Poll: Is Yahtzee serious?
- Thread starter Erttheking
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Yes. He is serious. His complaints are always lagitimate, eitehr because they're relativley objectivley true or just his opinion, although for comedic effect he does still often exaggerate and focus on all of the bad things about games rather than mentioning anything redeeming about it. Castigat ridendo mores though. Nothing wrong with his reviewing style.
Some middle ground in your poll would be nice. The way I see it is he's "in character" on a portion of the games because honestly that's what we've come to expect, and he's sincere on others. One theory I've had though, is that he tries to find as many games that he believes he will hate as he can. This is so he can rant and be serious.
I don't know about that. I do take his opinion seriously when considering whether a game is worth getting or trying out. I have watched enough ZP now that I can figure through tone and what he says whether the game is ok or horrible without him having to give a recommendation.Frankster said:
But I can take his critiquing of games without getting offended. I love the Uncharted series, but Yahtzee really doesn't as much. He enjoys the gameplay and it's not on his worst ever, but he takes pride in insulting the game. It doesn't bother me because I still enjoy the games.
As far as if Yahtzee is serious, I agree with most that he is mostly serious, but a little exaggerated for comedic effect. As far as genres go, there are maybe 4 he truly dislikes (the rest are just aspects of the genre):
1)JRPGs (cause of the angst, goofy outfits, and combat mechanics)
2)RTS (doesn't like the style)
3)Sports/Racing (never reviewed a sports game/claims to really suck at racing games)
4)Fighting (combat mechanics {the fact that button mashing can beat skill})
These 4 I think he will never like no matter what. The rest he would love with changes to the aspects he hates.
Like any comedian, Yahtzee more than likely starts with genuine opinions and then exaggerates them until they're funny. If he genuinely hated as many games as he seems to, I don't think he'd still be doing this for a living.
I like watching Yahtzee's videos, since he will always say what is wrong with a game.
Generally, it seems like he rates games highly if they A) are much better than what he expected them to be or B) do something new and original, or have an interesting twist. Also, another stipend is game length. Any game that takes 20+ hours usually gets ragged on pretty hard, being that the "fun per unit time invested" is rather low in comparison to other games (which is understandable being that as a critic, he can play just about any game on the market without concerns of price).
Is he serious? I don't think he actually regrets playing most of the games he plays, even if his ratings are really negative. Nevertheless, I do think he does have a legitimately high bar.
Generally, it seems like he rates games highly if they A) are much better than what he expected them to be or B) do something new and original, or have an interesting twist. Also, another stipend is game length. Any game that takes 20+ hours usually gets ragged on pretty hard, being that the "fun per unit time invested" is rather low in comparison to other games (which is understandable being that as a critic, he can play just about any game on the market without concerns of price).
Is he serious? I don't think he actually regrets playing most of the games he plays, even if his ratings are really negative. Nevertheless, I do think he does have a legitimately high bar.
He exaggerates for the sake of humor, but he is serious about the points he makes. You see this especially if you read Extra Punctuation; he has some legitimate interactive art theory behind what he says, he just overstates it comedically for the videos. Some of what he has to say is actually pretty good, though the "interactive storytelling is only good if the player is part of EVERYTHING!" thing still strikes me as stupid and even dangerous.
at the risk of saying something that has already been said, Mr. Croshaw does not give any game a free pass, and does not gloss over things that other reviewers do (for example poor narrative.)
if there is a flaw he will point it out, period end of story
if there is a flaw he will point it out, period end of story
I come here for Escape to the Movies, The Big Picture, No Right Answer, Drinking Games, Critical Miss, Name Game, Miracle of Sound, Unskippable, and Jimquisition. Yahtzee started off funny, even when he based games that I liked, but lately the humor has gone for, even when he is bashing games I don't like. The only time I have laughed in a long time from on of his videos was the Resistance 3/Half Life comparison.Mxrz said:
Why is he not serious? I agree with him on 99% of his reviews as any gamer who did not grow up on this generation of shit would appreciate just how bad games have become. Devs no longer add anything original or ground-breaking any more (eg. storyline, gameplay, music)and all they want is a guaranteed revenue for their investors and share holders.erttheking said:
If you're wondering this because he seems to be picking on games at the moment a lot more than when he started reviewing games a few years ago, its seems he's partly found his niche (see points about critic not reviewer) but also because games are just so dull at the moment. the lack of any real invention in the medium is something he's been banging on about in his escapist columns.
