Pillars of Eternity II - RPG Codex Review

Archangel said:
Codex is not really trying to write a review for the wider public like big gaming sites do, they write it for its members first and foremost. What you call bias is just another set of values that games are merited by.
Just like mainstream sites have a bias for QoL, good (AAA) graphics or MP features.
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Yeah, many reviews are (overtly) biased - and it's a big reason I don't have a lot of respect for many reviewers.

Personally, I can't think of too many reviewers I really care for. There's a guy on Gamespot that's pretty good, though I forget his name and I don't know if he's still there.

I think Maylander does a great job at maintaining a balance between relevance and objective insight. He's played enough games to know what he's talking about - but he's also aware that he's not the center of the universe.

Beyond that, he's not trying to make an impression with verbosity and he doesn't seem to have the Codexian trait of enjoying the dismissal of differing opinions at inappropriate moments.

That's a nice combination, I find.

If people enjoy biased reviews that fit well with their own preferences, I can certainly understand why. It's not really my idea of a great review, though.
 
ChaosTheory said:
"To summarise, I honestly think there isn’t a single competent writer left at Obsidian anymore, which, considering the company’s history, is about as funny as it is tragic. Meanwhile those that remain are not just bad, which wouldn’t even be that aggravating, but also very obviously unaware of their incompetence, which results in them overreaching and producing tripe that they should have never attempted doing in the first place. How sad."

What a wonderful crowd! I stopped reading after this line. It's one thing to say stuff like that on a forum, if you believe it and accept your loss of credibility, but to put that in an official review is unnecessary.
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At this point you should know what the Codex is, being nasty/snarky is their motto and that's precisely the reason why most people read their reviews. So if they sanitise they then just became RPGWatch* :p



* i don't mean that in derogatory way!
 
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Silver Coin said:
Codex reviews overcompensate and are full of bias, hyperbole, and edginess.

The news should be a place for respectable critic reviews in my opinion. These low quality reviews should be reserved for the general RPG subforum.
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Obviously you will decide what is "respectable" for the rest of us!

If you don't know what the Codex is by now, shame on you!
 
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TomRon said:
Well yes, that's also true. But that's why it's often an entertaining read.
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Exactly, I go to the codex for comedy value more than anything. Asking the codex to change is like asking a comedian to chnage to asking beer to change its taste! you either like it or you don't.
 
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Darth Tagnan said:
Yeah, many reviews are (overtly) biased - and it's a big reason I don't have a lot of respect for many reviewers.

Personally, I can't think of too many reviewers I really care for. There's a guy on Gamespot that's pretty good, though I forget his name and I don't know if he's still there.

I think Maylander does a great job at maintaining a balance between relevance and objective insight. He's played enough games to know what he's talking about - but he's also aware that he's not the center of the universe.

Beyond that, he's not trying to make an impression with verbosity and he doesn't seem to have the Codexian trait of enjoying the dismissal of differing opinions at inappropriate moments.

That's a nice combination, I find.

If people enjoy biased reviews that fit well with their own preferences, I can certainly understand why. It's not really my idea of a great review, though.
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Thanks!
 
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lostforever said:
Exactly, I go to the codex for comedy value more than anything. Asking the codex to change is like asking a comedian to chnage to asking beer to change its taste! you either like it or you don't.
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I pity the man that finds their juvenile humor funny. They're practically 4chan.
 
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Silver Coin said:
I pity the man that finds their juvenile humor funny. They're practically 4chan.
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You misunderstand. You don't laugh WITH them, you laugh AT them. ;)
 
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I must admit I don't detect much humor in Codex reviews. I do detect some kind of hivemind obsession with fitting into a certain RPG-geek stereotype.

It's my theory that many of them are part of the Codex because they feel a sense of belonging, and acting like a cerebrally challenged elitist is a way of announcing allegiance to an unspoken and counterproductive song of the "edgy individuals" who didn't manage the independence of spirit to sing something that's truly of their own composing.

Beneath the surface, there's a lot of insight - and I think many of them would be great contributors if they could rid themselves of the Codexian nonsense.

That's what I always liked about the Watch. We've somehow managed to not get cultish about our shared love of CRPGs.

That's really quite rare for intimate forums of this nature, I find.
 
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