Jim Sterling / James "Stephanie" Sterling / James Stanton/Sexton & in memoriam TotalBiscuit (John Bain) - One Gaming Lolcow Thread

[Moja Zemlja]

According to Jim the "top ten" list isn't ranked, why he chose to include a pictue of Sonic (at the end of the list) is truly a mystery. He can't be knowingly stirring the pot surely


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Spoiler

10. Dying Light 2
9. Chocobo GP
8. Ashigaru: The Last Shogun
7. Diablo Immortal
6. The Last Oricru
5. Scorn
4. Babylon's Fall
3. Gotham Knights
2. The Callisto Protocol
1. Sonic Frontiers

I'm surprised by how many games on there are objectively bad, after seeing Dying Light 2 and Chocobo GP on there I thought it was all going to be games he didn't like for one reason or another as opposed to actually shit games.

Anyway, onto more pressing matters: I thought since Jim is a bloated old misery guts, we could do our own top and bottom 5 video games again this year. Same rules as last time, the game doesn't have to have been released in 2022, you just have to have played it for the first time this year. Feel free to give details about your choices (but spoiler for length) or just a straight list, your choice.

Spoiler: Top 3

1. Crusader Kings 2
Not the first time I've played it but its one of the few games that I'll come back to year after year and dump hours into, it just has that right mixture of grand strat and RPG elements that make it so much fun and not even it's sequel got quite right
2. Regiments
I used to be a huge fan of Wargame AirLand Battle and always wanted to true successor to it for years after the MP scene finally died, Regiments came along and scratched that itch. I love the game and the only bad thing I can say about it is that since its a solo dev there is only so much content but damn it I want more
3. Dawn of War II
Also not the first time I played it but I was going through the series replaying the campaigns and was reminded why this was the first game I truly dumped hours and hours into. A smaller scale more tactical RTS but the real gem is the campaign, expanding on the RPG elements on the DoW 1 expac campaigns you get a satisfying gameplay loop with simple but very likeable cast of characters
Hourable Mention: Rogue Trader
Not a game that has actually come out yet for the past few weeks I've been playing the alpha and having a lot of fun, its very rough around the edges as expected but its a solid experience

Spoiler: Bottom 3

None of these games are actually bad, but for some reason or another I ended up dropping them or disliking them
1. War Thunder
I used to really enjoy playing WT but I think its unique in games in that the more new content they add the more I hate playing it, through balance changes and new content they've all but killed any fun I could have in it
2. Isonzo
My dislike for Isonzo is based heavily on having played a lot of and loved Verdun, with that game I could look past a lot of the jank and enjoy a game that was based already a fairly novel gamemode that was fun to play. Isonzo is a game that came out seven years later, is still as janky but without the USP of frontlines.
3. Darktide
I actually really enjoy playing it, the minute to minute gameplay is (mostly) great but its just a shame who it's developed by. Even now at two months after release its not even at the point where I'd say its a 1.0 finished game and I'd be surprised if it is by the end of 2023

 

[Oliver Onions]

According to Jim the "top ten" list isn't ranked, why he chose to include a pictue of Sonic (at the end of the list) is truly a mystery. He can't be knowingly stirring the pot surely

View attachment 4159956
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It's really, really funny seeing Jim try this weak-ass 'le ebin troll XD' shit in the same week he's been screeching about anything even loosely associated with J.K. Rowling 'literally promoting fascism'.

Try all you want, Jimbo, you will never troll Gamers™ as hard as JKR trolls you by simply existing as a woman with an opinion. Cope and seethe, fat boy.

 

[Slur Generator]

Today I saw a video of a gentleman being dragged by a fedex tractor trailer about 500 yards before the video cut off; screams coming out while his bone, organs and sinew were being painted on the cold hard concrete after his failed attempt to jack the trailer for its content were met with a panicked driver flooring it, catching him in the wheels in the process.

The above picture is by far the worst thing I've seen today

Thats justice.

 

[Shotgun Badger]

Ahead of Jim's end of year review, I've updated his Top & Bottom over time list. This was made more annoying thanks to YouTube doing more pointless updates to their layout.
View attachment 4159473
The most fascinating thing to note about this is that we now see a fairly consistent trend over 3 years that his Top Ten Shittiest performs as well as the previous year's Top Five Best. Well, maybe 'fascinating' is a strong word, but I certainly find patterns like this interesting, as well as the generally plummeting performance of his channel.

