[quote=@SleepingSilence] [b][i]Just tidying this up bit.[/i][/b] Helps when I'm not trying to argue quite as desperately as you are at the moment. ^-^'[/quote] lol you think this is me arguing. [quote]So, are you trying to turn this into a personal argument? Like, what does, "I got called this" have to do with what was replied to? It seems to imply I'm the one that said it. Same with the former statement. (While most of your complaints boil down to how if I don't play, I can't say "Yeah, that's texture pop-in alright.") But no, you're wrong. I am saying, what my roommate is saying, and only confirming what I saw with my eyes. You can't make a "you aren't playing it argument", [s]for more reasons than one, almost like my roommate got it for me or something.[/s] But ignoring that, your argument (which at this point I'm not sure what it is anymore.) is purely dismissive and erroneous.[/quote] You'd be able to pin down my 'argument' if you didn't keep moving the goalposts, buddy. You've gone from 'my room mate played it, my room mate showed me, to now 'my room mate bought it for me'. Don't use your room mate's opinions as your own. That'd be crazy, what kind of person just blindly accepts the opinions of people reeeeing over the place. [quote]Originally, first reviews were all 90's.[/quote] Yeah, and originally first reviews for Joker were in the 90s and 5 stars but as more people saw it they decreased and leveled out. Almost like criticism doesn't exist in a bubble! [quote]And yeah...game critics are more frequent proof that they *don't* have informed opinions on games.[/quote] Moreso than the average shit poster. They're the ones going to events and trade shows. [quote]That last part is contradicting later statements about you permitting people to have opinions or reservations about a game. But no, Bloodborne and RD2, didn't have the same problems this game does. But this is steering farther off topic.[/quote] Not a contradiction and also yes they did. Bloodborne got to the point where they had to issue a patch just to fix the loading screens and the game didn't ever run at a solid frame rate. RDR 2 was full of technical glitches and issues but sure, let's gloss over that because the trees look better I guess. [quote]I feel like explaining why would be wasted time. Not that having trusted people giving you their takes is bad anyway...I mean you're literally defending the critics...[/quote] I'm literally not. Stop assuming that because I'm not going "CRITICS ARE PAID SHILLS!" or whatever that I'm defending the critics over a goddamn fucking Pokemon game. I don't even fucking read video game reviews. [quote]I guess would you prefer people pirate the media?[/quote] No, I would prefer if people have stated how bad something is, how not worth the money it is, how they've spent six months hating on a thing, that they would then NOT FUCKING BUY IT. 'Vote with your wallet' gets thrown around a lot but obviously it means fuckall. How is this difficult to grasp? [quote]But why can't you criticize something and buy/try it anyway?[/quote] Because here's the funny thing about criticism: Criticism tends to work better [I]AFTER[/i] you experience something. Imagine being a film critic, watching a trailer and going "I think this movie is shit" and then not even watching the whole movie but still going around saying "The movie is shit!" because you've seen a trailer. You can get a value judgment from a trailer, but you can't in good faith give an opinion on the finished product without experiencing it firsthand. And if you spend the entire release cycle saying how it sucks, how you don't want to see it and then still go on to spend money on it? That's being a hypocrite. It's the easiest thing to not spend money on something. [quote]Because criticism is occasionally negative sounding, and you can't have that ruining the fun, can we?[/quote] My dude, you do realize that I'm probably the most critical person posting in this thread? My guy, I know how to analyze media - I got a degree in it. Any idiot can criticize something (not [i]well[/i] but hey). Not everyone can or does analyze media. Why do you think I'm against criticism? I'm against hypocrisy and bad faith criticism, or destructive criticism. Everyone's a critic. [quote]If can TDLR this: This whole thing is "You can't talk about a thing, if you didn't see/play it. Insert insults and rage here."[/quote] I'm not raging. Insulting? Ehhh, debatable. But I mean, if that's all you took away from it you're almost there. Imagine talking to someone about a movie. You've seen it. You love the movie. This dude starts talking about things he didn't like and he goes "Oh, I didn't see it, but I heard-" do you still treat his criticism as valid? You can talk about something if you didn't see it or play it or whatever, but don't expect me to take your criticisms with anything other than the smallest grain of salt. [quote][s]I have played the game...so now you're okay with the criticism that my roommate gave it right?[/s][/quote] No, dude, I don't fucking care about your roommate. [QUote]I wasn't calling or saying anything about you, or what you have to say about the game. And *my roommates* opinion and observations are so mild as is. That the over the top reaction seems to highlight that you (if this isn't just been all for my sake.) can't accept the lightest issues brought up about games you personally enjoy. But that isn't my judgement to make. [/quote] Yet you're making a judgment all the same. I can accept issues, but when you come in being a snarky git pushing up the glasses while also being [i]factually wrong[/i] about something, I'm going to snark back. I'm a fucking diehard fan of shitty JRPGs, believe me I can handle criticism of games I enjoy. I go to bat for fucking Kingdom Hearts and Nier - before it was cool to like Nier. My favorite FF games are 8 and 13, trust me, dude, I can accept people having issues with games I enjoy. [quote=@Inkarnate] To get back on topic, I do have a question. What makes Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum such a bad generation for you, exactly? I've always thought it was one of the stronger generations with its features, content, and protagonists. I mean I still prefer the generation preceding it due to [i]Fire Red[/i] and [i]Leaf Green[/i] being excellent updates of the original games to the features that were new at the time with additional polish. [/quote] Personally, Diamond and Pearl were just ungodly slow - and not just in terms of battles but in the pacing of the game. So much of the game is spent aimlessly wandering just looking for the next thing to do. It also has the most HM roadblock bullshit with the fog/defog thing that turns an already slow game into an even bigger chore. The only 'memorable' character from Gen 4 is Cynthia (probably because they kept bringing her back). The balance of type is totally fucked (how's your two fire types, fire Elite Four guy) and I personally can only think of about three new Pokemon (other than new evolutions to older Pokemon in which case it'd be about...six) that I genuinely like from gen 4. Plus all the cool Pokemon were just relegated to post game which further reduced the team variety aspect that makes Pokemon fun. Diamond and Pearl are sluggish games and the best thing they do is the physical/special split which is no small thing, of course. Platinum is the saving grave of gen 4 but my opinions on gen 4 as a whole are soured by my distaste for Diamond and Pearl. Gen 5 remains the best gen for me, personally, and nothing will change that until GameFreak decides to say fuck it and give us a region full of all new dudes again.