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Prey review thread
- Thread starter Cyberia
- Start date
old manatee
Banned
That 4 is really chaffing my butt.
Human Trashcan
Banned
I'd be fine with a 4 if someone genuinely hated the game.
But Stapleton is just a fucking idiot with an axe to grind and has now dug himself in too deep and can't admit he was just petty and wrong.
But Stapleton is just a fucking idiot with an axe to grind and has now dug himself in too deep and can't admit he was just petty and wrong.
SunBroDave
Member
poodaddy
Member
Man people get so mad at dissenting reviews on gaf. Calling someone an idiot ......over a review score, man I just don't get that level of rage.
But Dan Stapleton should know better, he's been doing this for decades plural. If he's pulling this shit it must be bad.
Human Trashcan
Banned
You seem to not understand the issue
GwyndolinCinder
Member
It's not over the score.....
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
Did he really say that? When do other reviewers comment on reviews? Wow.
More_Badass
Member
Why not? Other writers do opinion pieces and reactions to other writer's articles all the time. Like all the reactions to the "Video Games Are Better Without Stories" article last month
TotalBiscuit wrote something very similar, and Dan responded to it. I know he's trying to defend himself on twitter and keeps his position but I'm sure this whole situation must bother him. Especially when industry fellows start to criticize him for it.
Lately his angle on twitter seems to be mostly "this wouldn't have happened without that bethesda policy", which is interesting.
Anyway, I'm betting he's going to update the review soon.
The dude has every right to score it as low as he did. Folks getting mad he didn't search out a bug fix when the game is already out at retail are missing the point. The game came out broken, that's the score it gets. The 4 probably represents the feeling of fun still left over after having all the progress taken away. Peer pressuring him in to changing his score, just says more about those doing it.
Stapleton wrote an editorial about how much Bloodborne sucked and put it out at the same time as the IGN review.
And he's the fucking IGN reviews editor. How do you think that made the actual reviewer feel?
SunBroDave
Member
But all his progress wasn't taken away. I'm sick of this kind of misinformation being spread around.
Sorry, only 5 hours lost. I don't even play zombie modes cause I don't like the feeling of losing progress after an hour of running around, so I still see where he's coming from. I'd pick the game up a year later and try again.
Feeroper
Member
I certainly don't care too much about review scores, but this is a truly unfortunate situation. I actually really like IGN and Dan Stapleton, but it is disappointing to see this.
It isn't a good look overall and feels like a poor reaction to the Bethesda review policy (whether or not it actually is). What makes this all worse is the fact that the patch was out very shortly after this review was posted, so for any potential customers who might have waited for IGN's review, they may be making a decision based on inaccurate information.
I hope the devs aren't taking this too hard, I imagine it would be pretty difficult to see something like this after a few years of dedication to the project.
As noted in this thread, the text of the review is indeed much more positive and more reflective of the experience he had (or so it seems anyhow). Realistically though, most people are going to take a look at the score first and move on from there. I wish they would have thought twice before posting it, but it is what it is.
It isn't a good look overall and feels like a poor reaction to the Bethesda review policy (whether or not it actually is). What makes this all worse is the fact that the patch was out very shortly after this review was posted, so for any potential customers who might have waited for IGN's review, they may be making a decision based on inaccurate information.
I hope the devs aren't taking this too hard, I imagine it would be pretty difficult to see something like this after a few years of dedication to the project.
As noted in this thread, the text of the review is indeed much more positive and more reflective of the experience he had (or so it seems anyhow). Realistically though, most people are going to take a look at the score first and move on from there. I wish they would have thought twice before posting it, but it is what it is.
The second they signed up with Bethesda and Zenimax, disappointment was an inevitability. They only have those two to blame.
LegitMcfalls
Member
Well spoken brother!
Games aren't that simple. There are literally millions of factors in the code that can influence whether a bug happens or not.
This bug evidently affected a miniscule proportion of people and wasn't even game breaking.
Is there any other evidence from anyone that this save breaking bug is commonplace or frequent?
It doesn't matter, it happened to the reviewer. Folks are starting to sound like the joycon desyncing thread. A few or many, it's something that happened, so that's the score it gets.
I know.
I'm literally just talking umbrage at the statement "the game came out broken".
Maximilian Kolbe
Member
Just saw this in IGN comment section.
But when it's Prey, he don't even want to wait few hours lol.
But when it's Prey, he don't even want to wait few hours lol.
For the reviewer it did. It sucks, but that's what happens. Unlike the joycon thread which took place a week before release, this is happening after release, so imagine if the game had an actual review schedule, the problem could've been ironed out and the author might not have thrown up their hands. Saying this is lashing out at Bethesda (not you) is looking at it from a very petty and sad point of view.
You should read what you posted. A game with unfinished modes before release versus game breaking bugs after release.
Review threads bring the worst out in people.
LegitMcfalls
Member
My question is why would IGN let him review it. Im sure they knew people would have mentioned the review policy article he wrote and question whatever he would score the game. If the score was to high it could be because he is trying to hide his bias and if its too low he is just confirming the bias stigma surrounding him and bethesda games. If this was a freelancer or Marty Sliva or Vince Inginito we wouldnt be having this discussion whether.
Maximilian Kolbe
Member
Yeah i read, hell i even have both Sim City and WD2, both are game breaking(if UBI don't disable WD2 we can't even play the game normally).
And no, both problem are after release, not before.
LegitMcfalls
Member
If this was some review at a site nobody had heard of, or a steam review, I don't think anyone would care. But to put out a review like that on probably the most popular gaming media site on the internet is kind of lame. Places like metacritic give sites like IGN more weight, supposedly because reviewers at the site take their job more seriously, and are more professional. Dan's behavior doesn't indicate that to me, however.
