Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation, Fully Ramblomatic)

You can't really think of it as a standard NG+, that's part of why it's interesting. To begin with, you don't even replay the game from the beginning, only the halfway point, and the game isn't even particularly long to begin with. The new scenes and context make a really big difference to the experience, so it's not like you're mindlessly repeating the same thing over again for small rewards, which is what the word "grind" would imply. It uses the NG+ to completely change the story. That being said, the game does become a grind if you want to get the last two endings, since you don't get any new content on the third playthrough until the very end, which is one my biggest issues with it.

This is probably a discussion better suited for another time/place though, since it doesn't have much to do with Yahtzee at this point.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Mar 20th 2019 at 3:37:09 PM

Anyway, the "baby birds with Tourette's" was one of my favorite ZP similes in a long time.

My favorite was "even the average tech company CEO faces more consequences for failure".

This week's review makes me wonder if Square Enix is even trying to release good games any more, or maybe all their developers whose brains are functional enough to walk across a room are working on the FFVII remake.

Anyway, it's Left Alive, which is apparently trying to be a Metal Gear-esque stealth game set amidst a war between two neighboring Russian territories where everyone speaks unaccented American English, and where nobody has brains functional enough to walk across a room, to judge by the quality of the AI.

Also, there are lots of classy jokes about the mentally handicapped. By Yahtzee, not by the game.

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 27th 2019 at 2:26:34 PM

Eh, Square(-Enix) has always produced crap. It just gets ignored or forgotten because there's plenty of stuff out there.

Edited by Larkmarn on Mar 27th 2019 at 2:18:34 PM

That was the most harsh one in quite a while, I think.

I like that some of the survivors won't accept your aid until you pass dialog checks. Brilliant design there, although from context it sounds like you're trying to persuade them not to kill themselves out of despair. I suppose that's at least reasonable but I'm not sure I'd enjoy playing it.

I know the popular perception of ZP is that he shits on everything regardless of quality, but it's actually pretty rare to see him be so negative about a game. Left Alive must be really bad.

Yeah, definitely one of his harsher ones in recent memory.

S-E seemed desperate to keep this under the radar. Failed there, as well.

Why publish it at all?

The same reason any game gets published - to make money.

Then why try to hide it? XD

This feels like the right hand fighting the left

"Hey, we spent lots of money to make this crappy product. What should we do?"

"Release it without any marketing and hope nobody notices."

"Do you think that'll work?"

"If it doesn't, we'll just fire some people and call it a day. Let me know how it turns out; I'm off to the cocaine tasting."

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 28th 2019 at 11:46:41 AM

It's even simpler than that. If they do not release it, the entire investment is lost. If they promote a product they know is below par, they'd be a bunch of liars, and have spend a bunch of money on marketing that will likely be just as much down the drain once the review come out.

So they release it without promotion, to recoup some losses from the occasional sucker.

This assumes that the lost reputation from releasing a bad product doesn't cost them more in future sales than they earn from the bad product. I sense the Sunk Cost Fallacy rearing its ugly head here.

It's a safe bet when the product is barely marketed. No one was waiting for it with baited breath. No hype was generated. As Yahtzee said, the game released with no fanfare like Squenix was trying to sneak it out. As such it's unlikely the game can generate enough disapointment or buzz to damage future sales.

Also, Sonic the Hedgehog is apparently still a profitable IP. It takes a lot to truly sink one's faith in a given developer to the point where they won't buy a given product just because of the name of the studio on the "box".

So, if video game consumers really want to get publishers to stop releasing dross, they should actually exercise some discretion in terms of what they buy? Heresy!

Can't judge: I still faithfully buy and play every new FF like the good little sheep I am.

Hey, FF and Mega Man are two franchises that practically raised me, Imma stick to this ship until it sinks.

Devil May Cry 5 (Zero Punctuation)

If it helps Yahtzee, fans call them Stylish Action or (sometimes) CUHRAYZEE ACTION games more often, I haven't seen "character action game" used much. And as anyone involved with the DMC fandom can tell you, he's not nearly the first one to welcome DmC to the dustbin of history. It's practically a sport.

And if I ever get around to making a game, the final difficulty will certainly be called "ooh you done fucked up now".

Next week is the Division 2 and it seem like he still playing Sekiro.

I'm astonished it's taken this long for him to compare muscle memory adaptation to masturbating with the less familiar hand

It messes up my rhythm, I can tell you. *ahem*

So, I guess he kind of liked it? He doesn't totally shit on the game, just rattles off all things that it does in unnecessarily complex or inaccessible ways.

This is one of the ZP's where you really can tell he doesn't dislike him but it's not his thing. I mean, he says as much, starts on the lowest difficulty and admits that that's not the way to play the game. Other games in the series allow you to change the difficulty at the start of every mission, so it seems like he just couldn't be arsed.

My own problem with many new games is just not that they're terrible games I would never play, I just blanch at paying $60USD for them.