I'm sorry you feel that way. As I've said a lot throughout these past few weeks, I absolutely love ArcheAge. I didn't like the turn it took when I played initially and I couldn't take the PayToWin anymore, but I was excited for a second chance and came in with hopes that it could be better. I have no hate towards the game itself. It's incredibly fun. I only want the game to be successful. I made so many wonderful memories with friends and have continued to make more in this iteration. I wanted to give this game a higher score, because the game itself is fun. I couldn't do that because of it being an unfinished product with more issues cropping up every day that affected my gameplay experience.
-Emily
I guess my issue come with this. A great game with bugs isn't a 6, especially considering how quickly the issues are being addressed. Is the game really "unfinished" and are the issues cropping up really effecting gameplay? Without some/all of these issues, what would the score have been? Are the bugs so severe that the game deserves to be dropped a point?... two points?... three points?
Again, it seems more went into this score than an objective, fact driven conclusion. It seems emotion played a fairly big role, because as we all know the difference in a game receiving a 6 is pretty severe, even compared to a 7.
If it was driven by emotion and nostalgia, it would have been much higher. I did my best to keep it fair and point out the positives and negatives. In my opinion, yes, Unchained is unfinished and unpolished. A primary feature that was advertised was abused and exploited, "disabled", abused some more because it wasn't officially disabled, and then turned off with a vague ETA. That is only one example, I realize that, but it's what set off the chain of events we're seeing right now which is definitely affecting gameplay.
As the person who wrote the review, I can only tell you that I did my best to keep it objective, but I'm not a robot. When I write I do so in a way that conveys what I'm feeling in hopes that others who read the review and are feeling the same frustrations know they're not alone in their experience. I have also been taught that in order to write an engaging review, you need to really think about each of your sentences and make sure they have some weight to them. You should be able to pick a sentence out and still get an idea of how the reviewer 'feels' about the game. It's something I'm still working on, but am actively trying to get better. I'm not a professional reviewer, by any means. This is my very first piece for MMORPG, and I volunteered to do this article because I did enjoy this game when it first came out and was interested to see what the hype was about. If it didn't live up to your expectations, I apologize for that.
If it was driven by emotion and nostalgia, it would have been much higher. I did my best to keep it fair and point out the positives and negatives. In my opinion, yes, Unchained is unfinished and unpolished. A primary feature that was advertised was abused and exploited, "disabled", abused some more because it wasn't officially disabled, and then turned off with a vague ETA. That is only one example, I realize that, but it's what set off the chain of events we're seeing right now which is definitely affecting gameplay.
As the person who wrote the review, I can only tell you that I did my best to keep it objective, but I'm not a robot. When I write I do so in a way that conveys what I'm feeling in hopes that others who read the review and are feeling the same frustrations know they're not alone in their experience. I have also been taught that in order to write an engaging review, you need to really think about each of your sentences and make sure they have some weight to them. You should be able to pick a sentence out and still get an idea of how the reviewer 'feels' about the game. It's something I'm still working on, but am actively trying to get better. I'm not a professional reviewer, by any means. This is my very first piece for MMORPG, and I volunteered to do this article because I did enjoy this game when it first came out and was interested to see what the hype was about. If it didn't live up to your expectations, I apologize for that.
The archepass was the only real issue in the game other than too many people trying to log in with the initial launch... shocker, no other MMO has had to deal with that...lol. Most of the other in-game issues revolved around this one issue.
ArcheAge was a great game without the archepass and is still a great game without the archepass. It was exploited and removed within two weeks of release. The game didn't suddenly become a worse version of the original ArcheAge because a feature that everyone claimed to hate, that was never in the original ArcheAge, was removed. The economy wasn't established enough to really make that big of a difference in the long term. Some people made out like bandits, that's it.
So my issue is this. The original ArcheAge had a rating of 7.3. They removed the P2W aspects that ruined the game and re-released it where it was then given a rating of 6.0 because a feature that was never in the original version is now no longer in the new version?
@ultimateduck The archepass was not the only real issue, but it is the one that has had the most feedback and complaints. Just because some other issues spawned from this one does not mean they suddenly disappear or aren't just as serious. They still need to be addressed and fixed, and bring up the question as to why they are happening in the first place when the game has been out for so long. Muddy code, poor communication, we don't know. I was tasked with reviewing ArcheAge Unchained, which means addressing the features that came with it. One of the core features that should have improved the game did not pan out, and as a result actually ended up making the experience worse. It is not the only issue, but it was a big one.
If you'd like an extensive review of the base game since it is so similar, please again see the review that MMORPG previously wrote on the subject. The economy was affected by the exploits, and I am still seeing repercussions of it on my own server. The first few weeks are critical to establishing the economy, and it was already crippled before it could start flourishing. Agree to disagree. I do not base my review on anyone else's rating. I looked at the guidelines for MMORPG's rating guidelines and settled on the number I felt best matched up with my experience.
