Goth Mercenaries

[ShinningDesertEagle]

I liked this article and found it to be a good read.

However, I have to disagree with his opinion that a game must stand on its own as a single-player. You can review a game's online play without making it a review of who well your friends play so long as you are objective. By that logic reviewing the quality of a single-player game is only telling how well you play. "And that's bullshit."

 

[David Bray]

I can't do MMOs either because a more forthcoming minority of the gaming community are dicks and ruin the play experience. A game has to be reviewed on its single player unless it's a pure multiplayer in which case it need not exist.
I don't mind online co-op but anymore and the chance of annoying individuals increases.

 

[blainemono]

You know, most of the times Yahtzee appears to be a smart, well-versed, thoughtful young man.

Some other times though, his writing raises questions not about his sanity per se, but rather about the origins of the alien body-snatching race that took hold of his body and is using it for goals unknown but most certainly nefarious.

More to the point, the reasoning beyond the whole "Valve is butchering Team Fortress" thing seems a bit weird to me.

I've been following TF for some time now. Make no mistake - I suck at it pretty badly. Still, getting steamrolled all the time doesn't detract from the moderate amount of fun I get - because, well, because TF is a great game.

Now, updates. They are making the game more hectic and less predictable, certainly. But they also add greatly to the novelty of the game, giving a sense of joy in discovery or whatever. Saying that they overcomplicate the game and make it easier for leet kidz to pwn you is both dumb and not true - TF is not overcompicated even now which, I think, is a great achievement on Valve's behalf, and leet kidz will pwn you anyways, updates or not - such is their nature.

I have to agree though, TF blog is hilarious on its own, no actual gameplay is needed to have some fun.

Still, patricidal Victorian fuckhead? Valve? Seriously?

 

[crotalidian]

There was a painter in the 19th century called Richard Dadd, who famously went insane, murdered his father and spent the rest of his life in an asylum. There he created his most famous painting, "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke," which he worked on for nine years. It's absolutely covered in minute obsessive detail, and bits of it were re-done so many times that the layers of paint extrude unevenly from the canvas. And he still considered it an unfinished work. So the point I'm getting at is that Valve's work with Team Fortress 2 reminds me of a patricidal Victorian fuckhead.

adn that painting also became the focus of a book from one of my favourite funny authors around

The Witches of Chiswick by Robert Rankin. Hilarious, you guys should check out some of his other works too notably the Armageddon:the Musical (and sequels) and the Brentford trilogy (starting with the Antipope)

 

[Carnagath]

I agree somewhat with the pointless nature of socializing in MMORPG's. 90% of the people you meet are assholes and make your blood boil. My default playstyle is "the goth" as well, when I enter such a game as a stranger among strangers. I have however experienced the joy of high-end raiding in WoW (and by high-end I mean world top 20), and I can say that it is a completely different experience. Maybe my guild was just full of nice people, but there was no hysteria, no drama, no assholes... just a tight team of people who took their performance in the game very very seriously (but always with a sense of humour when mistakes happened). So, if you have the time and the energy it takes to play at a very high, competitive level, there is just no better feeling to my experience than socializing with a tight group of like-minded people. The lone wolf approach though is boring and pointless, which is why I have not touched an MMO since and probably never will.

 

[DemonBurn]

