What does the escapist think of Totalbiscuit?

Ariseishirou

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Aug 24, 2010
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Eh, I've only seen one of this videos (his review/LP of Hatred) and it was pretty mediocre, in my opinion. He way more time railing about his personal (anti-mainstream "hysteria") politics than the actual game, which is pretty poor form for a guy who'd be touted to me as someone who was less political than "mainstream" reviewers.

He also didn't have anything funny or insightful to say, so: a resounding "meh" from me. I'll stick with Jim for reviews/previews/commentary and TBFP for LPs.
 

IceForce

Is this memes?
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Dec 11, 2012
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I can respect him for being extremely knowledgeable in his field, and for making a living off of a predominantly fickle medium (youtube videos).

I do prefer Jim Sterling, however.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Jun 5, 2013
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Like all YouTube personalities, I have nothing against him. But I never ever seek out his stuff unless there is a controversy going on.
I'm content to just let him do his thing far away from me.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Sep 16, 2014
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He gets touted as a reviewer, doesn't review games, and still expects review copies of games. The handful of times I've sought his stuff out, based entirely on recommendations from his fans, I've found very little usable information about whether or not I'd want to buy a game. His opinions and stance on what, exactly, constitute journalism, harassment, or games media seems to vary based on whether he likes the people in question.

In short, I tend not to think about Totalbiscuit very much at all. He can do his own thing and I'll probably laugh at his stuff when they intersect with my stuff.[footnote]Framerate Police, lawl[/footnote]

You mileage may vary, of course.
 

omega 616

Elite Member
May 1, 2009
5,883
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He is pretty good at talking about a game, really getting to brass tacks.

But and it's a huge, full bodied, but ...

He LOVES to get on his little soapbox and bang on and on and on about a subject, just loving the sound of his own voice.

His also king of the PC elitists, just ragging on games for things like FOV sliders, not having the correct resolution or FPS ... you know the topics PC elitists just LOVE to go on about and get REALLY anal and nit picky about and when it doesn't meat their standards, the good ol' favourite "it's unplayable!".

Oh, does the PC elitist love that phrase, the game works ok (perfect? No but it can be played) but not to the PC elitist! Are the controls a little wonky from a bad port? If so, the game is unplayable! Unless it's a game like the witcher which has fucked up controls by design but that's ok 'cos that is just using the superior gaming input to it's fullest!

So he is an ok guy, until he starts to soap box, bang on about how good the PC platform is or a pet peeve sets him off.
 

Gennadios

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Aug 19, 2009
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I love his video reviews, they're descriptive, he talks about the flaws, and he'll try to show off cool features or bugs through gameplay. I'm running a 3 year old gaming laptop, so I can do without him going on about graphics options for the first 6 months of the video.

Who he is as a person? No idea, but he's one of the few pull no punches pro consumer personalities in gaming, ergo on my subscribe list.
 

09philj

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Mar 31, 2015
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A bit of a pedant and a perfectionist, but he tries his best to deliver a good service and he runs a good podcast. Occasionally he likes to get on his soapbox, but he's doing it because he genuinely believes in what he's saying. He never reviews games I actually want to or can buy, but his presentational style is a good contrast to the various wackier elements of YT. I don't always agree with him, but I don't always agree with anyone. He's not for everyone, but he's not worthy of proper hate.
 

CellShaded

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Aug 8, 2009
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I like him, tend to check out his videos for a first impression or if I want to hear about the quality of a port. Though I don't really rub one off to the texture quality of walls as much as he does.
 

Abomination

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Dec 17, 2012
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He's a strong proponent for consumer rights and quality control from the gaming industry. Closely aligned with Jim Sterling on quite a few issues but feels a bit more "right leaning".

I'd follow him more often if not for one unfortunate flaw - he's actually not very good at video games. He's gotten better recently but in a majority of his lets plays I see him making obvious mistakes or overlooking functions/features one would think were obvious.

Personality? As others have mentioned he's a bit too keen to fly into emotional rants but at my end it's not too horrible. I have the thickest of the thick skins so even when his views don't align with mine I'm never offended by what he says.
 

vallorn

Tunnel Open, Communication Open.
Nov 18, 2009
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I like how in depth he goes with details like options menus, customisability and optimization. As well as that, his analysis of framerates and textures in games is always good, I would look at the new Mad Max Port Report as an example there, he points out some lower quality textures in some places but excuses it by explaining that they are on things that you probably won't be licking.

That and his sometimes self deprecating sense of humour is right up my alleyway.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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I dunno, asking about TB on here is like asking about piracy, since he's a member and certain positions on both are off-limits without action being taken. So I'll go with "not a fan."
 

RaikuFA

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Jun 12, 2009
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Hes not bad. Though I disagree with his view on preordering (considering the only games I preorder are niche jrpg's that can be hard to find post launch you can see why I preorder).
 

Aesir23

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Jul 2, 2009
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He seems to be an alright person as far as being a youtube personality goes. I used to be subscribed to him but unsubbed because we had different views on what mattered the most regarding games. For me, things like the story and the characters are what's important (although eyecandy is nice) while he seems far more invested in the technical aspects of the game.

