Poll: How seriously do you take what Yahtzee says?

[Saltyk]

If I like a game and Yahtzee hates it, that's not a big deal and he usually makes me laugh and even nod because something he said is pretty true. If I hate a game, and so does Yahtzee, that just makes his review better. However, if I'm on the fence, and he says enough things to convince me that it's not worth my time, I'm probably not going to buy it. To be fair, I can't afford every game that comes out, and if I'm on the fence, then I probably wasn't going to buy it anyway. All the same, he makes me laugh. That's good enough.

 

[C F]

I respect Zero Punctuation. Just because it's marinated in satire and black comedy doesn't mean it's not a serious review at heart. And Yahtzee, while I can disagree with his world views and mentally poke a hole or two in some of his arguments, is still a professional gamer authority. Playing a different title every week establishes a sort of parallax effect from which he can strike surgically into the structure of any release and pick apart its differences (or lack of) from every other title in the industry.

If "brevity is the soul of wit," then 5 minute cartoonish video reviews for entire games must be a very witty joke indeed. But ZP isn't content to be a mere joke; it takes its rapier wit and goes all Zorro on thy game's fat behind. Outlining the flaws, lambasting them with marinade and delicious syrup-y cynicism, and booting them out the door with a joke attached in yellow post-it notes is quite an impressive, if not audacious display. And, of course, no ZP is ever complete if you can't stretch out a metaphor on a medieval rack and promptly wrap it around the entire thing as a straight-jacket before schlepping it on a donkey ride to ye olde fans. Where would we be without you, Yahtzee?

(Well, we'd still be playing games, but we might not actually pay attention to some of the flaws. Come to think of it, is that so much of a bad thing? Wouldn't that mean we'd enjoy the experience a bit more? Let me ask my Yahtzee finger puppet.
He says free will is overrated, now get him little Branston Pickle Hors d'oeuvres.)

*ZP theme music here*

 

[New Frontiersman]

I'm going to have to go with "Listen to this guy? HA!"

You know, he used to funny, and original, and make good points about the games he played. Now he doesn't do any of that. He was always harsh, but used to be fair and provide decent criticism of the games he reviewed, now he's just hateful, he's just like any other asshole with a mic.

I used to take a lot of what he said seriously (usually with a grain of salt, though) but haven't seriously listened to anything he's said in years, there's been no point. Nothing he says anymore is worth my time, it's just him complaining in the most hateful and dickish ways possible. It's no longer funny, it's no longer useful, he doesn't bring up good points, and I no longer trust his opinion, it's just a man spewing hate.

And that's not even counting the ignorant and hateful statements he's made about the United States. He generalizes, he's insulting, rude, almost none of his hate is justified, and even the little bits that are, aren't nearly to the degree he takes it. It's offensive and unnecessary, and it only serves to show as an example of how far the quality of his reviews have declined.

He used to make me laugh, now he just pisses me off.

Here's a link that has some more specific examples of what I mean:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DethroningMoment/ZeroPunctuation

 

[RedDeadFred]

I think a better question is: How many more times this year do you think we'll have this thread?
This is the first one this year. I'm guessing there will be at least 5-6 more.

 

[SargentToughie]

People don't seem to understand what Yahtzee says beyond the lulz that his videos provide. I've been reading his extra punctuation articles for a while now, and I can honestly say that he's one of the most intelligent people around when it comes to game design and the modern gaming market.

Honestly, I've taken to studying what he says, since he provides some awesome input into what makes him angry, why he feels that way, and oftentimes a solution to the problem at hand. As an aspiring game designer, I've taken to see him as something of a mentor, almost as much as Extra Credits was before they got lame.

True, his opinion doesn't always fall into line with mine, there have been a few times where he's reviewed a game I liked and despised it, however, he makes it a point to make you understand why he feels that way and how he came to that conclusion.

Besides, in a world where developers and companies can by 5s and 10s, it's nice to know that there's at least one critic around who will be honest about what he sees.

 

[kortin]

Well, majority of the opinions he has shown in games that I had played prior to watching the video have been similar. I think its reasonable to think that if he didn't enjoy a game, I probably won't as well.

 

[C2Ultima]

I take his stuff as mostly just comedy, but if he has a positive opinion of a game, I will be sure to look into that game, particularly if I'm already on the fence about said game.
His negative opinions do not sway me, however.

Wow this is quite literally my exact opinion, in the same wording I would have used. How curious.

 

[Thoughtful Sociopath]

I enjoy his videos, but they never tainted my feelings toward a game, such as the Halo series in my case. His points are valid, but I enjoy the games. Even if no one else played them, chances are pretty damn good that I'd still play them.

 

[johnnyLupine]

Deathly. The guy runs EVERYTHING from behind the scenes. he took over the world some years ago but clearly decided the didnt want to be pestered for trivial things like an larger food rations so hes doing the whole shadow goverment puppet master thing.

If you dont believe me say something disrespectful about our angry, hat wearing overlord and see what happens, or see what "doesnt" happen.

