Steam Review Bombing

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

But when the player feels the delivered quality and value (by their metrics) is lower than the price they paid for it, that's where these negative reviews are coming from. And from my reading of the reviews, there is general agreement the game is great, and the visuals are great, but the common element (outside launch crashes) is that the UI/UX is horrible. For the price paid, and the 20 odd people in the credits listed for UI/UX, I think people are right in expecting better than what was delivered.

That's my take on it too. It's encouraging in some ways, because the core game seems to be there, but a massive facepalm in others because it really shouldn't be this hard to make a decent UI.

 

[Civinator]

Well if you ever bump shoulders with Soren in the breakroom or zoom meeting, please let him know we want the king to come take back his throne.

plus 1

 

[Kruos]

+2

 

[Dale]

That's my take on it too. It's encouraging in some ways, because the core game seems to be there, but a massive facepalm in others because it really shouldn't be this hard to make a decent UI.

Keep in mind (from my experience) sometimes unforeseen issues during development can occur. Sometimes during the development cycle, poop happens that you couldn't really foresee or control.

 

[Jeppetto]

The new UI seems to be more JavaScript and dynamically loaded (often my Tech Tree opens but it takes second for Node Backgrounds and Links to appear). If they equally used some state update system that would limit what data they have in presentation for optimuzation that could explain it but so far it seems only visual assets are loaded dynamically.

 

[VGT]

All I can really say is give Old World a look. We're still actively improving it.

Ahhhhh, I see that discount on Old World: complete just finished around a week ago. Might be worth to trigger another one. To grab all those evacuating from civ ship.

 

[Dale]

Ahhhhh, I see that discount on Old World: complete just finished around a week ago. Might be worth to trigger another one. To grab all those evacuating from civ ship.

Wishlist and wait. It's really up to the publisher. But their frequent enough.

 

[Chuy1530]

OW is a great game. There’s room in my life for both haha.

 

[King Jason]

Well if you ever bump shoulders with Soren in the breakroom or zoom meeting, please let him know we want the king to come take back his throne.

He's already sitting on it.

 

[bitula]

Well what I read from reviews is only partially gui, the other complaint is "consolization". Everything from GUI to gameplay tempo/style is tailored thowards console (plus casual) players. Don't know if this is actually true, but I can imagine it is.

 

[ombak]

Well what I read from reviews is only partially gui, the other complaint is "consolization". Everything from GUI to gameplay tempo/style is tailored thowards console (plus casual) players. Don't know if this is actually true, but I can imagine it is.

The use of "consolization" as a way of disparaging PC games is cliché and meaningless enough that I would not give it any credence to begin with.
As someone who has over 24 hours of game time now, I can safely say it feels like Civ and the idea that it feels like a console game is indeed an empty insult rather than a reasoned critique.

 

[bitula]

The use of "consolization" as a way of disparaging PC games is cliché and meaningless enough that I would not give it any credence to begin with.
As someone who has over 24 hours of game time now, I can safely say it feels like Civ and the idea that it feels like a console game is indeed an empty insult rather than a reasoned critique.

Well I have to disagree with this. Consolization is a tangible trend which some people including myself dislike. Btw currently game approval rating is 1% lower than Cities Skylines II. And i can attest that CSII critics on steam are at least partially accurate.

 

[Big J Money]

it's not getting review bombed. People are just giving their opinions and you disagree with their conclusions. There isn't a conspiracy, the rewards are people showing their opinions. Maybe you'd see less clown rewards if people didn't post takes that a large portion of forum goers and steam users think are clown worthy....

I didn't say which side I was on, or what I agree with or disagree with, please don't put words in my mouth. I also never said anything about a conspiracy. I don't know why you'd even use that word, but you seem to be projecting a lot of your own ideas into my very simple post.

You say it isn't getting review bombed, but you ignore the evidence. I'm too lazy to post a screenshot, and you can easily find it yourself, but one example is a review which is positive, yet it does mention everything everyone is (rightly) critical about. It calls out the same glaring issues with the game as the negative reviews, but in the end, he voted up because he still likes the game. That review is completely fair and reasonable, yet it has an order of magnitude more clowns than other steam rewards. This is true for every positive review: clowned to the moon and back. You can call the mob "a conspiracy" and pretend it doesn't exist if you like. I'm just pointing out the facts.

It's not getting review bombed nearly as badly as other games have been, that's true. And largely, people are bombing it for valid reasons. But to say there isn't a mob of angry steam players reacting in the steam review section is just hand-waving.

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

Well what I read from reviews is only partially gui, the other complaint is "consolization". Everything from GUI to gameplay tempo/style is tailored thowards console (plus casual) players. Don't know if this is actually true, but I can imagine it is.