Yes, and again, I could not include every single thought that I had on the game because it would have made the review insanely long. I did the best I could to back up the arguments I presented and tried to cover the critical ones. There are still outlying issues like infamy, trading, cargo, and fishing profits that are present in this version that were not there when the original ArcheAge review was posted. Red is doing a wonderful job with his column in diving into those specifics and reporting on his own experience with them. I think he recently posted about how trading wasn't feeling as profitable as it should and used to be.
This review was not taken lightly and has been through many hands (and many re-writes), including Joseph's, to make sure that it was cohesive and represented the core part of my experience. Those who pre-read it have far more experience than I do with reviews, and were satisfied with the rating I gave it, feeling that there was enough here to back up the rating. There are things like what I mentioned above that were omitted because it took far too much explaining and setup, and was impossible to include because of time constraints and length. That does not mean that it didn't affect my opinion and how the final score settled. I apologize for my skill in writing and newness to reviews not being able to reflect that adequately enough.
If you feel like this review is not in-depth enough or justified and would like to see a re-write of the review or a different score, I'd highly suggest you reach out to Joseph or Shank. They're always looking for more hands on deck to write and I'm sure would be interested in your opinion and experience.
Agree to disagree. Rating a game lower than the original because quality life changes didn't pan out is silly to me. If the game was a 7.3 and they added stuff that was removed two weeks later, it doesn't suddenly become a 6.0. There aren't enough bugs to justify that, in my opinion.
The archepass was the only real issue in the game other than too many people trying to log in with the initial launch... shocker, no other MMO has had to deal with that...lol. Most of the other in-game issues revolved around this one issue.
First off, the Archepass was the centerpiece of AA:U.
Since Gamigo decided to go with an incredibly short beta prior to the launch (aka not a beta, but a preview), the only change they were able to make to it was increasing the level required to unlock it to 30.
They didn't have time to factor in the players screaming that the rewards were broken or that the overly-linear options you had to progress through it violated the spirit of freedom that helped garner that 7.3 score the Pay-2-Win version achieved.
Now, after banning and unbanning the mass of players that accumulated tens of thousands of gold, creating an enormous chasm in character power between those that did and didn't exploit these flaws that Gamigo decided to overlook, they did decide to implement a patch to "disable" the Archepass. However, in their ever-growing ineptitude we found out that they didn't in fact disable it at all. No, they merely hid the menu, which players took advantage of by modifying the game files to continue amassing mounds of gold.
The sad thing is, after unbanning all of the people that took advantage of it the first time, we don't know if there were any repercussions at all for those that continued to exploit.
Now, back to the topic of you saying that the Archepass was he only issue I would like to point out to your own post where you weren't even able to see character models in the game. Let's look to the instability of the terribly designed client that causes the game to crash without a moments notice. Let's look to the fact that this is almost 2020 and we don't have a grace period in a modern MMO.
I'm remembering waiting in queue on the most important day following launch; land rush day, where the queue was chunking down hundreds at a time because groups of people were mass-disconnecting from the games in certain areas. These were sleep deprived individuals who most likely took time off work to get all their farms and houses ready to go, only to lose their favored plots that they'll most likely never have a chance for again.
Honestly, I didn't expect anything better than that from Archeage in the server stability department, but it certainly does leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Years after release we still have NPCs with Korean voice files. If you progress through the game and get to the Hiram content you'll be met with pivotal storyline elements in the form of cutscenes where there are no voice files at all and the subtitles aren't even translated to English. This content has already been out for months on the Pay-2-Win version and we're just SoL if we want to know what's happening in the story.
Let's also take a moment of silence for our friends in EU who's server was offline for four days because of an issue with the auction house not delivering gold, where they discovered that there were even more players exploiting the poorly designed code of the game.
This article gave the game a score that it deserves. If anything, Emily may have been a little generous with the score. Yes, the original game did receive a better score however that score was given before Trion introduced Pay-2-Win elements to the cash shop. The score was given to a MMO released to NA in 2014 and we've come to expect better quality from a game in 2019. There have been minimal improvements to the game since it first released and key quality-of-life improvements are absent.
The "center piece" of AAU was ArcheAge without P2W. Most people seemed to dislike the Archepass. Now its removal is being used as an excuse to bash the game. "The Archepass is ruining what was once a sandbox-esque game"... "Archeage sucks because they removed a key feature of the game when they couldn't fix the Archepass". Give me a break.
If the original score was given before P2W, then the new score should have been similar to the original, not excessively lower because an element that wasn't there in 2014 isn't there in 2019.
The "center piece" of AAU was ArcheAge without P2W. Most people seemed to dislike the Archepass. Now its removal is being used as an excuse to bash the game. "The Archepass is ruining what was once a sandbox-esque game"... "Archeage sucks because they removed a key feature of the game when they couldn't fix the Archepass". Give me a break.
