Poll: Do You Still Like ZP?

[The Lugz]

He really is just unpleasable. He complains about there being no good survival horror games and when he's given one (Siren: Blood Curse) he shits all over it. He complains about realistic grey/brown shooters and when he's handed some fun, colorful, and decidedly unrealistic shooters like Borderlands 2 and Bulletstorm he shits on them as well

^
yhatzee is a game critic, to critique
one must by definition point out the negatives of any situation or product

 

[hooblabla6262]

Though I don't always agree with Yahtzee, I still do enjoy the humor in his videos.
Of course, if it's a game I haven't played yet, some of the jokes won't always register.

 

[distortedreality]

The multiplayer aspect has been mentioned and clarified more than once. The general gist is quite simply that any game should stand up and sell itself on its single player alone. That's been the same for always. If a game compromises on story, difficulty, level design or gameplay because it had to accommodate or worse, was scaled specifically for, multiplayer, then it's a negative. And I actually agree on this point.

It's actually one of the few things that I disagree with him about.

I hate a tacked on, lackluster MP component as much as the next person, but I feel some games are much, much better as MP only games than they would be as SP games, and I don't necessarily feel that they should be automatically disregarded because of that.

Bizarrely, the first games that come to mind as good examples of this are all Valve games, which is quite ironic given Yahtzee's view on Valve and their body of work.

But games like Left 4 Dead, Counter Strike and Team Fortress are great at what they do without needing anything else imo. Left 4 Dead could maybe benefit from some sort of back story, but I actually loved the ambiguity inherent in the game, and didn't really feel like the game needed a story.

For reference, i'm generally a big story gamer. I doubt that i'd play many SP games without a story, but some MP games can definitely get away with it.

 

[marurder]

While I understand where the OP is coming from, given the choices of "yes" or "no", instead of; "yes totally!", "I do not so much as before" and "never"...

I would have to say "yes", I do enjoy it. But really, it's not as much as before. It isn't as thoughtful as his earlier 'work' and more juvenile. Pandering to the crowd I guess...

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yes, otherwise I would of stop watching it by now.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I don't enjoy it as much as I used too but my humor has changed a lot. I rarely laugh anymore because I don't enjoy pre-made jokes as much as I used too. I laugh for ages when something is said perfectly timed or something happens at the perfect moment though.
So basically, I don't find it funny because I already expect the jokes to come.

 

[getoffmycloud]

I haven't enjoyed his videos as much lately. His last review was especially bad. Flip-flopping on his opinion of Doom 3, completely misinterpreting why people criticized him for naming MW3 and BF3 his 'Worst Games of 2011,' using the "I'm older than you so I know better" card, etc. It was just embarrassingly bad.

He really is just unpleasable. He complains about there being no good survival horror games and when he's given one (Siren: Blood Curse) he shits all over it. He complains about realistic grey/brown shooters and when he's handed some fun, colorful, and decidedly unrealistic shooters like Borderlands 2 and Bulletstorm he shits on them as well. He rages against sequels and reboots for merely having the audacity to exist yet the one game he can never shut the fuck up about is a sequel itself and some of his other favorites are sequels and reboots as well.

Good is a subjective term just because you like siren blood curse doesn't mean everyone will like it. I am sure if I asked enough people eventually I would find someone who thinks Too human was a good game. And to be fair to yahtzee he did say that the game was a mishandled good idea.

Also he likes Amnesia so he isn't just complaining for the sake of it when it comes to survival horror.

 

[surg3n]

I still watch it every week, but yeah - maybe it's just a tired format, maybe we just need Yahtzee to give his opinion in another style.

What strikes me these days, is that every game sucks if it isn't what he is into - I wish he could be more objective sometimes. I especially don't like how he tars every military FPS with the same brush, and often fails to see the points that make some games stand out. I guess I'm talking about Battlefield3 here mainly, which I thought was an amazing multiplayer experience, unpredictable (mostly), and a lot of fun. Instead he painted it black because the single player sucked... seriously, a Battlefield game had a shitty campaign?, is/was anyone surprised by that?

Maybe his tastes are a bit more distinctive these days, and auto-trolling games that don't exactly fit the bill is becoming old. If you look at Minecraft, sure you can talk about the simplistic visuals, somewhat stupid mobs, repetitive nature... or you can talk about the world of possibilities, the hardcore survival mode, the incredible depth of exploration. I think gamers these days can be a lot more forgiving - willing to make do with visually less impressive indi games to experience different gameplay mechanics.

