[Megathread] Nintendo Switch

[dope_danny]

5/10 is a garbage game imo, I won't buy a game that reviews sub 7. Thats kinda how the system works for most people.

Then you dont have a 1-10 scale. You have a 1-3 scale. Its a sentiment most seem to share for reasons i can't understand and why numbered scores are pointless.

[Keile]

5/10 is a garbage game imo, I won't buy a game that reviews sub 7. Thats kinda how the system works for most people.

5/10 is, by definition.....average. Not good, not bad though.

6-9 are various steps ABOVE averageness
and 10 should be reserved only for absolutely perfect games. I very rarely give a game a 10/10.

[Blacksen]

5/10 is, by definition.....average.

No, it's not. "Average" is a mathematical formula in which the series sum is divided by the count.

Most publications on OpenCritic average 70+. I haven't found a single one below that.

Then you dont have a 1-10 scale. You have a 1-3 scale. Its a sentiment most seem to share for reasons i can't understand and why numbered scores are pointless.

One reason might be that bad games don't get reviewed. There's a huge selection bias in how critics and publications choose games to write about. Bad games have bad trailers and marketing, and so not many people need help deciding whether or not to buy them.

As a result, reviews for bad games don't get as many clicks, so publications don't review them as frequently.

Over 10 games are released on Steam every day. Publications can't review them all.

So they pick the ones that gamers are talking about. They pick the big ones that have the highest number of people who need help making a purchase decision. They pick the ones that look interesting. They pick the ones that generate clicks and revenue.

That's selection bias.

But regardless, just remember:

• Review scores are RELATIVE measures of quality
• Review scores are NOT absolute measures of quality
• You could play one 80+ game every week AND NEVER RUN OUT

It's pointless to argue if 6/10 is "good" or "bad."

It's factually accurate to say that there are hundreds of games better than 6/10 every year.

[Jester Joe]

Go on OpenCritic (or Metacritic)

Look at the publications

Notice how every single one has an average review score of 73-77ish?

The misunderstanding here is that review scores aren't good or bad - they're relative.

A 7 is better than a 6. It's a relative comparison. It's not an absolute "it's bad" or "it's good." That's not why reviewers use numbers. They use them to give you fast comparisons. 6s are comparable value/fun to other 6s.

According to OpenCritic, you could play one 75+ game every two days and never run out. You could play one 80+ game per week and never run out.

It's not that 60 games are "bad." It's that there are so many better games out there.

(Also, looking at OpenCritic ID numbers, it looks like they have over 5000 games at this point. That's a good enough sample size to me.)

By that logic, a number scale would literally never work if you're comparing them within their own number. How do you determine what a 5 is if you don't know what a 4 or a 6 is?

And yet again, for "It's not that 60 games are "bad." It's that there are so many better games out there.", that's kinda exactly what I'm trying to say. Sonic Forces getting a 5-6 is deserved, because it's not that its bad, it's that there's better choices. If it was truly bad, it would have a 2-3.

And they might have over "5000 games", but try looking at how many people actually use the site. A large title like Super Mario Odyssey only got ~90 users reviewing it from what I saw yesterday.

[zealo]

5/10 is, by definition.....average. Not good, not bad though.

6-9 are various steps ABOVE averageness
and 10 should be reserved only for absolutely perfect games. I very rarely give a game a 10/10.

By mathematical definition, perhaps, but not by how review scales for video games function among the press.

Anything below a 7 is generally something with considerable problems involved.

[Keile]

By mathematical definition, perhaps, but not by how review scales for video games function among the press.

Anything below a 7 is generally something with considerable problems involved.

No...I'm using real world logic here.

Scale is 1-10, yes? 5 is right smack dab in the middle. A game with a 5 is therefore "average". It's neither good nor bad. It leaves you feeling "meh...that was a thing that happened."

And this is why using a 1-10 scale for rating games is

Absolute. Total. Bullshit.

The 1-10 scale is broken as fuck and needs to go, a simple number just doesn't cut it.

[dope_danny]

By that logic, a number scale would literally never work if you're comparing them within their own number. How do you determine what a 5 is if you don't know what a 4 or a 6 is?

