History WebAnimation / FullyRamblomatic

** Yahtzee declared this to be the big issue with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth'', and why despite [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel overall enjoying it more]] than [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake its immediate predecessor]] and even the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', he didn't really ''like'' it all that much. The cardinal flaw Yahtzee finds is just how many concepts it jumps between with little room to breathe, feeling that even the main combat (which he found better than in ''Remake'') is ultimately just a fall-back option for when it can't think of another minigame, of which there are dozens, describing the game as "a mile wide and an inch thick."

* {{Infodump}}: {{Discussed|Trope}} in his review of ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple2'' as one of its few prominent flaws, in that while it's a beautiful, well-designed, and genuinely fascinating game, it (as well as [[VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple its predecessor]]) goes about its philosophically topics in a very dry, robotic way that can come off as unnecessarily excessive. Yahtzee believes that the reason the game went under most peoples' radar was that "it's not the least bit sexy," comparing it to how ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' was also very smart ''and'' funny ''and'' "full of sexy drama," and that there's very much enough room for good science fiction to tackle big questions ''and'' "have a few exciting laser gun fights as well."

** In "The Moral Dilemmas that Weren't", Yahtzee remarks that ''VideoGame/Vampyr2018'' came at the cusp of being brilliant with its central moral conflict: you play as a doctor who has an obligation to care for his patients, but is also a vampire who side-gigs as a monster hunter and must sustain himself with the blood of the living, with the game pressuring you into [[SadisticChoice choosing to sacrifice one or more of your named, well-rounded, often likeable patients]]. Yahtzee argues that this would have been a brilliant test of the player's moral character... ''had the game fully committed to the concept.'' Instead, the game makes it so you don't actually ''have'' to kill anyone, and thus the whole basis for a moral dilemma is completely moot, and while going on a PacifistRun makes the game more challenging, this isn't an ideal tradeoff as being challenging can often be more ''fun'' (and given that this is the way to reach the GoldenEnding, this reads as the game actively rewarding players for not engaging with the moral choices to begin with).

* ExtremeDoormat: In a throwaway joke from "The Moral Dilemmas that Weren't", Yahtzee admits that -- when presented with moral dilemmas -- he'll just do whatever would please the person in his immediate vicinity because he doesn't want confrontation. This is accompanied with a graphic of Yahtz considering a [[HumanSacrifice baby sacrifice]] because the person in front of him wants it.

* [[invoked]]PetPeeveTrope: Yahtzee highlights one particular grievance of his with modern triple-A games: bad titles. Titles that [[SimilarlyNamedWorks are named identically to another game]], unnecessary subtitles for new [=IPs=], generic titles, and generic titles with a made-up proper noun in them are all highlighted as sounding uncreative or generic.

* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer[[invoked]]: During his review of ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'', Yahtzee discusses that the main meat of ''Like A Dragon'''s fun factor lies less in its dramatic stories and more in its quirky sidequests and minigames, and that he would bee-line straight to them at the earliest available opportunity. However, he ended up finding ''Infinite Wealth'' throwing him for a loop as the "''optional'' optional sidequests" were largely same-y and boring "help random person in way that involves beating people up" stories, whereas the actually fun sidequests were the "''non''-optional optional ones", including its weirdly compelling ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Franchise/AnimalCrossing'' parodies.

* OhCrap: During his review of ''VideoGame/DragonsDogmaII'', Yahtzee describes the moment he finally gave up on the game: after a particularly harsh difficulty spike against a boss and realizing that every time he loaded a save to retry it, [[UnstableEquilibrium a chunk of his maximum health was being sliced off]], he decided to accept the "last inn" save and tank the walk back. However, to his unpleasant surprise, he didn't actually spawn at his last inn, but somewhere four or five hours ago, and since the game only supported one save slot...
-->'''Yahtzee''': Oh no. ''Oh no no no no no no'', don't you fucking {{autosave}}, ''you single save-slotted slattern''-- ''([[ShaggyDogStory game throws out his progress]])'' --'''''FUCK!'''''

* RunningGag: He compares the "long chillout periods broken up by sudden apocalyptic violence" in ''Pacific Drive'' to the intensity of having sex with every animal in a zoo. From that point onwards, having sex with zoo animals becomes a reoccurring joke within the review.

* TemptingFate: In the ''Dragon's Dogma 2'' review, Yahtz mentions that the game had only one save slot. After fumbling around with his game data folder on his system, he found a way to bypass the restriction in a way that he found sufficient, narrating that he was sure that this would no longer be an issue... before [[LampshadedTrope turning to the camera and calling this]] "{{Foreshadowing}}". Whilst a save file bucket hangs over his head, hung up with string alongside a sword of Damocles.

** Part of "The Importance of a Good Monster Introduction" discusses how video games introduce the first enemy to the player, and thus their combat system, and how it can be done well or poorly in terms of immersing players and instructing them what to do. He prefers that games do both simultaneously, and looks down upon the fact most games feel the need to stop everything for a cutscene to zoom in on and introduce the first monster before the player gets to try and fight them. He especially mocks ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', which not only stops the game before an enemy encounter with an informational popup, but provides literal instructions just telling you what their weaknesses are and how to fight them.

