Zero Punctuation: Overwatch vs Battleborn

[Erttheking]

I'm not so sure about both sides. The people who get painted with the SJW brush seem to be having a great time playing the game and shipping all the female characters with each other.

No, not really: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1234757

I fail to see how this displays that they are not enjoying the game.

 

[RaikuFA]

I hate everything about overwatch.

I hate online multiplayer only games because 3 months from now the servers will be dead and the game will be worthless. It's already dropped by 50% since launch.

LOL yeah you just proved how you know absolutely nothing about the game. 7 million initial sales with 10 million active players at the last update. It's increased by 50% not decreased.

Just like how League of Legends, Dota2, CSGO etc. are all multiplayer only and died 3 months after launch. Oh wait... don't let your incredible bias hit you on the way out.

Yet we also have Titanfall, Evolve, MAG, whatever last years CoD and Battlefield are, Battleborn and hopefully soon Overwatch. How many of those 10 million registered still play it?

OT: I'm kind of glad people are starting to talk shit about this game. It needs it badly and hopefully soon more companies can stop focusing on online only shooters to chase that CoD dragon and work on actual games.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Huh, the Battleborn servers are dead? That's odd, I generally have no issue finding a match on Xbox Live, but I have no idea what the PC servers are like and that seems to be where Yahtzee spent most of his time.

I found this particular review to be hilariously observant and I'm glad that he gave both games a fair shake and shit on them equally for the things that they did wrong. Frankly, I'm Team Battleborn all the way myself, but I like Gearbox. They're charming in a way that Blizzard stopped being a while ago, but it's clear that they're also on the downswing because, lets face it, the writing in Battleborn isn't quite as good as Borderlands.

I do like Overwatch, though. It's a fun game, but I like Battleborn's reward system better.

EDIT: It's worth pointing out that Battleborn recently introduced fancy skins that can only be bought with currency purchased with real money via microtransactions. =/ I'm actually really disappointed by this but not entirely surprised either.

 

[Silvanus]

I was wondering whether this thread had yet been subsumed into a Tracer-butt conversation, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see... that it's only partly so!

As was said before, y'can't genuinely believe it's because one person complained, particularly when the dev explicitly said they were already thinking along those lines in their response to that one person. You're not that silly.

 

[ItsNotRudy]

*Le Sigh* Blizzard doesn't need defending, random loot boxes are the poorest attempt at player rewards, and let's not pretend the addition of microtransactions are an act of kindness from this company to all those people who already played for the full game so they can pay even more money if they happen to be unfortunate enough to have a life outside of gaming. If it was really for the consumer and not a cheap attempt at fleecing the haves-and-have-nots psychology for unnecessary extra pocket lining, then they would be made available through other means that wouldnt cost the player more than they already have paid.

It's not really a defense of, rather than showing I really don't care about the boxes. I don't play to level or unlock boxes. People who do are missing the point of the game. I just genuinely don't understand the fuss about optional crappy boxes. Whoever has the cash, let them buy it. Regardless of the strategy being considered scummy, it does not hinder gameplay or harm anyone, which is all I care about.

Now, maybe I just have a sense of the value of money, due to not being from a privileged background and having to watch where my money goes while watching out for people who are trying to fool you that their product is totes worth the value they're telling you (and these people are pretty much everywhere). If you have the disposable cash and don't care where it ends up, then that's your choice, but you cannot convince me that this product is pro-consumer and especially that it's worth my money and time.

I also did not come from money and I find the game is worth my time/money. I play it average maybe 5-8 hours a week and still find it fun. In the end what both of us are saying, be it in favour or against the game's merits, are just our opinions. I don't like Ass. Creed either and don't find it worth more than $20, others happily buy it and it's bland reiterations for $60 a pop as soon as the first screenshots emerge.

Compared to all the other full priced games that exist, this is barebones and repetative while it still hoping for the player to shell out more money. This is the profiteering intent that is on display.
Lastly, argumentum ad populum is a fallacious argument, 10 million people may buy this title, but it doesn't imply their opinion, and it doesn't make them right. More people tune in to the X-factor, does that mean that the programme is now something worth everybody's time?

