History WebVideo / NoahCaldwellGervais

Noah's critiques are notoriously lengthy, with his (second) retrospective of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series clocking in at just under ''9.5 hours''. A sorted list of his videos can be found on the [[Recap/NoahCaldwellGervais Recap page]].

* UpdatedRerelease: The 2023 retrospective of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series superseded five older videos on the series, including Noah's very first published video essay from 2013 (most of the older videos have since been unlisted). In addition to discussing titles that have never been featured in previous videos, such as ''VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutShelter'', the new video is more than twice as long as all of the previous videos ''combined''.

Noah's critiques are notoriously lengthy, with his retrospective of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series clocking in at just under ''7.5 hours''. A sorted list of his videos can be found on the [[Recap/NoahCaldwellGervais Recap page]].

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: His feelings on ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4]]'' is that it was profoundly innovative, interesting, and fresh - and that other games have so refined its gameplay style that the original game just isn't as appealing once you're familiar with those games.

* SoBadItsGood:[[invoked]] This is what Noah feels towards ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' with him believing that it fails catastrophically on almost everything it tries due to the developers trying it to be the "ultimate horror experience" by pandering to anybody it can, with him going as far as calling it a "transfixing '''supernova''' of failure" that always managed to surprise him for how stupid and self-serious everything was and thus kept him entertained most of the way through.

** His biggest complaint for ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' was the developers' insistence in mirroring the first ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' without expanding on its themes and tropes or creating something fully original for the new setting when they had a blank slate to work with. The fact that he spents an entire hour talking about it without going in-depth with the characters and sidestories shows how frustrated he was with the game.

* TravelogueShow: Noah was able to briefly branch out into the genre after taking his show "on the road" in 2017, producing a trilogy of videos he has since referred to as the "Triptych". He is particularly inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Least_Heat-Moon William Least Heat-Moon]]'s books, and draws intentional parallels between Least Heat-Moon's concept of ''quoz'' (basically, any unexpected interesting things one discovers off the beaten path while traveling) and the way WideOpenSandbox games like ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' structure their content. In "The Desert Bus", he brings up many ''quoz'' from his own travels that were functionally identical to encounters in ''VideoGame/{{Skyrim}}'' and concludes that the infamous joke game ''[[VideoGame/PennAndTellersSmokeAndMirrors Desert Bus]]'' had been fundamentally wrong in its conception of RealLife travel as a boring chore and that realistic travel is much more akin to a densely-packed open world game instead.

* HypeBacklash:[[invoked]] Noah didn't find ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' as revolutionary and expertly designed as he believed to be after he played it with him feeling that the shooting was above-average and the story was stupid and non-sensical. However, he still believes that the game is one of the most important games ever made and it needed to happen to save the franchise after both ''Code Veronica'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilZero'' show how dated the franchise's gameplay and formula was.

After a successful Patreon campaign, he has also produced a trilogy of {{Travelogue|Show}} videos collectively known as "the Triptych" (or "playtesting adventure", as he had dubbed it) which followed him, his wife, and his dog fulfilling Noah's lifelong dream of traveling across the western United States in a restored [[HippieVan VW Bus]].

* SigningOffCatchPhrase: Every video ends with Noah saying "thanks for watching".

* Catchphrase: Every video ends with Noah saying "thanks for watching".

After a successful Patreon campaign, he produced a trilogy of {{Travelogue|Show}} videos collectively known as "the Triptych" (or "playtesting adventure", as he had dubbed it) which followed him, his wife, and his dog fulfilling Noah's lifelong dream of traveling across the western United States in a restored [[HippieVan VW Bus]].

** ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'' is what he expected it to be, yet it ended up disappointing him for its limited open world(s), enemy variety, and its gameplay trying to [[FollowTheLeader copy Fallout 3/New Vegas's clutter-based loot]]. Most importantly, he feels it has weak story choices [[note]]with choice A being siding with the Corporation, B being siding with those who are against them or C which is to force a compromise between the two factions[[/note]] when choice "C" is the clear GoldenEnding for the first two story arcs (Terra-2 and Monarch). While he does recommend the game for ''Videogame/{{Fallout}}'' and RPG fans, he admits that he doesn't plan on completing another playthrough as he felt that he didn't miss much on his first and only playthrough.

** His biggest issue with ''VideoGame/TormentTidesOfNumenera'' was that it tried too hard to copy ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. ''Tides of Numenera'' was its own unique setting with a wholely unique setup for the protagonists nature, and yet it did the same thing as ''Planescape'' by making the protagonist connected to the BigBad as a clone of it, similar to how the protagonist of ''Planescape'' was connected to the BigBad as one of the various incarnations of it. Due to the changes in story and approach, it copying ''Planescape'' resulted in the story losing its writing quality as it lacked the same meaning since unlike with ''Planescape'' where the protagonist was dealing with its past, the protagonist of ''Tides of Numenera'' is not as connected.

** Invoked in his analysis of ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', which he praised for not being a typical post-apocaliptic zombie story, for refusing to follow up the obvious story route set by its predecessor, and for being an author-focused story rather than one made to please fans. However, he also admits that this was the reason why the game caused such an aggressive backlash from many fans who wanted to see the continuation of Joel and Ellie's story and not the story of [[TragicVillain someone whom they wronged]] and who retaliated against them and... [[HeroKiller succeeded]].

