Why agree with Yahtzee?

[Arcane Azmadi]

I don't agree with 99.9% of what he says. Its why I never read his "extra punctuation" articles because they arn't all that funny (to me) and contain nothing that I agree with.

What is the .1% of things we agree on you ask?

I think boobs are stonking great as well.

What, so you thought Alone in the Dark was a great revival of the classic series?

See, that's the problem with making sweeping generalizations, you can get tripped up VERY easily.

Do you demand that every opinion voiced by every person on the escapist be backed up with reasonable arguements? Or only those you disagree with?

In any event the ZP episodes are satire and thus can neither be agreed with or disagreed with because thats how satire works. But it seems that those opinions yahtzee expresses in the extra ZP articles are to be taken seriously (so people say) and it is those opinions to which I disagree. I haven't read many of his articles s so there may be one or two points on which we agree (But I haven't yet found them).

"Why don't you read all the articles and make a more informed decision" you may say to me

"Why bother" I will reply, reading through a stack of articles that expound views that I do not share in search of one article that I do agree with is not worth it to me.

So... you only read articles you know you'll agree with?

I only read articles that I have a chance of agreeing with or if that is not possible, articles written by authors who are open to disagreement, frank discussion, and debate.
As such I don?t read Yahtzee?s extra ZP articles, I don?t agree with the opinions held within them and since he is unwilling to debate the points he makes I have no reason to post/read there.
Or another analogy
I don?t read extra ZP for the same reason Jack Thompson (most likely) will not visit this site. I neither agree with, care for, or gain any enjoyment from reading them.

Once again I need to point out a simple thing you overlooked- Jack Thompson would never visit this site is because he's a deranged, foaming-mouthed, lunatic fanatic who KNOWS for a proven fact that every person here, you and me included, is a rabid psychopath-in-the-making who wants to kill him either because we are desperate to stop him in his quest to do God's Work, or simply because the games tell us to. Or in less extravagant terms, because he's an imbecile. In other words, comparing yourself to Jack Thompson isn't the smartest argument you could have made.

Don't worry, I'll stop replying when you find an argument I can't use to judo-flip you onto your back. No hard feelings, but this verbal-sparring IS kind of fun.

 

[cerebus23]

zp is what brought me to this site and kept me coming back. he is a game critic with a sharp wit, he is not a game reviewer unlike the guys at ign and gamespot and etc. he will rip apart any weaknesses in a game and spit all over them, and if your really honest with yourself, even if you love a game to death he almost always makes good points, and really most of the points i would make even agaisnt games i love to death like mass effect 1 and 2, dragon age, batman AA, ok he liked batman AA alot he still ripped on it.

how can we be so in love with a game that it angers people if he hates on it? he is funny he is over the top and he hardly ever makes a unfounded criticism, yea you may disagree but gods lighten up if he bothers you and have a laugh.

most of the video reviews on this site are critics, movies, games they all got their legs to be taken out from under them. granted bob tends to be more generous but even if he likes a movie or really likes it he will still rip into it for the bad bits.

and honestly i trust the reviews of zp over ign and such since half the time their "scoring" system seems to be very suspect. some systems and games seem to have a much harsher yardstick to live up to while others get a more lax one, the previews of games seem to bend over backwards and sideways to kiss the feet even of crap games.

hell its been said for years that many game site take ads and out and out kickbacks to fluff scores a few people have even gotten fired off ign and another site when it came out they did in fact do that, sucks to get caught dont it? looking as the scores some questionable games get, i have little doubt that it continues to this day.

look at games on metacritic great site with the averages it generally speaks more truth than the actual review sites but look at enough games you will see a few patterns emerge. take heavy rain for example, widely hailed as a good game, not everyone's cup of tea no doubt, but its a game got a few 100s, no doubt off more pro ps3 sites, many 90s off the general major sites, and several 40s and such down on the list, now i hate to say that i wonder if those 40s were generated off pro xbox sites, granted they probably offset the 100s, cause the vast majority of reviews for that game were good to outstanding then you get a handful of sites out of the median norm scoring the game so low to cal the game basically total garbage, it is a tad puzzling.

so yes god bless yahtzee and his i hate all games mentality, i trust it far more than most reviews.

 

[Mikkaddo]

You bring up a good point. He never actually trashed a game, well except for Too Human and Turok. But then again, Yahtzee is more interested in unique original ideas other than refined or perfected reiterations of existing medians. But then again, Yahtzee is a bit like Moses. He shows that it's false, smashes the idol, and for extra burn, makes you drink all the shit that makes it up.

Exactly, he's not nearly so interested in a sequel that just copies and pastes from the starter. I think if he wasn't so against the (rather obvious) copy pasta of JRPGs he might like Star Ocean. But still, he shows us the bullshit the game makers don't want to tell us. Infamous, sure it's got two full sets of skills, that's what they told us from the start "be good OR evil!" yeah sure, but the problem, as Yahtzee himself says, to play with the best toys you have to be ALL one or ALL the other. I dare you to find a review that is that honest about it. Or the fact that if you are all the way one or the other and start doing too many things toward the opposite of what you are, you can actually LOSE your skills from what I hear.

