Review RPG Codex Review: Darth Roxor on Disappointment, thy name is Pillars of Eternity

[dieu]

Is anyone going to write a review of the drama?

seen better staff drama


however there's potential for it to blow up.

Get back in here, Irenaeus

 

[Ulminati]

This is like when Infinitron was in the shoutbox saying:
"Some people claim the staff is pushing an agenda to kiss up to the devs. Regardless of whether or not that is true, that policy gave us most of the recent news and interviews"

Parapharsing a bit because searching the shoutbox archives is tedious work.

Then he went on to mention the codex getting all those free Might & Magic X keys and sending Grunker to Gamescom. How'd that review go again? Oh, right...

In summary, MMXL does not quite live up to the expectations that I had when reading everything that was released by Limbic about the game, as well as the Codex previews. Perhaps no game could have lived up to the expectations one builds after 12 years of waiting for the next entry in a beloved series, an entry that no one ever expected would see the light of day.

Followed a few lines later by:

The final verdict should be obvious by now: MMXL is a must-buy and a must-play. Limbic did a superlative job in bringing together many beloved elements from the series, improving where they could and not dumbing down where it matters. The flaws are immaterial in the grand scheme of things

 

[thesheeep]

Is ERYFKRAD a bot or on a mission to cause a brofist inflation?

 

[Grunker]

Is ERYFKRAD a bot or on a mission to cause a brofist inflation?

He has taken over the crusade of the great anus_pounder. We who are about to be fisted salute him

 

[Bubbles]

I think he's just happy about the drama.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is ERYFKRAD a bot or on a mission to cause a brofist inflation?

Neither.
Long live anus_pounder

 

[thesheeep]

I do other things with my hands when I'm happy, but to each his own.

 

[A horse of course]

#teamInfinitron

 

[Volrath]

This is like when Infinitron was in the shoutbox saying:
"Some people claim the staff is pushing an agenda to kiss up to the devs. Regardless of whether or not that is true, that policy gave us most of the recent news and interviews"

Parapharsing a bit because searching the shoutbox archives is tedious work.

Then he went on to mention the codex getting all those free Might & Magic X keys and sending Grunker to Gamescom. How'd that review go again? Oh, right...

In summary, MMXL does not quite live up to the expectations that I had when reading everything that was released by Limbic about the game, as well as the Codex previews. Perhaps no game could have lived up to the expectations one builds after 12 years of waiting for the next entry in a beloved series, an entry that no one ever expected would see the light of day.

Followed a few lines later by:

The final verdict should be obvious by now: MMXL is a must-buy and a must-play. Limbic did a superlative job in bringing together many beloved elements from the series, improving where they could and not dumbing down where it matters. The flaws are immaterial in the grand scheme of things

Is this the reason Roxxor hates MMX with a passion?

 

[Ulminati]

Only Darth Roxor knows that. I didn't paticularly care about the game one way or another. It felt like an exercise in mediocrity for me. It was just the one Infinitron brought up where the publisher paid the Doritos Tithe™

 

[Franny Frogpill]

seen better staff drama

It's my first.


Posting both reviews at the same time would have been the reasonable approach, methinks. But then again, going for the butthurt is so much more Codexian.

 

[Ulminati]

Ah, here we go, the statements from infinitron!

Apr 22, 2015 at 1:22 PM - Infinitron: there have been some accusations that certain Codex staff members have an agenda to ingratiate the forum with developers
Apr 22, 2015 at 1:22 PM - Infinitron: regardless of the validity of that, it's worth pointing out that the most recent news is in part of a result of such ingratiation
Apr 22, 2015 at 1:27 PM - Infinitron: Ubisoft paid for Grunker's trip to Gamescom and gave us a bunch of free MMX keys
Apr 22, 2015 at 1:28 PM - Infinitron: Well, a free airline flight is more than what we usually get

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...chive-4-2015-03-22.97896/page-77#post-3877098


Lesson for the day kids: Kodex Kontent Kurators are as trustworthy as Kotaku and Polygon

 

[Bubbles]

FYI, I've never physically interacted with any Daedalic employees in my life.

 

[A horse of course]

FYI, I've never physically interacted with any Daedalic employees in my life.

