Dragon Age II has a 3.4/10 on Metacritic, WHY!?

[Kaanyr Vhok]

snip

Fair enough. But about the auto attacking, are you playing the console version? Because even so you can still switch auto attack on.

DA 2 might be a tad out of my computer's range. I'm not crazy about modding it so I would consider the console version. I am looking to upgrade for Skyrim.

 

[lleihsad]

I'd say it's a vast improvement over it's predecessor, actually. DA:O was, frankly, so clunky and broken it could have passed for Neverwinter Nights 2's less-deformed twin. I honestly didn't expect DA2 to be nearly as good as it turned out... 9 out of 10, I say.

 

[Bobbity]

The large numbers of reviews probably just reflects a relatively small group of people spamming the system, or maybe nearly two hundred people really do hate it.

That said, those two hundred people are the most vocal of all, and out of several million eventual players who will probably enjoy the game, it's still a pretty damned small number.

Wait a while, and the bad reviews will be moderated by the good.

I haven't had the chance to pick up my preorder of Dragon Age II yet, I plan on getting it later today, but I did look up some reviews, and while critics seem to love it, it has a user score of 3.4 on Metacritic.

Now I'm worried, the Metacritic user score is 3.4, which is so bad it's usually reserved for one of two cases:

1.) They did something specific to cause rage that results in spams of unfairly biased reviews (such as Modern Warfare 2's drop of dedicated servers)

2.) Only a few people reviewed it so far, and of them is an ass.

Well, 178 people rated the game, so it's not #2, and they aren't complaining about a specific nerd rage or single facet that caused hate (don't jump down my throat about my comment on MW2, it was just an example, I know dedicated servers are important but the majority of Metacritic user reviews about them read as if the change from dedicated servers murdered their parents), they are making broad statements about it being linear and bland. This does not bode well.

Does anyone have any explanation for this? Is the game really just crappy? I know Metacritic has some quirks but please don't just post saying Metacritic has no grounding in reality, 200 people don't just wake up and say "hey guys! You know what would be funny? If we all collectively pretended this particular game was terrible!"

EDIT: I think I have an explanation, it's possible that the people who absolutely hated it were motivated to immediately get on Metacritic out of rage, and that the more mild mannered people who are busy playing it right now either haven't gotten around to rating it yet, or don't plan to (believe it or not that logical explanation was given to me by a Gamestop clerk of all people, I guess there is hope for the world yet)

No this is not just ragers, if the game is not as good as the origional and has horrid gameplay, its a shitty game and deserves this score, there is no way in hell this was pulled off by just a few angry people, this was done by people who legitametly had problems with the game.

DO NOT BUY DRAGON AGE II EVER.

If you dont believe me look at the sheer number of complaints and people who voted! You can read them as well, they are not just raging.

Please. These are the most vocal of all gamers, who have been expressing their disdain of this game for months before even the demo was available. The game itself is still fine, it just makes a few changes that are unpopular with the loudest and prickiest of people.
Also, please don't say that I'm declaring anyone that hates this game is stupid. I'm not; anyone with valid reasons I'm willing to listen to. It's just the people that have been fostering their vile for months that give me the shits.

 

[binvjoh]

Wait, wut?

That seems awfully harsh.

Edit: Oh, that's the user reviews. Its metascore is 8.3.

 

[Bobbity]

I'll point at the console reviews, as an example of the invalidity of the crappy scores. It's the PC crowd that's been bitching for so long, while console gamers have been neutral or excited by the changes. Seriously, DA:O on console was not a fun experience, and you might think that any change would be positive. This is further fuelled by the fact that only the PC had any real strategy to it, and as such was the platform affected the most by the changes. Despite that, there are dozens of negative reviews on the consoles - the platform the game was changed for.

RARGH WHY CAN PEOPLE NOT SEE THIS?

Anyway, look at the critic reviews as opposed to the user reviews. There are a couple of tepid critics, but no really negative ones. The main user base, however, consists almost solely of people bitching about the game.

For instance, there's a user called Brutally honest who's simply copy/pasted his review onto all THREE platforms. He's opinion was most likely formulated before the game came out, and he's completely unable to look past his prejudices.
[HEADING=2]Incoherent screaming at utter prickishness of the general population of the internet.[/HEADING]

There are some genuinely valid gripes people have with DA2, but the Metacritic user reviews covers almost none of them.

I'll finish with this, from someone on Metacritic.

