The Curse of Video Game Criticism 

how did you feel about the video? (objective responses only please)

Gonna stop you real quick: you're wrong.

As someone with insanely bad rejection sensitivity due to my neurodivergence, "objective" reviews really bog down my experience when it comes to games that I enjoy. I try not to watch stuff on games I enjoy because of that. I know that people have different experiences with games than me, but when they JUST bash on a game that I like under the guise of "criticism" is really upsetting. I can understand that some of my favorite games have valid critiques from people who don't like them, but that's extremely different than "this game sucks and if you like it for the reasons that I hate it you also suck" and it's just...a bummer for me. I end up thinking about the negative shit people say when I'm trying to enjoy stuff and it kinda ruins it for me, regardless of if I think they were right or wrong about it. I'm really glad that I'm not the only person who suffers with this, and I appreciate that you opened up about the fact that you experience this too, Yakko.

I also enjoyed the part in Sonic Adventure 2 with knuckle's rap about his struggle with substance addiction.

I love how Yakko clearly is passionate and really wants to get his message along. And it makes me sad that most of his videos are held back by the fact they in essence refer to the toxicity and/or inability of the biggest part of the community to share their passion the same way he does. Also Yakko, if you like Sonic Adventures 2 you should really try Ys Origin. Stay awesome.

"How would a single checkbox warn me that Before your Eyes could throw hands?" YOUR WRITING IS GLORIOUS I LOVE IT

as for the checkbox format, I really like ACG's videos, the catagories are there to start the discussions, and he talks about a lot of cool stuff I often see overlooked, like sound design, rather then just music, or mixing. Talking about how the game runs on multiple systems, and lets a bit of personality get in there so it isnt just reading specs off a box. Plus his rating system is blesesd: Buy, Rent, Wait for sale, etc rather then a number, and he mentions when he thinks players might differ with things like "for me this is a wait for sale, but if you really liked X then maybe this will be a buy for you" dudes reviews are really nice and also, watching reviews and listening to the reviewer talk about a lot of different games, what they like, what they dont, things they find interesting even if not done well, etc lets you judge how close they are to what YOU like and can help put their reviews into context. I know some people love X or Y in a game and idgaf about it (graphics being an example) and so I know to not care about that part nearly as much, especially when art direction carries a lot of older games and some of the new particularly indie stuff.

I like the steam checkbox reviews when they put in their own spin which answers the questions I would have, and have a little blurb summary of what they thought.

this topic has been on my mind since hearing reviews about TLOU2 and then finally playing the game like a year and a half later. even as a huge fan of the TLOU1 my experience with 2 was so much better than what i would have expected from the OBJECTIVE opinions given about the game on launch. now i just base the games i play on if the box art looks cool rather than objective online reviews

MGR exists in a very special place where it's fun to interact with on three different levels, and not in the way that I can tell you that you didn't play it if you didn't dive as deep as possible like with Infinite Warfare (play Specialist mode, it's not harder than Veteran, it just adds a *ton* of new mechanics!). First there's the obvious turn your brain off, button mash as hard as you can, look at the pretty setpieces, laugh at the dumb memes level that pretty much everyone who makes it past the admittedly dense tutorials will figure out. It's hard not to like the game for this reason because it's just so batshit fucking insane. Next is the metanarrative of how Platinum picked up the one project Kojima Productions couldn't figure out how to get right. Most essays about the game will at least mention this, and it's pretty interesting to see how the different design philosophies of the two studios sometimes clash and sometimes harmonize. Finally, you can lore dump the entire Metal Gear franchise so you can understand the philosophical conflict and political undertones, what it means for Raiden's character development, and finally figure out why in the hell Sam randomly goes on a tangent about memes. From what I've seen, it seems Jacob Geller is the only one to share this experience so far, but I could be wrong. This is one of the most cognitively dissonant ways to interact with a piece of art because the themes and the feelings they invoke are so completely opposite the presentation it's hard to explain. I really can't fault anyone for overlooking either of these latter two things because the game is so harmoniously designed that it feels like a complete experience no matter what level you engage at. It's somehow both transcended the curse of online discourse *and* had a second coming of popularity. It's truly a miracle

I don't think I have ever seen a 15+ minute video that said nothing so much to get to a point that a five year old can say! "People can enjoy different things!"

