Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

You all know Yahtzee right? The most cynical, hard-to-please video game critic to ever live? A man that has stated he hated JRPG's and Turn-Based combat?

Well, FFVI fans, be prepared to have your mind blown:

Zero Punctuation: FF13 Review

Now, he doesn't like FF13, which was to be expected....


But what was not expected... is what he also said in the video. Wait until you watch about 2:20.

I was completely shocked when I first watched it. Just thought I'd share.

By the way, there are three JRPG's that he has said he liked: Paper Mario, Earthbound, and now Final Fantasy VI.

This it the video where he talks about the others (it was actually misleading, because he said these were the two exceptions):

Super Paper Mario Review

A few points: He gives FFVI as the reason he's reviewing FF13 in the first place. Though he spends little time talking about it, it can be inferred that many of the things he said after it to criticize other FF games (spectacle over substance, teenage angst and melodrama, and FF stock characters) are actually praises to Final Fantasy VI.

So, what do you all think of one of the toughest video game critics, a man known to hate games of its type, giving praise to FFVI?

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 3rd April 2010 03:25

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

well yahtzee does like video games, its just modern stuff tends to be awful and full of things that arent good, plain and simple. others that he likes are bioshock, the thief series, prince of persia, portal, the half life series to name a few.

also, i wish he reviewed the entire game. i wanted more bickering


--------------------

Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

Quote (dont chocobos rule? @ 31st March 2010 19:42)

well yahtzee does like video games, its just modern stuff tends to be awful and full of things that arent good, plain and simple. others that he likes are bioshock, the thief series, prince of persia, portal, the half life series to name a few.

also, i wish he reviewed the entire game. i wanted more bickering

But I never thought I'd ever hear him even talk about FFVI, yet alone say that he actually liked it. And that's big. I've never heard him say something good about a tunr-based JRPG, ever. And he rarely gives out compliments.

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 31st March 2010 20:15)

Quote (dont chocobos rule? @ 31st March 2010 19:42)

well yahtzee does like video games, its just modern stuff tends to be awful and full of things that arent good, plain and simple. others that he likes are bioshock, the thief series, prince of persia, portal, the half life series to name a few.

also, i wish he reviewed the entire game. i wanted more bickering

But I never thought I'd ever hear him even talk about FFVI, yet alone say that he actually liked it. And that's big. I've never heard him say something good about a tunr-based JRPG, ever. And he rarely gives out compliments.

He's specifically mentioned being a huge Earthbound fan and really liking the Mario RPGs, especially Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

But hey, high-profile notoriously-cynical game critic liking FF VI? Good for us.

--------------------

this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (laszlow @ 31st March 2010 23:17)

Quote (BlitzSage @ 31st March 2010 20:15)

Quote (dont chocobos rule? @ 31st March 2010 19:42)

well yahtzee does like video games, its just modern stuff tends to be awful and full of things that arent good, plain and simple. others that he likes are bioshock, the thief series, prince of persia, portal, the half life series to name a few.

also, i wish he reviewed the entire game. i wanted more bickering

But I never thought I'd ever hear him even talk about FFVI, yet alone say that he actually liked it. And that's big. I've never heard him say something good about a tunr-based JRPG, ever. And he rarely gives out compliments.

He's specifically mentioned being a huge Earthbound fan and really liking the Mario RPGs, especially Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

But hey, high-profile notoriously-cynical game critic liking FF VI? Good for us.

Forgot about that. But still, I never thought he'd ever like a FF game, let alone FFVI. Yeah, he's not only cynical, and hard to please, he also seems to be really smart about games. And he said some things about the series that I agreed with, like the shift in storytelling style after FFVII.

He also made me think about the gameplay of FFVI as well. For a long time, I criticized that part of the game, yet when I think about what he said about it, I like it because it's quick and simple, yet exciting.

Mainly, though, I'm just surprised. Normally, people just know about FFVII, and few people know about FFVI. He's never (besides Earthbound) said one good thing about a JRPG before. I was shocked.

It's like that film Ratatouille, with the notorious food critic that never likes anything? But finally enjoys one dish? That's how I felt when I heard him say that's the one game FF game he liked.

