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Videogame critique/commentary/analysis/documentary channels

Commissar SFLUFAN

By Commissar SFLUFAN
in The Spawn Point

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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As someone who genuinely enjoys watching/listening to the deconstruction/critical analysis of video games, I figured it was time we had a thread where we could post any channels that we subscribe to so that other posters will know about them.  I'll post those that I'm familiar with along with a video as a sample of their style/content:

 

Noclip (documentary)

 

Matthewmatosis (commentary/analysis)

 

MrBtongue (commentary/analysis)

 

GVMERS (documentary)

 

MisterCaption/Caption (analysis/critique)

 

 

Super Bunnyhop (analysis/commentary)

 

Gameumentary/Gameumentary on Escapist Magazine (documentary)

 

Joseph Anderson (analysis/critique)

 

Noah Caldwell-Gervais (analysis/critique)

 

NeverKnowsBest (analysis/critique)

 

hbomberguy (analysis/critique)


Gaming Historian (documentary)

 

Downward Thrust (commentary/analysis)

 

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Brick

Brick

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Raycevick is also another good one. His very first video was on how Call of Duty lost its identity

 

 

 

And one of his most recent ones is a look back at Call of Duty 4 and what made that game so great

 

 

 

Also his retrospective on the Mass Effect trilogy is superb. Definitely worth a watch. 

 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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4 hours ago, Bacon said:

Man, I hate BOTW. SMO was also disappointing but not nearly as much a BOTW. 

 

I see BoTW/Odyssey more as a shift in direction, done extremely well for what they were aiming for.  Better to have that than be half-baked or not fully committed to their ideas, as Wind Waker and Sunshine could be criticized for IMO.  Though I still enjoyed them all.

That guy made a huge mistake in one the Odyssey video btw.  The first world isn't Mushroom Kindgom.  That's a post-game unlock.

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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9 minutes ago, Bacon said:

lol, you didn't watch all of the video. 

https://youtu.be/kYJx5xt2cB0?t=2508

or go to 41:45

 

Ah, I was confused while I was watching.

I still don't see the problem with it though.  It's the chill post-game level, apart from the boss stages in it.  That's the point, it's just a fun little hub.

Meanwhile there's two tougher bonus moon levels, and new challenge unlocks in all stages after beating bowser.  Odyssey's post game may not be my favorite of all the 3D games, but it's certainly the most content packed.

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Xbob42

Xbob42

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3 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

I still don't see the problem with it though.  It's the chill post-game level, apart from the boss stages in it.  That's the point, it's just a fun little hub.

Meanwhile there's two tougher bonus moon levels, and new challenge unlocks in all stages after beating bowser.  Odyssey's post game may not be my favorite of all the 3D games, but it's certainly the most content packed.

I don't like this excuse. "It's just a fun little hub" that happens to be packed with super easy stars and boss challenges? If you're gonna make a chill-out hub, make a chill-out hub, not a super easy level. The Moon stages were far more disappointing because they felt like half-assed DLC content, but the Mushroom Kingdom stage would've just been fun at the start of the game. Mario never puts the easiest worlds at the end as a "fun little hub." They put the hardest challenges at the end, and the Moons simply didn't offer enough content (just mostly recycled boss trash, which sadly Mushroom Kingdom also has) to be considered as good as previous Mario post-game worlds.

Also, how is it the most content packed? I mean, they repopulate the same stages with some new moons that mostly feel haphazardly placed with very little actual well-designed platforming challenges, which is just... sad compared to, say, 3D Land's EIGHT EXTRA WORLDS. i.e. an entire bonus game of content. Now I don't always expect that kind of bulk content, but if you're gonna give me new worlds, then at least make the post-game super interesting with all kinds of expansions of concepts we've seen in the base game as well as maybe new ones that were too hard or unusual for the main game. I think we saw maybe like 2 of these? A cool one that comes to mind, even though it was kind of annoying, was the 2D/3D stages with all the moving parts where you had to pop out of 2D for certain parts to make jumps, I remember that being neat.

 

That, combined with the fact that not a single world really grabbed me, really made me feel down on Odyssey. The platforming mechanics were absolutely splendidly put together and Mario is super fun to control, but the level design just never grabbed me. Even the much-beloved New Donk City was just kind of this ugly gray cityscape that looked like it fell out of an alternative universe where the PS2 got a PS2 Pro or something.

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

I don't like this excuse. "It's just a fun little hub" that happens to be packed with super easy stars and boss challenges? If you're gonna make a chill-out hub, make a chill-out hub, not a super easy level. The Moon stages were far more disappointing because they felt like half-assed DLC content, but the Mushroom Kingdom stage would've just been fun at the start of the game. Mario never puts the easiest worlds at the end as a "fun little hub." They put the hardest challenges at the end, and the Moons simply didn't offer enough content (just mostly recycled boss trash, which sadly Mushroom Kingdom also has) to be considered as good as previous Mario post-game worlds.

