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Do LoZ games get inflated review scores just because it has Zelda in the title?
Banjo64
cumsessed
I’d be shocked if you played Ocarina of Time when it released in 1998 and didn’t think it was an exceptional, ground-breaking game.
Banjo64
cumsessed
Same can be said for nearly any franchise then, Drake’s Deception launched in 2007 so there will be 30 year olds writing reviews for Uncharted now who were 15 when the series started.
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SmokedMeat
Gamer™
The nostalgia factor plus it being a Nintendo game definitely give Zelda an edge in reviews.
I don’t believe BotW would be hailed as the greatest thing ever, inventor of open world everything if it was just an indie game.
I don’t believe BotW would be hailed as the greatest thing ever, inventor of open world everything if it was just an indie game.
Thought it was the opposite honestly. Zelda is such a storied and highly regarded franchise, that I imagine a lot of reviewers enter with expectations of how great a new Zelda should be in what it offers, and what they want it to be.
I think that's what tripped up Windwaker, that tech demo they showed at the GC debut didn't help as well.
Eh, but it's like people are going to like what they're gonna like at the end of the day, a review is just a critical opinion of something, and people will have their biases in what they like or not. So people will always be like 'X' or 'Y' is 'overrated' or 'underrated' or whatever.
I think that's what tripped up Windwaker, that tech demo they showed at the GC debut didn't help as well.
Eh, but it's like people are going to like what they're gonna like at the end of the day, a review is just a critical opinion of something, and people will have their biases in what they like or not. So people will always be like 'X' or 'Y' is 'overrated' or 'underrated' or whatever.
tmlDan
Member
damn that's scary to think about, guess we'll see how UC5 turns out lol
hemo memo
Gold Member
Yeah it has major flaws that i’m sure even the studio who worked on it got surprised by the scores. I mean the lack actual dungeons and weapons breaking.
01011001
Banned
out of curiosity, name a game that you would consider among the "greatest of all time"
Bullshit.
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I did, but I don't think recognizing what is good about these games means ignoring what wasn't, and OoT was not as tightly paced or designed as Link to the Past and it was still figuring out how to make a lot of these things work in 3D. It was innovative and ambitious and it influenced a lot of what came after it, but that doesn't mean it was or is the peak of gaming.
And Breath of the Wild was largely addition by subtraction, it took away a lot of the hand holding and structure and created something very open that was satisfying to explore but it was deeply mechanically flawed with some decisions that were just insane and pointless and it could be really frustrating. 8/10 is generous.
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Heimdall_Xtreme
Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Place your bets, that Miyamoto or Aonuma will say "It's the best zelda ever made" for as they always say for every game these last 30 years.
So they also said of the horrendous Skyward sword.
So they also said of the horrendous Skyward sword.
How was OOT not as tightly paced as Link to the Past?
Link to the Past deserves alot of credit for its structure, but its puzzle design is severely lacking compared to OOT which has legendary dungeons all over it.
Link to the Past still carries too much from the original Zelda 1 and 2 in its "combat" focus and its obtuse design.
OOT only flaw is that it ran on trash hardware
Azurro
Banned
I played it the year it released. It was fine, a good game, but I never understood the hype. Granted poduction values were good, but even then graphics were nothing special, story wasn't good either, Z targetting was nice, but combat was really basic.
I good game, a solid 8/10 but that year MGS was easily a better game.
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
We'd have to have a conversation about what that means, but in general I think games like System Shock 2, Doom, Another World, GTA4/5, Tetris (esp. Tetris Effect), Portal 2, etc. These are master classes in game design.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Placebo effect says yes. It can still be solid and basically a Breath of the Wild sequel and still be good.
amigastar
Member
That's true, in 1998 Ocarina of Time was a fantastic achievement.
Lord Malachite
Member
Nintendo IPs, Rockstar releases, Naughty Dog joints...these are all sacred cows in the industry
remember_spinal
Banned
yes, but so do a lot of franchises.
That Skyward Sword 93 will never sit right with me
That Skyward Sword 93 will never sit right with me
01011001
Banned
GTA5? a game with ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUSLY bad controls, super linear and handholdy mission design, aiming on console that was so bad that they had to include an option to hard lock-on to enemies and an open world that's basically only decoration without much to do in it other than running around doing nonsense or going from mission to mission...
the fact that you'd say that a game like that deserves to be recognised as one of the greatest games of all time over Breath of the Wild, now that's an opinion that is WILD.
then Another World. janky controls, bad gamedesign throughout that necessitates you knowing what to do before playing the game in order to not just get instakilled by random shit.
and you say you don't take reviews seriously because BotW gets its high scores? like, wow...
