Black Ops 2 Is Like A Rich Jerk

[Treblaine]

I suppose that makes me the worst person in the world. Or maybe it was a relatable mistake.

A relatable mistake? For someone who's apparently been here for over four years with 8000+ posts, do you really expect me, or heck, anyone, to believe that?

Unless you've never read a column on the Escapist up to this point, this would without a doubt be willful ignorance.

Sight layout has changed in the past month, where I've not been using this site much.

It's precisely because of me being used to after 4 year the layout being a certain way that I would make such a mistake.

Yeah no, I'm not buying it, the "Next page" button is still down in the lower right corner of the columns.

But hey, I won't brood over this any longer.

(...okay, now I'll go to bed.)

What the hell has happened to this site? Why are we getting forum post like this, when I'm accused of wilful ignorance, and after I give an explanation the only reply is a flat denial and reaffirming of the accusation of nefariousness.

Why even reply with just that? How about if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I'm fed up of this shit. I really am. This used to be a good site, now people are just so means spirited, I've have more uncivil conservations on this site than in youtube comments section. The mods may have stopped people cussing each other out, but they can't stop people being so snide and venomous, it's unbelievable the type of crap that goes on.

Every reply to my comments, is full of "ooh, so I suppose you want *insert exaggeration here*" no. You know what I expect, I just said it, now you are repeating a complete exaggeration that's totally extreme and so far beyond what I said.

When did it all become so tabloid.

 

[Jfswift]

I haven't tried it yet myself. It sounds like they could have made a longer game or broke it into two parts. Their loss.

Edit: this kind of reminds me of a gripe I had about Perfect Dark. They constantly introduce new gadgets and devices for each mission. A pretty fun game actually but I wish you had just a little more time to play with each new gadget or device.

 

[Colt47]

I suppose that makes me the worst person in the world. Or maybe it was a relatable mistake.

A relatable mistake? For someone who's apparently been here for over four years with 8000+ posts, do you really expect me, or heck, anyone, to believe that?

Unless you've never read a column on the Escapist up to this point, this would without a doubt be willful ignorance.

Sight layout has changed in the past month, where I've not been using this site much.

It's precisely because of me being used to after 4 year the layout being a certain way that I would make such a mistake.

Yeah no, I'm not buying it, the "Next page" button is still down in the lower right corner of the columns.

But hey, I won't brood over this any longer.

(...okay, now I'll go to bed.)

What the hell has happened to this site? Why are we getting forum post like this, when I'm accused of wilful ignorance, and after I give an explanation the only reply is a flat denial and reaffirming of the accusation of nefariousness.

Why even reply with just that? How about if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I'm fed up of this shit. I really am. This used to be a good site, now people are just so means spirited, I've have more uncivil conservations on this site than in youtube comments section. The mods may have stopped people cussing each other out, but they can't stop people being so snide and venomous, it's unbelievable the type of crap that goes on.

Every reply to my comments, is full of "ooh, so I suppose you want *insert exaggeration here*" no. You know what I expect, I just said it, now you are repeating a complete exaggeration that's totally extreme and so far beyond what I said.

When did it all become so tabloid.

I don't know! I'm too new! ~ ~

 

[kenu12345]

I suppose that makes me the worst person in the world. Or maybe it was a relatable mistake.

A relatable mistake? For someone who's apparently been here for over four years with 8000+ posts, do you really expect me, or heck, anyone, to believe that?

Unless you've never read a column on the Escapist up to this point, this would without a doubt be willful ignorance.

Sight layout has changed in the past month, where I've not been using this site much.

It's precisely because of me being used to after 4 year the layout being a certain way that I would make such a mistake.

Yeah no, I'm not buying it, the "Next page" button is still down in the lower right corner of the columns.

But hey, I won't brood over this any longer.

(...okay, now I'll go to bed.)

What the hell has happened to this site? Why are we getting forum post like this, when I'm accused of wilful ignorance, and after I give an explanation the only reply is a flat denial and reaffirming of the accusation of nefariousness.

Why even reply with just that? How about if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I'm fed up of this shit. I really am. This used to be a good site, now people are just so means spirited, I've have more uncivil conservations on this site than in youtube comments section. The mods may have stopped people cussing each other out, but they can't stop people being so snide and venomous, it's unbelievable the type of crap that goes on.

