Gamepad Dojo Reviews

[Kim]

So, after going a while without updating the site I recently added two reviews.

Mirai Gen Reviews Mirror's Edge (http://www.gamepaddojo.com/id36.html)

NonCon Reviews Persona 4 (http://www.gamepaddojo.com/id37.html)

Go ahead and critique the reviews, I'm more than open to it. I plan on doing reviews for MadWorld and FFXII as soon as I finish the latter, so expect those in the near future.

Also, I'm aware that the site is as ugly as ever. I'll get around to fixing that... eventually.

[bluestarultor]

Well, first off, Mirai's on a wee bit of thin ice for not being able to give a rating. Especially when that's what most people look for in a review. On the other hand, he justifies it. What really is a major issue is that there's no problem with adding a qualifier to a recommendation, and he bounces between saying he liked it, saying he won't recommend it, and saying that people need to try it right after saying it's not worth a rental. There is a smell of sandals in the air, if you know what I mean. What could remedy that is simply putting down two groups: a stance for people who meet criteria that might allow them to enjoy the game, and a separate stance that can serve to warn away people who will find it frustrating.

Also for Mirai's review, it seems to ramble a bit in no constructive way. Some of this is because of the format. There are lots of small paragraphs and too much blank space for the review's own good.

In short, the info is all pretty good, but there needs to be one or more solid stance, and the format needs major work to keep readers interested in continuing down the page.




As for your review, the format is much better. There's maybe a couple grammatical errors, but overall, it's not too bad. Something I do see is there's a little too much attention paid to insignificant game details, like the status defects, which gives them seemingly undue importance compared to more important details, like the weakness system.

Also, in one case, there's a large shift in subject that's not matched by a large space in between. When you go from talking about battle to talking about the Social Links, there should be a clear break in between. In that area, I think things might actually be a bit better-explained with a bit more detail, although what you have is pretty good.

Another thing that strikes me is that you start the review long and then it drops off and dwindles to nothing after you're done with gameplay. It looks like you had a review, realized your deadline was in an hour, and threw together a small comment for the rest. The effect is somewhat unsatisfying in that there's so much hinted at, but so little delivered. In terms of graphics, examples might be in order, like if there's a level that looks like the inside of a beehive, you should work it in somehow, and there's no mention of what KIND of music the game has. Many people played P3 and loved the music in the game because it was executed so well, even though they despised the genre. If the case is the same, just say, "hey, it's well-executed, so lovers of Beethoven-inspired heavy-metal rap ballads (or whatever) will drool for the soundtrack, and it shouldn't turn too many people completely off while they play." Also, WHY does the main battle theme need to die in a fire? Is it a totally inappropriate whale-song Enya remix? Are there high, annoying notes all over the place? Is it just poorly put-together?

Most importantly, the difficulty gets next to no attention. What you need to do is express in anecdotal terms how difficult the game is. Like "OMG THE FIRST BOSS BEAT ME TO DEATH WITH MY OWN LIFE BAR ON EASY!" or "the first few battles feature monsters who take your party over their knees and spank them, just to set the tone" or "the enemies always seem to know your party's weakest member and focus on him, and never fail to exploit a weakness in your current Persona." Just saying, "it's hard, yo!" doesn't provide enough info for the reader to judge by.

Also, counting off the systems only goes so far. Quest 64 had great systems, but the implementation blew. Your gameplay area could use some subjective opinions on how well certain things worked and what those things were.

Basically, the review boils down to a couple minor technical errors and a need to less recount facts and more give an understandable opinion and supporting examples.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Oh jesus. Nonny I'll have a retro review for you tomorrow evening.

[Bells]

I don't like formulaic reviews. Never did. Even when i was going on IGN for reviews, i would always start at the end. With the closing comments. Because. they are more personal. And if i liked or got curious, i would track back for the technical stuff.

The same reason why i never watch trailers of games or "official videos". I look for gameplay footage. To see what is it like to actually be playing that game...