** In the ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Identity'' retrospective, during the ''Crysis 2'' segment he discusses the changes to the format made in the sequel (the change from small-sandbox levels to linear levels with arenas, and the removal of two of the Nano Suit abilities) and quotes the Game's director Cevat Yerli and all of his contradicting statements about "not streamlining, just refocusing" and the game being "a choreographed sandbox" while both saying that they made a lot of decisions based on their preconceived notions about console players only to later state they didn't do it accommodate console players and did it because they believe that all players would love the changes. Even Noah is baffled at the statements of Cevat Yerli and his attempts to hide the fact that the game was designed for more casual audiences and for weaker hardware.

** Invoked in his analysis of ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', which he praised for not being a typical post-apocaliptic zombie story, for refusing to follow up the obvious story route set by its predecessor, and for being an author-focused story rather than one made to please fans. However, he also admits that this was the reason why the game caused such an aggressive backlash from many fans (except those he claims are just homophobic and transphobic assholes) who wanted to see the continuation of Joel and Ellie's story and not the story of [[TragicVillain someone whom they wronged]] and who retaliated against them and... [[HeroKiller succeeded]].

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: In the ''VideoGame/FarCry'' retrospective, during the ''Far Cry 3'' segment he quotes the director of the game where he mentions that all the overt themes of the story were on purpose and meant to be allegorical and meta rather than literal with him going on a colorful rant about people not "understanding the game" and "taking the game seriously", Noah pauses two times to remind us that the man he's quoting works for a multi-million dollar company.

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: In the ''VideoGame/FarCry'' retrospective, during the ''Far Cry 3'' segment he quotes the director of the game where he mentions that all the overt themes of the story were on purpose and meant to be allegorical and meta rather than literal with him going on a colorful rant about people not "understanding the game" and "taking the game seriously", then Noah pauses and says that the man he's quoting works for a multi-million dollar company.

* SeriousBusiness: Noah usually argues against the classic notion that "true gamers are those that beat action games at the hardest difficulty", particularly since he, in his own words is "a fool and a stoner, and must be allowed to make mistakes". He therefore impresses upon listeners that there is nothing wrong with playing on the easiest difficulty. He takes particular time discussing this in regards to ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'''s difficulty curve, where he discusses another gamer's quote on Twitter, and rebuts that for most people, mastering a game only means mastering that ''specific'' game, and that constantly losing in a game is more likely to simply make him find something else more productive to do, not stubbornly forge onwards.

* SeriousBusiness: Noah usually against the classic notion that "true gamers are those that beat action games at the hardest difficulty", particularly since he, in his own words is "a fool and a stoner, and must be allowed to make mistakes". He therefore impresses upon listeners that there is nothing wrong with playing on the easiest difficulty. He takes particular time discussing this in regards to ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'''s difficulty curve, where he discusses another gamer's quote on Twitter, and rebuts that for most people, mastering a game only means mastering that ''specific'' game, and that constantly losing in a game is more likely to simply make him find something else more productive to do, not stubbornly forge onwards.

* HypeBacklash:[[invoked]] Noah didn't find ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' as revolutionary and expertly designed as he believed to be after he played it with him feeling that the shooting was above-average and the story was stupid and non-sensical. However, he still believes that the game is one of the most important games ever made and it needed to happen to save the franchise after both ''Code Veronica'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilZero'' show how dated the franchise was.

* SoBadItsGood:[[invoked]] This is what Noah feels towards ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' with him believing that it fails catastrophically on almost everything it tries due to the developers trying it to be the "ultimate horror experience" by pandering too anybody it can, with him going as far as calling it a "transfixing '''supernova''' of failure" that always managed to surprise him for how stupid and self-serious everything was and thus kept him entertained most of the way through.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: [[invoked]]
** Discussed in the ''Ghost Recon: Wildlands'' analysis, as he feels that playing as a squadron of ruthless American vigilantes killing genocidal Cartel hitmen across a poor South American nation without a hint of self-awareness or LampshadeHanging is insensible at ''best'' and jingoistic and racist at ''worst'', and makes it hard to get invested in the characters.
** He feels that Aiden Pierce of ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' is one of the reasons its story didn't work as the developers wanted as Pierce is an unlikeable, self-serious, manipulative and selfish vigilante that only cares about his own personal vendetta against the people that killed his niece. The fact that the game does its damnest to avoid portraying Aiden in a bad light by always pitting him against worse people made Noah believe that the developers thought that players would find Aiden "cool", which ended not being the case as it ended causing him difficulty into caring about the world and the characters.
** In his review of ''VideoGame/{{Gun}}'' during the ''Home, Home on the Console'' review, he comments the game is overtly racist against Native Americans (wiping out multiple groups of them to help a railroad succeed or imitating ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', as well as Native American beliefs by killing Great White Buffalos for sport). He also states that the attempt to defuse racism by making the protagonist half-Apache just makes it worse. As such, it becomes impossible root for the ironically (?) named White as a protagonist.

Noah's critiques are notoriously lengthy, with his retrospective of the ''VideoGame/{{Red|DeadRevolver}} [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption Dead]]'' [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2 series]] clocking in at just over 4 ''hours''. A sorted list of his videos can be found on the [[Recap/NoahCaldwellGervais Recap page]].

* TheyCopiedItNowItSucks:[[invoked]]

** In his review of ''VideoGame/{{Gun}}'' during the ''Home, Home on the Console'' review, he comments the game is overtly racist against Native Americans (wiping out multiple groups of them to help a railroad succeed or imitating ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', as well as Native American beliefs by killing Great White Buffalos for sport. He also states that the attempt to defuse racism by making the protagonist half-Apache just makes it worse. As such, it becomes impossible root for the ironically (?) named White as a protagonist.