Most game reviews I see are just a basic description so I’m not surprised we ended up with checkboxes. Every time I hear “the story starts with…” I tune out. If I wanted a plot recap I wouldn’t have searched for a review. Noah Caldwell Gervais is wonderful. Thanks for your video.

There's something about a spinning cardboard cut-out of Amber's face on a drill that I can't not laugh at.

I understood the subjectivity of criticism and discourse , when i finally realized that people hate kingdom hearts for the same reasons i love it .

This may not exactly be what you were talking about but one thing that really bothers me is the need for some people to tell me that they don't think visual novels are games and that I should just read a book instead. I remember when the House of Fata Morgana, one of the greatest visual novels of all time imo, came to the switch and for some time it was the highest rated game on a website. Don't remember which one. But now for some reason, lots of people found the need to search for the trailer of the game and then just shit on it because it's something *they* don't like. I just wanted to see the remade artwork for one of my favorite visual novels and suddenly there were people shitting on it in the comments even if they've never read it before. Does putting down a game someone else likes help them in any way? I just don't understand why people try to do that. It even ended in a review bombing where people that never even touched Fata Morgana gave it a rating of 0 saying "that it's not even a game" or that people were paid to give it a good rating because no one could possibly like it. It still makes me upset because it really is such a good and moving piece of writing that can only come to life with the help of the ambient music and the visuals that come from a medium such as this

The Curse of Video Game Criticism is a video essay made by RU-vidr yakkocmn, discussing his thoughts and feelings on video game criticism. Thus ends my objective review.

every time i see a new upload from you i get this dumb stupid fuckin grin on my face and its great

This really nails the reason why I've been feeling less and less content with looking up stuff or reviews about games nowadays, or heck, even take a look at discussions about games; there's certainly entertainment or even knowledge to be shared in that way...but when a lot of the internet nowadays really centers around "NAH THIS SHIT SUCKS YOU'RE CRINGE" or "THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER 100% IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT YOU'RE CRINGE" or basically anything that you loved before now sucks and anything you despised before now is the best thing ever like I played Sonic R some weeks ago and it was short and dumb but the grin at my face because of the music and nostalgia cannot be taken away by anybody, same with playing arcade racers like Daytona USA even if age (OR MAYBE SOMETHING ELSE) has been burning me out from enjoying those, or y'know, SA2 as you mentioned. Probably the weirdest part is knowing some games nobody talks about that might have dumb obstacles or just emphasize dumb fun (Fighting Vipers, Aerogauge, Tetrisphere)...but on the other hand I can live peacefully with that I can rock the seat with those and no one will call me out on it because they don't even know what they are, and if someone does happen to know and like it, even better for me :) and big shoutouts for mentioning that dunkey video; when dunkey starts throwing real words out he always hits

can we get a compilation of all of the times yakko has said child like wonder

Agreed except for the general statement of "game length doesn't matter in a game, stop arguing about it." There are plenty of games that would be better by thinning out the fat so a more cohesive experience is given.

The simulation is breaking, I just discovered Joseph Anderson today, through his Persona 5 and 4 playthrough and now Yakko mentions him.

This is exactly why when I'm not sure about buying a video game I don't look up reviews, I look up longplays with no commentary of the game, if it looks fun, I'll try it.

damn, already summarized everything within the first seven seconds of the video

great video. I feel like ive been lost in the sauce of wanting to know why games are good/bad, or at least wanting to be able to explain why i feel the way i do. That on it's own isn't bad, but its so easy to absorbe the opinions of others and start disliking something you otherwise werent bothered by and i reallty want to get out of the youtube opinion sink, but I still also love hearing people talk about games. I just need to stop taking in subjectivity so objectively.

I notice the Va-11 Hall-A music in the back there.

I'm so glad you mentioned Joseph's subjectivity is implied video it really does speak to the mindset of some people that they will agree with the Creator or reviewer about one thing and essentially just ignore other talking points that either disagree with how they feel on the subject, or will essentially just replace their views with their own. Even in his most recent elden ring vid where joe was pretty negative and harsh he spent time applauding the game and trying to qualify his statements. Something I notice that you do as well. Keep up the great work yakko and I agree sonic adventure 2 is a good game I'd give it a 7.12345 out of 10.67890

Awesome video as always! For me I had the same experience with Nier Automata. I played the original nier first, and I played automata, and the music, high speed action, and story made an unforgettable experience where it was my favorite video game of all time. Then I read the reviews… was shocked that people did not like the story and combat, but I also realized how they were writing these opinions as “objective facts” Fuck them kids, it’s still my fav game

