A Professional Review of Perfect World International

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear

Here is a link to my personal review for Perfect World International.

Perfect World Review

This is my personal and professional opinion on the game, reflecting a Pros vs Cons situation. This review was also counted as credit for an assignment in one of my Ethics of Technology courses at UAT.

Narikomidori - Sanctuary

Nice review man really in dept, and as you say '9.5/10' I would have to give it that too, but then again I've been playing for only a week or so.In other games ( Space MMO) I loved PVP, but it seems awkward in this game, like the battle system is made for PVE but they just allow it to be used in PVP.

I have the same feelings as per 'cash shop' ordeal, It would be nice if could drop again, but then again they wouldn't be making enough money to pay their devs to make more content, so it's no win win situation.

Time will only tell, this game can be epic or it can be a complete let down. Let not hope for the latter.

Ibiki - Lost City

Decent review.

Not the best, although maybe the best about THIS game, but still pretty good.

I realize you're a college-student and it'd be silly to compare you to full-time game-testers and whatnot that write reviews.

So I give your review a 8.5/10

estarius

After reading this review, I've decided to quit PW... Twisted free games where you have to pay to play otherwise you are 0% competitive makes me sick...

Thanks seriously, I might have wasted a lot of time

Hisui - Heavens Tear

Average writing.
Not the most interesting read but informative enough for new comers.

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear

Well it wasn't a Philosophy paper, more geared towards those who have not played the game yet and are interested in seeing what it is all about. I usually don't write game/movie/music reviews the same way I write other papers, as unfortunately the average intelligence crowd greatly outweighs those who are interested in college level writing. One of my professors once told me that when writing a review on forms of entertainment (especially games), it's best to use a more high school writing level and just suffer the critics from the 5% of readers, rather than write the review at a college level and lose the other 95% of readers after the first paragraph. Just an interesting little piece of advice that was given to me by Dr. Adams.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Like I said, it's aimed mostly at those who haven't played yet or are new to the game. I really do hope the developers make the right choices to make this game truly epic. It has great potential, it's just not there yet.

Zoe - Heavens Tear

Oh I'm so sick of people saying charms are NEEDED. I have every class and have not found once that I NEEDED any charms at all on any of the classes.

As for guardian angels? You pk, deal with the concequences. Pay up or lose your items. I have a lot and have not spent 1 penny of real money on this game yet.

Dagnytaggart - Heavens Tear

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Here is a link to my personal review for Perfect World International.

Perfect World Review

This is my personal and professional opinion on the game, reflecting a Pros vs Cons situation. This review was also counted as credit for an assignment in one of my Ethics of Technology courses at UAT.

How does this make you a professional? I'm not knocking your review, but who exactly paid you for it?

gattsuru

As a general rule, the best writing is aimed to achieve a lower grade requirement score on the various readability tests. It's not difficult to involve unnecessarily sesquipedalian loquaciousness, but even a college essay is intended to be read, not just written. Write to be read, not to sound smart to those that don't understand the words.

I would recommend avoiding jargon, such as PvP or Holy Hall, when you can. People who know those words probably won't need the review in the first place. I've also found that bullet points seldom make good writing; a few people can and have pulled it off (Scott Adams, for example), but most authors end up ignoring the essentials or overemphasizing individual points.

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear

Dagnytaggart - Heavens Tear wrote: »

How does this make you a professional? I'm not knocking your review, but who exactly paid you for it?

You misunderstand the word professional. Professional is defined in this sense as the manner the review was made in. It's not a paid review, it was for an assignment in an Ethics class and also for one the school newsletters. If you read it, the first portion of the article is a disclaimer stating that I do not work for anyone and it is not a paid review.

I beta-test a lot of games, and while I still have my bug reports that I must type up, I also write reviews on the fun factors of these games as well. The reason I started doing this was because back in 2005, when I was still an undergrad student majoring in Multimedia Design, one of my classes had us beta test 3 games over the course of 15 weeks. We had two assignments per game: 1) The bug report and 2) a review on the fun factor of the game.

Now, every time I try a new game, I always write a simple review on the game. It's just something that I am used to. When it's an MMO, I always post the review in the forums as well.

