Originally posted by Stradden

Ok guys,

I've spoken extensively with the reviewer. There was actually a mistake made in the original text. Originally, he was talking about the RAM in the dual video cards, and neglected to mention system RAM. His machine, on top of the video cards, has 4 Gb RAM, more than enough to meet the minimum requirements.

He also assures me that the offending lag comes at peak times and the game does run more smootly when there are fewer players online.

My sincere apologies for any problems that this caused to people. As you can imagine, this has been a bit of an embarasing situation for me. I really should have caught this on my edit of the review. So, continue to crucify me if you want to, but that was my bad and I'm sorry.

As for the score: That's the score that the reviewer chose to give the game. You don't have to like it, you don't have to agree with it but in the end when asked that the game was worth, he told me 6.9. Not everyone is going to like the same kinds of game. In the end, a reviewer scores a game based on his or her own opinions of it.

 

Spent all day looking at this thread while at the university on my phone. Finally got home to respond.

Appreciate you looking at it. That said, the only thing this review is good for in my opinion...and apparently alot of others, is a good identifier that Joe Iuliani is not someone for which I will read future reviews. To submit the writeup that he did, with one issue, the last issue, being the only real negative and then slap a 6.9 on it...well let's just say that he isn't in any danger of winning any literary or gaming awards. Indeed, he has lost a tremendous amount of respect from a great deal of gamers. 

Not that I for one second believes he gives a damn about our respect, mind you. That there, though, is the crux of the problem. Anyone who is capable of writing in an objective manner would put Fallen earth in the 7.5 to 8.2 out of 10 scale range.

The one good thing this does is quantify and qualify the full measure of Mr. Iuliani's ability to measure a game and give an opinion. On that I'd rate him around 3.1 on a 10 point scale.

As for crucifying you, there's no point in it. You did nothing wrong...save maybe higher someone that has since proven incapable of giving an objective review and a score that matches (granted, he pulled the review part off, it's matching the latter to the former where he's proven wanting).

Maybe you or another senior staff member should be the one reading the reviews and assigning a score based on the review that was written?

Originally posted by mmo4life

But unless you meet the specs , how can you says its the game on a review? 

But how can you not say it's the game when the game has had known lag issues right after it's release?  Also, it's not clear that he's talking about fps problems, like people are screaming about.  And if he's talking about actual lag, then how much ram he has doesn't matter in the slightest.

Just saying that people need to lay off on their knee-jerk reactions.

Originally posted by Shannia

That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

We are talking 'reviews' here not opinions i am afraid.

Now I remember why I stopped reading reviews on this site... they are all biased and senseless garbage. Aion cut pastes the MMO formula and gets wicked scores, indie sandbox games get trashed.

The guy doesn't meet the min specs and trashes the game for lag? Are you kidding me? MMORPG should pull this review for that alone.

Originally posted by Shannia

I think AION's score was way too high, 7.2 maybe.  But obviously, some people around here like much more than I do.

To me, FE's score was a bit to HIGH.  I wouldn't give this game more than a 6.5.  That's right, I'm not afraid to admit it.  This is 2009 and there is absolutely no excuse for the graphics looking like something from around 2002.  The gameplay is HORRIBLE.  The only saving grace about the entire game is the crafting.  It is unique and fun.  I wouldn't play this game continously for F2P much less subscription.

 

Shannia, I don't think people is puzzled too much by the 6.9 given to FE, rather the reasons why and the huge difference between FE and Aion review.
The 2 games are very different but similar in quality, again for different reasons.

The point is, how can you give Aion a 9.3, when lots oof people already quit after the first month, and then give FE which is much more innovative than AION just a 6.9?

I would have given FE a 6,5 myself, but I would have given a 6.5 to Aion too.

The problem is that in MMORPG.com there is no structure in the review system, I don't even think they have a system really............