 

[kortin]

His whole gimmick is to nitpick the most minor flaws in a game and pretend it's ruined the whole experience for him. His reviews are for comedy purpose and should never be taken seriously.

He said the Witcher was a bad game for crying out loud.

I didn't enjoy the Witcher the slightest. The gameplay felt really clunky, and the voice actor for the main character was horrendous. That's not to mention that the other ones were pretty bad as well. Don't have much to say about the story other than the amount of time I played before I said "fuck you game" and quit was a complete clusterfuck. Had no idea what was going on, at all.

If it wasn't a bad game, it sure as hell wasn't a good one.

 

[Kevin7557]

I wouldn't say I take his opinion to heart when buying a game but I find that with the exception of one review he has generally been more honest about a games faults than any other reviewer online.

His shows aren't really meant to be a full review so one simply can't (if they are intelligent) take them as such but his opinion is certainly useful especially when the other "Publisher Approved Reviewers" say things like "this game has the worse campaign I have ever played. 8.0" Things like that get freaking old really quick so it is nice to listen to some condescension once a week.

 

[SageRuffin]

While he does make the occasional insightful point, Yahtzee is little more to me than entertainment fodder.

 

[217not237]

I usually agree with him on everything, except Mirrors' Edge, and he is the one true god, I pray to him every night in hopes of being lead onto the path of truth, the path of cynicism. All hail Ben Yahtzee Godzilla Croshaw! Let his words give us strength to avoid the crappy games of Call of Juarez: The Cartell, Heavenly Sword, and Dante's Inferno! Let us hate Portal fans who exclaim "The cake is a lie!" constantly! Let us worship Painkiller! And Silent Hill 2! And Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time! And Tim Schafer! And Spider-Man 2! And The Fantasy World of Dizzy! And let JRPGs be the spawn of Satan that we all keep our love for secret from the one true god, BENJAMIN CROSHAW! Let inFamous and Prototype be equals! Let his words be written in the Game Bible! And so, in the book of Sega Genesis, 1:1, "In the beginning, games were crap. Yahtzee said 'Let there be good,' and Tim Schafer was born unto the Earth, as his fine point-and click adventures graced the land." Finally, the Game Bible ends with the book of Assassins' Creed: Revelations. From the book of Steve JOBs to JAMES Sunderland, we are reminded of the truth, and let the evils of Chest-High Walls be ended in some time! AMEN!

 

[Joccaren]

I take him seriously with a grain of salt. His personal preferences will lead to different outlooks on games than mine will, but generally I can trust him to point out what's wrong with the game, and if that matters too much to me.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

1) His reviews are meant mostly for entertainment, so I don't take them that seriously.

2) His reviews are generally based on the negative points of a game, meaning that if a game is otherwise excellent, it still appears horrible in his reviews. This style has its benefits in that it highlights negative points in the game. I wouldn't entirely base my opinion of a game from Zero Punctuation, however, since I play games to enjoy their good qualities, not enjoy their lack of bad qualities. Sure, a game like Demon's Souls sounds bad on ZP, as it has flaws, but I still love it.

 

[NiPah]

It's like clockwork, Yahtzee reviews a Nintendo game and the "Do you really take Yahtzee serious" and "It's only for entertainment and his reviews mean nothing" threads pop up. Do a search for "do you agree with Yahtzee" or "Yahtzee reviews for the loss" and you'll find tons of people to agree with you.

As for your question yes, I take his reviews incredibly seriously... AS HIS OWN OPINIONS... Since I have my own opinions and do not base my interests on another person's taste I still buy and enjoy games he finds horrible.

 

[Bernzz]

I half listen. I can tell when a game will be just pure shit from how he talks about it (Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days review) but I can also tell that no matter what he says, I'll always enjoy a simple 2D Mario game.

I don't always agree with his opinions on games, but quite often he makes valid points (in my opinion, anyway).

But I mostly just watch him 'cos he's goddamn hilarious.

 

[Megumi0505]

I watch his show mainly for the entertainment value his harsh criticism and britishness? provides. I know his opinions are incredibly biased so I don't pay much attention to them. Sometimes I agree with him and sometimes he reviews a genre I'm not interested in and therefore have no opinion of either way.

I also love his clever use of imps to depict gameplay without showing any actual gameplay. Sometimes I'll look for trailers of the games he reviews so I can actually see what these games actually look like.

 

[DigitalSushi]

We all know Yahtzee, the man behind Zero Punctuation. His views are the hot topic of many conversations, mainly due to how harsh he is on games. We all know that it is his opinion, but it IS meant to be listened to and taken into consideration. So I ask of you, how seriously do you take it? Personally I watch the show purely for the laughs and completly block out his arguments when I buy games, but what about you?

Look, buddy. Use the damn search bar. This question is asked monthly and the answer is always the same. He takes real flaws from games and blows them out of proportion for comedic effect. Nobody takes Zero Punctuation seriously.

We may have had this thread before but it doesn't mean we should berate a new user for making this thread.

There are users here now that are discussing this thread topic that were not here a month ago, let them have their fun, let them have this thread.

OT fuck no, its a funny video series.