Poll: How seriously do you take what Yahtzee says?

[Xifel]

In a world where every other critic gives out 8, 9 and 10 to every game, I have to say I listen to him more than anyone else. Every single game he even hinted that he liked have turned out to be a solid piece of gold. So I have no reason not to listen to him.

So what if he do not like my favorite game (currently "Battlefield3")? I could have my own opinion about things. And he hasn't exactly been wrong about anything in my opinion...

 

[Ruwrak]

Listen? No. Enjoy his rants? Sure.
I don't ask him for advice on buying games or not, my tastes are not his nor do I disturb myself to the same things. As a critic, he excells at magnifying flaws (and some are true, like Dragonage II.) but said flaws won't hamper my experience.

Do I listen to reviews?
Uhm.... No. How do I buy games then you ask?
I check out demo's, wait a few days to see what consumers say and filter out the fanboy or anti-fanboy reactions. I look at ZP as entertainment with an informational edge. What he says might be true, but to me it's not the holy word (or unholy word)

 

[robert022614]

I love ZP, but I usually don't listen to him for advice on what games to get or not. I laugh when I notice the truths in what he says about some of the games I have played, but that is not to say I didn't have fun playing some of those.

Also he usually reviews games I have long since played and either traded or are collecting dust. I love his sense of humor and he is right about a lot of his sayings, but I usually try to judge for myself.

 

[4RM3D]

He blows things out of proportion and doesn't put them in context.

Even so, he almost always still has a point.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Totally. I've already grown my beard for Guitar Hero, and tried sprinkling Skittles over a Scorpion and a Spider.

 

[Yopaz]

I listen to him and I pay heed to what he has to say about games. However his and mine taste does differ so his reviews do not control my certain game purchases one bit. I did buy Driver San Francisco because he praised it, but I was speculating getting that since I like Driver 2. Turns out I like it a lot. His reviews can't be taken 100% seriously, but combining Zero and Extra punctuation you get a good overview of a game's merits and flaws. I usually agree with the flaws he points out in games, but I can still like a game he's given a bad review. I feel there's some sort of integrity in his reviews unless the games are mostly online and he usually ignores that. However I am not a big fan of online games myself so I agree with his reviews there. I wont say he's wrong in any of his reviews, but reviews like Monster Hunter Tri shouldn't have been made since he clearly didn't do it justice by only playing a small bit of it. I wont say it's a game he would have liked if he got into it, because I honestly don't think so, but the review was rather poorly done.

 

[Akimoto]

I like how he puts across his criticism in a cynical, blistering way yet still makes it funny. I'm pretty sure he enjoys his job and the games he plays - he's just so darn good at his job people think he hates certain genres.

 

[Argonaut]

I used to just watch the clips, laugh and not bother (usually because he played a game i hadn't or never would) but he got to a game where i watched the clip before i played the game (like i always do) and saw my self agreeing with is points, and i have found that generally he and i agree on most points

now i say generally because we don't always agree, most recently with Drive in top 5 and dead island in bottom 5 which made me literally say wtf out loud, now i only played the demo of drive, but that 5 min was enough to make me have feelings of disdain towards that game and its horrific (and to me unplayable) driving physics - also i have yet to play dead island but i have watched numerous gameplay vids of it and while i agree and dont look forward to the sewer levels i think it looks like one of if not THE best zombie game (f you l4d or that stupid zombie in mall free for all game) im just waiting for it to go down to $20 because im not a horror fan and get scared easily (and dont like being scared in general)

 

[Auron225]

Not at all - well, its not a case of whether or not Im taking him "seriously". He has opinions just like everyone else and hes not afraid to show them. He hates RPG's, I love RPG's. I cant take any review of an RPG he's done seriously or Id never buy one again - even though I generally like them.

He hates motion controls to the extent that he doesnt really even like ANY game that uses them. I dont mind them at all. Annoying sometimes but thats it.

I watch it purely for giggles. He does of course state some facts about the game that I like to know before hand (example, Skyward Sword: There are only 3 areas to explore. Im happy I knew that before hand and got the disappointment outta the way early rather than waiting to explore some 4th area and being disappointed later at discovering the non-existence of it). So that type of stuff, thats fact and not opinion, is useful.

 

[DolorousEdd]

Totally. That is, I don't think he's just doing it for show (though to an extent, but you can normally see how much). Whether it bothers me or not is another matter. I don't take him seriously in so far as I see him as an absolute authority. I respect him (in many cases), but at the end of the day, he's just another opinion. And... I probably like most games even less than he does.

 

[neoontime]

Eh, not really since I am a Nintendo fan. Plus, he likes stealth games, EWWWW!

 

[Kyrian007]

When to take him seriously? When he says a game is good. He has never been wrong (for my game tastes) about a game he has liked. That short list is a list of my very favorites. He hates on games that I love, but he's usually right about their faults. They just aren't deal breakers for me. It's informative and very, very entertaining. What's not to like? Unless you are a crybaby fanboy. Those are the Yahtzee-haters, crybaby fanboys.

 

[leethal]

i've mentioned him a good few times on my thesis (dissertation) thats how good his points are.

 

[Electrogecko]

His criticisms are usually valid, but some of them are blown way out of proportion for comedic effect.

Most of the time, my biggest problem with a game will be something he mentions briefly in his review, and I'll find something that he spends a minute and a half talking about to be trivial when I experience it first hand.

I feel like I've lost even more touch with him now that he took a dump on Skyward Sword. I still don't really understand why he didn't like the game.

 

[FireAza]

I take Yhatzee's reviews with massive, heaping piles of salt. I understand that first and foremost, they're entertainment, and a review second. He's obviously realised at this point that nobody likes him when he's being nice to a game, so his reviews and up being excessively critical. He also tends to exaggerate for comedic effect, but this ends up making a game look worse than it actually is. For example, in his Alice: Madness Returns video, he described the cutscenes as a guy holding concept art up to a camera, implying they look cheap, rushed and without any animation. While in reality, the cutscenes look like puppetry, there's animation all 'round and certainly wouldn't have been cheap or simple to produce.

Though obviously, if he's hinted that he might actually like the game, it must be damned good.

 

[Raika]

Yahtzee is an entertainer. I look at him as an entertainer. He's a very insightful entertainer and he writes well, but an entertainer is an entertainer, not a critic.

 

[For.I.Am.Mad]

Yahtzee at the end of the day is a gaming pundit. And like all pundits, I hear him but I don't actually listen.

 

[Woodsey]

He doesn't invent his criticisms, but they are hyperbolic. The whole point is really to critique the bad points, anyone taking it as an actual review (aside from when he does actually recommend something) is a bit of an idiot.

 

[Suicidejim]

I watch him for entertainment, not advice. I've loved a lot of games he didn't like, and vice-versa. Occasionally I'll take note of specific points he brings up if they do seem important though.