Rise Of The Pirate God Review Broke Our Ratings System! (Alternative Magazine Online)
Alternative Magazine Online's review for Rise Of The Pirate God is now up:
http://alternativemagazineonline.co.uk/2009/12/09/game-review-tales-of-monkey-island-chapter-5-rise-of-the-pirate-god-season-finale/
Final interview with Dom should go up within the next few days as well. If any of you have burning questions still left unanswered (I have interviewed him 5 times so far!) let me know and I may include them! Would also love to hear what you have thought of our coverage and if you agree with this final review/ score!
http://alternativemagazineonline.co.uk/2009/12/09/game-review-tales-of-monkey-island-chapter-5-rise-of-the-pirate-god-season-finale/
Final interview with Dom should go up within the next few days as well. If any of you have burning questions still left unanswered (I have interviewed him 5 times so far!) let me know and I may include them! Would also love to hear what you have thought of our coverage and if you agree with this final review/ score!
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ninja'd
Phew! That was exactly what I wanted to do. This comment means a lot to me, thank you! I sometimes worry people won't get where I am coming from. The score matters little... what does 11 out of 10 even mean? This is just quite simply a brilliant, fun game... and yes, perhaps even more important, a fantastic Monkey Island game.
There is no games developer I respect more than telltale. 6 months ago I had lost hope in another Monkey Island, as it had been so long.. had anxiously waited lucasarts to announce something for a while. Yet here we are...telltales done the franchise justice, though I didn't really have any doubts anyway.
Looking forward to your Dom interview!
What would you give the season as a whole?
If I am honest though, the score means little... I just feel thrilled with it all and very fulfilled. 9.5 out of 10 sounds pretty fair to me for the series as a whole. What do you think?
I love ToMI overall, but I found the final chapter just weaker than any of the others in about every way. Story was predictable and not well as done as usual, not much humor, extremely easy puzzles with lots of backtracking, and an annoying shodown.
What was not predictable, Elaine´s decision early on, was not very well explained later on in the game and seems kind of unmotivated to me, like "ugh, we need another big twist but don´t have one that makes sense".
Positive is that I like Zombie-Guybrush and LeChuck is really scary.
But overall it just feels like a rather weak conclusion to an otherwise excellent series.
Personally I´d rate this chapter with a 6.5, and ToMI as a whole with an 8. Had chapter 5 been better done it wouldraise ToMI´s overal rating to 9 for me.
Oh, are you still accepting questions? I'd love to know if it was hard for him to get across the emotional parts in the game, or e.g. do Guybrush's pained voice in the scene where LeChuck punches him across the ship.
But anyways, I'm really looking forward to this last (*sigh*) ToMI interview with Dom!
Let me just explain my point.
I do not agree with a review being solely based on personal opinions; as a good reviewer in the way a magazine, or let´s say, "professionals" reviewer does his job he must never forget to try and see it from another point of view and get some distance.
You were thrilled, and the overall experience was great for you. Yet I think that generally, as a reviewer, you have the duty to nitpick. Eventhough the final mix of everything may have been awesome for you, I cannot believe you did not notice those flaws you could nitpick about; I don´t think you really did not find the puzzles very easy puzzles or the backtracking a bit too much, being the experienced player you obviously are. Somewhere in your consciousness you know that. Little things that show that it is not perfect, as no game ever was or will be.
These are the things I believe happen easily if you want to love something. Fanboyism is a word I do not like, I prefer the term of enthusiasm. Being an adventure player, much more than I am, and probably having a strong connections to MI, will naturally make you feel very enthusiastic about the grand finale of the first MI adventure in many years. Happens to me too, when I see a long awaited movie in cinema, only to learn later that it was really not that great as I first experienced it,with the endorphines going wild and being with friends etc. The same I believe goes for the people writing you these words of encouragement.
And I believe that those who now see the fifth chapter as the über-adventure will see it differently once the excitement about it all slows down a bit.
It may sound arrogant, but I honestly believe so. I am sure that some things are not a matter of opinion and that people can get influenced by expectations and emotions; it happens to me and everyone. Just that in my case I am not such a die-hard-MI-fan
In magazines (at least around here) it is common that no single reviewer can decide on a score alone to have a way to balance the first enthusiasm one person can have.
However, you are not a professional, and not reviewing games for paying customers in a print mag. You and you alone are responsible for the review and the score. This is a very different thing.
Yet the same way of rating a game is still expected and applied to small online-reviews. The idea of having a definite number which is given by a player who does this as a hobby and just shares his feelings shortly after playing is absurd. In this way, yeah, it was an interesting move from you to show how ridiculous it is.
Yet I am not sure about how good the method is. People may still believe it to be an almost scientifically created score and take it serious as this game being so awesome it blows away all standards for games. And frustrate them when they do not feel the same.
Is this your own website? If so, why not switch to another system? Just thumbs up, middle and down or something, that gives a tendency but avoids the impression of being definite.
I limit my own reviews to a good, very good or something like that without a number, if the website allows it.
Anyway, these were my thoughts on reviews in general.
/I don´t think you really did not find the puzzles very easy puzzles or the backtracking a bit too much, being the experienced player you obviously are. Somewhere in your consciousness you know that. Little things that show that it is not perfect, as no game ever was or will be./
One or two puzzles stumped me, but they always felt fair to me (again, personal opinion). The backtracking felt quite natural and justified as well... again, personal opinion! I can't just assume that I am in the minority and write that it was a negative... because it wasn't to me :P Again, your personal opinion would have reviewed the game differently. We can't say the puzzles being easy is a fact... because we both felt very differently about them and we both played the exact same game! Bias seeps into everything, even with a step back.
