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

[The tired cat]

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/desperados-iii-zero-punctuation/
Let's see Yahtzee's review of Desperados 3: Shove expected Trump joke, bitch about the game being hard with the enemy having big eyesight cones, then bitch about the game having a quick save mechanic, finish the mission and bitch about the game having challenges, then act smugly over him dropping the said game.

And the Escapists wonder why he isn't bringing up the number he used to.

I've been watching him for a decade now out of force of habit and I think his political jokes are more "both sides suck" than they were 5-6 years ago when it was almost exclusively "bash the Republicans, conservative talking points, and Australian politicians". It's honestly surprising how few anti-Trump jokes there are considering his political views, like you'd think ZP would be full TDS since 2016. Whatever the reason for that is, he's a good enough writer to not take the low-hanging TDS fruit for his jokes like all the TV comedy writers and comedians in general.

Really, few Anti=Trump jokes? The dude had a huge ass butthurt during his 2016 Zelda Breath of the Wild review where he shoved one Trump jokes or many other moments after 2016 where he kept shoving Trump jokes. The guy has TDS, but only difference he isn't going full tard...yet....

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

Really, few Anti=Trump jokes? The dude had a huge ass butthurt during his 2016 Zelda Breath of the Wild review where he shoved one Trump jokes or many other moments after 2016 where he kept shoving Trump jokes. The guy has TDS, but only difference he isn't going full tard...yet....

He can go weeks without making a Trump joke or put one in the same video as a Bernie or Hillary joke. Compare to practically any comedian on TV and it's night and day. And he rarely makes it feel preachy (like for him that would be the WoW Corrupted Blood video) like I get from said comedians.

 

[Rand /pol/]

Really, few Anti=Trump jokes? The dude had a huge ass butthurt during his 2016 Zelda Breath of the Wild review where he shoved one Trump jokes or many other moments after 2016 where he kept shoving Trump jokes. The guy has TDS, but only difference he isn't going full tard...yet....

"N-NOOOOO YOU CAN'T JOKE ABOUT TRUMP THAT'S TDS!"

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Surprised that one talked about Yahtzee having absolutely shit taste in JRPG's to the point of thinking Persona 5 is better than 4 despite being a worse game in a shinier coat of paint.

Also what's up with him recently talking about lowering the difficulty? It's almost assuredly so he finish the reviews quicker but what's the point then if he doesn't get into intricacies of gameplay?

 

[Marissa Moira]

Surprised that one talked about Yahtzee having absolutely shit taste in JRPG's to the point of thinking Persona 5 is better than 4 despite being a worse game in a shinier coat of paint.

Also what's up with him recently talking about lowering the difficulty? It's almost assuredly so he finish the reviews quicker but what's the point then if he doesn't get into intricacies of gameplay?

The dungeons in p4 were bad, but the dungeons in Persona 5 were good, especially the 80 level one.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The dungeons in p4 were bad, but the dungeons in Persona 5 were good, especially the 80 level one.

I don't know, some of the dungeons in 4 (like the cruise ship) were absolutely terrible. But besides that 4 had a superior cast, music, story, emotional beats, atmosphere and way less cringiness of "adults are bad".

 

[Marissa Moira]

I don't know, some of the dungeons in 4 (like the cruise ship) were absolutely terrible. But besides that 4 had a superior cast, music, story, emotional beats, atmosphere and way less cringiness of "adults are bad".

All those things outside of dungeon layout have zero effect on the actual gameplay.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

All those things outside of dungeon layout have zero effect on the actual gameplay.

I disagree, besides the VN gameplay, having an emotional attachment to a game can make the gameplay feel far more engaging. No part in 5 got me invested as the part in 4 where Nanako is kidnapped and the dungeon in it is great despite being randomly generated due to the visuals and the music.

 

[Marissa Moira]

I disagree, besides the VN gameplay, having an emotional attachment to a game can make the gameplay feel far more engaging. No part in 5 got me invested as the part in 4 where Nanako is kidnapped and the dungeon in it is great despite being randomly generated due to the visuals and the music.

You're enabling developers like Naughty Dog with opinions like that.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

You're enabling developers like Naughty Dog with opinions like that.

The difference is that good developers actually invest time and effort to make the player connect and have a payoff that improves the gaming experience, while hacks like Cuckman try to emotionally manipulate you into thinking you are having fun. Bad people misusing good things doesn't make the good thing bad.

