Just the facts:Darkfall scores a 2 out of a possible 10. Reviewers hardly played the game based on the server logs.http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/da...-online-reviewEurogamer’s MMO Editor came to me over a month ago and asked for 2 accounts to review Darkfall which they promptly received. Today, more than a month later they came out with their long awaited review and we REALLY flunked it would seem. Darkfall got 2/10.2/10 according to the Eurogamer scoring policy means: Avoid at all costs etc. You can find the scoring policy here:http://www.eurogamer.net/scoring_policy.phpScroll down to 2 and see how much this guy hated Darkfall and how strongly Eurogamer prompts everyone to avoid it at all costs.The MMO editor warned me personally about the bad review on the way, and I asked him to give us some consideration and get another reviewer on the case since 2/10 is the lowest review they’ve ever given, and Darkfall’s reviews so far have been mostly good ones. It sounded very unfair to me and I appealed its publication. Not even the harshest critics of the game or the trolls on various forums would give it that low a score. This is a niche game we explained and perhaps the reviewer’s play-style was completely different and he was maybe the wrong kind of person to review the game. Darkfall isn’t for everyone after all, and having someone who can’t handle this kind of game write the review would be unfair both to the game and to Eurogamer readers. You can’t use the same tool for every job. Eurogamer’s MMO editor refused and basically said that he carefully selected a reviewer that would be fair to the game and that he would stand by the review. Then he posted the review.When we read the hostile review by Ed Zitron, one thing became apparent: he had not played the game at all. Eurogamer readers and Darkfall players are posting bullet lists of factual errors in the story. The reviewer hadn't even figured out the very basics of the game before he wrote about it. We checked the logs for the 2 accounts we gave Eurogamer and we found that one of them had around 3 minutes playtime, and the other had less than 2 hours spread out in 13 sessions. Most of these 2 hours were spent in the character creator since during almost every one of the logins the reviewer spent the time creating a new character. The rest of the time was apparently spent taking the low-res screenshots that accompanied the article. At no point did this reviewer spend more than a few minutes online at a time.Darkfall is the largest MMORPG game of its kind and this guy spent a few minutes playing(?) before he tore it apart. How can someone do that responsibly? Ed Zitron didn’t even give Darkfall a chance.The entire review is opinionated and hostile; it attacks the game, the creators and the company at every chance. The creators and developers of Darkfall, as well as the Darkfall community through its reaction, consider this review suspect and question the motives behind its publication. We can take a bad review, but not like this. Even the worst reviews that we’ve received commend our efforts and speak of the potential of Darkfall. The majority of our players love the game. This review might keep new players from ever trying a game they would enjoy.We sent the play-time information to Eurogamer and asked them to take down the article as it is damaging our game’s reputation but also Eurogamer’s reputation. We asked to get an unbiased reviewer on the case who will actually play the game before writing about it. They said that taking it down now would be more damaging to their reputation than if they left it up. After our reaction to publicize the play history of their reviewers to protect our game, they asked us to wait while they try to confirm what we already knew from our logs. We’re afraid that waiting any longer is unacceptable to us, because this review was designed to drive people away from our game and allowing it to remain without any kind of reaction is out of the question. Out of professional courtesy we’ve waited 5 hours longer than we said we would before posting this.An update: Eurogamer got back to us via their editor and said that their reviewer is a contributing writer rather than a staff writer, that he claims to have spent at least 9 hours playing the game and they will stand by their publication. We wrote back that this is a lie and that our server logs(which they already have) show the playtime down to the second and they are at their disposal. They offered to re-review the game and see if the second reviewer has a different opinion than the first one. We wrote back that it might be hard to find someone to confirm the first review, especially if they actually play the game.
