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Commissar SFLUFAN

By Commissar SFLUFAN
in The Spawn Point

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Moa

Moa

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

 

What are you your feelings about Noah Caldwell-Gervais?  I think he really does seem to stick pretty closely to what you're describing.


His Disco Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero videos were fantastic, but I feel like he has a weird tendency to cover narratively insubstantial games that clash with his level of analysis. 

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Bacon

Bacon

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Noah Caldwell-Gervais is pretty good based of the gears video. I just wonder how much I'll like his videos over all. Often I start following a critic due to their videos on games I hate or for videos on games that are good, but they don't deserve the praise they have received like, IMO, the new zelda & mario, and a game like the outer worlds and I want validation for my obviously correct opinion. Like, I can't wait for Elden Ring Critique's to pop-up because there is legit bad stuff in the game that people willingly ignore because the rest is good, or they are just to ignorant to realize that these things are bad. And I don't mean ignorant it a demeaning way, but that they quite literally lack the knowledge. 

 

And Noah, so far, has had some opinions that I don't agree with. More than others I generally watch anyway. And I am not the kinda of guy who cares about the other opinion. Now of course, that was with Gears of War. Gears of War had a bigger place in my heart than Zelda for years. I owned every comic, every graphic novel, and every actual novel. I had my own COG tags, my wallet was Gears of War themed, I had gears of war shirts, Marcus' durag, and my very own lancer. Of course I owned every Gears of War CE. And then Gears of War ended with Gears of War 3. Marcus went on to have is happily ever after and there was no more story to be told. 

 

And then Gears 4 was made. I only played it because it came with my Graphics Card. It wasn't even just the continuation of the story but the changes in what MP modes were the big focus. 90% of my Gears play time was spent in Execution. Execution wasn't as accessible in Gears 4 and it limited to only Ranked modes which I had no interest in playing. Gears 4 was nothing I ever wanted and I can't stand that Gears 3 wasn't the end of it. 

 

I forget why I even started posting this. Anyway, going to watch the outer worlds video from Noah. 

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Bacon

Bacon

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So, I watched Noah's video on the Red Dead series. This is pointless to talk about here I guess lol, but I can't really agree with his opinion on how the gameplay is second. Now, he didn't really say that, but I can't remember his exact wording and that is close enough for some random internet discussion. Because, when he was talking about RDR2, his point was roughly everything else > gameplay. He calls it the greatest western ever made (true) and he more often calls RDR2, "media," than an actual video game. But that's just the thing. RDR2 is a video game. You can care more about story over gameplay. I am often one of those people. But the way he puts it is like almost like "who cares if the gameplay is bad, everything else is just so much better." That RDR2 is excused in this regard. But like, this is still a video game. It was marketed as such. I'm not even talking about the "immersive" real time looting and skinning shit. I'm mostly talking about combat. 

 

Lost my thought for a second, but basically, he doesn't even say that the game would be better if the actual game part was better. Like, idk, it bothers me when shitty parts of games get excused because the rest is so great and they kind of just shrug at the bad. Sorry if this isn't making sense I really lost my train of thought, but let me put out exactly what I thought during this part of the video. It is really more of a question or questions that can't be answered. In my mind I was thinking, "But shouldn't you still want better gameplay(combat)? If the combat was better it would elevate the overall experience. Don't you want that? It would make the "greatest western" even greater. Instead it can and does harm other people's experience with this piece of media." Because a video game is a full package, man. People get RDR2 to experience a video game, not a piece of media. And when the game part is weak, the media is weakened. I don't feel that is something a critic should brush off.

 

Now is RDR2's combat like, bad-bad? No, but it is painfully mediocre. Like, idk man, feels bad to see people giving the game a pass when the game part is meh. I don't think the story of RDR2 could be done better in another medium, but you shouldn't just get to shrug your shoulders at the gameplay. Gameplay really is King when it comes down to it. DOOM Eternal is a 10/10 simply because of gameplay. I really think more often that gameplay is what matters most. It is fine if Gameplay takes a backseat to Story, but the gameplay shouldn't be lame enough to harm the story. I think RDR2's gameplay reaches that point. You could even say it is the excellent story that makes RDR2's mediocre gameplay seem worse than it might actually be. You might say the gameplay does a disservice to the story.

