Thread 717658062

Everyone has their favourites and he's pretty open about his, but fuck me if it isn't getting obvious that he just doesn't give a shit anymore.
See it a few times now when he's reviewed something I've played and his criticism seems from him rushing though to get a review done, being shit at the game or simply not understanding major mechanic's.
Pic related is a perfect example and even the comments are calling him out on it.
>oh no the game doesn't hold your hand and tell you what to do, you have to play to find out?
>a sandbox where you can do what you please? No thanks!
>the dancing mini game sucks and is to hard! (No I won't mention it's an easy way to get good items)
>I only did one land battle (so you know I've skipped though big parts of the game
>my shop morale kept dropping! (Ending a voyage and paying your guys off is a major element of the game)
He'd been phoning it in for years on the Escapist and ots clear he doesn't care much more now they've had to go out on their own.

Also, second wind,
Lol does anything other than Yahtzee get views?

The answer is, no

I played yahtzee's games back in the day. they were pretty good. that said I didn't think anyone still watched him.

>>717658128
I'd feel bad about Yatzhee having all those leeches but that was his choice

>>717658132
I played one of his Trilby point and click games ages ago, the writing was pretty funny but gameplay nothing special

>>717658062 (OP)
He's spent the past 18 years playing a new game every week and training himself to make a five minute rant after maybe two days of playing it. Between never actually taking the time to develop a good understanding of a game and the inevitable deterioration in ability and capacity to learn that comes with age, I'm not really surprised that this is the result. The only things he seems to enjoy these days are his comfort zone games which are story driven and provide minimal challenge. And to his credit even from the start he never claimed to be a skilled gamer and after all these years he still puts out more or less the same level of quality. He's not much use as an actual game critic but he's fine as the funny cranky middle aged British vidya man who says silly swear words. Which frankly still puts him above the vast majority of game journalists anyway.

>>717658062 (OP)
>he's reviewed something
????
He is comedian, his job is to provide entertainment if you are watching him for "reviews" you are doing it wrong

>>717658062 (OP)
Well, one of his favorite game is Painkiller and Painkiller suck.

>>717658128
cold take was pulling the numbers and he left

>>717658595
Reasonable and solid take.

>>717658292
Adult life is a series of compromises. He chose to be "leeched" upon, in the sense that other people can get value of of his content, but in doing so he's also handing off all the responsibility that comes with publishing content for a living. He doesn't do any PR, he doesn't do any negotiations, he doesn't manage any salaries, he doesn't schedule anything, he doesn't handle advertising or partnership contracts, and he doesn't do paperwork for his Press privileges. It's a respectable compromise. He's not treated badly, either, since they all know he's the main content engine.

>>717658062 (OP)
>t. assmad that internet e-celeb didn't rike his game

>>717658960
i have a similar deal with renting a house i own, i let some asshole manage it while i rake in passive profits. i could make much more if i bothered with everything myself, but i simply don't have the personaloty type to do that sort of stuff

>>717658062 (OP)
How do you still listen to that guy?
I liked him heaps, but his political commentary was getting maddening, especially because he was one of the few people in the games press who managed to resist it for so long.

>>717658669
>this game is fucking shit its awful don't buy it
>but Yahtzee, all your criticism is because your shit at the game and didn't play it for more than 4 hours
>I'm just a comedian bro
Kingdom Come was a prime example of that.
>>717659201
It's more the 'he clearly hadn't played or understood what he was supposed to be doing' part. He'd be the first to complain about games holding your hand, having yellow claimable ledge markers or loot glow, then go and be the sort of retard who complains and gets stuck without them.

>>717660040
I rarely do, but sometimes want something short and easy to watch while I'm waiting for something at work to complete.

>>717660156
if it isn't good after 4 hours, it is probably shit desu

>>717658062 (OP)
>company goes under
>you just start over and do the same schtick
capitalism has failed

>>717658595
Watching his stuff long enough, you're going to learn to take his opinions with a grain of salt because he pretty unapologetically leans into his own preferences pretty hard and doesn't try to hide it but eh he make funny video so it's good enough for me. That said the rest of the channel is pretty nothing and i hate that guy that does the videos in the mines with the dog. His voice sucks and he's not funny but still has to constantly write bad jokes.