Every reply to my comments, is full of "ooh, so I suppose you want *insert exaggeration here*" no. You know what I expect, I just said it, now you are repeating a complete exaggeration that's totally extreme and so far beyond what I said.

When did it all become so tabloid.

Maybe you would have more civil discussions if you were more civil sir or madam

 

[anonymity88]

*Rolls Eyes*

The Priviliged whites?

You realize many First world and developed countires are more than white, Right?

But hey, Im American so what I say dosent matter right? I must be the source of all the worlds problems even though im still in high school...

OP: Damn, I liked Yahtzee more when he was a game critic, not using a strawman argument to accuse people of racism just because they played a game...

You know...

Feel free to call me crazy here but I think that maybe, just maybe he might be exaggerating for comic effect...

 

[Treblaine]

I don't see his problem with multiplayer. I mean respawns are instant, surely he isn't insecure enough that he can't deal with his number not being as big as the other man's number, especially if it get's him material for his popular weekly show that can help him earn some scratch.

See I'd REALLY like so see him rip into an analyse COD's multiplayer, it's something that has intrigued, confounded and annoyed me. I've been simultaneously attracted to it and appalled by it, I want his perspective on both why it is so popular, and also why it is so reviled. I can't quite put my finger on it myself and Ben has insight on these sorts of things of noticing things that have annoyed us for long but we couldn't quite summarise.

Maybe you would have more civil discussions if you were more civil sir or madam

Where was I uncivil? Please point it out so I can apologise for such error in character.

And when did incivility become licence to be uncivil yourself? This isn't self defence, snideness is no counter to snideness.

 

[Waffle_Man]

You asked me a question and I answered it. Quoting what you've already said again back at me does not address my response, it's a dismissal of the allegations he makes in this review.

I repeated myself because I perceived your answer as begging the question. You didn't answer a question, you simply responded to a lone comment at the top of my post. I could probably respond to most of the following with other things that I've already said, but out of respect, I won't.

]It would be interesting to see Yatzee play multiplayer and try to figure out why people like it (which he has done to some extent, but that really isn't his style and I don't think forcing him to do so would make him better at what people watch him for.

He obviously has not, not to any extent.

So? The point was that it was an interesting hypothetical, but not something I'd expect, let alone demand, he do.
He isn't a journalist, so I wouldn't expect him to act as one.

He also did not touch on Zombies Segment, not to any extent.

Would the movie have been made any better by touching on the zombie segment? Would it have been funnier if he had said "also, there's zombies. I didn't find it fun." Would the column have been better if he had said "also, there is zombies. I didn't find it fun."

I can't fault his assessment of Black Ops 2's singleplayer, he thinks it's racist, that's insane but so what, it was somewhat whimsical in a painfully forced way. My problem is with him acting like this hackneyed single-player was the game's selling point and this was all that Black Ops 2 was when no COD game has even marginally stood on the merits of its single-player since 2007.

He cares about the single player. He doesn't like the single player in Black Ops 2. Is he wrong?

He went from a "lol, unexpected racism" perspective that he used with his review of Uncharted, to "People who buy any COD game are bad people, because of its singleplayer".

He also said "Hitler was right" in one of his videos. His humor works on hyperbole. Where did he say "all people who buy COD games are bad" in the column? If he did say that, I would be the first to admit that it was a bit of a dick move on his part, but it doesn't negate the essence of the criticism.

I'm not forcing him to do anything. I am asking and expecting and saying he should not misrepresent the game and the people that buy it.

I can't really say anything to this end unless you can find me a quote where he willfully lies that isn't in a comedic context. Hell, show me where he outright lies that is in a comedic context.

PS: How can he do critical reviews of games yet not be a games journalist? That is the industry definition of a games journalist.

Reviews are not journalism by definition. Reviews require subjectivity. Journalism is about being as objective as possible. Do you have any idea what a journalistic review would look like? If not, you do now. [http://www.destructoid.com/100-objective-review-final-fantasy-xiii-179178.phtml]

It's the same way with his column. It's all about his opinions, which is practically the opposite of journalism.

