Is anyone even reading reviews?

[Hubert Cumberdanes]

It's like saying a movie trailer spoils the whole damn movie.

And it usually does :/

[serotonin]

The only reason I'm playing this game is because of a review I read. Would have never heard of it, otherwise.

Game Informer is a major magazine with a larger reader-base (they're GameStop's partner), and it gave Amnesia a freaking 93/100. You people scoffing at the integrity of reviews are being foolishly preemptive in your defense-mechanism as apparent fanboys of Frictional.

Amnesia is a superior product to the occasional stumbles Frictional had with the Penumbra trilogy, and for the most part critics are noting it accordingly... and that's a great thing. You really want to cheer on Frictional? Then hope their games continue to get 80+ aggregate scores on Metacritic, because that's what will continue moving them up in the world.


(as for spoilers in reviews... well, just don't read reviews from no-name indy websites with writers of questionable professional merit... the major game media sites don't make those kinds of mistakes, because they actually employ editors who double-check the writers' articles for exactly that sort of thing)

[Gvaz]

Except when the franchises that sell a lot aren't actually good games, unlike this one

[serotonin]

"The game doesn't fall into the closet monster trap"

Now you know that you'll never jump from some unexpected scare. Now you know you won't turn around and have a little Alma wannabe scaring you. It has provided you comfort in something that was previously an unknown, thus taking away from the game.

Except that presumption you erroneously make isn't true. You have PLAYED THE GAME, right? I've opened a door into a pitch-black room and had one the "nasties" form out of the gloom 6 feet from me. I've walked up to a pile of rubble and heard a voice whisper beside my ear "help me". Etc and so forth.

The writer is making a VERY broad point there, and you're just deliberately misreading it. All he's saying is that Amnesia doesn't make such moments basically 100% of the game's fear-factor, like games such as Doom 3 and FEAR have.

This is something the writer SHOULD make a note of, because it's exactly what a reader like me, who hasn't been scared of survival-horror games for years and years now, wants to know. It's what made me buy the game.

"The puzzles are always interesting and you rarely are stuck"

Now you know that everything will be fairly obvious and all you need to do is follow the logical steps to solve puzzles. This shows that the game won't really pressure your intelligence which leaves you with less to look forward to, thus again taking away from the unknown and the experience.

Again, you're baselessly putting words in the writers mouth and drawing specific conclusions from a non-specific statement.

All he's saying is that the puzzles are not frustrating. That's all. Nothing else. And again, that's exactly something he needs to make note of, as a reviewer.

Everything else you ascribe to the statement are truths you only know because you've played Amnesia. Someone who's never played it will not read that line in the article and instantly have the same degree of specific knowledge you do. Obviously.

"Luckily when you die you are not forced to restart and respawn in a close area"

Now you know that monsters are less a fear and more an inconvenience. Again, taking something away from the unknown. You instinctively shit your pants and run away when you are spotted by an enemy, but now, meh, if I get trapped I'll just take the death and respawn real quick.

More of the same nonsense from you. How are you saying this, when you should already know that your erroneous take from the statement is false, since you've played the game?

ALL DEATHS IN ANY GAME EVER should not logically make you afraid, of course. Amnesia no less than any other game. But it's the game's job to immerse you to the point that you don't think in game-logic terms when you're 'in the moment', and so you don't think to "take the death and respawn real quick", you just have an adrenaline response, instead.

Amnesia achieves that immersion, as you yourself should know. And the well-written reviews for Amnesia (i.e. most of them, so far) inform the reader of that.

The alternative -- forcing the player to replay large sections of the game any time he dies -- does not actually add to fear. It adds to frustration. Amnesia, CORRECTLY, does not subject the player to that.

Which is, again, something the reader needs to know.

Am I making any sense?

No, not really. Your stance is silly and you've done a poor job arguing it.



Look dude, you want to go about spending your money before knowing a product is actually a wise purchase, that's your business.

But don't kid yourself into thinking that's good advice for everyone else.

People like you are the ones who bought games like Too Human and Daikatana and then subsequently descended into a black rage after an hour of playing.

People like me are the ones who roll their eyes at the woes of people like you, because we read a couple of goddamn reviews first and never have that happen to us.

[suibriel]

You're just someone trying to justify that you spoiled a large portion of the game for yourself.

I (and many people who know not to read reviews for games such as these) are obviously just more perceptive than people like you. I'm not baselessly putting words into anything there. You can clearly read between the lines and make logical assumptions about what the reviewer is saying. And indeed, while actually playing the game, they change the way you experience the world due to bits and bits of what was essentially unknown to you being shed light on.

As for the quote by quote junk you said - all nonsense. Knowing the result of death does take away from your initial impressions of the game. Knowing that some reviewer found the game relatively easy does put thoughts into your head. Whether you yourself are actually aware of these thoughts is entirely up to your personality but they're there and wary readers are aware of them. You're ranting on about what deaths should and shouldn't be, that's not the problem. Amnesia is immersive enough that as a player you won't have such a capable grasp over your split second reactions - when you see a living enemy for the first time, having not read anything about the game, your first reactions will probably be "oh crap, run". However, if you've read a review or two that state things like "enemies will chase you and it is scary" or "if you are killed by an enemy, blah" - you've lost something there. You already know many things you didn't before and as a player you will now react differently. Instead of an instinctual reaction to the unknown, you will react based on fore-knowledge of the possibilities that will occur. ie- "ok I just need to run and hide for a sec."

The end result is - the person without any knowledge about the game will always have a more immersive and overall better and more personal experience. The person who read reviews will always think of the title as more of a game and will have less of his own opinions and experiences. And when the entire premise of a game is IMMERSION - why the hell would you want to know anything about it?

My advice is also great advice for every gamer. As long as you're not a functionally illiterate nonce you'll easily be able to tell what sort of game something is by just a few words. You shouldn't need entire reviews to tell you if you'll like the game or not. Make up your own mind without outside influence. The experience will always be better that way

I feel sorry for people like you that ruin games for themselves and put so much weight in other people's opinions. You'll forever only follow trends and never actually have an original thought process.

[iTIMMEH]

You're just someone trying to justify that you spoiled a large portion of the game for yourself.

I (and many people who know not to read reviews for games such as these) are obviously just more perceptive than people like you.

My advice is also great advice for every gamer. As long as you're not a functionally illiterate nonce you'll easily be able to tell what sort of game something is by just a few words. You shouldn't need entire reviews to tell you if you'll like the game or not. Make up your own mind without outside influence. The experience will always be better that way

I feel sorry for people like you that ruin games for themselves and put so much weight in other people's opinions. You'll forever only follow trends and never actually have an original thought process.

Hi, I sometimes read reviews to get a better impression of how a game plays/performs or find out more about a game that hasn't been widely publicised and I can unequivocally say it hasn't ever negatively affected my experiences. How would you suggest one makes their mind up if not by researching and looking at reviews? By basing their decision on marketing?

As for illiterate nonce, my bookshelf is, at a glance, filled with a range of reading from Homer and Milton, to summer blockbusters like The Passage.

Don't let reality get in the way of your superiority complex though.