Originally posted by Shannia

Since when did I say I like graphics over game play?  I'm saying that the graphic style there is crap.  They could have done a much better job on the graphic style.  I'm not talking about system performance because of said graphics.  There is a difference.  Also, game play is a lot more important to me than mature voice overs.   To me, FE devs focused on the wrong things in creating this game.  That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

Thankfully, you aren't in a position to review it that will change the opinions of the masses.  They did a lot more than just add mature voice-overs in the last patch, that was supposed to be an amusing aside, but I guess that was lost over the internet.  My bad.  Sorry. >.>

As far as the game play goes, it's much better than hack and slash snore-fests like in most games.  And yes, that's my opinion.  Thankfully, I'm allowed to have one too.

MMorpg.com gives crapy ass AION a 8.7 or whatever it was, and you give this game a 6.9. Fallen Earth is way better then AION. MMORPG.COM is starting to look like the msnbc of mmo reviews

Originally posted by Shannia

Since when did I say I like graphics over game play?  I'm saying that the graphic style there is crap.  They could have done a much better job on the graphic style.  I'm not talking about system performance because of said graphics.  There is a difference.  Also, game play is a lot more important to me than mature voice overs.   To me, FE devs focused on the wrong things in creating this game.  That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

I just love other players on this forum that throw out numbers for ratings.

Shannia, since your using the Shannia grading scale as well. please let us know how you got to 6.5 and maybe, just maybe, I will take you seriously.

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

But unless you meet the specs , how can you says its the game on a review? 

 

But how can you not say it's the game when the game has had known lag issues right after it's release?  Also, it's not clear that he's talking about fps problems, like people are screaming about.  And if he's talking about actual lag, then how much ram he has doesn't matter in the slightest.

Just saying that people need to lay off on their knee-jerk reactions.

See thats just it. I'm not says it is the game or is not the game. What im saying is that as a reveiwer you must review the item in question with at least the minimum specs put forth by the develpment team when making your review.

Then is said item doesnt work properly, you have a basis to work from. 

Come on,no one outside of  these forums takes mmorpg.com reviews seriously,they are a joke when it comes to reviews.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

Originally posted by Shannia

That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

 

We are talking 'reviews' here not opinions i am afraid.

Reviews are opinions. It's Mr. Iuliani's call to write the review he did and give it a score that does not reflect what he has written. It's also our good fortune to be able to respond on a linked forum and state that his score is off base. We can then only hope that anyone reading the review, then looking at the score (with the subsequent thought of "WTF") will then refer to the various posts related to that thread.

Knowing that the majority of people post when they dislike something and seeing the overwhelming positive replies here for the game, and mixing that with other game sites giving more realistic scores, anyone looking for information can conclude that the score here isn't right and not to give it much credence.

Worry not. Joe Iuliani won't be the downfall of Fallen Earth. It'll do just fine without his endorsement or patronage.

Originally posted by Shannia

Since when did I say I like graphics over game play?  I'm saying that the graphic style there is crap.  They could have done a much better job on the graphic style.  I'm not talking about system performance because of said graphics.  There is a difference.  Also, game play is a lot more important to me than mature voice overs.   To me, FE devs focused on the wrong things in creating this game.  That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

ofcourse, i think your whole perspective is suxors and you should stick to shiny fluff MMOS. Hey i am also entitled to my opinion. However, i am glad they didn't listen to you and focused more on polishing graphics instead of gameplay.

Originally posted by Netzoko

Now I remember why I stopped reading reviews on this site... they are all biased and senseless garbage. Aion cut pastes the MMO formula and gets wicked scores, indie sandbox games get trashed.

The guy doesn't meet the min specs and trashes the game for lag? Are you kidding me? MMORPG should pull this review for that alone.

Actually to be fair to FE, MMORPG.COM should pull the review immediately as it has been proven that the reviewer did not meet minimum spec and renders the review void.

Further to they should consider deleting this thread as well.

Originally posted by mmo4life

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

But unless you meet the specs , how can you says its the game on a review? 

 

But how can you not say it's the game when the game has had known lag issues right after it's release?  Also, it's not clear that he's talking about fps problems, like people are screaming about.  And if he's talking about actual lag, then how much ram he has doesn't matter in the slightest.

Just saying that people need to lay off on their knee-jerk reactions.

 

See thats just it. I'm not says it is the game or is not the game. What im saying is that as a reveiwer you must review the item in question with at least the minimum specs put forth by the develpment team when making your review.