* VideoGameTutorial: {{Discussed|Trope}} on the ''Semi-Ramblomatic'' video "The Lost Art of the Tutorial Level", discussing the evolution of how video games teach players their mechanics. While Yahtzee does concede that the modern trends of [[InstructiveLevelDesign integrated tutorials taking place during gameplay]] is a much more efficient and useful method, he can't help but express nostalgia for the dedicated tutorial levels of late 90's shooters like ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', and ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'', feeling like their ability to provide a pressure-free environment to learn the gameplay while also setting up early worldbuilding before the "good stuff" of the main game was rather undervalued.

* OhCrap: During his review of ''VideoGame/DragonsDogmaII'', Yahtzee describes the moment he finally gave up on the game: after a particularly harsh difficulty spike against a boss and realizing that every time he loaded a save to retry it, [[UnstableEquilibrium a chunk of his maximum health was being sliced off]], he decided to accept the "last inn" save and tank the walk back. However, to his unpleasant surprise, he didn't actually spawn at his last inn, but somewhere four or five hours ago, and since the game only supposed one save slot...

* OhCrap: During his review of ''VideoGame/DragonsDogmaII'', Yahtzee describes the moment he finally gave up on the game: after a particularly harsh difficulty spike against a boss and realizing that every time he loaded a save to retry it, [[UnstableEquilibrium a chunk of his maximum health was being sliced off]], leading him to accept the last inn save and tank the walk back. However, to his unpleasant surprise, he didn't actually spawn at his last inn, but somewhere four or five hours ago, and since there was only a single save slot...

* AbstractScale: His review of ''Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown'' has him invent the STDJ scale to rank the quality of {{Metroidvania}}s, short for "start to {{double jump}}". The double jump is singled out because he sees it as the point where the developers gave up on inventing new ideas.

* MythologyGag: ''Fully Ramblomatic'' is the title of Yahtzee's blog and was the title of the pre-Escapist reviews that later became ''Zero Punctuation''.

* BritishStuffiness: {{Discussed}} in "An Explanation of "Post-Punk" Games". Yahtzee, being British, recognizes that the British have a tendency to be quite uptight and authoritarian -- which has resulted in [[DefectorFromDecadence a significant British counterculture that despises conventions and norms]]. It's what produced the significant British UsefulNotes/{{Punk}} music scene, the alternative comedy movement in the 80's, and the British bedroom game programmer boom.

* BringMyBrownPants: When Yahtzee discusses jumpscares in "The Rules of a Good Plot Twist", his avatar gets jumpscared by a monster jumping out of his television. He proceeds to pull out a box of adult diapers while saying "good thing I brought these", strongly implying he shat himself out of fright.

* ObservationOnOriginality: {{Discussed|Trope}} in "Why Truly Original Games Are So Rare", where Yahtzee admits that even as a critic who can be snobby about games not being able to come up with new gameplay ideas, actually doing that is ''really freaking hard'', and ironically by trying to pursue an original idea, the closer you end up replicating something that already exists. Yahtzee posits that the most original ideas only really come from a spontaneous spark of taking a game mechanic and reframing it through a unique perspective rather than strictly iterating or building upon it, citing ''{{VideoGame/Balatro}}'' (a {{Roguelike}} DeckbuildingGame based on {{TabletopGame/poker}}) one of these types of combinations that's so effective and obvious in retrospect that it leaves everyone wondering how no one came up with it earlier. Yahtzee further makes a point that this sort of innovation almost never happens in big-budget triple-A development because the risks are so high that very few are willing to bank on pursuing such novel ideas without overthinking it, and it instead comes from [[IndieGame indie games]], full of "mad people having mad ideas" and can go about uninhibited.

* PostPunk:
** One ''Semi-Ramblomatic'' episode discusses this genre and how he uses the term "post punk" in relation to games. To Yahtz, something that is "punk" would be something produced to defy major artforms or trends, while something that is "post-punk" is an evolved form of punk that explores the subversion of the trend rather than merely existing to be an opposite. He considers punk music to be a rejection of classical music theory, while post-punk music continues to be that while being more than "making a bunch of noise in your dad's garage". For a video-game example, he cites the joke {{Game Mod}} ''VideoGame/CrackLife'' as a punk artform,[[note]]''Crack Life'' is largely just ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' -- a representation of "old money establishment game creation at the time" -- but chock full of irreverent changes like sex toys and [[invoked]][[MemeticMutation memes]],[[/note]] while something like ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is post-punk.[[note]] ''Undertale'' is a {{Deconstruction}} of the entire {{RPG}} genre, yet has its own wholly original elements and things that it does well enough that it can stand even outside that context.[[/note]]
** He also applies this concept to what he calls "dad games" (games where you play as a father or engage in jobs/hobbies associated with older men) and "post-dad games" (where the same concepts are put in weirder and more fantastic contexts).