How the fuck can anyone think any part of Sid Meier's Pirates was difficult or obtuse? It's one of the easiest games of its genre thanks to being one of the first, the 2000s remake did virtually nothing to expand upon it and is pretty fucking handholdy.
>>717658669
Until his "entertaining" take aligns with my own views then you should take it seriously!

>>717658595
I agree with most of this but also fuck him for admitting he lies about game mechanics to drum up a better video. Fuck him. Don't bullshit me. You get no points for pretending a game is more confusing than it actually is so you can go "erm is this the wackiest most confusing game everst?!?!?" for click.

>Multiplayer-focused game with a tacked-on low-effort story mode you can blow through in a few hours
>He's seriously reviewing that and avoiding spoilers and talking as if THIS is what you should be evaluating to make a decision on buying the game or not

>>717660040
He's always made political jokes, they were just Australian politics.

>>717660279
Yeah dude Yahztee was why the Escapist failed, there's no demand for HIS videos

>>717660427
if I wanted one guys shitty take on vidya I'd just come to /v/ and read your posts

>>717658062 (OP)
It's less that he's a bad gamer and more that he simply does not give a single shit about his day job as a game reviewer.
Nearly 20 years in, he's only doing these videos because they provide a reliable and easy way to pay his mortgage and put food on the table, allowing Yahtzee to focus his creative energy in his other hobbies like writing books.
The moment Second Wind inevitably goes tits up he'll go full time into writing in general, he already has done miscellaneous work on several video games and has excellent contacts within the industry and in addition his books generally sell well enough to keep him from having to shift into Uber driving or flipping burgers.
But until then, there's really no reason or motivation whatsoever to put an ounce of effort into the game reviews.

>>717660562
Fascinating but means nothing to how bullshit that post was and how popular Yahtzee's content is

>>717660358
Yep, that's how he rolls, it's been that way since at least MoH Airborne and CoD4. He's completely aware that it's a waste of time as an actual review, that's why he turned his MW 2019 review into a stealth Disco Elysium review.

>>717660597
>The moment Second Wind inevitably goes tits up he'll go full time into writing in general, he already has done miscellaneous work on several video games and has excellent contacts within the industry and in addition his books generally sell well enough to keep him from having to shift into Uber driving or flipping burgers.
I remember him mentioning in one of his videos about going to Bioware for work in the event of ZP going tits up since he valued their dedication to story. I wonder if he feels the same way now.

word on the grapevine says his wife is a former bbc whore

WHERE'S MY MONEY, BITCH?

>>717658785
Frost was the only other one with a dedicated fanbase and he ducked the moment he saw Second Wind is just The Escapist 2 and he didn't feel like funding Jack Packards """"job""""

>>717658128
>yatzee reviewing gacha now
How the might have fallen.

>>717658595
Exactly. I always watched him for the comedy and not for actual reviews.

>>717658062 (OP)
Yeah, it's quite common for Yahtzee to misunderstand shit, or just rush through certain games for reviews, or just prioritizing on saying funny stupid shit. I'd say large chunk of this is mainly having to do shit on a weekly basis. But, his Extra Punctuation/ Semi Ramblomatic on stuff that isn't centred on a specific game each week, showcases the games he actually give time to some more proper discussion on game design.
And, as others said, he's consistent with this, there's always gonna be games he slides off, but I'd say he showcases his taste well enough you can figure out what you'll enjoy or not from a review, even if he ends up hating it.

>>717661375
I think she worked in their editorial department.

How did his game go? Fade into obscurity?

>>717658062 (OP)
In one video he mentioned not having the attention span to watch a movie. I dont think anyone should really pay attention to what he says.

>>717663369
His ideal game these days seem to be something where you mindlessly do menial tasks so he can listen to podcasts.

