Poll: Yahtzee... don't forget the good stuff!

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

Let's get enough people talking here that Yahtzee HIMSELF posts!!!

That is never going to happen.
Yahtzee doesn't even watch the forums.

Apart from posting the discussion topic after posting a ZP Episode or EP Article, "true dat".

Only thing I hate is if your like me and you wanted to make a proper review with animation rather then in person or a plain article, your instantly going to be compared with such people as Ben aka Yahtzee.

I also wouldn't follow his idea for a game review, In fact I think he even said in an Episode or something Never to take his word for buying a new game.

Edit: Like how he hates Final Fantasy and all things JRPG, I like FF series...err...Titles.

 

[Sccye]

He always includes a general verdict on the quality of a game at some point in the review.

Dragon Age, he slated the dominance of Tolkienesque archetypes in almost all contemporary fantasy games but said that it was still an excellent game. The two comments held together point to the fact that despite the general limitations of an extremely stolid genre, Bioware dove headfirst into it and used it to its full potential.

The whole point is that he does *critical* reviews. Granted, the emphasis on comedy means that he can be extremely pedantic, but if you've a modicum of common sense then you can tell what's there for comic effect and what's there as a valid critique. The thing is, he's (usually) quite transparent about his prejudices, so you know what you're dealing with if you're watching it.

For me, his reviews are extremely entertaining and I tend to hold is criticisms in mind when looking at titles, but weighed against what I know my own preferences are. He's never saying you should accept his opinion as final. It's subjective, again one of the justifications he gives for never using numbers in his reviews. He's not attempting to be an ultimate authority on what games are. He's being a snarky arsehole offering his very personalised opinion on games. And it's the fact that he's being himself that makes his reviews so interesting to watch. There's no pretensions or hidden agendas (Well... That have been spotted so far.). It's refreshing when so often reviews are white-washed, lukewarm BS spewed out of corporate sponsored orifices.

Ultimately, if you're going to accept what someone says wholesale without the critical capacity to evaluate what you hear, then you're really not going to get too far in life. If you find the critical focus of his reviews too depressing, go and read the reviews on Gamespot instead.

 

[A Raging Emo]

Yahtzee reviews games for the sake of tearing them apart and then stamping on the remains; he's a humourist, not a reviewer.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I've been noticing an increase in people creating topics specifically to address Yahtzee personally.

The only thing more futile would be installing a turn signal on a submarine.

Agreed, especially considering Yathzee's very vocal feelings concerning "fans". If he cares so little for "fans" what is he going to care for critics or those who even have "constructive criticism" towards him? Absolutely nill, as it should be. Leave him to his style I say. If it works for him, great. If people stop watching him, oh well. He only has himself to blame.

Secondly, stop giving me ideas damnit, I already installed a screen door on mine, now I have to get some turn signals too. :sigh: What's next, a set of disc brakes?! HRM?! Damn you Goomba, damn you...

I hear spoilers are all the rage these days with the trendiest U-boats.

You, are evil... I'll do that right after I get done with these new 20" rims.

Okay, now I need to see somebody do a "pimp my submarine." Google Search has failed me.

Any photoshoppers here who can make up a fly sub? Maybe some royal purple and righteous gold, some tight rims and big-rear spoiler all up in the back? And get a big ol' hood ornament on this bidness, 'cuz.

Spoiler: Something like this here

I really need to stop watching The Wire before posting here.

 

[Huupertti]

I think it's best to leave him to do what the hell he wants...

 

[Insert Funny Name Here]

I find it hard to believe that you have watched all the ZPs given this thread. Obviously you have trouble seeing why ZP has done so well. Yahtzee ripping the crap out of a game is what is FUNNY. As he said in his Orange box review aaaaages ago, "It isn't funny to love a game".

And also, it is clear whether or not Yahtzee likes the game from his connotations. In the Batman review, he made it clear that it's a good game, saying that everything he hasn't mentioned is fine. Seeing as he only ripped on 4 or 5 things, that means that he finds at least 80% of the game to be good. And take the most recent Assassin's Creed II review. He spent the entire review ripping on the game, but you can tell that he LIKED it. It's called common sense.

The fact is, people tune in to watch him ripping the piss from a game. There is nothing funny about him listing the good things in the game and the humour is what brings people back for next week's episodes.

 

[Once a Human]

Either way, like Yahtzee himself has said many a time, small time peeps aren't going to make things change. A few threads about his criticisms aren't going to reduce him to tears and he cares even less about nameless, faceless mute internet jockey's who try to tear him down. I for one also would like to see more of the positive sides to games because I haven't bought any game he's reviewed since Prototype for the exact reason you mentioned. Every single one just seems like it's going to be a dog shit sandwich when I happen to know a few are in fact fun. Ghostbusters for example. I've seen it played, even picked up the controller when my friend was off stuffing the cat in the fridge or putting peanut butter on the dogs unmentionables or whatever, and the gameplay was actually pretty fun and varied from the original concept.

Long point short; I do want to hear if a game is worth getting from Ben Yahtzee Sebastian Godzilla Croshaw, he is our preacher, and we are his choir.

