Did/Do You Ever Use Reviews?

[Moonface]

So I didn't realize the live-action Netflix Avatar series aired its first episode today, and I was curious if a general overview of reviews for the show would give me a general idea of its successes and shortcomings. Alas, not only are reviews all over the place but a lot of the ones that are giving a more negative view of the show are coming out with claims that it makes the 2010 movie look good, which makes me really question the credibility of anything they have to say.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that reviews can be hit or miss and wasn't expecting to necessarily get an actual answer to my questions (I'll wait for a general audience opinion to form more once more episodes have aired) but since I was using the current critic reviews to try and get somewhat of an idea about how the show turned out overall I figured I'd ask y'all whether you use reviews at all or ever did in the past but no longer do?

[Kyng]

Yes - but I'm generally not put off by middling reviews. I've enjoyed quite a few shows, films and games that got relatively poor reviews - and hated some that got great ones!

Instead, I'll look at the specific aspects of the work that people are praising, and the ones that they're criticising. That'll give me a better idea of answering the pertinent question - which is not "Is this work good-quality?", but "Is this work for me?".

[Moonface]

Instead, I'll look at the specific aspects of the work that people are praising, and the ones that they're criticising. That'll give me a better idea of answering the pertinent question - which is not "Is this work good-quality?", but "Is this work for me?".

This is similar to how I use reviews now. I'll try to find what common elements are praised or not to try and get a general idea of what's good/bad and why, and whether any of it is a deal breaker for me. Dying Light 2 for example is generally agreed to have a terrible story, but because I'm not going into it for that aspect I don't care. If reviews were constantly calling the gameplay awful though, I'd take way more notice of that.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah, same with y'all, I also observe the general consensus on discussed points of critique and extrapolate a quality versus taste approach.

[Mr EliteL]

I suppose sometimes I do, depends. First it has to pass a test which many have failed recently, then if I am genuinely interested I'll look more into it so sometimes I'll end up at a review. If it's something I already had past interest in and it has generally overall good reviews then I'll pursue it further, if it's bad then I'll be very pensive and will reconsider, usually just moving on and ignore whatever it was (movie, game). If it's a brand new thing I'm looking at a review I'm still cautious and will have to take some more time whether I want to watch or play or I suppose eat but I don't tend to look at reviews concerning food/restaurants, only if there's a lot of bad reviews will they grab my attention to indeed avoid.

[Moonface]

I suppose sometimes I do, depends. First it has to pass a test which many have failed recently...

What test is that?


Did anyone ever only read reviews from a particular outlet? I remember before I started looking at a general overview of reviews I'd only read reviews in like, one or two gaming magazines (Play Magazine and OPSM) and when I then moved to reading reviews online it was either GameSpot or IGN I think. Harder to remember when it comes to the online ones though.

[Mr EliteL]

I suppose sometimes I do, depends. First it has to pass a test which many have failed recently...

What test is that?


Did anyone ever only read reviews from a particular outlet? I remember before I started looking at a general overview of reviews I'd only read reviews in like, one or two gaming magazines (Play Magazine and OPSM) and when I then moved to reading reviews online it was either GameSpot or IGN I think. Harder to remember when it comes to the online ones though.

My personal test on if it is basically worth my attention or not.  

Ah now that you mention magazines, I used to in the magazines I got too, or at least I read them I don't think those dictated whether I bought them or not, unless it was a game I had prior interest in but had a bad score like 50% or less, or whatever the equivalent grading would be in the publication. Although some games I did get but hadn't looked at a review and saw that it would get below 50%. Ah well.

[Moonface]

Ah now that you mention magazines, I used to in the magazines I got too, or at least I read them I don't think those dictated whether I bought them or not, unless it was a game I had prior interest in but had a bad score like 50% or less, or whatever the equivalent grading would be in the publication. Although some games I did get but hadn't looked at a review and saw that it would get below 50%. Ah well.

Yeah, I don't think a singular review from an outlet ever persuaded me to buy a game. Usually the game would have to get utterly trashed and then I'd reconsider whether to get that game, but I can't think of any game that I've ever done that for back when I was only reading reviews from a very small number of outlets. Nowadays I'll take the general consensus of something to decide whether I want to buy it at launch or wait it out, which was the case with Dragon's Dogma 2.

Weirdly I'd usually read the reviews of games I had never heard of back when I bought gaming magazines, mostly just because it was there to read. I don't think it ever caused me to gain interest in a game though. Most of the time those reviews were probably the only sort of marketing I'd consume for a product unless those games also had previews in previous issues I'd purchased.

[Destructo099]

I like to inform myself before buying anything above 20$, if Imma spend that much at least make sure I really, REALLY want it you know

[Dragon Lord]

Absolutely not. Most reviewers can't even get 20 minutes into an easy game without whining about their skill issues, so there's no way in hell I'd ever trust their judgement on a game.