Game Bashing On Steam

[Chaparral]

This is basically how I feel as well. I don't mind the gunplay either but in recent times I have found myself noticing the switching animations a lot which makes me think that plays into it when you see people complain about the design. This game reminds me a lot of the way things played in RAGE and I really liked that game. In RAGE, a lot of the enemies had armour and it would really DR everything up to a point, and then got destroyed. There were guns in that game, notably the basic assault rifle, that were really, really bad. The only reason you would use it would be to use up the armour before switching out to something that did more damage but for which ammo was more precious. So I don't really have problems with the design.

I haven't found it too difficult either. I would argue it's way, way harder to take down even a Master-ranked comparable ship in the base game when you're in a non-meta unengineered ship than it is to take out several enemies on-foot at once by yourself with just the g3 suit and the starter gear.

My main gripe so far with the on-foot stuff is not being able to do download missions without being put in the position that I need to murderlize the entire settlement just to do it. Elite is a very RP game and violence is personally unappealing to my Elite RP. I haven't done the thing where you run in the security room, hit the alarms off, and then run out before the SEC guy shoots you yet. I've been meaning to, but the one time I remember making an attempt, I got burned by an e-breach halfway through. I haven't gotten back to it yet because Elite takes a lot of time and I've been doing other stuff in it.

Finding it difficult and finding it fun are two different things.

A difficult game can be fun, when the combat mechanics and progression make sense.

If you could choose to play RAGE or a different FPS, say Borderlands, Warzone, Warframe, Halo, CP2077, ETC. what would you prefer?

What the EDO FPS advocates seem to miss is that in the FPS arena, there are potent competitors to be compared to.

You can be an FDEV champion, (I think EDH despite some of its quirky features is amazing for example), but I would never say EDO FPS gameplay is competitively fun with so many other FPS offerings that are out there.

It's not because EDO is hard. It's because the mechanics and progression aren't as fun as other FPS games.

Fun is subjective is the obvious counter argument.

However, the total number of reviews (only 6300 on Steam for a game that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies) , and the mostly negative average feedback do represent quantitative evidence about how the reviewing owners find the product unfun.

I've posted thousands of times on the forum. Obviously I'm invested in the game, and the conversation available here. It is unfortunate that folks will look at evidence like the total number of players online at any given time in Steam, or the average review - and try to batch disqualify the evidence rather than try to interpret it.

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

Finding it difficult and finding it fun are two different things.

A difficult game can be fun, when the combat mechanics and progression make sense.

If you could choose to play RAGE or a different FPS, say Borderlands, Warzone, Warframe, Halo, CP2077, ETC. what would you prefer?

What the EDO FPS advocates seem to miss is that in the FPS arena, there are potent competitors to be compared to.

You can be an FDEV champion, (I think EDH despite some of its quirky features is amazing for example), but I would never say EDO FPS gameplay is competitively fun with so many other FPS offerings that are out there.

It's not because EDO is hard. It's because the mechanics and progression aren't as fun as other FPS games.

Fun is subjective is the obvious counter argument.

However, the total number of reviews (only 6300 on Steam for a game that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies) , and the mostly negative average feedback do represent quantitative evidence about how the reviewing owners find the product unfun.

I've posted thousands of times on the forum. Obviously I'm invested in the game, and the conversation available here. It is unfortunate that folks will look at evidence like the total number of players online at any given time in Steam, or the average review - and try to batch disqualify the evidence rather than try to interpret it.

Sure, I fully accept that Odyssey has issues and it was foolish of Frontier to basically go "FPS? We got those!" but the points some of these negative reviews make are really suspect. One of the most recent negative reviews is basically a guy saying he couldn't manage to get Elite set up to launch, and 7 people marked that helpful.

 

[babelfisch]

My account is linked to steam and I cannot leave an Odyssey review. Base game, yes, Odyssey, no.

Just checked, same here. I edited my post.

 

[babelfisch]

A difficult game can be fun, when the
However, the total number of reviews (only 6300 on Steam for a game that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies) , and the mostly negative average feedback do represent quantitative evidence about how the reviewing owners find the product unfun.

Not really. There is no quantitative evidence. Maybe they found the bugs unfun but liked the basic gameplay. Or they found the bad performance unfun. Or they didn't like either.
Since the game is getting slowly fixed the review score is slowly rising as well, so I guess it shows the game isn't as badly designed as some people imagine.

It's very similar to the release of the base game and Horizons, everyone hated that as well. If Frontier manages to recover and continues to develop the game everyone will claim that Odyssey is perfect in a few years, just like they are now doing it with Horizons. I guess the biggest problem of Odyssey was the poor performance. The game itself is actually pretty good compared to other not existing living, dynamic, first person, space games in a 1:1 galaxy.

