"Zero Punctuation" and "Dev Diary" by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw - The only thing worth watching on The Escapist

[The tired cat]

Are his books even any good? Everything I've ever heard about them makes them sound like... well, the kind of books a reviewer would write: the kind of thing where the main characters all vaguely act like they know they're in a work of fiction and comment on all the cliches and stuff, or else intentional "subversions" just so they can say "yeah we've seen this before."

Would be hypocritical if I'm right since this is the kind of thing Yahtzee criticizes in his own reviews, especially if the cliche they're walking into sucks.

The only of his books I ever read was the first called Mogworld (well an audio book read by Yahtzee...and ye the guy is about a captivaiting reader as Will Weaton) and the book def has hurdles for one the main character isnt that super interesting infact hes almost a Yahtzee self insert with him being a very smug/snarky douche, the book reuses A LOT of his material from his reviews in terms of jokes, I dont think the book ever explains how the NPCs in this WoW knock off suddenly gained sentience. Also yes, his self insery does call out cliches

 

[skykiii]

The only of his books I ever read was the first called Mogworld (well an audio book read by Yahtzee...and ye the guy is about a captivaiting reader as Will Weaton) and the book def has hurdles for one the main character isnt that super interesting infact hes almost a Yahtzee self insert with him being a very smug/snarky douche, the book reuses A LOT of his material from his reviews in terms of jokes, I dont think the book ever explains how the NPCs in this WoW knock off suddenly gained sentience. Also yes, his self insery does call out cliches

I'm actually not surprised about the main being a self-insert. That was the case in his adventure game Five Days a Stranger as well... a game where early on, said self-insert almost goes on a rant about why television sucks before getting stopped by another character.

 

[The tired cat]

I'm actually not surprised about the main being a self-insert. That was the case in his adventure game Five Days a Stranger as well... a game where early on, said self-insert almost goes on a rant about why television sucks before getting stopped by another character.

Ye that's kind of the same deal with Mogworld, characters surrounding him he finds annoying: one is this zombie gal who's very positive and upbeat, and the other is this crazy zombie priest who near the end turns out is a powerful spellcaster (to the point he can cast a fireball spell just by wiggling his toes) and finally, this dumb rogue, who, again, near the end turns out is actually a super bright dude and we're supposed to agree with Yahtzee's self insert how these people are stupid and annoying while liking HIM more than these other characters. One thing I noticed with his later books from what I quickly skimmed, is that it would seem he wants to be the next Terry Pratchett. The only issue is he doesn't really have the skills or wit for it.

 

[skykiii]

Ye that's kind of the same deal with Mogworld, characters surrounding him he finds annoying: one is this zombie gal who's very positive and upbeat, and the other is this crazy zombie priest who near the end turns out is a powerful spellcaster (to the point he can cast a fireball spell just by wiggling his toes) and finally, this dumb rogue, who, again, near the end turns out is actually a super bright dude and we're supposed to agree with Yahtzee's self insert how these people are stupid and annoying while liking HIM more than these other characters. One thing I noticed with his later books from what I quickly skimmed, is that it would seem he wants to be the next Terry Pratchett. The only issue is he doesn't really have the skills or wit for it.

When it comes to "wit," I've always suspected that Yahtzee dried up early into doing ZP. Some of his early reviews (the first 100 or so) are actually kind of funny, but after that it starts feeling like he's just tired. I especially noticed the issue set in when he started doing Extra Punctuation, and it led me to think maybe he was overexerting.

I also remember getting the feeling that he fell into a rut of seeing one or two things he didn't like and then acting like they were big game industry issues. Particularly around the time of the Splatterhouse remake (where I've seen other reviewers say that a lot of its flaws are exaggerated). He reviewed that... then did an Extra Punctuation about how action games are becoming dominated by a "Glory Kills" mechanic (I forget what they were actually called in that particular game) where he also characterized the game itself as being all about the GKs.

When you say "the characters turn out to be really smart" do you mean in the sense that "Plot Twist, they were brilliant the whole time" or do you mean "Yahtzee wants you to think they're dumb but the writing doesn't actually support that"? (The latter would be yet another thing these novels have in common with his old adventure games).

 

[Coolio55]

Has anyone read Jam? I remember it being an enjoyable if short romp back in 2012 but the actual plot other than a tarantula, a bunch of people trapped in a shopping centre in binbag suits and some female cia agent completely escapes me.
Didn't read Mogworld because even as a young teenager the concept seemed cringy as hell.

Also, Yahtzee solicited ideas from his forum for Jam which is hilarious because he ripped into DNF and possibly some other game devs for doing the same thing. Calling them "fucking desparate".

 

[The tired cat]

When you say "the characters turn out to be really smart" do you mean in the sense that "Plot Twist, they were brilliant the whole time" or do you mean "Yahtzee wants you to think they're dumb but the writing doesn't actually support that"? (The latter would be yet another thing these novels have in common with his old adventure games).

The former, because turns out this rogue USED to be a player-controlled avatar, but then somehow figured out if he acted like a dumbass he won't be controlled and thus be able to trick everyone.

 

[whatever I feel like]

So I am watching the D&D streams and holy shit, Jack is insufferable. The girl is kind of annoying too. Yahzee clearly has good wit and comic timing though. As usual he steals the show.

 

[The tired cat]

I think what really bugged me about his Mogworld book was the final chapter. So, all through the story the main character wants to get deleted and in the end gets his wish. Then, one of the programmers (whom Yahtzee reads like the guys a total retard) and wants to give Yahtzee self insert a better ending, so he goes through these scenarios of him being this powerful darklord or this big buff Conan like dude an they get scrubbed for being "too cliche". So, in the end what happens is they go back to where the story started and before the self insert became an undead, he decides to leave his village and the peppy girl talks about being a hero and his response is "I dont wanna be a hero. I wanna be a protagonist!"