 

but, like... idk, man. I just don't know. There just shouldn't be this much of a disparity between the story and gameplay. 

 

---

 

Anyway, I wish Noah would be willing to do more takes. He has flubs pretty often for one reason or another and "it breaks immersion" is the best way I can put it. Breaks his flow harshly. You have a moment of shock like when you are taking a sip of water but it was actually your coffee. I'm sure he is not there reading his script start to finish in one take, but he has some pretty obvious long takes. It is impressive how long he can go on one take without messing up, but that makes it really distracting when he does. 

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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Posted
5 hours ago, Bacon said:

So, I watched Noah's video on the Red Dead series. This is pointless to talk about here I guess lol, but I can't really agree with his opinion on how the gameplay is second. Now, he didn't really say that, but I can't remember his exact wording and that is close enough for some random internet discussion. Because, when he was talking about RDR2, his point was roughly everything else > gameplay. He calls it the greatest western ever made (true) and he more often calls RDR2, "media," than an actual video game. But that's just the thing. RDR2 is a video game. You can care more about story over gameplay. I am often one of those people. But the way he puts it is like almost like "who cares if the gameplay is bad, everything else is just so much better." That RDR2 is excused in this regard. But like, this is still a video game. It was marketed as such. I'm not even talking about the "immersive" real time looting and skinning shit. I'm mostly talking about combat. 

 

Lost my thought for a second, but basically, he doesn't even say that the game would be better if the actual game part was better. Like, idk, it bothers me when shitty parts of games get excused because the rest is so great and they kind of just shrug at the bad. Sorry if this isn't making sense I really lost my train of thought, but let me put out exactly what I thought during this part of the video. It is really more of a question or questions that can't be answered. In my mind I was thinking, "But shouldn't you still want better gameplay(combat)? If the combat was better it would elevate the overall experience. Don't you want that? It would make the "greatest western" even greater. Instead it can and does harm other people's experience with this piece of media." Because a video game is a full package, man. People get RDR2 to experience a video game, not a piece of media. And when the game part is weak, the media is weakened. I don't feel that is something a critic should brush off.

 

Now is RDR2's combat like, bad-bad? No, but it is painfully mediocre. Like, idk man, feels bad to see people giving the game a pass when the game part is meh. I don't think the story of RDR2 could be done better in another medium, but you shouldn't just get to shrug your shoulders at the gameplay. Gameplay really is King when it comes down to it. DOOM Eternal is a 10/10 simply because of gameplay. I really think more often that gameplay is what matters most. It is fine if Gameplay takes a backseat to Story, but the gameplay shouldn't be lame enough to harm the story. I think RDR2's gameplay reaches that point. You could even say it is the excellent story that makes RDR2's mediocre gameplay seem worse than it might actually be. You might say the gameplay does a disservice to the story.

 

but, like... idk, man. I just don't know. There just shouldn't be this much of a disparity between the story and gameplay. 

 

---

 

Anyway, I wish Noah would be willing to do more takes. He has flubs pretty often for one reason or another and "it breaks immersion" is the best way I can put it. Breaks his flow harshly. You have a moment of shock like when you are taking a sip of water but it was actually your coffee. I'm sure he is not there reading his script start to finish in one take, but he has some pretty obvious long takes. It is impressive how long he can go on one take without messing up, but that makes it really distracting when he does. 

RDR's combat and movement are one of the reasons I can't stand it.

 

I don't know what your complaints about moden Mario and Zelda are, but Odyssey is one of the best 3d Mario games, after Galaxy, and BotW's only problem (besides pop in and shit caused by horrible hardware) is the lack of dungeons. But that game still incredible, and also a obviously major inspiration for Elden Ring.

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Bacon

Bacon

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29 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

 

I don't know what your complaints about moden Mario and Zelda are

heh

 

You could say I am not a fan at all of those titles at all and BOTW's open world is really what turned me against open world titles. Don't really want to get into it, but my opinions on those games are nearly identical to Joseph Anderson's. And instead of me explaining my issue it would just be better to watch his critiques. But a lack of traditional dungeons are my biggest complaint. I don't even consider the 4 divine beasts to be good enough to be a classic zelda dungeon. 