 

[Sluggy71]

Sure, I fully accept that Odyssey has issues and it was foolish of Frontier to basically go "FPS? We got those!" but the points some of these negative reviews make are really suspect. One of the most recent negative reviews is basically a guy saying he couldn't manage to get Elite set up to launch, and 7 people marked that helpful.

If I'd just bought a game and it wouldn't launch you bet your buns I'd leave a negative review. This isn't 1988 and DOS anymore.

 

[He$$eeTant]

It’s a hard game to categorise and hence review.

 

[babelfisch]

If I'd just bought a game and it wouldn't launch you bet your buns I'd leave a negative review. This isn't 1988 and DOS anymore.

That's funny, I would do the opposite. If thousands of people manage to launch a game and I can't, I would try to figure out what I am doing wrong.
I would be ashamed to openly admit that 99,999% of people are better than me. I always try to improve and get better, some people just leave a negative review and expect society to fix their problems.

 

[Sluggy71]

And some people expect a product to work out of the box, especially once they’ve paid for it.

edit- I will admit to never have gotten Frontier : First Encounters to work acceptably, although neither did most people. It’s the only reason I waited for ED to actually release before I bought it. I then broke my cardinal rule and preordered EDO. I’m a damn fool sometimes.

 

[Terry Daniels]

One of the most recent negative reviews is basically a guy saying he couldn't manage to get Elite set up to launch, and 7 people marked that helpful.

I got the free Epic version of the base game and even with Fdev support I could never get the second account setup to play; I didn't leave a review on it but if I'd paid for it you better believe I would have ripped them a new one - and Steam is the only place where actual players can even leave a review for this game.

 

[Urbanski101]

Generally, player reviews are a fair reflection of the game and I do use them to inform my decisions. I've been saved from some poor purchases by reading user reviews including Odyssey which I waited to buy until it was released so I could read the player reviews. I still haven't bought it.

I don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories about campaigns to downvote or upvote games. ED is fairly niche so I doubt it would be subject to such things.

The idea of a review is give the reader an idea if the game is worth buying / playing. On one hand I've put in thousands of hours and got my money's worth many times over and mostly enjoyed it. On the other hand the development of ED has been plagued with issues and has fallen well short of it's potential.

As for how I'd rate ED now, not sure. On balance I'd probably give ED Horizons a positive review but also point out the flaws and issues of which there are a great many.

 

[Mr_Foxhound]

That's funny, I would do the opposite. If thousands of people manage to launch a game and I can't, I would try to figure out what I am doing wrong.
I would be ashamed to openly admit that 99,999% of people are better than me. I always try to improve and get better, some people just leave a negative review and expect society to fix their problems.

you would do that with a car ?

 

[babelfisch]

you would do that with a car ?

If I am too stupid to turn the keys, yes, I would ask for advice first.

 

[Fizzatron]

Doesn't mean it isn't an honest review. Some people probably held out for a sale, got it on sale, and didn't like it. Then left a review.

I would suggest that if one saying stuff that isn't true in a negative (or positive) review, then it can't be labeled honest, unless you think it can? Also, if you're hawking a different game, which is in a worse state that Odyssey while bashing it, it at the very least brings into question the integrity of the review.

You're cherry picking.

Just backing up what I'm saying with relevant examples. It doesn't surprise me that y'all think that's the wrong way to go about it though, seeing as it looks like you're defending reviews that are based on wrong information.

 

[[DOOK] Droogie]

I would suggest that if one saying stuff that isn't true in a negative (or positive) review, then it can't be labeled honest, unless you think it can? Also, if you're hawking a different game, which is in a worse state that Odyssey while bashing it, it at the very least brings into question the integrity of the review.


Just backing up what I'm saying with relevant examples. It doesn't surprise me that y'all think that's the wrong way to go about it though, seeing as it looks like you're defending reviews that are based on wrong information.

It's cherry picking. You're claiming some vast conspiracy to bash the game on Steam. Every game has reviews that are basically trolls. That does not = a review bomb. It's one review saying you should play star citizen instead, which may very well be their opinion after being unhappy with their Odyssey experience.

 

[Fizzatron]

People are sounding more and more patronizing because you are failing, intentionally or otherwise, to understand the facts you are being presented with. The game was/is not being review bombed, it earned many of the poor reviews it has received in the eyes of those reviewers. The way Steam reviews work, requiring you own the game, makes it difficult for people that don't have it, or bots, to alter the reviews scores. Once reviews swing one way, they take time to swing back.