I feel like media should be criticized, and that "if you don't like it, then leave" comment is pointless. That being said, criticism on any form of art should never be personal or directed at the artist. This can even come in the form of the games being criticized just because a certain artist made them, this makes it so that the intention of personal attack is hard to detect. The problem with the people that just want video games (and any form of art) to be fun and don't like hearing criticism are going to do the exact opposite to the landscape of games of what they intended to. Without criticism, what would video games be? What would art be? Without the demand for quality, how would we ever get good art? If scott cawthon hadn't been criticized, we wouldn't have five nights at freddy's, if mac miller hadn't been criticized, he wouldn't have made watching movies with the sound off. The issue, at the end of the day, is that criticism in 2022 is shallow. In a world where people have to capture your attention with a clickbait article title, or a world where there are billions of people on the internet striving for attention, criticism is used bait to get clicks and reactions out of people. In some cases, maybe the person writing that article or the redditor saying that kanye west is actually overrated don't even feel that way. Criticism is a slippery slope, and I feel like it will never be used to way it once was, to make a better landscape for art.

Around halfway through the video you start using a background pusic track that, every 10 seconds or so, has a sound in it thats exactly like what my phone sounds like when it vibrates to a new message and it kinda starts fcking with me. That being said, you put VA-11 Hall-A music at the start so no complaints there, keep up the good work.

Reveangence is such a gorgeous game because you can enjoy it however you want, whether through somewhat manic analysis of its mechanics, story and themes, through the pure dopamine hit that is beating Jetstream Sam on Reveangence difficulty or through "haha funny magnetic man talks about memes".

i went through a good hundred steam reviews for work yesterday and that segment about the dumb check list type review absolutely cleansed my soul, thank you yakko

Thank you so much for sharing this. I always enjoyed kingdom hearts but as I grew up and understood that kh isn't...as..good as I thought it was and it made me feel conflicted, I felt like I shouldn't enjoy it as much as I really do. But thanks to your shared insight, I realized I can enjoy it despite having opposite opinions on it. (But really tho I just realized fallout has better writing than a game made by both disney and square enix) Keep up the great work!!!

I thank u for this vid SO MUCH. I honestly feel when it comes to videogames or ANY media looking at thing "objectively" doesn't really makes sense. It's stated as if it's a fact when it really isn't. Not only that but also sayin "objectively good/bad" feels like yur usin words that DIRECTLY oppose each other in this context. the words good & bad are only subjective terms & have ALWAYS been, so sayin objectively in a factual sense and good/bad which are opinions (subjective) jus sounds oxymoronic to me. When u mentioned sonic frontiers I remembered the experience I had hearin early reviews for the "demo" and I had the same experience u also spoke about. The reviews were mostly REALLY positive but it was hard to take these ppl's words for it since no-one in the sonic community new these ppl (for the most part) enough and their background with sonic to understand why they feel the way they do since "critics" at places like IGN and game-informer tend to have VASTLY diff opinions compared to the overall community at the time. The generally agreed upon technical standards for games at least have such a strong hold on gaming discourse that rarely anyone deviates when makin or talkin bout them and no-one thinks for themselves jus because their fav game essayist said their game is "bad" and everyone takes it as fact and rejects any other line of thought. I truly jus feel gamin discourse specifically is in a really "misguided" position but that's jus me

Those steam checklist reviews are so obnoxious and we are saved by steam itself shortening long reviews so they don't just blanket the entire review section. My eyes glaze over as soon as I see the checkbox emoji. On the topic of Steam Reviews I typically go through them looking for a few objective details rather than experiential ones. Such as: Does the game work? Is the developer still working on this Early Access game? Are there any missing features or mods people suggest I download in order to make the game work? But for experiential stuff, that's all just my friends. It's the way they talk about the game. Strangers come at the game with such bizarre expectations that I just discard their thoughts. I mean there is the genera of truly horrific steam reviews, I remember one that was so horrible, it mis-interpreted and fudged facts about the development of the game so much that the dev responded calling it libel. But that's pretty rare, you normally just get people who finished playing crusader kings 2 and after playing a different game think, "I wish this had the same features as crusader kings 2"

I think game criticism should always come in two parts, personal and comparative. Like personal preference, etc, then comparing it to similar games or mechanics environments level design etc.