If the original score was given before P2W, then the new score should have been similar to the original, not excessively lower because an element that wasn't there in 2014 isn't there in 2019.
I feel like I'm arguing with a wall at this point.
Did you not see that the Archepass isn't the only reason to fault this game?
Did you not see me point to the fact that the game has been out in NA for five years and despite that fact we still don't have a fully translated client? The fact that the client is still incredibly unstable? The fact that they can't seem to fix anything in this game without creating more problems?
In the absence of the Archepass we're supposed to get diligence coins because, ya know, we have no other way to obtain them to purchase important items like bag expansions and labor recharge potions but their most recent attempt at distributing them left some accounts unable to claim while other accounts could claim multiple times.
At this point, the only way to add any meaningful increase your storage is to spend 20 dollars on an item from the cash shop that gives you 100 extra storage slots.
How can you ignore the fact that this game was released to Korea in 2013 and there are so many glaring problems with it?
If I could sum this game up following it's launch it would be:
I feel like I'm arguing with a wall at this point.
[blah, blah, blah]
Yeah, I'm the brick wall...lol. You have over 40k people playing with little to no issue and a handful very vocal people just looking for reasons to bash it at every turn. Every feature you list wasn't part of the original release, yet this AAU is getting bashed because it doesn't have it. Like I said, the selling point of AAU was ArcheAge without P2W, everything else is just unnecessary fluff that was never in the original release that received a higher score. Every MMO I've played has had issues, this one is no exception. I've had my own issues with the game. The difference is a select few who to not shut up about them just to try and justify their hate.
I feel like I'm arguing with a wall at this point.
[blah, blah, blah]
Yeah, I'm the brick wall...lol. You have over 40k people playing with little to no issue and a handful very vocal people just looking for reasons to bash it at every turn. Every feature you list wasn't part of the original release, yet this AAU is getting bashed because it doesn't have it. Like I said, the selling point of AAU was ArcheAge without P2W, everything else is just unnecessary fluff that was never in the original release that received a higher score. Every MMO I've played has had issues, this one is no exception. I've had my own issues with the game. The difference is a select few who to not shut up about them just to try and justify their hate.
Over 40k people; the majority blissfully unaware of the issues happening behind the scenes because they haven't gone out of their way to check reddit or the AA discord. They don't know that the reason they're being stomped is due to the fact that there are players exploiting and they aren't aware that one of the servers has been offline for 4 days to fix an issue with the auction house. They probably aren't even aware that they were supposed to get diligence coins in the first place to make up for the broken Archepass.
40k players, wow, you make such good arguments! With numbers like those, AA:U is up there with other amazing AAA titles like Fiesta Online! /s
Agree to disagree. Rating a game lower than the original because quality life changes didn't pan out is silly to me. If the game was a 7.3 and they added stuff that was removed two weeks later, it doesn't suddenly become a 6.0. There aren't enough bugs to justify that, in my opinion.
A few things:
First of all, Emily was not "dishonest" with her review, as was mentioned in a few posts earlier. She reviewed her experience, because at the end of the day that's all she can do. Frankly, it's one thing to disagree with a review - that's why these discussions exist - but let's not besmirch the writer who worked hard for a solid month to write this review.
With regard to the score - different reviewers. Keep this one thing in mind over anything else: Each review is the subjective opinion of that reviewer. AA:UC is a different game than the one that launched with P2W mechanics years ago. It was approached as a separate game as a result. But even then, Emily's experience is going to objectively be different than the experience of someone from years ago.
We didn't change the score of the original AA review. That game still exists. It can still be played. In the end, the experience Emily had whilst reviewing this is objectively different than the one the previous reviewer had on the original AA. The score is a clear indicator of that difference of opinion. Because, again, each review is the subjective opinion of the reviewer.
Appreciate y'all reading! Let's keep the convo civil everyone, as discussions like this are why I love gaming communities.
I had 3 DAoC accounts, 2 Eve Accounts, 2 SWG accounts, 2 WARonline accounts, etc. I've been playing multiple accounts since Diablo 2, Nobody accused me of P2W.
Only now, with people looking for any reason to hate this game, has it become a problem.
Tempers are fraying but that's no reason to change your avatar!
I was shit talking with a friend and he sent it to me. Thought it was funny. I'm too old to get mad about a video game. I'm also too old to not point out an adult acting like a child in front of me.
Wait until you reach my age, you can get away with acting like a cranky child again.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
With the exception of "struggling economy", which is to be expected in a game that's been out for 3 weeks, all of these cons sound like the same thing.
It feels like a forced bad score because he felt he had to due to the strong opinions of some on these boards or he forced a score higher than he wanted to because he had an existing hate for the game due to it's past, and was trying to look impartial. Either way, it feels a little dishonest, I don't know why.
