No, you're right. You should base your gaming preferences on the opinions of other people rather than your own.

Continue to consume what your influencer mommies and daddies tell you and nothing else.

>>728984065
I do something similar. My threshold is generally about 8.5+ and I usually buy them and add them to my collection and sit on them a while before I even play them. I also have a selective mind for games others may not like generally so I will buy it. Just buy what speaks to you

>>728984443
https://www.metacritic.com/browse/game/?releaseYearMin=1958&releaseYearMax=2025&page=16

There are 379 games (almost 16 full pages) that are 90 or above. You tell me you can't find 50+ games on here you'd probably enjoy? Whatever amount you might find, why would you potentially play something worse before these?

>>728984701
Because video games are fun, especially the ones normal people don't like.

>>728984065
A fair point. I'd be lying if I didn't do some google map researching before going somewhere new
But you also should consider what your tastes are, and what the common "gamers" tastes are
If 2 million smooth brains say something that doesn't seem fun to me is by their metrics a 10/10 goat, I still exercise extreme scrutiny, because I have so little confidence in the masses, and who the target audience is

>>728984065
Sometimes a game has niche appeal that doesn't land with critics (how many airline management games get 9/10 or higher? But then again, how many game critics are secretly pining to manage an airline?) and sometimes critics don't really know what they're talking about:
e.g. Ace Combat Zero is generally held to be one of the best of the franchise, but critics were upset it was too similar to Ace Combat 5, ignoring that as a basically perfected formula "more of the same, but slightly improved" is a selling point, not a drawback. It's a 9/10 or better if you're a fan of the series, but ~7.5/10 is the critical consensus.

Critics can tell you whether a game you're basically unfamiliar with is worth a go, but they're less useful at catering to your specific tastes.

>>728984065
If you only play the games everyone else likes, you're not developing your own tastes. You're gaslighting yourself into liking something because of the consensus.
You will never truly know what you like in vidya if you don't play the bad games. This aversion to the possibility of "wasting your time" playing a video game is stupid. Resolve yourself into accepting that a game you play might be dogshit and you will actually start enjoying games again

>>728984065
Metacritic User score above 8? I'll give it a shot
Metacritic Reviewer score above 9, user score below 8? Avoid at all costs
Metacritic reviewer score below 9 user score above 8, probably the best game that came out that year

As one develops their own taste, they start to lose trust in the consensus. You start to ask yourself who gave it that score and why? What's the point in a 9/10 in a genre you don't even like? And then there's the matter of games that aren't known.

>>728984065
because you know what 7/10 or 8/10s would be a 9/10 to you, because you don't have generic taste, you have your taste