You did the simplest thing and acknowledged that also very unique games are a form of art. I feel like if people understood that more, they would understand why it can be so difficult to explain games into easy to understand boxes. Nice on.

This is a really good essay about essays

How do you score a story that changes you in a minor yet significant way? How do you score a soundtrack that you come back to again and again. How do you score gameplay that is, just fun. My problem with scores is maybe the graphics suck but the story blew me away. Maybe it’s borderline unplayable but it’s got this undeniable charm.

One of my favorite games ever is Drakengard on the PS2. Yes it's repetitive. Yes the level design is bland. Yes the plot is bleak. Yes every character is a jerk. Yes the music sounds like someone taking a hammer to every instrument in existence. All of that is what I love about it. Are people wrong for disliking it? No! Am I wrong for liking it? No! It's my friggin' OPINION, and who am I to judge anyone else's?

You pretty much hit the nail on the head about how I feel in terms of videogame criticism. The main difference between you and me is that I actually like Genshin and Pokemon lol. But in all seriousness, I understand fully that practically every review, and or video essay on a subject matter, is mostly an opinion at the end of the day. However, over time I have become a bit more cynical when it comes to the video essay format, mostly because there are incredibly pedantic people on the platform who will disingenuously represent a game in a way so that hate band-wagoner moths will nibble away until they move on to the next video. If there is one thing that I personally loathe on the RU-vid video essay format, it is those whose ego and agenda comes before their actual perspective. I hate those who farms content with slander, clout, and clickbait that is a misrepresentation of the product that they are talking about. Sometimes, it is also annoying to encounter an essay that writes itself as if the ego and elitist mindset of a person is guiding their overall thoughts, instead of their actual feelings on a videogame. I am 100% fine with a person disliking a videogame for whatever stupid, petty reasoning that they can muster just so long as they aren't trying to intentionally prevent, or talk down, to those who enjoy the product they dislike. Every human being out there is different, with different tastes, perspectives, and preferences. Coming to an understanding as to why somebody may like something you don't is a good way to ensure that an opinion is taken more considerably. There is no "wrong" opinion on what a person should like or dislike (at least when it comes to videogames). But I am always bothered when a person, or in this case a videogame essay maker, will go out of their way to make up reasons as to why the we should dislike something. I see it happen all too often on the platform, and it's hard not to just feel a bit bitter that something you enjoy is being misrepresented to farm for clout clicks and the attention of hate band-wagoners. Except Genshin, as a fan I find all the hate videos hilarious, even though they're right lol. Regardless, it is better to form your own opinion than to piggyback off the judgement of another. Mind you, none of this is targeted at you or this video. I think you're doing a fine job yakkocmn and your videos are pretty great. Keep it up!

Hey Yakko I just want to thank you for making this video, because now I don’t have to learn how to write video essays to share my thoughts because you just stole all of them. On a side note I’d like my thoughts back because I don’t want to be reduced to writing checkbox reviews please.

I feel this way about Elden Ring. It's a personal 10/10 for me that I hope they make a trilogy (without crunch :< ) out of. But you can't go ten steps without seeing "Elden ring..... the greatest thing ever but also it sucks" titled videos. Lots of people say that the combat isn't new enough and that the open world should have just been more of the interlocking maps of previous games but I just wanna see what they can do by iterating off of the base of Elden Ring.

Thanks for uploading I really needed this rn. You always make me feel so much better

Video game criticism can be very overwhelming, especially people reviewed games and they love certain aspects (especially music) to the point that it would just turned me off due to worry that I couldn't get as much.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I did a video over a game I didn't like and I've mostly gotten people mad at me for saying a game they like sucks. I honestly thought it was obvious that reviews are opinions with arguments made to support those opinions, but most people took it as a personal attack on their taste and enjoyment of the game.

I like your videos a lot Yakko. Also why did I get this almost two weeks later in my feed? bad

As someone that has 0 fuckin clue what the part about "The Last of Us 2" meant, can confirm im still not happy in all the other reasons. /hj (sidenote it did nake me laugh hella hard though. Loving your recent stuff, keep up the great job!!)

So when is that Musashi Samurai Legend review?

Preach, brother. So many people need to hear this. I have been trying to tell people for AGES that "objectively bad" is an oxymoron.

this is something I've been thinking about a lot recently. Not even just about reviews, I just appreciate opinions presented as opinions much more than opinions presented as fact. I often feel it's unnecessary to do so, but that's my opinion!