And yet again, for "It's not that 60 games are "bad." It's that there are so many better games out there.", that's kinda exactly what I'm trying to say. Sonic Forces getting a 5-6 is deserved, because it's not that its bad, it's that there's better choices. If it was truly bad, it would have a 2-3.

And they might have over "5000 games", but try looking at how many people actually use the site. A large title like Super Mario Odyssey only got ~90 users reviewing it from what I saw yesterday.

Mordern journos like to fight for the big sale and nothing else. Something that sadly died out with magazines was the micro review. Nowadays the modern 'fuck gamers those sexist, racist mysoginerds!' breed of audience hating journalist write multi page cultural criticisms or straight hard right turn tangential diatribes. Back in the day there were two page 'this is maybe the best game this year, heres why' reviews and other pages of straight columns of what nowadays would be 'micro reviews'. Simply stating "this is bad, heres what you can't overlooook" or vice versa.

But of course back then it was all contained in a purchased magazine, not a desperate ad view per page clickbait vehicle is it?

[Blacksen]

By that logic, a number scale would literally never work if you're comparing them within their own number. How do you determine what a 5 is if you don't know what a 4 or a 6 is?

Again, it's a relative scale. A 6 is strictly better than a 5. We don't need to assign labels of "good" or "bad." I'm guessing a lot of these publications start with stack-ranking of games they've aleady played to get their initial numbers.

that's kinda exactly what I'm trying to say. Sonic Forces getting a 5-6 is deserved, because it's not that its bad, it's that there's better choices. If it was truly bad, it would have a 2-3.

Sure. The internet has a way of stripping away nuance.

"Sonic Forces is bad" is a lot easier to understand and act on than "there are dozens of better alternatives released this year."

I will say, reading the FULL reviews for Sonic Forces, most sound really, really bad. I would never buy this game after reading the PC Gamer or GameSpot reviews. Both gave it a 5/10.

And they might have over "5000 games", but try looking at how many people actually use the site. A large title like Super Mario Odyssey only got ~90 users reviewing it from what I saw yesterday.

OpenCritic doesn't allow user reviews (because user reviews on Metacritic are garbage anyway).

Humble Bundle uses OpenCritic: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/d...ankind-divided

So do a lot of the review threads on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comme...review_thread/

[johnhoftb]

Xenoblade 2 Story trailer. Spoilers.

[Jester Joe]

Mordern journos like to fight for the big sale and nothing else. Something that sadly died out with magazines was the micro review. Nowadays the modern 'fuck gamers those sexist, racist mysoginerds!' breed of audience hating journalist write multi page cultural criticisms or straight hard right turn tangential diatribes. Back in the day there were two page 'this is maybe the best game this year, heres why' reviews and other pages of straight columns of what nowadays would be 'micro reviews'. Simply stating "this is bad, heres what you can't overlooook" or vice versa.

But of course back then it was all contained in a purchased magazine, not a desperate ad view per page clickbait vehicle is it?

I'll be honest, I had to re-read this several times before I got it fully hah.

But I get what you mean. I still think Game Informer oddly enough has a good layout that still sticks to the simple details rather than any political agenda. I used to check destructoid a lot also because the same, but now it's really starting to depend on the reviewer themselves (Like Chris is still pretty solid, other ones have started to bring in race/gender into reviews and I'm like "Wat no pls stop").

Again, it's a relative scale. A 6 is strictly better than a 5. We don't need to assign labels of "good" or "bad." I'm guessing a lot of these publications start with stack-ranking of games they've aleady played to get their initial numbers.

It's also far too subjective though. What if that 6 is a racing game, and that 5 is a platformer? I'd rather go with the 5 then, because I personally hate racing games. Yet again though, this isn't really what I was debating or not, the whole thing was Tech saying Sonic Forces deserved a 7 because it's average, not the 5 it got most places.

Sure. The internet has a way of stripping away nuance.

"Sonic Forces is bad" is a lot easier to understand and act on than "there are dozens of better alternatives released this year."

I will say, reading the FULL reviews for Sonic Forces, most sound really, really bad. I would never buy this game after reading the PC Gamer or GameSpot reviews. Both gave it a 5/10.

