Northernlion - Let's Look at: Avernum: Escape from the Pit

[Marak]

Dunno if anyone follows Northernlion on YouTube, but if you are, he's planning on doing a "Let's Look at" for our favorite newest Avernum re-make next week.

 

 

With over 30,000 subs and almost 12 million video views, I'm hoping this will shed some semi-mainstream light on Jeff (for once).

 

I dunno about you guys, but I'm tired of only hearing about Spiderweb on after doing a long Google search and finding 2 reviews not written by 11-year-olds/hosted on some site you've never, ever heard of ever.

 

Jeff deserves more positive press - ideally from known/respected sources - and hopefully this will send some his way.

[Antione Villia]

Jeff should send a copy to totalbiscuit (totalhalibut) to do a 'WTF is' on it. I would do it myself but in the application form he says he only accepts requests from developers. I think he'd still do it if someone sent it to him, and no doubt it would give a boost to sales.

[Kinsume]

Jeff should make friends with one of the review writers over at IGN.com

 

If he can get a good rating over there the game will get tons of views and potential buyers.

 

Edit : I mention this because I noticed a few indie style games that got reviewed on there recently. One of which being Legend of Grimrock, which was fantastic.

[Marak]

I wonder if Jeff has ever tried actually mailing TB about a WTF is. If he hasn't, I'd say it'd be worth a try - nothing to lose (except for the couple of minutes it takes to fire off an e-mail with links to Spiderweb Software, maybe 10-15 mins if he wants to set up and provide links for a free "review copy") and 150,000+ views to gain.

[xuerebx]

I've bought many indie games after watching Total Biscuit's reviews. They're around 20 mins each, and they showcase the game enough to make an informed decision.

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted By: Kinsume

Jeff should make friends with one of the review writers over at IGN.com.

Jeff has gotten good reviews in the past from IGN and written for them about gaming.

[Kinsume]

For which game? I looked up some of them and didn't see any with ratings.

[Marak]

Wow, here it is already!

 

 

[ShieTar]

That is really more of a "What happens in a turn-based RPG" kind of review rather than one about Avernum specifically, isn't it?

 

And the creator didn't really bother to prepare for it, but just commented on his own first impression on the game.

 

Quiet a waste of time, is my personal opinion on this.

[Kinsume]

I checked it out, you can't expect someone who isn't too big on a genre to be too intuned with exact details of the game.

[Kreador]

It was funny seeing just how bad he was at combat tactics, and the fact that he hadn't explored what spells the casters had before starting.

[Kinsume]

You have to understand that is how 90% of the casual players will come to this game and try things. They aren't going to want to sit down and number crunch, work out strategies, ect. They just want to get into the action. As he stated in the commentary, indie style games have a certain niche to them and those who are unfamiliar with them already are quite unlikely to get into them due to the standards we have set these days for RPGs. That of course in terms of graphics and such.

[Alorael at Large]

Originally Posted By: ShieTar

That is really more of a "What happens in a turn-based RPG" kind of review rather than one about Avernum specifically, isn't it?

And the creator didn't really bother to prepare for it, but just commented on his own first impression on the game.

Quiet a waste of time, is my personal opinion on this.

Maybe, but this style of reviewing has become quite popular. It also gives a chance for potential players to really see what the game looks like and how it works in practice. With demos available you'd think that would matter less, but some people won't know there are demos and more won't bother to install something and try it when someone else will do it for them.

More than anything else, this is exposure. People who wouldn't have heard of Avernum have seen it. Many will see the graphics and be done, but some will be intrigued. They're the benefits of this sort of thing to Jeff.

—Alorael, who recommends MetaCritic for looking up everyone of note who's reviewed anything of note. Spiderweb game reviews tend to be all over the map, depending entirely on how well the reviewer tolerates the graphics and sound.

[Marak]

What Alorael said. He could have said "this game is utter crap," and while I would have strongly disagreed with him, the end result - exposure of Avernum and Spiderweb to a wider potential audience - remains the same.

 

It really doesn't matter what he put in that video; as long as it's landing in 30,000+ YouTub subscription boxes and people are watching it, it's a good thing.

[Kinsume]

As the saying goes, any press is good press. Even if someone made a review completely slamming the game and calling it absolute crap, it would still be good for the game because it'd give it exposure.

