How much do reviews matter when you're looking at games?

[Nunu312]

There has been some discussion across various places about how much reviews matter.

This is kind of a complicated issue because... well you're all complicated individuals with your own feelings and desires. Even with the pornosphere as saturated as it is, the more things come out the more people tend to be laser focused on their fetishes rather than just having the best rise to the top. At that stage, the group impression of a games quality might be outweighed by the fact that there is only one or two games that even interest you. If you're looking for a Loli Furry Fisting Milf game, you play the one star game... you might not come away liking it, but you play it.

Similarly a bunch of games that are just objectively good get slammed because they might be unappealing to most, or is too niche and it gets 5 stars across the board even though it's trash because it's the only game that did it, or they got too big that people think the development isn't going as it should. It might be the perfect game for you but it's not being treated "fairly" because of the nature of just how the world at large works. At a certain stage though, what even is a review? Is docking a star because development is slow appropriate? It certainly is to some, you might be really tired of getting into games that will be updated with 10 minutes of content every three months.

So that's my explanation of why this isn't a straight likert scale about reviews. Lets get some data on this bitch.

 

[Cuzline]

Well, I tend to keep them in mind when trying not to waste hours only to feel at the end of the day that I played too much, and they weren't even good games.
But sometimes they motivate me to download games that I don't trust but have very good comments. Even if sometimes its disappointing since its probably not my kind of games.

Although there are games, like one that had Hitler in it, where a lot of people gave 5 stars just for its inclusion when it was clear from the screenshots (and dev's other games) that it was a bad game.
So... yeah, I pay attention to them.

I Still play bad games but at least I already know they were bad by reading the comments or some reviews

 

[Meaning Less]

Completely ignore the overall rating itself because it means nothing more than the number of fanboys/haters a game has.

The rare event that I find myself actually reading the review section is when an overview+images were not clear enough about what the game is about or what the gameplay mechanics are, then at times you stumble upon one or other helpful review that gives you some extra information regardles of their score.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Ero-games don't generally get objective reviews, due to the focus on fetishes and their execution. I generally don't bother to read them before playing a game, or care about the rating. My favorite game in development is rife with 2-star reviews calling it a non-porn game because it focuses on gameplay, story, slow corruption and moral degeneration rather than MC being raped/blackmailed several times per hour ingame (as would be the case in most games of its genre and game engine). When deciding what to play, I care much more about the tags, screenshots and description.

 

[Rafster]

If the game hits a kink(s) I have, I may give it a chance even if it has 1-2 stars. I'm not so picky when I finally find games with gay content, or at least a full route. The only way that would make me quit it, would be game stopping bugs, a REALLY boring gameplay (but it must be unplayable for me to do this), or the shota/loli tags.

I often read the reviews one by one to see if there is a big flaw on the game. Usually after the comments on the thread. I don't pay attention to the global rate though.

 

[Gwedelino]

I totally ignore ratings.

 

[OsamiWorks]

I like to sort by weighted rating in the last 14 days a lot. I tend to gravitate towards art I like and look at the comments people are posting on the games that catch my attention but usually that doesnt stop me from trying them.

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

I manually check every single game regardless of tags or reviews, but when they have 1-2 stars i think i'm usually more likely to press "ignore thread" button. Also depends on how many reviewers reviewed the game.

 

[Carpe Stultus]

Reviews don't matter at all when i look at a game because i know that 5 star ratings and 1 star ratings are bullshit in 99% of the cases. The deciding factors for me are the tags and the previews, if both are agreeable for me i'll try it.

 

[baneini]

Reviews are sporadically helpful. If I see same objective negatives listen in the reviews its helpful, like the games really short or lacks scenes and its not worth dl at this stage.
Then if a game has 100+ 5/5 ratings I know its lowest common denominator garbage and skip it.
Sometimes good games get 2.5/5 ratings and you're on your own there finding the good stuff and see if theres an obvious reason people shit on it that you don't mind, like hard gameplay.
Usually good games don't get one or two people giving it lowest possible score with no one disagreeing with them so you skip those.

 

[DiddlerGames]

how much reviews matter

They don't. I base my decision to download on tags and screenshots for porn games. For normie non porn games I just watch trailers and then pirate it, if it looks interesting.