Neither would I, but that has less to do with the fact that it was a 5 and more to do with the fact that people have said how short it is.

OpenCritic doesn't allow user reviews (because user reviews on Metacritic are garbage anyway).

Humble Bundle uses OpenCritic: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/d...ankind-divided

So do a lot of the review threads on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comme...review_thread/

I misread it, they had 26 "contributors". The point is, OpenCritic only really serves to allow you to quickly check all major review sites all at once without going to each site individually.

It's good to go to for a glance, but I don't think its fair to use them as the end all, since most sites like I linked label a 5 as "Mediocre" meanwhile OpenCritic takes that and twists it into a "bad" for a 50.

At that point, it shouldn't matter whether or not people think a 7 is really the new "average", it's the fact that you have a site saying "We think this is a mediocre game, and we'll give it a 5" and then OpenCritic takes that and goes "you see this 5 for 'mediocre'? Nah, they meant trash"

[johnhoftb]

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/...38150196158464

Nintendo of America is giving away five tickets to the 2017 Video Game Awards.

With this, I expect something big to be announced there that isn't BotW DLC.

[Immitis]

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/...38150196158464

Nintendo of America is giving away five tickets to the 2017 Video Game Awards.

With this, I expect something big to be announced there that isn't BotW DLC.

theres been rumors going around that theyre gonna announce more dlc past this one. id love it if botw got updates for awhile

[Tech614]

theres been rumors going around that theyre gonna announce more dlc past this one. id love it if botw got updates for awhile

BoTW has had announcements at TGA every year the show has existed since leaving Spike, I think Nintendo will stand pat with announcements for it again.

Any major surprise will probably be in the January direct.

[johnhoftb]

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/stat...03953964982273

Ice girl. NSFW, but no nipples.

In before, "Let it go."

- - - Updated - - -

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/stat...04780511363074

Loli ice girl.

- - - Updated - - -

Two more designs from Tetsuya Nomura:

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/stat...14010668277760

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/stat...14229405523969

- - - Updated - - -

Yooka-Laylee coming to the Switch on December 14th.



- - - Updated - - -

https://twitter.com/Open_Critic/stat...24984646139904

Xenoblade 2 review embargo lifts Thursday morning.

[Sheevah]

I would've been a lot more excited about Yooka-Laylee on the Switch if it had been dropped prior to Odyssey. As it stands... I'm just feeling pretty meh about it.

[johnhoftb]

https://nintendosoup.com/xenoblade-c...ours-undocked/

People who have gotten Xenoblade 2 early say the battery was at 35% after 3 hours of play, so we can assume the game will run for almost 5 hours without the need for a charge.

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.perfectly-nintendo.com/xe...s-rare-blades/

Translated Famitsu interview with Xenoblade 2 Game Director Tetsuya Takahashi and Main Composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

Here's the main points:

2 began development in June 2014.

They didn't know what the specs of the Switch would be at the time.

Mitsuda composed 25 of the 120 tracks.

Mitsuda wants a concert of the game's music.

Monolith Soft does not have an internal character designer.

The artists brought in to design the rare Blades were given free reign outside of weapon type, element, and rough attributes.

They were surprised at the number of female rare Blades.

Takahasi hints that some rare Blades are extremely rare.

Very little staff change since the original Xenoblade.

[dope_danny]

This almost sounds like when mobage hire artists to make gacha characters and dont tell them the genre so end up with a bunch of cute or lewd girls from lots of different styles.

[Remilia]

This almost sounds like when mobage hire artists to make gacha characters and dont tell them the genre so end up with a bunch of cute or lewd girls from lots of different styles.

Otherwise you get this reaction
https://youtu.be/MwAUKEK6Jwk?t=435

[dope_danny]

Otherwise you get this reaction
https://youtu.be/MwAUKEK6Jwk?t=435

needs more engriss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwI8uIe-svs

[Remilia]

needs more engriss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwI8uIe-svs

Lol I remember that part. No idea why the person had to mess with it though.
https://youtu.be/FyFYH-7Ody0?t=895