reviews seem a little shady

[curly_nuts]

most are pre-release reviews or by reviewers who were given copies for free. And, surprise surprise, they are all positive. Most of the reviews are really generic and allude to classic games like Zelda and Metroid.

I like the look of this game, but I wish there were some reviews that didn't come off as overly generic and repetitive.

[eevee]

I asked the beta testers to write reviews(be they positive or negative) because there weren't any yet and they were the only people who had played the game before. But I can see how they weren't very informative and overlapped a bit. Hopefully helpful reviews in the future will pop up and it'll help out people on the fence :)

[Karl Pilkington]

Originally posted by curly_nuts:

most are pre-release reviews or by reviewers who were given copies for free. And, surprise surprise, they are all positive. Most of the reviews are really generic and allude to classic games like Zelda and Metroid.

I like the look of this game, but I wish there were some reviews that didn't come off as overly generic and repetitive.

None of them actually bought the game, so they all should be thrown out.

[Jim]

Originally posted by Karl Pilkington:

Originally posted by curly_nuts:

most are pre-release reviews or by reviewers who were given copies for free. And, surprise surprise, they are all positive. Most of the reviews are really generic and allude to classic games like Zelda and Metroid.

I like the look of this game, but I wish there were some reviews that didn't come off as overly generic and repetitive.

None of them actually bought the game, so they all should be thrown out.

Their opinions don't matter because they didn't buy the game? That makes no sense at all.

[dancingstar93]

Originally posted by Jim:

Originally posted by Karl Pilkington:

None of them actually bought the game, so they all should be thrown out.

Their opinions don't matter because they didn't buy the game? That makes no sense at all.

I think he's being sarcastic, since I see him commenting on games he doesn't own all the time on these boards.

[Del_Duio]

Originally posted by Karl Pilkington:

Originally posted by curly_nuts:

most are pre-release reviews or by reviewers who were given copies for free. And, surprise surprise, they are all positive. Most of the reviews are really generic and allude to classic games like Zelda and Metroid.

I like the look of this game, but I wish there were some reviews that didn't come off as overly generic and repetitive.

None of them actually bought the game, so they all should be thrown out.

That's not exactly true. There's a box to tick off if they received the copy for free. If they didn't do that it's not the dev's fault to be honest.

[AJ, Lord of Chaos]

Originally posted by curly_nuts:

most are pre-release reviews or by reviewers who were given copies for free. And, surprise surprise, they are all positive. Most of the reviews are really generic and allude to classic games like Zelda and Metroid.

I like the look of this game, but I wish there were some reviews that didn't come off as overly generic and repetitive.

Same with me here I'm definitely in the target audience and age having played such games since NES/SNES times but both referencing games like Zelda meets Dark Souls and Metroid which are the holy grail of gaming and having too much reviews "given the game for free" make me cautious as a customer. It just ends up wth a lot of games being considered "very positive" in the store.

I usually wait until there are lots of reviews or external reviews and read the negatives whether complaints with the game are trolling or legitimate.

Also they should alter the steam key system so the "free" reviews are flagged automatically or just discard them entirely.

[artofwar]

I gave the game a positive review yesterday and didn't receive a free copy. I am definitely the target audience as well, and I'm still having a lot of fun with it after logging over 30 hours. So if you think you'd be into this type of thing, I definitely recommend it.

That being said, I actually think the description should drop the term "Metroidvania". Metroidvania to me implies side scrolling action of some kind. I'm guessing the developer is thinking that Metroidvania applies because there is exploration and you can return to open new areas once you have new abilities. But with purely top down gameplay, that's just Zelda style gameplay...

[Del_Duio]

I would consider a Metroidvania's main characteristics to be exploration where you can return to different areas once you pick up new power ups or abilities. I have a lot of experience designing them, if that counts towards anything lol.

[eevee]

Yeah, Dark Souls 1 is a metroidvania game and I really, really liked that aspect of the interconnected world design, so EPΘCH takes the idea and uses traditional zelda/metroidvania powerups in order to allow you to unlock places in the world to explore. Instead of things like Missile Packs, you're getting Essences that level you up. With leveling up being tied to exploration in EPΘCH, it seals the deal

The Metroidvania part of EPΘCH is abundant- you're constantly seeing things that make you say, "huh, i could backtrack here and probably unlock that area." This is also intended to make you revisit zones and feel more powerful as you dominate things that once dominated you(the tutorial is a core example of this concept)

[artofwar]

Well, this is a semantic argument where perhaps no one is "right" if the word means different things to different people.

But Metroid and Castlevania are both side scrolling games characterized by a distinctive type of combat and gameplay mechanics, often accompanied by the classic 2d vertical map structure. Axiom Verge is a recent example of a new game that is perfectly described by the term Metroidvania. Momodora: Reverie in the Moonlight and Castle in the Darkness are games that I would still use the term Metroidvania to describe, even though they are simpler.

In Zelda games, you also explore, find power ups, and return to previous areas to unlock secrets with new abilities. So does every Zelda game also fall into the category of a Metroidvania? If so, then I think the term Metroidvania stops being a useful descriptor.

So I'm not saying your game doesn't have the elements you're describing, but to me it is very misleading and nondescriptive of your game to use the term Metroidvania. But then again, I would never use the term Metroidvania to describe Dark Souls (for the same reasons).

[eevee]

eh, it's kind of like saying ocarina of time is not a zelda style game because it's 3d and lttp is 2d and lttp was a zelda game first

but yeah, semantics

[AJ, Lord of Chaos]

Originally posted by artofwar:

But then again, I would never use the term Metroidvania to describe Dark Souls (for the same reasons).

I'll second this. Dark Souls isn't a metroidvania and Zelda is neither a metroidvania nevermind they both spawned their own genres. La-Mulana is, Guacamelee, Axiom Verge. 3D Castlevania Lords of Shadows is not.
At least not when I'm doing the tagging. But nowadays also everything's a roguelike apparently.

[eevee]

Is metroid prime a metroidvania by that definition though?

[Constable@ssbutt]

> But nowadays also everything's a roguelike apparently.

Ah yes, genremancy. The modern game developer's greatest skill.

Step 1) Make frankengame.

Step 2) Release game and use buzzwords to advertise.

Step 3) ???

Step 4) Profit?

[artofwar]

Originally posted by nix:

Is metroid prime a metroidvania by that definition though?

No. Metroid Prime is a game in the Metroid series. Castlevania Lords of Shadows is a game in the Castlevania series. But neither is a "Metroidvania" game. The common usage of the Metroidvania label (in my opinion) describes games similar to the 2d variants of those games (including all of the excellent games on the Nintendo handheld systems).

Although this seems like a contradiction on the surface, the 2d games and 3d games are very different. Using one term to refer to all of the games in both series would create ambiguity rather than help visualize what type of game is being described.