Mar 9, 2011 10
Dear Metacritic: I understand that the outpour of flood of phony user reviews for this game is a bit abnormal, but you need to get on your game. Nearly ALL of the 77 Ratings up on the board are clearly fake - they're from users that have never reviewed another game and have given Dragon Age 2 multiple reviews of 0-4. Considering how many of these fake reviews there are 24 hours after the launch of a sprawling RPG that will take at least 30 hours to play through properly, it's clear that many of these accounts are cloned and that the user rating system is being savagely abused. This is a pretty major release - Metacritic, where are the moderators? To anyone who's actually interested in this game, please be wary of these.

 

[Loviathan]

It's most likely due to the DX11 issues people are having on high end nvidia cards. People with $1000 cards are getting about 5-15 fps while playing and they're not happy about having to turn down their settings (Which tbh, they shouldn't have to). While they're not playing the game they're bombing the reviews.

 

[Loviathan]

[Double post - my bad]

 

[Jekken6]

Played the demo, didn't really like the combat, but found the story intriguing, so i might buy it based on that. Altough, I wished Bioware maybe could've kept the PC stuff for the PC version, though, so as to not shaft PC players and while at the same time, keeping it fun for consoles.

 

[Moeez]

Looks like it won't be winning any GOTY awards...

 

[Bobbity]

[HEADING=1]Listen to me![/HEADING]
http://www.metacritic.com/user/johnGamer34
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Kordaris
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Arragon
http://www.metacritic.com/user/GrackFields420
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Krykira
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Angryanon
http://www.metacritic.com/user/madisonjacka
http://www.metacritic.com/user/MasterChef
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Ahlan

Don't tell me that DA2 was so horrible that it inspired all of these users to join up for the sole purpose of smashing it.
To simply accept that as true is to demean your own level of intelligence.
For a game to have so many bad reviews less than 48 hours after launch is not an indication of bad reviews. It's an indication of a small, stupid collection of incredibly vocal users.
When you think of these people, think of the Tea Party and its mindless and their irrational hatreds. Think of the Westboro church. These are trolls, and nothing more.

I'm not saying that there aren't people who don't have genuine reasons for disliking this game; there most certainly are, and that's their right. But for people who dislike tiny, miniscule changes to come out and hate-bomb this game simply isn't right.

 

[linwolf]

[HEADING=1]Listen to me![/HEADING]
http://www.metacritic.com/user/johnGamer34
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Kordaris
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Arragon
http://www.metacritic.com/user/GrackFields420
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Krykira
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Angryanon
http://www.metacritic.com/user/madisonjacka
http://www.metacritic.com/user/MasterChef
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Ahlan

Don't tell me that DA2 was so horrible that it inspired all of these users to join up for the sole purpose of smashing it.
To simply accept that as true is to demean your own level of intelligence.
For a game to have so many bad reviews less than 48 hours after launch is not an indication of bad reviews. It's an indication of a small, stupid collection of incredibly vocal users.
When you think of these people, think of the Tea Party and its mindless and their irrational hatreds. Think of the Westboro church. These are trolls, and nothing more.

I'm not saying that there aren't people who don't have genuine reasons for disliking this game; there most certainly are, and that's their right. But for people who dislike tiny, miniscule changes to come out and hate-bomb this game simply isn't right.

The game on its own is a little over average, not great but not bad either. But it's a kick in the balls for a lot of DA:O fans, those reviews are a little hard on the game, but as far as I can see they are not trolls but people that are hurt as a darm good game that they loved got a sequel that could have had any other name. The changes are not small they are all made to make the game more streamlined, DA:O was announced to get away from all game being streamlined so when the sequel are one of the most streamlined RPG to date, people have a right to be pissed and upset. Stop calling people troll. And stop insulting people who disagree with you.

 

[Nimcha]

people have a right to be pissed and upset. Stop calling people troll. And stop insulting people who disagree with you.

I'm sorry, what? This I find horribly backwards. I mean, on this board I've seen a lot of valid reasons for people not to like DA2. That's cool, different strokes etc.

But being pissed off at a company for making a game you don't like? That's insane. Companies make games. You either like them or you don't or anywhere in between, but that entitles you to absolutely nothing at all.