Lol, look at that video almost reaching a million views back in 2019.

All those subscribers, gone, like tears in the rain...

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

Man, imagine if J.K Rowling and Hitler swapped places. Post-Weimar Germany would have a lot more womens shelters and children's charities, and ironically a lot less dead trannies, but instead of House-Elves, Hogwarts would just have a bunch of Slavs. And Voldemort would definitely have a nose.

 

[Shotgun Badger]

Man, imagine if J.K Rowling and Hitler swapped places. Post-Weimar Germany would have a lot more womens shelters and children's charities, and ironically a lot less dead trannies, but instead of House-Elves, Hogwarts would just have a bunch of Slavs. And Voldemort would definitely have a nose.

I was fairly lukewarm about Harry Potter as a kid, and mostly didn't care about Rowling for the longest time, but damn her TERF arc is amazing, its like that meme of the two women screaming at the cat except the cat is a billionaire children's book author who thinks men probably shouldn't be put in women's prisons and the two women are Troons in terrible wigs.

 

[Luigi Cadorna]

What's with this dude's hate boner for Sonic? Does he still think that making fun of Sonic is still relevant? I mean, Sonic 06 was 16 fucking years ago and some people still won't let up on it. I played Frontiers and it was pretty good, not great, but still enjoyable and certainly no where near being the "shitiest game of 2022." Most of the criticisms he has for the game are just generic things you would say about any bad game but with no examples to show for. I remember when he was calling Sonic 4 a good game even though it was absolute shit. And anyone who said it was bad were man babies because they expected a game claiming the be a direct sequel to play like the Genesis games. What does Jim think a good game even is?

Way back in 2014 (when Jim actually cared about video games) he had a video where he ranted about how Sega ditches every half decent foundation for a new Sonic game they come up with in favor of some new complete gameplay overhaul. Eight years later every 3D Sonic game has continued this pattern (Lost Worlds, Forces, Frontiers) and Jim is probably just sick of it. Whatever small part of him that still likes gaming probably is driven off the edge by Sonic Team's ineptitude.

 

[Oliver Onions]

Way back in 2014 (when Jim actually cared about video games) he had a video where he ranted about how Sega ditches every half decent foundation for a new Sonic game they come up with in favor of some new complete gameplay overhaul. Eight years later every 3D Sonic game has continued this pattern (Lost Worlds, Forces, Frontiers) and Jim is probably just sick of it. Whatever small part of him that still likes gaming probably is driven of the edge by Sonic Team's ineptitude.

I think it's hugely charitable of you to suggest Jim puts anywhere near that level of thought into his Current Year positions. Old Jim had a point about Sonic Team not sticking with an idea, but this is trolling for trolling's sake pure and simple.

Sonic Frontiers is far from perfect, but to hear Jim talk about it you'd think they'd delivered another Sonic '06-tier disaster. Even Yahtzee gave it a decent review, and when the guy who's paid to be a cynical dickhead is more even-handed than you odds are you're just doing it for attention.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

I actually saw this on gamepass recently and installed it but haven't started yet. Seeing it here will bump it up on my play list.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is really good.

 

[Luigi Cadorna]

I think it's hugely charitable of you to suggest Jim puts anywhere near that level of thought into his Current Year positions. Old Jim had a point about Sonic Team not sticking with an idea, but this is trolling for trolling's sake pure and simple.

Sonic Frontiers is far from perfect, but to hear Jim talk about it you'd think they'd delivered another Sonic '06-tier disaster. Even Yahtzee gave it a decent review, and when the guy who's paid to be a cynical dickhead is more even-handed than you odds are you're just doing it for attention.

I'm not doubting that he largely included it on the list for the rage clicks from the Sonic fanbase. All I'm saying is that we all know Jim loves to harp and harp on about the same topics. Sonic Team repeating the trend Jim described probably did give him some legitimate disdain for the game. If it was any other franchise he probably wouldn't have included it on the list but the added bonus of pissing off the Sonic fans definitely made him add it.

 

[Lightly Buttered Crumpet]

I maintain the entire Sonic Frontiers chimpout was just him trying to create a backlash so he could play victim, given Sonic fans are notorious for being literally autistic and spilling their spaghetti any time you point out Sonic Team have had 20 years and still can't make Sonic move consistently in a 3D space without bugging the fuck out.

