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

I liked him better back when he was a blogger. He made fun of everything then, not just video games. Here's the archive:


He's also made some kickass games. The Chzo Mythos contained a character that is suspiciously similar to a certain "slender man" that was supposed to have been invented years after. Poor Yahtzee got ripped off. The Galaxy Of Fantabulous Wonderment was also brilliant. Here's the full list so you can play them and then record fast paced yellow videos about how crap they are:


And back in the blogging days we all watched him write his very first novel! Which he never published and can be read for free here:


As you might have guessed, I was a Yahtzee stan back before it was cool. I still have fond memories of the first time he told me to fuck off in the forums.
 
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Cyclonus said:
I liked him better back when he was a blogger. He made fun of everything then, not just video games. Here's the archive:


He's also made some kickass games. The Chzo Mythos contained a character that is suspiciously similar to a certain "slender man" that was supposed to have been invented years after. Poor Yahtzee got ripped off. The Galaxy Of Fantabulous Wonderment was also brilliant. Here's the full list so you can play them and then record fast paced yellow videos about how crap they are:


And back in the blogging days we all watched him write his very first novel! Which he never published and can be read for free here:


As you might have guessed, I was a Yahtzee stan back before it was cool. I still have fond memories of the first time he told me to fuck off in the forums.
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Funny thing, my favorite old memory of Yahtzee was him being told to fuck off back in the AGS days. He did not take criticism as well as he dished it out back then. Went full 2deep4you and everything. He's grown a bit from that, seemingly. Hopefully. The GoG fiasco might indicate otherwise.

Much as everyone, modern Ben himself included, shits on the Chzo Mythos quadrology I actually liked it overall. Good for an amateur effort, though there's still some incredibly dumb things in it. "I just wanted to go to spaaaaace!" and most of 6 Days but especially the cripple sex with not-Jason Voorhees are the main things that spring to mind. Notes was absolutely brilliant and 6 Days wraps a decent if convoluted little bow on the story. I'd like to see it again. Hell, I'd like to see Trilby again as more than an unnamed cameo.

The tall man, yeah. Predates slenderman by a good few years and I've heard rumors, which I could never fully corroborate, that he was actually the inspiration for slenderman in the photoshop contest that spawned him.

Lastly, I'll say he did a bang-up job for using mostly pre-made music early on. The danger theme that accompanied John DaFoe in 5 Days in particular is associated with the series in my mind, despite being royalty free music.
 
There's no way the Slenderman thing is a coincidence. If they were both just tall ghouls without faces then I might buy it, but their names are both "The Adjective Man".
 

Oh boy, another one where he gets preachy. Slipping in "A happy and educated populace runs contrary to the interests of our leaders" on a sign and then in the end credits, and "Only the people running the show truly gain, and the only way to become one of those is to have been one all along."

Yahtz, those statements are so vague that any political leaning could take those statements and run with them, applying them to whomever they see fit. Yes, the teachings of the Qanon movement does in fact run contrary to the interests of those who run the media! Or were you talking about the big bad orange man again?

And of course, the comments are eating it right up, practically indistinguishable from a Reddit thread where everyone repeats the same thing.
 
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Pissmaster said:

Oh boy, another one where he gets preachy. Slipping in "A happy and educated populace runs contrary to the interests of our leaders" on a sign and then in the end credits, and "Only the people running the show truly gain, and the only way to become one of those is to have been one all along."

Yahtz, those statements are so vague that any political leaning could take those statements and run with them, applying them to whomever they see fit. Yes, the teachings of the Qanon movement does in fact run contrary to the interests of those who run the media! Or were you talking about the big bad orange man again?

And of course, the comments are eating it right up, practically indistinguishable from a Reddit thread where everyone repeats the same thing.
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I mean, his comment section both on youtube and Reddit has always been the "Yahztee dick sucking club", you call him out an enjoy getting a ton of messages going "Hurr durr..Yer just buttmad he made fun of yer shitty game!" or "Hurr durr..Yer probably a pissy Nintendo fanboy!!"
 
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Cyclonus said:
There's no way the Slenderman thing is a coincidence. If they were both just tall ghouls without faces then I might buy it, but their names are both "The Adjective Man".
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Late, but seriously? Human folklore is full of "adjective" man (wolf man), frightening tall, albino and thin beings (dracula) and missing a face is also a classic monster trait.
 
Punished Benis said:
Funny thing, my favorite old memory of Yahtzee was him being told to fuck off back in the AGS days. He did not take criticism as well as he dished it out back then. Went full 2deep4you and everything. He's grown a bit from that, seemingly. Hopefully. The GoG fiasco might indicate otherwise.
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He admits he got a bit "Phil Fishy" back then at the beginning of this.
 
