Do you still base your game purchases on whether Yahtzee recommends it?

[Sean Hollyman]

God no, I watch him for entertainment really. If I based every purchase I've done on what he thought I'd probably have about 4 games.

 

[Rangaman]

Sometimes? Yahtzee is funny and all, and he does have some valid criticisms of games. But there some instances where I tend to ignore him (anything related to Zelda usually gets given a miss). I don't mind disagreeing with him so much, an independent critic's opinion is largely subjective and therefore isn't always going to align with your own, it's mostly when you get games that are just "good enough" and it's obvious he's grasping at straws for things to say other than "it's alright". And the now-infamous review of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct still hangs over the rest of his content like a bad smell.

On the other hand, it was his review of Dark Souls that convinced me to try that game. That my tastes tend to align with his (with exception to Nintendo and outright rejection of all JRPGs/modern shooters). And quite frankly the only alternative critic/entertainer I can think of off the top of my head is AngryJoe, and I think I'd rather eat broken glass than watch another one of his videos.

 

[Kotaro]

Yahtzee's positive reviews have occasionally pushed me to play something that I otherwise might not have tried, but I've never paid much mind to his negative reviews. He's a great entertainer, but when it comes to the actual critique, he tends to be overly caustic. Way too often, he's torn a game to pieces in a review that I ended up loving.
Nothing against him, but I guess I tend to be far more forgiving of flaws in a game if I like the core of it.

 

[Ugicywapih]

"Still"?

Yahtzee is funny, verbose and, I suppose, fairly knowledgeable on the subject of vidyagames. Neither of these make his opinions on the overall quality of the game binding. The thing that first drew me to the Escapist was actually Yahtzee's review of the first Witcher and much as it was fun and pointing out how juvenile and out of place collectible sex cards were was spot on, but at the same time I recall him griping a fair bit about the game being too in-depth and the manual being overlong, which didn't bother me in the slightest (too in-depth? Rly? Play Dwarf Fortress, Yahtzee xD), while nothing was said about the endgame enemies with silly models and cheap, plastic-looking muscle textures.

All in all, most of the individual points he makes seem reasonable and bear consideration, but at the same time I've taken his reviews (especially anything regarding complexity) with a grain of salt ever since. Besides, I live in constant fear of Indiana Jones because my PC belongs IN A MUSEUM, so I don't really have any reason to buy recent games anymore, meaning I mostly just watch ZP for entertainment anyway.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

I don't buy games based on the opinions of people getting paid to give me them.

 

[flying_whimsy]

My values and approach to games coincide quite a bit with Yahtzee's, so I usually do take his opinions into account. I do take his opinion with a large grain of salt because of the nature of the videos: I miss his written column since it was usually more flushed out if it was about the game.

Mostly, though, I go by player reviews opposed to corporate ones. I miss really miss demos.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

-He generally dislikes JRPGs.
-He prefers Doom-esque shooters (emphasis on movement, weapon variety, lack of realism, etc.) and generally dislikes MMS shooters (a.k.a. "spunkgargleweewee")
-Generally prefers background storytelling rather than conventional storytelling in games (i.e. Half-Life and Dark Souls rather than Metal Gear)
-Has no interest in RTS games, but has some interest in turn-based strategy (e.g. XCOM)
-No interest in multiplayer.

That's not fair. He has warmed to multiplayer since he first started ZP and he did put Persona 5 in the Top 5 Best of the past year.

 

[Hawki]

and he did put Persona 5 in the Top 5 Best of the past year.

So it's the exception that proves the rule? IIRC, he actually comments on how its placing is a rarity for him.

I did say "generally" dislikes stuff like MMS and JRPGs. He does like stuff like the first Modern Warfare for instance, that doesn't stop him from generally disliking the genre.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

and he did put Persona 5 in the Top 5 Best of the past year.

So it's the exception that proves the rule? IIRC, he actually comments on how its placing is a rarity for him.

I did say "generally" dislikes stuff like MMS and JRPGs. He does like stuff like the first Modern Warfare for instance, that doesn't stop him from generally disliking the genre.

I know. I was mostly just giving you a hard time. Although he has become much more open to multiplayer than he ever used to be.

 

[Trunkage]

I rarely watch his videos anymore.

This is me. There is only so much undeserved vitriol one person can handle

 

[Hatachi]

I'll put it this way. I've looked into games because he said they were good, but I can't think of time that his opinion alone was what deterred me from buying something I was looking at.

 

[deadish]

He is excellent at dissuading me from buying a game. LOL

Since I have a finite amount of time and money for games. It's a welcome service.

 

[Kiall]

I have never not bought a game just because of a bad review from Yahtzee (which lets face it is virtually all of the games), but I have bought nearly every game he recommends because:

A) Our tastes align pretty accurately - multiplayer doesn't interest me, I hate nearly all JRPG and a game's story is more important to me than gameplay (though its nice when both are great).
B) In all the year's I've watched ZP I think he's given a positive review to less than 10 games so, for me, its no big financial burden.
C) Each one I bought I enjoyed at least on some level.

I do think you'd be cheating yourself out of literally dozens of great games though if you just went off Yahtzee's opinion though his entire shtick is to mock so he on purposely looks for things to insult.

 

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[kilenem]

Isn't Yahtzee more of a entertainer then a reviewer? Don't get me wrong he has beautiful analysis on video games but his reviews rarely come out before the game comes out.