Dropping a score because of a bug is fine. Making note of it is expected. But cutting the score in half over a bug that affected a vast minority of users, and was fixed the same day is kind of hyperbolic. I'm not mad, I just think Stapleton has the obligation to look at a games issues and bugs more in depth than others, given his position. I don't think he did that in this review.
So you really can't tell the issue between both of those games "problems" being known before launch, where the reviewers actually got info from the publishers on their plans to deal with the issue, and prey being released at launch with no info.
That's not how it works. The game he got in release broke. Is he supposed to write an open letter on video game forums and poll those affected before dropping his review? No. And the fact that he's a part of a bigger publication is good as it will bring light to the issue. Imagine if no one complained and then the bug hit a bunch of users. Then the thread would be full of people mad the score was so high. If it was a small site, folks would call it click bait to get attention. There's no winning.
Bobo Dakes
Member
LegitMcfalls
Member
This happens to ever single game. There are always going to be bugs in games. And for whatever reason
(bethesda review policy)
None of my games have savefiles corrupted, and if yours do, you've got a lot of patience.
It's Bethesda's fault for not completely QAing a game and then trying to sneak past reviewers. Stop trying to blame others for the continued shit practices of this terrible company. Never forget.
phant0m
Member
The solution to all this is easy. I've unsubbed from IGN's YT channel, and will no longer visit the site nor watch any of their video content. They've been secondary to GB, EZA and ACG for a while anyway, but now it's clear I don't need to waste my time with them.
All their good talent goes off to start their own stuff anyway.
All their good talent goes off to start their own stuff anyway.
Maximilian Kolbe
Member
Pretty sure no one would know Sim City's launch was fucked up like crazy, and both issues are not being known before launch.
Dan gets paid to write reviews for a living. So I hold him up to a higher standard than others. He's not just writing the review to express that he had a bad time, it's to let others know that they will have a bad time too.
In a game that was already out, there were tons of avenues to check whether a bug had affected many users or not. He could have checked different forums, or he could have asked his colleagues. He could have left it as a review in progress with his critisism in place, and fixed a final score had the fix not come fast enough. If he's writing the review as a "red flag" to others, maybe he should actually check whether it is a red flag or not. Theres no reason the final review had to come out as quickly az it did, reviews in progress are there for this reason. That's what I'm saying.
Again, I'm not mad, but by writing a review in the manner he did, he opens himself to fair criticism from the public and other members of the gaming press. I think it's totally fair to critisize someone for unfairly docking a game because of an author's slights, simmilar to how it's fair if they don't dock much more broken games.
He finished the review and published it a few hours before the patch wad released, yes. The 8 is an estimate on what the game would've been based on the text. The rest of his review reads in the range of a 7-9/10. I cut the difference.
LegitMcfalls
Member
His file didnt corrupt. He just couldnt proceed. And your telling me you never had a bug in your games? Not to mention pc games are normally full of bugs because there are so many configurations of pcs and settings. I once lost all my textures playing batman origins on pc. Ive also lost all shaders in Mass effect and had to put in a debug and turn off shaders to finish the game! Bugs should affect the score of reviews but one rare one (that got fixed later that day) shouldnt sink an entire review!
HammerOfThor
Member
I haven't ready any of the reviews because I kind of want to go in blind, but question.
The trailers made my think it was a spiritual successor to System Shock/BioShock.
I loved the BioShock games and System Shock. If I go in expending an experience akin to those, will I be disappointed?
The trailers made my think it was a spiritual successor to System Shock/BioShock.
I loved the BioShock games and System Shock. If I go in expending an experience akin to those, will I be disappointed?
It is the most SS2 game that isn't SS2 out there.
Apparently even the developers knew it was gonna be shit despite their words.
As for WD2, Ubisoft pulled the multi from early review copies.
So again, blame Bethesda.
The review states he lost 5 hours of progress. Your examples are superfluous.
More System Shock than Bioshock, really. If you love immersive sims, you'll love this game, I think.
Personal opinion, but it's the first game I really feal like is a successor to System Shock 2, which is not something I say lightly.
CrichtonKicks
Member
SimCity's actual launch was disastrous (as noted in the quote). It wasn't a pre-launch issue. The quoted text stated he waited 10 days after release before passing verdict.
Prey is more like SS2, way better than Bioshock in every aspect but story and characters.
phant0m
Member
No, that's exactly what it is, though I would say it leans equally hard on Deus Ex as it does Sys/BioShock. I'm a dozen hours in and I strongly recommend. The beginning is tough (melee combat is a bit janky, and you don't have a lot of options) but after 90 min or so you should be well on your way.
And for the love of god, EXPLORE. There are many areas where you can either blast through it and be done in 4 minutes, or take an hour+ exploring every nook and cranny. I promise the latter is infinitely more rewarding.
It was a pre launch issue because everyone was already worried that what happened would happen, because they never could give a good reason to be always online.
The forum poster who finds conspiracies in review scores they don't agree with. Yes, a "bug."
LegitMcfalls
Member
Sad thing is. The reviewer is the editor...
DeaDPo0L84
Member
I wouldn't try and argue with him when his impression of the first two hours was "all I did was crawl around and smack spiders for two hours". Its clear he never gave it a shot or is just trying to be as dismissive as possible and shit on the game undeservedly so as often as possible. I mean you can reduce any game in the first two hours to something simple if you wanted to but only if you wish to come across as ignorant.
enigmatikone
Member
You're gonna miss the inevitable IGN roundtable circlejerk where Dan and associates sit around defending the review for ten minutes.