Ben, I have been following your reviews and I waste every 15 minutes, almost every Wednesday to watch your reviews and read your commentary. I agree that a game must stand on its single player alone, mostly because all of the greatest games (pacman, astroids, Super mario, etc.) were single player to help most shut ins get more hand-eye coordination and to tell them to give there wrist a rest. BUT, as games as Team Fortress 2, I was wondering how you would review such a game WITH NO SINGLE PLAYER..... and if a games demo, in which should never be reviewed b/c Its not the final product, is multiplayer, then how can you put a standard on the game, as in TF2. Don't get me wrong, TF2 is a great game, but why the **** won't they put a good product down to work on some to beat it senseless. I found TF2 to be fun and chaotic, with a little bit of sarcasm. They should be working on another one of my favorite game, Half-life 3, instead of over-fucking a perfectly good game. MY G-D, its like watching Obama telling the rock industry that they need to calm it down and let the government take control, and I must say this too, fuck obama, and fuck valve. The last good game they have come out with is portal, in which they need to make a SECOND one so i don't have to keep replaying the game. This is just some of my rants( i guess rants b/c im out of pot, I don't know), so I'm going to go work, them come watch your video, then write another paper on why you are right or wrong. Comment if you want, I would like to see what you think, but then again, I look at my own production from a game to see whether it passes or not, so actually, I don't give shit. Thank you for your time. - DemonBurn

 

[Twinmill5000]

Going back on what I said earlier and a response to a post above...

I'm the other away around with MMOs... I mean, sure, it's frusterating being called a newfag if you say something stupid in global chat, but the part that did make me quit WoW was the raiding aspect. There was no fun in it after a while. I don't know, as a mage, I could handle a rogue oneshotting me more than straining myself every instance trying to press spells in a really unpredictable order. It would be fun like that, except if I tried to enjoy myself and take it easy, my dps would drop and well... all of the sudden I'm a noob that needs to l2dps. In essence it turned it into a job, not fun. S4 had the same effect on me too, but the people weren't AS bad because of my 'score' on those certain games that are bound to happen if you can't instantly land a headshot with a gun that shoots an odd bullet pattern on demand like the ai in L4D can. I guess because in S4 at least half of the players look at more than numbers. I have long forgotten the purpose of this post, but I guess if anything it states my views in a more defined manner.

 

[Mantonio]

I'm really hoping Yahtzee doesn't review any multiplayer-centric things in the future, if his 'All games should stand on Singleplayer alone' thing is to be taken seriously. Because, you know, it'd be kind of silly to review one with that mindset.

Sad to hear you don't play TF2 anymore though, but I can see why you don't.

 

[Relent688]

I fully agree that Borderlands has its issues in the sense of being repetative and, in the long run, boring. Despite the nearly limitless numbers of gun combinations, via the different elemental properties and odd perks they give, I just cannot find a reason to play through it for a second time. Oh wow, the enemies get stronger. If you played through it once, why do it again? Now that I have said that, Borderlands does have its entertainment value for a brief time. The game is fun if you walk away from it for a while and then pick it back up after a few weeks or months.

On the note of its multiplayer, I have played it online with 3 other close friends and I think that it fails. The enemies are harder due to the number of players, but other than that, it is the single player game with 3 other people. It would have been nice if they put something like PvP as the online component.

I think that Ben is on the right track with his "Games are only as good as their Single Player" approach. Don't get me wrong, I like an online frag fest as much as anybody, but IF the game has a single player, then that should be the strong side of the game. Granted games like Call of Duty MW2 stress the multiplayer heavily, and the multiplayer runs well, but the fact that the single player takes about 6-10 hours is shit. But on the other side of the spectrum, look at MAG, a MMOG that has no single player. Is it a bad game because it doesn't have a single player? No, it just means that you have to try and play the game and communicate with your squadmates. Yes, there are some jackasses involved, but that is true of all games that are online in any way.

 

[sawbones]

Another article detailing why he's a casual fag.

 

[The Commissar]

If the future of humanity depends solely upon our ability to agree with Yahtzee, then humanity is doomed. Or did anyone forget that this is the habit of the drooling fanboys that we've all told ourselves that we hated so much since the internet gave them a voice.

I've already bothered to argue the merits of this game in a previous set of posts, and conceded that it's hardly perfect. But that isn't the point anymore. The point is, why are we giving this kicking, screaming crybaby a forum to unleash his venomous ire upon things that are supposed to be making our lives more tolerable and, dare I say[small](Dare, dare!)[/small], enjoyable? In fact, why are we giving him a soapbox in the first place? One he gets payed rather well to stand on and spout profanity from.