I also don't like Scores... they tend to be way too much loose to serve as any kind of basis. What makes a game B and what makes it B+? What is a 8.5 game and a 8.7 game? Or a 8 game compared to a 7.5 one?!

This is why, whenever i talk about a game i take a page out of this guy

http://www.youtube.com/user/wiiviewr?blend=1&ob=4

Wiiviewr on Youtube. Just a dude, in his house, doing reviews. Sometimes with his kid. He classifies the game in a way that i think is spot on. Just "buy, rent or skip". Even when he comes down on games that i like (like Tales of Symphonia 2, which he didn't finish.) i can't find an ounce of bias on him nor dislike his work. He gives a personal account of what it was like for him to sit down and play the game, and he goes for the non-mainstream titles, which i really appreciate.

EDIT: Also, he is appreciated on Youtube to the level where Ubisoft offered him free games to review and added him to their Press Release list.

Maybe Gamepad Dojo can become one of these places i go to hear about games without having to dodge Bias =P i already like what you guys put there, but of course, there is room for improvement.

[CelesJessa]

Randomly! I think there maybe needs to be more pictures with the reviews. Maybe I am easily distracted but I think huge chunks of text can be taken easier if there's some relevent screenshots with it (a funny caption to go with the screenshot is also a plus), especially when you're discussing visual aspects of the game.

Plus it makes the long (4+ pages equivalent?) essays more bearable and wouldn't make people such as, say, me, just skip right to the final word to get the gist of it instead of having to read that huge wall of text.

[Kim]

Thank you all for your criticism. It was much needed. I've been wanting to add pictures, so I'll probably start doing that and modify existing ones.

Blues: I'll probably shorten the status effect bit down a little. Also, reason that the gameplay part was so long versus everything else is that there was much more to discuss and I didn't know what I should cut out of that part and add to the others to make it more balanced. I didn't want the other parts to feel needlessly drawn out. Any tips? Also, with the difficulty part, explaining that is probably going to be very hard, though I want to figure out a way of simplifying that into categories or something.

Bells: I change my review style around on what I feel suits the game best. Persona 4 I felt would be easier to review if categorized, whereas, if I remember correctly, I just blather on and on about Mother 3. Thing with points is that I don't change anything to fit the points, they're just there for reference for those that like them. In fact, I'll do a quick number scale for what each number would be.

10: Not perfect, as no game is, but raises the bar for video games in one or more regards, with almost no flaws whatsoever.

8-9: Excellent. Great game, worth owning. Only a few minor flaws hold it back.

6-7: Very good. Worth at least a rent, the experience is hampered by one or more flaws.

5: Average. Okay, worth a rent if you are particularly interested in the game or genre, but several flaws keep it from being a worthwhile gaming experience.

3-4: Bad. Not really worth playing, unless for free. Does a few things right, but they are overpowered by the things done wrong.

1-2: Very bad. Just not worth playing at all. Flawed on a fundamental level and cannot be salvaged.

0: Can't be classified as a game. Generally used to refer to the glitchy, broken, godawful messes that most game magazines give a 3.

I'm not sure I'd say I'm without bias, but I appreciate the compliment.

So, in short, make the reviews more personal, add pictures, and balance them out? Can do.

[Bells]

we all are biased! Nobody can review games without having some sort of biased.. but as long as you don't hide it and play clean about it, nobody has the right the complain... after all, is your review.

[Kim]

Pretty much. I don't pretend to be unbiased. Basically, by being upfront about it I want people to be able to know whether they'll share my opinion on games.

[Mirai Gen]

[Mirai] bounces between saying he liked it, saying he won't recommend it, and saying that people need to try it right after saying it's not worth a rental.
Hey guys, Blues got it.

I'm going to work on another review probably at some point that's more traditional but I'm not sure - since I started doing the podcast I've yet to feel the Traditional Reviewin' Itch.