 

[funguy2121]

I think a lack of attention span in the audience is the problem. He tears everything apart, his mantra is "nothing is sacred," and everybody knows it. Also, his jabs are almost always fair. I was grateful to learn that Modern Warfare 2 was on 6 fucking hours long, and that they stripped Prince of Persia of its challenge so that a toddler could play it.

You are asking a very unique persona to change, to become more mainstream, and to cease to be what he is to suit your purposes. See the problem there? IGN is pretty damned good. I'd check them out if you want a normal review. Don't ask someone who's made a name for himself by being different to do a 180 and get in line with everyone else.

You know he doesn't like JRPG's, you know he doesn't do online and in general doesn't much care for multiplayer, you know he still can't stop playing guitar hero...a good critic makes his biases known, and so does Yatzee.

So, in short, no, you are wrong.

 

[Internet Kraken]

And they're not legitimate reviews, because Yahtzee is not a legitimate reviewer. He has to much personal bias in his reviews for them to be credible.

Too much personal bias? Really?

All journos have a personal bias (including whomever you consider to be a legit reviewer) as you cannot separate yourself from your experiences and review games or anything else in a bubble, I hate to inform you.

Some are just more critical then others, and the overwhelming majority of them are usually positive no matter what the case may be, at least as far as game journalism goes.

Notice how I said to much. I know everyone has personal bias, however a legitimate reviewer tries to put some of that aside when reviewing a game. Yahtzee does not. He won't even review the multiplayer components of games because of his own bias. And if a reviewer is just going to ignore a massive part of the game, I can hardly think of them as legitimate.

 

[Simriel]

Yahtzee does not review games. He rants about them. Reviews are not as amusing. I don't watch him to find out if a game is good or not, I watch him to see what he will take the piss out of. You should too.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

He has addressed this himself several times, the gist of it being, 'when I'm nice to a game, people don't like the review.'

Check the poll results, more people want him to tear a game to shreds than they want to see him build it up. Other reviewers ignore the faults, Yahtzee ignores the positives.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

IMO Yahtzee stopped being funny a long time ago. I haven't watched a ZP video in around six months onwards.

-snip-

He does it for comic value. He's not a trustworthy reviewer, because he purposely hates everything. If you listened to him, you'd only own around five games.

He's said himself that he only rips games apart because people complain if he's positive. Thus it's impossible for him to be a real reviewer.

P.S. He hasn't posted on these forums for about two years.

 

[Dudemeister]

Let's get enough people talking here that Yahtzee HIMSELF posts!!!

lol

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

He has addressed this himself several times, the gist of it being, 'when I'm nice to a game, people don't like the review.'

Check the poll results, more people want him to tear a game to shreds than they want to see him build it up. Other reviewers ignore the faults, Yahtzee ignores the positives.

Very few should be doing that, otherwise they aren't real reviewers.

 

[chronobreak]

Where is the don't care option on the poll? he has his own style of reviewing, you wanna change it? try making your own reviewing show.

No offense, but the "I don't care option" would be not clicking on the thread in the first place. Also, the argument of "Don't like it, why don't you try doing it?" is tired and senseless. To think that somebody can't have an opinion because they are not an expert is crazy. He puts his material out there for the public, of course the public is going to take a stance on it, be it good or bad. It comes with the territory.

 

[hotacidbath]

It's a comedy show, not a legitimate game review. It is one guy's opinion conveyed in a humorous manner in a video for the amusement of others. The entire point of his show is to rip things apart in a funny way. I even recall him saying something about liking a game but people don't like him when he's nice. Just laugh at the show and don't take it as anything more than comedy.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

He's stated times before that he does it for the sake of being funny. In the Psychonauts review, he received a lot of hate for liking it. When he reviewed Portal, he said "I know it's not fun to like a game". And in the Arkham Asylum review he said "You don't call a sewage technician to redecorate your bathroom, and you didn't come to me to hear about how a game is good". It's his job to be funny. He's not doing it for the sake of recommending games to the public, he's a comedian in the same way as Unskippable, ENN, and so on.

 

[CloggedDonkey]

He points out the bad things and the escapist reviews do the good parts, except with things like WET. that was not a good game/understatement.

 

[Salviar]

Hmm...It would be good to hear the good points about his games again but, really, I'm fine either way. I mean, I actually like listening to his reviews of games that I've already played AND liked. It's more fun hearing him rant about all the things that annoyed me in the game too. I don't like listening to his reviews as a way of finding out about a certain game because I know that his opinion is different from mine, especially on RPG's, haha.
I think it's kind of good how he doesn't sugar coat anything, but I'm getting off track here.
I would like to see a LIL' more of the good points in his reviews, but honestly I just find them all funny without any nice comments anyway.

 

[Keepitclean]

I like his formula so I dont think he needs to say more good things about the games he reviews. He is a critic, so he critisizes. I dont use his reviews for telling me what to buy and what not to buy. His reviews are made for comic effect not for being a balanced review( I was gonna say that they were not made to be 'fair' either but all the critisism he gives to the games he reviews is fair anyway).
I borrow most of my games before buying them.

And whats all this talk about getting yahtzee to post? and why do we care if he posts or not?