The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Tamas]

Mount & Blade 2 coming to Game Pass next week, yay.

[Barrister]

Wired magazine gives Hogwarts Legacy a 1 out of 10.  Yes it mostly has to do with JK Rowling, but it quibbles with the gameplay - complaints which to me could apply to almost any computer game.

I mean - you don't have to review the game.  Feel free to give an article pointing out, in great detail, why you're not reviewing the game.  But to claim to review a game while making it so clear it's a political review just makes me laugh.

https://www.wired.com/review/hogwarts-legacy-review/

[Josquius]

Wired magazine gives Hogwarts Legacy a 1 out of 10.  Yes it mostly has to do with JK Rowling, but it quibbles with the gameplay - complaints which to me could apply to almost any computer game.

I mean - you don't have to review the game.  Feel free to give an article pointing out, in great detail, why you're not reviewing the game.  But to claim to review a game while making it so clear it's a political review just makes me laugh.

https://www.wired.com/review/hogwarts-legacy-review/

At a glance I see a lengthy paragraph on the terf stuff. Seems its written by trans reviewer. Sits very odd to call this political though.

But it does talk a lot about the game too. And it seems to reflect my impressions - Meh.

[Barrister]

At a glance I see a lengthy paragraph on the terf stuff. Seems its written by trans reviewer. Sits very odd to call this political though.

But it does talk a lot about the game too. And it seems to reflect my impressions - Meh.

Really?

I don't think I've ever in my life seen a 1/10 game review.  Or at least not unless the game was just fundamentally BROKEN.  I mean: here's a review for Battlecruiser 3000AD.  The opening line was "It will go down in legend as the most bug-ridden, unstable, unplayable pieces of software ever released."  Which is how I remember it as.

https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/battlecruiser-3000-ad-review/1900-2538148/

They gave it a 2.6 out of 10.

So tell me this review of Hogwarts Legacy isn't political...



(I saw on Twitter that Wired magazine hasn't even done video game reviews for years and years until this one, but I can not confirm)

[Josquius]

As it says, the game is Meh and middling though buying it provides financial support to real world shit, which between the lines I read turns a 5/6 to a 1. The best reviewers I find don't even bother with scores.

If they don't usually do game reviews then it does make more sense as an article.

And yeah. I don't see this sort of thing as political. Rowlings transphobia really pissed off that entire group of people. Their existence isn't a political matter.

[Barrister]

As it says, the game is Meh and middling though buying it provides financial support to real world shit, which between the lines I read turns a 5/6 to a 1. The best reviewers I find don't even bother with scores.

If they don't usually do game reviews then it does make more sense as an article.

And yeah. I don't see this sort of thing as political. Rowlings transphobia really pissed off that entire group of people. Their existence isn't a political matter.

And hey - if they want to write an article about how you shouldn't buy Hogwarts Legacy because of "real world shit" then have at it.  I didn't make the game, I don't have stock in the developer, so let it rip.

But the game is getting very good reviews.  I mean the Metacritic score is 86, which is probably dragged down by a couple of other reviews marking it down for politics. (not that metacritic for AAA games is everything)

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/hogwarts-legacy/critic-reviews

If you're going to "review" a piece of art though, you really ought to grade it for its own artistic merit.  I mean even Triumph of the Will is thought of as an important piece of film, even though it is 100% nazi propoganda.

[The Brain]

*shrug* All music journalists now think that Dark Side of the Moon is garbage.

[Barrister]

*shrug* All music journalists now think that Dark Side of the Moon is garbage.

Roger Waters can go to Hell, but Dark Side of the Moon is still great.  Slava Ukraini!

Michael Jackson wrote some absolute bangers as well.

[Josquius]

If you're going to "review" a piece of art though, you really ought to grade it for its own artistic merit.  I mean even Triumph of the Will is thought of as an important piece of film, even though it is 100% nazi propoganda.

They do though. After the first section ranting about how much the person used to love Potter but feels betrays they talk about the game being pretty mediocre.
The score is just a tiny part of it.

And equally to review bombing due to Rowling, moreso even given the groups concerned, I expect there'll be review score boosting from culture warriors.

As said the best games journalists for me don't really do scores though from what little I've seen the "it's a generic open world game with a Harry Potter theme" narrative dominates.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Wired magazine gives Hogwarts Legacy a 1 out of 10.  Yes it mostly has to do with JK Rowling, but it quibbles with the gameplay - complaints which to me could apply to almost any computer game.

'religious' fanatics will be fanatic

[Solmyr]

JK Rowling pretty much made anything related to Potterverse political all on her own.

[Tamas]

JK Rowling pretty much made anything related to Potterverse political all on her own.

Should have known better than having an opinion.

[garbon]

JK Rowling pretty much made anything related to Potterverse political all on her own.

Maybe but why waste time reviewing a game if you are just focused on political points outside of the game?

[Tamas]

For what it's worth it seems to be very popular on Steam, and the Quarter To Three forum people (who are REALLY not the "anti-woke" crowd) seem to love it.

[Solmyr]

JK Rowling pretty much made anything related to Potterverse political all on her own.

Should have known better than having an opinion.

Nobody is stopping her from having an opinion, but people can also call it out and boycott her work because it's a shitty opinion.