I must admit, this review is a lot different than the ones I normally write up. Most of my reviews are completely objective and not filled with massive emotion... but Perfect World is a game that I really really really want to succeed, but it's just not there yet.

t0yo

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Oh I'm so sick of people saying charms are NEEDED. I have every class and have not found once that I NEEDED any charms at all on any of the classes.

As for guardian angels? You pk, deal with the concequences. Pay up or lose your items. I have a lot and have not spent 1 penny of real money on this game yet.

You're a venomancer of course you don't need charms. Try playing a priest who has to constantly attack/heal or Barb who has to tank numerous bosses, then talk.

What experience do you have of Perfect World? One lvl 60 veno and one month of Perfect World? Yeah, nice call you pulled there. Next time try to base your opinion on facts

Zoe - Heavens Tear

t0yo wrote: »

You're a venomancer of course you don't need charms. Try playing a priest who has to constantly attack/heal or Barb who has to tank numerous bosses, then talk.

What experience do you have of Perfect World? One lvl 60 veno and one month of Perfect World? Yeah, nice call you pulled there. Next time try to base your opinion on facts

I suppose you did not read properly. I have EVERY class. This is also not my first time playing this game, I was on another version for a few months playing various classes to higher levels.

I used potions, a good cleric, apoth items, and meditation. Its amazing how far EVERY class can go with no charms.

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear

gattsuru wrote: »

As a general rule, the best writing is aimed to achieve a lower grade requirement score on the various readability tests. It's not difficult to involve unnecessarily sesquipedalian loquaciousness, but even a college essay is intended to be read, not just written. Write to be read, not to sound smart to those that don't understand the words.

I would recommend avoiding jargon, such as PvP or Holy Hall, when you can. People who know those words probably won't need the review in the first place. I've also found that bullet points seldom make good writing; a few people can and have pulled it off (Scott Adams, for example), but most authors end up ignoring the essentials or overemphasizing individual points.

You make very good points. Common terms such as PvP, PvE, or MMO are something that I generally perceive as being understood throughout a gaming community. I try to always explain what something is when mentioning it, in the case of Holy Hall: a high level dungeon where players gather materials to craft legendary weapons.

One point that you make that I have always felt was a strong philosophy was don't attempt to sound smart to those who don't understand the words. Using "big words" with someone who doesn't understand them usually results in an outcome of confusion. After all, if someone doesn't know what a word means, how can they be sure if it's even a real word?

One thing I have found, though, is that today's generation generally likes to read blog-style writing. In a society where the number of players who use "ur" is beginning to overshadow the number of members who use "your," it's not always easy to exist on middle ground in terms of written speech. While more professional writing styles offer a more intact sense of proper thought, toning it down a bit usually results in a larger audience.

After all, this article did start a discussion, didn't it? My aim was to get people to read it. It doesn't matter to me if people like it or not, the simple fact that it has been read means I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.

Welp - Lost City

Awkward prose, massive blocks of texts, over use of colloquialisms to the point that anyone who hasn't already been playing the game for awhile wont know what you're talking about, meandering paragraphs that diverge onto unrelated topics (was the story about you collecting grease to sell really necessary when lamenting the small inventory?) all combine together to make a very low-end, generic review that is hardly "professional" in any sense of the word.

Better luck next time.

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear

Welp - Lost City wrote: »

Awkward prose, massive blocks of texts, over use of colloquialisms to the point that anyone who hasn't already been playing the game for awhile wont know what you're talking about, meandering paragraphs that diverge onto unrelated topics (was the story about you collecting grease to sell really necessary when lamenting the small inventory?) all combine together to make a very low-end, generic review that is hardly "professional" in any sense of the word.

Better luck next time.

Ah, but you read far enough to at least know about the story of collecting grease. It's also exciting to discover that my article enticed you into making you very first post.

Once again, I accomplished exactly what I had set out to do.

Welp - Lost City

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Ah, but you read far enough to at least know about the story of collecting grease. It's also exciting to discover that my article enticed you into making you very first post.

Once again, I accomplished exactly what I had set out to do.

Yes, you truly are "~Da PuPpEtMaSta~" because I read your terrible review, you got me good man. It's like watching a movie thats so terrible you make yourself watch more to see just how bad it can get.

