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

[The tired cat]

@AsbestosFlaygon You pretty much summed up my thoughts on the guy when it comes to his reviews.

If there's a thing that bugs me about Yahtzee is his constant need to go about how "vidya games used to be art maaaan!" in several of his videos, ignoring that the #1 talk on the list is a game making profit and actually being worth all the working hours poured into it. Also like I said, he has a strange habit of contradicting himself, during his new Colossus review he bitched about the game trying to have a mix of stealth and combat, combined with officer summoning endless number of soldiers until they are dead, despite that he praised New Order for this.

 

[Marco Fucko]

Christ I remember watching this guy in I think middle school. Not only am I surprised he's still around, I'm surprised he hasn't become flagrantly socjus like his coworkers. Hats off to him for that.

Also his meme about the PC Gaming Master Race spawned a company that boasts a mechanical keyboard with hot swappable switches and is in the process of introducing a more accessible Finalmouse clone.
https://www.pcgamingrace.com/

 

[DragoonSierra]

I can't believe the guy is still around and doing video reviews.

Whats more amazing is that he hasnt managed to self implode like every other popular Youtube reviewer out there. I mean Christ all of them have imploded in less time than Yahtzee has been doing this shtick

If there's a thing that bugs me about Yahtzee is his constant need to go about how "vidya games used to be art maaaan!" in several of his videos,

Have you seen the state of the industry tho? Theres a lot to bitch about. Talk to anyone whos a Square Enix, Valve, Capcom, Konami, or Sega fan how thier favorite game companies have treated them in last 10 years

 

[Glad I couldn't help]

My favorite ZP video is an early one on not video games, but webcomics, and in particular, one very special webcomic:

I read through Mogworld and most of Jam as a teenager. Both are cute and occasionally funny, but nothing stunning or exceptional - I can see why he's never really "made it" as a professional print author.

I bought Jam on ebook, and I can see what you mean. Has anybody read Will Save Galaxy for Food? That sounds interesting to me.

Christ I remember watching this guy in I think middle school. Not only am I surprised he's still around, I'm surprised he hasn't become flagrantly socjus like his coworkers. Hats off to him for that.

I think he has the same liberal, secularist, fedora-tipping politics and philosophy as many SJWs. The difference is, IMHO, Yahtzee is a professional who know his primary job is to entertain his audience, not anger them.

 

[Zero0]

My favorite ZP video is an early one on not video games, but webcomics, and in particular, one very special webcomic:

I bought Jam on ebook, and I can see what you mean. Has anybody read Will Save Galaxy for Food? That sounds interesting to me.

I think he has the same liberal, secularist, fedora-tipping politics and philosophy as many SJWs. The difference is, IMHO, Yahtzee is a professional who know his primary job is to entertain his audience, not anger them.

I've watched a lot of his stuff and sometimes it slips trough the cracks, he's definitely a liberal, but he's also very anti political correctness as far as I can tell, so I'm not sure he'd be accepted in most SJWs circles.
Hell doesn't resetera dislike both him and the escapist in general?

 

[God of Nothing]

He's alright. The condescending persona he puts on makes me cringe from time to time from the pure British swarmyness. Peak Yahtzee is the LDO podcast/let's play thing he had with Gabe. The man's British snobbery and the Australian's mad ladness contrast and compliment each other well. Fuckin' sucks they don't do it anymore since he moved to Burgerland. I could watch Gabe and Yahtzee (But mostly Gabe) get on each other's nerves for hours on end. KeepetClassy's alright but it lacks the same smack talk LDO had.

 

[Takodachi]

He isn't as funny as comedic channels like Dunkey or Vinesauce,

Perhaps, but at least he isnt a cuck like dunkey

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

I bought Jam on ebook, and I can see what you mean. Has anybody read Will Save Galaxy for Food? That sounds interesting to me.

I have. It's... different to a point where I've never really decided what I think about it. Let me explain: the tone is that of either Kazuo Ichiguro's Remains of the Day, or any given Discworld novel, and shifts between them without a clutch. It's not a bad book in the sense that none of the components are bad, but the particular mix of bittersweet nostalgia and slamming doors comedy is just so outlandish it's hard to say anything definitive about the book as a whole, because certain parts are strikingly dissimilar to certain other parts. I don't know who the editor was (or even if there was one) but if there was one, he clearly fell down on the job of making the story gel.

