The Honorable and Dishonorable Game Mentions For 2014

[StriderShinryu]

I get you Yahtzee. I have no problem with you tearing any game a new one. However, you keep saying you can win/lose fighting games by randomly smashing buttons, and it's just such a load of shit. It holds as much merit as saying I can beat any FPS by randomly shooting anywhere (and funnily enough, I sometimes do).

Pretty much this. I get that there are a large number of people who don't like fighters, and that's totally cool. There are some genres I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole either. But the fallacy that someone who knows what they are doing in a fighting game can be beaten by random mashing is a fallacy that needs to die a swift and painful death. If that does happen, it's because of one of two things. First, the game is actually terribly designed and the lack of care in it's creation would make it a piece of trash in any genre. Second, the player who thinks they know what they're doing actually doesn't know what they are doing at all and is just using "But I spent 5 minutes in practice mode!!1!" as an excuse for bashing the game/genre. The reality is a player who truly knows what they are doing in fighter can beat a less skilled/knowledgeable opponent simply by using their most basic of skills/moves/etc. They don't need the super complex, multi button, split second timing, hours of practice requiring uber techniques that fighting games supposedly rely on.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

To be honest though, I would enjoy him making a review of Smash U, just to piss off the fans again.

That would be delicious but between his comments in his last video and the stuff he wrote in this article I think it's good enough. And it is, going by people's reactions in the comment section for the former.

 

[Enlong]

Everyone's free to not be interested in whatever, but saying that SSB's only reason of existence is brand recognition doesn't do it justice, really. Yes, pitting all those Nintendo characters against one another was what turned heads in the beginning, but that doesn't mean there is nothing else to those games.

I dunno man. If Samus, Wario and Link weren't in Smash then I wouldn't have any interest in it.

Well, he has full rights to not like the game, the same way he has full rights to call, say, Limbo a good game, rather than the half-good game it is.

To be honest though, I would enjoy him making a review of Smash U, just to piss off the fans again.

You want another flame war/exhaustingly pointless argument? Why? Why would you ever?

 

[Signa]

I hate fighting games at this point too, but Yahtzee's reason for not even trying Smash is the very reason I like it over other fighting games. It doesn't do that stuff!

 

[Erttheking]

Look Yahtzee, you don't like Smash? Fair enough. You can beat anyone by just mashing buttons? Yeah...no. That just doesn't happen. Period.

 

[Thanatos2k]

When people accuse Yahtzee of his nonexistent bias against Nintendo, it seems their true complaint is that he doesn't have bias FOR Nintendo, which these fanboys think everyone should have, "because it's Nintendo!" or something.

Guys - Yahtzee doesn't like multiplayer only games. He plays MMOs for the solo content. You should know this by now.

 

[pearcinator]

You said in your review of Dragon Age: Inquisition that you liked it the best out of the three. I'm surprised that also didn't get an honourable mention.

I know Smash Bros. isn't your thing (I don't like fighting games either, with the exception of Smash Bros.) but at least give it a go to learn the basics. It is nothing like other fighting games. You don't need to learn 20-button combinations that require 1/60th of a frame timing in order to do it. It is simply this;

Neutral-A, Forward-A, Up-A, Down-A
Neutral-B, Forward-B, Up-B, Down-B
Jump button
Shield Button
Grab Button

Every character in the game uses those moves, the moves are different but generally most characters have two jumps and a third (Up-B) to get back onto the stage. Just stay on the stage to win. I don't like fighting games but Smash Bros. is the only one I can get into because of its simplicity.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

That was a good shot at Valve. I approve.

I'm not big on fighting game or multiplayer in general either. Like Yahtzee, I too enjoy stuff like story and characters over game mechanics, so I get where he's coming from. Super Smash Bros. was fun for me to play for a bit, but I quickly grew bored with it and moved on to other games. I'll still play it with friends on rare occasions, but that's it.

 

[Darth_Payn]

SO Yahtzee doesn't like Ubisoft anymore. I suppose just bringing up Assassin's Creed: Rogue won't win him over, since it has more of the same from Black Flag, with some more features from III and some extra bells and whistles (grenades and early machine guns!) And you play as a Templar who kills Assassins!

 

[Biran53]

I think a problem with Smash is that it has a difficult time, by its nature, appealing to anyone who plays it by his/herself.

Smash is frantic fun when it's a party game, but can probably get old quick when flying solo. I don't even necessarily think that the game needs a big Adventure Mode (wasn't a fan of Subspace Emissary), but evidently the games have not had a solid single-player audience. But of course, fulfilling those needs would take considerably more effort, more than it's arguably worth.

