Poll: Does anyone else feel like "Extra Credits" is full of shit?

[Vault Citizen]

I like them, they are smart, passionate and informed about what they are discussing.

 

[[REDACTED]]

I despise them. They point out the obvious and act like it is some magical breakthrough. I'm sure they are all nice people but to me they will always be pretencious, self righteous jerks and petty theives.

"Petty thieves"? I don't understand. Did they plagiarize someone?

 

[McMarbles]

I find them about a hundred times more interesting and engaging than (insert Snarky McSnarker critic here).

But people don't want to be challenged. They want an echo chamber where they can hear their own opinions validated over and over again.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

In an industry where it's always doom, gloom and rage; what is wrong with a bit of wide eyed optimism? I've never had a problem with the EC team and don't understand why they get all the hate, especially on this site. I wonder sometimes if has more to do with the unpleasant incident than the actual content of their show. I always found the show to be informative and fun to watch.

 

[Judgement101]

I despise them. They point out the obvious and act like it is some magical breakthrough. I'm sure they are all nice people but to me they will always be pretencious, self righteous jerks and petty theives.

"Petty thieves"? I don't understand. Did they plagiarize someone?

Their artist broke her wrist so they ran a fundraising thing. They quickly got the money and then used to run off money to fund a company, so they mislead the audience of the fundraiser and used the money for something that was not mentioned.

 

[Composer]

I agree with you. The overall tone of pretentiousness completely put me off. This would also explain my disdain for hipsters.

 

[Vault101]

I used to like them though I dont watch as much as I used too

I did like their break down of why mabye Metroid other M was how it was, and it went beyond "lets get the people behined those vollyball games to make a metroid game!"

I think you may be watching the show with a different set of expectations to what they actually provide. But each to their mothers cats, or something.

As for the mechanics of Loneliness, it does have them. You control a dot, if you move that dot towards other dots the other dots fade away. They were just using Loneliness as a simple hands-on example to present their point of view that wouldn't cost the viewer anything other than five minutes.

I do kinda think that they have been rushing things a bit though, if they didn't need to release a new episode every week it might give them more time to better convey what they're trying to say. But eh, I'm probably still going to watch the show.

huh?...hey you!

whats your opinion on Capcom, ubisoft and the Wii!?...tell me dammit!

 

[IamGamer41]

Well considering I dislike everything Penny Arcade does I have to dislike them on principal now.

 

[Kyrian007]

I really couldn't vote on the poll, because it would have seemed a better answer (for EC) than it really is. They aren't "full of it" because their entire show is just pointing out the totally obvious. They take a topic (usually one already done to death) and they pile on the side that more hipsters are on.

They point out all the things on the topic that any reasonably intelligent person saw or thought the first time the topic came up, and they do it in that seemingly condescending way that makes their content sound "smart" to give them a little more of an "authoritative" sound so people will value their opinion and insight as an "insider" perspective; rather than just rely on their actual experience in the game industry to simply speak as insiders.

So basically the same thing Jim Sterling does... but Jim makes the tone over the top and part of his shtick. That makes it comedy, and pretty funny stuff. EC just does it so un-ironically; we actually have to wonder if they realize they aren't very insightful.

I like EC's reviews in "games you might have missed" though. Short, to the point, and accurate.

 

[Denamic]

They sometimes gloss over important points, occasionally fact-check poorly, tends to state the obvious, and sometimes don't fully understand the subject at hand. But to say they're 'full of it' is absurd. They're right more often than not and provides good insight and provides points of view most people would never have considered.

 

[MadBlueWinnie]

I just want to thank whoever posted about Sequelitis way back when this topic first opened. Best shit I've ever watched on youtube.

 

[frizzlebyte]

So basically the same thing Jim Sterling does... but Jim makes the tone over the top and part of his shtick. That makes it comedy, and pretty funny stuff. EC just does it so un-ironically; we actually have to wonder if they realize they aren't very insightful.

This. The first few times I watched their vids, they seemed to bring up some interesting points. After a few more, I haven't checked them out since. Jim Sterling, on the other hand, is hilarious. And his latest video on boycotts was epic. Agreed with everything he said, really.

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

They can be pretty pretentious most of the time, but they often make some good points. They aren't great but they aren't bad.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

They also don't seem to offer any criticism either, rather than just glossing over That Game Company, they should pick apart their games and discuss what doesn't work just as much what does. WHAT concepts were presented and HOW they were explored in Flower, Flow, and Journey? Were these concepts successfully executed? Why not? How could they've been?
And I really hate to say it, but that's kinda why I like Yahtzee, he'll go into the details (like in his Silent Hill 2 review) and really explain why what works and how, and what doesn't and why. After the end of every Extra Credits episode I have the same "....so what do you expect to DO about it?" feeling.

They don't?

They go into very specific details about individual mechanic, directly citing the relevant examples.

Discussing Loneliness, I don't think it's some kind of Rorschach test that uses "mechanics as metaphor". The game has a d-pad, that's it, that's not mechanics, that's 4 buttons less of a controller. Loneliness I think did a terrible job of exploring what loneliness really is. Anyone who's ever suffered the depressing power of loneliness knows that you could've joined any of those groups and you would still have felt alone. They make all these assumptions about the player, I didn't have any fleeting thoughts of acceptance or rejection while playing. This might reflect poorly on me but I NEVER personified the dots, because they're dots. Not people. I just thought "wow, shit's ghey". I have an imagination, but you kinda have to provide a little context.

So, essentially you have no imagination. It doesn't matter what you say, the game gives more then enough context for you to get that, you have no imagination. And sorry to be blunt, but that second to last sentence, that has no place in an intellectual discussion.

Also, you realize that you're talking about an entirely different type of loneliness then is covered in the game right? Loneliness is about peer group isolation, you're talking about inability to connect on a deep level.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

I don't think it's meant to call out for results, but just saying how much better it would be if the industry listened and learned from others and used those innovations instead of the typical COD style gameplay for the past 30 years..

 

[surg3n]

It annoys me when people talk so long and hard about something they don't care enough about to contribute themselves.

For example, I value Yahtzee's opinion above all - it might be a tad negative, you have to kinda step back from it and harvest the relevant points, but at least there are relevant points there. The reason why I value his opinion is that he writes games, and sorry, but if someone hasn't gone through the process of creating a videogame, they know less than nothing about it. You can learn by watching 'Indie Game - The Movie', but to learn, you have to be prepared to learn.

I haven't watched much of Extra Credits, I have to say, but they're just not my sort of people - those are the sort of people who assume they know better than everyone, and people who know better, prefer to keep quiet and let them continue to make fools of themselves, meanwhile people who know less than them, assume they are right. It's a vicious cycle of stupidity. The best thing to do, is to challenge people who are like that.

Here's the truth... making a videogame has never been easier. There are tools and languages out there that make it really easy, some systems don't even require programming knowledge. If someone can make videos like that, with thought, animation, editing... then those skills can be easily transferred to making a game. If all you do is talk about how other people make games, and how you'd do it different, then shut the fuck up and make a game. When people say, ''Lets see you do it'', why not go off and do it! - that'd shut them up huh!, imagine coming back and saying ''Ok, I did it, now what?''
Seriously, there are children out there making videogames, if anyone has a game idea that won't quit, there is no reason at all why they can't, or shouldn't take the idea further. The gaming community needs people who know their shit - and nothing teaches that like real world experience.