Interesting.  I'm still exploring everything that's new, but the new store layout doesn't seem too bad.

What do you think?

Well for one thing to review a game on Steam you need to own it, so that helps. By the way how are you getting those scores for Steam? It's only recommended or not recommended.

As for the new update for the most part I like it. I'd wish the curator part was lower on the page, an easier way to go from the game's page to it's forums, it still recommends some games that are in my wishlist, and to have a list of the games I marked as not interested, I think most of them are from Greenlight. All in all, I welcome the changes and see room for improvement. 

The more niche the game, the more the gamer (or reviewer) bias. In the reviewer category, as an example, they loved the movie "The Piano". My wife and I saw it and were not impressed. I feel reviewers like something "different" even if it sucks because they see so many movies. The casual movie viewer (insert gamer here) has a different opinion.

As to Metacritic, my good friend is trying to get me to come back to Rome II. It was a steaming pile for months and he said it was good, so...

I think his bias was he loves that era and I am a bit indifferent. I liked Rome I because the buildings and units had flavor in the art which drew me in. The pixelated icons for buildings and units, to me (not usually into eye candy), threw me off. I also didn't like certain areas could build more than others based on historic values. Hey, if I want Athens to be a backwater and an ancient backwater to be a new Constantinople, that should be my call!

Some love it, good for them. Some like COH2, I thought it kinda sucked while I loved the original. To each their own. 

I am willing to give both titles another chance, but I am already a bit biased because I feel I was burned and could have waited 6 months to a year and saved money at least if I think it is still a steaming bill of .....

Lovers gotta love, haters gotta hate. I don't think I am either, but sometimes, well, fool me once.

<offTopic>

I was one of the first (and only time in my life to get a ban for a few days and my thread removed) for the release of Elemental. I invested a lot of my time and energy and talked it up to my friends. I was soooooo mad at Brad for it, but you know what, he did the right think and gave us Fallen Enchantress. Is it perfect, no, but it was much better. 

I love Stardock, from GalCiv, to Sins, to FELH. I was probably so harsh because I just love them that much. CA has let me down time and again and I bought it for the MP for my bud. I have since got him into GalCivII, FELH, etc. and his only complaint has been MP! 

Sometimes, I just want to play the comp and I want a good game. While SD games aren't perfect by any means, they do present different challenges from most games. 

That said, I need to make a list of FELH AI improvements, but actually, I think I will probably delve into the xmls to see what I can do first. I has been over 10 years, but once a modder, always a modder.

</Off Topic>

<Off Off Topic>

FYI - good day for me, my "o" key has been out for a week and replaced the keyboard. "yea"

My mother has been "looking" for a house for years and today finally bought one!. She lives in, what used to be a decent lower middle class neighborhood, which is now a dive. We have been trying to get her to move forever. She bought a beautiful home for more money than I ever thought she would spend (she had the cash from inheritance and savings) and sent me a text "I just spent your inheritance, hope you aren't angry"

Angry, I am thrilled! She worked so hard for us and my dad (she divorced 38 years ago when I was 10 and my brother was 3) didn't pay crap for child support. We scrapped by with crappy clothes, shoes, still remember the "hair cut" to save money when I was 13 and cried she ruined me. My brother and I made it, our kids are entering college, we live in nice neighborhoods. We made it from learning to not take things for granted. If you work hard, smart, and do well, you will be rewarded. However, you have to prove it. 

Anyway, she totally deserves it. I seriously don't care if I lose any money from inheritance. She worked her butt off and now if she lives high, I love it!

Sorry, just after all these years of "dollar store" and she buys a beautiful house, it just stuns me.

</Off Off Topic>

Anyway, yep, I look at metacrtic to see opinions by users mostly. The reviewers seem to early play the game for more than 10 hours.

It is interesting about the steam rankings, but GalCiv2 is rated way to low. Probably because it was released preSteam.

<edit for GalCiv2>

Haven't had a chance to load up the app, but the web store seems different just for the sake of being different.  My biggest complaint is now I need to load up a different screen and use a filter just to see new releases.

If I could give one suggestion to said list, it would be to add an Early Access icon, so I can see which games are still in development, and it would inform me that the current reviews are for the EA version of the game.  This can be very informative.  I would also like games that were in EA, but are now released, to filter out the EA reviews once the game is released (I'm not 100% sure if they are already doing this or not).  I have no problem with games being available that are still in development, and I'm currently enjoying more than a handful of games still in a pre-release state.

Also, many of the recommended games make little to no sense, such as Counter Strike being suggested because I play strategy games and that the new Gauntlet and Stronghold Crusader II would interest me because I recently watched a video for Schrodinger's Cat (what looks to be a platformer).  It also recommends STO and DCUO, because I recently played LotRO (which still locks up my computer, the bastards), even though I had already played them via Steam (I guess since F2P games do not stay on your list, they can be recommended again).

Still, I've only had a few minutes to play with it, but this is what stood out to me at first glance.

96 for Crusader Kings 2?  Who the fuck are the other 4%?  Should be 100%.  

Quoting Alstein,

reply 10

Quoting Thormodr,

reply 8

97 for Civilization 5?

 

Maybe out of 500.

 

Civ 5 is great for non-serious play.  It only fails with folks who have played a ton of the games.  For most on Steam Civ 5 was their first 4X.

Let's hope Civ VI is for serious play, then.