Really, with the exception of Deus Ex, not a single fps/rpg this year has really bothered me, and certainly nothing from an established series. I get the feeling that with most games YC feels the same; you can tell he enjoyed driver sf because his tone seemed lighter. Or maybe he was just hungover.
Really, with the exception of Deus Ex, not a single fps/rpg this year has really bothered me, and certainly nothing from an established series. I get the feeling that with most games YC feels the same; you can tell he enjoyed driver sf because his tone seemed lighter. Or maybe he was just hungover.
I think it's just his opinions, just greatly exaggerated, also he has made some positive reviews, recently he seemed to like Resistance 3 if I recall, plus he loves Portal, Silent Hill, Half life, I think he's just hard to impress lol
Depends on what you mean by serious.
Does he believe in what he says? Probably yes. Does he believe it to the extent that he says? probably not.
I remember reading about the folks at That Guy With the Glasses, and they all say roughly the same thing, 'my character is me but exaggerated.'
It's probably the same. Does Yahtzee hate jRPGs? Yes, undisputedly. Does he genuinely spend every day lamenting that they even exist, standing on clifftops bellowing at Japan to just pack it in, as his persona would suggest? No.
I would guess (I obviously don't know the man personally) that 'Yahtzee' is Benjamin Croshaw, but with the inhibitions removed. Whenever I've seen videos of him just being him, he is a lot less of everything.
Does he believe in what he says? Probably yes. Does he believe it to the extent that he says? probably not.
I remember reading about the folks at That Guy With the Glasses, and they all say roughly the same thing, 'my character is me but exaggerated.'
It's probably the same. Does Yahtzee hate jRPGs? Yes, undisputedly. Does he genuinely spend every day lamenting that they even exist, standing on clifftops bellowing at Japan to just pack it in, as his persona would suggest? No.
I would guess (I obviously don't know the man personally) that 'Yahtzee' is Benjamin Croshaw, but with the inhibitions removed. Whenever I've seen videos of him just being him, he is a lot less of everything.
To be blunt, that's why I find him to be confusing sometimes. He mentions a couple of times that if he didn't mention it it's good, but sometimes he mentions good stuff anyway. So is it didn't mention it = pretty good and praised it = damn good?RT said:
Well, since 95% of pretty much everything IS bland, unoriginal crap, it doesn't surprise me at all.erttheking said:
When I go into a game store, I see at least 95% crap. The 5% that isn't crap is what I end up buying and populates my game shelf.
Of course, to someone else, much of that crap isn't crap - that's the ***** about personal preference. Just because I think it's crap doesn't mean it isn't someone else's favorite game.
When I listen to a Yahtzee review, I firmly believe that everything he is saying is the truth, as far as he's concerned. I also know that he and I have some tastes in common, and some that differ.
For instance - I hated Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I loved the Prince of Persia reboot. (I liked that one because I liked having infinite lives, so I could enjoy playing around in the giant Parkor sandbox the game presented without worrying about running low on "sand"). Yahtzee liked the infinite lives (it and the parkor was about his only compliments for the whole game). He hated the JRPG overtones - I loved them.
Anyway, I digress. The point is, I have no problem believing that he hates most games he plays because he plays WAY more games than the average person. If he only played the ones he liked, then he'd play far fewer games. If I had to play a new game every week, I'm sure I'd hate most of them too.