New Avault review

[JonahFalcon]

(ignoring Corentor's pitiful flame war attempts)

Some of these reviews are pretty inaccurate - he didn't even attempt multiplayer, whilst I took great pains to actually ask Quicksilver to take time out from their work to indulge me in MP so I could see what it is like.

Does Tom Chick or this guy even know MOO3 has multiplayer?

This is a good one:

Unfortunately, I found that the AI only loosely follows the guidelines that you set. For instance, even though I set Mining as the highest DEA priority for Mineral Rich worlds, I often caught the AI building mainly Farming zones instead (despite the fact that Farming wasn't even in my Development Plan).

Hello? Were these Mineral Rich planets Harsh or Barren? You can't have all mining and industry DEAs on a world when your populace is STARVING. Had you said "The planet was Abundant or even Fertile", I'd believe you

In fact, I often have the problem the viceroy tries to mine colonies and I end up making sure Bioharvest DEAs are built on Fertile lowlands.

[vonManstein]

Wow, bad reviews and hired rabid fan bois, a sure sign I'm not buying this game until there's a patch or two.

[JonahFalcon]

Tell you what - DON'T buy it at all. If you're so sure you're not going to like it - stay away.

Incidentally, I'm not "fan bias". I trash games I don't like, I rave games I like. Period. End of story. (See my "Max Payne" 1 1/2 star review.)

[Corentor]

So the guy didn't post about the multiplayer. Does that somehow invalidate the things he finds quesitonable.

(By the way, is it really true that you said in a review that Max Payne had laggy multiplayer? There have been wild rumors circulating.)

Also, in an earlier statement, you said that this is just like negative Civ III reviews, that the game wasn't what reviewers wanted. Isn't that the point of the reviews? To get a player's first hand perspective on what he liked and didn't like about the game?

Is it possible for you to grasp the small concept that different people enjoy different things and that there is not one universal truth of whether a game is good or not?

[darcy]

Damn, he too found the enemy AI incompetent. That's why all these "the game is so complex, you need more time to learn" arguments completely miss the point: If you WIN all the games, it doesn't matter how confusing the interface is or which parts of the game you missed. Who cares how your empire can be optimized if you're winning anyway?

And MP... I don't play MP (like the majority of all gamers, btw), so I couldn't care less about the reviewer guy skipping that part.

[JonahFalcon]

Corentor, how about you pretend to buy MOO3, then repeat the stuff from the negative reviews and bash it, ok? At least pretend to know what you're talking about.

Oh, and you're right. No one cares about multiplayer and how it plays, right? It's not an important part of a game when included. I mean, NO ONE is going to be playing MOO3 on GameSpy at ALL, right?

There is such a thing as an in-depth review.

Incidentally, since I've reviewed for UGO.com, my review load is much much lighter, so I was able to play MOO3 8 hours a day for two weeks (not by design - time flies when you play it.)

But, you only get out what you put in.

[Corentor]

Completely side stepped the questions I see....

[Stuie]

Huh, what... is the game out yet? No? Ok....

[peacenik]

Jonah Falcon-- The only things about the Avoult review that potentially concern me were:

1: AI that isn't an effective opponent, either tactically or strategically

2: The difficulty ranges 'Easy to Hard' produce virtually no changes in game play

Are you concerned that the AI needs a major 'patch fix' to make this game enjoyable once we get past the learning curve?

Did you find the difficulty levels reasonable different in terms of game challenge?

I would appreciate any thoughts you would like to share.

[JonahFalcon]

No, not sidestepping, just stating an informed opinion is better than an uninformed one. I'm not posting to this thread anymore. It's a dead end one where someone is trying to start a flame war. I don't take bait from troublemakers, period.

Just don't buy the game, shut up, and don't post in the MOO3 boards, ever.

[Corentor]

Originally posted by JonahFalcon
No, not sidestepping, just stating an informed opinion is better than an uninformed one. I'm not posting to this thread anymore. It's a dead end one where someone is trying to start a flame war.

I see, so what your saying is that your opinion is the only correct opinion about the game and anyone who does not find this game enjoyable is either too dumb to enjoy it or somehow got shipped with the beta version.....

Right

[JonahFalcon]

(Funny how no one is bringing up The Orion Sector 9.6/10 review, huh? And THEY played multiplayer, albeit on a LAN. And they, unlike Tom Chick, played MOO1. Tom seems to think MOO1 was exactly like MOO2. heh)

My last post here.

[rhofman]

Isn't that the point of the reviews?

Actually it's not.

A good review and by extension a good reviewer both explains what the game trys to deliver and how well it delivers.

It is not the reviewers job to say I don't want this type of game so it gets a low review. I don't usually play first person shooters. The best mark I would ever give one is 50% for UT. If I was a professional reviewer and gave it that mark when it came out I should have my head examined. For a first person shooter it was good.

Same goes for MOO3. If it is different than anything to this point it should be measured by how well it does that different thing. NOT by how desireable this type of game is to the specific reviewer.

I realize that this rarely happens and most reviews degenerate into either a rant or a love in.

[booje]

Geez, while opinions are fun and interesting they are after all just opinions. I've found many times where a game has great reviews (Black & White) and I ended up not liking it.

Will anyone really who comes here regularly be disuaded from buying the game even if every review says it's a piece of donkey poop? (which every review has not)

I can harly wait. It's been almost two years I've waited for this game. Will it live up to expectations (I doubt it). Will it be fun? (I hope!)

[Todd Hawks]

darcy has a BIG point here.... maybe none of the other reviewers saw this because they have been busy trying to figure out the game mechanics and the interface.