I am on PC so the game isn't "full priced" (which would be $60) but $39. That's quite okay for me. People need to learn that their only voice and vote is their wallet. If you don't support a product, then not buying it is your only meaningful contribution. Regardless of the shady practices they enact, I know people genuinely enjoy x-factor, so I can't comment on that.

 

[Kawalorn]

I'm not so sure about both sides. The people who get painted with the SJW brush seem to be having a great time playing the game and shipping all the female characters with each other.

No, not really: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1234757

I fail to see how this displays that they are not enjoying the game.

Because they'd totally be complaining about it if they enjoyed that. It's still infinitely more than what I saw of the other side, considering they aren't complaining at the game and only at Blizzard trying to catch "PC points".

 

[Zulnam]

Overwatch was fun. About the first week or so, for me. Now i can't even get myself to starting the thing. The sh*t reward system doesn't help, i'll tell you that.

Still, it generated some good porn, though. So yay.

 

[SirSullymore]

It's not really a defense of, rather than showing I really don't care about the boxes. I don't play to level or unlock boxes. People who do are missing the point of the game. I just genuinely don't understand the fuss about optional crappy boxes. Whoever has the cash, let them buy it. Regardless of the strategy being considered scummy, it does not hinder gameplay or harm anyone, which is all I care about.

Agree 100%. It boggles my mind how many people apparently bought Overwatch to dress up the characters and not actually play Overwatch

 

[Erttheking]

I'm not so sure about both sides. The people who get painted with the SJW brush seem to be having a great time playing the game and shipping all the female characters with each other.

No, not really: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1234757

I fail to see how this displays that they are not enjoying the game.

Because they'd totally be complaining about it if they enjoyed that. It's still infinitely more than what I saw of the other side, considering they aren't complaining at the game and only at Blizzard trying to catch "PC points".

It's possible to enjoy a game and not love every last thing about it.

Also the fact that they're only complaining to score PC points is something you can never prove. Maybe, just maybe, they honestly think what they say and are voicing their views.

Hell I made a thread about how the female armor in Fire Emblem Fates is fucking stupid, yet I still enjoy the game, and I wasn't just doing it for "PC points."

 

[StatusNil]

It's possible to enjoy a game and not love every last thing about it.

Also the fact that they're only complaining to score PC points is something you can never prove. Maybe, just maybe, they honestly think what they say and are voicing their views.

It is also possible to enjoy complaining more than any (other) game.

Now to be fair, that's kind of what Zero Punctuation is about too, but at least Yahtzee does it with enough wit, verve and originality to keep the viewer entertained. Some NeoGAF tosser breathlessly searching for sins against the Church of St. Anita not so much.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Huh, the Battleborn servers are dead? That's odd, I generally have no issue finding a match on Xbox Live, but I have no idea what the PC servers are like and that seems to be where Yahtzee spent most of his time.

I found this particular review to be hilariously observant and I'm glad that he gave both games a fair shake and shit on them equally for the things that they did wrong. Frankly, I'm Team Battleborn all the way myself, but I like Gearbox. They're charming in a way that Blizzard stopped being a while ago, but it's clear that they're also on the downswing because, lets face it, the writing in Battleborn isn't quite as good as Borderlands.

I do like Overwatch, though. It's a fun game, but I like Battleborn's reward system better.

EDIT: It's worth pointing out that Battleborn recently introduced fancy skins that can only be bought with currency purchased with real money via microtransactions. =/ I'm actually really disappointed by this but not entirely surprised either.

Yeah Battleborn is still quite active on consoles where it has a lot less competition, Yahtzee's issues with finding a match are probably because of Australia having much worse internet then the U.S. or U.K.(Yahtzee mentioned it several times whenever he reviews a multiplayer game).

At least in Battleborn you can just pick whatever skin you want and buy it, you don't have rely on a stupid gambling mechanic that's designed to suck as much money from you as possible like in Overwatch.

I do keep forgetting about his servers being weak and it slipped my mind that he was playing Battleborn on the PC. And I get that, sure, you get to choose your skin, so yes, your money goes where you WANT it to go, instead of virtual gambling for more sprays, but I'm still disappointed that Gearbox threw in all the fancy skins that are actually pretty cool, only to force you to pay for them with real money. On the flip side, I haven't had to pay real money for the extra character and it's good to know I'll be able to buy the next with in-game currency as well (been saving up since I bought Alani), so win some, lose some, I suppose.

