No matter what I do, no matter what I try, there's always someone there to tell me my product sucks.

Why do they do this? Whether for good or ill, I take other people's opinions seriously. So if someone tells me my stuff is crap, I believe them, and feel like quitting. I need to either get better so people don't talk crap about my stuff, or stop caring what other people think of my stuff.

I know someone will ask where this topic idea came up, and here it is:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessa ... c=47446264

I've been in the GameFAQs message boards for 8 years. That's the average user, sadly. Don't let it get to you.

Ice, who are you on that thread? Are you the crab guy?

My answer: I stopped giving a flying rat's turd what anyone thinks. As far as I'm concerned...

People are stupid. I am not.

Problem solved.

Also, don't take yourself so seriously. Some moron on the internet doesn't like your product. Big deal. Ignore him, acknowledge, and move on. The most awesome lesson I've learned is to be happy being me on my own and not rely on others to provide that for me. Cuz, trust me, they're going to invariably let you down. You are your own best friend.

"I'm a mog. Half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend."

I guess I need to learn to discount other peoples opinions and really be satisfied with my own results. Or at the very least, put my own opinion above others.

Serious question: If you are the crab guy, what in the name of Zeus are you doing hanging out on a message board for a game you didn't like? I don't get that. Why do people hang out on boards for games they obviously don't like and heckle the fans?

Fact: If I don't like a game, I ain't stickin' around to hobnob with its admiring fans on its board. There's no point. I don't like the game; therefore, I have no business being there. It's just common decency toward one's fellow man.

Most people do not really attempt to understand why people are the way they are. People are the way the are because of biology, culture, education, disposition, bias, emotion, etc., etc., etc.

There is no single answer I assume that will suffice to explain why one person acts a certain way. But you can understand that the way they treat you is very loosely based on something you did. For example if someone doesn't like your product they might say:

It isn't really for me but nice effort

or

this SUCKS! you SUCK!

and in either case, they might not have ever met you so what did you do to elicit these responses...nothing. Their manner is their own.

If however, you cannot accept that someone doesn't like your product even if they do their best to respond cordially, that is when you need to look toward yourself.

Dude, it's GAMEFAQS.

I don't even take them seriously.

Meh, ignoring an opinion isn't always the best thing to do. But having a thick skin is a bit of a requirement for success.

What I'm saying is, you don't have to not care about what people think, but you do have to be able to not let it get to you.

If you shut others out you risk wasting knowledge and experience that can improve you. But if you just let other beat you down it's just a waste anyways. Have'ta find that balance.

I guess it was the sheer fact that the score was the absolute worse score possible. Is any game truely capable of that? I mean, if you can think of any game worse than what you think of Dragoon, then it obviously isn't a 1.

First off, isn't this the second time you've posted a whining thread in the Creativity forum?
What the hell's creative about whining?

Second off, whenever you're done headbutting your own colon - they're fans of the game. They like it. It's like agreeing with Judas to berate this game.
Anyone who openly and freely slants their views of your effort shouldn't be a problem.

Third off, man, every opinion is always worth consideration.
Every offering of any opinion, positive or negative, including yours, is at its core a 'Consider this.'
If they're attacking something with all plausible vehemence, they are still from the word go asking you to consider something, implicitly.
Keep that in mind, mate. Take it from there before you work outwards into the emotional and intellectual slants of the opinion.

If you do this, you'll see that there is nothing special to, no distinction, no difference between any opinion - all positive or negative opinions are on equal footing.
It will change the way you see compliments, it will change the way you see criticism, and both ultimately for the better. Compliments are still bolstering and satisfying, but you don't get to allow yourself any false sense of satisfaction. Criticism becomes a series of things that may manifest flaws - you assess each, often finding yourself objectively appreciative of that ability to do so, and you discard what you can't use, implement what you can.

Fourth off, Xix, you irrepressible vat of ill-contrived cynicism and unimaginative misanthropy, Fact:

The idea of repressing one's own thoughts on the basis of some idyllic gesture of Common Decency is as rank coming out of your mouth as funky breath.
Do you not even read your own posts?
Or did you just get the half of the mutt that licks its own ass?

You gave Legend of Dragoon a friggin 1/10. At the very worst, it's average (5/10), not absolutely abysmal.

I consider it to be a great game (8/10), myself.

N.L.Y.,

If I don't like a game, the decision to not hang out on its message board (at GameFAQs) and converse about said dislike is a gesture of respect toward the fans who like it. It's a "live and let live" attitude. Hanging out, as Ice did, is only going to rock the boat and anger the fans. The thread he quoted began with someone complaining about the negative reviews of a game he really likes. Gamers are insecure. Even when someone adores a game, he still tends to feel threatened when someone comes along and disses it.

Now Ice's review is fair game. I'm not saying that he should repress his opinion and not write reviews of games he doesn't like. It's fair game to write up a review, favorable or otherwise. But taking one's negative opinion to a message board and hanging out where it's obvious that there are fans there who like the game, I wouldn't do that because it'll just rock the boat. A gesture of respect is to let the fans have their fun, acknowledge and move on. There are people there who like the game. Why start up a meaningless debate with them in a conversational forum (message board)?

Now about the misanthropy, that was my bad for not explaining it. When it comes to my taste in video games or movies or any other form of entertainment, there's God and then there's me. My entertainment experiences are about me, not you. I know what works for me and what doesn't. I can read scathing reviews of movies that I like because what matters is that I like it. The reviewer may even bring up valid points about flaws, and I can acknowledge those flaws and say "In spite of its flaws I still like it." That's an opinion I can really respect, when someone can say "Yes, it has these flaws, it's not perfect, but I like it."

When I've decided that I like a game, I'm happy with that and have no need for others to agree. I don't understand why gamers are so insecure and have an apparent need for everyone else to agree with them.

This extends to my creative endeavors. I'm happy with reviews and FAQs I've written, and need no validation from others. What I'd say to Ice is, be happy with what you've written. Evaluate it on your own and apply your own critical thought to it, but don't rely on the critical thought of others because they could be biased against it from the get-go. What works for you might not work for someone else, but there may be someone out there who likes your work and has said nothing. It's much easier to tear down than to build. People will have an easier time of it with tearing down what others have worked hard to build. It's harder to be positive, encouraging, and thoughtful.

It's easier to disrespect everyone around you than it is to show as much as a glimmer of respect for one's fellow man. When the dust settles, I choose to live and let live.

There is nothing personal about the following post, and I am posting this with the assumption that you are in fact that Crab guy. If you're not, well, you can ignore this. If you are.. well.. sorry.

=============

MMmmmm.

Everything has been done.

Remember that, and remember it REALLY f*cking WELL.

Okay? Okay. Good.

*cracks knuckles*

You're not going to find a whole lot of JRPGs that lack a damsel in distress. Sorry. The only ones that do.. typically have female leads. In other words, there is a damsel in distress. Whether its a main character or a side character, it really doesn't matter. There will be one. And reviewers seem to have a raging hard-on for b*tching about it. Get over it - if it wasn't a damsel in distress, it would have been some other cliche. Either way, it's a f*cking cliche so take your whining elsewhere thx.

Yes, the characters do lack a decent amount of depth. However, lets just take a second to go over what goes into the creation of your "average" RPG character.

Gender.

Traits.

Give it clever wrapping paper.

Done.

Traits is where the bulk of things come from - and you can't just throw in whatever random traits you want into it and expect the character to fit his or her purpose, or expect people to find your character possessing depth and effective planning. This is where done and re-done things come from.

This industry is.. how many years old? 30? Maybe more? How many different character types have been created? A lot.

How many completely new and inovative character types have come out in the last few years? Less than the amount of digits on your arms and legs. Lets say this again: everything. has. been. done.

The only times the industry will be able to sneak non-refurbished character types through planning is when they make up some totally random ass trait that pretty much sends the game down unrealistic-and-improbable lane. To be clear, I'm not saying realistic relative to us. Realistic relative to the world of the game and the situations that are possible to occur within that world - you know, the things that happen to a character which shape his or her personality.

What I'm saying with that: if in your game's world, people can fly like birds and think that's completely normal - fine. If, randomly, some character decides it needs gills and fins in order to fly - get f*cked.

It has to make sense.

Quite rightly, LoD came from a world of f*cking dragons and roaming beasts and magical flying f*cking fairies. What the hell kind of characters were you expecting? You're not going to find Joe Blow walking down the street listening to his damn walkman, that's for sure. The type of character used in LoD fit its setting perfectly, and people who contest that need to seriously rethink what they expect out of their gaming hobby.

I don't really have anything to add to the translation job - it was fairly shoddy. Although, I have to ask, what was your opinion of every Final Fantasy title before 8/9? If you have no complaints about translation, you can take your translation complaint and get f*cked. Sorry.

Also, I don't know if you know Japanese or anything, but translating it isn't the easiest thing in the world. They don't have a million and 5 different ways to say one thing (that isnt to say there is only one way to say everything, there's just FAAAAAAAAAAAAR less) and thus you will find yourself veeeeeery easily predicting what will be said in a scripted article of any kind that comes from a Japanese source. Unless you're looking at improv. Which isn't scripted. Don't like it? Don't play JRPGS and, please, stop whining. Anything that isn't decently predictable is usually A) A heavily contrived and largely unfaithful translation, or B) comes from a source that was intended for highly educated individuals, which generally won't be found in a console video game aimed at teenagers.

Legend of Dragoon released in the year 2000. It has a production time of 3 years. That means its creation began in (whoa, complex math coming up.) 1997. Take a look at pretty much every single JRPG released for the playstation 1 system between 1997 and 2001. You will find that almost every single one of these had very similar graphical flaws and shortcomings. A few exceptions do exist. However, this game was rather largely received as having fairly good graphical work done for its time and I'm rather shocked to see somebody say this is down there as one of the worst games ever. (you may not have said that, but the 1 rating implies that whether you intended it or not)

By the way. Get a better TV. The colors weren't that bad. If your tv was a good tv at the time you did this, re-play it with better contrast. Low contrast tends to make things look pretty dull. Mmmhmm.

The leveling system was balanced. Finding yourself getting 7xp per kill really doesn't matter and is a total crapshoot and lowblow against the game, because at no point that I recall in the 5 times I played this game did I EVER find myself underleveled for the content I was playing. If anything, the lack of leveling grinds disappointed me because it allowed the game to be played and beaten in pretty much one sitting - which I did.

I will admit, though, that lowering the encounter rate and increasing the exp gain would have been a very beneficial change to its system - the load times going in, during, and going out of a battle were a pain I'm willing to admit was true.

Also, there is plenty of leeway on the combo abilities of a player. If you can't get the timing, play more rhythm games. This is easy sh*t. (By the way, rockband/guitar hero/mungyo dance/anything-that-lacks-a-proper-grading-system-for-each-hit-note does not count.)

I highly recommend you don't play JRPGs ever again if you can't enjoy this kind of a game. A lot of them will have many similarities to many others of them, and that's something you're going to have to just live with.

Go play football if you want instant gratification. This obviously isn't your forte.

This should be moved to General Discussion or Video Games. Has nothing to do with creativity. Video Games is the most likely since this topic involves a game.


Stythe edit:: Agreed. This is going to video games.

This wasn't originally about video games per se. This was about 1ce not feeling appreciated about the way others responded to him (which indirectly had to do with video games). Look at the title and original post.

Why was this moved? In fact, why is everyone still posting here? It's over and done with, let this topic die.

This was moved because it should have been moved when it was first posted.

It's about a review. About video games. Posted on a website about videogames.

Reviews are not creative writing.

Logically, all replies will be related to either said gaming website's posters, or the video game in question.

Hey this post was General Discussion from the start. OK, it didn't belong in Creativity but the only reason now to put it in Video Games is so Stythe can justify his lengthy video game related reply which really diverged from the original topic, the title, the original post, as well as all the initial replies. Its crystal clear.

No offense to anyone really but all this is off topic in of itself. Don't give me "we are discussing the topic at hand so it must be on topic". Hell my post is off topic. I just don't want to see this turn into a bunch of bull that doesn't matter. Also I know I'm not an admin so leave it to admins but man I am just really tired of it. Not just in this topic.


Anyway... well like 1ce said he is done with the discussion but all I can really contribute to this is, its the internet. Don't let it get to you. (Yes enjoy the irony)