Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love "Mostly Positive"
A friend of mine caught the Steam notification of me playing Dark Souls 2 for the first time yesterday, and said:
You should play 3 instead. 2 is kinda mid compared to 3.
He wasn't the only one either. I beat Dark Souls 1 Prepare to Die edition after a long, long time. (I stubbornly refuse to use guides on my first playthrough of a game, so it took a lot of time finding where to go and how to do it.) When I expressed interest in buying DS2 and 3 in the sale, tons of people suggested I skip 2 and move directly to 3. Dark Souls 2 was "clunky," "unoptimized," "awkward." It lacks the world charm of 1 and the gameplay polish of 3. It has some awkward gameplay systems that impact the fun. I'd be better off skipping 2 and moving directly to 3.
But I bought 2 anyway, because I needed to see for myself.
We're spoiled in the modern era with the ability to know if a game is "good" before we buy it. Back in ye olden times when I was a kid, that was a luxury. Not everyone subscribed to Nintendo Power or had internet to access game review webrings. We would rent PS1 games from Blockbuster based solely on the box art. Sometimes I'd get a great game, like Pac Man World or Twisted Metal, and have a blast with it. Other times I'd get a wholly unenjoyable game like Mortal Kombat Special Forces, and it would just be my whole weekend even though it sucked. There was some twisted joy in exploring the game, poking fun at the bad parts, enjoying the game with a sense of childlike wonder.
Playing the game was how we came to our own independent conclusions that it was mid. I think that writing a game off just because other people say it's mid robs you of the ability to decide for yourself and find your own fun.
On Steam, getting a review score below "Very Positive" feels like a kiss of death. After all, if one in five people is commenting because your game left a bad impression, isn't that indicative of a severe problem with the game? However, it doesn't have to be - it's an aggregate score, meaning that it lumps together people who strongly dislike the game, people who had some minor gripes, people who aren't really fans of the genre as a whole, people who hate the dev or publisher, people whose computers can't run the game, and people who are review trolling.
Review scores, in my opinion, are worthless. The reasoning behind them is much more valuable as far as purchasing decisions go, because you get a sense of what the gameplay is like. One of my favorite games, Wildfrost, got mid reviews, with Mostly Positive on Steam, and I almost didn't buy it. But I realized people didn't like it because it was "way too hard" and "you had to unlock stuff," which are understandably polarizing design decisions, but they're ones I happen to enjoy. I bought the game and had a blast with it.
I'm still really early into DS2 (which, for the record, is "Very Positive" on Steam) and I'm noticing a lot of the flaws people were saying. It's annoying when, say, an enemy permanently despawns and makes it harder for me to buy more firebombs and throwing knives, or when my max HP gets cut in half because I just can't handle the damn archers or I continually misjudge an awkward platform clamber. But that won't stop me from playing it for the experience, even though DS3 is "better." I want to stick it out and see for myself.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't need to minmax fun. I don't need every experience to be perfectly curated and handcrafted to provide me the objectively best gaming time possible. I want every game to just be what it is, and I'll find out whether it's fun by playing it - just like I used to as a kid.
As a game, Dark Souls 2 has some bad design choices. But I'm still having a blast. I named my character Sheriff Joshie, gave him a portly physique, refined moustache, and teal blue mohawk, and am enjoying powerstancing estocs and pretending to be a silly lil explorer. I get to jump off the side in a gold-fueled frenzy looking for secrets and giggle when there isn't anything. I get to smile and dance in front of the NPCs when I steal things from their houses. I'm still having fun, because I'm enjoying the experience my own way, instead of slogging through the game the "intended" way and having fun in the way that other people say I ought to be.
Dark Souls 2 might be mid, but it's still fun.
It's important when looking at reviews for things (not just games) to look specifically at WHY people disliked it.
What specifically was a dealbreaker for them, and if it would be one for you, is infinitely more useful information than the raw meaningless ----Number---- of the overall score. I think it's more important than even the positive reasons people liked the thing despite its flaws.
A thing without your number one favorite thing of all time in it can still be enjoyed, but if it contains a thing you absolutely can't stand the rest won't matter.
I always look at the negative reviews first and almost exclusively, because that's where the real juicy info is. The score is just a vibe; sometimes that's enough to decide, but not always.