A repository for codexian reviews

[behold_a_man]

Idea
Some of you might have noticed that it's hard to find short reviews of games on the codex. I always wanted to see some observations made by codexians about games, produced in a systematic, parseable fashion without time constraints. I guess I can produce a proper environment for that purpose. The aim is to get reviews, ratings, notes, tags, and so on about games without much hassle on my side (perhaps even automating the process fully). After gathering some reviews, I intend to create a script for scraping reviews from this thread and write some Jupyter notebooks with easily viewable, properly parsed data, probably using the pandas package.
Of course, the discussion here can flow anywhere for as long as rule (1) isn't violated (if it is, expect your post to be ignored by the parser).

Rules
1) The review shall be delimited by five equality (=) signs. Whatever you do, don't use this sequence for anything other than delimiting the review. Don't quote someone else's text containing this sequence of symbols. This is the only rule applying to every post here.
2) Reviews should not be placed within spoiler tags (you might use quotes, though; they should improve readability here). I want to parse them as plain text, so no images, no hyperlinks, no enumerations, or other formatting (this might change in the future - but probably won't).
3) A post can contain any number of entries about games.
4) An entry about a game consists of a pair of delimiters at the beginning and the end and pairs KEY: value, where KEY is the name of some game property (like TITLE or REVIEW) and value is, well, value (like "Pillars of Eternity" or "It's not very good"). Values can span over an arbitrary number of lines. Value ends when a new line starting from uppercase characters and a colon is recognized.
5) There are a few keys I will recognize:

1. TITLE - the only key I'll need - for determining the title of a game. I recommend using CRPGAddict's master index (here) for determining it, so that I won't have to care about multiple alternative titles for a single game (also, use proper name: if a game is called there "Quest, The" use the title "The Quest". If the game isn't present here, you can use this one.
2. REVIEW - well, review of the game.
3. RATING - rating of a game - a real number in a range between 0 and 10 inclusive. Use a dot (.) as a decimal separator.
4. TAGS - a list of tags, without any deeper meaning for parsing. By default an empty list.
5. RPG - is this game an RPG? By default True. Should be either True, False, or Maybe. Letter case is immaterial.
6. EXTERNAL - Can your reviews be used for new Top X lists? By default True. Should be either True or False. Letter case is immaterial.
7. NOTES - personal notes.

6) If you want to change something in the game's entry, simply edit your post.

Here is a sample, valid review I already posted for the last "Top X" list with some additional data:

=====
TITLE: Blackguards
REVIEW:
Blackguards, based on 'das Schwarze Auge' ruleset, is a game focused on combat, and all its other elements are subservient: lightning-fast exploration is reminiscent of a puzzle game without puzzles, dialogues are straight and forward (usually towards the battle), and audiovisuals are best described as utilitarian.

As expected, the combat system is splendid. The game featured myriads of ways to develop characters, especially mages, ranging from giving them the ability to resist knockdowns or get enemies' stats to creating impenetrable walls or showering seven adjacent fields with arrows. There were no level-ups; every skirmish gave a certain amount of experience points, which can be used to buy abilities directly - what follows, the game features a strong sense of progression, as one can reinforce some characters before any string of fights. Different types of weapons offered different sets of properties (such as range or added abilities), unique items didn't become commonplace as the game progressed. Each encounter is handcrafted; the game didn't lose its grip even at the very end, as each of its five chapters provided quite a few memorable challenges with diverse enemies and interactive environments. Understanding the battlefield was oftentimes more important than knowledge of the combat system, as a lot of maps featured unique traps or constraints requiring tailored strategies.

The game had some hiccups, though: despite being combat-focused, the party is determined by the plot rather than by a player - which is a shame, as a lot of the encounters begged for testing them with a different party setup. Very few choices had actual consequences; while it's nice that the game doesn't reward do-gooders with unrealistic benefits, the game feels very linear most of the time. Both of those things limit replayability.

RATING: 6.5
TAGS: ['combat-focused', 'environmental interaction']
RPG: true
=====

I still don't know how leading / trailing whitespaces will be parsed.

Infrastructure
For creating a proper entry, you may use the 'create_review' function, as shown in the second cell of the 'Create_check.ipynb' file:
https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/codexianbeholdaman/Revioos/HEAD
It boils down to this simple script you can run if you can run Python:

script

_delimiter = chr(61)+'===='

def create_review(title, **kwargs):
    format_element = lambda key, value: f'{key.upper()}: {value}'
    full_res = _delimiter + '\n'
    full_res += format_element('title', title) + '\n'
    for key in kwargs:
        full_res += format_element(key.upper(), kwargs[key]) + '\n'
    return full_res + _delimiter

print(create_review(title='Blackguards',
                    review = '''
                    Some review
                    Notice the multiline string!
                    ''',
                    rating = 6.5,
                    tags = ['combat-focused', 'environmental interaction'],
                    rpg = True,
                   ))

This application (binder) exposes the repository I stuffed here:
https://github.com/codexianbeholdaman/Revioos/tree/main
where I'll move all the updates.

If you notice an issue or have questions, doubts, or problems running the script, you can ask here.

 

[vitellus]

so for this post or all over? if someone leaves a review for battle bros clone #11 on page nine of a thread, will it pick it up provided it follows the rules you've laid out?

 

[behold_a_man]

so for this post or all over? if someone leaves a review for battle bros clone #11 on page nine of a thread, will it pick it up provided it follows the rules you've laid out?

