Crispy™ Do you actually pay any attention to RPG reviews from various prestigious magazines?

[Somberlain]

I check the Kommon Kodex Konsensus when considering buying a game.

I only read reviews to complain about how much shilling they have.

 

[Tick Tock Crocodile]

Usually the only time I'll read a review is if I've already played the game in question and it touched me in bad places, because seeing someone else call it trash is like ointment for my butthurt.

Games I already know of, I pirate and try first, and maybe look at the thread here while downloading. If I don't have the time, I'll go watch a bit on Youtube, though I don't like doing that. For me, the Codex is a good way to find out about games I probably never would have heard of otherwise, albeit not through the reviews.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Only if it's by tier 1 providers!

 

[Charles Eli Cheese]

There's no real reviews any more. Codex and other amateur reviews come out years later if ever, by which time I have long since made up my mind. The rest are previews at best, you can tell they never really played the game and all the comments are arbitrary or total nonsense.

 

[Aaron Burr]

I spent most of the 90s and 2000s playing arena shooters, I missed out on basically every RPG outside of the Fallouts and some of the Infinity Engine titles. I've been using RPG Codex's reviews and top 70 list as a way to catch up on lost time and it's been working pretty well.

 

[santino27]

I definitely don't pay attention to review sites. Too many years of reviewers falling over themselves to slobber about how fantastic some title from an AAA dev is (hello, Bioware), only to then admit it was mostly shit six months or so down the line.

Then add in the fact that most reviews read like they were written by a fourth grader who just scanned the back blurb for the game, and it makes it even worse.

Even the reviewers who are actually capable of stringing words together often have abominable taste. (Hello, John Walker at RPS).

If I don't want to just demo it myself, I do tend to look more in the way of spot-checks of review consensus on places like metacritic and steam... more to see what people hated than anything.

 

[Neanderthal]

I enjoy gettin preached at by ignorant pencil necked hipster children who are fresh off the tit, an hav never worked, known any kinda tribulation or experienced owt in their lives so I read all professional reviews. Plus bog rolls expensive nowadays.

 

[ortucis]

I stopped reading reviews on any site (even Codex) back in 2009-2010.

Now I just see gameplay video or one video of someone's "Lets Play" to decide if it's something I want.

No more biased reviews. No more shitty reviews. Just watch the gameplay yourself and decide.

 

[anvi]

Eurogamer is fucking worthless. They have given games I liked 2/10 and shitty games 10/10. They got so much backlash they dropped review scores entirely... so they are now worthless because I wouldn't spend all that time reading a review just to find out if a game is worth it or not. I can just watch a video of someone playing the actual game... Although I don't buy games without looking at every bit of info I can, including user comments.

 

[waterliner]

No.

 

[anvi]

Also all these places are paid off. There is no other explanation for shit like Dragon Age 2 getting good scores. And to some extent Skyrim.

 

[Invictus]

I basically got back into "modern" PC gaming (after basically spending the 90s replaying the World of Xeen, Gold Box games, Darklands, Wizardry 7 and Ultima 6) from reading the review of Morrowind from PC Gamer (back when they were a pretty good bullpen with TheVede and Steve Klett) and since they had demo discs besides their reviews I could try out a whole lot of cool games before acquiring them.
As a matter of fact they were the first to get me into the Codex when they published an article on famous vaporware games and since the first thing that pops up on searchers after typing Grimoire is the Codex...
Nowadays I check out Eurogamer mostly for their Digital Foundry articles on performance and they have basically convinced me to get a few games I normally wouldnt have cared much to get (like The Last of Us)...plus they fact they dig all things Dark Souls related makes them a pretty good fit for my "mainstream" gaming
The Codex has also enlightened me very niche games like Knights of the Chalice, Serpent of the Staglands, Underrail and Age of Decadence and I sincerely enjoy the blunt and biassed review as much as the ones from Crooked Bee or Vault Dweler

 

[Nick Frost]

Before buying a game, I only read the negative reviews. After playing it, sometimes I check out more in-depth ones. I usually check out individual reviewers' history to see what kind of games he liked/disliked. If he has good taste (i.e. likes what I like, hates what I hate), then his recommendations may have a little bit of weight in my decision to purchase something.

 

[flabbyjack]

How can I tell who gets my schmeckles without a rating system, Codex Reviews?!?

 

[Absinthe]

I occasionally read Codex reviews. Other than that I don't trust reviews, although sometimes I'll sift through user reviews for specifics in their gripes and praises while mentally glossing over the stupider reviews. Stupid reviews raging and whining about frustrating mechanics usually increase my interest in a game though because that can mean the game is too good for the retards. For the most part I form my opinion by looking at a strategy guide and flipping through a youtube video or two of somebody playing the game. Occasionally (usually before release), I'll read some interviews with the developers about the game and its inspirations to get a read on their IQ level and design vision. You can usually judge from a developer interview alone if their designers have their heads up their asses and the game is going to be retarded shit.

I don't bother pirating games because that's too much effort for something that is probably shit.

 

[Freddie]

I used to read magazines back in the day, for international stuff Zzap!64 probably made some lasting damage, but in it's heydays it had both, substance and style. I also read C&VG which was also my first realisation of decline, reviews started turned out to pretty obvious ads.

For online stuff, it was a mixed bag for pretty long time. Read various sources every now and then, noticed how gamespot turned to shit, pretty much same pattern that happened to C+VG in late 80's. After that I used to read Eurogamer sometimes but for last few years, especially after ME3, I get most information from Codex and Steam reviews. That said, I also check the forums.

 

[Lostpleb]

I watch Matt Barton videos. Does that count?