I'm sorry you feel that way. As I've said a lot throughout these past few weeks, I absolutely love ArcheAge. I didn't like the turn it took when I played initially and I couldn't take the PayToWin anymore, but I was excited for a second chance and came in with hopes that it could be better. I have no hate towards the game itself. It's incredibly fun. I only want the game to be successful. I made so many wonderful memories with friends and have continued to make more in this iteration. I wanted to give this game a higher score, because the game itself is fun. I couldn't do that because of it being an unfinished product with more issues cropping up every day that affected my gameplay experience.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
If it was driven by emotion and nostalgia, it would have been much higher. I did my best to keep it fair and point out the positives and negatives. In my opinion, yes, Unchained is unfinished and unpolished. A primary feature that was advertised was abused and exploited, "disabled", abused some more because it wasn't officially disabled, and then turned off with a vague ETA. That is only one example, I realize that, but it's what set off the chain of events we're seeing right now which is definitely affecting gameplay.
As the person who wrote the review, I can only tell you that I did my best to keep it objective, but I'm not a robot. When I write I do so in a way that conveys what I'm feeling in hopes that others who read the review and are feeling the same frustrations know they're not alone in their experience. I have also been taught that in order to write an engaging review, you need to really think about each of your sentences and make sure they have some weight to them. You should be able to pick a sentence out and still get an idea of how the reviewer 'feels' about the game. It's something I'm still working on, but am actively trying to get better. I'm not a professional reviewer, by any means. This is my very first piece for MMORPG, and I volunteered to do this article because I did enjoy this game when it first came out and was interested to see what the hype was about. If it didn't live up to your expectations, I apologize for that.
The archepass was the only real issue in the game other than too many people trying to log in with the initial launch... shocker, no other MMO has had to deal with that...lol. Most of the other in-game issues revolved around this one issue.
ArcheAge was a great game without the archepass and is still a great game without the archepass. It was exploited and removed within two weeks of release. The game didn't suddenly become a worse version of the original ArcheAge because a feature that everyone claimed to hate, that was never in the original ArcheAge, was removed. The economy wasn't established enough to really make that big of a difference in the long term. Some people made out like bandits, that's it.
So my issue is this. The original ArcheAge had a rating of 7.3. They removed the P2W aspects that ruined the game and re-released it where it was then given a rating of 6.0 because a feature that was never in the original version is now no longer in the new version?
It just doesn't make sense.
Do you realize how much the ArchePass being shut off changes the game? Many of the p2w items were moved to the diligence shop, and best I can tell I can't buy a single one without earning diligence through the ArchePass. Labor regen pots to name but one, and don't forget expansion slots and other stuff on the growth pages.
Shutting off the diligence store has crippled some players ability to do all the things they want in the game. That alone should be enough to drop the score down. And as many have stated, the ArchePass isn't the only issue players are facing with the game.
I had 3 DAoC accounts, 2 Eve Accounts, 2 SWG accounts, 2 WARonline accounts, etc. I've been playing multiple accounts since Diablo 2, Nobody accused me of P2W.
Only now, with people looking for any reason to hate this game, has it become a problem.
Tempers are fraying but that's no reason to change your avatar!
I was shit talking with a friend and he sent it to me. Thought it was funny. I'm too old to get mad about a video game. I'm also too old to not point out an adult acting like a child in front of me.
Wait until you reach my age, you can get away with acting like a cranky child again.
They made me change it... said it was offensive. I'm old enough to speak my mind. I haven't reached "cranky child" old yet... I don't think.
Do you realize how much the ArchePass being shut off changes the game? Many of the p2w items were moved to the diligence shop, and best I can tell I can't buy a single one without earning diligence through the ArchePass. Labor regen pots to name but one, and don't forget expansion slots and other stuff on the growth pages.
Shutting off the diligence store has crippled some players ability to do all the things they want in the game. That alone should be enough to drop the score down. And as many have stated, the ArchePass isn't the only issue players are facing with the game.
The archepass getting shut off changed the game back to what it was without the archepass...lol. That was the whole point.
First of all, Emily was not "dishonest" with her review, as was mentioned in a few posts earlier. She reviewed her experience, because at the end of the day that's all she can do. Frankly, it's one thing to disagree with a review - that's why these discussions exist - but let's not besmirch the writer who worked hard for a solid month to write this review.
With regard to the score - different reviewers. Keep this one thing in mind over anything else: Each review is the subjective opinion of that reviewer. AA:UC is a different game than the one that launched with P2W mechanics years ago. It was approached as a separate game as a result. But even then, Emily's experience is going to objectively be different than the experience of someone from years ago.
We didn't change the score of the original AA review. That game still exists. It can still be played. In the end, the experience Emily had whilst reviewing this is objectively different than the one the previous reviewer had on the original AA. The score is a clear indicator of that difference of opinion. Because, again, each review is the subjective opinion of the reviewer.
Appreciate y'all reading! Let's keep the convo civil everyone, as discussions like this are why I love gaming communities.