[bluestarultor]

I whipped up a sample review that's both categorized and convenient. I'll attach it to this, and if someone wants to actually use it, I suppose it could be a guest review or something. I dunno. Don't really have the time to play games and do this kind of thing. To put it this way, I gave myself 10 categories worth 10 points each, for a total of 100. Before reviewing, I defined exactly what each point stood for and a recommendation scale, and then proceeded throughout the whole review, marking down what I really thought about each category. Honestly, the end result surprised me, not because I thought it was too high, but because I thought it would be higher, since I really like this game. By setting forth the parameters ahead of time, I took a largely subjective notion of a game's qualities and turned it into a surprisingly objective score and recommendation.



*Edited with updated version.*

[Kim]

The thing is is that I don't think that every aspect is as relevant to the end score as every other, and though the main factor in one game might be the gameplay, in another it might be the story. For example, in my Left 4 Dead review I was able to say, "I'm not going to score based on the story, because that was in no way the point of the game."

That said, it still seems to be a pretty good review, the system just isn't for me. You don't mind if I put it on the site, do you?

[Mirai Gen]

Hey Nonnie, you want us to start compiling pictures to take to the review with us? Because I can totally do that, and I've got some select ones I'd like to include.

I actually did that a bit in my essay on Suffixes on DMR and I think it makes it more fun to read, never thought about doing this on Mirror's Edge.

Also as a tip for the site, can we get the reviews shrunk down so they don't have giant spaces in between paragraphs? I think Blues mentioned that but I thought it was my review itself, not necessarily appearances.

[bluestarultor]

Non: No, I don't mind at all! I just wanted to be clear that I'm not going to be able to reliably produce work due to time constraints, in case that was what you were looking for. XD

Really, the beauty of the system is that a missing portion, based on the criteria I used, does less to hurt the score than a poor attempt, since it's based on a quality scale to judge what's there. Also, the points are a wide enough spread that no one score really hurts the total.



Mirai: It depends on how it's organized. Are you doing this in HTML? I can help with that. It wasn't really a problem in NonCon's review, so I thought it was a stylistic choice on your part.

[Kim]

I don't use HTML for the bulk of it, but I can go into the HTML for the pages if I need to.

[Mirai Gen]

Are you doing this in HTML?
I'm doing this in Open Office and sending the file to him. So I don't know what's going on but it has to be on his side of the fence, not mine. I'm about as practiced and fluent with any form of coding as banging my ass on the keyboard to build a webpage. Plus I saw all my reviews do this so I figured it was something on his end of the site but didn't think much of it.

So, Non, all up to you.

[Bells]

at some point you should just combine the reviews with Mirai's podcast XD

[bluestarultor]

Well, if you guys are going to use my review, I cleaned it up a little bit where I found spelling and grammatical errors, so after posting this, I'm going to re-upload it in an edit to my original attachment post.

[Kim]

Sounds good. I plan on posting at least one review from myself, as well as one from Bells, later tonight, so I'll put it up then.

[bluestarultor]

Just as a note, I changed the strikethrough on the 9 on the voice section from [s] BBCode tages to <del> HTML tags. Actually, if you want, I can do the entire thing in HTML, if that would be easier to handle. Or give you a short text file with useful tags for your own use.

[Kim]

Nah, that's fine. I really don't use any HTML on the site, though I could choose to if I knew some. I just need the review how you want it to look, and I can carry that over to the on-site review pretty easily.

[bluestarultor]

The only real formatting I did was that strikethrough, honestly.

[Kim]

Blues, your review is up. Here (http://www.gamepaddojo.com/id38.html)

If I need to fix anything just let me know. Oh, and I didn't notice if you said what console it is for. All I need from you now is a one sentence summary of your review and a joke comment for me to throw on the side.

[bluestarultor]

How about "Blue reviews Tales of the Abyss for the PS2" and "Coach Fired for 0-100 Scale" or something. To play on the 100-point girl's basketball game.