Editor's blog: Darkfall aftermath Blog entry by Tom Bramwell Yesterday Eurogamer MMO published a review of Darkfall Online, scoring the game 2/10. Several hours later, after a bit of email discussion, Aventurine responded on its forum, claiming the review was factually inaccurate and the reviewer had played the game for only two hours. As I said to Tasos Flambouras from Aventurine yesterday, I take any feedback on our reviews - and especially this kind of response - extremely seriously. However, I disagree with Flambouras' depiction of events. The reviewer in question, Ed Zitron, disputes the server logs that Aventurine presents as fact. According to the logs they supplied, Ed played the game for just over three hours. Ed says the logs miss out two crucial days and understate others, which suggests they are incomplete, and he insists he played the game for at least nine hours. I did tell Flambouras - as he writes on the forum - that Ed is a contributor rather than a staff writer, but the implication is that I said this to distance Ed from Eurogamer. This is wrong. Ed Zitron has my full support. As I told Flambouras, Ed's references and background are immaculate, as many PC Zone readers will attest. I also do not believe server logs are incontrovertible proof of the scenario Aventurine describes. Aventurine says Ed's response is a "lie", and demanded that I take down the review and issue a retraction, but I can't do that on the basis of the evidence presented. Speaking as someone who hasn't played the game, questions of factual accuracy are more difficult for me to quantify (although the review thread has a crack, and you should read it if you're interested). It's also hard to judge from a distance whether two, nine or 50 hours would be appropriate to review Darkfall, as this clearly varies enormously from game to game. That said, the passion with which Aventurine has attacked Ed's review is considerable, and the allegations obviously go a long way beyond arguing the toss. With this in mind, it seems only fair to take another look at Darkfall to supplement the review we've already published. I've already contacted another one of our PC writers, Kieron Gillen, who has agreed to review Darkfall. Kieron is a vastly experienced, award-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of Rock, Paper, Shotgun. I'll publish his review as soon as it's ready, and we will see whether he agrees with Ed or not. It's safe to say that we've learned some lessons from this episode, and they will be beneficial when it comes to future reviews. In the meantime, any and all discussion of the subject on the forums and comments threads is fine. Just as game developers have to deal with the response to their work, so too do we, and you've every right to criticise and debate it.
My take on it is this: A game should be enjoyable to play whether you are a noob or a hardcore gamer. I am starting to think that calling it a niche game is an excuse for all its inadequacies. Its like UFC and S&M. No matter what you call it or how you present it, it all boils down to getting your ass kicked. The only difference is in one its by a really ugly smelly guy and in the other, its by a (sometimes) hot chick. A crappy game is a crappy game regardless of what you call it, what face you put on it or who you say your audience is. ...and as far as those of us who have followed it for multiple years.....we should know better. This is not the game they promised us by a long shot.Can Darkfall be saved from going the way of MxO? Yes, but Adventurine needs to stop making excuses for what it isn't doing and stop whining about shitty reviews and get back on track with what they said they would deliver oh so many years ago.
Quote from: "Phienyx"My take on it is this: A game should be enjoyable to play whether you are a noob or a hardcore gamer. I am starting to think that calling it a niche game is an excuse for all its inadequacies. Its like UFC and S&M. No matter what you call it or how you present it, it all boils down to getting your ass kicked. The only difference is in one its by a really ugly smelly guy and in the other, its by a (sometimes) hot chick. A crappy game is a crappy game regardless of what you call it, what face you put on it or who you say your audience is. ...and as far as those of us who have followed it for multiple years.....we should know better. This is not the game they promised us by a long shot.Can Darkfall be saved from going the way of MxO? Yes, but Adventurine needs to stop making excuses for what it isn't doing and stop whining about shitty reviews and get back on track with what they said they would deliver oh so many years ago.OK but be fair. They've said for years that this game won't be for everyone and that it caters to a specific niche of gamers. I knew what I was signing up for. I knew I would lose my pixels... a lot. I also knew this was unlike I had ever played. Excusable and intended:Countless ganksLoosing all your shitWasting hours just to get ganked and lose it all"Grind" (whiners call it a grind AV calls it "don't max out all skills in a month)No end game... ITS ALL END GAMEHarvesting takes timeLooting takes timeNot putting everything on easy modeInexcusable and unintended:Graphical glitchesExploitsHacksMissing mobs and contentImbalancesAll the bad stuff is being chipped away at though. They're doing a good job fixing it but that's implying that it was broken. Which I don't think it's ever been broken to begin with... just bugs
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