Do you value critic ratings more or less than community ratings?

>Professional critics
>list features and what to expect from the game
>give some examples of experiences they had while playing
>then give a rating that is skewed by all their other past ratings

>community critics
>took time to review, meaning they probably really enjoy the game or really hate it
>only plays certain genres since they game for their own personal fun
>reviews are more likely to be puff pieces for their favorite developers/franchises or angry letters based off of hate

>>381646853
>then give a rating that is skewed by all their other past ratings

Also skewed by their desire to continue to hold their job. It isn't unheard of to have people who gave a bad review just not get a review copy for the publisher's next game.

>>381646853

You forgot-

>staffed by people like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3pQ0oO_cDE

Videogame critics are basically failed movie critics, which is already scraping the bottom of the barrel to begin with. That's why you get a lot of left wing activist types thrown into the mix.

I don't look to reviews at all when I'm deciding whether I want to buy a game, though. I watch videos and see what people are saying in communities like this one.

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>>381646365
I hardly listen to critics anymore and one of the reasons would be Dragon Age 2. It is legimately one of the worst games I have ever played and soured what faith I had in Bioware. The disconnect between my own thoughts and critics mainstream critics about could not be more vast.

The only 'reviews' I look at now are close few friends, a couple of youtubers and my own.

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The only rating I value is my own

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Critics are just paid shills, nothing they say is genuine. Community reviews are full of biased fanboys looking to shit on each other, nothing they say is genuine either. I know if I'll like a game after seeing a video of the gameplay. If you let other people convince you what to buy then you're probably the type of person who got peer pressured into tattoos & driving a car you stopped liking after a month but still have years of payments for.

Both are worthless unless it's a person with confirmed good tastes. Otherwise you can't trust some random idiot to give an accurate score, the only thing even remotely valuable is shit like metacritic, and even then it should be used as general directions. What I value is decently written reviews that give me an idea of what kind of game I'm going to play which can come from both critics and random people on steam. The best way is to check many different reviews.

>>381646365
I value user ratings a lot more than critics but that doesn't mean I trust users completely. Dragon Age 2 gets shit on everywhere but I think it's pretty good. I've finished it more than once. Inquisition is much worse than DA2.

>>381646365
Only opinion that matters is my own. I've played enough games that I know my own tastes and I do my own research for any game I can't tell from first glance.

>>381648625
If you only play games that look good on video, you must have a very high miss rate.
There are many games that look like shit to watch, but are engaging to play, and the opposite.

From a video game history standpoint they're both relevant. Personally I don't care what anyone outside of my irl friend group thinks, outside of watching the occasional Vidya review/critic on YouTube for entertainment.

>>381646365
I prefer DA2 to DA:O and DA:I

>>381646365
I don't really value number ratings from anyone, critic or layperson or even friends. I value relatively objective descriptions of features/elements and most importantly I look for CONSISTENCY in those descriptions among those with the most lavish praise as well as the most damning criticisms. Consistent, relatively unbiased descriptions let me judge the content for myself and decide whether I think it will be worth investing my time in it based on my preferences... which is sort of the entire point of reviews in the first place.