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Old 06-04-2011, 09:56 AM   #25
red_avatar
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Roeselare, Belgium
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jfritzyb View Post
Saying that Fallout 3 gets higher ratings "due to a popularity contest", is a mischaracterization. People who design these games also do polls with their people and on the net (no different then Abandonia does with the games hosted on-site). One must also take into account the possibility that not everyone votes or rates a game so while the numbers can be wrong, it is possible to obtain a working knowledge as to which game is more liked by "most" people as opposed to what game was disliked by "most" people. Concerning Fallout 3, what makes it unique is that it successfully blends 3D with an amazing storyline (something that does not happen very often with a lot of 3D-based games, possibly due to the fact that everything is done on the computer and therefore the video game project can finish more quickly and therefore, the deadlines would be quicker to meet).

It is also stated that "almost RPG player worth their salt will agree that Fallout 1-2 is far superior [to other turn-based RPG's]..." I challenge this assumption as Fallout 1-2 is not the only "superior" turn-based RPG game out there. If I'm not mistaken, Final Fantasy is a turn-based RPG as well and has a totally awesome plot, graphics, the works AND if I'm not mistaken, it's still pretty popular even today! However, putting Final Fantasy aside, there are other really good turn-based rpg's that are out there and to say that Fallout 1 and 2 are the only good ones worth playing is most certainly a stretch.
I don't count the huge majority jRPGs as turn-based because ... well, they're not really turn based. For starters, most use power bars that fill up so it's not based on turns nor are there action points to be used. Almost no-one counts FF games as turn-based for a reason. You might as well say that the old Eye of the Beholder games are turn based because you each take your turn hitting monsters.

For the rest - you're skirting around the issue which is that a genre which is popular will always get more votes while a game that is less popular genre-wise and is not within the line of interest for many gamers, will get more negative votes even if both games are seen as great ones within their genre.

Fallout 1&2 are perfect examples because they're quite complex and deep and require effort to get into but not so much that it's daunting. But people used to simpler games might just as well give it a poor rating for being too hard and I've seen that all too often on sites with younger gamers, where they enjoyed Fallout 3 and decided to try Fallout 1 or 2 out of curiosity. Is it fair? Hell no. If you're not into deep turn based games, don't play them but, also, don't down-rate them for what they are. You shouldn't rate a game for the kind of genre it has (although its tempting with sequels that dumb down the experience *cough DA2*)
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