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

[Trigger Me Timbers]

Honestly, I feel like the Escapist pushed this onto Yahtzee, to get more out of their only real asset while management tries to right the ship.

Now that I think about to, does Ben have a stake in the escapist?

 

[Maamtis]

He and Gabe are actually quite entertaining in their Let's Drown Out series. Yahtzee barely expresses any louder than a slightly drunken slur, but he makes a good straight man to Gabe's troll tendencies and colorful past. It also lets Yahtzee's own personal weirdness come through more easily, such as how he modded all of XCOM: Enemy Unknown's mission titles so they are replaced with silly ad-libs.

He now does the odd LP with his missus. People seem split on her as she's rather bubbly. It's an interesting contrast with Yahtzee's deadpan.

Gabe has an LP channel with a bloke called Aaron called Keepet Classy. Like LDO it's good to pop on and listen to in the background.

 

[Jaimas]

So there's something that's bothered me for a really long time with Yahtzee. Normally I enjoy his content for the most part but there's one part of his coverage that, as someone who does analysis on video games, really puzzles me more than it probably should: His fucking bizarre propensity for never giving certain series anything remotely resembling a fair shot. The most clear example that I can point at has always been Resident Evil, but you can see it in other titles too if you go back through his back-catalogue long enough.

For Resident Evil since that's our sample series here, he missed seven fucking games before finally getting RE4 and promptly declaring it the best game in the series. He basically acts like the series was literally never good until it had the one title he specifically liked. He completely writes off the earlier games, including the RE1 remake, which many consider to be among the best survival horror games ever made. At first I thought it was just him seeing certain titles as beneath him, and while I think that could be partly true, Resident Evil's not the only game he's done this with. He did the same with Silent Hill 2, and while he sometimes lampshades that game he generally acts like it's the best game in the series and that the other 3 games in the original series - the ones with the primary narrative focus - weren't as good. I don't think this is intentional cuntiness on his part, though. As someone who knows their vidya, I think the reason's far simpler.

Yahtzee on several occasions has gone on record with basically saying he didn't own any console at all prior to the generation six ones. He was predominantly a PC Gamer, and there's nothing wrong with that, but as a result, he missed all of the formative stages of many flat-out great titles that came out during this time period, and so for many of them he has no basis for comparison. For him, these games are where his Nostalgia Glasses are fused firmly to his face and he becomes as Autistic as any other gaming sped. Proof he's one of us at the end of the day, really, but it's also kind of humorous considering how he tries to angle himself.

 

[Cod of War]

I forgot this thread was a thing. Well, Escapist screwed the pooch and uploaded two episodes today.

 

[The tired cat]

So there's something that's bothered me for a really long time with Yahtzee. Normally I enjoy his content for the most part but there's one part of his coverage that, as someone who does analysis on video games, really puzzles me more than it probably should: His fucking bizarre propensity for never giving certain series anything remotely resembling a fair shot. The most clear example that I can point at has always been Resident Evil, but you can see it in other titles too if you go back through his back-catalogue long enough.

For Resident Evil since that's our sample series here, he missed seven fucking games before finally getting RE4 and promptly declaring it the best game in the series. He basically acts like the series was literally never good until it had the one title he specifically liked. He completely writes off the earlier games, including the RE1 remake, which many consider to be among the best survival horror games ever made. At first I thought it was just him seeing certain titles as beneath him, and while I think that could be partly true, Resident Evil's not the only game he's done this with. He did the same with Silent Hill 2, and while he sometimes lampshades that game he generally acts like it's the best game in the series and that the other 3 games in the original series - the ones with the primary narrative focus - weren't as good. I don't think this is intentional cuntiness on his part, though. As someone who knows their vidya, I think the reason's far simpler.

Yahtzee on several occasions has gone on record with basically saying he didn't own any console at all prior to the generation six ones. He was predominantly a PC Gamer, and there's nothing wrong with that, but as a result, he missed all of the formative stages of many flat-out great titles that came out during this time period, and so for many of them he has no basis for comparison. For him, these games are where his Nostalgia Glasses are fused firmly to his face and he becomes as Autistic as any other gaming sped. Proof he's one of us at the end of the day, really, but it's also kind of humorous considering how he tries to angle himself.