 

[Violence Jack]

I have. It's... different to a point where I've never really decided what I think about it. Let me explain: the tone is that of either Kazuo Ichiguro's Remains of the Day, or any given Discworld novel, and shifts between them without a clutch. It's not a bad book in the sense that none of the components are bad, but the particular mix of bittersweet nostalgia and slamming doors comedy is just so outlandish it's hard to say anything definitive about the book as a whole, because certain parts are strikingly dissimilar to certain other parts. I don't know who the editor was (or even if there was one) but if there was one, he clearly fell down on the job of making the story gel.

You can tell that Yahtzee really wants to make something genre redefining that'll basically kickstart him into respect or stardom. But i think we only get one or two of those potential chances and Zero Punctuation was definitely his five minutes. Maybe my read on the man is completely skewed (I haven't read Jam or Will Save Galaxy for Food? only read and listened to Mogworld). Although I feel as though all of his games, stories, and intellectual properties strike me as too bland and not succeeding at any one aspect of narrative either in storytelling, dialogue, or plotting. Anyone who's read his bloggy Extra Puncuation can tell you that Yahtzee has good ideas occasionally, but it's the execution where he falls short.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

Anyone who's read his bloggy Extra Puncuation can tell you that Yahtzee has good ideas occasionally, but it's the execution where he falls short.

If Will Save the Galaxy is indicative, execution is definitely his problem (or possibly lack of oversight; the two tend to bleed into each other.) Beyond that, I don't really have a read on him, because I think someone particular ambitious would be less of a workhorse and would put more effort into networking that he doesn't really seem to be into. He's good about thinking things through- technological change and it's implications are crucial to Galaxy- but I think he needs to either improve his skills, or team up with someone who already has skills in order to make something in longform that isn't very uneven.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I remember everyone being shocked when he admitted to actually enjoying Persona 5 despite him not being a JRPG fan.

 

[Oh Shit I'm Sorry]

His stuff's good to watch in the background while doing something else. You just have to not take his opinions too seriously because a lot of them are shit because he's a hipster.

I've watched a lot of his stuff and sometimes it slips trough the cracks, he's definitely a liberal, but he's also very anti political correctness as far as I can tell, so I'm not sure he'd be accepted in most SJWs circles.

He's done enough over his career that super woke people definitely don't like him (Lay Alexander, for example). There was the trans shitstorm in his Papers Please review and then more recently he's shit on Ubisoft for that "first AssCreed game with a female protag" nonsense and in the F76 review where he mocked both the Ghostbusters 2016 and Diablo Immortal defense forces.

Hell doesn't resetera dislike both him and the escapist in general?

They hate(d?) the Escapist because it didn't outright ban discussion of GamerGay back during its heyday. Dunno if that's still the case after Shitts came back and took over (and brought MovieFat with him) though IIRC they cheered when Zoe Quinn reed at him over some stupid shit so they might.

 

[TerribleIdeas™]

This is one of my favorites because not only is it really funny to see Yatzhee tear this game a new one, his rant about what the video games industry and Valve have become at the end seems genuinely plaintive and heartfelt.

"What happened to you? What happened to us? To the people we were supposed to become?
I dunno know but it's probably safe to blame John Romero."

You can almost always blame Romero for something.

 

[Violence Jack]

You can almost always blame Romero for something.

I bet Yahtzee blames him for having a better hairline.

 

[AsbestosFlaygon]

At least he PLAYS the games he reviews.

Congratulations! he's better than anyone at a review site, and also Razorfist.

Have you seen the state of the industry tho? Theres a lot to bitch about. Talk to anyone whos a Square Enix, Valve, Capcom, Konami, or Sega fan how thier favorite game companies have treated them in last 10 years

There's tonnes of people that have complained about the industry as a whole, especially the companies you mention, and honestly I think the doom and gloom view point's inaccurate and beaten to death. Capcom & Sega while they certainly do have issues aren't bomb factories. With Sega from what I understand the only franchise they really have massive issues with is Sonic, any other franchise they make regularly is handled fairly well. Capcom certainly has more trouble, the two big ones of late I'm aware of are Street Fighter V's a bit of a mess, and Marvel vs Capcom Infinite's so much of a mess may have killed the franchise. But they also have success stories like Resident Evil 7 & Devil May Cry 5 successfully cleaning up the mess the previous games in their series made, Mega Man's comeback, and Monster Hunter World. Sega & Capcom are a mixed bag, and should be treated as such, not as if they're logos are seals of disappointment and a example of everything that's wrong with the industry.