It's funny, I'm the one posting facts/evidence, y'all are just engaging in fallacious and disingenuous tricks to try to negate that. I never said I can prove Odyssey was review bombed, but I think with the reviews I've posted I think the question is a fair one to explore, but what I would categorically argue isn't the case, which is the one y'all are making, is that it isn't possible. The fact y'all are defending misleading/factually false reviews I think also is interesting to note.

 

[Fizzatron]

It's cherry picking. You're claiming some vast conspiracy to bash the game on Steam. Every game has reviews that are basically trolls. That does not = a review bomb. It's one review saying you should play star citizen instead, which may very well be their opinion after being unhappy with their Odyssey experience.

Cherry picking is taking a weird screenshot of one planet in Odyssey and claiming that it represents the entire planetary tech. Showing evidence to back up a point is not - I'm not making the argument that these reviews represent all of the negative reviews like y'all have fabricated that I am and stubbornly continue to insist even though I've corrected it many times. That would be cherry picking in the way that I illustrated.

Like I have said before, I don't know that what happened with Steam reviews of Odyssey amount to that of a review-bomb, can you point to the criteria that pushes into that territory? Is there some official threshold I should be aware of? But I can show that there was an organized movement to get Odyssey marked as Early Access which did indeed succeed, so it's not out of the realms of possibility that Odyssey also got review-bombed to a lesser or greater degree.

Again though, why are you so ok with people writing bashing reviews based on falsehoods and creating FUD? Seems strange that you would defend that.

 

[[DOOK] Droogie]

Cherry picking is taking a weird screenshot of one planet in Odyssey and claiming that it represents the entire planetary tech. Showing evidence to back up a point is not - I'm not making the argument that these reviews represent all of the negative reviews like y'all have fabricated that I am and stubbornly continue to insist even though I've corrected it many times. That would be cherry picking in the way that I illustrated.

Like I have said before, I don't know that what happened with Steam reviews of Odyssey amount to that of a review-bomb, can you point to the criteria that pushes into that territory? Is there some official threshold I should be aware of? But I can show that there was an organized movement to get Odyssey marked as Early Access which did indeed succeed, so it's not out of the realms of possibility that Odyssey also got review-bombed to a lesser or greater degree.

Again though, why are you so ok with people writing bashing reviews based on falsehoods and creating FUD? Seems strange that you would defend that.

There are always troll reviews. A review bomb is a concerted effort to lower the score. There is no evidence of this, and one post mentioning star citizen is not evidence of such a thing. It isn't even a completely invalid review. A review isn't even a full on review on steam. It's either a recommend or don't recommend.

You have provided no evidence of a "review bomb" on Steam. You cherry picked a review to support a conspiracy. The majority of the reviews in your screenshot are perfectly valid and reasonable. These are simply opinions of the game and whether or not they recommend buying it. I can cherry pick a few positive reviews that are somewhat troll like in nature, as well.

You have provided no evidence to support your claim, at all. It's cherry picking

 

[[DOOK] Droogie]

Cherry picking is taking a weird screenshot of one planet in Odyssey and claiming that it represents the entire planetary tech. Showing evidence to back up a point is not - I'm not making the argument that these reviews represent all of the negative reviews like y'all have fabricated that I am and stubbornly continue to insist even though I've corrected it many times. That would be cherry picking in the way that I illustrated.

Like I have said before, I don't know that what happened with Steam reviews of Odyssey amount to that of a review-bomb, can you point to the criteria that pushes into that territory? Is there some official threshold I should be aware of? But I can show that there was an organized movement to get Odyssey marked as Early Access which did indeed succeed, so it's not out of the realms of possibility that Odyssey also got review-bombed to a lesser or greater degree.

Again though, why are you so ok with people writing bashing reviews based on falsehoods and creating FUD? Seems strange that you would defend that.

Also, it isn't some huge effort to get it marked as early access. It isn't like they petitioned Valve to add that. You can manually add the tag. It isn't a "movement": A lot of people dislike Odyssey. You think it's a conspiracy to bash Fdev for some reason.

 

[[DOOK] Droogie]

Oh look! A vague positive post not really referencing the game! There's a vast conspiracy to boost the review scores on Steam!

 

[Ohanka]

There is no conspiracy. No one cares enough to conspire to review the game negatively on steam. An ultimately pointless exercise not really worth conspiring about.

the expansion was just extremely low quality, added nothing but a really bad FPS where you can only murder and steal. People didn’t like it so left a bad review. Simple.

There were also huge technical issues at launch, and nearly a years worth of lies from FDEV which likely didn’t help matters.