>>717663369
He's kind of become a slave to his own career, you're no longer getting his opinion on a game, but rather how the game fits into his hectic work schedule, he'll consistently dock points from games for being paced in a non-ADHD way or requiring more than surface-level investment to understand, though I guess it does reflect the way most people play games these days

>>717658062 (OP)
>Finished Demon's Souls and hated everything about it
>Played Dark Souls and praised it for the same things because it was popular

>>717663583
Yeah he fell for peer pressure and that made me lose what little respect I had for his gaming integrity, he pretended to like a game simply because everyone was pretending it was the hardcore opinion to have

>>717658062 (OP)
yahtzee strikes me as a japanes games bad millennial

>>717663339
Heres the list of his game credits if you want to check for yourself. I honestly thought it would only be a dozen spread across the AGS era until now but thats a fair amount of games.
https://www.mobygames.com/person/61506/ben-croshaw/credits/

>>717663776
not really, his favorite game is Silent Hill 2

but he does generally dislike anime

>>717663853
Yeah I know about his games, I was asking about his latest one the space game. It always looked completely uninteresting to me so I'm curious if it did well.

Kneel. Now.

>>717663949
he's fat and bald these days, no longer wears a hat

>>717658128
I like the guy that does deeper game design talks, far more interesting than the yazzi talks.

>>717660040
His seethe seems to have reached nuclear levels with Trump 2.0. Whereas before sometimes it would be a subtle joke about the state of politics with no real party affiliation, now he will routinely go into multi-sentence rants about orange man.

He lost his edge after moving to america, getting married, having kids and a fuckin pug

>>717663939
Back in January he said that he had made over 150k USD in profit, so it was a good hit, since then he said that it sold great during the Steam sale.

This guy was phoning it in back when Super Smash Bros Brawl came out, and you're just now noticing?

>>717664769
>t.endie still seething 18 years later

>>717658062 (OP)
I want to agree with you, but there are some things in your characterization that strike me as inaccurate or displaying a misunderstanding of what Yahtzee is trying to do. He's supposed to be a critic. He approaches games how a typical consumer approaches them. And a typical consumer isn't le cracked gamezordz.
>Pic related is a perfect example and even the comments are calling him out on it.
The mechanic is convoluted and poorly explained. It's normal that someone just playing the game wouldn't pick up on it, and it's something that's worth highlighting in a review.
>>oh no the game doesn't hold your hand and tell you what to do, you have to play to find out?
He likes some of these sorts of games. He was cold on Dark Souls at first, but then got addicted to it. So it's not an entirely fair assessment. Just because a game like Dark Souls executes it well doesn't give all games a pass to be as unintuitive and convoluted as humanly possible.
>>a sandbox where you can do what you please? No thanks!
I agree with him 100% on this. He's played billions of games with this premise, and they get stale really quickly. What's engaging is the core gameplay loop, not the premise that "you can go anywhere and do anything", which just means there's a billion things to do, none of which are particularly engaging.

The guy is fine. He is decently intelligent, and decently humorous. He's generally harsh on most games he plays, but that's because he's been reviewing games for 20 years so he's tired of a lot of the same bullshit regurgitated over and over again. But when he does recommend a game, then I find myself usually enjoying it as well. There are games I enjoy that he doesn't like, but that's fine. I also have the confidence that when he calls something original or unique, that he's qualified to give that assessment, simply by the virtue of having played so many games over so many years.

>>717664793
I'm not mad he called it shit.
I'm mad that he gave really stupid, surface level complaints instead of ripping into the reasons it was a fucking travesty.

Anyone who gives even half a shit can tell you why Brawl is ass, but this chucklefuck couldn't even get into basic stuff like "the game is slow as fuck" across two videos. Absolutely no effort is out into his "criticism" at all.

>>717664836
Your videos suck Yahtzee and your child is a spastic.

>>717665114
suck a bbc

>>717663905
>middle aged British man doesn't like anime
>loves Persona and publicly admits that he's a Chiefag

it's like Maximillian dude with ff7

>>717658062 (OP)
I don't know if there's a single fucking reviewer who knows how to play video games at a basic level, at least. We see these guys commenting on the media, but if it were chess, they'd be guys with an Elo rating of 600 or something, i.e., beginners who never got past the most basic level of the game.
Yesterday I was watching a review by that Mark guy who at least has a few achievements like 1cc some difficult games, and even his gameplay is pretty awful in several parts, as if the guy wasn't even trying.

