This is less "woke up and chose violence" and more a mess of thoughts I've had in my head regarding criticism, discussing media online, and interacting with strangers on the internet. It was also going to be called "Sea of Stars is a piece of shit and its a disgrace that it was nominated for the TGAs" but even I thought that was too much. Its also not actually about Sea of Stars, though its inspired by what it is.
That inspiration comes from my own personal thoughts about the game, and the way I see it being talked online. For reference, while I admit those previous thoughts are overly aggressive, I genuinely think its a bad game. I believe that not reaching expectations doesn't make something "mid" or average, it just makes it a straight up failure, and its odd to me that games have to outright be broken, have bugs, or be offensive in some way to be considered bad. We all know the major reviewers aren't allowed to be harsh to products, with a 6/10 being an abysmal, unthinkable score to give, but more and more often I see this being reflected on the general public, which instead of sounding constructive just feels...fake? Like there's a desperation to say something nice, point out any enjoyable moment, because if you simply say you didn't like something then your opinion isn't valid.
Its even more jarring when the positives and negatives are so disparate. "The first [X] hours are really weak" is a common line to see in so many reviews, which shouldn't be a minor thing but rather a massive flaw. Other aspects like "Generic", "Paper thin", "below average", "lackluster", all color these opinions, which clearly are terrible flaws, but are taken to be just something that you can brush off and move on.
Since mainstream media can't be trusted to be genuine in the first place, I picked some quotes from this very site, even considering how this is essentially painting a bullseye on my forehead, but I feel they illustrate what ticks me off about the whole "constructive" reviewing
I finished Sea of Stars recently, and its a game that's been tumbling around in my head for months at this point. I'm a huge fan of it, and really enjoyed my time with it, but it's not without its flaws. Quick Summary: It's a beautiful game, great music, strong gameplay, and some really uneven character/scenario writing.
One of my biggest grips with this game, the character/scenario writing. Specifically here, the opening of the game is the biggest hurdle. The first 6-8 hours gives us so little to latch onto, our main pair have the most paper thin of characters and the quest we're on is extremely ill-defined, basically being "get a boat to get to where the game starts in earnest."
Like there's a desperation to say something nice, point out any enjoyable moment, because if you simply say you didn't like something then your opinion isn't valid.
Oh word, it's kind of a struggle for me. I, at the very least, have a cop in my head that tries to keep me from being too negative, but damn it, that's the truth!
For example, Warhammer 40K. You've seen me post about it. Yet it's a worry for me that I'll be written off as just some hater of popular thing. I've seen that attitude, among goons and on twitter. "Oh, why don't you talk about something that excites you for a change?"
Because nothing new that comes out for 40K excites me. I fell in love with the universe years-if-not-decades ago, and while I do encounter rare new glimmers of stuff that's cool, the bulk of what actually gets produced is bad in a way that's not just this-clearly-isn't-for-me way.
That doesn't change the fact that Warhammer 40,000, editions 6-10 - the editions I have been around to read rules for - is a bad game, objectively so (a lot of the new fluff isn't great either). And just because you enjoy it doesn't make it good.
And so I post, fruitlessly, about the new announcements that annoy me since it's the only source of new Official 40K Stuff and it's never aimed at me. Argh.
Luckily for me, my video game niche - military wargames - isn't really subject to the groups of people who generate "always be positive feeling". It has other issues - people are way too lenient on awful visuals and non-existent user friendliness - but at least I can be honestly mad when the new 1944: It's Normandy Again, It Has Always Been Normandy, Americans VS. Nazis Is The Only Fight That Matters title drops and sucks.
I want to be happy about video games. I want to enjoy them. But damn it, they keep refusing to be good.