What does the escapist think of Totalbiscuit?

[verdant monkai]

I hate his videos. I was not pleased to hear he got ill though.

He is a VERY different kind of gamer to me. From what I can gather what is most important to him is a games technical performance and settings, whereas I care about story, character designs and the world aesthetics. The guy would be probably be happy with a game about walking around a big empty storage crate, as long as the settings were on ultra.

He's almost more of a computer enthusiast than a gamer. I know there are a lot of PC gamers on this sight so you can probably appreciate all his technical crap, I actually have a gaming Pc and I've played a load of games on it (Witcher 1, Sleeping Dogs, Amnesia dark descent) I just prefer the comparative lack of stress consoles offer. As for me I'll stick with judging a game for its story, looks and gameplay. Instead of ranting at how a floor texture doesn't look nice.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

We have a lot in common regarding solid confectionery...

Alright seriously, i like the guy. I particularly like his hearthstone videos, its fun to watch someone play the game ultra silly like he does, he plays hearthstone like i play MTG. Sure the best deck is just all the best cards with partial synergy, but id rather build a deck with absolute synergy and wonky combos. Consistency is for losers!

 

[infinity_turtles]

There are very few reviewers or youtubers who have as different tastes in videogames from me as Totalbiscuit. Inspite of that, and despite being first impression videos, he's still generally thorough enough that I find his videos useful; even if he spends a lot of time on crap I don't care about(and thus skip). For that, I'm generally a fan of the content he puts out, and wish others would take some hints from him.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

I like him, he makes a lot of informative stuff. Don't agree with him on everything, and he comes across as a bit of a dick sometimes, but the same applies with my best friend. Love the co-optional podcast, even if it is a touch lengthier than I'd prefer. Certainly my go-to guy for information on PC games, but I tend to shop around for opinions on the games themselves, as my taste doesn't line up all that well with TB's.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

His tech overviews are fantastic. On that front, he is very good at ousting bad ports and questionable optimisation. In terms of his evaluation of games...it varies(as tends to be the case).

I do sometimes dislike him but he's otherwise okay.

Nowhere near as funny as Videogamer or as skilled as RPS.

 

[Phil the Nervous]

I like him quite a bit, any person going out of their way to create things like the frame rate police is alright in my book.

 

[Lieju]

Meh. Don't particularly like him, nor do I hate him. Indifferent I guess. I don't find his reviews or port reports on games all that helpful since he's running a much higher spec (enthusiast tier, really) rig than mine.

Pretty much my opinion of him. His priorities for games are different to mine so I don't care for his content, it's just not that useful or interesting to me.
I've watched few of his videos but don't follow him. I'm not really the target audience.

 

[Revolutionary]

Even when I strongly disagree with something he says I have to respect the hell out of him for his work ethic. He's really good at what he does and He's not afraid to admit when he fucks up which is something I greatly respect.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I subbed on YT a few years ago, like him, and would watch far more of his content were I a PC gamer (I wish he'd do WTF's across formats). I'm not really a podcast kindof guy, but I listen to one or two every now and then when he has a particular guest, or addresses a certain topic. His Content Patches are excellently put together.

You can only judge from what you've seen, and so for me he seems a decent bloke, too.

 

[maninahat]

He's okay, but I wouldn't normally bother to watch a WTF all the way through; does he ever condense them down in to 5/10 minute pieces?

 

[Fallow]

He's good. From tech stuff to game stuff I like him alot. Thanks to him we have more pressure on the industry to avoid dumbing shit down and locking framerates.

 

[DoPo]

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.

Or he'll just give factually wrong information (in a recent video on Zombi he complained about seeing Xbox controller prompts even though he was using KB/mouse - it took me 2 minutes to find out on the forums that if you unplug controller it resolves the problem).

Correct me if I'm wrong but that's not "factually incorrect" - seems to me that Jim did give factually correct information - the game was giving him controller prompts instead of KB/M ones. What you found out was the solution, not the objective truth. Or, rather, you did find the facts...which are the same as what Jim described, thus his words being the very definition of "factually correct".

OT: Eh, I don't love or hate TotalBiscuit. I watch his videos occasionally, but not that much. I kind of like them, but not enough to watch him regularly. I suppose I mostly watch the "WTF Is..." stuff, as it often crops up if I'm looking up a title I'm not familiar with.

 

[Frankster]

I'm ok with him, have watched quite a few of his Wtf is.. series as it's a good source of first impression vids that isn't too spoilery, I usually get a good idea if game is for me after watching them. Even the stuff I don't care about, like Tb's obession with options menu and what lies within them, is good to know as can be a good indicator of how much effort was put into a game.

Don't really watch much else from the rest of his channel other then cooptional animated broadcasts (i've discovered jessecox and dodger through TB) though.

 

[Nazulu]

I didn't like him when I first viewed some of his video's because he was so whiny in them, but I gave him another chance and watched some others and I reckon he knows his shit.

Like the other names we all know of, he can be very entertaining and share some important insight, but they can't always be perfect, and you can't hold that against them since no one is. I'm glad he's around though and that he does what he can to improve things.

 

[Mikeybb]

Even when I strongly disagree with something he says I have to respect the hell out of him for his work ethic. He's really good at what he does and He's not afraid to admit when he fucks up which is something I greatly respect.

Quoted because that statement covers the core of what I like about him.

On a more specific level...

I find his output enjoyable enough and interesting.
What impresses me the most though is how much time he seems to give to each review.

He approaches reviews of games in a methodical way, always spending some time examining the technical aspects and graphical details.
I'm not as hung up as he is on blurry textures.
I've seen him drag his characters face across the oddest surfaces in search of blurry textures which, mid fight/action/whatever, you'd probably never notice due to other pressing concerns.
Nor am I overly concerned by fps issues, though I understand how it can seriously effect people who suffer from motion sickness.
Despite all this though, I do appreciate the fact he puts in this effort over those aspects for the people who value such things more than I.
Besides, even if it's not as important to me, I always come away with something from his poking around in the option settings.

The tldr here is me likey the biscuit, even with his facedragging antics.

 

[Zhukov]

Eh, he's alright.

Bit dull really. I've never heard him say anything remotely insightful that I couldn't have learned by asking on a forum. I wouldn't give his views any weight at all when it comes to purchasing decisions.

Apparently he's a prick on Twitter or something. I don't keep up with that kind of drama.

Oh, and he gets downright fucking childish about PC Vs console stuff.

 

[Randoman01]

I don't watch much of his content anymore but it's good to have a guy that speaks his mind.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I don't know him too well to judge. All I know is that he spends the first 20 to 30 minutes of his reviews talking about the damn options menu, so I generally don't make it very far into them on the rare occasion I watch one. Nice for the people who love that kind of shit, I guess, but it just puts me right to sleep.

Good news for you is that these days he deliberately tends to save the options menu stuff for either later on / at the end of the video or goes so far as to do an entirely separate video for it (the "Port Report" series), rather than diving into the options right away. Personally, I prefer the options menu stuff being done first, but that's because I like it. For someone like you though, this change might be more up your alley.

 

[Elfgore]

Used to think he was alright and would occasionally glance at his WTF videos for games I was interested in. Then he made the FPS police and his Tecmo Koei video and the already large pedestal he stood on grew ten times that day. I unsubscribed and haven't looked back since.

 

[Ariseishirou]

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.