This not only happen in games, The term "Cine-Bros" exist because of this mindset. The funny thing is, most cinebros would critic a movie with how much plot-holes it had which literally is the opposite point of movies which is simply STORYTELLING THROUGH VISUAL not a cerebral self wank session

Sonic Adventure 1 has the same trappings of its sequel but with even less polish and I still have a soft spot for it for much of the same reasons. The Mystic Ruins music will be forever burned into my frontal lobes.

1:54 oh you put ichi in daigo’s clothes too. Neat

First time seeing your channel. The video is great: it's something that I feel is worth watching and not just something to distract/entertain. At around 10:22 you got my subscribe with Aeolic Guardian playing in the background. Good taste!

Truly amazing how many great but flawed games are lost in the 7/10 cluster just to be ignored. Often I find some of my favorite mechanics or moments in these games that get overlooked bc some number

I'll be back to finish this video. Got some introspective I've need to do now.

great video, i was having one of the worst days in my life and entered just while thinking sht.. and ended up truly entertained, i love incoherent ranting as much as i love self despise, 10/10 would watch again

Honestly, thats why game reviews shouldnt use a score board, but just summarize the overall review itself as "score".

And honestly you are right. I really just want to have fun playing games, but the thing is, when one doesn't have a lot of money, I usually check reviews just to make sure if I do like the gameplay, I don't want to waste the money you know. On those kind of things, I just want to make sure the game works as it says

Internet: Nice review RU-vidr why don't you back it up with a source? Yakkoc: My source is that I made it the f*ck up!

I love it the kind of style of the video it reminds me of a few RU-vidrs I watch thank you for putting out your thoughts and feelings ^-^

Abby Anderson was the first time it actually felt like I was playing as a woman, and not just a “female protagonist”.

Thank you for your opinion, it is in my opinion that I don't like your opinion on Pokémon Legends Arceus. But that's just my opinion.

I am overcritical not in the sense that i constantly nitpick things, but that i only like games that fulfill extremely specific criteria or at least have the right combination of some of these criteria. It limits my pool of games to choose from heavily, but that is fine by me. Because every time i do find a game that tickles most of my sweetspots, i usually love it to death and can look past some of the potential downsides. Basically, it's a safety net for my personal enjoyment and for my wallet. Objectivity is thrown out of the window here.

I played Celeste because of you. Not because it checked a bunch of boxes but because you enjoyed it on a personal level and man, what a great game.

Personally, I don’t like having predetermined bullet points in my review. I do use bullet points mind you but more as a way of organizing my thoughts. Usually I talk about things that stood out to me like “platforming felt great” while at the same time saying “the level design was bland”. Always point out things you both enjoyed and don’t enjoy so if developers look at these, they get an idea of how to improve upon these in the future.

I kinda brought into the “ it needs to be an insanely long game if I’m gonna pay this much” for so long but I’m reminded of playing cat quest a few weeks ago. The next day I felt like it was a waste of money but looking back at the experience it was a pretty fun game and I’m excited to play the second one. That meme about wanting shorter games for more money with people who gets paid more makes more sense everyday lol

JOSEPH ANDERSON MENTIONED REPRESENT JOE GANG

Every game should just ask "Did you have fun?" and give 3 boxes to check, you can just tell if the game is worth playing by stats. 🔲Yes 🔲Perhap 🔲No

I would love to see more videos like this. I almost never comment but if there is any way for you to make more videos like more often you should. every single video you make is a banger, and make sure to drink water everyone!

8:20 You called it a *platforming* game; you didn't call it an *action* game. You said it released *in 2001;* you didn't say it released *in the early 2000s.* You said it's on *Sega Dreamcast;* you didn't say it's on *a home console.* You said we *play as* Sonic; you didn't say we *control* Sonic. .... My point is, *all* statements are judgments, and *all* words are subjective/objective in some degree. That's just how language works.

I agree with you on many points, but what is wrong if I want to objectively criticize the game or prove that the game is good? Not counting my personal preferences and my personal experience, just arguments

I feel better knowing that I can say "I like this game" and not have to give more context as to why (and not have to list why though the answer would be MGR:Revengence) and although this goes without saying, I liked it MG: Survive and I don't give a damn if people agree or not (also good video keep it up my friend).

One thing I realized recently is that I'm actually jealous of when people can enjoy things that I don't like, and maybe everyone feels that way but just doesn't know how to express it other than "game bad and therefore you're stupid for liking it"

this video reminded me of how much i love sticker star

always happy to see a yakko vid

I will never listen to any reviews until after i play\watch\listen to whatever it is. I hope more people will form their own opinion before listening to others blindly.