 

[Lurker King]

Well, it's true in my case, I haven't even played the game. But I argue that Sawyer making said remarks IS reason enough to hate the game. Both for the damage inevitably done unto it, and for the possible, future damage to other properties, should sawyerism become a trend

Well, thank you for being honest. I just notice that you didn’t receive any brofist from the haters. That is curious. Sawyer’s remarks are reason enough to hate him, but not the game. There are many ways to dissuade Obsidian about his ideas. You can write critical texts about his design philosophy, pinpoint how many problems in POE were caused by him, etc. But to say that POE is the worst game of Obsidian, worse than SoZ, South Park and Dungeon Siege III? What do you think a developer will think when he realizes that you are bashing the game as horrible without even played it? You are practically ensuring that Sawyerism will become a trend inside Obsidian. The only side that matters to me is the side of rationality, the side in which things make sense. Neither haters no Sawyer makes sense anymore.

After playing SSR, a game with mediocre writing, but it does a really good job at making me picture those people and how they move in my head and its good, its how i like it. Then come across PoEs writing and its jarring, and oh so boring, my brain instantly losses interest and i have to keep forcing myself to read...

 

[Cadmus]

I liked the review. As many have said before me, I agree with all Roxor's points but at the same time they are less important for me. The game is kinda annoying and frustrating almost equally to being enjoyable. I still quite like it, because there is nothing like it on the market. I absolutely love the graphics and style and I wish more games paid such attention to these. Roxor is still right and by my measure the review is way more accurate than VD's WL2 review.

The staff drama is stupid, same as bro Iraerneaus (however true to his nature it may be) being an attention whore and writing kinda funny one-liners. I guess he isn't being serious, so no big deal.
I don't give a shit about The Codex news reposting so I don't care if Obsidian don't invite anybody ever again to share some inside knowledge or nobody goes to those shitty game festivals.
This is the first time I notice the staff being children about a negative review, shame on me for having been so naive.

EDIT: I completely agree with Lhynn about the writing, if people can't see the difference they must be fucking retarded. I also noticed PoE likes to use big, descriptive words and long sentences all the time, it's gotten really tedious by the Act III. Dragonfall makes the description way shorter, more to the point and really only conveys what's going on with the character that you can't tell from the game. It's more fun and funny, too. I like that game so much more.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

The situation was very simple. VD/Grunkers review was still several weeks down the line (at least 1 month) because VD is pretty busy and can't play that much plus he's made all the NPCs hostile and couldn't proceed (with all the NPCs hostile couldn't do quests and stuff) and thusly had to start over.
Roxor's review on the other hand was ready to go. Everybody (except Infinitron and Grunker) agreed that the review was good. Too harsh perhaps, too much of a rant, sometimes factually inaccurate, but good. With VD's review more than a month away, it made sense to post Roxor's review now and VD's/Grunk's when it will be ready. No big deal one would presume. But after reading through the content threads and assorted pms it became obvious to me that it's one hell of a deal for some people. No matter the cop-outs used now by Infinitron, it's 100% beyond the shade of doubt obvious that he's trying to enforce an agenda here (goodwill with the developers) and that Roxor's review couldn't be posted because it's negative. What if Roxor's review was positive (10/10 timeless classic), do you think any of this drama would have happened? Anyway, I won't stand aside, not now and not in the future, and let this bullshit happen here on the Codex.
Turns out, I'm not the only one who still remembers what the Codex is about, something Infinitron apparently never knew:

Spoiler

Never take the Codex professionally¹. You should all see us as a community site, not IGN. If a member of our community writes a solid review containing their opinion of a game, the only reason(s) not to post should be:

a) We already have 15,000 reviews of that game and ffs stop posting about it already.
b) It reads like someone spewed up a garbled mess of incoherent words and it's not even funny.
c) We already have content up and we're holding off to post it later (rather than having 15 new content articles up at one time and then nothing for 6 months).

If a review is well-written and contains someone honest, and well explained opinions of a game (that falls within the broad range of games which we cover), there shouldn't be any reason to not post it. Even if, in fact especially if, that opinion disagrees with the majority of opinions expressed on the Codex.

That people disagree with an opinion expressed or posted as a review on the Codex should not be seen as a bad thing. In fact, in most circumstances, it should be encouraged. The whole point of the Codex is that we are free to debate, until we are blue in the face, the merits or otherwise of anyone's opinion. If a review is "bad" (not badly written but perhaps not adequately explained or disagreeing with a lot of people), let the Codex community deal with that in the comments.

A point someone raises as criticism doesn't make sense? Or you feel is invalidated by another aspect of the game? Argue it in the comments. Hell, write your own god-damned review if you feel up to it. Be critical. The thing we should be least afraid of here is debate and varying opinions.

That's what we exist for.