Then is said item doesnt work properly, you have a basis to work from. 

I know...and don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying you're wrong.  My only major point in coming in here was to tell the 'omg 2 gigs' frothers that they need to chill out, because they're wrong.  And also to say that people are jumping to assumptions about what he meant by 'lag' in his review.  I don't think, personally, that his score was fair to give the game.  But I know if I had major lag issues, it'd color my opinion of a 100% online game, too.  Especially if it wasn't lag on my end.  ;)

Alright so I actually read every post and now see that his specs were a typo.

Ok, So he doesn't like FE.

No biggie, its not for everyone.

I believe it's slightly better than a 6.9 but its all opinion so whatever.

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

But unless you meet the specs , how can you says its the game on a review? 

 

But how can you not say it's the game when the game has had known lag issues right after it's release?  Also, it's not clear that he's talking about fps problems, like people are screaming about.  And if he's talking about actual lag, then how much ram he has doesn't matter in the slightest.

Just saying that people need to lay off on their knee-jerk reactions.

 

See thats just it. I'm not says it is the game or is not the game. What im saying is that as a reveiwer you must review the item in question with at least the minimum specs put forth by the develpment team when making your review.

Then is said item doesnt work properly, you have a basis to work from. 

 

I know...and don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying you're wrong.  My only major point in coming in here was to tell the 'omg 2 gigs' frothers that they need to chill out, because they're wrong.  And also to say that people are jumping to assumptions about what he meant by 'lag' in his review.  I don't think, personally, that his score was fair to give the game.  But I know if I had major lag issues, it'd color my opinion of a 100% online game, too.  Especially if it wasn't lag on my end.  ;)

The main problem with this is again, unless the min requirements are met, there is no way to even justify a lag issue not being on the users end. 

After reading his review, and then seeing his only major gripe as lag, one has to wonder if this issue would be present for him with a proper spec machine.

Originally posted by Stradden

Ok guys,

Obviously this was an oversight on my part in terms of the minimum requirements.

I've pulled the review while we look into this. I certainly don't want to see a game get saddled with a score that it doesn't deserve. My apologies for this mistake.

Excellent!

However, review is still up there.

And seriously. FE currently has the best player review score of ALL released games. I would say that we need a different reviewer as well, not just a capable system.

DB

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by VultureSkull

Originally posted by Shannia

That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

 

We are talking 'reviews' here not opinions i am afraid.

 

Reviews are opinions. It's Mr. Iuliani's call to write the review he did and give it a score that does not reflect what he has written. It's also our good fortune to be able to respond on a linked forum and state that his score is off base. We can then only hope that anyone reading the review, then looking at the score (with the subsequent thought of "WTF") will then refer to the various posts related to that thread.

Knowing that the majority of people post when they dislike something and seeing the overwhelming positive replies here for the game, and mixing that with other game sites giving more realistic scores, anyone looking for information can conclude that the score here isn't right and not to give it much credence.

Worry not. Joe Iuliani won't be the downfall of Fallen Earth. It'll do just fine without his endorsement or patronage.

Reviews are not opinions they are reviews and opinions are opinions...

I refer you to Skatty2007's post on page 3 of this thread :

My review of the Review of Fallen Earth:

--The reviewer suggests that starting off in a non-pistol oriented town is too difficult. This is far too much personal opinion. What works good for you "by starting off in a pistol town" may not work for someone else. It should be stated, "you can start off in a pistol, rifle, or melee town depending on what fits your initial playstyle, but neither of them are so conforming to a single combat form". Leave your opinion out of it, I have a functional brain and can make my own opinion thank you very much.

--It states that crafting in the game is extremely intensive and is worthy of its own article. But two sentences later is states "it works like most crafting systems." To me this is contradictory. If it is just like all the other crafting systems, why does it merit its own article?

--"I found it a little unwieldy with a keyboard and a mouse." Well thanks for your opinion, I found it to work best with a keyboard and a mouse. Everyone has their own way of what controls works best for them. Say something to the effect that you can use a keyboard\mouse combination or control pad depending on what gives you better control. But the way it is stated has far too much personal opinion in it. This is a review, not "Joe Schmoe's Personal Playstyle Reference Guide."