And actually, that review was one that was misleading, because he said only two exceptions were Paper Mario and Earthbound.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 1st April 2010 07:06

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

Points in case:
1. He was younger. A lot. He even drew himself as a kid for the retrospective. He probably was a lot more forgiving back then.
2. FFVI may have helped form his expectations of good games, being a story told in the old 2D pixel days.
3. I don't think there'd be much replay value in FFVI for Yahtzee, but I may be wrong.

Edit

I noticed that when he's talking about FFVI's combat he's armed with a chainsaw.

This post has been edited by SilverMaduin on 1st April 2010 08:18

--------------------

"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

Quote (SilverMaduin @ 1st April 2010 04:16)

Points in case:
1. He was younger. A lot. He even drew himself as a kid for the retrospective. He probably was a lot more forgiving back then.
2. FFVI may have helped form his expectations of good games, being a story told in the old 2D pixel days.
3. I don't think there'd be much replay value in FFVI for Yahtzee, but I may be wrong.

Edit

I noticed that when he's talking about FFVI's combat he's armed with a chainsaw. 

Didn't notice the chainsaw! Awesome. Anyways, I had some points I realized about the review after rewatching it, and about your points.

1. If Wikipedia is to be believed, he was about the age that I was when he would've first played it. But he made reference many times to nostalgia, especially when he talked about Fantasy World Dizzy. I don't think he'd still praise it because of nostalgia.
2. It might just have raised his expectation bar. He does say that he fell out with RPG's after they became more of a spectacle, when he had a graphic of FFVII. Also, VI came out in Oct. 94, and Earthbound came out in June 95, so that seems fairly close to each other. Maybe he was formerly a RPG fan, maybe.
3. The three JRPG's that he likes seem to be fairly similar, with some quirky humor and strong stories.
4. It's interesting that of all the criticism I've ever heard him direct towards FF or JRPG's, none really pertain to FFVI.

In fact, he mentions FFVI to explain why he reviewed FF13 in the first place. So, he mentions FFVI really to defend himself against people that thinks he just hates all turn-based JRPG's. So, what he's basically saying is, "I enjoyed FFVI, but not FF13, mainly because FFVI didn't do the things that this does that I hate." So, he's saying that he'd like FF better if the others were more like FFVI.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 2nd April 2010 03:22

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

Until I saw this thread I was under the impression that he was taking the mick out of FFVI. He said he enjoyed VI because it had a simple overarching story, not a good story, and the turn-based combat was quick and didn't have much of a place in the game. To me, that's not exactly an endorsement, I think he's being sardonic when he says he enjoyed it. I thought most fans believe FFVI is good because it had a deep story and the gameplay is fun? I know he doesn't usually give out credit and all that, but he actually does it properly in some cases, and this wasn't one of them I don't think.

Other than that, I thought that video wasn't very funny. I'm not bothered that only 5 hours were reviewed I just wished that there was a bit more insight into the game and the series, or better jokes.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (sweetdude @ 2nd April 2010 01:46)

He said he enjoyed VI because it had a simple overarching story, not a good story, and the turn-based combat was quick and didn't have much of a place in the game. To me, that's not exactly an endorsement, I think he's being sardonic when he says he enjoyed it.

Well, I actually disagree with that, and here's why. He's not really saying the story is simple. He's saying it was simple to understand (not to mention he put it in a rainbow!).

His exact words: "I liked how the overarching story could be summarized in less space than a pamphlet."

Now, thoughout the whole review he's talking about how he doesn't get what's going on in FF13, and how he had to read a bunch of text to even partially understand it. He later says that FF13 is not doing good storytelling. And before he talks about FFVI, he says that in FF13, basic questions about the plot remained unanswered. "Who the F are these people?"

He makes that remark to show that he understood FFVI, not that the story was being dumbed down to a few lines.

Also, I don't think his goal was to do that. If it was, why would he just pick some game in the series and lie about enjoying it? You get what I'm saying?

I think the reason he mentions it is to almost compare FFVI to FFXIII. Like he's saying, "This is why I don't like FFXIII. And this is why I do like FFVI."

Otherwise, why would he pick out a game that few mainstream people know about to pretend he likes? Unless it's some April Fools joke? I think he was giving it credit. In fact, a lot of credit. He spent more time praising it then he did Earthbound.

