The American gaming press, sadly, favors flash over substance with CRPGs. If a game is highly polished, has a streamlined UI, refined gameplay, and of course, really super duper good graphics, right there a game is already pushing an 8 or 9 out of 10 score, despite that the game might have shallow, boring gameplay and terrible to non-existent story.
On the other hand, European CRPG developers of the past decade have the behavior of American CRPG devlopers of the 80s and even 90s (somewhat). European developers push the envelope, try new things, and rarely stick to the safety of the tried-and-true. The result is oftentimes a CRPG that is hugely interesting. However, just like the American develpers of the 80s and 90s, oftentimes the games ship quite buggy, have a lack of focus in terms of gameplay, difficult UIs and gameplay mechanics, lack of proper documentation and so on and so forth.
For me, personally, the final analysis is undeniable - my favorite CRPGs of the last decade all come from Europe, despite the shortcomings the American press obessivley harps about:
Gothic 1
Gothic 2
Gothic 3
Arx Fatalis
Divine Divinity
Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga
So when it comes to IGN and their MTV-ified ADHD-riddled reviews of European CRPG games, it doesn't surprise me. I'm more interested about what the gamers at sites like RPGwatch think about the game anyway.
On the other hand, European CRPG developers of the past decade have the behavior of American CRPG devlopers of the 80s and even 90s (somewhat). European developers push the envelope, try new things, and rarely stick to the safety of the tried-and-true. The result is oftentimes a CRPG that is hugely interesting. However, just like the American develpers of the 80s and 90s, oftentimes the games ship quite buggy, have a lack of focus in terms of gameplay, difficult UIs and gameplay mechanics, lack of proper documentation and so on and so forth.
For me, personally, the final analysis is undeniable - my favorite CRPGs of the last decade all come from Europe, despite the shortcomings the American press obessivley harps about:
Gothic 1
Gothic 2
Gothic 3
Arx Fatalis
Divine Divinity
Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga
So when it comes to IGN and their MTV-ified ADHD-riddled reviews of European CRPG games, it doesn't surprise me. I'm more interested about what the gamers at sites like RPGwatch think about the game anyway.