Anyway, onto more pressing matters: I thought since Jim is a bloated old misery guts, we could do our own top and bottom 5 video games again this year. Same rules as last time, the game doesn't have to have been released in 2022, you just have to have played it for the first time this year. Feel free to give details about your choices (but spoiler for length) or just a straight list, your choice.

Top 5 Games 2022

Spoiler: Best

1. Sekiro - Easily my favourite FromSoft game, and the only one I've actually finished, (still not played Elden Ring,) the faster pace and emphasis on rhythmic parrying is way more up my street than dodge-rolling everywhere.

2. Nioh 2 - Nioh is probably my favourite soulslike of all time, and Nioh 2 is basically the exact same game but with everything done better (as well as the introduction of a parry system).

3. Death's Door - I hated this game on my first playthrough, but going back to do an umbrella run made me appreciate the finesse of the combat a lot more. Still has some very questionable hitboxes but for a game made by such a small team it's absolutely fantastic.

4. Prodeus - This is the first of the Boomer Shooter revival games I've played, and I'm not sure it's even the best of the crop, but I had an absolute blast playing it from start to finish.

5. Resident Evil Village - Not remotely scary, but the combat feels amazing and for the first time in history I actually found myself invested in a RE story.

Bottom 5 Games 2022

Spoiler: Worst (Relatively Speaking)

1. The Medium - I'm mainly including this to say the people freaking out over the 'toxic' ending are fucking retarded. It wasn't a metaphor, it was a literal demon possession. Unfortunately that's the only defence I have of the game (looks pretty too, I guess) because it's boring as fuck and not challenging outside of the bullshit insta-kill stealth sections.

2. Deathloop - I remain convinced if you took someone who had never played Dishonored and showed them it and Deathloop side by side they'd assume Dishonored was the newer game. Deathloop is a regression in every way shape and form; there is nothing to be found here that isn't already in Dishonored and a million times better.

3. Ghost of Tsushima - Braindead, poorly implemented combat, a predictable story with boring, generic samurai movie characters, excruciatingly dull side activities (except for the duels, those were boss), the only redeeming features are a legitimately beautiful (albeit far too big) world and the very last fight was absolutely great.

4. DOOM Eternal - Might catch some flack for this one, but this was a major disappointment given how much I loved 2016. The platforming and general movement mechanics are fantastic, but I hate how they've reduced the dynamic combat into a game of matching specific weapons to specific enemies to take out their weak points. Also feel like all weakpoint destruction should give bonus ammo, not just the one enemy late in the game. Still a lot of fun, but could have been much better.

5. Biomutant - I've not finished this one yet, but I already kind of hate it. The combat is lifeless, with enemies only reacting to your hits under specific conditions, the world is boring to look at and explore, the dialogue is fucking insufferable because you need to hear everything twice and it's overburdened with mechanics that bog down the experience instead of enhancing it.

I will definitely give you flak for Doom Eternal. It took a long time to grow on me but now I really love it.

Top 5

Spoiler: Top 5 games

Dwarf Fortress: OK, so I've been playing this for 12 years in the free ASCII form. The Steam edition is missing a few aspects of the free version but I am hoping they get put back soon. The game is still amazing, though.


Phasmophobia - It's like Most Haunted without Derek Acorah screaming about Sam and Yvette Fielding crying. The best part of the game is having a mate who breathes heavily into the mic all the time. In other games, this pisses me off to no end - in this game, I watch the ghosts kill him due to his inability to stop.


Spider-Man Remastered - I like the open world freedom and combat. It's not a patch on Arkham City but this has been a slow year.


Severed Steel - I can't play this for long periods of time as it's so intense but it's a lot of fun for very little dosh.


Super Animal Royale - I usually hate Battle Royale games because I'm fucking old and my reactions are shit. Games don't last long and they are just plain fun. I think the 2D aspect helps as it's so much more simplistic than shite like Fortnite.

Bottom 5

Spoiler: Bottom 5 games

Scorn: looks nice, plays like shit. Just felt bored throughout


Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - OK, maybe I've not played enough but it's so utterly basic and dull in the first couple of hours I've put in.


Halo Infinite - I've never understood how the Halo series is revered. Very boring and feels like it's trying to copy Doom Eternal with all the jumping and grabbing shit, but it does it poorly. Weapons in the Halo series always feel shit with little feedback.