Moving on I'd agree Valve's disappointed fans greatly, but I disagree with the popular narrative that they do nothing but sit on their ass all day due to Steam money that someone like Yahtzee pushes. What's actually going on is chronic mismanage due to their flat management structure, money certainly helps keep it in dead lock, but it's not that the people at Valve are just being greedy and doing nothing because they don't want to. More importantly for my point it's very much a Valve problem, it's not a problem that's going to pop up at EA or Activision due to how differently Valve works. The only reason I see for people pushing this narrative is that they want a story that they can tie into their "The industry is fucked" narrative. But I have to question how fucked it really is when they have to bend and twist stories to fit it instead of just telling the story as accurately as possible.

In fact Konami kind of ties into this, everyone mocks them for firing Kojima when I think it was a understandable move that got clouded by all the horrible shit being done by Konami. Kojima's games are expensive as all hell assuming that they get completed on time and in budget, let alone if they need more of both, and honestly if he can't keep his work within the framework he's given it's not a surprise when they fire him. Now I'm not saying that Kojima's some talentless hack that deserves to be fired like certain people do, just that it can't be overstated how important it is to remain in the framework you're given. For example look at how quickly Square Enix get mocked for going so far over budget, if anyone there was fired tomorrow for mismanagement everyone would say that it's justified because you can't go about treating time and resources as if they're unlimited. To me it comes across as people simplifying a complex issue just to push narrative, when I think the reality is somewhere in the middle of where everyone is.

Perhaps, but at least he isnt a cuck like dunkey

At least I make sure that what I'm commenting on isn't just some random broad.

 

[John Titor]

Eh, not really a fan of the guy or his fans for that matter. Not only does he contradict his opinions on certain games, combined with him constantly pushing the idea of how he knows what stuff is good (minus when he talks about really, REALLY bad games). But his fans are by far another story of annoyance, since they constantly love to either parrot the guy or assume that watching and agreeing with his views makes 'em video game experts who have seen the world for what it really is, and the last part is not a joke.

I can't hold anything against him because he has the right to an opinion and the fact that he actually touches the games makes him leagues above Kotaku, not that it's a difficult thing to do.
His fans however are a bunch of NPCs who needs dear leader to tell them how to feel about a game even when he tells them to think for themselves. They're like the zealots in Life of Brian.

 

[Pumpkin Girl IRL]

Every Nintendo review he does makes the fans go mental, which is always a positive.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

I haven't posted my favorite Yahtzee vids so I'm gonna limit myself to just a few.

Just a really funny review for a game that was utter garbage.

Same as above but with the added commentary about the controversy surrounding Jeff Gertsmann and the first game.

This was the first time I'd ever heard of Ride to Hell, and I have Yahtzee to thank for that. I don't know if he's the one who brought it to public attention, but he brought it to my attention that's for sure.

Can't forget the video that gave me my username.

 

[The tired cat]

I can't hold anything against him because he has the right to an opinion and the fact that he actually touches the games makes him leagues above Kotaku, not that it's a difficult thing to do.
His fans however are a bunch of NPCs who needs dear leader to tell them how to feel about a game even when he tells them to think for themselves. They're like the zealots in Life of Brian.

Funny thing there was like one show on the Escapist which had an episode which took the piss out on his fans and man have they gotten pissed over that.

Speaking of which, I also recall how he wanted to do a live review show which hasn't even gotten passed a pilot. It's actually ironic since I recall during a livestream he mentioned Spoony and the whole skits things and this was said by a guy who made a failed game review show pilot, that had one bad skit after another (including gems like: Guys in an office building trying to think of stuff for Duke Nukem Forever, Master Chief walking around the streets and several MGS skits).

 

[BrokenWokenBespoken]

Christ I remember watching this guy in I think middle school. Not only am I surprised he's still around, I'm surprised he hasn't become flagrantly socjus like his coworkers. Hats off to him for that.

Also his meme about the PC Gaming Master Race spawned a company that boasts a mechanical keyboard with hot swappable switches and is in the process of introducing a more accessible Finalmouse clone.
https://www.pcgamingrace.com/

Yahtzee wrote the book on video game cynicism. He can decide what part of the political compass he wields solely because his generation was when reviews and journalists stopped soaking up the hype and wrote savage reviews for AAA games that sucked dick. Without him non one would have the critical thinking to go politically critical like this generation