Edit: Unless something else would be more appropriate for that joke phrase. I'll try to look at it in the morning. Going to bed now.

Scratch that. I'll be more creative in the morning.



Morning Edit:

Summary: "Tales of the Abyss for the PS2 is a fine example of a well-acted game hampered only by the player's ability to miss extras and possible inability to tolerate the cast in the early game before they have a chance to learn from each other."

Joke: "The designers deserve credit for alerting you to just what kind of unlikeable flaw each party member has by their appearance. Truly, a well-designed game."

[Kim]

Final Fantasy XII Review (http://www.gamepaddojo.com/id40.html)

tl;dr: Rad game is rad, even when it isn't.

Bluestarultor's review of Final Fantasy X-2 (http://gamepaddojo.com/id41.html)

[Mirai Gen]

I'm glad you took my recommendations, the review looks much more interesting and fun to read.

I'll have a Mad World review for you once the mood strikes me, I gotta figure out what I'mma say.

[Lumenskir]

I think the main problem you'll face with your site is (1) You're not well known enough to warrant advance copies of games (2) you're not currently interesting enough to warrant page views of reviews that concern games months-to-years old. I mean, I check back with the few videogame review sites I read because they're either "chronologically relevant" or "fun", and right now you're hosting a site that features back of the box reviews at least a few months out of date.

For people like me, what is your response? "Fuck you, our reviews are great!" or "We'll try and make our reviews more timely?"

[Kim]

We're going to try and make our reviews more timely, but I also want to have a lot of reviews of older games so someone could go, "Hey, I wonder if, say, FFX2 is any good. Guess I'll check GPD and see what they think." Obviously it's going to be a while before we can have enough older reviews for it to matter, which is why I'm going to do more reviews of recent games, but for the time being I'm pretty much restricted to what the local video store has for rental. I am also trying to do better reviews. Honestly, I don't really expect this site to take off, but it is a good way to share reviews of games and it is good practice so that I can write better ones.

[Mirai Gen]

Also we may not have Tim Rogers' fan following and writing style but that's more or less what the site seems to aim towards for me - just here, this is our reviews. Reviews are here.

This isn't trying to be a business anyway.

[Kim]

This isn't trying to be a business anyway.

Well, there goes my idea for "I Liked FFXII" t-shirts and the "Chrono Trigger for the DS was a disappointment" boxers. And just what am I going to do with all these "Afro Samurai was okay!" bumper stickers?

[Mirai Gen]

"Chrono Trigger for the DS was a disappointment" boxers.
Actually I think if we did a t-shirt of "Chrono Trigger is cool whereas Chrono Cross does drugs and called your mom a whore" we might be onto something!

[Kim]

Or a t-shirt that says, "Fuck you. I beat God Hand on Hard."

I actually have tried to come up with some nifty shirt ideas, but it's hard to come up with anything that people would buy even if they didn't frequent the site, let alone is worth getting and doesn't violate copyright.

[Mirai Gen]

For now just work on the site, you need to have fans to have fans with cash.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Actually I think if we did a t-shirt of "Chrono Trigger is cool whereas Chrono Cross does drugs and called your mom a whore" we might be onto something!

I'd wear it.

[Kim]

I'm thinking I might do a little write-up/essay thing about how video games should try and have good plot, but that plot is supposed to be a springboard for the gameplay and the minute the plot detracts from the gameplay you lose.

[bluestarultor]

You know, in terms of my reviews, there's pretty much no way I'm going to be able to sustain regular updates with even the library I have, due to a lack of having finished many of my games or having the time to do so. Really, my first review was to show a point. I didn't really expect to do more.

I also am highly unlikely to be able to provide games for current-gen systems, since my laptop isn't exactly a gaming rig, and while I have the entire PlayStation line at my disposal (as well as Game Boy through DS), my library is almost universally outdated by years, short of a few PS3 games Phantom got.

Basically, the only thing I'm good for is reviewing old PS-line RPGs. XD