I have this problem too, I'm playing Xenoblade 3 and I keep hyper analyzing the game and cutscenes instead of simply enjoying myself in the moment, like when an emotional cutscene is happening, I can't help but think about how "good" it is, I'll think "This scene is really dramatic with good voice acting and animation, but we just met this character...." I feel like now that I'm an adult, this hampers my enjoyment of games. I'm gonna try to take a break and go in with a fresher mindset and try to enjoy the rest of the game without trying to critique it, becuause ultimately, finding excuses and POINTS as to why I like a game instead of enjoying it in the moment just makes my head hurt, and I'm stressed.

i love it when the simulated consciousness of humanity converges a little from time to time. i have seen multiple recent videos on subjectivity/objectivity in art, and it dies feel like a smol glitch in the matrix 😹

Your 'objective review' sounds exactly like some film reviews that I see on Letterboxd. This problem with how people approach reviewing games is something that very much overlaps with film discourse.

Hey yakko, I think this is my favorite video you’ve made so far. Keep it up dude

Personally never cared about subjective aspects of critiques such as the story or art direction, those are things I decide for myself. What I always look for in reviews and critiques is game mechanics and whether the game is actually good and maybe a little janky or complete dumpster fire shovelware.

My opinion, if a game makes me happy, I don’t care about what other people say. Although admittedly, confirmation bias is nice. But what irritates me is this current trend of dismissing any negative review as just modern game journalism, or preparing in order to attack a so called game journalists in the event that they might drop a negative review. It’s terribly toxic.

Hey! First time viewer! Love this video! You really captured many of my thoughts I’ve had being on social media and the influx of reviews and commentaries. Maybe you won’t see this but since you’re a creator on this platform, how do you stop yourself from looking at other peoples reviews and their hype so as to have a better experience playing a game or watching a movie?

Hey yakko, I normally don't leave comments but this time I really need to say that this is one of the videos ever made! Keep'em coming!

Okay, let's do that steam checkbox thing for Skyrim. Graphics: pretty nice Music: great Gameplay: poor Difficulty: okay Story: okay In conclusion, Skyrim is one of my favorite games of all time. But it's impossible to know that when I just check a few boxes. Maybe the game is greater than the sum of its parts, or it had a strong impact on you when you first played it, or you can neglect some flaws because the rest is amazing, or you don't care about graphics, and the list just goes on. You can still be objective without sounding like a robot.

Hey, just wanted to ask, is there any chance you’ll make a video about team fortress 2?

I have a million problems with Sayonara Wild Hearts and it scores extremely low in every single one of those checkbox categories. It's also my absolute favorite game of all time. Thank you again for recommending it in a previous video!

The point that dunkey made and that you pointed out here about knowing who your reviewers are is so vital to consuming any sort of review-related content, and that point often gets lost in between the pre-conceived industry standards for just about any piece of media, really. I also find it funny that people will barge into *your* video on *your own* RU-vid channel and then get pissed off because your subjective opinion was bad.

Welp, seems I made it into a yakkocmn video! I feel kind of embarassed by my comment about Odyssey, but it‘s also funny. I would never phrase it that way today and I also understood the importance of subjectivity over the years. Thing is: I was 16 at the time and hypercritical of media, because I was surrounded by people who bought CoD and Fifa every year and hated themselves for it. Surely doesn‘t make it any better, but its important context for understanding where a lot of these (stupid) comments come from! My channel name is german for "video games are art" btw :)) gonna start uploading some more meaningful criticism there soon, if you wanna learn some german

My two cents are that art criticism can either be rigorous or personal. When you aggregate the scores, it might look a rigorous number. But since Game-scientist it's a real job yet, I think most criticism is better off coming from a personal angle.

This video honestly really came out at just a perfect time for me. Recently, I have really noticed just how badly I take seeing any opinion that goes against mine. But not in a "I'm right, they're wrong" way; I end up thinking that _I_ am just completely wrong about everything I ever know because I saw some guy on Twitter I've never seen before say they didn't like the thing I like in a conversation I was nowhere near. And it doesn't help that a few games I'm into are commonly talked negatively about in the spaces I'm in. Now, deep inside, I already knew that I really shouldn't care all that much, but with this video, just getting to hear my own thoughts out loud has already helped me a lot in such a short amount of time. I don't really know how to end this comment but um, thanks for the funny words, gamer man.

