Reviews on this blog seem like a farce now, or at least I think so. I try to make them as comprehensive and systematic as possible, but I also get lazy with writing each one and don’t do enough of them. When I think about a lot of the old reviews, I feel regret. In this blog post, I talk about rethinking my review process, wanting to change scores of past reviews, and coming to terms with being bad at this critique thing.
There are things I now think are scored wrong, but I’ve been hesitant about changing those scores since that would mean my review process was flawed. Then I realized two things—it’s all just practice and I can do whatever I want with my own blog. But of course, I have to adequately explain myself before I actually do anything about it.
Changing My Mind
I’ve wrestled with this for a good while now, perhaps over a year or so already. Much of it comes from understanding how I felt about Star Wars: The Last Jedi over a period of time.
I got to watch that movie in a block screening, and my feelings about it just after my first viewing was that of mostly confusion. I would then assess it as mostly good at first, giving it an 8 at first before bumping down to a 7—which means it’s good for the most part.
But then, my main gripe about it was how the First Order were incompetent villains for the most part. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t get invested in heroes that have to fight such dumb enemies. That alone makes me want to bump my review of the film down to a 6/10.
There’s also my review of Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis, which I gave a 6 simply because I thought it was too short and quick. Then Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul came out, which I didn’t get to review but still made me feel like a total fool. The first series deserves at least a 7.
I want to be able to redeem myself whenever I review something “wrong,” which is why I’ve decided that I should be able to do that in this winky-dinky blog. It’s not that I don’t think anyone would notice and take issue at the moment, but I’m still learning how to review things well.
Of course, I don’t want to make changing my mind to become a habit. Having to change my review still means more work, and I’m too lazy for that. I want to get it right the first time, but “getting it wrong” shouldn’t mean I can no longer redeem myself.
Sure, I can just do better next time, but I’d rather give myself a reprieve and just make a mental note of my mistakes rather than have to simmer in regret for the rest of time. No, I can’t just no longer mind it since I invest time and energy into writing those reviews.
Criteria for Review Score Change or Revision
One of the following conditions must be sufficiently met before I ever consider changing the score to an existing review on this blog:
- Grown to enjoy it more (for reviews scored 5 or below).
- No longer enjoy it as much (for reviews scored 6 or above).
- Detail only noticed after review changed experience significantly.
- I made a big mistake in the review.
This list may change over time, and I may add it to the review system once I’ve really figured it out. For now, as of this writing, it’s a work in progress and I don’t want to rush it. I may even change my mind about changing review scores if I ever conclude that it’s not worth the effort.
I’ll post an update once I do figure it all out.
Aiming to Post More Reviews
The blog is in need of more reviews. There are so many holes to fill, and I really want to extend the breadth here by reviewing all sorts of things. To do that, I have to review older titles.
If I limit myself to just recent releases, I won’t be able to post reviews more often. If I do chase that, I’ll just go broke. After all, I’m doing this to fulfill the mission of exploring experience through digital adventure, which is something I want to grow slowly but surely.
The reviews on this blog are for posterity and curation, not for guiding consumers. There are already plenty of other publications and channels for just that. This is more about what I think of various things, as well as making sense of why I like certain things and why I don’t like others.
For me, it’s exploring my preferences and digging into specifics. For the readers, if they do care to read what I have to say, perhaps they can get a thing or two out of each review and make them think a bit about why they like certain things over others.
If my reviews make you think even for a bit, then I’ve done my job.
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