--It goes on to give advice on how to perform combat. Such as hit and move and take your time targeting. Is this an advice column? Later on he says how much he died (albeit due to lag). I'm not exactly feeling the validity of the advice here since he ended up dyeing so much. Not only that's, but this is a review , not a playguide or advice column (gee, see a recurring theme here?). If he dies cause of lag all the time, how can you properly employ hit and move to see if it is a valid combat technique? Again, leave your own expert advice out of a review please - I have a brain and will find my own technique that serves me well.

--It states the UI is fairly standard. That's just not the case. It failed to mention you can minimize everything in different positions than they are maximized, everything is resizable\adjustable (how many MMO's have you played that have the typical immovable hotbar at the bottom of the screen?) While I don't consider his write-up of the UI an opinion so I can't speak negatively about that, the review leaves out aspects of the UI that are not 'fairly standard'

--"Fast paced combat is not for everyone." Well guess what? There is no MMO or facet of an MMO that everyone is going to like. To say some people will like it and some people wont is incredibly obvious and can be said for every single game ever made in the history of gaming.

--"Fallen earth players are passionate about the game" This implies other people are not passionate about their other games. Also, are you reviewing their forums or the game? Putting a blurb in about your review of the forum is not relevant and highly subjective.

Overall score of the review of Fallen Earth: 6.9

His review only re-affirms of why I come here: Forum entertainment only.

Originally posted by HiGHPLAiNS

Originally posted by Shannia

Since when did I say I like graphics over game play?  I'm saying that the graphic style there is crap.  They could have done a much better job on the graphic style.  I'm not talking about system performance because of said graphics.  There is a difference.  Also, game play is a lot more important to me than mature voice overs.   To me, FE devs focused on the wrong things in creating this game.  That is the beauty of it all. We are all entitled to our own opinion and IMHO, FE is the suxors and gets a 6.5 at best.

 

 

I just love other players on this forum that throw out numbers for ratings.

Shannia, since your using the Shannia grading scale as well. please let us know how you got to 6.5 and maybe, just maybe, I will take you seriously.

 

 

Where do you want me to start, with 10 and mark down or 0 and mark my way up.  Either way, you will find fault with my logic.  My whole point is, other than the fun and unique crafting system of FE, the game leaves me wanting to uninstall, and quickly.  Combine the pour tutorial, ugly graphic stylization and the HORRIBLE game play, and I come up with a 6.5.  You can thank the crafting system or I would write it down lower than that.   So yes, the crafting system lifts the innovation score for me.

Without going into all the stuff that has already been discussed, after reading the review which seemed very positive and upbeat towards the game. The review and the 6.9 rating's score seem to contradict themselves.

5 Pro's and only 1 Con+very positive article does not seem to equal a 6.9 rating.

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

But unless you meet the specs , how can you says its the game on a review? 

 

But how can you not say it's the game when the game has had known lag issues right after it's release?  Also, it's not clear that he's talking about fps problems, like people are screaming about.  And if he's talking about actual lag, then how much ram he has doesn't matter in the slightest.

Just saying that people need to lay off on their knee-jerk reactions.

 

See thats just it. I'm not says it is the game or is not the game. What im saying is that as a reveiwer you must review the item in question with at least the minimum specs put forth by the develpment team when making your review.

Then is said item doesnt work properly, you have a basis to work from. 

 

I know...and don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying you're wrong.  My only major point in coming in here was to tell the 'omg 2 gigs' frothers that they need to chill out, because they're wrong.  And also to say that people are jumping to assumptions about what he meant by 'lag' in his review.  I don't think, personally, that his score was fair to give the game.  But I know if I had major lag issues, it'd color my opinion of a 100% online game, too.  Especially if it wasn't lag on my end.  ;)

In that case i can say i get no lag at all? does that make everything ok?  and yes i have 4gb ram. A person especially someone in position of a reviewers atleast got to meet the minimum requirements. Different people will have different issues with MMOS and sometimes its their own system but its easier to just blame the game. However, in case of reviewers the whole situtaion becomes unreliable since he is running his system on 2 gig of rams.