In the end, Yahtzee doesn't like Smash because he doesn't like the gameplay and he doesn't like what the game represents. Not sure what more people need.

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

When people accuse Yahtzee of his nonexistent bias against Nintendo, it seems their true complaint is that he doesn't have bias FOR Nintendo, which these fanboys think everyone should have, "because it's Nintendo!" or something.

Guys - Yahtzee doesn't like multiplayer only games. He plays MMOs for the solo content. You should know this by now.

Uh, yeah, we know. And in fact, we really didn't care whether or not he reviewed it. Because we knew what he would say before he would even touched it. The WORST thing we can say about him is "Yeah, he doesn't like Nintendo, moving on." because there's no point in debating over it. Whatever, we will never convince him of SSB or Nintendo's merits or virtues, life goes on.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Nostalgia is the only reason people play Smash Bros. and by extension Nintendo? I just remembered why I stopped watching ZP in the first place. I guess thinking they just make good games is not a good enough reason...

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I hope one day on one of their let's plays Yahtzee tells Gabe (who is a fighting game fan) his ideas about skilled players being beaten by button mashers. Gabe will put him in his place. Although knowing how those two interact it'll probably turn into an argument with Yahtzee flat out refusing to believe Gabe.

 

[irishda]

What a surprise, most of the comments are about how wrong Yahtzee is to not like Smash Bros.

 

[Gladion]

Everyone's free to not be interested in whatever, but saying that SSB's only reason of existence is brand recognition doesn't do it justice, really. Yes, pitting all those Nintendo characters against one another was what turned heads in the beginning, but that doesn't mean there is nothing else to those games.

I dunno man. If Samus, Wario and Link weren't in Smash then I wouldn't have any interest in it.

Not denying that it is a factor, but if the games were total shit you wouldn't have any interest in them either, would you?

 

[Dalisclock]

I think a problem with Smash is that it has a difficult time, by its nature, appealing to anyone who plays it by his/herself.

Smash is frantic fun when it's a party game, but can probably get old quick when flying solo.[Snip]

In the end, Yahtzee doesn't like Smash because he doesn't like the gameplay and he doesn't like what the game represents. Not sure what more people need.

Pretty much this. As an introvert myself, I never questioned why he doesn't like SSB or any other fighting games, because likely he doesn't go to parties(or doesn't spend long at them if he does go) and doesn't enjoy mutiplayer(or if he does, gets bored of it quickly).

I feel much the same way, where saying a game is "multiplayer" to me is pretty much the same as saying "There is nothing in this game that you can't get elsewhere for less hassle and a smaller time investment. Move on".

I am curious to why he doesn't seem to like Strategy of any sort, but it doesn't keep me up at night.

 

[Warachia]

my first reason for total lack of interest in Ess Ess Bee is because it's a fighting game, which is one of my least favorite genres. I don't like them because either you get through them by randomly smashing buttons, or you spend ages perfecting the use of esoteric button combinations and then get beaten by someone randomly smashing buttons.

Full stop because that's bullshit, it's a brawler, there's two buttons that normal attacks are connected to, and you cannot use them together. That's fucking it. If you don't want to review it all you really have to say is you don't want to review it, don't try to justify what you say by assuming you know everything about the gameplay, it's like me saying I don't like Shadows of Mordor because I thought it was an RPG and I didn't want to grind my way through enemies to increase the level of my weapons.

I prefer something more along Dark Souls' lines: much enemy variety but the basic rules are fairly universal, you watch for tells and make split decisions on whether to attack, shield, or dodge.

THAT'S WHAT SMASH BROS COMBAT IS LIKE. Somebody attacks you, and you decide whether you'll attack them back, shield, or dodge.

 

[Warachia]

? Uh...WHO kept bringing up SSB? I don't remember anyone really bugging him about reviewing it because we all knew there was no point considering his history with Nintendo. Had he never touched the thing, I don't think anyone would have cared. In fact, I don't think anyone made mention of it until Yahtzee himself did last week which of COURSE caused people to react. Seriously, who was this mysterious consortium of people who kept bugging Yahtzee with it? Can someone point me to them? Because otherwise I'm wondering if he found a comments thread in another universe.

That's a good question, Yahtzee's also made a point saying how he doesn't read comments or emails (or really interact with people more than he has to) so I don't know who keeps telling him this. Maybe he doesn't get these and he just assumes he does?