Please trust me on this: I do not just review something in the buzz of excitement after completing a game/ watching a film etc. I take a brutal, honest look at things and try to be as balanced as possible. I may not be a bona-fide professional... but I aspire to be, and I never just write a review to gush. My review will still stand in a years time, because it isn't a rushed buzz-review... it is authentic to my own experience.
/Yet the same way of rating a game is still expected and applied to small online-reviews. The idea of having a definite number which is given by a player who does this as a hobby and just shares his feelings shortly after playing is absurd./
This is much more than a hobby to me. I have a BA Degree in Media and Film, specialising in Screenwriting and Print Journalism. I also write for adventureclassicgaming to strict reviewing guidelines where I DO speak for the whole site. My own site is simply a more relaxed way to express myself. I still have strict guidelines though, as do the rest of my writers. I write every day and I take it very seriously indeed! I have NEVER liked review scores, stars etc. Sadly though, when I used them on my site, more people visited. People like a score to look at. Sad but true. 11 out of 10 just illustrates how stupid that is. Is this game better than perfect? No, nothing is. But for what it is, and what it was supposed to do... then yes, it raised things to a new level in my eyes. And I argued that!
The ratings system may change in future, but it shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things. People who look at 11 out of 10 and expect perfection will never read the words properly anyway. And it is the words that matter in the end. As long as the words justify the score, for that reviewer, then so be it. EDGE magazine just gave a new game 5 out of 10. They argued it really well. Same game by another magazine? 10 out of 10. Also well argued. Two different people, same game, two different professional reviews. Go figure! I just read the words. The score is decorative at best.
As for the words of encouragement, it seems many people felt the same way that I did... whether this is mere excitment as you suggest, or true opinion, remains to be seen. Could this feeling dull? Maybe. But right now, this is how I feel... I have to be in the moment. If I review from myself a year down the line, nothing will ever be good enough!
So yes, we can agree to disagree hopefully! I understand where you are coming from overall, I really do. Yet I still stand by my score. It depends how people view reviews in general as well I guess. I think if you depend on them as anything more than a guideline, it is a very stupid idea indeed. A review to me is how the reviewer felt, backed up and argued well. At least then if you disagree, you can know you weren't mislead: the reviewer felt that way, and proved it with their writing.
(Thank you for a really interesting discussion btw: I appreciate you putting forward your opinion in a non-aggresive manner and allowing me to also do so likewise.)
Ask him what his favorite "use hook in lock" puzzle was...
Thank you for understanding. I was a bit scared that this may be interpreted as bashing, since English is not my native language and I cannot put my words as carefully as in German. It was indeed a good discussion. Thanks!
No worries!
@bobhobbit
Sorry mate the questions are sent! I may ask some more, although it is already going to a proper massive interview! UPDATE: I sent it anyway, I liked it.
UPDATE: Also sent yours as well BeeKay!
Don't suppose you asked him about his meeting with Ron Gilbert at PAX?
Would be interesting to hear what it was like.
Full interview now live:
http://alternativemagazineonline.co.uk/2009/12/13/mini-interview-tomi-season-finale-rise-of-the-pirate-god-what-does-dominic-armato-think/
Enjoy!
I don't think such a score is at all balanced, considering many fairly evident flaws in the final product. While a 10 can't possibly mean "perfection", it can be a score given for doing a good deal more than ever expected on all fronts. While Telltale did a lot more than expected in many areas of this final chapter, it seemed very skewed toward the end(especially puzzle-wise) and the game was just...easy. When we do consider that we are playing a game, and not watching a film, gameplay should be a major concern.
What if something does better than Tales? Will we see a 12, 13, 20 out of 10? While giving two 10s is not a problem if you consider 10 to be a good deal more than can be expected, giving an 11 and then sticking to a 10-point scale just skews the scale. Every 10 will be a step "lower", as will every other number. I don't think it's responsible, if you're going to be using a numbered scale.
How can I submit my review to any game news sites without a score? Some won't even let you without one. Also, when I used to not use them, most people would scroll down for a score, not see one, leave a comment to complain and leave.
I believe they serve a purpose, but the words are what are most important to me and I explained that in my previous posts with 108 stars.
11 out of 10 is to show how this game is the finest adventure I have played in 10 years. I don't think it will be bettered for some time, and when it is I won't be giving 13/14/15 etc.
If it makes it easier for the few people who have taken offense (to my personal opinion that I backed up with words no less) then please, just read the score as 10 out of 10. To me, that is what it is. I even explain in the review, they one upped last chapter. Chapter 4 was my site's first ever 10 out of 10... chapter 5 took things even higher, so 11 sounded right in context with the thousand words above it. Anyone then expecting this 11 to be indicate perfection hasn't read the words.
I don't really see in my eyes how the final could have been better. 11 out of 10 simply shows how after episode 4, I thought the only way was down. To me, chapter 5 then went up. I am sorry anyway if some people didn't get this: but then again, many people did and actually thanked me for it. Each to their own.
You even say: "While Telltale did a lot more than expected in many areas of this final chapter, it seemed very skewed toward the end(especially puzzle-wise) and the game was just...easy. When we do consider that we are playing a game, and not watching a film, gameplay should be a major concern."
This is YOUR review, not mine! I didn't find it skewed towards the end, and I found the puzzles perfect... hence my score. A review is an opinion and a score is a mere quick glance at what to expect from the review. 11 out 10 shows how I thought the game raised itself above our previous score, and I backed it up with my words... where I found the puzzles just fine and not too easy at all.
We will probably just have to agree to disagree though
http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-548