jay_are wrote:LOL Oh man. My rating system is simple. I judge 5 things: 1- Looks. 2- Audio. 3- Gameplay mechanics (and story if it's important to the game). 4- Overall fun, and 5- Overall addictiveness / replay value. Reason my post is long is because i basically review 2 games >.< But I kept each branch short.
Ok I get how you do that mechanically, it just strikes me as odd that you seem to weight all those things equally -- say, amazing gameplay + amazing looks + zero audio, by that system, is equivalent to ok gameplay + ok looks + amazing audio. Then again, there's
always going to be tension between trying to make reviews as fair as possible, versus allowing room for flexibility and innovation. I mean, just the act of using a numerical rating system illustrates this -- it's trying to quantify something that's based on individual experiences. No one's method is
wrong, but I will say that yours is the first time I've seen such equal weighting given to all elements, so it
is interesting even if it's not what I'd do (well,
especially because it's not what I'd do).
Anyway, this is one reason that my preference is to offer a 10-point scale (and use
all 10 numbers, not just rate everything 6-10), and put up examples of well-known games in each genre that would hit each level. It's imperfect, but it has its advantages. Say, 8 = Chrono Trigger, 9 = Tales of Phantasia, 10 = Lunar: Eternal Blue -- so when I rate FF9 a 9, it gives a better idea of where that game is for me than just the number alone. ...
then I'll launch into the reasons.
...actually on that note:
jay_are wrote:Compare the villain of Lunar DS to the lame FF9's Villain and final boss / ending overall...
ok we can no longer be friends. <3 FF9 forever.
jay_are wrote:Lunar DS totals 6 to 8 /10. Your 7/10 doesn't contradict this, and online reviews go around that too. Even IGN agrees.
Well that's the problem... Gaming magazines' rating systems are crap (everything is a 6-10, and that doesn't even get to the issue of pressure to rate games highly if they come from prominent advertisers), and that 7/10 rating I gave was when the whole post-Lunar-glow hadn't worn off. If it were today, I'd place it at a 4/10 or possibly 5/10 -- above Final Fantasy 1, maybe around or below Tales of Destiny (...I lost interest in ToD early on, and since it wasn't Lunar there was little reason to continue). KF