 

[Marissa Moira]

The difference is that good developers actually invest time and effort to make the player connect and have a payoff that improves the gaming experience, while hacks like Cuckman try to emotionally manipulate you into thinking you are having fun. Bad people misusing good things doesn't make the good thing bad.

Once you start treating a game like a movie or a TV series you've already lost the appeal and purpose of the medium.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Once you start treating a game like a movie or a TV series you've already lost the appeal and purpose of the medium.

How what I said can be construed as treating a game like a movie or a TV series? I'm not speaking about Persona 4 being good because it has a "cinematic" experience, but just having a plot that engages the player, which is not unique in any way to TV or movies?

 

[Marissa Moira]

How what I said can be construed as treating a game like a movie or a TV series? I'm not speaking about Persona 4 being good because it has a "cinematic" experience, but just having a plot that engages the player, which is not unique in any way to TV or movies?

Actually yes it is, it's pretty exclusive to TVs and Movies if we're talking in modern visual media. Stage Plays can also use it but they tend to be bound by things like musical numbers which are the very definition of an event that disrupts the flow of the story. It's also why earlier movies that were just recorded plays and musicals are also considered awful because they used none of what made film unique. They had no alternate camera angles or creative framing because that's not used in stage plays. By removing in depth interactivity to games in exchange for the story to hold your hand and drag you along, you're doing the same thing by taking another medium and trying to shoe horn it into the confines and restrictions of a earlier medium. All it does is show the creative team's lack of understanding of what makes different forms of media work. It's why people shit on TLOU2 and Volcano High.

 

[Pumpkin Girl IRL]

Oh no, two jabs at Trump. How will the President recover from this endless thrashing.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Actually yes it is, it's pretty exclusive to TVs and Movies if we're talking in modern visual media. Stage Plays can also use it but they tend to be bound by things like musical numbers which are the very definition of an event that disrupts the flow of the story. It's also why earlier movies that were just recorded plays and musicals are also considered awful because they used none of what made film unique. They had no alternate camera angles or creative framing because that's not used in stage plays. By removing in depth interactivity to games in exchange for the story to hold your hand and drag you along, you're doing the same thing by taking another medium and trying to shoe horn it into the confines and restrictions of a earlier medium. All it does is show the creative team's lack of understanding of what makes different forms of media work. It's why people shit on TLOU2 and Volcano High.

Books and art (at least the old kind) can definitely engage the reader/viewer. Even campfire stories told 10000 years ago were told to engage the listener and get him to concentrate on what's being told.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Books and art (at least the old kind) can definitely engage the reader/viewer. Even campfire stories told 10000 years ago were told to engage the listener and get him to concentrate on what's being told.

Books are not a visual medium and neither are oral stories.

Games engage the player by interactivity and being proactive, all other forms of media are passive. If you have a game where all of it is passive reading or watching events unfold and you have minimal to no freedom, that's a bad game.

 

[The tired cat]

Oh no, two jabs at Trump. How will the President recover from this endless thrashing.

Gimme a call when those jokes are actually funny, then we'll talk.

 

[Rich Evans Apologist]

Surprised that one talked about Yahtzee having absolutely shit taste in JRPG's to the point of thinking Persona 5 is better than 4 despite being a worse game in a shinier coat of paint.

Also what's up with him recently talking about lowering the difficulty? It's almost assuredly so he finish the reviews quicker but what's the point then if he doesn't get into intricacies of gameplay?

It's important to consider who he is as a reviewer and personality when looking at his reviews. He's never, afaik, argued himself to be objective - indeed, struck the idea down. I think the reason that he likes P5 is because it's flashy, and that's about it. The gameplay is a little more visually interesting, but it's just about as shallow as 4 was - with a few new bells and whistles, I guess.

I prefer P4's cast and story and progression, but I can see why Benny boy wouldn't - they capture precisely what he doesn't like in a game that isn't artsy. Uninteresting gameplay and a story that involves a good number of anime tropes isn't going to hold or invest him long enough to get to the point where the game pays off - and even when it does, this guy's not likely to be much impacted by it. Until the final act, the game isn't really very showy or flashy, and those tend to be the elements he likes most in a narrative that's otherwise just kitschy.

 

[Pumpkin Girl IRL]

Similar issues with, say, Code Vein and Gravity Rush. No matter how solid the gameplay is you're still wading through a lot of scenes where fresh faced teenagers nod dramatically and repeat each others' dialogue.

 

[Lemmingwise]

I haven't thought about yahtzee in a long time, until I saw this thread

There is one phrase from zero punctuation that always stuck with me. It's "eve players are to nerds what nerds are to regular people".