Poll: Is Yahtzee serious?

[Prof. Monkeypox]

He specifically stated in inFamous that "[he] paints the majority of gaming as the bland garbage that it is to highlight the few glittering bellydancers that rise above."

Odd choice of words aside, Yahtzee thinks a lot of games are bland and unoriginal (not that they can't also be fun- the same way that bland summer blockbusters can be fun), and his goal is to point out the flaws in current gaming so that people will learn to demand more from their games and push the medium into its new potential. He doesn't want gamers (or developers) to get complacent, because then nothing new or interesting will ever come out of the process.

 

[Gamegeneral]

Generally, I assume that he's got to bullshit 15%, exaggerate 10%, and just be honest in a funny way for the remaining 75%.

However, I'm pretty sure he wants to see gaming taken in a different direction than where it's going, so he's going to apply the brakes until his foot falls off.

Then again, who am I to know?

But if you love something, you help it improve. At least that's what I think.

 

[CRRPGMykael]

He's a critic paid for being a critic(I.E. overexaggerating every single negative aspect in something). Although he also overexaggerates everything for entertainment purposes, but his oppinion is something I agree with 90% of the time.

 

[Jnat]

He's obviously overreacting, but he does it for comedy!

 

[Davey Woo]

I think he's seriously tired about how games aren't really very innovative these days, much like all of us, but he definitely exaggerates and nit-picks games for comedic effect. Basicaslly he plays a game, makes a list of bad points and talks about all of them, and if he can't make a long enough list of bad things then he'll praise it in his reviews. Or just not review it.

 

[Aprilgold]

He has his honest opinions and them says them in a comedic manner which may be a hyperbolic representation of what he believes. So ... yes.

Sorry, but that is it right there, can we just /thread besides posts containing opinion

 

[Inkidu]

This is something I have been thinking about for some time now, Yahtzee has stated to hate a lot of games and when I try to remember it all I recall him hating, third person shooters, first person shooters, real time strategies, RPGs JRPGs and just about everything the Wii churned out, and that's just off of the top of my head. I've seen a couple of people say that he's in character during his reveiws while others say they're his honest opinion and frankly I'm a little lost here. If he is in character I can't help but notice that he practically never breaks it on this website and quite a few people has begun to despise him. On the other hand if he isn't in character it's rather jarring that he honestly hates so many of the games out there and truly beleives them to be bland and unoriginal.

I get the feeling there is no right or wrong anwser to this so what do you think?

As serious as a triple-c***ed hooker. ;D

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Serious but with comedic hyperbole applied, purposely ignoring good points because "you don't come to [him] to hear about how a game is good."

 

[Mikeyfell]

This is something I have been thinking about for some time now, Yahtzee has stated to hate a lot of games and when I try to remember it all I recall him hating, third person shooters, first person shooters, real time strategies, RPGs JRPGs and just about everything the Wii churned out, and that's just off of the top of my head. I've seen a couple of people say that he's in character during his reveiws while others say they're his honest opinion and frankly I'm a little lost here. If he is in character I can't help but notice that he practically never breaks it on this website and quite a few people has begun to despise him. On the other hand if he isn't in character it's rather jarring that he honestly hates so many of the games out there and truly beleives them to be bland and unoriginal.

I get the feeling there is no right or wrong anwser to this so what do you think?

It's not really that he hates the entire genre in the way you think. He hates that they fall into trends that they don't escape from.

Like he doesn't hate Third Person Shooters he hates brown repetitive cover-based shooters with bad writing. He hates the militaristic FPS's for iron sight fetishists. he hates when RPG elements are used to pad gameplay instead of to add depth. he hates that JRPGS feature unrelatable androgynous teenagers as the lead cast. He hates very specific things that have become so commonplace that it's just faster to say he hates the entire genre.