A persons opinion can be unknowingly jaded without being purposefully "dishonest". It seemed to me that there was more going on with the score than a factual opinion.
If your site is going to apply a score to a game and defend that score, there has to be more to it than simple opinion. If someone were to ask why the AAU score is so much lower than the original AA score, saying "the reviewers had a different opinion" cheapens the score. It removes the impression of objectivity turns it into a personal opinion. A score should indicate a set of parameters that are quality controlled to remove the appearance if bias.
In reality, if someone asked how AA and AAU are different to warrant the difference in scores, the only answer would be "things that weren't in AA were added, then removed from AAU making the games the same again, but we had a different reviewer with different opinions, thus the different score". That doesn't sound very professional.
I had 3 DAoC accounts, 2 Eve Accounts, 2 SWG accounts, 2 WARonline accounts, etc. I've been playing multiple accounts since Diablo 2, Nobody accused me of P2W.
Only now, with people looking for any reason to hate this game, has it become a problem.
Tempers are fraying but that's no reason to change your avatar!
I was shit talking with a friend and he sent it to me. Thought it was funny. I'm too old to get mad about a video game. I'm also too old to not point out an adult acting like a child in front of me.
Wait until you reach my age, you can get away with acting like a cranky child again.
They made me change it... said it was offensive. I'm old enough to speak my mind. I haven't reached "cranky child" old yet... I don't think.
Do you realize how much the ArchePass being shut off changes the game? Many of the p2w items were moved to the diligence shop, and best I can tell I can't buy a single one without earning diligence through the ArchePass. Labor regen pots to name but one, and don't forget expansion slots and other stuff on the growth pages.
Shutting off the diligence store has crippled some players ability to do all the things they want in the game. That alone should be enough to drop the score down. And as many have stated, the ArchePass isn't the only issue players are facing with the game.
The archepass getting shut off changed the game back to what it was without the archepass...lol. That was the whole point.
Ok, let's try again. I apologize in advance for the length of this post but I promise it will be worth it.
A company gives you a house for free. Once you have it you can purchase extra stuff for it or just keep it the way it is. Years later, even though you liked your house you left it because people with more money were able to upgrade their free house by spending money and you didn't want to spend any. You like to keep up with the Joneses and it just wasn't a level playing field.
That company from before got bought out and the new company is offering houses for a fixed price. You are excited that you can get a house for one set fee and should be able to keep up with the Joneses just fine since there aren't any extra cash options for them to buy. Even better, they are offering everyone a HousePass. By completing activities in your nieghborhood you can earn housebucks which can be used to buy some of the upgrades that used to be offered for cash. This is super exciting and you can't wait to move in.
This company is offering 3 different neighborhoods to get your house, and all of your friends are getting their house in the Wynn neighborhood. When you go to sign up for the Wynn neighborhood they tell you that it is temporarily locked out because so many people wanted to get their house there. There is a chance tomorrow to sign up but still no guarantee you can get in. You can always get a house in one of the other neighborhoods though. But you don't since you want to be with your friends. Let's just say that through magic you were finally able to get your house on Wynn and you are happy to be moving in near your friends.
Jump forward to move in day. There are so many people trying to get into their house the road is blocked, and it looks like you are about 3000th in line! Man, you have to work tomorrow, but fortunately you get into the neighborhood but only have enough time to look around a bit.
Tomorrow comes and you try again. WTF, the road is blocked again and you are having trouble to getting in again. You finally make it into the neighborhood and even get a chance to stop by Home Depot to pick up some of the building supplies you need to build the house. Time to go to work again.
Finally, it's the day to move into the house. Everyone is calling it Land Grab day because picking the location for your house is first come first served. You know just where your friends are building, so you want to build right by them. Unfortunately, once again the gate to the neighborhood is blocked, and when you finally get in the place you wanted to build is gone and it isn't your fault. You do find a spot so at least you can plop your house down.
For a solid week you have trouble getting to your house each day due to the popularity of the neighborhood. The company says you can always move to another nieghborhood and has even opened up a few extra that allow for immediate entry. That just sucks, you have already spent a lot of time waiting in line for your current house and even got to start settling in. You decide to stay.
You are finally settled in and are getting ready to start earning housebucks and find out the HousePass has been disabled. What? Why? Well, turns out some of the people that moved in didn't have to work last week and never had to leave the community to go home. During that free time they found that some of the activities gave way more housebucks than others, and even found a way to exploit that. The company says they are gonna kick those people out for being scumbags, but then a couple of hours later let them back in. They did eventually shut the Housepass down, but the damage is now done, and you don't even have a way to catch up with the Joneses.
This isn't what you were expecting. This house is just like the free one you had before AND you had to pay for it. You were supposed to be able to keep up with the Joneses this time but you still couldn't. When trying to figure out how to rate this house you realize that even though the new house is the exact same, the whole experience just wasn't as good. Promises were broken, dreams were crushed, and you have a sour taste in your mouth.
