Improvements

When I was in highschool (literally in the past century), I was awful at Mathematics. So, my grades were usually bellow average. One day, I got a better grade (still a bad grade, bat better nonetheless) than I used to and my teacher called me and praised me for my improvement. And that made me try harder to keep my grades above average, at least. Because he recognized that I got better.

i remembered this story after reading several reviews for Blades of Time, a sequel of sorts for X-Blades, made by Gaijin Entertainment. Basically all reviews recognized that Blades of Time is an improvement from the previous game. It is not that Blades of Time is considered by them a great game. Since I have not played X-Blades or the new game, I cannot say with certain how awful or how good they are. So, I gonna go with third person opinions here.

I love to see developers improving from a game to another. We kinda expect it to happen all the time. But while big studios with great franchises are expected to do it, we usually see small studios with not well known games, with either bad or mediocre games, as cards out of the deck, as we say here in Brazil, meaning companies not worth the time and money of gamers, so we don't count them.

But all reviews I have read about Blades of Time made clear how much improved the game is, and many reviewers were even in disposition to recommend the game to fans of the hack'n'slash genre, if not for other thing because it is a game with several flaws, but that can entertain someone for a time and because it is an improvement.

I must say, I am very tempted to buy this game, albeit I am well aware of its flaws and that it is hardly a game who will be talked in the future. But I am tempted to reward improvement. While Ninja Gaiden 3 is being criticized as not being as good as the predecessors, this game is being prized for being an evolution.

I don't know what good buying this game can make. Usually studios who fail to sell well enough are closed, and their chance for improvement is denied forever. But some times I wish to see what those studios can do with a proper budget to them. And this is what is making me consider giving this game a chance.

Of course I am against rewarding mediocrity or outright bad games. But my desire to reward improvement may just get the better of me.