A lot of people respect his opinion, his proper opinion, not what he rants through in ZP - perhaps we'd rather hear his real opinions these days and leave the trolling to the YouTubers. In fact, I think I prefer his retro playthroughs more than ZP.

 

[Alcoholidayer]

I too find his old videos more amusing, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the newer videos. The newer ones, while not as funny, still contain very correct and logical arguments and give a great picture of the game.

I disagree with those of you who think he's unpleasable, he merely has high standards. Just because you disagree with him does not make him wrong.

 

[debra_ beretta]

I still love ZP. I'd love to see a collaboration between Yahtzee and Charlie Brooker. The bile generated would be immense.

 

[snappydog]

I do still find it pretty entertaining, although I think lately I've been more of a fan of his other stuff - I went on a bit of a Yahtzee binge a month or so ago and I love Extra Punctuation and Mogworld (watching ZP after listening to the audiobook is something of a shock, since he reads it at what passes for a normal, even slightly slow pace), I've just bought Jam and I absolutely adore the Chzo Mythos games.

I still love ZP. I'd love to see a collaboration between Yahtzee and Charlie Brooker. The bile generated would be immense.

Also, this.

 

[Legion]

IMO, it's like spicy food. After a while, you build up a tolerance to it. So, it's not the food that's changed, it's you.

This, really.

It's still good, but it's been a long time since I laughed out loud while watching it. I can appreciate the jokes, but it's not as funny (for me) as it used to be.

 

[The_Waspman]

I still watch it every week, and I enjoy it. Though I think there are a great many reasons that I don't enjoy it quite so much as I used to. Firstly, I came here to watch the review of Hunted: The Demons Forge (a shit game for twats), so I had a hell of a backlog to get through, which took a few months, if I'm honest. Once I'd 'caught up', and had to wait for new episodes, watching it less regularly kinda made me lose a bit of interest.

Secondly, as some others have pointed out, the line up of games that have been released over the past year have beet complete wank. This years summer games drought has been the worst one in a very long time, and even this years christmas release slate is pretty barren.

Thirdly, Yahtzee has been doing this for years now, every week, without a break. Naturally there is going to be some amount of burnout over that time, coupled with the above fact that recent games have all been shit (except Borderlands 2) then there is going to be a general downturn in quality.

Captcha: I like you! Um, thanks Captcha.

 

[wabbbit]

It has gone seriously downhill in the last 6 months or so IMO. This probably isn't helped by the more and more intrusive ads that T.E use.

It used to be funny (I remember loving weds/thurs as it meant a new video at lunch break!), now they are just a several mins of random swear-word-generator output. Shame really as the guy is genuinely quite witty.

Just seems like he is trying too hard to get laughs in the more recent stuff.


50 cent blood in the sand is still one of my favorite videos on this site however.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Way back in his LEGO Indy review, at the end of the credits he said 'Whine because I don't want to rip off copyright music anymore!' and the intro looks more professional, compared to the pervious one. That's probably the reason why he stopped with the music.

Did not know that! Now I have homework to do

Reasoning and other minor trivialities such as the law and professionalism matter not however to the end result!

 

[natster43]

I like his videos. They aren't as good as they used to be in the sense that I don't laugh as much at them, but I still enjoy them.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

So for a while now I just haven't been enjoying Zero Punctuation I don't know why it just doesn't make me laugh or even smile anymore, whats you opinion sorry if this had been done before and your tired of it but I haven't seen any.

Still love it - and I've been watching since his Guitar Hero 3 review.

I also find Yahtzee one of the most reliable sources for video game criticism.

Not reviews, mind - I find reviews useless. Criticism.

I bought games he liked based on his descriptions. I've also bought (and loved) games he hated based on his descriptions. The thing is, he explains in great detail why he loves or hates something, and sometimes when he talks about how much he hates something, I go "wow, that sounds pretty awesome!" And, more often that not, I've been right.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I still enjoy them. The trouble is it's not always easy know if he likes a game as it's 90% critique/criticism.

Here's a question - why does it matter if Yahtzee likes or dislikes the game? Why do you care?

That 90% criticism is the reason I watch his videos before I buy a game - because that criticism allows me to decide if I will like the game, rather than relying on whether or not Yahtzee does.

Yahtzee hates turn-based combat. I love it. He can hate a game, and talk me into buying it, by criticizing the right aspects of it.

I've never understood why people want to know if a critic likes or dislikes something - who cares? It's the analysis - the critique - that tells you if you will like what's in there.

Oh and I don't mean to harp on you in particular - lots of people say this, and it baffles me just as much when they say it. This is more an open invitation to anyone to explain this to me rather than just you, KingsGambit. Although feel free if you like.