Edit

As for it being funny, I've always found him to be funny. This one honestly wasn't as good as some others though.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 2nd April 2010 06:21

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

I think its cool. The toughest critic is talking in a positive way toward a 16 year old game which should be talked about. Its a brilliant game.



--------------------

A Magitek Elite knight! :P

Bringing back what crashed. A FFVI community!

Quote (MagitekElite @ 13th June 2010 23:57)

I think its cool. The toughest critic is talking in a positive way toward a 16 year old game which should be talked about. Its a brilliant game.

That was really my excitement towards it. He is someone that has vehemently attacked other JRPGs, and yet he picked one that was made in 1994, one that I was surprised to hear him say he'd even played, let alone liked. So, when I heard him say FFVI, I was surprised that he had even played, because I thought he wouldn't even give it the time of day.

To sweetdude's point, he has stated later (though I didn't update) that he really enjoyed the story. In his weekly Escapist article, praised it's story and design, for being simple, yet grandiose. And he also brought up Earthbound and Paper Mario again.

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 14th June 2010 08:10)

To sweetdude's point, he has stated later (though I didn't update) that he really enjoyed the story. In his weekly Escapist article, praised it's story and design, for being simple, yet grandiose. And he also brought up Earthbound and Paper Mario again.

Oh right fair enough. Count FFVI as having +1 fans.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (sweetdude @ 14th June 2010 05:44)

Quote (BlitzSage @ 14th June 2010 08:10)

To sweetdude's point, he has stated later (though I didn't update) that he really enjoyed the story. In his weekly Escapist article, praised it's story and design, for being simple, yet grandiose. And he also brought up Earthbound and Paper Mario again.

Oh right fair enough. Count FFVI as having +1 fans.

I know, I really hate being a fanboy sometimes

But I can't help but be excited whenever I hear someone praise or show any love to FFVI. It may be fanboyish, but I think that it's a game that deserves praise. Whenever I watched Yahtzee criticize other JRPGs, I always used to think, "FFVI isn't like that."

Does anyone else have similar reactions whenever they see FFVI "getting props"?

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Simply put, they don't make 'em like they used to, so it really isn't that hard for him to put the screws to current mainstream games. In other words, I think he's being quite honest regarding his crits for all the games he reviews and likewise when he's praising something and considering the things he does bitch about, again it does not surprise me that he would enjoy FFVI.

The stories were in quick decline after VI and in terms of likeable characters or even relatable in some way, it was like a jump off a cliff (excluding IX, which had the balls to have a main character who wasn't a complete twat).

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 15th June 2010 02:40

--------------------

Arts

Farts

Twarts

Quote (BlitzSage @ 14th June 2010 16:05)

Quote (sweetdude @ 14th June 2010 05:44)

Quote (BlitzSage @ 14th June 2010 08:10)

To sweetdude's point, he has stated later (though I didn't update) that he really enjoyed the story. In his weekly Escapist article, praised it's story and design, for being simple, yet grandiose. And he also brought up Earthbound and Paper Mario again.

Oh right fair enough. Count FFVI as having +1 fans.

I know, I really hate being a fanboy sometimes

But I can't help but be excited whenever I hear someone praise or show any love to FFVI. It may be fanboyish, but I think that it's a game that deserves praise. Whenever I watched Yahtzee criticize other JRPGs, I always used to think, "FFVI isn't like that."

Does anyone else have similar reactions whenever they see FFVI "getting props"?

I've seen loads of people get that reaction when FFVI is being praised or talked about in a positive way. I see it too much actually...

I'm an uber-duper sized FFVI fan, so I don't think any other fan loving FFVI getting praise is fanishy.

It is a great game after all, my favorite game of all time.

Quote

The stories were in quick decline after VI and in terms of likeable characters or even relatable in some way, it was like a jump off a cliff (excluding IX, which had the balls to have a main character who wasn't a complete twat).

Ahaha, I think the same. IX was really, really good. I don't see any other FF title as a Final Fantasy game, really, they aren't like what they used to.

--------------------

A Magitek Elite knight! :P

Bringing back what crashed. A FFVI community!

Quote (MagitekElite @ 14th June 2010 23:27)

I've seen loads of people get that reaction when FFVI is being praised or talked about in a positive way. I see it too much actually...