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I'm surprised not so see more of a reaction to this...


For people in the thread questioning why Yahtzee is popular, while he may have ridiculous views on a range of subjects, he is at least somewhat self aware. Meanwhile, his editor questions whether cancel culture exists and thinks it's important that morally bad people like JK Rowling get pointed out lest their works poison you with badness.

When this is what he's working alongside, he looks far better and brighter.
 
On one hand, it’s true that pretty much every game has flaws.
On the other hand, how did someone this cynical not find any flaws in Undertale?
 
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Massively Strong Greed said:
On one hand, it’s true that pretty much every game has flaws.
On the other hand, how did someone this cynical not find any flaws in Undertale?
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He gets socially pressured, like when he lambasted either Demon Souls or Dark Souls early on, and did a total 180 after that. Plus, he didn't really properly cover Undertale, he shoehorned it into his best of 2015 video to give it top marks. He praises it but never went into any detail as to why it's good, which is odd. It seemed more like lip service than anything
 
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Massively Strong Greed said:
On one hand, it’s true that pretty much every game has flaws.
On the other hand, how did someone this cynical not find any flaws in Undertale?
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If he had done a full episode on it, I think he'd have treated it like Spiritfarer, where he would largely gush over the game's content and point out some of the nit-picky items and design flaws here and there. He's clearly got a soft spot for indies, especially for indies which don't charge you an arm and a leg.

When I completely ignore that the Undertale fandom exists, I have to admit that the game is just a charming little nougat. I wouldn't call it perfect or deep or anything like that, and I haven't ever really felt the urge to return to it; but it is overall one of the more wholesome little products of indie development. I can understand not really caring for the presentation or gameplay, but I think it's hard to genuinely dislike Undertale on its own merits.
 
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Rich Evans Apologist said:
If he had done a full episode on it, I think he'd have treated it like Spiritfarer, where he would largely gush over the game's content and point out some of the nit-picky items and design flaws here and there. He's clearly got a soft spot for indies, especially for indies which don't charge you an arm and a leg.

When I completely ignore that the Undertale fandom exists, I have to admit that the game is just a charming little nougat. I wouldn't call it perfect or deep or anything like that, and I haven't ever really felt the urge to return to it; but it is overall one of the more wholesome little products of indie development. I can understand not really caring for the presentation or gameplay, but I think it's hard to genuinely dislike Undertale on its own merits.
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As someone who does like the game, I can see it being easy to dislike between the extreme preachiness and rather basic gameplay. Of course, Yahtzee likes to be preachy himself...
 
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Wallace said:
I'm still surprised Yahtzee hasn't gone off on his own by now. He must realize that the Escapist needs him more than he needs them.
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I've been thinking this for years. He could easily be his own thing if he wanted. It has to be out of convenience or something.
 
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Massively Strong Greed said:
As someone who does like the game, I can see it being easy to dislike between the extreme preachiness and rather basic gameplay. Of course, Yahtzee likes to be preachy himself...
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When is the game preachy? It doesn't have a Spec Ops moment where you get sat down and told "bad, bad player" and it's overall goofy even if you go the genocide route. It's closer to cartoonish evil than some real-world analogue as to why we should all be friends and hugs uwu. (He also liked Spec Ops, though.)
Maybe it helped that I didn't take anything about it seriously. Or I don't really get bothered by a game going "killing bad" and still giving you the option to kill everything.

The gameplay is a fairly simple little bullet hell game, but I also don't really find this offensive. Earthbound's core gameplay loop is simple, alongside games like Guitar Hero; all that matters is that they don't get boring, repetitive, and stale. For the game's runtime and price, the little minigames are fun enough.
Its spritework, music, and overall tone clearly resonated with Crenshaw, as plenty of competent-enough games with ostensibly lighter narratives seem to.
 
Rich Evans Apologist said:
When is the game preachy? It doesn't have a Spec Ops moment where you get sat down and told "bad, bad player" and it's overall goofy even if you go the genocide route. It's closer to cartoonish evil than some real-world analogue as to why we should all be friends and hugs uwu. (He also liked Spec Ops, though.)
Maybe it helped that I didn't take anything about it seriously. Or I don't really get bothered by a game going "killing bad" and still giving you the option to kill everything.
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Sans’ judgment is pretty fucking preachy. It also doesn’t help that the only way to get a satisfying ending is to do a Pacifist run.
 
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