Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation, Fully Ramblomatic)

I'd definitely agree with most of that. The only part I don't is the part about Playstation and X Box, but I admittedly haven't watched a new review by him in years and so I don't know what he's saying now. Last I checked it was Nintendo he seemed especially displeased with but I'm not sure if that's still true (I'd guess yes).

Definitely agree about the nitpicking. Hell, I distinctly remembering him critiquing the box art of a game because he didn't have enough negatives to bring up.

The way Yahtzee sees it, there are plenty of reviewers out there who will blow smoke up a game's ass and give it an Eight Point Eight. His (self-appointed) job is to point out every flaw, so that it balances out at some cosmic level.

I have seldom known him to be explicitly wrong about anything he calls out in a game (at least the ones I've played myself). I may disagree about whether a particular mechanism or feature is enjoyable, or be willing to put up with obvious flaws for the sake of a game's strengths, but I rarely find that he's being an ass just to be an ass.

That said, he has some clear prejudices. He prefers PCs to consoles. He hates exclusives. He dislikes sequels on principle, feeling that the push to keep flogging a successful franchise drives creativity out of the business. He hates that the need for mass-market appeal crushes originality. He hates when AAA titles sacrifice length and depth for spectacle. He never misses a chance to rag on the big game companies that perpetuate these things — for example, Ubisoft, which keeps pushing out Assassin's Creed clones with exactly the same gameplay formula regardless of setting.

Edited to add: Fundamentally, I enjoy the ZP reviews because they make me laugh. I don't have to agree with them, or think that every point Yahtzee makes is valid. I just love the Caustic Critic style he uses.

edited 7th Feb '17 6:18:18 AM by Fighteer

Personally, I can see where he's coming from with some of the criticisms towards consoles. There's been a general trend in console gaming away from local multiplayer to online multiplayer - in other words: sacrificing what consoles were good at in favour of trying to ape the PC.

Yahtzee called it "trying to be a shittier PC", if I recall correctly, and I tend to agree with this sentiment.

It's not that he hates sequels, it's that he hates an update for the sake of an update. This particularly applies to the PS 4 and the Xbone because they basically throw away backwards compatibility for a cashgrab.

Personally, it's why the only current-gen console I own is a Wii U. It doesn't have as many games, but the ones it has it does something different with thus making me feel less like I'm getting the console because they're holding games I want hostage and more because this console is better for them.

Sadly, I'll have to get a PS 4 pretty much exclusively for the Yakuza games.

Regardless of whether I agree with his various sentiments or not, Yahtzee's biases are half of why Zero Punctuation is so hilarious in my book. It's a good mix of him articulating why he has that stance, and him going about said stance in the most hilariously deadpan and caustic manner possible.

I like sequels because of how familiar the setting is while the story gets an update and the gameplay gets just a little more refined. World At War was a much more refined experience than Call Of Duty 2, not least because of the Large Ham narrator and ally for the Red campaign, Reznov. God, he's so incredibly Commie, it's hilarious.

The IRON FIST of the Soviet war machine TIGHTENS AROUND THE BLACK HEART OF BERLIN

NOW IT IS THEIR PEOPLE. THEIR LAND. THEIR BLOOD. URA!

Storytelling for teh COD people have come a long way.

I feel like Fallout 4, while it updates the setting and gameplay immensely, just doesn't contribute much towards plot or world-building. I suppose we have the Synths as a faction now, but still. It just feels like an excuse to show off the fancy new engine. Which I don't mind, of course, the engine is amazing. It's just that the Sole Survivor really doesn't feel like much of an addition.

Resident Evil 7 review

He likes it, but it's not replayable and gets bogged down by issues towards the latter half of the game.

Yahtzee's Yakuza 0 Review

Seems like he's meh about it. But still connects itself to the other Yakuza games by just being as it is.

Oh , since he didn't review 5, I kinda gave up hope on him reviewing 0.

Nioh Review.

I don't know exactly Yahtzee's feelings for the game after the review, but I'm sure he finds it lukewarm at best.

So he reviewed the Switch and Breath of the Wild.

Given our discussion on his thoughts on new systems, and how much Breath of the Wild actually changed the Zelda formula (a formula he's very critical of) I'm very curious to find out his thoughts on it. Sadly, I can't watch it until it pops up on Youtube next week.

Couldn't you just watch the Twitch VOD?

well he was more positive about it than any other Nintendo game in a long time

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/117015-Horion-Zero-Dawn-Review?utm_source=latest&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all

Anyone else unable to watch it?

A lot of people, myself included.

A+ job there, Escapist.

I dunno, given that he apparently gave it a better review than he did Breath of the Wild, I think it might be Zelda fan fuckery again.

Yes, because an entire website going down is comparable to one particular video having a shitty embed.

Occam's Razor, friend.

Jimquisition is a way smaller website than The Escapist.

Well, pity Jim.

Also, considering he kinda likes it, I may wanna try Horizon out.

You definitely should. If the idea of a techno-cavewoman fighting giant robot t-rexes with lasers in post apocalyptic Denver doesn't appeal to you, you may want to re-examine your priorities.

Yahtzee's review of NieR: Automata is finally up on You Tube:

Well, at least he got the hint that you're supposed to play it more than once...(I guess.)

Somewhat spoilery, no?

Didn't he barely play through it, from what I heard?

3 playthroughs is barely playing through it?

Oh, so he's done three playthroughs so far? I heard someone say that he had barely played through the game. I guess they were wrong.