Ragnarok Odyssey Review by The Vita Lounge

Time is money, and Ragnarok Odyssey is on its way! It will take a lot of time and a little money from you for big amounts of ARPG fun!

[smashcrashbash]

Why can't people just make a review that is based on a game an stop comparing it to another game? That is exactly what always brings down a review of certain games.I read an import review of this game and the person insisted on constantly pointing out how it is not Monster Hunter. No it's not Monster Hunter. It is Ragnarok Odyssey. Judge RO based on what RO does not what MH does. It's the same thing with PASBR. People are so busy trying to judge it with SSB that they ignore it's own merits.Judge a game based on the game's abilities not some other game's own.

[Qrphe]

I guess the reviewers gave up on comparing the yearly MH releases to original Phantasy Star Online
:)

[Kingthrash360]

I noticed that too, I call it lazy reviewing. It really throws off someone who's NEVER played the game they compair it to. Making the review worthless.

[Heartnet]

Cause when dishing out ur money if there is better out there the reviewer should point out that if ur new to that genre then he would reccomend that game as its better than that one...

You have to compare to actually get a score. You could say two worlds has great graphcis if u didnt compare it to anything.. but you have to compare it so it has bad graphics... etc

[smashcrashbash]

Yes but you are not giving the other game a chance. You don't do a review pointing out that this game is not like this other game.In fact many times the whole review is taken up most talking about the other game that they are comparing it to rather then the game itself that you would swear it that game they are reviewing.

When games were reviewed long ago they were not usually compared with another game. If you wanted to find out if another game is better then it you look it up.The reviewer could mention a game that you might like better at the end or something. But now it really puts a huge bias mark on the reviewer who is constantly saying that this game is not like that game.So many shooters on the PS3 got blanked out with reviewers constantly saying 'It's not a Halo killer' when it was never meant to be one in the first place. Same thing with Okami. People were to busy throwing the name Zelda around to realize that Okami wasn't Zelda but it was just as good and in my opinion even better.

And I am certain that reviewers will be too busy comparing PASBR to SSB to see it's merits either. All we will be hearing is 'it's not SSB' which immediately will blank out half the minds to even listening to anything that PASBR has to offer. When I played games like Tekken or Soul Edge as opposed to Battle Arena or any game that emulated Street Fighter. I judged the game on what it offered. I didn't put them side by side and said 'Hey this isn't SF or Battle Arena'. And to me that is why people played more games back then instead of ignoring a lot of them like they do now. I played World Heroes as much as i played SF 2 and never blanked one for the other.

I am not saying not to make any comparisons at all but the way people overwhelm the whole review with it creates a very narrow minded and less accepting type of gamer that clings to things, refuses to let go of it to let other games in or to acknowledge anything in the genre. Everyone, including reviewers who are supposed to remain impartial, are too obsessed with comparisons and many times it throws their judgement off completely. Like an essay you stay on topic and try not stray to far off of it. In short the review should not read like 'Why Ragnarok Odyssey is not Monster Hunter' it should be 'Why is or isn't Ragnarok Odyssey a good game'. Then I am free to choose if I want to buy RO or go look up MH to see if I want that instead and not wonder if the reviewer is trying to sell me MH instead.

[Mounce]

It is Instinctual human nature and of the human ego to Compare.

Nuff said. It can't be helped. Bias can be helped when it becomes borderlines redonkulous though. That or favoritism...

[GribbleGrunger]

Agreed. What's even worse is that they compare games to certain other games and then go on to use their own comparison to mention how the 'so called copy' doesn't play the same and so falls short of the original. Think about that for a moment and you'll see how crazy it is.

[Paul_Murphy]

I think that people will always try to make a comparison between similar games and genres in order to entice fans of those games over.

This is a lot like x-game-you-like when you may not know a lot about it may help you determine your interest in it.

PES and FIFA are a yearly repeat of this.

I do feel that this review does judge RO on being RO, it does get a top score after all. The Mh references are all they are.

[DivineAssault]

thats awesome but other reviewers dont feel the same unfortunately.. Im still buying this game & i dont care what any reviewers say about it

[murkster-dubez]

Id ignore the metro review tbh, they do some awful vita reviews.

[sashimi]

"Im still buying this game & i dont care what any reviewers say about it "

^^ is pretty much how i feel about 100% of JRPGs that come from Japan. Since from my experience i've actually enjoyed most of the jrpgs that have been put down by the western media as bad or w/e. They just don't know or don't care to review them correctly.

[3-4-5]

Yea we can't be too picky considering Japan gets 100% of good games and we get maybe 60%.

I wonder how many good RPG's just in the last 10 years we've missed out on? 40-80 ?

[sashimi]

^^ thats why one of these days i'll learn Japanese so i can just import. Tired of waiting for localization if it ever even happens. Plus i'll get to play the backlog of games that never came to the states.

[omarzy]

Already paid fore and ready to be picked up on the 30th. Very excited.

Probably should have given it a 4.8 or something since you have some negatives listed. Can't be 5/5 unless everything is positive.( i do not believe in perfect scores in case you are wondering)

[Bimkoblerutso]

Kewl score.

I spell it that way so you know that I am serious biz.

[sypher]

Pretty sure I'm gonna import the U.S. mercenary edition of this game. Been looking forward to it for what feels like ages now :)

[Paul_Murphy]

I'm really dithering on whether to wait for the EU release or get the import...

I should just take the plunge really. After all, I can import it cheaper than it will probably be over here...

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Same here.
Think I'll wait it out though just to help with the EU sales.....maybe.

[boybato]

I might be wrong but the game comes with an online pass that wouldn't work if your account is of a different region.

[sypher]

Ah crap, if that's true :(