[Kreador]

Originally Posted By: Spires and Tunnels

More than anything else, this is exposure. People who wouldn't have heard of Avernum have seen it. Many will see the graphics and be done, but some will be intrigued. They're the benefits of this sort of thing to Jeff.

Absolutely. Every review or mention, even negative ones or ones that we find a bit silly, help to expose people to Spiderweb and the games and therefor have the potential to increase sales.

[Poomermon]

Hello. New user here. I bought the game after seeing Northernlions youtube video. I had never heard of it before but the tactical combat looked interesting and I got the feeling it would be similar to original fallout. I have not yet really played the game but I can say these kind of first impression videos are good way to give more publicity to indie games. I have made many purchasing decisions based on Northernlions and TotalBiscuits videos.

[Randomizer]

IGN reviews:

Avadon: The Black Fortress

 

It looks like they haven't done Avernum series since Avernum 6

[Kreador]

Welcome, Poomermon! Hope you enjoy the games.

[Kinsume]

Ahh ok, got ya.

[Marak]

Originally Posted By: Poomermon

Hello. New user here. I bought the game after seeing Northernlions youtube video. I had never heard of it before but the tactical combat looked interesting and I got the feeling it would be similar to original fallout. I have not yet really played the game but I can say these kind of first impression videos are good way to give more publicity to indie games. I have made many purchasing decisions based on Northernlions and TotalBiscuits videos.

As have I; that's why I'm hoping that some people that don't normally play games like Avernum - or are ignorant of Spiderweb Software - will see the video. Anything that gets Jeff more potential sales is a darn good thing in my book.

[Alorael at Large]

Originally Posted By: Kinsume

As the saying goes, any press is good press. Even if someone made a review completely slamming the game and calling it absolute crap, it would still be good for the game because it'd give it exposure.

I'm a little wary of that. If the reviews are too harsh, anyone reading/watching will just write off the game entirely. The review has to either give reasons for disliking the game that someone might disagree with, or it has to be obviously stupid.

—Alorael, who at least think videos are better. If what the reviewer says and what you see don't match, you can draw your own conclusions.

[Kinsume]

However it still gives the game exposure, out of all of the people who read it atleast some of them will actually take a look at it for themselves. I'd say its about 50/50 between people who would read a review and just trust everything the writer says and people who would check it out for themselves. Considering the amount of reviews I've read where games got poor scores then someone else from the site did another review and had a completely different outlook/score, it's safe to assume people won't just trust a single person's opinion.

 

As such, those 50% of people that looked into the game because of even a bad review, is more than probably would have it the review had not been made at all.

[Marak]

Originally Posted By: Spires and Tunnels

—Alorael, who at least think videos are better. If what the reviewer says and what you see don't match, you can draw your own conclusions.

This is an excellent point, and is probably a big factor in why the "WTF is...?" format has gotten so hugely popular. You're basically getting 2 reviews in 1 - hard to argue with that.

[Kreador]

Originally Posted By: Spires and Tunnels

Originally Posted By: Kinsume

As the saying goes, any press is good press. Even if someone made a review completely slamming the game and calling it absolute crap, it would still be good for the game because it'd give it exposure.

I'm a little wary of that. If the reviews are too harsh, anyone reading/watching will just write off the game entirely. The review has to either give reasons for disliking the game that someone might disagree with, or it has to be obviously stupid.

—Alorael, who at least think videos are better. If what the reviewer says and what you see don't match, you can draw your own conclusions.

Actually, a vehement reaction in either direction is the most likely to drive people to pick something up. A good example of this took place with a friend of mine, the author Lucy Snyder, when her book SPELLBENT came out. One particular reviewer who was a major lover of paranormal romance picked the book up. Unfortunately for her, SPELLBENT is at the other end of the Urban Fantasy spectrum. It's really a horror novel with urban fantasy trappings, and Lucy has a sense of humor that is earthy. This reviewer went on a mad campaign across Twitter and FB and her own blog about how horrendous Lucy's book was and how it never should have been published, etc. Based on that, a number of other reviewers pulled it from their to-be-read piles and ended up writing glowing reviews and helping to sell lots more books.