He was also a guy who kinda shat on the RE2 Remake going on about "Oh, now it's gonna retread old ground and become garbage once again! An here RE7 was making something new and daring with the series! Now it's back to the same old fold again, guess we'll just have to wait for that RE4 Remake so things can improve again."

 

[The Magnanimous Lich]

I saw the new ZP on Escapist. I saw how he addressed Pathologic 2 and was really disappointed. He always bitches about games being easy, not having gameplay that matches the story AND not being artsy enough. Here comes a game with real vision that does all 3 and he just stares like a drooling gorilla. Funnily enough, he addresses that AND addresses what I thought about him bitching about a kid's game. He really seems bruised by it which is odd. I hope he gives it another shot like Dark Souls. At least he didn't dismiss it; he just really doesn't GET it. Oh well.

 

[Buttigieg2020]

I’m always impressed by his pacing, it’s just one good joke or analogy after another.
But its a little weird how he’s been transitioning into random dogma rants for 1/5 of his reviews recently. The boneworks one sounded like he was going to confession with Greta Thunberg.

 

[Peasant]

I saw the new ZP on Escapist. I saw how he addressed Pathologic 2 and was really disappointed. He always bitches about games being easy, not having gameplay that matches the story AND not being artsy enough. Here comes a game with real vision that does all 3 and he just stares like a drooling gorilla. Funnily enough, he addresses that AND addresses what I thought about him bitching about a kid's game. He really seems bruised by it which is odd. I hope he gives it another shot like Dark Souls. At least he didn't dismiss it; he just really doesn't GET it. Oh well.

To be fair, Pathologic 2 is insanely crushing when you compare it to most other open-world games. I like to think of myself as an above-average video game player, but I felt a little bit shocked by how hard my balls were getting busted with the scarcity of resources even early on into the game. It's by no means a game where you can expect to take your time and do everything that's asked of you. It's also safe to say that the experience wouldn't be nearly as powerful if you weren't kept under such duress. The constant struggle truly pulls you into the world better than any acting and animation budget ever could. Unfortunately, this means it isn't very digestible for a lot of people.

Strange that Yahtzee wasn't too keen on it, though. I'd have thought he'd like it.

 

[Plunkie]

Kinda surprised the first post makes no mention of his indie games such as the Chzo Mythos (5 days a stranger, etc). I can very distinctly remember them being a notable contributor to the infamous rise of fedora culture in the mid 2000s

 

[The tired cat]

I’m always impressed by his pacing, it’s just one good joke or analogy after another.
But its a little weird how he’s been transitioning into random dogma rants for 1/5 of his reviews recently. The boneworks one sounded like he was going to confession with Greta Thunberg.

I mean, the dude apparently moved to San Fran, plus I wouldnt be shocked if his GF is a very libtard type. So, course hes gonna go full on political faggot with his rants.

 

[Token Weeaboo]

I saw the new ZP on Escapist. I saw how he addressed Pathologic 2 and was really disappointed. He always bitches about games being easy, not having gameplay that matches the story AND not being artsy enough. Here comes a game with real vision that does all 3 and he just stares like a drooling gorilla. Funnily enough, he addresses that AND addresses what I thought about him bitching about a kid's game. He really seems bruised by it which is odd. I hope he gives it another shot like Dark Souls. At least he didn't dismiss it; he just really doesn't GET it. Oh well.

I haven't gotten a chance to play Pathologic becaues my PC isn't meant for games (pray for console release one day) except I've watched gameplay of it and I can't blame him for not getting it. It's a bit confusing at first. I had to go through the person I was watching play it a few times to understanding of what's going on. The second look was worth it though.

 

[Sug Benis]

Kinda surprised the first post makes no mention of his indie games such as the Chzo Mythos (5 days a stranger, etc). I can very distinctly remember them being a notable contributor to the infamous rise of fedora culture in the mid 2000s

Especially since, if I remember correctly, Yahtzee was a lolcow on the old AGS forums. He got either banned or driven off the site because people critiqued his work and he went full fedoralord "it's not bad, it's just too deep for you" mode. Good old Ben, he's actually chilled out if anything as he got older, but he's always had slightly too high an opinion of himself and his own wit.

 

[The tired cat]

I haven't gotten a chance to play Pathologic becaues my PC isn't meant for games (pray for console release one day) except I've watched gameplay of it and I can't blame him for not getting it. It's a bit confusing at first. I had to go through the person I was watching play it a few times to understanding of what's going on. The second look was worth it though.

