Polygon: In Defense of Mass Effect

Then, why not report it that way at the outset.  In Polygon's shop, it's suddenly gone from being a game with absolutely no redeeming qualities that people shouldn't waste their time with to now "a beautiful mess" that people should play just because of that.  What's preventing the media from reporting an average game as being average when it's first released?  Why tug the fan base so strongly in one direction at the outset... only to shift gears with it later?

People have gone on for ages here telling people who liked the game that their being stupidly blind to the game's flaws... but here you have an example of media reporting that, apparently, could see redeeming qualities in the game but absolutely did not bring those into their initial review... appearing to be stupidly blind to those redeeming qualities they themselves saw in the game.

Regardless of whether or not you agree completely with their opinion... Why is it acceptable for them to come off so one sided at the outset yet so unacceptable for fans here to be of a single mind themselves only when they decided they liked this game.  Why do so many here refuse to see that the vast majority of people here who have been saying they like this game are and have always been acknowledging BOTH redeeming and negative qualities of the game.

This is the only paragraph worth reading in that bizarre rant, and most people who hated MEA hated it for the story anyway. They didn't "overlook" anything.

Seems like the author is just baiting for views with buzzwords tbh. Cult classic? MEA? Lol

Maybe they had a differing opinion than the reviewer and were given the chance to say it. Maybe MEA really really is polarizing.

Reynolds wrap is in aisle 15 for all those who believe something more sinister is going on.

Or it could be that "Insert Game Here" has gotten many a patches after its initial release and has fixed those bugs that gave it a poor review in the first place. No tin foil hats needed. Just common sense. It seems a lot of people on here want ME:A's reviews to be based off of 1.10 instead of its release. Gaming reviews don't work that way and never have.

Maybe it will be a cult classic in a couple of years.

The article fetishizes messiness to excuse MEA's many issues. Not clever and not convincing. 

Game has been patched, but is still full of technical issues (on PC, anyway). So the whole "it was bad, but it's fixed now" is bs. I'm inclined to agree we are being played for clicks.

Silence is golden, but tinfoil is silver.

Eh, it's two different authors with two different viewpoints. Now if it had been the same author both times I'd think it'd be an example of the publisher posting for clicks.

Yes, it could well be.  Why then doesn't Polygon itself take some responsibility for balancing what goes through their site instead of encouraging this sort of pendulum reporting?  To me, the motive is clicks (money).  It's obvious... but how far are we willing to let this sort of thing slide... putting it off to people meming just for a good laugh, etc..  Why is it such a sin here to suggest some valid criticisms of the media itself is overdue?  Afterall, when I read this on our Twitter thread, the first couple of comments on it there were clearly implying that this sort of thing was part of a regular cycle in the gaming world.

I don't understand how she can state this, "The central question is asked alongside questions about the naïveté of explorers in a hostile new territory, the baggage of old relations between species and the dissolution of a family unit. These questions constantly hijack each other, making the game feel unfocused instead of sprawling."

And sincerely believe this at the same time.

"The synthetic/organic relationship felt more personal because it was given some space to be explored honestly. It wasn’t honed or buffed away during the production."

The narrartive "messiness" aka the scatterbrained plot of MEA prevents you as a player (in my humble opinion) to really engage in any of these disjointed themes because their regularly fighting each other for screen time. That's why Alec dies before you get an opportunity to really care about him, that's why SAM doesn't actually get a lot of character development and just feels like a tool, and that's why actual exploration takes a backseat to fighting Space Nazis. MEA wanted to do it all and as a conseqence ended up with a bunch of underdelevoped storylines that I'm sure they thought they could expand upon in a sequel. Jokes on them though.