Zero Punctuation: Shadow of the Colossus
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
This whole review and the comments regarding both games hit you pretty close to home, huh? That's a good essay you've got going on there.TheBaron87 said:
I know I did something along these lines last week but I'll do it again in a slightly more aggressive tone. Note that this is NOT to convince Yahtzee to review something that he doesn't enjoy, it's just calling him out.
Saying your opinion as a game reviewer doesn't matter on a certain genre is like saying you can't criticize dramas as a film critic. If you love games, you'll be able to criticize any game. My only gripe is that he never actually reviewed a Blizzard game (i.e. a very good PC game) and only wallows in beating the dead horse that is the current platform gaming era. I can't wait for the excuse he'll come up with to not review Diablo 3.
Saying your opinion as a game reviewer doesn't matter on a certain genre is like saying you can't criticize dramas as a film critic. If you love games, you'll be able to criticize any game. My only gripe is that he never actually reviewed a Blizzard game (i.e. a very good PC game) and only wallows in beating the dead horse that is the current platform gaming era. I can't wait for the excuse he'll come up with to not review Diablo 3.
It's okay, I don't really care for SCII either. I dislike RTS's in general-- all I ever got out of them was the feature, the gimmick of being able to select people and tell them to kill stuff. I call it a gimmick because, while the other things that RTS's have to offer might be otherwise deep and fun, it isn't my cupp-a tea so I never cared to do things more than once in them. I prefer a game where you're in the action, and while your strategy matters too, the majority of whether you'll succeed or not goes into the very moment of confrontation. I hate plotting where my army will go, but I like thinking about where I, and maybe a few friends will go.
And I know SCII has a third person mode. That's why I originally would have bought it. I mean, if anything would get me into RTS's, SCII would be it. In the mean time, I don't really have the money to get every game I could want and have to make my purchases wisely. Like Symphony of the Night.
And I know SCII has a third person mode. That's why I originally would have bought it. I mean, if anything would get me into RTS's, SCII would be it. In the mean time, I don't really have the money to get every game I could want and have to make my purchases wisely. Like Symphony of the Night.
<3 this review.
As for all the RTS folks out there crying that "SC2 didn't get a good review" get over it, a lot of gamers hate RTS.
For example, I happen to dislike RTS because it takes thy strategy out of strategy games. Basically I happen to think the design of a RTS starts with taking the idea for a good strategy game, then they take out the turns and lower the complexity so low a four year old can learn to play and win at the game and violla you have a RTS. Now there is still room for strategy in there, its just that your average gamer doesn't actually utilize it or even realize its there. Yes there is more to it than spamming your best unit and throwing them at the zergs, but you can actually win at many RTSs by doing just that.
I compare it to the difference between Chess and 10-second lightning chess. Yes all the same moves are possible there but the game looses a lot when you restrict each side to only 10 seconds and becomes almost exclusively about what can you can speed past your opponents defense. There is more finesse in regular chess.
As for all the RTS folks out there crying that "SC2 didn't get a good review" get over it, a lot of gamers hate RTS.
For example, I happen to dislike RTS because it takes thy strategy out of strategy games. Basically I happen to think the design of a RTS starts with taking the idea for a good strategy game, then they take out the turns and lower the complexity so low a four year old can learn to play and win at the game and violla you have a RTS. Now there is still room for strategy in there, its just that your average gamer doesn't actually utilize it or even realize its there. Yes there is more to it than spamming your best unit and throwing them at the zergs, but you can actually win at many RTSs by doing just that.
I compare it to the difference between Chess and 10-second lightning chess. Yes all the same moves are possible there but the game looses a lot when you restrict each side to only 10 seconds and becomes almost exclusively about what can you can speed past your opponents defense. There is more finesse in regular chess.
Once again, the so-called writer likes a storyless game with the most lazy developing studio ever. Bravo, Yahtzee.
(Yeah, I've played and finished psychonauts, half-life, SotC, painkiller...)
(Yeah, I've played and finished psychonauts, half-life, SotC, painkiller...)
I don't understand why anyone would pressure him to review Starcraft 2. There are plenty of reviews out there (including on this site), there are videos from Totalbiscuit (who covers the British Accent niche), and, most importantly of all, he has repeatedly stated that RTS games are not his forte (which begs the question, 'what is his forte?').
It's like trying to get a famous neuro-surgeon to perform a heart transplant; wrong area of expertise. It's nice that you're trying to force someone to do something they don't want to do, but all of polite society is laughing at you, as they tend to do.
It's like trying to get a famous neuro-surgeon to perform a heart transplant; wrong area of expertise. It's nice that you're trying to force someone to do something they don't want to do, but all of polite society is laughing at you, as they tend to do.
This is stupid. People are not asking Bioware to make an RTS, they are asking a critic to criticize.MajoraPersona said:
There's a HUGE difference between MAKING something (where the term 'area of expertise' applies) and CRITICIZING something.
God, I've yet to find an intelligent critique of SC among all this game snobbery. It's either 'RTS=bad' or 'in myyyy RTS we do all sorts of other things that SC doesn't do (aka,' mommy, why don't people like my game as much as SC?')'. None of it has any interest in understanding the game. They're just trying to write it off to justify their status as a gamer.
It doesn't really matter that Yahtzee doesn't like SC or RTSs because it's his job not to like most games. But the validation this gives to his peons is a bit annoying.
If only they had the maturity to accept that you don't have to 'get' something in order for it to be good.
It doesn't really matter that Yahtzee doesn't like SC or RTSs because it's his job not to like most games. But the validation this gives to his peons is a bit annoying.
If only they had the maturity to accept that you don't have to 'get' something in order for it to be good.
Thanks Yahtzee, This is my favorite game of all time. Its proof that games are art. I cant remember the last time I had so many OMG moments in a game. It has been my unspoken wish since I started watching your reviews to hear you review SOTC. Everything in the game is fantastic from the music to the motion\animation of characters (compare Agros animation to Epona from Zelda or any other horse in a game and the all seem stiff and lifeless). Its a world filled with substance and mystery not mindless droves of baddies and cookie cutter locations. There is less to do than other games but its done so well you realize that other games just needed filler before anything really interesting happens. Focused substance rather than pointless filler. If you havent played this game please do. I am sure you can pick up a used ps2 and the game for less than $75. But be warned, this game has skewed my perception of video games, its so good that even the best today do not seem to live up to what Team Ico has accomplished.
Everyone go buy Shadow of the Colossus on Amazon or somewhere, right now. (linked for your convenience: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Colossus-Playstation-2/dp/B0009I6S0O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1269909043&sr=8-1 )
And/or send a deluge of letters to the Ico Team in fluent Japanese about why they need to release a PS3 SotC HD port post haste.
I've already done the first option, so my work here is done.
And/or send a deluge of letters to the Ico Team in fluent Japanese about why they need to release a PS3 SotC HD port post haste.
I've already done the first option, so my work here is done.