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Ghost_MH

Ghost_MH

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In case folks have missed it, Mark over at Game Maker's Toolkit has decided to see if everything he's covered on his channel is actually useful for developing a real game. He's seven videos in and has already won the Unity award for the best devlog.

 

 

It's a pretty good series.

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Bacon

Bacon

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Quote

But when I'm incentivized and more importantly excited to explore so much and then punished for it by outpacing so much content I can't help but think that something has gone horribly wrong

 

God I wish people could understand this. There are people here who don't. 

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Bacon

Bacon

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Yes, more people on the side of jumping wasn't a good addition to combat. I'm always glad when a popular youtuber can spread my opinion to the masses. I don't even need to try and convince people anymore. It is now a "fact" because a popular youtuber said so. 

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Bacon

Bacon

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90% of the video is basically just my opinions so great job JA. He had a few opinions that had me like "yeah, maybe, but I really don't care". Like, at one point he mentions hit trading when it comes to heavy weapons and while hit trading was possible and I did it at times, it really didn't feel like an issue and that I don't believe it is as unavoidable as he says it is. And there were even less opinions that I just outright disagreed with. Like, his opinion on Radahn and the final "final" boss. Those are, by far, his most plebeian takes as I mentioned earlier. 

 

 

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Moa

Moa

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16 hours ago, Bacon said:

90% of the video is basically just my opinions so great job JA. He had a few opinions that had me like "yeah, maybe, but I really don't care". Like, at one point he mentions hit trading when it comes to heavy weapons and while hit trading was possible and I did it at times, it really didn't feel like an issue and that I don't believe it is as unavoidable as he says it is. And there were even less opinions that I just outright disagreed with. Like, his opinion on Radahn and the final "final" boss. Those are, by far, his most plebeian takes as I mentioned earlier. 

 

 

 

I love how you unabashedly judge video essays based on how much they conform with your own opinions.

 

It is also absolutely bananas the reach Joseph Anderson apparently has. Most of the video essays I see posted on reddit, even from people who pass for big names in the gaming video essay world, generate tens of comments. This Joseph Anderson video is currently sitting at an unbelievable 2511 comments.

 

I haven't gotten deep into the video, but based on Bacon's comments I suspect I will disagree with much of his criticism, or at least the things that troubled him didn't bother me.

 

Give me Witcher 3. Witcher 3 me. Witcher 3 now. Me a Witcher 3 needing a lot now.

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Bacon

Bacon

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3 minutes ago, Moa said:

I haven't gotten deep into the video, but based on Bacon's comments I suspect I will disagree with much of his criticism

Probably, yeah, but I was also surprised with how many "redditors" agreed with a fair amount of his criticisms. I noticed that many others held my opinion on the "hit trading" criticism JA had. Feels blown out of proportion by him. Except maybe for Mohg, I don't agree with the amount of hit trading he says there is in the game and many others seem to feel the same as well. 

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Moa

Moa

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I've learned that I want a Joseph Anderson Outer Wilds video very badly, that he sucks at Celeste, and we kind of agree on what the biggest problem with the game is.

 

My biggest problem is that summons feel mandatory and it's clear that most encounters are designed around their presence. His problem is bullshit long boss attack strings that you can't punish. But wait, Joseph Anderson, you can! Just summon so that half of the bullshit is directed at your summon and you can wail away on the boss' back. Ok fine, you addressed it Joseph.

 

I agree with the Elden Beast Torrent conspiracy.

 

I mostly disagree with him about the repeated content. I don't think most of the repeated encounters cheapened the originals, and I liked that new zones had some predictable content like "go to the tree, kill the tree spirit, and get the flask." I do think he's right specifically about the repeated Astel and Ancestor Spirit encounters though.

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Bacon

Bacon

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21 hours ago, Moa said:

I agree with the Elden Beast Torrent conspiracy.

 

Even if it was never the intention, so many people on their own have assumed this and it IS a damn same that Torrent didn't get a last hurrah. I wonder though, if they took it out because of how similar it really would have been to BOTW at that point. I mean, big dark final boss fought on horse back with and golden magic is somehow involved...  It really would smell like BOTW to a lot of people. Hell, I'm sure even I would have brought it up. 

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