Ori and the Will of the Wisps | Review Thread

[Deleted member 8196]

I think there was the retail disc. Then there was a pre-release patch like a day or so before, and then just hours ago there was a "Day 1" patch. So realistically reviewers (depending on when they played) could have had vastly different experiences.

It would be great to see them update their scores to better reflect the end product.

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I mean we have reviewers delaying their review because they wanted to try the game with the actual patch and then we have someone blindly ignoring the patch and still releasing a review which is not representative of the actual game in this state.

If the patch was not available yet no problem you have every right to publish your review but if there is a patch before the embargo and you are ignoring it you are unprofessional.

 

[Glio]

How are the metroidvania elements? I like good platforming but I don't enjoy a lot games like Hollow Knight.

 

[MeltedDreams]

89 OpenCritic Game Pass subscription cancelled.

but really, fantastic scores and i hope Microsoft continue pumping quality games next-generation. With that said, i do agree reviewers should receive 100% finished product that won't need additional patching after they have finished the game.

 

[Edge]

Urgh. Some reviewers are talking about technical issues that simply don't exist on the product people are able to buy.

Unprofessional.

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You know, they could also finish their game completely including all the optimizations, bugs and graphical changes that they did in comparison to the vanilla version before pressing a retail version or sending out digital review builds, you know, like devs did 5-10 years ago where they haven't completely relied on a day one patch.

Crazy thought, I know.

 

[Puffy]

Great reviews. Me and side scrollers are incompatible but I own the first one on switch and its very beautiful

 

[Bloodworth]

Nicely put.
While you're here, can you let us know who's writing your review? I know I'll just see it in a few hours/days, but I'm curious.

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Michael Damiani's doing our review. He streamed the opening chapter Friday as well.

 

[Grazzt]

Since normal players have access to Day One patch, giving a review ignoring the patch would make it unfair to both the readers and the studio. The readers get the impression from the review, but the real experience will differ from the review simply because day one patch has fixed most of the issues mentioned.

 

[Talus]

Agreed. Although I don't see why they cannot revisit once the patch is out.

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Indeed. It would be a nice courtesy. Sometimes things don't come together until very close to the bitter end. If the product has been vastly improved and we're still before release date.. I think reviewers should strongly consider testing it, and updating their scores.

 

[Irrotational]

I didn't get a chance to.
I checked five hours ago and the patch wasn't live.
I'll check again and reassess

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Appreciate it must be superhard being a small site, and you can/should treat the embargo deadline as the "hard" deadline for the review. I think you're absolutely doing the right thing here, looking into it as much as possible and forming your opinion based on that!

I hope you don't get too much flack for this, as you are trying to do the right thing and if you don't have the patch then you can't comment on it. Hopefully you can get it now and update your review if it's possible.

I want both you, and Ori, to do well!

 

[MickZan]

Times change. What's on the disk is no longer (and hasn't been for years) representative of the final game. Keeping this mentality is just holding the industry back for no good reason.

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For you maybe? I have a lot of friends currently living in student housing, working with home internet that barely works. For them knowledge about this could be a factor in buying a game yes or no. I don't get why you say holding the industry back? It doesn't hold the industry back in the slightest if reviewers (heck reviewers, i would even say it's on the developer/publisher to inform people that a game has performance issues if a day one patch is not installed) inform these people that these issues exist.

"Holding back for no good reason" is a very scary thing to say if you think about it. You're basicly saying that minorities have no reason to be 'pulled along'.

 

[Serene]

You know, they could also finish their game completely including all the optimizations, bugs and graphical changes that they did in comparison to the vanilla version before pressing a retail version or sending out digital review builds, you know, like devs did 5-10 years ago where they haven't completely relied on a day one patch.

Crazy thought, I know.

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that fight is lost, it's over, it's done

judging games in 2020 based on 2010's standards doesn't work

 

[Phonzo]

I dont think anyone is wrong. Its a tricky subject. They cant deny what they felt when they completed the game, however if you are a small site you need to consider what the general pop will end up playing, or else no one will take you seriously.

 

[Herey]

Fantastic scores.

Sounds like exactly what I wanted from the little snippets I've read.

 

[Winstano]

Reviewers flaming reviewers, how professional.....

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I'm not flaming anybody - there's been tons of communication about potential issues and, as mentioned, the patch has been out a while, with a request from the PR to potentially hold the review if issues were experienced until it's possible to play on a patched version.

FWIW it ran flawlessly for me, with one crash in 12 hours on PC.

 

[Karak]

Guys seriously. Jezuz christ. Even I had issues getting data about the patch. If I had not randomly come here I would not have known it was live until later.

