"President, this is already the two hundred and thirty-first complaint from players. Are we still not going to withdraw the score for 'Throne of Heroes'? If this continues, the reputation our company has built up over more than a decade is going to suffer. In the first place, wouldn't it have been better to give the game a score of 96 before its official release? Once it had built up enough of a reputation, we could have adjusted it to 97. Wouldn't that have been the safer approach? The game is only in its testing phase right now. Of course players are going to distrust a score of 97!"
Shibasaki, the head of '4Gamer's Operations Department, poured out his grievances in the president's office, pacing back and forth impatiently as he waited for a solution.
Ever since the score for 'Throne of Heroes' had been published, the phones, email inboxes, and message boards of '4Gamer's customer service team had practically been overwhelmed by players. Player communities from all kinds of games were scrambling to voice their doubts.
'Throne of Heroes' is just a card-battle game. What right does it have to score higher than games that major companies spent years developing with investments of hundreds of millions of dollars?
What right does 'Throne of Heroes' have to stand alongside the game that pioneered Japanese RPGs? Or are you saying you believe this game can create the same degree of historical value?
They're both card games. Is 'Throne of Heroes' really better than 'Warship Girls Collection'? They're obviously both designed by the same person!
As the saying went, a tall tree attracted the strongest winds. '4Gamer' had a twenty-year history and was deeply trusted by players. In a sense, its reviews had already come to represent the broadly recognized opinion of the player community, becoming a de facto "official" score.
Players themselves had clashed plenty of times over game ratings, but because '4Gamer's scores had generally remained in line with mainstream opinion, no truly serious war of arguments had ever erupted. Now, however, an obscure game had suddenly appeared and received an astonishing score of 97. That was practically equivalent to the great tree setting itself on fire and erecting a giant target for everyone to shoot at.
Players of 'Warship Girls Collection', the 'Adventure King' series, numerous classic Western games, and many others all questioned the score.
What right did this game have to be better than the games they loved?
It was like China's moe character popularity wars. At the height of the competition, if some completely unknown anime character suddenly seized the title of Moe Champion, what were all those people who had desperately canvassed votes for their favorite characters supposed to think?
'Throne of Heroes' did enjoy a certain degree of fame within Japan's gaming industry, but its recognition certainly couldn't compare with 'Warship Girls Collection'. And even 'Warship Girls Collection' was only a phenomenon within otaku gaming circles. Otaku-oriented games didn't even make up half of Japan's gaming market. In comparison, the voices of players supporting 'Throne of Heroes' naturally seemed almost inaudible.
"Hahaha, that really is a disaster." '4Gamer' President Nozawayama laughed heartily and waved his hand, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "The review team will provide their reasoning. At the very least, the score for 'Throne of Heroes' will not be withdrawn this week. Besides, if we retract a score simply because players are unhappy with it, that itself would seriously damage the credibility of our reviews."
"But!"
Though Nozawayama looked old, he still possessed the boldness that had allowed him to establish '4Gamer' in the first place.
"Even if you don't trust Fukuyama's judgment, how about trusting mine?"
"But you didn't participate in the game's review."
"I trust Fukuyama."
"How can—"
Knock, knock!
In the middle of their argument, someone knocked on the door.
A broad grin appeared on Nozawayama's aged face. "That's enough about this subject. Come in."
He raised his voice for the latter sentence, directing it toward the person outside.
Click.
Fukuyama Mitsuaki, leader of the review team, entered the office with an exhausted expression. Before he had even fully stepped inside, Operations Department Head Shibasaki, standing to the side, spoke in a helpless tone that was difficult to tell apart from self-mockery or sarcasm.
"Fukuyama, thanks to you, our customer service team is facing a disaster in the truest sense of the word."
Fukuyama Mitsuaki froze for a moment, then smiled apologetically. "I'm really sorry about that. As it happens, I'm here because of this very matter."
He placed a USB drive on Nozawayama's desk and took a deep breath.
"This contains the work our review team has done over the past week, as well as the reason we gave 'Throne of Heroes' a score of 97. Everything we want to say is in there."
Sitting behind his desk, Nozawayama looked at him appreciatively, then nodded solemnly. "Your review team has worked hard these past few days. Everyone in the company knows how much effort you've put in. You'll have the next two days off. Paid, of course, and they won't count against your normal paid leave."
The entire company knew that Fukuyama Mitsuaki's team had been working around the clock these past two days.
"Yes! Thank you very much!"
Fukuyama Mitsuaki bowed.
"I hope we haven't failed to live up to your expectations, President. Then I won't interrupt your conversation with Department Head Shibasaki any further. Excuse me."
After Fukuyama left, Nozawayama handed the USB drive to Shibasaki and instructed, "Here. You open it. I'm not very good with these computer operations."
Shibasaki looked doubtful. "Are you sure there won't be a problem?"
Nozawayama chuckled. "I don't know either. Besides, I'm no longer part of the review team in the first place. I can't keep up with the times anymore. When it comes to judging whether a game is good or bad, my instincts are nowhere near as sharp as those of young people today. How does that saying go again? The future belongs to the young?"
Shibasaki lowered the projection screen and used the small projector in the president's office to display the contents of the USB drive. The basic introductory information could immediately be seen.
"Comprehensive Review of the Card-Battle Game 'Throne of Heroes'
Comprehensive review of 'Throne of Heroes': 152,738 characters, 892 accompanying images, 1,028 observations, completed over two days, with an average of three hours of sleep per day.
The other day, the score of 97 awarded to 'Throne of Heroes' by our '4Gamer' review team caused considerable dissatisfaction among the public. We would like to apologize to all players for this, as well as express our regret for the trouble caused to the company.
However, we will not retract this score, because it represents the unanimous opinion of our review team.
'Throne of Heroes' is a comprehensively innovative game with a soul of its own...
...
...
When it comes to games, sometimes a single creative idea can be more valuable than exquisite graphics produced at a cost of hundreds of millions of yen."
Every word, every image, and every observation represented conclusions painstakingly compiled by the game review team. It ranged from analyses of gameplay methods to the game's structural framework, extending further into their experiences of the game's overall entertainment value and even speculation about its underlying systems.
The organization was clear, the understanding profound. Even an ordinary player could sense from the review the reviewers' unstinting praise and the charm the game itself possessed.
It took a long time to finish reading.
'4Gamer' President Nozawayama stood up and looked at the projected screen, narrowing his eyes as he sighed in realization.
"I see. Now I understand Fukuyama's words a little better. It truly is an exceptional game. So, after seeing this review, Shibasaki, do you still have any doubts?"
Operations Department Head Shibasaki sighed and shook his head. "All we can do is upload it to the website's review system and let the players judge for themselves. I admit that once this game review is uploaded, the number of complaints will probably decrease considerably."
"Then that's what we'll do. It seems that even though my ability to judge games has fallen behind the times, I can still judge people well. Hahaha!"
'4Gamer' President Nozawayama, the lean and capable old man, burst into hearty laughter.