>>717661304
Yahtzee would cook with Dragon Age: The Veilguard 2

his best video is the 50 Cent Blood on the Sand one

>>717663583
>>717663702
>Finished Demon's Souls and hated everything about it
I don't think you were paying attention to the video because he explicitly didn't beat it, he barely got to 1-2 and didn't even reach the Tower Knight. He also explained in his review of the remake why he didn't think it was as good as DaS.

>>717665556
When deciding whether to buy a new hot game, do you want the opinion of someone who's been grinding it non-stop for 30 years, or someone with a use case much closer to yours, meaning that he's just picked it up and has been playing it for a week? If someone beats the game or plays it for a week, and it still isn't engaging, then frankly it's not worth my time. And chess is a bad comparison to use, because it's very engaging at lower skill levels.

>>717664212
He felt the same way about Michael Atkinson, he specifically takes issues with politicians when they affect the country in which he lives at the time.

>>717665817
I want a guy who is at least better than me. When I see someone talking about model railroading or bird watching, I don't want to see a guy who barely knows what he's talking about, I want to see someone who demonstrates a superior ability to me so that I can learn something from him.
But I watch these guys play, and it's clear that they have no intimacy with the medium. They pick up a basic game that's just repeating the same formula that's been around for 30 years, and they can't see the formula and adapt to it. They play a game like fucking Super Mario Wonder as if it were something totally new and obscure, even if it is deriving from a 40-year-old formula.
These guys are all losers who don't know what they're talking about.

>>717665787
What a con

>>717666098
You fundamentally misunderstand the purpose of a review. It's supposed to inform your purchasing decision, not showcase the reviewers mastery of it. The reviewer is a stand in for a new buyer, who then describes their experience with the game. You'd be better served by stopping watching reviews and getting angry at them not being what you want them to be, and instead look into a medium that better serves your interests like e.g. e-sports or speedruns.

>>717666363
What the hell are you talking about? A critical review is just the opinion of people who understand the subject matter and the quality they perceive in the work. That's it. It has nothing to do with telling someone whether or not to consume it. In fact, entrepreneurs and artists in general have always had a strong aversion to critics precisely because they act as reverse marketing, that is, if respected critics don't like your work, they can encourage consumers not to consume it.
So... I want reviews to be written by people who understand video games. Of course, no one needs to be a pro player capable of finishing games blindfolded to criticize them, but if the guy is completely incapable of playing (like that journalist who failed the Cuphead tutorial), then he's not really capable of understanding the medium.
And the vast majority of reviewers I see are closer to the guy who failed the Cuphead tutorial than to a minimally competent player.

>>717667278
>A critical review is just the opinion of people who understand the subject matter and the quality they perceive in the work.
A lot of people publish e.g. deeper analysis videos and call those reviews, but that's not what review websites do, that's not what Yahtzee Croshaw does. Those reviews have a specific purpose. The fact that you don't understand this is why you are frustrated and getting angry with them for not being something that they don't set out to be.
>It has nothing to do with telling someone whether or not to consume it.
Their purpose isn't to tell you what to buy and what not to buy, it's to INFORM your purchasing decision (even when they explicitly tell you to buy or not). You can have a reviewer that you consistently disagree with, but he's still useful, because you know that if he dislikes something, you're likely to enjoy it.
>So... I want reviews to be written by people who understand video games.
The more in the weeds you get with your knowledge and mastery of a game, the more your perspective moves away from the typical consumer. I'm not saying that such a perspective cannot be useful, but it's less helpful as a consumer guide.
>And the vast majority of reviewers I see are closer to the guy who failed the Cuphead tutorial than to a minimally competent player.
The Cuphead reviewer guy became a meme, because he was so shit at the tutorial that it was out of the ordinary. If it was the norm, nobody would remember him, because you'd have a new example of the same thing appearing every day, making it unexceptional. In the end, when you consume a review, you should trust that the person accurately describes their experience with the game. And if they tell you that they couldn't get past the tutorial, and you cross reference that with other opinions where people had zero problems doing that, then you should take it as a sign that such an opinion likely isn't representative of the kind of experience you're likely to have with the game.