Honestly, I am stopping there as I can't really think of any games that pissed me off. Maybe they were so boring that I just forgot them.

 

[A Watchful Ghost]

the subreddit r/gamingcirclejerk are even banning everyone who posts anything positive about Hogwarts Legacy boasting they've banned 1,150 "transphobic" people as they believe anyone who wants to play the game must be transphobic.

It's even being reported on some sites - https://kotaku.com/hogwarts-legacy-controversy-reddit-harry-potter-rowling-1849933298

Guessing Jim is one of the people riding this wave of weirdness because there's simply a game about Hogwarts.

These people have weaponized autism in the worst possible way, but hey numbers don't lie, so they can seethe, and cope about this when it eventually sells a lot of copies, and it's a success. I can already see them lashing out at others for not being with them.

I think it's hugely charitable of you to suggest Jim puts anywhere near that level of thought into his Current Year positions. Old Jim had a point about Sonic Team not sticking with an idea, but this is trolling for trolling's sake pure and simple.

Sonic Frontiers is far from perfect, but to hear Jim talk about it you'd think they'd delivered another Sonic '06-tier disaster. Even Yahtzee gave it a decent review, and when the guy who's paid to be a cynical dickhead is more even-handed than you odds are you're just doing it for attention.

And also ego. His heels are too dug into the sand that it must have pissed him off when even people who are not attacking him called him out on his atrocious review. His ego will not allow being in the wrong, or even a moment of self reflection. He has to be on the right, he has to be the one holding the knife. Otherwise, Sterling will not let it go.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

Sonic Frontiers is both the weirdest and least surprising contribution to the list. I know quite a lot of sonic fans, and have noticed a fascinating divide, which Jim seems to reinforce - The people who just like sonic as a franchise seem to like the game. The people who are full on sexual degenerates (Furries, troons, etc) have a bone to pick with it. It was to the point that I could accurately predict how they'd feel about it before they played it and came to me about it.

I'll join the game here though - I've joked for a while now that 2022 was the year that games didn't come out in, so a lot of its been catching up on games that I passed up in my college years and early career days.

Spoiler: Top 5 Games

1. Project Wingman - An absolute fucking blast. I played this after Ace Combat 7, and realized that I appear to love these arcade flight shooters, found Wingman, and had a great time. The final boss battle is a little bullshit on its own, but I think by that point I was flying at such a level of confidence that it really was just the right level of challenge, requiring you to have absolutely understood, but not specifically mastered, every mechanic.

2. Touhou Mystia's Izakaya - This game was absolutely adorable. A fun mix of Diner Dash/Tycoon energy with some cute art and a mix of simple but fun mechanics. Memorizing the preferences of regulars, rotating the menu to account for local taste and ingredients on hand, and realizing that I could make items that weren't on the menu as long as I remembered the recipe personally and had the tools on hand helped make this a great little decompression game with a surprising amount of depth. If you like/don't mind the anime aesthetic, its an absolute treat. The game is still catching up on localizing its DLC's to English, but the stuff that is already translated is already a lot of game so I wouldn't fear running into a moon rune wall anytime soon.

3. Final Fantasy 14 - I'm not much of a MMO person, love the concept but practically can't commit the time to keep up with the grind in most of them, especially as my friends drop out of it. FF14 kept my attention by still being pretty fun to play solo, mostly from it deliberately not locking out content. The game wasn't interested in forcing me to relevel 400 characters to try all the things, the jobs system gave me a very runescape feel of "just do what you want and make progress in that space". I still don't play much, but when I do I at least don't feel like I've missed out on some grind that I have to keep up with. One of the few games I've played where tanking feels good.

4. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Way behind the curve on this one, but the resurgence of revengeance memes earlier in the year reminded me that it exists, so I finally picked it up and played it. No regrets, once I got out of a few bullheaded assumptions of how I wanted combat to work, and started playing how the game wanted me to, it was a great time. The narrative is a bit nonsensical, but it also doesn't pretend to be taking itself too seriously, which is something I always appreciate in modern videogames.

5. Nier Automata - A fairly fun hack and slash, but having picked it up directly after MGR:R may have done it a disservice. I haven't gone back for additional endings after getting one of the main ones (And one or two cheese endings) so maybe the story fleshes out, but it was pretty good. I found the combat loop getting a bit dry and grating by the end, but I think that may have been in part me just binging it too hard, because sometimes it would enter a flow state that did feel great. Good boss fights, good environments, and once I got used to it, the viewpoint shifting lead to some fairly fun gameplay that I originally expected would be disorienting.