No. It's a stupid, lazy criticism based on nothing but some sort of weird snobbery.

We could have a reasonable discussion about whether they have streamlined the game to appeal to a wider audience - it's certainly possible, although from what I've seen and read, I would argue that the depth and complexity is still very much there. Whether you believe it or not, it has nothing to do with consoles and the type of people who play games on consoles.

If "consolization" is a thing, it's because publishers/developers are being lazy; rather than optimizing their games for each platform, they make a UI/controller system that they think is good enough for all platforms. They definitely should not do this, because every system has its own strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Big J Money]

The use of "consolization" as a way of disparaging PC games is cliché and meaningless enough that I would not give it any credence to begin with.
As someone who has over 24 hours of game time now, I can safely say it feels like Civ and the idea that it feels like a console game is indeed an empty insult rather than a reasoned critique.

Consolization is very real, but I agree it's not what's going on with Civ VII. Anyone who thinks that hasn't looked closely enough. Civ VI is on consoles. Civ V was on mobile. The reason Civ VII's UI is bad we can't know, but my money is simply on the fact that they rushed the game and decided UI wasn't a release priority.

 

[bitula]

I would argue that the depth and complexity is still very much there.

Well if so, that's good news. Though the reviews sort-of-a claimed the opposite. I mean if it is only the GUI which is "optimized" for console, I guess I could live with that. Not sure I'll buy it anyways, since it is just too much departure from the original game formula I liked.

 

[TheGrayFox]

I didn't say which side I was on, or what I agree with or disagree with, please don't put words in my mouth. I also never said anything about a conspiracy. I don't know why you'd even use that word, but you seem to be projecting a lot of your own ideas into my very simple post.

It has nothing to do with what "side" you're on and everything to do with me responding to what you stated. Saying something is being "review bombed" usually has very specific meaning and negative connnotation and that's not what's happening here.

You say it isn't getting review bombed, but you ignore the evidence. I'm too lazy to post a screenshot, and you can easily find it yourself, but one example is a review which is positive, yet it does mention everything everyone is (rightly) critical about. It calls out the same glaring issues with the game as the negative reviews, but in the end, he voted up because he still likes the game. That review is completely fair and reasonable, yet it has an order of magnitude more clowns than other steam rewards. This is true for every positive review: clowned to the moon and back. You can call the mob "a conspiracy" and pretend it doesn't exist if you like. I'm just pointing out the facts.

What you've presented is not evidence that there is a "review bombing" campaign going on though. People giving posts and reviews they disagree with clown emojis is not review bombing.... it's just a time honored tradition on steam platform/forums. I gave a few people clown awards just yesterday, not because I wanted review bomb a title but because i thought their opinions wrong and/or silly.. Again people sharing their opinions and crititiques and disagreeing with postitive reviews is not what most would consider "review bombing"

It's not getting review bombed nearly as badly as other games have been, that's true. And largely, people are bombing it for valid reasons. But to say there isn't a mob of angry steam players reacting in the steam review section is just hand-waving.

I don't consider a lot of people posting their critical and justified opinions about the game itself at launched as review bombing. Typically review bombing refers to a coordinated and usually politically/culturally motivated form of vote brigading. If there was an obvious and organized campaign to give the game bad votes and all the reviews were crying "they went woke!!!!" or "DLC bad" or "Denuvo 0/10" I'd agree with you but again that's not what is happening here

 

[AD1730]

It's not getting review bombed nearly as badly as other games have been, that's true. And largely, people are bombing it for valid reasons. But to say there isn't a mob of angry steam players reacting in the steam review section is just hand-waving.

Sorry, but you’re misunderstanding or misusing the term “review bombing” here. Review bombing doesn’t mean that a game is getting lots of negative reviews for just any reason. Review bombing means that a game is receiving negative reviews for reasons outside of the quality of the game itself, often related to social/political reasons or business practices (i.e. Denuvo, regional pricing, etc.).

 

[TheGrayFox]

Well I have to disagree with this. Consolization is a tangible trend which some people including myself dislike. Btw currently game approval rating is 1% lower than Cities Skylines II. And i can attest that CSII critics on steam are at least partially accurate.

I mean the game has done tons of streamlining to make the game more casual, less time intensive, etc while at the same time having imitations and poor UI the likes of which we've never seen in a previous civ titles because it was simutaneously devoloped for mulitple platform release including the notoriously underpowered Switch.

some will call you a snob for pointing it out but devoloping simutanously for consoles and for the widest market imaginable has specifically and undoubtedly effected the end product we've recieved on PC.

 

[theadder]

Having played a bunch of the game, I don’t see any evidence that the game is simpler than other recent Civ games. The UI is inadequate, but that seems fairly easily fixable over time.