Yes, for any post over here, that's the assumption. I intend to create a scraper that every ?month? will search each page (even those already parsed - in case someone edited his review, or whatever) on this thread for reviews, and for each post with five equality signs, parse it for reviews, aggregate them, store them in a repository I linked, and create a tool to view them. I don't exactly know if this idea is feasible (i.e., that anyone is willing to post his reviews here), but I guess seeing reviews from people with similar tastes would simplify my and other people's search for games to play, so I want to see it bear fruit. I searched for anyone trying to implement a similar idea but haven't found anything (if I recall correctly, Konjad created a similar thread, but it was hard to search and not intended for scrapers).

 

[behold_a_man]

And here is another short review:

=====
TITLE: Pathfinder: Kingmaker
REVIEW:
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is based on - surprise - Pathfinder ruleset, porting an entire adventure path called - guess what - Kingmaker. This game combines standard RPG mechanics with managing a kingdom, and is all-around one of the most complex games I have ever played.

The best part of the game is combat. It can be switched between turn based or real-time with pause for those with more barbaric tastes. Each character class has several archetypes with some distinguishing factor, such as having an animal or bombs. Each chapter is densely packed with combat - which is not a problem, as some samples are needed to test a build and adjust it; besides, encounters can be speeded up. The way you develop characters has a dramatic effect on a game; a single perk can be the difference between making combat a slog or a banal two-turn-long skirmish. Pretty much any aspect of the difficulty can be changed, like removing critical hits or multiplying the damage done to the party. The game has almost everything I ever wanted from a combat-focused game.

Plot-wise, the entire game revolves around the question "how to rule a kingdom"? Will you slay Armag, your neighbourhood pillager? How will you treat Lamashtu enjoyers? Will you show mercy and retain the services of a betrayer, who is also one of the essential people in your barony? All those choices have consequences - from simple alignment shifts or changing the set of available advisors, to losing companions permanently or completely changing the endgame.

As you can guess, the game was not perfect. One of the aspects I disliked was exploration. Most of the world consists of nonsensically small, copy-pasted locations with a single event or encounter. Other ones were usually predictable and somewhat mundane - except maybe for the controversial House at the Edge of Time and a certain tomb. On the bright side, weighty rations and the camping system with tasks assigned to party members added some depth to this aspect of the game. Furthermore, while having kingdom management part in this game is understandable given the plot, its implementation leaves much to be desired; the mechanics here felt shallow, and some actions seemed very suboptimal (like creating most buildings).

Overall, maybe the most impressive thing about this game is how it retained quality over around 200 hours of playthrough.

RATING: 9
TAGS: ['combat-focused', 'choices and consequences']
=====

I cleaned the notebook a bit, it should be easier to navigate now.

 

[Late Bloomer]

TITLE: Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Overall, maybe the most impressive thing about this game is how it retained quality over around 200 hours of playthrough.
RATING: 9

 

[Hag]

Happy to contribute !

***
KEY:value
NAME : MORROWIND
OPINION :
Couldn't find the Dwemer cube, but nice birds.

RATING : 74.1%
RPG GAME : no.
KEY:value
=====

 

[behold_a_man]

=====
TITLE: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
REVIEW:
The primary element distinguishing Human Revolution from other RPGs is the abundance of options for solving immediate problems. Not every game allows me to bludgeon a boss to death with some random plastic box, drag a guard's body to deactivate the laser system, move along with the cover, or even shoot enemies with tranquilizing darts in different parts of the body so as to synchronize their downfall. The character progression was focused on giving the player new options rather than making him more powerful in a specific domain, increasing the number of possible approaches to missions.

I admired the level design: situations in which I had to maneuver oftentimes surprised me (like lightning-fast carnage during the emergency landing or hunting the hunters in Alice Pods), hubs had their secrets (including additional missions), and most of the time, I could skip a huge chunk of pretty much any mission using proper strategy and augmentations. Also, unlike pretty much any game I've ever played, the enemies didn't become stronger as the game progressed - they were rather a function of the plot, and difficulty came first and foremost from the scenery.

The game had quite a few issues: the soundtrack felt like subdued elevator music for the most part, Jensen replaced JC's charm with inane moralizations worthy of an ex-cop, and The Missing Link add-on, initially a standalone DLC, now added before the penultimate mission, breaks the pacing of the game, is unrelated, unrewarding (in the context of the main plot), and filled with backtracking. The worst aspect of this game was probably the experience system rewarding certain styles of playing very heavily, including clearing the map of enemies (rather than leaving no traces), possibly leading to getting overpowered early on.

NOTES:
The game was much more entertaining when I didn't try to play like a completionist, skipped sections of missions, and was allergic to hacking. It's somewhat funny: when I played it this way (which was probably the intended way), I was always short of PRAXIS points and couldn't do a lot of the things I wanted; but when I tried to explore everything, I knew how to avoid using some utility, so I didn't need that much but had much more than before.

I think the game initially had skills akin to Deus Ex that got removed afterwards; first, there were few PRAXIS points found in the wild, and they were hard to find; they would be quite meaningful if not for their overabundance. Secondly, there were, like, 5 total skills tied to weapons or takedowns (2 useless). And hacking (a substitute for Deus Ex multitools and lockpicking) had five levels that were important but pretty banal in their implications; a similar thing happened with dermal armor. I think the developers didn't know how to separate both, so they merged skills and augmentations in the most banal way, devaluating exploration.

RATING: 7
TAGS: ['immersive sim']
=====

I have pretty much finished the scrapper. It's useless yet, though (unless you enjoy breathtaking plots like

this

, that is).