Spoiler: Bottom 5 Games

1. Callisto Protocol - Sucks to call this game out this way, but its not about the technical issues. The games just a crap horror survival game. Empowered Melee is anathema to a horror experience, especially when firearms are weak in comparison. The last thing you want is for the player to feel confident in, or encouraged to, close with the monsters, as that kills the fear. Immediately reached my 'worst games of the year' list when a big monster jumped up and my immediate reaction was a mild sigh as I already knew how the boss fight would look. Not fear, excitement, or concern, but dejection that this would just take that much longer to be over with. Despite its lofty ambitions as a dead space successor, its just a sort of disappointment. Real pretty though, I'll give it that.

2. MW2 - right out the gate, I'm not a multiplayer guy. Too sweaty for me. Instead, I'm the rare weirdo who buys call of duty to play the campaigns. Have been since I got a console as a kid. And this one was particularly shit, which was a big disappointment after MW1 breathed some new life into the design of the games. All comes down to the armor system really - It completely kills the games reflex based difficulty at higher levels when your enemy has a bulletproof helmet that can soak half a mag. Its not even a realism argument which, while valid, hardly applies to call of duty. Rather, this is a game series about quick reactions in relatively close combat. Having an enemy who can out DPS you in close quarters while soaking your return fire, even if you shoot first, and who's only weakness is putting enough distance between the two of you that their natural inaccuracy puts the DPS dial back in your favor is just shit. Armored enemies completely kill the pacing and engagement, all because the designers were lazy and wanted to recycle a warzone element.

3. Bonelab - What a disappointment. Boneworks was a pretty good VR game, which pushed a lot of the possibilities of the space. By comparison, Bonelab feels like a cheap clone trying to be a sort of VR Garrys Mod. Its only interesting mechanical change, the Avatars, is used as a gimmick in the campaign, and a modding focus so coomers can give themselves tits. This doesn't even feel like a case of two steps forward, one step back - This just feels like they forgot what made the first game good, what made it work, and just did random shit for two years and said "fuck wait we need to sell this" and slapped it together.

4. Subnautica: Below Zero - I thought I'd like this one, but it really just felt like more of the last game, and not in a good way. I was struggling to care about it, land traversal was unengaging and annoying in equal measures, and the game struggled to introduce new threats or mechanics in the portion I played. Maybe it opens up and expands farther in than I got, but I really just felt like I was playing a Subnautica Mod, and not a new game.

5. Dying Light 2: Stay Human - Bad narrative, ok world, and ok gameplay. The world is probably the part that hurt the worst - its not just the visual design and variety that suffers compared to the first game, but the traversal. The original felt like you constantly had options, detours, overrunning paths of traversal and options to keep moving. The sequel on the other hand feels overwrought and underdelivered on that front, with very clear, obvious delineated movement paths, expecting a particular set of traversal skills, and little opportunity to transition between them or alter your approach across them. To the point that the glider feels more like a bandaid to allow off-route navigation more easily. Combat was uncomfortably simplified, with the significant reduction of ranged combat options and more of the melee skills feeling gated than before leaving you with an early game power gap that doesn't feel good - Rather than being a contrast to the powerhouse you become later, it felt more that you were bafflingly incompetent with the worst tools imaginable, and would progress to 'ok, I guess' with tools held together using the right side of the duct tape strip. And narratively, the whole thing was just shit and I can leave it there, plot beholden character motivations and illogical factions abound.

Spoiler: Honorable Mentions

1. Metal Gear Solid 5 - It might be heretical for me to put this below everything else here, but it just wasn't quite as good as maybe I was lead to believe. Don't get me wrong, it was a good, fun game, but maybe its just a bit of age, maybe its just my personal preferences, but I found that it was a bit easy or straightforward - With the exception of enemies that functionally cheated some of the game mechanics like the Skulls, most engagements and operations were fairly rote. Full stealth was occasionally fun but usually just a formulaic slog. Open combat was pretty fun, especially if you got into the base first, and the AI tools with artillery and support were clever but not enough to tilt the balance too hard in their favor. Overall a good game, just not quite the masterpiece some of the internet lead me to believe it might be.