>>717664836
>The mechanic is convoluted and poorly explained. It's normal that someone just playing the game wouldn't pick up on it,
I played that game in the 2000s when I was like 12 and I understood it

>>717658062 (OP)
He's not bad at games. He's fucking awful at games. He falls for the same shit everyone does where they don't ever want to learn anything about the game they're playing, instead latching onto the first thing that seems vaguely usable and never changing so he can get to the credits as soon as possible and think he understands the game, blaming the game any time that doesn't work. As you now realize, this will become more and more obvious to everyone the moment he plays a game someone actually knows even a little about. Except the issue is fucking everyone is suffering from this poison because no one wants to actually enjoy playing videogames anymore, which causes good games to die off in obscurity or worse be shamed for being real videogames.

>>717669271
Does that perspective speak to how intuitive it is to someone who plays the game in today's gaming landscape? I played Cave Story recently, and despite not getting stuck on anything for too long, it was clear to me, that in a lot of places there was a serious risk of that happening, because the progression was locked behind triggering obscure "flags" (e.g. interactions) across levels. But such a thing was more common back in the day, so people just accepted it and dealt with it.

>>717660626
Or his Fifa review where he kept getting distracted talking about indie games.

>>717664924
He does that sometimes unfortunately. Am a Sonic fag who happily enjoys him ripping into shit like Boom or even Unleashed but his Shadow Generations review was just awful. Seemed like he had no actual complaints about the game so he just spent the entire time saying he thinks Shadow is a dumb character concept when that would be a 10 second bit normally.

>>717669502
He shat on a video game you like, didn't he?

>>717658595
>maybe two days of playing it
you chuds really just worship slop don't you?
one hour should be enough to figure out if any game is shit or not

>>717669868
He shits on games everyone likes, it is a mathematical fact he's shat on at least one game you like. Him shitting on a game ended up leading me to one of my favourite games of all time. People can have their opinions and be reasonable if rooted in fact. But the part that really brought it into focus how badly he's phoning it in wasn't when he outright lied about a game I'd played before and criticized it based on saying it doesn't do things it actually does, it was when I got to the end of his review of a game I had zero interest in at all and realized he hadn't said a single thing of substance about the actual systems of the game and how they work. Nothing about how the stats work, or the weapon types, or the level design, or combat variety. Just something about how you chase the bosses. His own gameplay really gives away his sheer apathy for his supposed favourite medium, and it's just not responsible as a critic at all.

>>717662943
shame he never seriously tried to transition from being the funny fasttalker into doing Extra Punctuation/Semi-Ramblomatic mini essays more regularly. Let's Drown Out was obviously a pretty successful experiment to get into more long form modestly paced content but noone at the Escapist/Second Wind could even begin to hold a candle to what he had going with Gabe. but i guess you could forget about monetizing something like Let's Drown Out.

>>717669612
If people could figure it out back then then people can figure it out now.

>>717658062 (OP)
how could anyone ever get butt blasted by microprose Pirates!

>>717670292
>Nothing about how the stats work, or the weapon types, or the level design, or combat variety.
The purpose of a review of someone like Yahtzee is to inform the purchasing decision of a typical consumer. You can talk about your experience with a game without mentioning every single building block of it, especially if it doesn't leave you with a strong impression. If those elements did leave you with a strong impression, then good for you, but it's not the same for other people. Yahtzee can only speak to his own perspective. If you already played a game and liked it, then I don't really see the purpose of getting angry with a review for not agreeing with you, or not finding the things you like noteworthy. It's like you're looking into a review to either validate your opinion on it, or offer insight that could better explain why you yourself feel a certain way about a game, but that's not what review websites set out to do. Go watch 5-hour-long analysis videos instead.

fucking hell guys enough with the novels

>>717670460
It's bad design that's frustrating and kills the pacing. It's all the more visible from today's perspective, because such design decisions are more rare nowadays. Saying that it was manageable back in the day isn't a good defense of it.