As Zed has said, developer goodwill is not a goal of the Codex. We still like Timmy and Avellone, even though they fuck up from time to time. If that makes them stop posting, that is not our concern. Our concern should primarily be with honest and well explained opinions. Someone doesn't like a game the Codex is salivating over? That's great, maybe it's time to hear a different opinion then.

¹Professional means you're worried about:
- Dorritos,
- Offending someone,
- Trying to present or not present a certain image of the site.
- Being all sirius bizness.

One of the reasons I troll half the site at times is to remind people here not to take things too seriously.

And this is where the discussion ends.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Revoke Unfunitron's brofists.

 

[ArchAngel]

Can I poast this to Gamergate yet

Needs some tits first.

 

[Grauken]

The situation was very simple. VD/Grunkers review was still several weeks down the line (at least 1 month) because VD is pretty busy and can't play that much plus he's made all the NPCs hostile and couldn't proceed (with all the NPCs hostile couldn't do quests and stuff) and thusly had to start over.
Roxor's review on the other hand was ready to go. Everybody (except Infinitron and Grunker) agreed that the review was good. Too harsh perhaps, to much of a rant, sometimes factually inaccurate, but good. With VD's review more than a month away, it made sense to post Roxor's review now and VD's/Grunk's when it will be ready. No big deal one would presume. But after reading through the content threads and assorted pms it became obvious to me that it's one hell of a deal for some people. No matter the cop-outs used now by Infinitron, it's 100% beyond the shade of doubt obvious that he's trying to enforce an agenda here (goodwill with the developers) and that Roxor's review couldn't be posted because it's negative. What if Roxor's review was positive (10/10 timeless classic), do you think any of this drama would have happened? Anyway, I won't stand aside, not now and not in the future, and let this bullshit happen here on the Codex.
Turns out, I'm not the only one who still remembers what the Codex is about, something Infinitron apparently never knew:

Spoiler

Never take the Codex professionally¹. You should all see us as a community site, not IGN. If a member of our community writes a solid review containing their opinion of a game, the only reason(s) not to post should be:

a) We already have 15,000 reviews of that game and ffs stop posting about it already.
b) It reads like someone spewed up a garbled mess of incoherent words and it's not even funny.
c) We already have content up and we're holding off to post it later (rather than having 15 new content articles up at one time and then nothing for 6 months).

If a review is well-written and contains someone honest, and well explained opinions of a game (that falls within the broad range of games which we cover), there shouldn't be any reason to not post it. Even if, in fact especially if, that opinion disagrees with the majority of opinions expressed on the Codex.

That people disagree with an opinion expressed or posted as a review on the Codex should not be seen as a bad thing. In fact, in most circumstances, it should be encouraged. The whole point of the Codex is that we are free to debate, until we are blue in the face, the merits or otherwise of anyone's opinion. If a review is "bad" (not badly written but perhaps not adequately explained or disagreeing with a lot of people), let the Codex community deal with that in the comments.

A point someone raises as criticism doesn't make sense? Or you feel is invalidated by another aspect of the game? Argue it in the comments. Hell, write your own god-damned review if you feel up to it. Be critical. The thing we should be least afraid of here is debate and varying opinions.

That's what we exist for.

As Zed has said, developer goodwill is not a goal of the Codex. We still like Timmy and Avellone, even though they fuck up from time to time. If that makes them stop posting, that is not our concern. Our concern should primarily be with honest and well explained opinions. Someone doesn't like a game the Codex is salivating over? That's great, maybe it's time to hear a different opinion then.

¹Professional means you're worried about:
- Dorritos,
- Offending someone,
- Trying to present or not present a certain image of the site.
- Being all sirius bizness.

One of the reasons I troll half the site at times is to remind people here not to take things too seriously.

And this is where the discussion ends.

I want to brofist our master raptor so hard right now

 

[Hatred]

My respect for the 'dex just rose by some large number. Thanks for the info Ventilator.

 

[Ellef]

Well at least most of the staff refuse to Pay the Dorito Price.

 

[Bubbles]

Let me add that Grunker had announced that he would pull out of his review duties if Roxor's review got published first. I still believe that Infinitron's decision might have been at least partially founded in a desire to retain a valuable staff member.

 

[Ellef]

Let me add that Grunker had announced that he would pull out of his review duties if Roxor's review got published first. I still believe that Infinitron's decision might have been at least partially founded in a desire to retain a valuable staff member.

 

[Maelflux]

.. because VD's made all the NPCs hostile and couldn't proceed ..

Perhaps he picked a dialogue option like this in one of the quests?..
- "Bla bla souls. This is literally the worst Obsidian game I’ve played to date. That’s right, I even had more fun with Dungeon Siege 3."