 

[kenu12345]

Where was I uncivil? Please point it out so I can apologise for such error in character.

And when did incivility become licence to be uncivil yourself? This isn't self defence, snideness is no counter to snideness.

The tone of all your posts plus from what I've seen blantantly ignoring certain things. Dont take this as anything but a comment. I meant no insult in this just wanted to point out something

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

SNIP

I was just reading through your conversation with jmarquiso. I really liked it, but I have to disagree with you.

"Same dealie with Call of Duty. It never, EVER claimed to be a deep, intellectual experience. It's meant to be Michael Bay: The Film: The Game and that's how it should be judged."

But that's not an excuse for being bad at what it is (or at least, not being the best). Modern CoD is built around setpieces, gun battles, and one-off varied sections. They had them well balanced in CoD 4, where you could be watching a building blow up at one point, fight through the ruins the next, and provide air support the one after. However, the developers have become so enamored with the possibilities of set-pieces and special sections that a lot of the actual first-person shooting takes a back seat. It's not the thought that CoD isn't scratching the same itch as Shadow of the Colossus that bugs me (and apparently Yahtzee), it's the schizophrenia that detracts from the actual game.

"I don't expect there to be any character development in a James Bond film- not because he's mostly about explosions, sex, and gadgets; but because...there are probably like a hundred different books/films/video games about James Bond's whole shtick. Why would his character develop any from doing something that he's done a million times previously?"

James Bond does change and evolve-while some (like Brosnan) stay relatively flat, you can watch the change in On Her Majesty's Secret Service to Diamonds are Forever and see how the character develops when Blofeld kills his wife. They didn't need to do that, but they did because they wanted to add depth and nuance where there was none before, and make the movies more fun to watch as a result. The explosions, sex, and gadgets aren't going away, but they are having a comfortable frame built around them so that, if they can't quite hold up, they can still survive. That metaphor got kinda strange, but you can see what I'm saying, right? Give your audience the best that you can, not trying to stick to what you think they expect, and you'll come out with a better product.

 

[TheRussian]

-snip-

Same dealie with Call of Duty. It never, EVER claimed to be a deep, intellectual experience. It's meant to be Michael Bay: The Film: The Game and that's how it should be judged.

It has shooting, it has explosions, and everything is very pretty. So it succeeded at what it was trying to do and should be rated accordingly.

Let me counteract your opinion with one I share with the late Gene Siskel:

"A film that aims low should not be praised for hitting that target."
-Gene Siskel

The critic is referring to films in his statement, but video games should be subject to the same standards, perhaps even more so, due to the fact that games are longer than movies, and will be more thoroughly explored by the audience.
The way you judge bad games should not be any different from the way you judge good games.

Spoiler: Personal Quote

Having an opinion does not prevent you from being wrong. But that's just my opinion.
-me

 

[Treblaine]

Where was I uncivil? Please point it out so I can apologise for such error in character.

And when did incivility become licence to be uncivil yourself? This isn't self defence, snideness is no counter to snideness.

The tone of all your posts plus from what I've seen blantantly ignoring certain things. Dont take this as anything but a comment. I meant no insult in this just wanted to point out something

It's written, there is no tone to it, what do you mean? The tone of it all, come on, what's that supposed to mean?

What specifically have I blatantly ignored? Other than inflammatory comments that aren't worth replying to. That's not incivility, that's restraint.

"I meant no insult"

Doesn't mean you weren't. Now you have me worried I've been offensive and you won't even tell me where... what the hell, man?!?

 

[kenu12345]

Where was I uncivil? Please point it out so I can apologise for such error in character.

And when did incivility become licence to be uncivil yourself? This isn't self defence, snideness is no counter to snideness.

The tone of all your posts plus from what I've seen blantantly ignoring certain things. Dont take this as anything but a comment. I meant no insult in this just wanted to point out something

It's written, there is no tone to it, what do you mean? The tone of it all, come on, what's that supposed to mean?

What specifically have I blatantly ignored? Other than inflammatory comments that aren't worth replying to. That's not incivility, that's restraint.

"I meant no insult"

Doesn't mean you weren't. Now you have me worried I've been offensive and you won't even tell me where... what the hell, man?!?