Way back when, some guy at the bar you like to hang out at rated his house as a 7.3 out of 10. Someone else is asking what you would rate your new house and you say you would give it a 6 out of 10. You tell them you really like the house, but your rating is about the whole experience from the company and the neighborhood as a whole.
Now, maybe you still don't get the analogy. Let me clarify:
First Company = Trion Second Company = Gamigo Neighborhood = server HousePass = ArchePass Housebucks = Diligence coins Bar = MMORPG Old rating = old review New rating = new review
If you still can't figure out how someone could have a lower rating for ArcheAge Unchained than someone else did for ArcheAge, well, then you are either very dense or just trolling. If you're dense I apologize for making you try to read that huge wall of text. If you're a troll, I would say good job, but if you knew just how much fun I had writing this then you'd realize you didn't troll anyone. You actually gave me a few minutes of happiness. Hopefully you can find your happiness somewhere too.
I get it. I got it before your somewhat lengthy and unnecessary post.
I'm saying it isn't an MMORPG.com score, it's some dudes/chicks opinion. If they want to give it an official score, they need to standardize things a little more so the same game isn't given two completely different scores based on failed expectations.
It's a new game with new ideas... oh ,wait... the new ideas are being exploited so we will remove them and make it the same as the original game before it was ruined by P2W.
MMORPG staff - "I loved the original but the new stuff didn't work and was removed making it like the original that I loved. I will score it lower than the original because because I loved the original and the new stuff was removed making it like the original."
Me - That makes no sense...
MMORPG Bigwig - "These are opinions so the score is going to be different. Leave the writer alone. She worked hard playing a video game and she wrote this review for free"
Me - What good is a score that gives the appearance of a standardized method of measurement when it's little more than an opinion?
Splattr - "I think I will write a novel"
Add 20 or 30 baseless and ignorant claims from DMKano in between all of that.
I get it. I got it before your somewhat lengthy and unnecessary post.
I'm saying it isn't an MMORPG.com score, it's some dudes/chicks opinion. If they want to give it an official score, they need to standardize things a little more so the same game isn't given two completely different scores based on failed expectations.
It's a new game with new ideas... oh ,wait... the new ideas are being exploited so we will remove them and make it the same as the original game before it was ruined by P2W.
MMORPG staff - "I loved the original but the new stuff didn't work and was removed making it like the original that I loved. I will score it lower than the original because because I loved the original and the new stuff was removed making it like the original."
Me - That makes no sense...
MMORPG Bigwig - "These are opinions so the score is going to be different. Leave the writer alone. She worked hard playing a video game and she wrote this review for free"
Me - What good is a score that gives the appearance of a standardized method of measurement when it's little more than an opinion?
Splattr - "I think I will write a novel"
Add 20 or 30 baseless and ignorant claims from DMKano in between all of that.
You now have this review thread.
I think it is rather simple:
AA: F2P AAU: B2P
AA: released in 2014 AAU: released in 2019
AAU is just as full of bugs as 5 years ago AND now you need to buy it, again even for quite a large group of players.
You honestly want the same rating for a game that fixed little to nothing in the pas FIVE years while ALSO asking a box price now?
I like AA but lets be realistic. You wrote: A persons opinion can be unknowingly jaded without being purposefully "dishonest". Perhaps this applies to you too?
I think the review was thorough, honest and a pleasure to read, too bad the thread turned into a ‘my opinion is better then yours’ discussion.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
AAU is just as full of bugs as 5 years ago AND now you need to buy it, again even for quite a large group of players.
You honestly want the same rating for a game that fixed little to nothing in the pas FIVE years while ALSO asking a box price now?
I like AA but lets be realistic. You wrote: A persons opinion can be unknowingly jaded without being purposefully "dishonest". Perhaps this applies to you too?
I think the review was thorough, honest and a pleasure to read, too bad the thread turned into a ‘my opinion is better then yours’ discussion.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
I never bought the game the first time so I didn't have to buy it again.
Yes, if it's the same game, then it should have the same rating. I'm not sure how that concept is so complicated.
I'm not jaded in the least. It's a video game and I'm old.
Your like or dislike of the review isn't what's at question. I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I also enjoyed the read. I just disagree with the score being subject to the whim of personal opinion.
Not the same game. The game we're playing now has had many updates and changes that the original game, when reviewed, did not. As I said before, those things also affected my score but were not included or focused on as much because of the length. I tried to include as much as I could. The removal of the ArchePass did not make it the exact same game that it was when the original review was posted. I reviewed the current game that I played along with the updates UC brought, which was the whole point of doing another review because of all the new changes they were supposed to implement.