Also, I'm certainly not very appreciative of how he can get regarding the whole PC vs Console thing but that's because the whole "debate" in general rubs me the wrong way. It was one such video that finally prompted me to unsubscribe from his channel.

If I were building a gaming PC or checking out a particular port I might go to his channel to help me decide but I don't think I'd watch it for general entertainment.
 

Falling_v1legacy

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Nov 3, 2009
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I think he is basically the British Beetlejuice. Say his name and he WILL find you and engage. This is unfortunate, because while I like a great deal of what he has to say about games, he seems incapable of letting things be (or at least this was the case, until he self-banned himself in a few places.) He is hyper-sensitive to perceived toxicity, but incapable of seeing his own abrasive nature as being unhelpful at best. But otherwise he seems a decent fellow.
Notice, I have never once said his name. I will not summon him :)
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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From what I've seen of him, he seems to be a fairly intelligent and articulate person. I've never gotten the impression he was trying to beat anyone over the head with his opinions, or insisting that the industry or others were obliged to conform to them. But again, that's from a limited sampling of his work; if I was consuming it all, or indulging in it on a weekly basis, perhaps I would feel otherwise.
 

G00N3R7883

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Feb 16, 2011
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DoPo said:
G00N3R7883 said:
For example alot of Jim's videos have literally no research done beforehand, so he'll struggle to perform basic actions that he'd know how to do if he'd looked at the controls menu before starting the video.
I thought that the point in Jim's gameplay videos was that he literally just booted up a game and started playing it. Sure, he could do research beforehand, but that's not the idea behind them - he's more showcasing how the games hold up when a total newcomer comes in. And let me tell you, that's invaluable information for any decent developer. Also, tends to often just be fun.
Yes, I know that's the point of Jim's Squirty play videos. What I was saying is, if I'm going to watch a video to research whether or not I want to buy a game, TB's videos contain so much more valuable information. And I did say I find some of Jim's videos entertaining.

On the Zombi bug ... okay, my bad, I was in a rush typing my original post. I guess it would have been better to say "misleading" rather than "factually incorrect". He made it out to be this massive problem when in reality it was very easy to fix. And again, TB sometimes makes mistakes, but he usually posts annotations over the video to correct himself.
 

sonicneedslovetoo

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Jul 6, 2015
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I watch his videos to find out if PC games have decent settings in particular its important because I have a friend who is left handed and needs to have rebindable keys and most reviewers don't even touch on things like that. Also considering how much he spent on his computer I can completely understand why he gets so pissed off at the whole 30 fps thing.
I also like that he just shows raw gameplay in his videos I think that's a lot more helpful to me when I'm thinking about buying a game so I can judge for myself what its going to be like.
 

Cold Shiny

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May 10, 2015
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Professionally speaking, I think he is very helpful. Many games that I have on my steam library I bought solely on his recommendation, and he has never failed me. A lot of the stuff he shows in his videos would be hard for me to discover on my own, before I buy the product.
 

masticina

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Jan 19, 2011
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Well he is a person with insight to the game industry and yes an opinion. I like pretty much all of the content he makes though as some already said I don't always agree with him.

But you know that is just that opinions is something we all have.

I do learn quite a bit of his WTF's and more important these days Port Reports. So he does makes useful content.

And that is it, I am just a consumer, a viewer of his videos. I am not closer connected to him nor have met him.

If you ask me if I would buy a game if he shows flaws in it? Sure if it is my type of game and I find enough good in it.
If you ask me if I wouldn't buy a game if he believes it to be great? Yes I don't do shooters.. so I don't buy shooters!

I know my opinion, I get to learn about his opinions, I know where he stands. And in between that and of course reading reviews, watching people play the game I make a choice if a game is worth buying. He is not my only source.

And I hope most here don't go only by one source.

So yes I like his content though I do not always agree with it. But that is natural.
 

Alex Baas

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Dec 2, 2011
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omega 616 said:
He is pretty good at talking about a game, really getting to brass tacks.

But and it's a huge, full bodied, but ...

He LOVES to get on his little soapbox and bang on and on and on about a subject, just loving the sound of his own voice.

His also king of the PC elitists, just ragging on games for things like FOV sliders, not having the correct resolution or FPS ... you know the topics PC elitists just LOVE to go on about and get REALLY anal and nit picky about and when it doesn't meat their standards, the good ol' favourite "it's unplayable!".

Oh, does the PC elitist love that phrase, the game works ok (perfect? No but it can be played) but not to the PC elitist! Are the controls a little wonky from a bad port? If so, the game is unplayable! Unless it's a game like the witcher which has fucked up controls by design but that's ok 'cos that is just using the superior gaming input to it's fullest!

So he is an ok guy, until he starts to soap box, bang on about how good the PC platform is or a pet peeve sets him off.
Well some of us spent a lot of money on our hardware and get annoyed when a game deliberately underuses said hardware