It happened and no one wants to play a game do a review and then find out a patch dropped 6 hours prior to the review happens and I am sure the devs didn't want to post one so late. Shit happens especially this close to release and missing data like this isn't unknown.

 

[Pryme]

Why was the game sent out to outlets in that state? Honest curiosity, not trying to out you on the spot.

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Mainly because you need time to burn discs and print retail cases etc, well ahead of release date. Work still goes on ahead of release, and that shows up as a day one patch.
PC version is all digital so doesn't have that problem.
This is an interesting conversation to have, though.

 

[PowerUp]

Appreciate it must be superhard being a small site, and you can/should treat the embargo deadline as the "hard" deadline for the review. I think you're absolutely doing the right thing here, looking into it as much as possible and forming your opinion based on that!

I hope you don't get too much flack for this, as you are trying to do the right thing and if you don't have the patch then you can't comment on it. Hopefully you can get it now and update your review if it's possible.

I want both you, and Ori, to do well!

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not at all!
I appreciate all feedback and understand where people are coming from. I want to do my absolute best and deliver the best. I'm definitely going to double check and re-evaluate my review and update as necessary.

I appreciate everyone's comments and take them on board.
Just trying to do my best :)

 

[lunanto]

I have seen some webs are holding their reviews while waiting to play the game patched... I think it is the most reasonable thing to do.

 

[Edge]

Times change. What's on the disk is no longer (and hasn't been for years) representative of the final game. Keeping this mentality is just holding the industry back for no good reason.

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that fight is lost, it's over, it's done

judging games in 2020 based on 2010's standards doesn't work

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Well, then 2010 standards were just... Better? And time changed for the worse?

You know, I would actually accept and agree when it comes to the retail version, fine, that's really discussable.
But relying completely on a day one patch when it comes to important optimizations and graphical changes, so timely close to the release, working to the last freaking minute that not even review builds get to play this version, that's not better, that's not a "standard". If anything, that is really bad, you could even call that, "unprofessional".

But maybe it's just me. 🤷‍♂️

 

[MrGiraffe]

Fantastic reviews, it's finally here!

I'm not flaming anybody - there's been tons of communication about potential issues and, as mentioned, the patch has been out a while, with a request from the PR to potentially hold the review if issues were experienced until it's possible to play on a patched version.

FWIW it ran flawlessly for me, with one crash in 12 hours on PC.

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So, not flawlessly?

 

[Kazaam]

Congrats Moon Studios! Can't wait to dive into this beauty

 

[Jonneh]

Urgh. Some reviewers are talking about technical issues that simply don't exist on the product people are able to buy.

Unprofessional.

If you know a day one patch is coming, defer your score and amend accordingly.

You might as well review a demo or a beta if you aren't actually reviewing the product that customers actually get to play on day 1.

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The technical issues didn't affect my personal experience but I can't blame those who were bothered by them -- it's on Microsoft to provide the build, reviewers can only assess what they're given

They were transparent that there would be fixes on Day 1 but there's a slippery slope in taking a publisher's word on that

 

[Kaswa101]

Damn great scores!

 

[Splader]

Well, then 2010 standards were just... Better? And time changed for the worse?

You know, I would actually accept and agree when it comes to the retail version, fine, that's really discussable.
But relying completely on a day one patch when it comes to important optimizations and graphical changes, so timely close to the release, working to the last freaking minute that not even review builds get to play this version, that's not better, that's not a "standard". If anything, that is really bad, you could even call that, "unprofessional".

But maybe it's just me. 🤷‍♂️

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The day one patch mostly targets the Xbox one and S, or so I've heard. PC and X are said to have much less technical issues, so it's not like the game was a complete broken mess for everyone reviewing it.

 

[flyingsaucer]

Props to the websites that are holding their reviews to test out the patch. I'll make sure to share you guys' reviews when they are out

 

[Kolx]

About twice as big, more if you do side content, or so I've read.

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Shit they really went all in on this, huh.

 

[Renovatio]

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

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dude, don't do this.

 

[Edge]

The day one patch mostly targets the Xbox one and S, or so I've heard. PC and X are said to have much less technical issues, so it's not like the game was a complete broken mess for everyone reviewing it.

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I don't know about that, there was a patch before that and that one changed a whole shit ton. Now imagine reviewer playing without that patch.

 

[Jonneh]

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

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Why?

 

[Hermii]

The technical issues didn't affect my personal experience but I can't blame those who were bothered by them -- it's on Microsoft to provide the build, reviewers can only assess what they're given

They were transparent that there would be fixes on Day 1 but there's a slippery slope in taking a publisher's word on that

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Then the review should at least include a disclaimer, that these issues may have been fixed in the final product.

 

[Astraer]

The day one patch mostly targets the Xbox one and S, or so I've heard. PC and X are said to have much less technical issues, so it's not like the game was a complete broken mess for everyone reviewing it.