Also, let me fix the quote. "I loved the original. I came into this game with the hopes that it would be better after the P2W changes they added that ruined it initially for me. I wanted it to be better and was excited to play. Had the trees not wrecked the economy, I would have still kept playing the game at that time. When I entered this game, there were many new changes that made it different from the last time I played that also ended up affecting my review, but I didn't include them because they weren't quite as relevant to the UC review and would have made it 2x as long-they also weren't UC changes, per say, because they were there before UC but after I stopped playing. These changes also weren't there when the original game was reviewed. They were implemented much longer after that. So my rating reflects my experience playing the game that was in front of me."
@Jensyn Like the guy said, he's old. You don't have to justify your review or opinion to others. They can either agree with it, or disagree with it. His psychobabble doesn't really mean shit in the grand scheme of things. You wrote what you wrote, you're standing by it. Finished.
If he somehow feels the review was "dishonest" let him. No one's here to read about his opinions. Nobody gives a shit. We're here to read about yours and your experiences in game.
AAU is just as full of bugs as 5 years ago AND now you need to buy it, again even for quite a large group of players.
You honestly want the same rating for a game that fixed little to nothing in the pas FIVE years while ALSO asking a box price now?
I like AA but lets be realistic. You wrote: A persons opinion can be unknowingly jaded without being purposefully "dishonest". Perhaps this applies to you too?
I think the review was thorough, honest and a pleasure to read, too bad the thread turned into a ‘my opinion is better then yours’ discussion.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
I never bought the game the first time so I didn't have to buy it again.
Yes, if it's the same game, then it should have the same rating. I'm not sure how that concept is so complicated.
I'm not jaded in the least. It's a video game and I'm old.
Your like or dislike of the review isn't what's at question. I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I also enjoyed the read. I just disagree with the score being subject to the whim of personal opinion.
If its the exact same game it has aged, the rest of the industry moved forwards graphics wise, support wise, accessibility wise, AA didn’t. We expect more now, as we should, AAU is not more. You could even argue that when the entire industry moves forwards and AAU still has the same bugs as AA at launch 5 years ago the game actually moved backwards, especially with a nice new box price. I don’t understand why that is so complicated to be honest.
As for reviews of entertainment, they are always an opinion, especially the score.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
If its the exact same game it has aged, the rest of the industry moved forwards graphics wise, support wise, accessibility wise, AA didn’t. We expect more now, as we should, AAU is not more. You could even argue that when the entire industry moves forwards and AAU still has the same bugs as AA at launch 5 years ago the game actually moved backwards, especially with a nice new box price. I don’t understand why that is so complicated to be honest.
As for reviews of entertainment, they are always an opinion, especially the score.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
This answer makes sense. Had the review ended with "In 2014 this game was a 7.3, in 2019 it's a 6.0", I would have happily accepted that as a legitimate reason for a lower score.
Comments
The archepass was not the only real issue, but it is the one that has had the most feedback and complaints. Just because some other issues spawned from this one does not mean they suddenly disappear or aren't just as serious. They still need to be addressed and fixed, and bring up the question as to why they are happening in the first place when the game has been out for so long. Muddy code, poor communication, we don't know. I was tasked with reviewing ArcheAge Unchained, which means addressing the features that came with it. One of the core features that should have improved the game did not pan out, and as a result actually ended up making the experience worse. It is not the only issue, but it was a big one.
40k players, wow, you make such good arguments! With numbers like those, AA:U is up there with other amazing AAA titles like Fiesta Online! /s
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
First of all, Emily was not "dishonest" with her review, as was mentioned in a few posts earlier. She reviewed her experience, because at the end of the day that's all she can do. Frankly, it's one thing to disagree with a review - that's why these discussions exist - but let's not besmirch the writer who worked hard for a solid month to write this review.
With regard to the score - different reviewers. Keep this one thing in mind over anything else: Each review is the subjective opinion of that reviewer. AA:UC is a different game than the one that launched with P2W mechanics years ago. It was approached as a separate game as a result. But even then, Emily's experience is going to objectively be different than the experience of someone from years ago.
We didn't change the score of the original AA review. That game still exists. It can still be played.
In the end, the experience Emily had whilst reviewing this is objectively different than the one the previous reviewer had on the original AA. The score is a clear indicator of that difference of opinion. Because, again, each review is the subjective opinion of the reviewer.
Appreciate y'all reading! Let's keep the convo civil everyone, as discussions like this are why I love gaming communities.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Shutting off the diligence store has crippled some players ability to do all the things they want in the game. That alone should be enough to drop the score down. And as many have stated, the ArchePass isn't the only issue players are facing with the game.
A company gives you a house for free. Once you have it you can purchase extra stuff for it or just keep it the way it is. Years later, even though you liked your house you left it because people with more money were able to upgrade their free house by spending money and you didn't want to spend any. You like to keep up with the Joneses and it just wasn't a level playing field.
That company from before got bought out and the new company is offering houses for a fixed price. You are excited that you can get a house for one set fee and should be able to keep up with the Joneses just fine since there aren't any extra cash options for them to buy. Even better, they are offering everyone a HousePass. By completing activities in your nieghborhood you can earn housebucks which can be used to buy some of the upgrades that used to be offered for cash. This is super exciting and you can't wait to move in.