As a "reviewer," this video took the words out of my mouth. Online, it seems like people believe objectivity to be whatever validates their subjective opinion. Also, learning to turn your brain off is a fantastic skill these days for just enjoying (or not enjoying) something. I absolutely loved Outer Wilds, but couldn't tell you the first reason why and I don't want to know why. I don't want to know why it felt so comfy yet mysterious or why its puzzles were sometimes really easy or really hard. I just know game good, and me like game. 'Objectively' good video, Yak :)

My official review for this video. [ Graphics ] You forget what reality is Beautiful Good Decent Bad Don‘t look too long at it MS-DOS Darksouls ✔ [ Gameplay ] Very good Good It's just gameplay Mehh Watch paint dry instead Just don't Darksouls ✔ [ Audio ] Eargasm ✔ Very good Good Not too bad Bad I'm now deaf Darksouls ✔ [ Audience ] Kids Teens Adults Grandma Darksouls ✔ [ Game Time ] Long enough for a cup of coffee Short Average Long To infinity and beyond Darksouls ✔ [ Price ] It's free! Worth the price If it's on sale If u have some spare money left Not recommended You could also just burn your money Darksouls ✔ [ Bugs ] Never heard of Minor bugs Can get annoying ARK: Survival Evolved The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs Darksouls ✔ [ Story] No Story Some lore Average Good Lovely It'll replace your life Darksouls ✔

I entirely agree about the whole "just have fun" two of my favorite games to this day are Asura's Wrath and Gravity Rush. Both games have a whole slew of problems that occasionally get me questions like "why do you like this" and my only response really is just "I had fun with it." At the end of the day if I had fun with a game I'm gonna like it and just because I had fun doesn't mean I have to justify why I had fun.

I love how whenever somebody talks about metal gear rising they all get turned into an excited 6-year-old in the best possible way. To quote Calvin and Hobbes: "This is *so* cool!" "This is *so* stupid"

I feel like tons of people simply do not understand that they do not necessarily need to have a reason to like things, which you touch on excellently in this video.

Holy shit I thought I was the only one who noticed this issue! I really noticed this problem a bit after KH3 came out. After a while, KH3 became really controversial because a lot of people liked it... and a lot of people did not. And the people who didn't like it made sure everyone knew. I have seen enough negative opinions on KH3 that the word "disappointing" kinda triggers me now. Kingdom Hearts became this series where "It's a weird series with good gameplay" to "KH2 Critical Mode Level 1 is the only way to play any KH game, and every other game is trash." It's just not fun to talk about Kingdom Hearts anymore. I feel like the biggest issue is due to how break-neck fast the internet has become. When a new game or piece of media, everyone expects there to be videos upon videos day 1 of it coming out. It's to a point where if you don't get your opinion out in the first couple of days, you just don't get a say because the train has already left. Because of that, opinions online have become a lot more binary and are missing the depth and time they need to cook. Also as you mentioned, there's also the need to constantly defend yourself and portray your opinion is "objectively true". All of this culminates into this weird fucking rat race where people are trying to look for something first that doesn't even exist. Hell, a large majority of people don't even watch reviews for the review, rather to cement their conformation bias about how they feel about the game. And if they don't get that in the video... well you can guess what happens next. The thing about games is that even if there way a "best game of all time" not everyone would like it. What makes a game good is so personal that the higher up in quality you go, the more opinionated it becomes. I do believe there are easy to identify qualities for what makes a game bad, but not as much the other way around. It's why I appreciate you videos so much. It's about the emotions and journey you had with the game, which really helps sell the connection you have with them. Point is, games are subjective of what people will enjoy about them, and well really need to grow out of what is a essentially a dick measuring contest. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

A lot of people seem to approach liking art backwards, where they need to find reasons a thing is good before they’re “allowed” to like it. And it’s okay to like things that have crippling flaws in other people’s eyes, or in your own.

Thank you Yakko, for putting this feeling that I've had for years into words. I couldn't have said it better myself Whenever the rare occasion would occur when I end up loving a game that had mixed reviews or tons of toxic discourse behind it, I felt GUILTY for enjoying it. But eventually, you come to realize that critics shouldn't be the be-all-end-all behind enjoyment, and your time on this earth is too precious to worry about what other people think about how you choose to spend your time