The only reviewers I watch are for things I've already played, or will never play. And even then, I only watch 1 reviewer, Mandaloregaming.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Completely ignore the overall rating itself because it means nothing more than the number of fanboys/haters a game has.

The rare event that I find myself actually reading the review section is when an overview+images were not clear enough about what the game is about or what the gameplay mechanics are, then at times you stumble upon one or other helpful review that gives you some extra information regardles of their score.

More or less the same, but I still have a quick glance at the overall rating.

Haters and fanboys generally tend to neutralize themselves, what keep the game above the three full stars. Therefore, unless there's really few rating, when a game have less than two full stars it's generally that it deserve it.

 

[GreenGobbo]

They are aggregates of public opinion.
When that stops mattering, it will stop being a thing.
Consider how many reviews have been posted on just this site alone.
They still have purpose, and some people still use them as baselines for quality.
Otherwise everyone would just ignore them, the feature would never be used, and all the theeads/games would have 0 stars.

 

[Meaning Less]

Haters and fanboys generally tend to neutralize themselves

I wish, for some reason it usually seems like once something becomes "established as good/bad" people feel more comfortable giving their opinion as long as it matches with the overall response.

Lots of reviews are basically copy and paste of the estabilished opinion, which is why if I ever check reviews of anything I tend to pay attention for the ones going against the grain because it us usually in them that you find more interesting opinions.

 

[DuniX]

I prefer a balance of perspectives from multiple reviews.
5 Star Review means someone at least likes it.
1 Star Review is for looking for reasons why I might not like it and bother with it.
3 Star Reviews for what kind of Pros and Cons a game might have.
If there are too few reviews with only 1 or 3 reviews that might have a bias so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[GreenGobbo]

I wish, for some reason it usually seems like once something becomes "established as good/bad" people feel more comfortable giving their opinion as long as it matches with the overall response.

Lots of reviews are basically copy and paste of the estabilished opinion, which is why if I ever check reviews of anything I tend to pay attention for the ones going against the grain because it us usually in them that you find more interesting opinions.

Hey we agree on something for once Meaning Less
I often find myself analyzing critical reviews so I can get a better grasp on a games missteps.Don't like getting sucker punched from game breaking bugs or annoying features coming at me from out of left field. It's a good way to prepare yourself from the stuff fanboy reviews will often overlook because they are so enamored with the game that they've developed blind spots to the flaws.

 

[Wolf Larsen]

Dude, I checked pretty much every option except the first two, but the poll doesn't allow me!

 

[Hildegardt]

Tbh I've never once clicked on the reviews tab. Seeing the comments of many vocal community members makes me think I wouldn't find anything useful anyway. The typical f95zone user seems to have strong expectations, but not in terms of quality. They just want ever more of the same.
Also, no matter how much people claim they appreciate a good story, it's not nearly as important as giving them exactly what they want in terms of kinks. Any story progression or struggling characters are regularly met with outrage and accusations of the MC being spineless.
The cheat code is including a cutesy girl with a melancholic facial expression (bonus points for thick eye liner) and the dialogue "I love you very much". That's all it takes to get your writing praised to the moon.

If I click on the Latest Updates tab I already decided beforehand that I'm going to waste some time. What's the worst that could happen, if I like the synopsis and the preview pics? Reading the reviews would just be even more of a waste, which I can't even fap to. Reviewing unfinished games makes no sense anyway.

 

[Meaning Less]

It's a good way to prepare yourself from the stuff fanboy reviews will often overlook because they are so enamored with the game that they've developed blind spots to the flaws.

Don't forget that the opposite sometimes also happens to be true, I've seen a few games with low overall score with everyone hating laser focused on a single issue in the game meanwhile the few more positive ones that didn't mind that issue as much ended up being the most helpful reviews that I ended up agreeing with after playing the game.

 

[Oh my]

Critical indicators are supposed to be in OP.
Some critical indicators can be gleaned from the Game Thread sometimes, like bugs or inconsistency or something.

Review Stars are a soft indicator that I might somehow glance at sometimes, but it is what it is and can only inform as much as it does.
Which is speculative.

Latest update information can be gleaned from the last few pages of a Game thread.
A Review Thread can provide compressed information to save time or data on trying unseen and longer material.
Like a bite-sized Game Thread.

I give this thread 5/5 Cummy Points.
Trust me, I'm a professional.