Also, how is it the most content packed? I mean, they repopulate the same stages with some new moons that mostly feel haphazardly placed with very little actual well-designed platforming challenges, which is just... sad compared to, say, 3D Land's EIGHT EXTRA WORLDS. i.e. an entire bonus game of content. Now I don't always expect that kind of bulk content, but if you're gonna give me new worlds, then at least make the post-game super interesting with all kinds of expansions of concepts we've seen in the base game as well as maybe new ones that were too hard or unusual for the main game. I think we saw maybe like 2 of these? A cool one that comes to mind, even though it was kind of annoying, was the 2D/3D stages with all the moving parts where you had to pop out of 2D for certain parts to make jumps, I remember that being neat.

 

That, combined with the fact that not a single world really grabbed me, really made me feel down on Odyssey. The platforming mechanics were absolutely splendidly put together and Mario is super fun to control, but the level design just never grabbed me. Even the much-beloved New Donk City was just kind of this ugly gray cityscape that looked like it fell out of an alternative universe where the PS2 got a PS2 Pro or something.


It was a "fun little hub" because it was a break from the harder post-game activities, including the revamped bosses and slew of new challenge rooms in every level.  It didn't bother me any more that Galaxy 2's throwback galaxy being a cakewalk.

I could understanding being disappointed in the Moon stages.  I still liked 3D World's last level most, and loved the final few Galaxy 2 levels, but Odyssey's final stage really wasn't far off.  It's more of a good thing, IMO.  If you're trying to label that as a DLC expansion sort of thing, then you should lump those other games into that narrative too.  Let's also not forget, in each case, these were free additions there at launch.  Many devs would charge for much less.

I did forget about 3D Land's post-game additions.  But other than that, yeah, I'd say Odyssey had the most to do when you 'beat' the game.  They held back too much for the post-game, if anything.

Overall, Odyssey's level design was quite good in my book.  While I do wish some stages were bigger, it's still the best modern-day 3D platformer.  I say that as someone who finished Yooka and Hat in Time as well, and enjoyed those too.  Some of the best parts of Odyssey relate to how the transformations made certain levels feel more distinctive.  For example, all of the Bowser levels in the past few 3D Marios just blend together in my head, except for Odyssey and its bird stuff.

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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1 hour ago, Bacon said:

Yeah, the worlds sucked and you only remember them because of the visuals, not because of the challenges or trials.


Disagree.  I think most of the stages are distinctive due to the transformations, bosses, etc.

Less of this game is going to blur together years down the line than most other 3D Mario's, IMO.

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Bacon

Bacon

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2 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Disagree.  I think most of the stages are distinctive due to the transformations.

I can't remember a single transformation outside of the pyramid starting to float.

I can remember almost all the stages and changes in SM64. 

 

4 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Less of this game is going to blur together years down the line than most other 3D Mario's, IMO.

I do not agree with this at all. I'll remember Sunshine and 64 far more clearly than SMO. Never played the galaxy games or 3D world tho. Maybe for those game sure, but not for 64 and Sunshine.

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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9 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I can't remember a single transformation outside of the pyramid starting to float.

I can remember almost all the stages and changes in SM64.

 

Hat transformations.
 

9 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I do not agree with this at all. I'll remember Sunshine and 64 far more clearly than SMO. Never played the galaxy games or 3D world tho. Maybe for those game sure, but not for 64 and Sunshine.

 

Sunshine might be stretching it.  But 64, Sunshine and Odyssey do have the advantage of putting you in larger stages for longer periods of time.  They're generally easier to remember for that reason.

Galaxy 2 is the most brilliant of them all, IMO.  It's so consistently clever it's hard to keep track of it all in your head, lol.

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Bacon

Bacon

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3 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Hat transformations.

OH, ok lol. My bad.

3 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Sunshine might be stretching it.

Not for me. Sunshine was the first Mario game I beat. I only beat 64 when it hit the DS. 

 

Edit: And I wasn't a fan of the weird tiny planets or whatever in Galaxy and all the upside down stuff. I played about half of Galaxy 1 before I stopped playing. I just couldn't get into it, and it didn't help that I was more interested in playing online games with my friends at that point. 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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Just now, Bacon said:

Not for me. Sunshine was the first Mario game I beat. I only beat 64 when it hit the DS. 

 

Some people think the levels blend together because of the water theme.  I'm not of that persuasion, my bigger beef was the length.

That's a game that could have used a Galaxy/Odyssey/World styled post-game.

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Spawn_of_Apathy

Spawn_of_Apathy

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On 1/22/2020 at 12:22 PM, Brick said:

Raycevick is also another good one. His very first video was on how Call of Duty lost its identity

 

 

 

And one of his most recent ones is a look back at Call of Duty 4 and what made that game so great

 

 

 

Also his retrospective on the Mass Effect trilogy is superb. Definitely worth a watch. 

 

I was gonna mention him. He reminds me of the Gametrailers Retrospectives videos.
 

Matt Muscles What Happun series.   Gives the history of how games became such a mess and failure. I find it entertaining.  

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