Do you listen to reviewers?

[JoeGKushner]

Well, now that I've got a few reviews under my belt over here (along with a host of other places), I thought I'd ask if anyone actually finds them useful.

I often hear from people who already have the product in the agreement/disagreement pool, but rarely from someone who read a review and went out and bought it bsed on said review.

 

[krbrunn]

I purchased the Oriental Adventures book because of all the good reviews. I had no intention of getting it otherwise. So yes, I do listen to reviewers. I don't buy every well reviewed book though, I have to be interested in the book as well.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

I usually look for reviews of books I have already purchased. It gives me a perspective on items within that I might have not thought of.

I will rarely use a review to help on a purchase decision, but so far that has been limited to when companies release a lot of similar products at one time (naval, dwarves, superheroes..).

I wish there were more playtested reviews of adventures- the anecdotes are always fun.

FD

 

[Orco42]

I've been thinking sabout getting Spycraft for a while. Now that I have read some reviews, all of them say it is great, I will get it (once I recover financially from Gencon).

 

[Crothian]

I read every review Psion does. He's done so many that it's easy to tell that we look for mostly the same things in RPG supplements. I don't buy modules so I don't read any reviews on them. I usually wait a few weeks to buyn a product to to read reviews and get a chance to look it over at the store. I have bought a few books I wasn't going to based on Psions opinion and I've yet to be disappointed.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I'm learning to trust them ( and saving myself money! ) after getting burned. I read a semi-negative review of Fast Forward Ent's Demons and Devils book but bought it anyway. It was pretty bad and I sold it without using it for 20% of what I paid.

With so much d20 stuff available I will be doing my homework before I buy in most cases ( I'm gonna buy BoVE no matter what any reviewer says! ). That said though, I find most reviews are pretty favorable, and not that critical. I really do not think that a lot of d20 stuff deserves the ratings they get from reviewers. I'm lloking for honesty from a review, and am not interested in hearing from someone afraid to give a bad review based on political considerations...

 

[JeffK1966]

Yes, I do listen to them some times. After all the raves that the Freeport stuff has gotten, I'm tempted to pick up the hardcover of the Freeport campaign setting/city system.

 

[Jaws]

Reviews

I read the reviews mostly on products that I have interest in. But I did buy Manual of the Planes based on reviews and the article in Dragon Magazine. I had no intention before then.
I appreciate the reviews that JoeGKushner, Psion, and others post. It is so hard to write an informative one. Thats why I only have one. Hopefully I'll have another posted this month.

Peace and smiles

j.

 

[Darkness]

I usually read reviews when I'm interested in a book but not sure if I really want/need it. Armed with that basic information, I then proceed to look through the book in one of my local game stores.

So yes, reviews are helpful to me.

 

[tsadkiel]

Sometimes. Often, the things that a given reviewer doesn't like don't really bother me, and sometimes I have serious problems with things the reviewer doesn't mention.

Generally, when I read a review, I'm more interested in finding out the content of the book than what the reviwer felt about said content.

On the other hand, I've got the Foundation staring at me from my bookshelf - I bought it after a very negative review, because I wanted d20 supers and "It can't really be that bad, can it?"