Has Yahtzee ruined you?

[Quaidis]

The moment you start noticing the different stage lights during a performance and consider how they effect the stage, the electronics behind them, and how they can be changed around is all part of a series of steps in growing up.

Yahtzee may be a scapegoat in this for you. I noticed game mechanics and how it effects my decisions to buy games long before I watched him. Just like I notice many other things. Over time such thoughts could be sorted out and controlled and my life could resume itself. I'm back to buying games for the fun of it.

 

[Snarky Username]

Whenever I play a game that I saw his review of, I usually watch the review again because now I have a better understanding of the jokes in the video, but other than that, I usually pay no mind to him when it comes to forming opinions.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I've actually gone out and gotten games that he blatantly disliked after seeing his reviews of them, I enjoyed them too.

honestly this. i never agree with the guy nearly ever, i've watched and read most of his shhtuff but i just never seem to agree at all with anything he says, and no offense...yahtzee fanboys, your almost as bad as valve fanboys when it comes to worshipping them religiously.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I try not to watch ZP reviews before I play the game in question. This stops me from noticing the flaws quicker. I build my own reaction around it and then compare it with Yahtzee's critique. Other then that, no I wouldn't believe so. Moviebob has probably ruined me far worse.

 

[LordIce]

No.....well, i do look at games different...but, that has saved my from falling victim to/buying BAD games. i think that the no bull way he goes about reviewing games is the ONLY way reviews should be done not with fan boy or developer(who gave them the game for free or the reviewers website advertises their games) bias.=) and even if he likes the game he is still willing to admit that it has flaws. most other reviewers if they marginally like the game the give it a 10..cough cough (GAMEINFORMER)whoops did i type that out loud....=)but to sum up...i love Yahtzee he reviews games like everyone should and even if i notice more flaws than i did before it makes me enjoy good games all the more!=)

 

[Jake the Snake]

It's funny, while everything Yahtzee says usually holds merit, when you like a game (like I love RPGs...ok, ok, fine I LOVE RPGs, THEY'RE THE ONLY KIND OF GAME I PLAY) you tend to ignore/accept those problems and enjoy the game to the fullest, unless they're so game breaking you simply can not play the game another second.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Two days ago, I played Devil May Cry 4 for the first time. Not only did I pass by that "timed jumping puzzle with punishment" that he complained about without noticing (until yesterday, even though I failed it three times), but I wound up miming Nero's movements out of sheer energy. Yes, with the Xbox controller.

Can't ruin what's already corrupted.

 

[Benarikun]

I can definitely see where you're coming from, and yes, I've started nit picking the flaws of games and picking up on things that make the game bad. But the same can be said for what makes a game good. At much as Yahtzee may have influenced me to notice what's bad about a game, I also now pick out the crown jewels of a title.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

I see the flaws(if I haven't already) after watching his videos but I've not let his cynism cause me to dislike once loved games. Halo Reach and RDR are prime examples of this. Both were picked up at or just after launch and I've not looked back since playing

 

[heaventorn]

I have always seen his reviews as more of a form of entertainment then an actual review. I mean, when it comes down to it, everything has flaws, this does not mean we cannot enjoy it.

Edit: Besides, I have always been pessimistic. Nothing new here.

 

[v3n0mat3]

I don't take his reviews seriously. Therefore, no, no he has not affected me at all.

 

[Mcupobob]

Not at all, Yahtzee likes a whole different type of games then I do so I usally just enjoy myself. Though I'm having a harder time getting into WoW, once you reach 80 it starts feeling like work. "I have to grind gear" "I have to grind emblems" "I have to grind gold" after I came to that realization I loaded up my steam account to play some DOW.

Still like wow mainly because I do enjoy grinding if the rewards feel rewardy(Making up a word here) enough.

 

[thublihnk]

Eh. It kinda sucks that 'being critical of video games' is viewed as being 'ruined'. I'm sure that's not how you meant it... but. eh. We should encourage that kind of thought. It makes for a more discerning game-buying public, and thusly a better game market.

Yay better games!

 

[Therumancer]

So, I am a huge fan of Zero Punctuation (seriously, who isn't) and I usually agree with Yathzee's views, at least in terms of what I look for in a game like good gameplay and story.

Recently however, I have been noticing that whenever I start a new game or pick up one I haven't played in a while, I start seeing flaws or annoyances that I wouldn't have noticed before. After watching ZP for the last 3 years I start seeing games the way Yahtzee would, finding all these flaws that wouldnt have mattered to me before. I dont really know if this is a good or bad thing though I find it harder to get into games i normally would have liked.

So, my fellow escapists, have any of you noticed this change in perception as well? Even without ZP's influence, have you ever changed how you view, play, and enjoy games?

EDIT: I don't think I was clear I meant that my initial analysis of games has been influenced by ZP, I don't make decisions based of what he says. I often disagree with him.

Well, I don't have Yahtzee's general taste in games. I'm a big RPG player, who loves all kinds of statistics, tons of customization, and turn based combat to death. A lot of the screens and numbers he picks on for being like a spreadsheet program are one of the things I absolutly eat up when it comes to games.

I do think Yahtzee is spot on about a lot of the things he says, and his choice of jokes and "flames" are uncanny in how hard hitting a lot of them can be. He articulates problems far better (and more amusingly) than I ever could.

As far as him altering my perspective on games in general... not really. I've always been fairly picky. What's more Yahtzee is pretty much the "slice and dice" reviewer for this generation of gamers (which is increasingly mainstream). While the format he communicates in is new, the entire schtick is not. Truthfully if a slice and dice reviewer influanced the way I see games it was probably Evil Scorpia from way back in the day... when I was also at a younger and more impressionable age.

What I find ironic is that I've always been somewhat acidic in my criticism of games (though I rarely bother to do reviews), and today a lot of people claim I've been "ripping off Yahtzee" when in reality I was ripping off Scorpia before anyone had ever heard of Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw.

 

[AwesomeExpress]

I see how this can be a problem.. but that hasn't happened to me yet, thankfully!

 

[DirgeNovak]

I usually agree with Yahtzee on the stupid parts of games (like Oblivion's conversation pie or Uncharted's retarded Da Vinci Code-style puzzles), but unlike him, those things don't prevent me from enjoying the games, so if I watch a ZP review before I play the reviewed game, I'll pretty much know which of the problems he mentions are going to bother me and which won't, so based on that, other reviews and my original interest in the game, I can decide if I'm shelling out 70 bucks on it or not.

 

[Viivrabe]

i find him very funny, but id never take any thing he says as an actual review of the game, just its flaws, like unskippable, its an amusing program but it has nothing to do with if im going to get the game or not.

 

[PureIrony]

Yeah, in the same way civil rights ruined racism; frankly, the best thing to take from Yahtzee is no matter how much piss he has to take out of a game, there are plenty of times he's enjoyed himself despite it.

 

[Censorme]

I often quote his reviews when I describe games to my friends. It's funny and simple.
When he trashes a game I've wondered about, then I'll gladly penny-pinch and boycott.

He's not always right, of course. I still buy some games despite what he says.
But still,I'd say he's 70% and whatever percentage (out of 30%) that otherwise includes:

1. Him being wrong or nit-picky.
2. What you are denying to yourself about the game.

 

[crazypsyko666]

Probably a little. I had begun to enter the phase where story began to matter more at about the same time I started watching him. I've been pickier and pickier since.