 

[ThePerfectionist]

Someone said very early on (I can't be asked to go find it again and quote the guy) that Yahtzee's primary tools are sarcasm (which may as well be second-nature to anyone growing up in this generation) and hyperbole. These are his gimmicks, and for what it's worth, he's better at using them than any other critic I've seen.

The problem with it is that in order to actually take his reviews as reviews, you have to cut through that to see what he's actually saying (or just read Extra Punctuation. He's not trying to be as funny there). Too many of the people in either extreme camp don't do this, and we get threads like this because of it.

If nothing else, a man that hates all games (again, hyperbole) is good for one thing. If he likes it, it's probably good. He's never made me NOT buy a game (with the possible exception of Darksiders), but I bought Psychonauts, HAWX, Portal, and Arkham Asylum (okay, I would've gotten AA anyway) because he loved them, and I was not disappointed.

 

[jthm]

There are a few games where I don't think his primary criticisms are fair (primary as in he tends to harp on just one or two things most of the time about any given game, unless it's utterly filled with flaws), but overall I tend to agree with him.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

I don't agree with 99.9% of what he says. Its why I never read his "extra punctuation" articles because they arn't all that funny (to me) and contain nothing that I agree with.

What is the .1% of things we agree on you ask?

I think boobs are stonking great as well.

What, so you thought Alone in the Dark was a great revival of the classic series?

See, that's the problem with making sweeping generalizations, you can get tripped up VERY easily.

Do you demand that every opinion voiced by every person on the escapist be backed up with reasonable arguements? Or only those you disagree with?

In any event the ZP episodes are satire and thus can neither be agreed with or disagreed with because thats how satire works. But it seems that those opinions yahtzee expresses in the extra ZP articles are to be taken seriously (so people say) and it is those opinions to which I disagree. I haven't read many of his articles s so there may be one or two points on which we agree (But I haven't yet found them).

"Why don't you read all the articles and make a more informed decision" you may say to me

"Why bother" I will reply, reading through a stack of articles that expound views that I do not share in search of one article that I do agree with is not worth it to me.

So... you only read articles you know you'll agree with?

I only read articles that I have a chance of agreeing with or if that is not possible, articles written by authors who are open to disagreement, frank discussion, and debate.
As such I don?t read Yahtzee?s extra ZP articles, I don?t agree with the opinions held within them and since he is unwilling to debate the points he makes I have no reason to post/read there.
Or another analogy
I don?t read extra ZP for the same reason Jack Thompson (most likely) will not visit this site. I neither agree with, care for, or gain any enjoyment from reading them.

Once again I need to point out a simple thing you overlooked- Jack Thompson would never visit this site is because he's a deranged, foaming-mouthed, lunatic fanatic who KNOWS for a proven fact that every person here, you and me included, is a rabid psychopath-in-the-making who wants to kill him either because we are desperate to stop him in his quest to do God's Work, or simply because the games tell us to. Or in less extravagant terms, because he's an imbecile. In other words, comparing yourself to Jack Thompson isn't the smartest argument you could have made.

Don't worry, I'll stop replying when you find an argument I can't use to judo-flip you onto your back. No hard feelings, but this verbal-sparring IS kind of fun.

So you chose to pick apart the Jack Thompson analogy instead of all the other points I made?

If this was a sparring match you'd be dead seeing as you have failed to address/parry the majority of my points/attacks.

I guess you have earned this poem... enjoy



Friend we do not see eye to eye
Unless we agree to disagree,
Ceaseless enemies will we forever be.
Knowing this I say to you,

You have these choices two.
Opinions held by you are either wrong,
Unless I was trolling you all along.

 

[goatzilla8463]

You'll find that it is probably just fanboys/fangirls (though I highly doubt the second for whatever reason) that cling to his words.

I, on the other hand, am inclined to agree with most of what he says but I have my disagreements. For instance, Mass Effect was actually quite a good RPG and Assassin's Creed is one of the best story games- if a bit repetative.

 

[WanderingBiscuits]

I don't trust Yahtzee as a serious reviewer. He pretty much hates nearly everything. I watch him because hes entertaining.

 

[Nicarus]

I tend to agree with him at times, even if I haven't played the game. It's like getting a warning or something. It's especially fun when he rants about something you know EXACTLY what he means (Bioshock escort bit anyone?).

 

[Blimey]

I'll try to say this without the muffling of ZP's wiener in my mouth...


I agree with him 100%. There hasn't been a review I disagreed with yet.

*gurgle*

 

[UnusualStranger]

Wait, I sometimes agree with a guy on some of the games he reviews, and admit that some of the criticisms he levels at games that I like are right?

Give me a second as I let you repair your sarcasm meters of what I just tossed at you.

Some people may take him a little bit too far. Thats their problem. Agreeing with another human being from time to time is nothing to worry about.