 

[Bobbity]

The game on its own is a little over average, not great but not bad either. But it's a kick in the balls for a lot of DA:O fans, those reviews are a little hard on the game, but as far as I can see they are not trolls but people that are hurt as a darm good game that they loved got a sequel that could have had any other name. The changes are not small they are all made to make the game more streamlined, DA:O was announced to get away from all game being streamlined so when the sequel are one of the most streamlined RPG to date, people have a right to be pissed and upset. Stop calling people troll. And stop insulting people who disagree with you.

Sorry for insulting people, I've just been arguing with someone about this in another forum, and I've been getting a little worked up.
That said, if you take a look at those accounts, they're simply clones. They've never voted before, and likely never will again.
As for DA2 being a kick in the balls, I can see that. I don't think that many of these things they hold dear are as important as they think, but I can definitely see it.
My problem is that these people are immediately going out to the world at large and expressing their opinions on how utterly horrid DA2 is, and why it's not worth anyone else's time. These people ignore the fact that, in it's own right, DA2 is a good game, and send out a negative message about it to people who won't take issue with these changes.

 

[linwolf]

people have a right to be pissed and upset. Stop calling people troll. And stop insulting people who disagree with you.

I'm sorry, what? This I find horribly backwards. I mean, on this board I've seen a lot of valid reasons for people not to like DA2. That's cool, different strokes etc.

But being pissed off at a company for making a game you don't like? That's insane. Companies make games. You either like them or you don't or anywhere in between, but that entitles you to absolutely nothing at all.

I didn't say it was logical, I said that people had the right. I my self never got mad over this but I did punch the wall hard enough to make all my knuckles bleed in pure frustration after the demo was released. That was my was of dealing with loosing what could have been a great game. Other people gets mad, logical no understandable yes.

The game on its own is a little over average, not great but not bad either. But it's a kick in the balls for a lot of DA:O fans, those reviews are a little hard on the game, but as far as I can see they are not trolls but people that are hurt as a darm good game that they loved got a sequel that could have had any other name. The changes are not small they are all made to make the game more streamlined, DA:O was announced to get away from all game being streamlined so when the sequel are one of the most streamlined RPG to date, people have a right to be pissed and upset. Stop calling people troll. And stop insulting people who disagree with you.

Sorry for insulting people, I've just been arguing with someone about this in another forum, and I've been getting a little worked up.
That said, if you take a look at those accounts, they're simply clones. They've never voted before, and likely never will again.
As for DA2 being a kick in the balls, I can see that. I don't think that many of these things they hold dear are as important as they think, but I can definitely see it.
My problem is that these people are immediately going out to the world at large and expressing their opinions on how utterly horrid DA2 is, and why it's not worth anyone else's time. These people ignore the fact that, in it's own right, DA2 is a good game, and send out a negative message about it to people who won't take issue with these changes.

Mu answers to Nimcha gives my thought on this.
But something in you post I have to answer
"I don't think that many of these things they hold dear are as important as they think ". There are way few RPG that follow the old-school formula, for those that like DA2 it's just one of many RPG they can play. For the other group their RPG are few and far between so even a single loss matter.

 

[lapan]

The real score would probably be somewhere in-between. I don't buy the professional reviews either who already call it "RPG of the decade" and "best combat in an RPG"

 

[Nimcha]

I didn't say it was logical, I said that people had the right. I my self never got mad over this but I did punch the wall hard enough to make all my knuckles bleed in pure frustration after the demo was released. That was my was of dealing with loosing what could have been a great game. Other people gets mad, logical no understandable yes.

Yes, people have the right to be mad over anything they want. But you just can't justify being mad or frustrated about this. If anything, you should be punching yourself. You and your expectations and feelings of false entitlement are the reason for your frustration, not BioWare. Or the wall.

 

[Ryuu814]

I remember that some people didn't like the new way they've done it, i.e: too much like Mass Effect or that it was too much like a hack 'n' slasher. Might be some of the reasons.

I never saw the Hack and Slash part of Dragon Age...
when I think of hack and slash I think God Of War or Bayonetta where you put in strings of button combinations to make big flashy moves.

...on the console you press the A button over and over...okay i understand that part but I like it somewhat as it keeps me more engaged during the fighting rather than watching another sword-shuffle like in Origins. But then you use RPG abilities with the other buttons...

abilities and not another button to attack something with. Depending on what that button is.

DA2 is nothing like a hack and slash game to be fair XD
...from what I played in the demo anyway
*comes out tommorow*

 

[Vignirj]

I'm enjoying it, just have to make sure to be in one of the harder difficulties.