 

[Drkinferno72]

haven't watched any of yahtzees streams since kess left and, to be fair, from what i have seen KC actually seems to have SOME charisma with him -- makes a change from the dull silences of vie ventar.

still cant replace gabe though... but since aaron from KEC trooned out I cant even watch gabe anymore

Yeah I saw Aaron is now Amber. When the hell did that happen?

 

[Drkinferno72]

I think what really bugged me about his Mogworld book was the final chapter. So, all through the story the main character wants to get deleted and in the end gets his wish. Then, one of the programmers (whom Yahtzee reads like the guys a total retard) and wants to give Yahtzee self insert a better ending, so he goes through these scenarios of him being this powerful darklord or this big buff Conan like dude an they get scrubbed for being "too cliche". So, in the end what happens is they go back to where the story started and before the self insert became an undead, he decides to leave his village and the peppy girl talks about being a hero and his response is "I dont wanna be a hero. I wanna be a protagonist!"

His books drag a lot in the middle

 

[Zachary_Quack]

i like yahtzee's books. his two current series are quite good

 

[Professor G. Raff]

I didn't watch Zero Punctuation for years and now having seen a few modern episodes... does Yahtzee have like a cuck quota where he has to throw in one "hurr durr, Republicans bad" line per episode? It's really quite formulaic... of the like 8 most recent episodes like clockwork there is one random line in that style. I know he's British so his opinions don't matter, but it's so annoying when people do this shit.

 

[Coolio55]

Lol at yahtzee mentioning calarts style and the comments section immediately filling with rage.

 

[WULULULULU]

Yep, I'm unsubscribing. I think I had enough discussions of pro-abortion bullshit ever since the twitterspace went full assmad mode on Roe v Wade. Just watch older ZP, they are more enjoyable and have more replay value than the newer ones.

 

[The tired cat]

View attachment 3512100
Yep, I'm unsubscribing. I think I had enough discussions of pro-abortion bullshit ever since the twitterspace went full assmad mode on Roe v Wade. Just watch older ZP, they are more enjoyable and have more replay value than the newer ones.

An this is a guy who made dead baby jokes and called out Ctrl+Alt+Delete for having a miscarriage plotline

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

Puh, leftie snowflakes, can't take any criticism from BASED conservative comedians, you guys can't take a joke heh. NNoooooo you can't just consistently throw in three-second jabs for years and years of the same exact political bent, I literally can't take it I'm shaking this deeply offends my character I'm going to throw my zero punctuation off of my second-floor balcony

The guy hasn't hid his bent for years and clearly doesn't give a shit. I rarely watch his post-zp streams, but I was curious about the presentation of this one (as I expected, I hate it, and it reads like it was written by the archetypal zoomer teenager trying to be deep), and in it he loudly pooh-poohed the people complaining about the term "calarts" as effectively just trying to cancel people, including the ren and stimpy guy. I really do not think he gives a shit if a two-second trump gag and a two-second abortion ruling gag gets the pearls clutched and the couches fainted upon, in the same way he doesn't care if him using the term calarts makes some trannies skip a heartbeat

It would be like willingly watching Jeremy Hambeast and then malding every time he made a Biden sniffing joke. What were you expecting? (I can't really think of a conservative equivalent to ZP who isn't on the level of Hambeast's "quality," as otherwise I'd have brought them up.)

 

[capitalBBustard]

Puh, leftie snowflakes, can't take any criticism from BASED conservative comedians, you guys can't take a joke heh. NNoooooo you can't just consistently throw in three-second jabs for years and years of the same exact political bent, I literally can't take it I'm shaking this deeply offends my character I'm going to throw my zero punctuation off of my second-floor balcony​

The guy hasn't hid his bent for years and clearly doesn't give a shit. I rarely watch his post-zp streams, but I was curious about the presentation of this one (as I expected, I hate it, and it reads like it was written by the archetypal zoomer teenager trying to be deep), and in it he loudly pooh-poohed the people complaining about the term "calarts" as effectively just trying to cancel people, including the ren and stimpy guy. I really do not think he gives a shit if a two-second trump gag and a two-second abortion ruling gag gets the pearls clutched and the couches fainted upon, in the same way he doesn't care if him using the term calarts makes some trannies skip a heartbeat

It would be like willingly watching Jeremy Hambeast and then malding every time he made a Biden sniffing joke. What were you expecting? (I can't really think of a conservative equivalent to ZP who isn't on the level of Hambeast's "quality," as otherwise I'd have brought them up.)

"if you complain about shitlib preaching, you're just as bad as trannies"

​

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

"if you complain about shitlib preaching, you're just as bad as trannies"

"Everything should cater to my delicate sensibilities, and it's everyone else's fault that I have thin skin."

lol a two second abortion joke and a two second delta airlines to canada joke now qualifies as "preaching"

 

[capitalBBustard]

"Everything should cater to my delicate sensibilities, and it's everyone else's fault that I have thin skin."​

you had a 3 paragraph spergout over someone disliking shitlib preaching, that's textbook projection

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

you had a 3 paragraph spergout over someone disliking shitlib preaching, that's textbook projection

took maybe two minutes to type, work on your wpm you ogre

see, I wrote this other two-minute post over in the jontron thread where i mentioned that most people who dislike something... just don't consume it, but the kinds of people who loudly proclaim they are NOT WATCHING SOMETHING BECAUSE IT IS OFFENSIVE!!! tend to be attention whores and trannies, so pick your poison or realize that he's been making these jokes for ten fucking years. your brittle glass bones may not be able to handle the heat coming from a man who admits openly to wearing fedoras and trenchcoats in his life