I personally loved GTA5 and Another World btw. but these games are deeply flawed in so many ways.
remember_spinal
Banned
For Nintendo it’s really just Mario and Zelda , and for Sony its just God of War and Naughty Dog. You can add Fromsoft to the list now. I will be really surprised if Armored Core doesn’t score a 90 now despite the series averaging like a 74 before this
Georges Chiellins
Member
Yep.
Same as Mario games. Or many other franchises.
Still waiting for a good Zelda since Wind Waker. And yes I've played and beaten Breath of the wild.
Same as Mario games. Or many other franchises.
Still waiting for a good Zelda since Wind Waker. And yes I've played and beaten Breath of the wild.
Wind waker is all charm little substance
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Majukun
Member
Would not say so, even the most controversial entries are still good games and are rated as such.
People fixated on botw and its scores because they believe that if you can point out an issue, even subjective, then it doesn't deserve a 10,and it's the kind of reasoning that gave us modern aaa, games made not to be exceptional or unique, but the most inoffensive possible
People fixated on botw and its scores because they believe that if you can point out an issue, even subjective, then it doesn't deserve a 10,and it's the kind of reasoning that gave us modern aaa, games made not to be exceptional or unique, but the most inoffensive possible
Hugare
Member
Yeah, reviews like those doesnt happen anymoreThis is what happened when ONE reviewer gave a less than glowing review to a Zelda game and it still got a 8.8...
Blast from the past: The crazy reactions to 8.8 - General Discussion - Giant Bomb
I found these just now. It's hilarious the insane reactions! It makes the Uncharted 3 8 review seem like a non-issue. Why weren't there multiple articwww.giantbomb.com
I'm 100% sure that reviewers talk about the game during the review process and influence each other analysis to reach a consensus.
You dont see divise games from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, FROM Sofrware and etc.
And every game that tries to deviate AN INCH from the norm (High on Life, Callisto Protocol) gets divise scores, 'cause they dont know what they should do with them.
Even most indies nowadays are all made from the same formula: roguelike, metroidvania or slow, emotional storytelling. Even them are too scaried to deviate from the stablished formula.
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SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Trial and error design is not a flaw of Another World, it's literally the job exploration and experimentation that makes that game work. Flawless.
GTA5 is an imperfect game, but a ridiculously fun one. BotW can be a real slog sometimes. So much samey bullshit and godawful design decisions. 8/10 is generous for BotW. It does some things very well but it's so under baked.
remember_spinal
Banned
This is why i feel like its funny when people praise indies for being so “daring” and “innovative” when the vast majority of highly praised indie games are pretty much set in established genres just like AAA.
Think of all the big ones this year they are point and click adventure, boomer shooters, rogue likes, etc. The biggest two coming out is Hades 2 (rogue-like dungeon crawler) and Silksong (metroidvania)
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Skelterz
Member
I mainly play PS5 so your a towel.
Wildebeest
Member
The higher profile a game is, the more likely it will be given to someone who is fanatical about that genre to review.
remember_spinal
Banned
This happens a lot with smaller games as well. The people who run to review a smaller more niche game is probably someone more super into that type of game to begin with, which is why so many smaller weird indie games get such high review scores. If you look on Opencritic you’ll see like a huge gulf of AAA titles from god of war until like xenoblade or horizon which is just indie games with 5-10, 90+ reviews.
I bet if High on Life wasn’t tied to gamepass it would have reviewed a lot higher as well. A lot of outlets only reviewed it because it was part of gamepass and had a marketing deal, but if it were left up to only Rick and Morty fans it would have the type of reviews its getting on steam
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Astral Dog
Member
The problem is there are very few games like Zelda and i guess critics don't know how to compare them since Zelda is the standard.
Legend of Zelda is an action adventure puzzle game(unlike other games who lack puzzles ) , its always very polished, has plenty of content, good graphics, innovative mechanics, high quality music and animations etc.
Yeah even games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are well crafted, (even if they were my least liked), at worst they would have been high 80s for their respective systems.
So yep its very possibles the scores are slightly inflated, but not by much.