Now I know what it is to be owned.

Welp - Lost City

"But atleast you read it and thats all that matters *puffs out chest*"

gattsuru

One thing I have found, though, is that today's generation generally likes to read blog-style writing. In a society where the number of players who use "ur" is beginning to overshadow the number of members who use "your," it's not always easy to exist on middle ground in terms of written speech. While more professional writing styles offer a more intact sense of proper thought, toning it down a bit usually results in a larger audience.

That's true, but it's important to not let the style overwhelm substance. There are a few places where you almost segued into other discussions (mentioning fashion, for example, probably isn't going to make much sense for non-PWI people without going into depth on that matter). While it's nice to stay on a point like the format forces you, it also kept you from getting into other matters that are relevant but didn't need a full PRO/CON, or even ones that couldn't fit those markers.

That's especially true for anything you want to be seen as Professional; the format can work if you don't let its limits block you from doing as a professional should during review, but unless you're certain of that aspect, it feels more like a drive-by review than anything else. The lack of HTML TITLE and ten minutes of work on the header with GIMP aren't helping thins.

Dagnytaggart - Heavens Tear

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear wrote: »

You misunderstand the word professional. Professional is defined in this sense as the manner the review was made in. It's not a paid review, it was for an assignment in an Ethics class and also for one the school newsletters. If you read it, the first portion of the article is a disclaimer stating that I do not work for anyone and it is not a paid review.

I beta-test a lot of games, and while I still have my bug reports that I must type up, I also write reviews on the fun factors of these games as well. The reason I started doing this was because back in 2005, when I was still an undergrad student majoring in Multimedia Design, one of my classes had us beta test 3 games over the course of 15 weeks. We had two assignments per game: 1) The bug report and 2) a review on the fun factor of the game.

Now, every time I try a new game, I always write a simple review on the game. It's just something that I am used to. When it's an MMO, I always post the review in the forums as well.

I must admit, this review is a lot different than the ones I normally write up. Most of my reviews are completely objective and not filled with massive emotion... but Perfect World is a game that I really really really want to succeed, but it's just not there yet.

The word does not mean what you think it means :-)

According to the Oxford English dicctionary

"engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation"

You are an amateur, which does not mean you have no skill. Sampling games for an ethics class does not make you a professional in the MMO field or in reviewing games. I took an anatomy class, but I'm not a dcotr.. or am I?? Who want to play doctor?

Dagnytaggart - Heavens Tear

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Ah, but you read far enough to at least know about the story of collecting grease. It's also exciting to discover that my article enticed you into making you very first post.

Once again, I accomplished exactly what I had set out to do.

Did you accomplish what you set out to where I am concerned? I have not read your article because I felt your "credentials" were suspect. Had you merely proffered the article as a review, I might have read it.

I suspect you did accomplish your ultimate purpose through me as well though. You did get attention *winks*

Azraelkurai - Heavens Tear

Ok, thanks guys! Assignment complete. Professor Diane was impressed with the results

This was part of an assignment for one of my Ethics classes. The purpose of the assignment was a study on how it does not take quality to draw attention to a product, but rather getting people talking about said product gets others to look. The assignment was to pick something to review (movie, music, game) and write up a low quality review, then post it in 3 forums related to the subject matter. The project that got the most replies got extra credit, and I thank you guys for your replies

Anyway, on the subject of the header, it actually only took 30 seconds in Photoshop. I've never used GIMP. Being a professional graphic designer by day, I don't think GIMP would offer the functionality I need for working with some of my clients. But I may be wrong, it may be a great program for all I know. I've honestly never used it.

Welp - Lost City

hahahahahaha, right dude. You just keep rollin with dem punches

Ibiki - Lost City

b:chuckle

That's all I have to say about these last few posts.

gattsuru

7. No trolling, or flaming.
Any form of personal insult will not be tolerated. General rule of thumb: if you think that what you are about to post is insulting, don't post it.

Posting controversial messages with the sole intent of provoking an emotional response is the definition of trolling, and in unacceptable. That an ethics professor OK'd this experiment is rather disquieting things about UAT.