And I think he is serious about that (I would find it hard to believe that he secretly loves Gears of War and just put up a bad review to save face). I'm glad he reviews games (I almost bought Dead Island sight unseen) Yahtzee is really one of the only people who's standards about games is as high and unreasonable as my own. Also he's just damn funny.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

He may or may not be serious, but that isn't the problem. He's entitled to his opinions how ever warped they may be. The problem is the people who start taking it seriously. Who realistically use his gaming hatespeeches as consumer advice, or worse even, those who become a Yahtzee parrot. Which is honestly about the worst thing a gamer can become.

Yahtzee parrots plague gaming forums these days and it never fails to make me sad. I think he's a funny guy. I think his show is entertaining. But I almost never share his bleak outlook on the gaming industry. Yes, there are plenty of legitimate problems in gaming. But no, I don't hope that developers are listening to him for guidance on what gamers want from the products they consume.

 

[Denamic]

It's his job to find every flaw in a given game and then rag on them.
He's semi-serious.
As in, what he say is basically true and are his actual feelings, just exaggerated and sharpened to a razor edge for comical effect.
Some people just can't take any negative feedback against something they personally like.

 

[Dutch 924]

He's a critic.
He wouldn't be very good at his job if he didn't hate stuff

 

[Mafoobula]

Sometimes I think you have to read between the lines to get a better idea of what Yahtzee thinks of a game. For example, when talking about Deus Ex: Human Revolution he made it a point to mention the joyous ability to throw vending machines at people. I thought maybe there was a deeper meaning to this, and after a few moments I got the opinion of "for all its seriousness and grim&gritty crap it still knows how to have its awesome fun moments and that's a big damn plus in my book."
Emphasizing the negative is a fairly common trait amongst comedic reviewers and it's typically done for the lulz. I highly doubt a lot of the games Yahtzee has bashed are truly as terribad as he made them out to be. Also, whenever he grudgingly admits that a game was actually good, it's usually done near the end after he's picked on what negatives he could find.

In short, take what he says with a grain of salt. Plus a small handful.

 

[AwesomeNinjaPowers]

Yahtzee is always serious except when he's not XD

 

[SuperNova221]

Yes. He is serious. His complaints are always lagitimate, eitehr because they're relativley objectivley true or just his opinion, although for comedic effect he does still often exaggerate and focus on all of the bad things about games rather than mentioning anything redeeming about it. Castigat ridendo mores though. Nothing wrong with his reviewing style.

 

[lord.jeff]

He's admitted himself that he exaggerates and focuses on the bad points of games for comedic reasons, so he's mostly serious.

 

[naam]

Why would he not be serious? :S

 

[A. Manslayer]

I think, he is serious, but exagregating things.

 

[Ipswich67]

Some middle ground in your poll would be nice. The way I see it is he's "in character" on a portion of the games because honestly that's what we've come to expect, and he's sincere on others. One theory I've had though, is that he tries to find as many games that he believes he will hate as he can. This is so he can rant and be serious.

 

[Rangerboy87]

Those that take his opinion seriously though...Well they are the reason we can't have nice things xD

I don't know about that. I do take his opinion seriously when considering whether a game is worth getting or trying out. I have watched enough ZP now that I can figure through tone and what he says whether the game is ok or horrible without him having to give a recommendation.

But I can take his critiquing of games without getting offended. I love the Uncharted series, but Yahtzee really doesn't as much. He enjoys the gameplay and it's not on his worst ever, but he takes pride in insulting the game. It doesn't bother me because I still enjoy the games.

As far as if Yahtzee is serious, I agree with most that he is mostly serious, but a little exaggerated for comedic effect. As far as genres go, there are maybe 4 he truly dislikes (the rest are just aspects of the genre):

1)JRPGs (cause of the angst, goofy outfits, and combat mechanics)
2)RTS (doesn't like the style)
3)Sports/Racing (never reviewed a sports game/claims to really suck at racing games)
4)Fighting (combat mechanics {the fact that button mashing can beat skill})

These 4 I think he will never like no matter what. The rest he would love with changes to the aspects he hates.