Scoring games can be tough (so can interesting titles for your blog posts)

I tend to struggle with the higher end of the scale, where the difference in quality tends to be more marked - particularly if you play a lot of games. A recent example would be my internal debates over the Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead scores. In the end, either could have gone either way. Fallout 3 nicked the big one because, instinctively, it felt fresh and exciting beyond anything I've played in a very long time. Left 4 Dead - probably the game I had more fun with - dropped one mark because, despite its phenomenal enjoyment factor, I can't see it particularly changing anyone's life.

I hope that only two or three games will ever have enough impact on any one person to really change his life. Otherwise, the poor fellow probably doesn't have a particularly firm grip on reality.

When I rate games, I try not to associate "will change someone's life" with a score of 10. I reserve that score for "As close to perfect as this genre and technology available at the time of release will allow," and also try to consider whether I think the game is "future-proof." For example, almost any 3D-esque title released for the PlayStation looked amazing at the time but now induces vomit, while a lot of Nintendo-developed games have aged well despite not looking spectacular from a technical standpoint.

Ultimately, though, I just have to blunder my way through it. A rating of '6' roughly equates to "Only slightly better than you run-of-the-mill software" on this site, but on another site it means "Slightly worse than your run-of-the-mill software." Either way, if I really like a game--even if I see some flaws--there's no way in hell it's getting a 6 from me... nor is it likiely to score above an 8. I save 6 for games I generally like except for a few particularly noteworthy flaws. A 5 is for a game that does okay at most things--and maybe has a few flaws--but isn't worthy of much praise or derision. And of course, lower scores take a harsher stance from there.

Good to hear from others on this subject.

All I can add at this point is that Legendary scored lower than 5, and OH did it deserve it.

Heh heh. What I've heard about Legendary so far led me to expect a score from you that was "lower than 5," I say in resposne. ;-)

The real difficulty in this one has been trimming it down. There's simply so much to critique that my original draft was seven pages long. I've managed to cut it down to two.

I don't find it too hard to score a game. Ususually when I'm playing it, or even thinking about the game much later, I can usually just pull a score out of nowhere and say "That game's a 7, that's a 10, that's a 3"... and usually, they are quite accurate to my opinion at the time.

Yeah, but you also gave FFVIII a score of 8, which means I must blatantly discredit your opinion for the rest of your days.

I liked FFVIII. Was a huge improvement over VII.

Anything is a huge improvement over VII.

I'm surrounded by evil cultists, apparently.

There are FFVII fans, and then there are FFVIII fans, and never the twain shall meet. I'm one of the former.

However, all issues of character and setting aside, I never understood how anyone could like FFVIII's battle system.

I like the ones that are actually good. Like FFVI.

Score is one of the least important parts of a review. It's necessary if you're looking for a quick opinion but to me rating a game on a scale which means something different for everyone (for instance, some people consider 7 average and I consider 5 average) doesn't really say much. If I was to review Half-Life 2 it would probably get an 8.5 or 9 due to the complete lack of difficulty and bland weapons, even though I enjoyed playing it far more than many games I would give 10's to. Kind of like what Lewis said except a game has never changed my life. =)

All scores do is tell people approximately how good a game is based on a scale that they interpret in their own way. If a review does its job correctly it should make the writer's opinion clear regardless.

I stand by my score of 8 for FFVIII. I liked that game.

Sportsman, I definitely agree with you.

Jerec, of course I was being sarcastic when I said I'd discount your opinion. At the same time, I still don't understand how anyone likes the battle system of FFVIII.

I assume you mean the "draw" system, since I thought that the battle system was just fine (and an improvement over FFVII). The problem is that the draw system penalizes you for using magic, so most fights throughout the game tended to drag a bit for me as I didn't want to waste magic and then have to draw more. Perfectly weak enemies would last longer than they should have for that simple reason.

My problems with Final Fantasy VIII--aside from that one issue--were its dull world and characters. I... really don't care for Squall Leonhart. At all. You can see that in my fan fiction I contributed for the game.

I like your "porn" fan fiction for FFVIII. That was hilarious.