I'm not saying that there isn't a valuable interest in pointing out things that are wrong about a game. Especially one that clearly isn't worth the ridiculous price tag. I'm just saying is there a valuable interest in time wasted, if not capital invested, in someone who has no real talent whatsoever but has a foul mouth and a chip on his shoulder? This might be a good point to let Yahtzee know that although George Carlin is dead, we are not holding a council to find an heir apparent to his vacated throne.

I find it truly hypocritical that someone would claim themselves to be a game reviewer and state to those in audience that he hates all multiplayer games because they are multiplayer. Now, I'm not saying that you are supposed to like multiplayer, but if you don't it hardly makes your opinion on the subject credible. But as I said this is tantamount to the hypocrisy that he always displays.

But what truly causes me to perform a Captain Picard style facepalm, is the utter persistence with which he demands that his word be known as law and the number of clueless tarts willing to circle about him like electrons hoping to bask in his glow. Completely and totally ignorant to the fact that he wouldn't even piss on them if he walked by and noticed they had caught fire. Something to which he has alluded to many times.

All this compounded by the fact that Yahtzee seems to hate all games in varying degrees. Which makes me wonder why he's even bothering to talk about them in the first place. But then I remember that steady paycheck and the legions of starry-eyed fanboys jockeying for a chance to be kicked in the teeth by their idol.

When I came to The Escapist a while back. I thought this place would be different from all the other websites where the measure of your worth was how much of a conformist idiot you are as well as your ability to spout pointless memes at the most inappropriate moments. I'm just sad to see that things here are starting down the same path. And frankly, I blame Mr. Croshaw.

I used to, at this point, post some kind of media reference to The Fonz jumping the shark. I don't think it's worth it anymore. Yahtzee never jumped the shark, he never got to the shark. The whole thing about the shark assumes that there was something proud and worthwhile there to begin with. And that is clearly not the case.

I'll close by saying that I expect that if Yahtzee has the fortitude to respond to these allegations, which I doubt, he'll probably find some minute typographical error to focus on that I may have overlooked. Then he'll give me an insulting moniker, and proceed to question my intelligence and/or sexuality in the same vein of the millions of trolls that graced the internet before him.

Whoa, hardly the place for that kind of thing. Start a new thread or write a "Dear Sir" complaint to the editor or something. Also, if you are saying this here to get a rise out of people who are busy talking about something else, that sort of makes you a troll "in the same vein of the [sic, should be "as the"] millions... that graced the internet before".

Yahtzee has brought a lot of people in contact with the Escapist who wouldn't have done so before. I watch his videos for a laugh whether or not I am interested in buying the game. They are funny, and if you watch a few of them you can see that there are parts in which he reveals what he likes. As I was coming here to watch ZP, I began to read and watch other articles and videos, which I now follow as closely. I suspect there are others like me.

He does, however, have too many disciples and fanboys, but anything interesting and good on the internet will produce them almost as prolifically as it produces the tired memes that they spout. People are very stupid sometimes, but if that is what they like, that is what they like. I hate hearing people quoting Monty Python at me these days, but that doesn't stop the original sketches being fucking hilarious to both me and the people quoting it (constantly).

Do the world a favour and stop taking yourself so seriously.

 

[dudeman0001]

It's Kinda like how when I started playing SF I barely touched characters like Ryu and Ken. But favoured stranger, less commonly used characters, like Zangief & Dhalsim.

I always want to have some defining characteristic that makes me stand out from the crowd, and so do alot of other people.

I can relate to this... though the flipside of it is that you are therefore allowing the crowd to influence your choice. If you would have more fun playing Ryu, but choose not to due to his popularity, you are handicapping your game experience for the sake of noncomformity. Depending on the situation, I waffle on this one.

I never ENTIRELY let them influence my decisions though, I also use those characters because I like their playing styles and/or the way they control, Zangiefs controls seemed to just come naturally.