2. Ace Combat 7 - got me back into the genre after all these years, but couldn't quite eke out everything else on the list. It was good enough to bring be back in hard enough to find Project Wingman, and that alone was enough to earn this honorable mention. That being said, be careful about observing the award, might be Belkans around who would disapprove.

3. Dwarf Fortress - Bear with me, this only makes honorable mention because I've been playing since 2009, but the Steam version gets some accolade for succeeding (mostly) in its goal of opening Dwarf Fortress to mere mortals. While I want my Dwarf Therapist back, what the game has is suitable to modern audiences, and has control 'enough' to let them run a satisfactory fortress. If you haven't played, I cannot recommend taking this chance enough. Don't worry it too much, just strike the earth and see how it goes for you.

 

[TheRaptorJesus]

Has he really not spent any money fixing up that abandoned building he moved to?

 

[Prince Vegeta]

Has he really not spent any money fixing up that abandoned building he moved to?

That's just what houses look like in Britain.

 

[MugolEx]

Way back in 2014 (when Jim actually cared about video games) he had a video where he ranted about how Sega ditches every half decent foundation for a new Sonic game they come up with in favor of some new complete gameplay overhaul. Eight years later every 3D Sonic game has continued this pattern (Lost Worlds, Forces, Frontiers) and Jim is probably just sick of it. Whatever small part of him that still likes gaming probably is driven of the edge by Sonic Team's ineptitude.

That is one criticism (and Lord forgive for saying this) that I agree with Jim on. The inconsistency is a major issue with Sega. The art style alone changes in every game. As it has been pointed out many times, Frontiers looks like those UE demos of a cartoon hedgehog running around in a realistic world with realistic animals, it's weird and it never meshes. If Sega changes anything, it's that and they need to stick with it. But for the most part Sega has something good going with Sonic for once and just needs to improve on what they have. Jim's rantings however make it sound like he wanted Sega to fuck up again because in his mind Sega can only ever fuck up.

 

[Lyster]

Remember when Jim was a semi-normal human being working for the Escapist? His descend into madness and bitterness kind of parallels the world from 2014 to now, where everything seems to have gone insane and decadent

 

[Moja Zemlja]

Has he really not spent any money fixing up that abandoned building he moved to?

You’d think that Jim “top tax bracket” Sterling would’ve bought a house with the ungodly amount of money he gets on pattern but no he’s a rentoid for some fucked reason and probably has a limit to what he can do, though more likely than that is the idea that he doesn’t see an issue with it. Jim is likely a hoarder and hoarders rarely give that much of a shit about the environment they live in.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

You’d think that Jim “top tax bracket” Sterling would’ve bought a house with the ungodly amount of money he gets on pattern but no he’s a rentoid for some fucked reason and probably has a limit to what he can do, though more likely than that is the idea that he doesn’t see an issue with it. Jim is likely a hoarder and hoarders rarely give that much of a shit about the environment they live in.

Why would you expect someone who subscribes to the ideology of "Everyone else must adjust to correct my environment, I hold no responsibility for it" to go and improve their life. Once he takes responsibility for his life, he can't just blame its inevitable failures on others.

Mans bitching that he's not getting enough recognition for his shitty wrestling, he is not the kind of man who will go through the process of buying a home, replacing its carpets, painting the walls, etc. Easier to rent, then put the blame for the shit on the landlord.

 

[Lightly Buttered Crumpet]

Why would you expect someone who subscribes to the ideology of "Everyone else must adjust to correct my environment, I hold no responsibility for it" to go and improve their life. Once he takes responsibility for his life, he can't just blame its inevitable failures on others.

Mans bitching that he's not getting enough recognition for his shitty wrestling, he is not the kind of man who will go through the process of buying a home, replacing its carpets, painting the walls, etc. Easier to rent, then put the blame for the shit on the landlord.

At the same time, Jim is massively anti-capitalist and anti-capitalists see landlords as the most evil people on the planet.
It's a hell of a problem for him - he's too lazy to own his own place but also claims to hate capitalism so shouldn't support a landlord.
I think it's just proof that he's actually perfectly fine with capitalism when it serves him, considering he's not giving all his money away like the socialist he claims to be should. I can also imagine him turning up at a bank to get a mortgage makes them freak out and turn him down instantly. On his salary, if he had self-control, he'd easily save the money to buy the house outright, of course, but that involves responsibility and control once again.