It has been honored quite a bit, but I wouldn't say too much. According to this, it's one of the most commonly listed games in the top ten of greatest games lists. I definitely think it deserves to be there.

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

Wow, I've never seen that before.

I only found out I'm not the only 6 fan 'cause I was watching X-Play and Adam said he loved FFVI. I was like "Wow....I'm not the only one?" Everyone kept saying it was stupid compared to VII. I actually played VI and VII and actually thought 6 was better >.>

I agree, it defiantly deserves to be listed and appreciated.

I wonder when we will get our remake? The game is 16 years old now...
That's one year (almost two) younger than me. :C

--------------------

A Magitek Elite knight! :P

Bringing back what crashed. A FFVI community!

Quote (MagitekElite @ 15th June 2010 02:15)

I only found out I'm not the only 6 fan 'cause I was watching X-Play and Adam said he loved FFVI. I was like "Wow....I'm not the only one?" Everyone kept saying it was stupid compared to VII. I actually played VI and VII and actually thought 6 was better >.>

Wait, he did? He said that? I didn't know that. I was watching a feedback episode once where he said that he didn't really care for Final Fantasy.

You're not talking about the FFVI Advance review, are you?

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

was it just me or was anyone else winded hearing him talk. That was a interesting review and i agree with most of it. i did like the ff6 plug though i agree with all he said about it.

--------------------

Don't fear the reaper!
Wonderful system this "Democracy" is no mechanism to break a tie -Dinobot-
It's spelled Raymond Luxray Yatch but it's pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove.
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
Sic Semper Tyrannis bush.

Quote (BlitzSage @ 15th June 2010 03:37)

Quote (MagitekElite @ 15th June 2010 02:15)

I only found out I'm not the only 6 fan 'cause I was watching X-Play and Adam said he loved FFVI. I was like "Wow....I'm not the only one?" Everyone kept saying it was stupid compared to VII. I actually played VI and VII and actually thought 6 was better >.>

Wait, he did? He said that? I didn't know that. I was watching a feedback episode once where he said that he didn't really care for Final Fantasy.

You're not talking about the FFVI Advance review, are you?

Well it was only one of about 3 JRPGs that they've given 5 stars, along with FFXII and Dragon Quest VIII. Maybe a Kingdom Hearts, I can't recall.

--------------------

I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

Quote (Sherick @ 15th June 2010 15:06)

Quote (BlitzSage @ 15th June 2010 03:37)

Quote (MagitekElite @ 15th June 2010 02:15)

I only found out I'm not the only 6 fan 'cause I was watching X-Play and Adam said he loved FFVI. I was like "Wow....I'm not the only one?" Everyone kept saying it was stupid compared to VII. I actually played VI and VII and actually thought 6 was better >.>

Wait, he did? He said that? I didn't know that. I was watching a feedback episode once where he said that he didn't really care for Final Fantasy.

You're not talking about the FFVI Advance review, are you?

Well it was only one of about 3 JRPGs that they've given 5 stars, along with FFXII and Dragon Quest VIII. Maybe a Kingdom Hearts, I can't recall.

Yeah, they've given props to it many times. But I was just wondering if he [Adam] had specifically said that he liked it.

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!

That's so awesome that Final Fantasy VI is getting some much deserved recognition. I'm so sick of all these people disregarding VI just because the graphics aren't as good or gameplay quite as exciting, due to it's age. Go figure that most of the people who do that have usually only played VII and/or higher. FFVI truly is a wonderful game, if only they would give it a chance! It's so nice to be able to converse with others who can appreciate it's greatness!

FF6 definitely deserves more credit than ff7.

For one:its story is more straight forward and well thought out.

Second the characters are lovable and funny.
Third:the script is the best.

I mean seriously:look at the battles dialog and tell me you didn't laugh or when celes messed up in the opera.

Did you not find that funny? I laughed hard when she says:draco:NO!! i hate him.

OOPS!! i gotta start all over.

Sure it has its annoyances,but it deserves some respect.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 21st July 2010 09:48

--------------------

We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 21st July 2010 05:47)

but it deserves some respect.

I believe so too. As you said, it's straight forward, yet it still has a great storyline. It can be humorous, but it has an epic storyline with subtle moments.

--------------------

Praise Be To Helix!