Ha dont worry about it. Just the way you phrased somethings nothing to worry bout

 

[In Search of Username]

Dat trouser analogy

Very good article, it perfectly describes the problems with spunkgargleweewees; it's the fact they just try to pack everything in without consideration, rather than gradually building you up like a good game does. And the whole 'rich jerk' analogy works perfectly for the game's attitude towards politics too, when you think about it.

And guys, he's not going to review the multiplayer. He doesn't do that. Accept it. The game has singleplayer, it should be able to stand up on its own even if it's not the main attraction. If CoD wants to avoid being criticised for its terrible campaigns, it should just stop including them.

 

[Treblaine]

snip

Look, I don't come to his videos just for the humour, because he isn't that funny. I appreciate his humorous insight into games that can be quite revealing in the way humour can be, but not sacrificing everything for everything else at the expense of gags.

Covering zombies and multiplayer would be part of the bohemian insight that I expect from all the insight he give into other game he reviews, he doesn't skip out on huge proportions of other games that were the main selling points. He did look at Zombies for Black Ops 1, but not for BO2.

I never said his assessment of the singleplayer was wrong, it's his own ridiculous opinion, it's the conclusion he draws from the false assumption of how others view the singleplayer that I disagree with as irresponsible.

I can also tell when he is being facetious, just because he was obviously being facetious when he said "And Hitler was right" isn't licence to dismiss any other sustained attack he makes against larger groups of people.

COD gamers are hardly noble laureates, but their vice is apathy and ignorance, not jingoistic racial hatred as he alleges. He can say all he likes about the singleplayer, but he then said a lot about the type of people who would buy such a game, making an unfair link between the single-player and he game sales as if the singleplayer - including his stated perception of racism - as reason for it's success.

Lies or truly believing it, joking or not, I don't think it's right for him to say that. And that's my opinion on that.

Now don't say anything about "force", because I think someone is unethical in saying something is NOT the same as advocating or actually forcing anything on anyone.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Wait- he doesn't vote? In Australia? Isn't it mandatory?

If he's not a citizen, then no.
If he is, well it's only a $20 fine. Besides, I leave the ballot blank each year rather than vote for any of the bastards, and I qualify that as not voting.

 

[Ninjafire72]

As Yatzhee said on one of his videos- "A game that costs so much to buy should be able to stand up on its single player campaign alone, because the MP has inherent issues that its developers can't forsee like it's servers becoming tumbleweed ghost-towns 2 months down the line"

I don't know about the rest of you, but I completely agree with this sentiment. It's not that he doesn't inherently hate MP, rather he believes that paying $88 AU for a game SHOULD guarantee a varied, interesting or at least a competent SP campaign. I love the MP on BlOps 1 but I'm pretty sure server traffic will be down now that a sequel is out, and when I realise I paid money for a service that will become non-existent within the year... well, that annoys me to say the least.

And besides, if CoD is all about the MP then why does it even need a SP campaign? Why can't they just advertise the thing as a CS competitor and sell the package for $60 or less, without any half-baked Michael Bay story tacked on to begin with?

EDIT:

And guys, he's not going to review the multiplayer. He doesn't do that. Accept it. The game has singleplayer, it should be able to stand up on its own even if it's not the main attraction. If CoD wants to avoid being criticised for its terrible campaigns, it should just stop including them.

Damn ninjas XD

 

[poiuppx]

Anyway, now I've read it this just shows that yahtzee doesn't LIKE playing multiplayer...

An opinion, something he is paid to express.

I just wish he'd express his opinion on the 2/3rds of the game that he did more than ignore, he acted like everyone else ignored it.

For whatever pittance it is worth, I hate multiplayer, especially competitive multiplayer*. Such elements are not selling points for me, never will be. Several of my friends fall into the same category. For us, the 2/3rds of the game you mention being so vital to your approval of his review are utterly irrelevant. Then again, we watch for humor first and opinion second, and I'll likely end up picking it up once cheaper because I honestly really enjoyed the single-player campaigns of MW 1-3 & BO1.