 

[flabslapper]

oh ok, though I'm so far out of the loop I don't know what crafting is

 

[mawk]

[etc etc] Final Fantasy VII.

I think FFVII [etc etc]

as for the actual review, [etc etc]

Okay. I'm sensing some hate and [etc etc]

So popular and loved was the [etc etc haters etc]

Thanks for writing up like three paragraphs of quotes and fanboy-gush trying to disprove my opinion, A1. I kind of hoped you wouldn't, especially since me saying "I know mentioning FF7 will etc etc" was aimed to signify that I already knew what kind of arguments were gonna be made and didn't really want to see them played out, but then I remembered that this is the internet.

Bottom line, though, I don't hate the franchise, and you shouldn't assume I do just because I don't think it's that good.

I'm really hoping Yahtzee doesn't review any multiplayer-centric things in the future, if his 'All games should stand on Singleplayer alone' thing is to be taken seriously. Because, you know, it'd be kind of silly to review one with that mindset.

He'll probably steer clear to some extent. The Borderlands thing seemed like a one-off demand-driven thing, and it should at least help deter people from bringing it up in the future. And then by taking out my recycling I will at least help eliminate all landfills worldwide.

And yeah, Net Night dude, you can't tell me you don't see the irony in writing such a long, self-absorbed essay on Yahtzee's ego and critical tendencies.

 

[Sonofadiddly]

Sometimes I worry that Yahtzee's losing his edge. Then he comes up with something brilliant like "patricidal Victorian fuckhead."

 

[A1]

[etc etc] Final Fantasy VII.

I think FFVII [etc etc]

as for the actual review, [etc etc]

Okay. I'm sensing some hate and [etc etc]

So popular and loved was the [etc etc haters etc]

Thanks for writing up like three paragraphs of quotes and fanboy-gush trying to disprove my opinion, A1. I kind of hoped you wouldn't, especially since me saying "I know mentioning FF7 will etc etc" was aimed to signify that I already knew what kind of arguments were gonna be made and didn't really want to see them played out, but then I remembered that this is the internet.

Bottom line, though, I don't hate the franchise, and you shouldn't assume I do just because I don't think it's that good.

I'm really hoping Yahtzee doesn't review any multiplayer-centric things in the future, if his 'All games should stand on Singleplayer alone' thing is to be taken seriously. Because, you know, it'd be kind of silly to review one with that mindset.

He'll probably steer clear to some extent. The Borderlands thing seemed like a one-off demand-driven thing, and it should at least help deter people from bringing it up in the future. And then by taking out my recycling I will at least help eliminate all landfills worldwide.

And yeah, Net Night dude, you can't tell me you don't see the irony in writing such a long, self-absorbed essay on Yahtzee's ego and critical tendencies.

Three paragraphs? What the hell are you talking about?

I only included one paragraph. And I didn't include "quotes", which to say more than one quote. I just included one, albeit a somewhat large one.

But then I guess you seem to be addressing another poster or posters in addition to me. Since you cut everything short it's a little hard to tell.

Having an opinion is one thing. But trying to present or frame that opinion as if it were fact is another. You don't like the game or the franchise it spawned? Fine. But the game is indeed much more widely loved and treasured than you seem to think it is.

Take a look around. You seem be well aware of the fact that there are large numbers of loyal fans ready and willing to pounce on you. Don't you think that that in and of itself says something about the game? Or the fact that it spawned it's own franchise? Or the fact that it remains to this very day the best-selling Final Fantasy game?


Like it or not the game has indeed become a notable part of Video game history. One of the things it's credited with is playing an important role in elevating the Playstation brand. Another is helping to create a sizable market for console role-playing games outside Japan. And as I said it remains to this day the best-selling Final Fantasy game.

Oh and thank you for apparently editing out the word "conjecture" from your original post. That wouldn't have been particularly accurate.

You may very well think that the game is undeserving of it's status. But please don't try to deny that it has it's status.