Microtransactions aside, I just like Battleborn better. I played them both and I made my decision, and I get really quite tired of Blizzard fanboys telling me that I'm lying to myself about enjoying Battleborn when Overwatch is 'clearly superior.' I get that Blizzard makes some excellent games that people get addicted to and all, but frankly, the only game series they make that I actually like is Diablo.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I have to kinda agree with Yahtzee when it comes to Blizzard's design choices.
Team Fortress 2's teams was a collection of spoofs on national stereotypes. In Overwatch good portion of characters plays with the idea of your (stereo)typical nerd self-insert fantasy. And it works, like a box of chocolates.
To be fair, it put me off from this game in the beginning. While each one of the heroes looks great, lumped together... well, they resemble a colorful mess of characters torn from different games. Think a clusterfuck that is post-cosmetic TF2 or a typical MOBA cast. Just a pet-peeve of mine, something that will get lost in game.

 

[Seneschal]

Regarding the Posegate (or Tracerstorm, or whatever): Considering that the new pose is pretty much as sexualized as the old one, and the old one is a copy from Widowmaker while the new one is unique to Tracer, it's highly unlikely they actually changed it because of the complaint. More believable that they wanted to already and wanted to score some "good points" with the PC crowd while at it

They did intend to replace it. In fact, if I remember the exchange correctly, a fan had shared their opinion that "it didn't feel right" with regards to Tracer's personality, to which Blizzard responded, "Yep, we know, it's a placeholder," and promptly replaced it with a personalized dynamic flygirl pinup pose that everyone agreed was more appropriate for the character.

And then a lot of people decided to interpret this as "Blizzard being bullied into censorship out of shoehorned-in political correctness and threats from neo-puritans" and whatnot.

 

[Frankster]

They did intend to replace it. In fact, if I remember the exchange correctly, a fan had shared their opinion that "it didn't feel right" with regards to Tracer's personality, to which Blizzard responded, "Yep, we know, it's a placeholder," and promptly replaced it with a personalized dynamic flygirl pinup pose that everyone agreed was more appropriate for the character.

And then a lot of people decided to interpret this as "Blizzard being bullied into censorship out of shoehorned-in political correctness and threats from neo-puritans" and whatnot.

And I remember it very differently to you and despite being right there with popcorn as the drama ensued, not least how you super sanitized what was said and got events a bit wrong (the placeholder comment came after things blew up and dude agreed to change it, so it was seen as damage control by some), if only it really was a simple "it doesn't feel right", but no it was a bit more then that and included a "think of teh children D:" moment, taking away context and stripping it down to a one neutral sentence is kinda cheating. I could keep nitpicking little bits of what people said here and there but it would serve no purpose as:

If there is ONE thing to keep from this thread, it's that it's amazing how everyone seems to remember chain of events slightly differently and have their own interpretation to best suit their bias. I guess there's only way to settle this...
Be sarcastic and condescending with what I disagree with, and asspat the views and forumites who say stuff I agree with!
Huh, might be a few years late but maybe I'm finally starting to figure out how forums work...
(and no this bit wasn't addressed at you, you seem fairly polite and respectable, but commenting on the general tone of other responses here xP)

 

[Erttheking]

It's possible to enjoy a game and not love every last thing about it.

Also the fact that they're only complaining to score PC points is something you can never prove. Maybe, just maybe, they honestly think what they say and are voicing their views.

It is also possible to enjoy complaining more than any (other) game.

Now to be fair, that's kind of what Zero Punctuation is about too, but at least Yahtzee does it with enough wit, verve and originality to keep the viewer entertained. Some NeoGAF tosser breathlessly searching for sins against the Church of St. Anita not so much.

And it's also possible to enjoy complaining about complaining more than a game. Your point?

Sins against the church of St. Anita. I just...*Sigh* really? Really man? Do I have to point out how that's massively hyperbole? Mainly because Anita never comes up?

 

[fractal_butterfly]

First I wanted to try out Overwatch and see what all the fuzz is about. Then I saw, that it costs f*ing $60, while normally this type of game is for free. And suddenly I was not interested anymore.