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My review code was the X version and there was plenty of really bad technical issues but as I mentioned, we had plenty of communication and the patch dropped a few hours before embargo so I had a chance to test them (and of course they were fixed).

 

[Vimto]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

fantastic reviews

 

[Jonneh]

Then the review should at least include a disclaimer, that these issues may have been fixed in the final product.

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That's reasonable enough

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

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Why would you do this? You know that's not true.

Anyways, just checked Metacritic and it's sitting at 91 after 22 reviews.

 

[Altair]

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

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Don't do this. We get enough console war BS around here. Don't bring it into a review thread for a game that's getting great scores.

 

[Minky]

So excited that the scores are this good even without all the patch nonsense. Blind Forest is one of my favourite games. Can't wait.

 

[Splader]

My review code was the X version and there was plenty of really bad technical issues but as I mentioned, we had plenty of communication and the patch dropped a few hours before embargo so I had a chance to test them (and of course they were fixed).

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I stand corrected!

What a bizarre situation all around. At the end of the day as long as the consumer plays a (mostly) bug free version, it doesn't really matter, but I imagine even a week or two delay would have prevented this.

 

[Deleted member 19767]

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

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Loooool.

 

[Astraer]

Just a heads up, my review (Gamer Guides, in the OP) was written based on the Hard mode and I mentioned some of my findings based on that. Happy to answer any other questions about Hard if people have them.

 

[Dinjooh]

This looks really fucking solid. While the gameplay isn't for me, I can't wait to dive into some streams to see that art unfold, especially the boss fights.

This game should be 10/10 game. Can't think if was a "Sony exclusive" the metascore was higher. Yeah, i wrote it.

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[Phendrana]

Urgh. Some reviewers are talking about technical issues that simply don't exist on the product people are able to buy.

Unprofessional.

If you know a day one patch is coming, defer your score and amend accordingly.

You might as well review a demo or a beta if you aren't actually reviewing the product that customers actually get to play on day 1.

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Game reviews aren't a public service. It's a job like anything else, and reviews get the most clicks at the launch of the game.

It isn't the responsibility of a reviewer or outlet to wait until after the game has been released (sacrificing income) just because it *might* not be indicative of the final product. They can only review what they've been sent, and acknowledge that this may be fixed post-launch.

It's not a perfect system, but there's not an easy solution. Shitting on reviewers isn't the way.

 

[Splader]

Just a heads up, my review (Gamer Guides, in the OP) was written based on the Hard mode and I mentioned some of my findings based on that. Happy to answer any other questions about Hard if people have them.

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I'm avoiding reviews until I at least start the game myself (I'll be checking yours out afterwards), but what difficulty to play on is something I was asking myself.
Was the game ever unfair in hard? Or noticeably artificially difficult? As in enemies clearly have too much hp and you take too much damage kinda thing.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

fellow era members, if you've written a review and i've missed it in the OP, let me know.

 

[GennadiyKorol]

I don't know about that, there was a patch before that and that one changed a whole shit ton. Now imagine reviewer playing without that patch.

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To be fair reviewers played the build on the right. The patch landed just a few hours ago and the version on the left is what was printed on physical disks a few months back. The only way anyone would play this is they would insert the physical retail disk into an offline console and play that way. Reviewers got early access digital codes and played the press review version. I knew this video would confuse people so felt that it's important to point out.

 

[bcatwilly]

So in an age where many want to dump E3 due to the on demand convenience of internet streaming the content it makes sense to have final reviews of a game based on code that consumers won't be playing 2 days later? It seems that a provisional score if wanting to hit the embargo deadline would be ideal so that there is an option to update the score if the patches resolve things or leave as is if not. It hurts the credibility of the review site too if they have something off base from the reality of what others experience performance wise.

 

[SuikerBrood]

Dutch websites Power Unlimited and Gamer.nl have postponed their review.

 

[Rowsdower]

Sorry for posting the wrong gamespot review guys. Early morning still.

 

[Astraer]

I'm avoiding reviews until I at least start the game myself (I'll be checking yours out afterwards), but what difficulty to play on is something I was asking myself.
Was the game ever unfair in hard? Or noticeably artificially difficult? As in enemies clearly have too much hp and you take too much damage kinda thing.

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The game tries to encourage you to play on Normal and states its the intended difficulty. I never once felt it was unfair and there's plenty of abilities and Shards (think Hollow Knight's pins) that can really change things up. For example, increasing damage at the expense of damage taken. One or two of the bosses were really difficult, could spend an hour on them but that was purely down to learning attack patterns and changing my loadup and I honestly really enjoyed the challenge there.

 

[Klobrille]

The soundtrack is an 11/10. Simple as that.