>>717669502
It's the same thing that happens with that mold guy from "don't kill games". He makes all the games look extremely unbalanced, but then you see someone who knows how to play, and they use some basic things that get around the things the mold guy couldn't deal with.
I don't understand these guys.
They genuinely like video games, but they don't seem really willing to learn how to play them.

>>717662943
Oh, and no, his Semi Ramblomatics aren't much better. His big video getting on the bandwagon of complaining about overly common parry systems ended with him suggesting the very unique never done before combat system of focusing on keeping enemies in hitstun. You know, the thing that has been the cornerstone of most combat systems for decades, that has been in countless games he's reviewed that he hasn't bothered to even learn about or explore. This apathy and wilful ignorance is his own worst enemy, but it happens to basically all career critics that pigeonhole themselves and remove their adaptation glands.
>>717669612
Yes, the level of basic problem solving and critical thinking skills of the average person have indeed dropped off a cliff by design due to a flood of steadily more mindless people being pushed into buying games as well as having it sabotaged via making games more and more handholdy and automated. That doesn't make it any better because removing player interaction is removing the game regardless of year and it should always come down to how those aspects are handled. That's why any decent review explores such things to the point someone can make their own judgment call.

>>717670983
It's good design, it stops you just making a giga fleet and steamrolling the whole game in one go.

>>717669502
>or worse be shamed for being real videogames.
This happened with Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn. Most of the criticism on Steam is that the controls are "bad", when they are as precise as they can be, but the ninjas in the game follow some strict rules regarding movement that you need to learn if you want to play the game. People reject this, they want the character's movement to be the same as in Hollow Knight, where you have total control at all times. Otherwise, they think the game is poorly made, without realizing the balance that exists within the restrictions on your character's movement.

>>717665392
He's putting that Hank Hill act, but people needs to remember that the guy has fascination with fedora

>>717671270
Most people who want to make careers out of gaming are either to lazy or to dim to do anything else. To Yahtzee's credit he's tried to do a lot of other stuff and funnel his popularity from Zero Puncture I towards that, you can tell he's not that interested in it anymore but he can't get away from it since it is his main money maker and an excellent advertising outlet for his other stuff. I'd have no idea about any of his books if he hadn't tacked on advert for them on the end of his videos. Most 'creatives' would kill to have a platform like ZP advertising their stuff for free.

>>717671305
>Yes, the level of basic problem solving and critical thinking skills of the average person have indeed dropped off a cliff
You misunderstood. What I'm talking about is not a matter of solving a logic puzzle to progress. It's a matter of having to go around interacting with everything in the environment, because there isn't any good clue as to what you should be doing next, until you luck into doing the appropriate thing. This is bad game design, that developers over time figured out they should avoid, because it's frustrating, immersion-braking, and kills the pacing. It's fine to not hold the player's hand everywhere, but we're talking about taking it to the extreme here.

>>717670867
That is incorrect, this is not something someone should look for when buying games, this is a review for entertainment purposes. No one goes to Red letter media or Mystery Science theater for movie reviews.

>>717671719
Yahtzee is a terrible person go be complaining about this, he used to make point and click adventure games where combing though every environment and clicking on things in the right order is the whole game

>>717660562
Yet here you are

>>717671730
>this is a review for entertainment purposes
The guy talks about his experience with a video game he's played recently from the perspective of someone who's just picked it up, and his opinion on the various elements of that experience. Yes, it's done in a humorous and entertaining fashion, but it doesn't take away from the utility of it. He's generally pretty harsh on most games, but whenever he recommends one, I find myself also enjoying it.

>>717665392
It was not a instant change.
He’s very much changed his views on anime shit over many years.

>>717671803
I've never played his games, so I cannot comment on that. But he definitely has criticized this sort of progression mechanisms in the past, so even if he did do similar things, he took lessons from it.