You need atleast 4gb ram to run game smoothly, then maybe he will be able to better differentiate between graphical lag and server lag.

Originally posted by kb056

Without going into all the stuff that has already been discussed, after reading the review which seemed very positive and upbeat towards the game. The review and the 6.9 rating's score seem to contradict themselves.

5 Pro's and only 1 Con+very positive article does not seem to equal a 6.9 rating.

 i don't think they were paid off for the review like they were for aion 

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by Stradden

Ok guys,

I've spoken extensively with the reviewer. There was actually a mistake made in the original text. Originally, he was talking about the RAM in the dual video cards, and neglected to mention system RAM. His machine, on top of the video cards, has 4 Gb RAM, more than enough to meet the minimum requirements.

He also assures me that the offending lag comes at peak times and the game does run more smootly when there are fewer players online.

My sincere apologies for any problems that this caused to people. As you can imagine, this has been a bit of an embarasing situation for me. I really should have caught this on my edit of the review. So, continue to crucify me if you want to, but that was my bad and I'm sorry.

As for the score: That's the score that the reviewer chose to give the game. You don't have to like it, you don't have to agree with it but in the end when asked that the game was worth, he told me 6.9. Not everyone is going to like the same kinds of game. In the end, a reviewer scores a game based on his or her own opinions of it.

 

That's odd, as the card listed never had a 1gb model. only a 512. Its only 1GB when in dual mode, meaning it has a max of 1GB. And at this time FE does not support dual cards, so, hes back down to 512 again, and a old card that is no longer sold.

Now, everyone has performance issues in some of the major cities, but clearly, this is not the only place he is referring to, and I suspect, again... His system is to blame if it was worth putting in the cons two times.

 

The reviewer is just flat out lying, and trying to cover his tracks.

1st he tells that he got 2GB Corsair RAM, then he tells that was his Video RAM ... I didn't know Corsair made video RAM ... furthermore the regular 3850 cards never had a 1GB version, there were a few customized cards with 1GB, but I really doubt the reviewer has these.

No, it is MUCH more likely that the reviewer indeed only had 2GB Corsair RAM and that he is just bulshitting us.

It is a damn shame that this fine game gets nuked because of an incompetent reviewer on a respected site.

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

Originally posted by Bhawke21

Originally posted by mmo4life

But unless you meet the specs , how can you says its the game on a review? 

 

But how can you not say it's the game when the game has had known lag issues right after it's release?  Also, it's not clear that he's talking about fps problems, like people are screaming about.  And if he's talking about actual lag, then how much ram he has doesn't matter in the slightest.

Just saying that people need to lay off on their knee-jerk reactions.

 

See thats just it. I'm not says it is the game or is not the game. What im saying is that as a reveiwer you must review the item in question with at least the minimum specs put forth by the develpment team when making your review.

Then is said item doesnt work properly, you have a basis to work from. 

 

I know...and don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying you're wrong.  My only major point in coming in here was to tell the 'omg 2 gigs' frothers that they need to chill out, because they're wrong.  And also to say that people are jumping to assumptions about what he meant by 'lag' in his review.  I don't think, personally, that his score was fair to give the game.  But I know if I had major lag issues, it'd color my opinion of a 100% online game, too.  Especially if it wasn't lag on my end.  ;)

It would not be an issue if the score of the reviewer wsn't highly influenced by that.
Of course you can still play modern games with 2 gigs, but that is not the point.

The point was that you cannot review a game with a system below the MINIMUM requested and then complain about the lag.
Lag in particular is due by lack of RAM, and FE states clearly that you need 2 giga with XP.................with Vista which takes more than a giga itself, 2 giga of RAM is clearly not enough.

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by Euphoryk

However, is there not some final say or needed approval by the "senior staff" before these reviews are frontpaged? and if so, why do reviews like this ever make it to the frontpage to begin with? especially when they seem to contradict this own sites opinion (as presented in the 10 Best MMOs since... article mentioned above) of said game in question.

Because Dana Massey's opinion differs from Joe Iuliani's? Different people are different.

They are. However, reviews are not to be meant to reflect personal taste, but a fair evaluation sir.

6.9 for this game is parsec's away from even being remotely fair.

DB