were that way inclined). It will therefore tend to be true, more often than not, that relying on reviews will help you find the games you'll end up liking.

Independent of that discussion is the issue of how you find games you like when there are so many on offer (especially on PC). That's another area where quick % scores come in handy.

@HaThready I've never heard of anything like that in Mexico. That's a really interesting system. I assume it's like Germany or Japan, where a less-than-impressive score tends to land you in some kind of vocational school?

Anyways, what you should do on the 30th depends on what kind of learner you are and how you do with tests. If studying gets you stressed, you should probably take it lightly the day before a test and use that for review, rather than an actual study session. If studying tends to be calming or is just plain boring, you're probably best just digging in and lasting that final few days.

As for the game, don't let it over-shadow your studies when you have it. Get done what you have to get done and you should be fine, but knowing what needs to be done is up to you. Not us. Good luck.

@Dezzy On the testing, it's more than that. The subject matters, of course, but the person taking the test matters, too. I, for one, am a natural test taker. So long as I have the information, I'll typically do well on a test, regardless of how much studying I do (at the level I'm at, that is, which is not very high. I'm sure that when I start getting serious about a major, tests will start to really wear on me, if I keep up my usual methods, but that's neither here, nor there.) Others, however, have to study their hearts out to learn anything and will need to mentally brace themselves to not freak out and forget everything during the test. Still others will need to study, but once they're sure they've got it all down can calmly handle anything thrown their way. While some are masters of application, others are better at theory, and so on, and so forth. You get my point.

On the reviews, I see review scores as a double-edged sword. To someone that's willing to take the number with a grain of salt as a general idea, the scores can be very helpful. For instance, I can look at GI's 5/10 for Goat Simulator and realize that this is because by all conventional means, this is a terrible game. I am aware that this doesn't mean I'll hate it, but that I should approach with caution and I'll likely read the review to see what was said. In context, I'm also aware that it's a sandbox game with minimal goal and direction with no sense of progress, so I'm aware that I likely won't like it and will move on to the next game of interest.

HOWEVER, to someone that doesn't know how to handle review scores, they could really enjoy Goat Simulator, but never try it because Game Informer gave it a 5. They could be sick of Twilight Princess's linear progression, but because everyone gave it top scores, they would just assume that Twilight Princess is the perfect game for them.

Different strokes for different folks, I believe the phrase goes.

So it seems the entire character roster has been revealed already from what pretty much everyone has said. Are the Koopalings, Baby Rosalina, and Pink Gold Peach the only unlockable characters, assuming they are unlockable? That's what I've heard, though I can't help but think there's something wrong with that. Some other characters come to mind that don't feel like they should be missing, like Birdo or Dry Bones. I've also heard Bowser Jr. won't be racing this time either. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, but not seeing these characters seems odd. I'm still looking forward to the game immensely, this just bothers me.

Toadette's in, but you're right about all the others.
Probably the strangest ones to be missing are Diddy Kong and Birdo.
I'm not particularly fussed though, because I'd never race as any of them anyway, and I'm a fan of both Peach and Rosalina so don't mind the new variants of them, even if Pink Gold Peach is a bit of a bizarre choice.

Apparently the unlockable ones are Rosalina, Baby Rosalina, Lakitu, Toadette, Metal Mario, Pink Gold Peach, the Koopalings and Mii.

@BenAV Ah, well it's nice Toadette is there, I just don't remember seeing her. Diddy Kong is odd to not include as well since Donkey Kong is there. I used to use him a lot in Double Dash. Do we really know the whole roster for sure? I would think there's still some characters that we don't know about considering all the obvious racers who are absent.

That list of unlockable characters seems to makes sense, but it still only includes ones we know about. How complete of a list is it though? It's quite a few, with a good chunk of them having spiky shells on their backs, but something still feels off.

@MegaStoneSmash91 It's been pretty much confirmed that this is the full roster.
I think the only real way for there to be more than this is if they decide to release DLC at some point in the future, but there's no sign yet that they're planning to.

I don't look at reviews like that or even review aggregates. I look at it as more of a way of weeding through your options. If you're wondering what game to get then start from the most critically acclaimed game and work down. If you're on the fence and it's getting 80%+ on metacritic then it's probably worth it. If you're on the fence and it's getting scores under 65% then maybe hold off.

Nothing more.... other than the clickbait that people who write the lowest scoring review for the game are aiming for

Why no bananas?
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