>>717670867
>The purpose of a review of someone like Yahtzee is to inform the purchasing decision of a typical consumer
This is not strictly true by the way. Yahtzee has always positioned himself as a Roger Ebert-esque serious critic of videogames for the sake of studying the medium rather than just trying to give a basic magazine style review. He very specifically pushed back against the people who said he was just a comedian and not to take him seriously for that very reason. The review in the OP is from a game from years ago, itself a review of a game from decades ago. That ship has sailed long ago, buddy.
>You can talk about your experience with a game without mentioning every single building block
Of course you can, but if you're doing any review it is your responsibility to be a little more thorough and leaving out extremely important core systems that dictate every part of the game, or misconstruing the base mechanics of the game even when they're far more unique than you say they are on the surface level destroys confidence and credibility in anything you're saying, and just worsens your own experience when playing it.
>it's not the same for other people
This is literally why talking about such things is so important for someone doing a genuine critical review to give a decent enough overview for others to gain a window into the game.
>It's like you're etc. etc. etc.
Not at all, as much as you would want that to be the case to write off my criticism and calling out of this lazy, ignorant approach. This is present and noticeable on his reviews on games I like, games I hate, games I don't know or care about and whenever I fully agree with or disagree with him, like that parry video. It doesn't change the holes in his approach and he doesn't need 5 hour videos to plug them, only to spend more time thinking about the game while he's playing it.

>>717671719
Were there no good clues, or did he simply miss the clues that were present? Or were the clues or puzzle meant as a postgame secret and obtuse to convey a certain feeling in the player if they happen to stumble upon it? This is a different threshold for different people, and is exactly why being indepth to explore systems with actual examples is important for reviews.

The issue is simple. Even when someone is not "serious business" in the way they deal with something, they still need to have some philosophical depth in their approach. So a person can do something that on the surface appears to be something not to be taken too seriously, but when analyzed, you can clearly see that it is being done on solid foundations, with logical rigor and care.
This is not the case with 99% of reviewers and YouTubers, and I think it's because 99% of them aren't very intelligent.
That's why you watch Yahtzee's videos and get the impression that he didn't say anything, because he really didn't. He didn't address anything in a methodical or complex way. He's just an old man talking shit about something he doesn't understand. And people excuse the lack of substance in what he says with the idea that it's just for entertainment, as if entertainment weren't compatible with something deeper.

Note: of course, this would just be a trivial observation, but it's what happens to practically EVERYONE who tries to talk about video games.

This fag couldnt beat chrono trigger

>>717670386
He has his books for that. I like his Galaxy trilogy.

>>717658062 (OP)
He's an older guy that likes puzzle games.
What did you expect?

>>717672829
Couldn't be bothered too, if he can beat Earthbound, he can beat Chrono Trigger. It happens, sister-in-law fucking loves Final Fantasy, plenty are harder then CT but CT wasn't clicking for her so she dropped it.

>>717658062 (OP)
he really is
and he only reviews something negatively if he can tell from r/games and bluesky trannies talking about it that it's okay for him to review it negatively
he's safe-angry
>>717672829
chrono trigger is one of those games you can judge someone for not liking
if you don't like chrono trigger and couldn't even finish it, then you have shit taste and should be ashamed of yourself

>>717672810
I wouldn't go so far as to just say they're all unintelligent, but they don't understand how deep-seated in their ways or even hypocritical they can be and as much as they want to profess otherwise they take criticism very poorly even when they're very demonstrably in the wrong. It's far from only critics, there's a mass epidemic of people being vehemently opposed to stepping a toe out of their comfort zone, with >>717671431 giving a great example. But one expects someone aiming to be above that to actually you know, be above that. Yahtzee even did a relatively recent video addressing common criticisms about him which amounted to "I can be right and funny as well" and "you just don't want to admit I'm right", and that's not even hyperbole.
Your post also made me think of that Elden Ring tierlist maker Rusty, and more specifically the videos that rip his tierlists to shreds due to them being almost entirely nonsense and wrong information, while his fanbase insists it's fine because it's just meant to be funny and the guy himself frames his videos officially and says he stands by everything he says.

>>717658062 (OP)
First things first: buy an ad. Secondly, if you stripped the british accent from the anglo e-grifting parasocialites, you'd be left with budget mutts shitting up bandwith with chatgpt scripts and formulaic click/ragebait.