On the other hand i think games like Sonic FRONTIERS were treated unfairly, critics may not have any idea how to rate a 3D Sonic game
its very solid for what it is and most fans are happy
Legend of Zelda is an action adventure puzzle game(unlike other games who lack puzzles ) , its always very polished, has plenty of content, good graphics, innovative mechanics, high quality music and animations etc.
Yeah even games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are well crafted, (even if they were my least liked), at worst they would have been high 80s for their respective systems.
So yep its very possibles the scores are slightly inflated, but not by much.
On the other hand i think games like Sonic FRONTIERS were treated unfairly, critics may not have any idea how to rate a 3D Sonic game
its very solid for what it is and most fans are happy
Wildebeest
Member
There are also a lot of indie games with no reviews or games with tons of "laurels" from various indie awards that get bad reviews. For an indie game to get reviews at all, it either must be something that manages to get a lot of hype or someone actually likes it enough to review it.
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gaming_again
Member
I think so. After MM I think Zelda games became flabby and unfocussed. BOTW snapped things back but those (relative) middle years were poor. You wouldn't think so from the scores, though.
It is understandable though. The Zelda 3 - MM run was like being showered with mana from another planet.
Mozzarella
Member
Yes 100%
Naughty Dog, Rockstar, Nintendo have a special bonus.
Naughty Dog, Rockstar, Nintendo have a special bonus.
Cert.in.Death
Member
Yes.
But GTA is the worst offender.
But GTA is the worst offender.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
I mean, Elden Ring got inflated review scores because it's a Soulsborne, so maybe.
MAtgS
Member
Hey, ST smoothed out some of PH's issues, had a better story/setting, a kickass theme, and the best Link/Zelda relationship of the whole series.
Zelda games get higher scores because they're still better than the majority of other games.
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22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Good thing those games are reviewed under pressure of hurting relationships/ties with the publishers and have to approach its exposition to it's audience in a inherently fake ass way.
Just look at a random playing the game for half a hour.
Markio128
Member
I really wish that A Link To The Past had been remade for the Switch, rather than Link’s Awakening. But as a whole, I love the Zelda games. TLOZ: OOT and Link to the Past will always be my favourite Zelda games, with BOTW and Wind Waker being close runners-up.
Like Mario games, they really can’t be improved upon in their respective fields.
Like Mario games, they really can’t be improved upon in their respective fields.
gothmog
Gold Member
I played it at launch. I wanted more LttP so I was a little disappointed. It still felt ground breaking and exceptional.
Gaiff
Member
Yeah, mid-high 80s which is very good but not amazing. For having played the game myself, I can say that mechanically, it's one of the better shooters on the market. There's just no content which was forgivable on release but not anymore.
We're far from the days of 92+ scores of the original trilogy and it being a GOTY contender that outsells almost everything that comes alongside it.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Considering the game was delayed an entire year, the lack of content at launch wasn't forgivable, either. Halo Infinite got most of its scores on the "promise" of what would come in the future but so far, very little of that has manifested.
You'd think reviewers would have updated their scores to reflect the current reality but they haven't. Well aside from Stevivor, who only did it to get review codes from Sony again. Both an odd and hilariously stupid thing for them to do.
I've seen "randoms" play those games from start to finish and enjoyed them of their own choosing. Dunno what you're on about. Review scores being slightly inflated doesn't mean the praise is false.
I'd argue if it weren't for it being on GamePass Day 1, HOL would have possibly reviewed a tad lower. Or at least very Xbox-centric websites would not have reviewed it, potentially.
But HOL could be a special case since it seems a lot of the reviewers took issue with the humor so, maybe if people more into the humor reviewed it the scores would have indeed been better. Just another reason why MetaCritic needs a reformation of how it handles aggregation. If a game like HOL is mainly targeted at existing fans of a certain brand, maybe most of the reviewers should lean that way so that they can say just how well it succeeds (or fails) at appealing to that priority demographic.
The actual review sites and even the game publishers, though, have to communicate this as well, however.
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Dr. Wilkinson
Member
Yes, same with Mario. But a better example of the point you’re illustrating (since Mario and Zelda are both excellent and deserve the high praise) is Pokemon. Scarlet and Violet were a mess and if it wasn’t called Pokemon it would not have gotten such a pass. It’s ridiculous those games launched in the state they were in.
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