Comments on: Eternity’s Child: The Wrong Platform

By: Paper Bag Lady

Paper Bag Lady — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:17:53 +0000

The Destructoid backlash against Luc was shameful. Really shameful. Although reading that article did make me join, just so I could add a late post asking everyone to STOP THE MADNESSSSSSS!!!
The game physics and controls were not good. Normally I can adapt, but that was not the case this time. Nothing irritates me more than grassy controls and game-breakingly slow response, so EC was a total waste of reds. Artwork and music good though. How heartbreaking, Luc loved it so much…
W00t, fashionably late thread!

By: alffly

alffly — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:16:28 +0000

Bought it, played it. Certainly not a 1/10 game, but equally not a 7/10 game.

I played with the keyboard and found the jump responsiveness to be fine, and the game has never crashed on me, but it’s not without problems. A tutorial level set in the Orphanage is a good idea. Those flying heart enemies are tremendously annoying since they behave like the asteroids in, well, Asteroids, and split into smaller versions of themselves when shot. The flying cannons are a case of hugely uninspired enemy design, and shooting them is no fun since they can see you before you can see them. The health system as a whole needs tweaking, not necessarily to make the game easier but to make it clearer and easier to understand what will heal you and by how much. And there’s nothing fun about levels that send you off on tiresome item hunts through huge, samey enviroments – that sinking feeling when you reach the end of level marker and realise that you’ve missed a crystal and you have absolutely no idea where it might be is a special kind of horrible.

But then something huge comes crashing through the trees towards you, a massive creature two screens tall that is so impervious to your attacks that you might as well not be there at all, and personally I can’t help but think that if the creators had playtested a little better and been more open to criticism then this would have been something truly special. It’s a missed opportunity more than anything else, and knowing that makes me die a little inside.

By: Naurgul

Naurgul — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:23:15 +0000

I apologise if I misunderstood your article and intent. English is not my first language after all, so I may have misinterpreted your words and some of the comments. Or maybe I was just feeling tired. I repeat: While re-reading the comments, I realised I was wrong in my original comment and I apologise again for that. I will try not to jump to conclusions like this in the future.

However, I still expect to be treated with some respect, even when I err. I don’t appreciate how you painted me with malign intent in your response, saying I was being dishonest and unthinking. In fact, the closest I came to making an attack was that I said I was “disappointed” with you.

In closing, I’m sorry for the trouble, but I don’t think there was any precedent to justify me being treated like a common troll.

By: John Walker

John Walker — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:28:36 +0000

Naurgul – Your comment is very dishonest. I said, specifically, “There’s no reason to kick it further here – the reviews on Destructoid are accurate, and friendly in their disappointment.” I saw no reason to rewrite everything that’s wrong with the game, and said so, and linked to a description of everything that’s wrong with the game.

Also, I think my post was extremely sympathetic to the situation, and in no way set out to invite bashing. Let alone that this thread hasn’t featured any particular bias anyway, people evenly criticising Bernard and Destructoid, and no one being cruel to anyone but Uwe Boll.

Do please think before attacking. Thanks.

By: Fetthesten

Fetthesten — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:27:55 +0000

MadTinkerer wrote:

Eternity’s Child is not a 1/10 game at all. It’s a potentially quite good game where the designer tragically overlooked the needs of new players and needed a lot more tweaking before it’s release.

The designer overlooked the needs of all players, not just new ones. Of course every bad game ever is a “potentially good game”, it’s just a matter of what it would take to get there. Eternity’s Child needs a designer who isn’t so blind to the flaws of his own creation, and considering the way Bernard has rushed to the game’s defense that seems unlikely to become a reality.

By: Konky Dong 3: Serenity's Bloodwake

Konky Dong 3: Serenity's Bloodwake — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:24:49 +0000

I think Bernard is just trying to get some press for his otherwise forgettable little game. It certainly wouldn’t have been on my radar if it weren’t for his antics and any press is good press for a game that only costs $5. At that price point, a 1/10 review and forum rage fits might be enough to push people to purchase the game simply out of morbid curiosity.

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:50:26 +0000

re. 7/10. It’s nice to see that the one Life Left tradition lives on. But there is a time and place, and is a platform game where the jump button doesn’t even work right such a time and place?

By: Sum0

Sum0 — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:49:15 +0000

@RichPowers: I think that’s a very good idea. When you think of the number of games that are panned on release, and then the patches come out and a couple of months later everyone’s raving about them (Vampire, STALKER, many others), it seems sensible to just mention how these games suddenly got good (and why).

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:22:46 +0000

I wish people would stop focusing on that “1/10″ and whether it should’ve been a “7/10″ or a “4.25/10″ or whatever.

It’s obvious that in a Fair and Righteous World a 1/10 would mean a game with no merit at all, which isn’t what the Destructoid review described, ofcourse.

On the other hand, in the same Fair and Righteous World a 7/10 would be a relatively high score, seeing as most good games would score a 6/10, which in the real (well, internet..) world more or less is saying a game is shit – “no, no, no!” the review sites sputter, “that means it’s an okay game!”.. no, that’s what you say on your ‘review scores policy’ page, that’s not what people actually see (nor what is demonstrated).

By: Oddbob

Oddbob — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:00:30 +0000

“Mr. Walker basically said that if a game has frustrating controls, gets you stuck at one place for a few minutes and then has trouble with an anti-virus application, then it is undeserving of any attention at all. Is that the extent of his mercy for all games?”

It sounds pretty fair to me. It’s certainly a darn sight more mercy for a game than I’d give it by the sounds of things. Given the vast wealth of games I could redeem my few squid at, more so the amount of quality material I can get from the intertits for the time it takes to download and nothing else, then these things *are* important.

And as a person who writes games, these are things I’d want to hear about a game I’d had some involvement in. Ok, not want to hear because no-one likes hearing bad things about their baby, but I’d *need* to hear.

Or are we supposed to accept that Driv3r style show stopping bugs are acceptable if there’s some hope on the horizon?

By: Nero

Nero — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:54:30 +0000

I would also rate it like 7/10, never said it was perfect. I agree that the first time I played it I died and died because of the jumping and kinda awkward controls, but since I’ve put more time into it I’ve learned handle them. Also the latest patch has dropped the health max on those birdie robots (also increased their speed) so now they are much easier to kill. Also jump damage have to go, I don’t think anyone likes the jump damage when as MadTinkerer said it’s very easier to quickly loose health and somewhat harder to get. As I said I’ve played through what the game have to offer and more.

Also no extra charge for the next chapters in the game when you are done. I’m not telling anyone to rush out and grab it but try the demo and see if you can see anything interesting for you. I can only see this one grow.

By: RichPowers

RichPowers — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:23:09 +0000

Reviews focus on the product at hand — not the hypothetical product.

That being said, should gaming sites publish updated reviews if otherwise maligned games receive substantial updates/modifications? SimCity Societies is supposedly much better now that they’ve patched it several times, but few sites reported on this update (Walker or Kieron mentioned it in a post somewhere).