This company is offering 3 different neighborhoods to get your house, and all of your friends are getting their house in the Wynn neighborhood. When you go to sign up for the Wynn neighborhood they tell you that it is temporarily locked out because so many people wanted to get their house there. There is a chance tomorrow to sign up but still no guarantee you can get in. You can always get a house in one of the other neighborhoods though. But you don't since you want to be with your friends. Let's just say that through magic you were finally able to get your house on Wynn and you are happy to be moving in near your friends.
Jump forward to move in day. There are so many people trying to get into their house the road is blocked, and it looks like you are about 3000th in line! Man, you have to work tomorrow, but fortunately you get into the neighborhood but only have enough time to look around a bit.
Tomorrow comes and you try again. WTF, the road is blocked again and you are having trouble to getting in again. You finally make it into the neighborhood and even get a chance to stop by Home Depot to pick up some of the building supplies you need to build the house. Time to go to work again.
Finally, it's the day to move into the house. Everyone is calling it Land Grab day because picking the location for your house is first come first served. You know just where your friends are building, so you want to build right by them. Unfortunately, once again the gate to the neighborhood is blocked, and when you finally get in the place you wanted to build is gone and it isn't your fault. You do find a spot so at least you can plop your house down.
For a solid week you have trouble getting to your house each day due to the popularity of the neighborhood. The company says you can always move to another nieghborhood and has even opened up a few extra that allow for immediate entry. That just sucks, you have already spent a lot of time waiting in line for your current house and even got to start settling in. You decide to stay.
You are finally settled in and are getting ready to start earning housebucks and find out the HousePass has been disabled. What? Why? Well, turns out some of the people that moved in didn't have to work last week and never had to leave the community to go home. During that free time they found that some of the activities gave way more housebucks than others, and even found a way to exploit that. The company says they are gonna kick those people out for being scumbags, but then a couple of hours later let them back in. They did eventually shut the Housepass down, but the damage is now done, and you don't even have a way to catch up with the Joneses.
This isn't what you were expecting. This house is just like the free one you had before AND you had to pay for it. You were supposed to be able to keep up with the Joneses this time but you still couldn't. When trying to figure out how to rate this house you realize that even though the new house is the exact same, the whole experience just wasn't as good. Promises were broken, dreams were crushed, and you have a sour taste in your mouth.
Way back when, some guy at the bar you like to hang out at rated his house as a 7.3 out of 10. Someone else is asking what you would rate your new house and you say you would give it a 6 out of 10. You tell them you really like the house, but your rating is about the whole experience from the company and the neighborhood as a whole.
Now, maybe you still don't get the analogy. Let me clarify:
First Company = Trion
Second Company = Gamigo
Neighborhood = server
HousePass = ArchePass
Housebucks = Diligence coins
Bar = MMORPG
Old rating = old review
New rating = new review
If you still can't figure out how someone could have a lower rating for ArcheAge Unchained than someone else did for ArcheAge, well, then you are either very dense or just trolling. If you're dense I apologize for making you try to read that huge wall of text. If you're a troll, I would say good job, but if you knew just how much fun I had writing this then you'd realize you didn't troll anyone. You actually gave me a few minutes of happiness. Hopefully you can find your happiness somewhere too.
AA: F2P
AAU: B2P
AA: released in 2014
AAU: released in 2019
AAU is just as full of bugs as 5 years ago AND now you need to buy it, again even for quite a large group of players.
I like AA but lets be realistic. You wrote: A persons opinion can be unknowingly jaded without being purposefully "dishonest". Perhaps this applies to you too?
I think the review was thorough, honest and a pleasure to read, too bad the thread turned into a ‘my opinion is better then yours’ discussion.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
Also, let me fix the quote.
"I loved the original. I came into this game with the hopes that it would be better after the P2W changes they added that ruined it initially for me. I wanted it to be better and was excited to play. Had the trees not wrecked the economy, I would have still kept playing the game at that time. When I entered this game, there were many new changes that made it different from the last time I played that also ended up affecting my review, but I didn't include them because they weren't quite as relevant to the UC review and would have made it 2x as long-they also weren't UC changes, per say, because they were there before UC but after I stopped playing. These changes also weren't there when the original game was reviewed. They were implemented much longer after that. So my rating reflects my experience playing the game that was in front of me."
Like the guy said, he's old. You don't have to justify your review or opinion to others. They can either agree with it, or disagree with it. His psychobabble doesn't really mean shit in the grand scheme of things. You wrote what you wrote, you're standing by it. Finished.
If he somehow feels the review was "dishonest" let him. No one's here to read about his opinions. Nobody gives a shit. We're here to read about yours and your experiences in game.
As for reviews of entertainment, they are always an opinion, especially the score.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer