ALTEREGO'S PROFILE

^I'd say that's pretty good. I even thought it was a rip from the same game as the monster until you pointed out you made it... Just one thing. Look at the colors on that little devil's weapon. What if you used those colors for the mountains in the background? And what if you applied some hue-shifting to the sky and grass as well? I think that would improve the quality up a notch.

Edit: @Mr_Detective: I liked the plants better. =/ ...Besides, those are street trashcans. Not exactly the kind you'd find in an office.

Well, it is possible to move up to seven squares at a time (Although, Speed Bonuses are the hardest to come by), and when you can control more than one unit, the maps don't look so big. This is the first Tactic Battle on the demo that's why it seems so slow, but it's actually very easy and quick to finish. I didn't want to show the other battle because, you know, "spoilers". But I hope this is enough to get the idea of it ...You're right about the "___ turn" marquee, though, I've already speed it up.

No thoughts on the music? Anyway, thanks for replying! =)

I'm also very for two ratings. Leave the review system as is and make it the official review so there's still an emphasis on it. Then have an impression rating requiring you have commented on the game page with feedback. You could have some words specifying that the comment is attached to an impression rating like how the warned comments look. Then have a spot under the official rating about the average impression rating.

Heh; I'm on the fence on this separated ratings idea. It's not the best solution, but for the time being it may be a step in the right direction. Maybe if it works out we could work towards making it all one single rating system in the future, I dunno... But at least I think both ratings should be averaged together and then that result become the true 'official' rating. Because if you have two ratings, unless you display them side by side on game profiles and searches, etc. it may lead to some confusions.

^this highlights why ratings without a review suck.
Also, check out any app on Google Play and see the vast number of 1-star ratings because they end user can't get the thing to run...
A 'Like/Recommend/Favorite' system avoids that last issue.

So some people are idiots. Got it. But that's why we have rules and mods. We cull the dumb ones and we bring the rating system closer to the people, so ratings don't go unchallenged for lacks of reviews. Besides, good Apps still get severely out-rated? by 5-4 ratings, so all in all I say the system is accurate... Likes and favorites won't have the same effect.

Edit: Also, don't 'subscribers' already do a good job at serving as 'likes' or 'first impressions'? And where did the facebook buttons go?

I think the staff would probably accept a review that just said "This game has mediocre plot, excellent gameplay, and terrible graphics, so I give it 3 stars. For more details, watch my Let's Play video series."

Yes and no. Reviews and Let's plays are indeed essentially the same thing, but writing, and making videos take different skills - different qualities make them good. A Let's play is more spontaneous, while a review has to be more carefully crafted, so I'd prefer a LP didn't pass up as a review like that. What we could do is to formally integrate LP's under the review tab, effectively closing the gap between the two, but with written reviews still taking precedence. You know, "together, yet apart".

I don't see anything wrong with have a "like" system e.g. people being able to "like" a game that they have played, but not rate it with any type of star rating. I think ratings should be tied to reviews (and extended to Let's Plays and other video reviews).

That makes a nice novelty feature, but it don't really tell you much, does it? A number rating system, however, is a more accurate point of reference. To begin with, it invites to a deeper reflection than just 'liking' something. And the more of us who rate honestly will offset the ratings of those who didn't, instead of remaining a comparison (Amount of likes vs amount of dislikes). - If you want some kind of safety measure on this, that's Ok. But I think it's important it remains a number rating system.

Edit: Actually, Liberty's idea is good. But reversed. Leave Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc. medals to reviewers. Points for everyone else. =P

author=Archeia_Nessiah

author=Dyhalto

author=Sailerius

author=kory_toombs
Being able to give a star rating to a game without
writing a review.

Please not this.

I second the "not this".

I third the notion of saying No.

I don't understand the reluctance for this. Why not? Currently the bar is a tad too high to rate games, and I think we could really benefit from games being rated more often. At the very least, the ratings would be more accurate. ...I don't think this will affect reviews in any way if that's what you fear. People who like to write reviews will keep writing reviews. People will still want them. And besides making games they're like the best way to get makerscore anyway. They're not going anywhere even if rating becomes a thing.

Just think about it. Not only is a bit unfair that ratings are tied to reviews alone, but that also creates problems of its own. What if some old review is forever attached to a .5 rating even when the game has improved? What if not enough reviews are written to even things out? Reviews are very valuable, yes, but they're still pretty scarce. A game is lucky if it even gets one...

And if you think this is exactly the reason to keep ratings tied to reviews -to encourage more reviews- I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Simply because not everyone is into reviews, just like not everyone is into Let's Plays or Fan Art, etc. Those are hobbies on their own - skills that need to be spent time on and honed in order not to 'suck'. You can't just twist people's arms into it.

Over the past couple years there have been a number of suggestions to make this a possible while preventing abuses, like limiting the ability to rate games to people with a certain number of makerscore, or media submissions, or to playstesters, or through achievements - I don't know, but I'm sure there's a reasonable alternative out there. Don't shut yourselves to it so quickly.