Guys, let's not jump to conclusions! Shelved doesn't exactly mean cancelled and Bayonetta does have a good chance of coming back. Just look at Valkyria Chronicles. Plus, Platinum Games is currently working on both Anarchy Reigns AND Metal Gear Rising Revengance. It wouldn't make sense to really give them a third game especially with Konami breathing down their neck and possibly assisting Tango Gameworks and Shinji Mikami with his new project. That, or I'm being entirely too hopeful...
Don't even get me started on those "endings" that basically destroy everything that led up too it. . I think I can speak for them when I say this: It's not a happily ever after ending we want. It's not a fairy tale, everyone wins type of ending either; the fact is this: They introduced a Deus Ex Machina to end a video game trilogy that was centered predominantly on making choices, and those choices leading to lasting impact. Instead, what we got was this "god"/AI where it directs Shepard to screw everyone over no matter the choice. In Mass Effect 1 & 2, our choices actually impacted the ending. In Mass Effect 3, it didn't even close the franchise, it just brought a contrived end to the war without even allowing us to see where our Shepard's paths impacted an entire universe. We don't get to see what happened to the Krogan, how the Quarian and Geth got along after ending a 300+ year war. The clean-up after everyone on the citadel was outright slaughtered. What about the Mass-Relay's? The quarian can't rebuild with no access to supplies and the Krogan will essentially die out with no access to scientist to help clean Tuchanka's atmosphere. It's just honestly, like I stated before, there is isn't any closure and it's just LAZY. Nothing about any ending seems right and nearly EVERYONE feels like we wasted our time. I know it's about sacrifice, friends, the journey, etc. But what Bioware did was well beyond a slap in the face.
@dreman999 Hamburger Helper didn't take 6 years of ANYTHING. This all started last year when that interview was showed about her not liking video games, yet, even her back lashing at the fanbase just as bad isn't being counted here.
@hamrixxx EXACTLY! Anyone whos says writing can't or doesn't influence the gameplay doesn't know about games like Shenmue where the story was influence BY the gameplay. @aymansito- Do you really think hamburger helper was responsible for fun? She was the lead writer of the worst part of Dragon Age Origins (the roads), and the chief story editor of the much-maligned (and deservedly so) Dragon Age 2. The Roads were so terrible in Dragon Age that Bioware even apologized for it during the production of Dragon Age 2!
You have to understand: games are about gameplay. Games with stories should be games that tell these stories through, among other things, gameplay. Someone who works in the industry and DOESN'T care about gameplay, and would rather have you skip it, is objectively harmful to the industry, much the same way cancer is objectively harmful to the human body. That she was the lead writer of the worst part of Dragon Age Origins (the roads), and the chief story editor of the much-maligned (and deservedly so) Dragon Age 2, is further evidence that she has contributed greatly to Bioware's fall from grace. So, um, yeah. She's one of the cancers that is killing Bioware. So are the doctors and their greed, which enabled people who don't care about the games they play (according to Brent Knowles, who posted a fascinating retrospective on Bioware's decline after he left Bioware) or make to be hired. Bioware's increasingly turning into a company that thinks its stories are the bees knees and doesn't care about gameplay. Instead, they force you to experience their substandard stories and remove all the cool things about their games--like choices that really mattered--so that you'll have to ride their ride the way they want you to. She may be a writer, but she's definitely a bad games writer, and her presence at Bioware has brought about more bad than good.
I know "Those" comments are coming. But let me put it into perspective. You are a painter. Someone commissions you. Half-way trough what you think could be your greatest work, the guy who commissions you takes it and says good enough leaving your personal greatest work unfinished. That's how Itagaki felt. And it's how I felt when a few years ago I was commissioned to paint some for the Houston Livestock and Rodeo show. While the reaction to mural was positive, I couldn't stand the feeling that it was unfinished and it drives me nuts to this very day and that it was shown to countless people.
@Kevin-V This is true, especially when you look at sites such as Kotaku which have moved away from the grading system they have before to more of a general critique of the games they play. Game reviews (At-least in my opinion) are some of the hardest reviews you could write. How can someone justify an 8.0 to Dynasty Warriors then turn around give something like "The Witcher 2" a 6.0? This happened on Destructoid last year and it part hilarious and part sad. While Jim did give somewhat excellent points in regards to why both games earned their scores, the readers (or trolls) themselves couldn't comprehend it.
@Kevin-V I hope so too. Game reviews in general have gone completely sour the last few years, more so than I ever thought possible. Your review of Assassins Creed gave a great example of why games deserve that 8.0 or even a 7.0 or heaven forbid a 6.0. It broke down the gameplay aspects and the story, gave me reasons why the game was flawed without telling me it's not worth my money at all. The True Crime review had it right, but then it outright made the game seem like it wasn't worth my time. Years ago I eventually bought it and had a fun time. Was it the best? No. But it was far, far better than most reviews made it out to be.
@Kevin-V It's because of system wars garbage and developers like Cliff Blizenski who are hellbent on acting like if it doesn't have the productions of a Michael Bay movie and reviews of Citizen Kane it's absolute crap. Did you read any of his tweets for any review that scored Gears 3 below a 9? The man acted as if someone would murder a family member for every not-a-9-or-above score. While I HOPE that you are serious about about your review overhauls you wrote about in your blog- I hope that you also remember why people don't take "Average" game review scores seriously anymore. When you read the "average" 6-7 review scores anymore they hardly if ever mention the good parts about the game itself. Sometimes I read them and I often wonder if the game is truly THAT BAD why on earth didn't it receive something lower? You'll probably get half a page of good aspects then a page and half ripping the game apart on an almost surgical level. You start to see a pattern with games that receive what would have been "good, but flawed games." in the 6-8 range you now see that as a new bar for how bad a game is. Want to see a good example on this very website? Go read the True Crime: Streets of LA review then read the Assassins Creed Revelations review.
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