It's also worth noting that the format of his reviews doesn't really allow for in-depth multiplayer experiences. He's got a week tops to play a game and has to stay as current and relevant as Australia will allow for. It's the same reason his sandbox gameplay experiences tend to be truncated a bit, or why when he talks MMOs he often can only really toss in his first impressions rather than a full review. Any opinion he'd have to offer would be at best rushed and biased, and at worst blatantly hostile and indignant. Would that really be better than him 'ignoring the core' of an experience that, for him and gamers like him, isn't core?

And also for whatever value this carries, consider this thought from him in ages past; that the multiplayer is subject to countless things the developers simply can't control, like player behavior or server shut-down. Single-player, however, is around for as long as the game is playable in any fashion, and remains relatively constant from player to player. I've yet to encounter an enemy in Black Ops 1 who spawn-camps or uses wall hacks... as much as that might have fit in to that game's crazier moments. As such, it is a far more logical and reasonable centerpiece on which to hang a review, at least from my own admittedly somewhat biased perspective.

I can understand your frustration with his neglect of multiplayer, as you've made it clear such elements matter to you, but given his own admitted biases and review-style, perhaps the fault lies less in the reviewer than in the audience. His neglect of 2/3rds of the game will be the same neglect you'll see in the next CoD game, and the next, and the next. It's like reading RPG reviews from someone who hates JRPGs and then getting angry when they 'don't give JRPGs a fair shake'. Of course they won't. You know they won't. So look elsewhere if you want a fair and complete review of the subject material you are interested in. It'll likely be good for the blood pressure, and can free up time to play the games you love, as oppossed to arguing with stubborn long-winded fools like myself on the internet.

*Exception made for Worms, because in those games it is utterly glorious regardless of success or failure. Even then, however, I only play it with friends. Random games with total strangers are not my forte; getting self-exploded and hurled into a mine because I misread the wind indicator? Totally my forte. I'm aces at that.

 

[Treblaine]

Dat trouser analogy

Very good article, it perfectly describes the problems with spunkgargleweewees; it's the fact they just try to pack everything in without consideration, rather than gradually building you up like a good game does. And the whole 'rich jerk' analogy works perfectly for the game's attitude towards politics too, when you think about it.

I'd say it's making too much of a point of where the trousers came from than of the trousers themselves.

Calling a soldier "rich" because they use expensive military equipment is rather ignorant of the reality of soldiers lives where they are little more than workers, it never was their equipment, it was always government property and they only used it under orders to kill and to die.

What, you think soldiers get to keep that equipment after the war? They aren't rich, have you any idea how many of the homeless and destitute were handling multi-million dollar pieces of equipment when they served their country, but when their country was done with them they struggle to re-adapt.

That's not a "rich jerk", that's a socialist tragedy of the exploited labourer.

 

[WanderingFool]

While true in some cases, it doesnt hurt to try something new every once in a while, and COD did need something new. Thankfully, Blops 2 did try something new, in both MP and SP. Im loving it. I do hope that, since its already a fact MW4 is coming out, that they do the same in its campiagn (with multiple endings and branching paths) as Blops 2 did.

Modern Warfare? Trying something new?
Are we talking about the same Modern Warfare games? Because the MW games I know REFUSE to change. I think, TotalBiscuit described it best. "Infinity Wards have stuck to the rail so frigging hard you would think the rail was magnetised. And glued. And then glued again."
So, expect the biggest change to be a new name for the Nuke.

Yeah, I know its not likely. Im planning on sticking to Blops 2 even when MW4 comes out. Blops 2 may be just as great as Blops 1 when MW3 came out, all the cheap ass players having moved onwards.

 

[EvilRoy]

The bit where he rants about politics then backtracks from the backlash. It's not any hidden will, it's obvious, he just isn't being entirely honest when he says he doesn't want to be political. I mean instead of editing his text, he goes "oops, mustn't say that" as if he was live on the radio.

I've never really understood why Americans get so snippy about this.

I mean, yeah it involves politics, but its just a stereotype joke. Canadians don't get mad and defensive everytime an American starts making maple syrup and no military jokes, French don't get instantly offended when someone makes surrender and bad cheese jokes, English don't get snarky when people pop out with a greasy food/unarmed police joke.