2nd one is pretty much a remaster/remake of the 1st game with upgraded graphics and I believe the mechanics/gameplay was worked up to make it less confusing when compared to the 1st.

Especially since, if I remember correctly, Yahtzee was a lolcow on the old AGS forums. He got either banned or driven off the site because people critiqued his work and he went full fedoralord "it's not bad, it's just too deep for you" mode. Good old Ben, he's actually chilled out if anything as he got older, but he's always had slightly too high an opinion of himself and his own wit.

Well, the guy did get somewhat buttmad at GoG when they didn't wanna sell his games on their site. So, I think he still has that fedora/ego thing going for him even as he got older.

 

[Trashfire Garbagefuck]

nobody should be watching yahtzee for his opinions, if you do you'll be disappointed, even when you agree with him. people should watch him for pure entertainment. even when he's being willfully ignorant and contrarian he's still entertaining as hell. he's somehow managed to stay funny and witty for, shit, a decade now I think? if all he had were opinions he would just be some guy in a fedora ranting about how much he hates zelda.

 

[Sug Benis]

2nd one is pretty much a remaster/remake of the 1st game with upgraded graphics and I believe the mechanics/gameplay was worked up to make it less confusing when compared to the 1st.



Well, the guy did get somewhat buttmad at GoG when they didn't wanna sell his games on their site. So, I think he still has that fedora/ego thing going for him even as he got older.

Oh, shit. Hadn't heard about that. Legitimately thought the dude had grown up a bit since those days. Guess not so much. I've been wrong before.

 

[Trigger Me Timbers]

Especially since, if I remember correctly, Yahtzee was a lolcow on the old AGS forums. He got either banned or driven off the site because people critiqued his work and he went full fedoralord "it's not bad, it's just too deep for you" mode. Good old Ben, he's actually chilled out if anything as he got older, but he's always had slightly too high an opinion of himself and his own wit.

Oh baby please tell me there’s screenshots of this

 

[Sug Benis]

Oh baby please tell me there’s screenshots of this

Found a wiki entry mentioning it, which has a couple links.

Adventure Game Studio | Wiki | Yahtzee

www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk

It wasn't a ban, he flounced off so hard they even named the behaviour after him. I forgot that part.

 

[The tired cat]

Oh, shit. Hadn't heard about that. Legitimately thought the dude had grown up a bit since those days. Guess not so much. I've been wrong before.

Yeah, though it wasnt really hardcore angry, more like passive agressive "Oh yeah? Well, fuck you GoG", plus kinda explains why he never mentions them in any of his reviews when hes busy going about indies.

 

[BrokenWokenBespoken]

In the scheme of things, this is actually quite an achievement. Think about all the shit we've watched happen on this site. Some fat idiot with a terrible review show is $100k in debt, the whole internet watched as a Let's Player who made dumb reaction videos committed suicide, people slowly eating themselves to death, the cocaine-fueled death spiral of an internet debate show that once raked in thousands, some chain smoking Irishman having a panic attack and moving his whole show over to a new site with an even worse upload schedule, the list goes on and on.

Yahtzee has moved countries, survived the equivalent of a website apocalypse, did a Let's Play series with a dude who was literally a random schlubby security guard and he's still going and managing to keep the gravy train up. His upload schedule is still consistent. Even though his content is up and down and I rarely tune in anymore and believe his style has long since been eclipsed by more polished stuff like Ross's Game Dungeon and Civvie 11, and he has had the occasional dumb drunken outburst on his on LP show he did with Gabe, this man has completely avoided becoming a lolcow or suffering any huge failures. Most of his viewers are still watching, his career is still viable, and he's changing things up not out of desperation but I legit think he wants to try new things while keeping up with the old.

He's arguably one of the internet's big success stories up there with people like AVGN or RLM. Its proof that if you just have one good idea and the right opportunity comes along and you don't act like a spastic, you too can carve out your own little empire.

His main coping mechanism is for a youtube influencer he sticks to the BARE minimum with online interaction. Aka upload your shit and dont fucking get into convos with critics and self proclaimed ones

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

btw Yahtzee started shilling for The Escapist website in the youtube videos.