You know, it wouldn't hurt to expand on your point?
I'm not trying to pick a fight, I didn't think it was as good as I thought it'd be either but giving something more than "It was the worst, k bye!" would be nice.
You know, it wouldn't hurt to expand on your point?
I'm not trying to pick a fight, I didn't think it was as good as I thought it'd be either but giving something more than "It was the worst, k bye!" would be nice.
Yeesh someone is taking offense to me not liking something they like.
Well without going over the whole shabang point-by-point I'll just address the main issue of this video and why the Ring game videos were so terrible: he's complaining about things that don't matter. At all.
Like seriously who complains that in a turn based combat game that Lightning just doesn't move out of the way when a big ass laser is fired? Who brings up that a couple of vaguely lightweight humans armed only with swords can take out mechs? By Spoony's logic essentially ALL RPGs are terrible. Again it's just like with the Ring videos where a "complaint" he had and did an overly long sketch about was the game allowed you to pause when bringing up the inventory and you are allowed to eat recovery items during this paused time. Who does that? Seriously.
And the weird thing is that there are still funny bits in the video. The long bit about being stuck in the "hallway"? Fantastic. The Gravity Rush powers Lightning inexplicably has that is also unlike the gravity bomb things that simultaneously exist for no adequately explored reason? There ya go, great jokes there. So why during a review of FFXIII, something that does not lack valid complaints up the wazoo does he focus (no pun intended) on incredibly insignificant nitpicks? Nitpicks that again can be applied to many, many other games.
Yeah, I thought that it was quite slow and a bit too nitpicky, but I guess it was intended since in the beginning Spoony said he's gonna show you what he felt when he first played the game. I'll reserve my judgment until I see the whole review.
Spoony's later videos are also quite long. I remember he once said that he doesn't want us to sit in front of the screen more than we would for an average sitcom (~20 minutes max) but later reviews are over 30 minutes regularly. I don't know, I guess I would like to see a bit more shorter videos released a bit more frequently, a bit in the AVGN style like he's done lately while also working on the movie (ofc he has help from Mike as well). I do love Counter Monkey though, even if I have never played D&D, and his VLogs are always entertaining. Especially when Miles is there to complete the comedy team.
Yeesh someone is taking offense to me not liking something they like.
Well without going over the whole shabang point-by-point I'll just address the main issue of this video and why the Ring game videos were so terrible: he's complaining about things that don't matter. At all.
Like seriously who complains that in a turn based combat game that Lightning just doesn't move out of the way when a big ass laser is fired? Who brings up that a couple of vaguely lightweight humans armed only with swords can take out mechs? By Spoony's logic essentially ALL RPGs are terrible. Again it's just like with the Ring videos where a "complaint" he had and did an overly long sketch about was the game allowed you to pause when bringing up the inventory and you are allowed to eat recovery items during this paused time. Who does that? Seriously.
And the weird thing is that there are still funny bits in the video. The long bit about being stuck in the "hallway"? Fantastic. The Gravity Rush powers Lightning inexplicably has that is also unlike the gravity bomb things that simultaneously exist for no adequately explored reason? There ya go, great jokes there. So why during a review of FFXIII, something that does not lack valid complaints up the wazoo does he focus (no pun intended) on incredibly insignificant nitpicks? Nitpicks that again can be applied to many, many other games.
No offense taken. I liked Spoony's review but didn't love it. I agree it was a bit too nitpicky. Like aren't there bigger things to bitch about? But I guess that was the point? Wanting to give a foray of how his mind works before really getting his hands dirty on the big stuff? Isn't that why he went Mr. Plinkett on the glowy things? Because picking on the small stuff was what he was going for? Whether it made for a good review is up to opinion in the end.
I do agree with him on how lightweight humans can beat robots with only swords or even just FISTS is stupid enough to be a problem. I mean, that shit just takes you out of the story. It's a sci-fi world, they could have easily solved that plot hole with cybernetic implants or something. But they didn't even bother which shows how lazy the game developers were.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Yeah, I thought that it was quite slow and a bit too nitpicky, but I guess it was intended since in the beginning Spoony said he's gonna show you what he felt when he first played the game. I'll reserve my judgment until I see the whole review.
Spoony's later videos are also quite long. I remember he once said that he doesn't want us to sit in front of the screen more than we would for an average sitcom (~20 minutes max) but later reviews are over 30 minutes regularly. I don't know, I guess I would like to see a bit more shorter videos released a bit more frequently, a bit in the AVGN style like he's done lately while also working on the movie (ofc he has help from Mike as well). I do love Counter Monkey though, even if I have never played D&D, and his VLogs are always entertaining. Especially when Miles is there to complete the comedy team.
Miles and Spoony combos are the best. I laughed my ass off when Miles trolled Spoony about Red Dawn in the Skyfall review.
@Thousand:
I do agree with him on how lightweight humans can beat robots with only swords or even just FISTS is stupid enough to be a problem. I mean, that shit just takes you out of the story. It's a sci-fi world, they could have easily solved that plot hole with cybernetic implants or something. But they didn't even bother which shows how lazy the game developers were.
Thats a quibble where if you start picking at it it derails every RPG ever made. You just have to run with sword being able to beat giant monsters, and by that reasoning, any hand to hand weapon… including fists. Especially when he then goes "But its okay when Sabin did it." (Never mind that Gau and Umaro were also bare fist fighters in that game... or Tifa in FF7... Or Zel in FF8... or Amarant in FF9... Of course Spoony never played FF9 because he cant get past the graphics...)
Absurd weapons and humans fighting at an impractical scale are just built into the genre.
Wokka's volleyball IS still pretty absurd though.
Its been a long time but I remember not liking his FFX review because he was too nitpicky in that too I think.
@RobbyBevard:
Thats a quibble where if you start picking at it it derails every RPG ever made. You just have to run with sword being able to beat giant monsters, and by that reasoning, any hand to hand weapon… including fists. Especially when he then goes "But its okay when Sabin did it." (Never mind that Gau and Umaro were also bare fist fighters in that game... or Tifa in FF7... Or Zel in FF8... or Amarant in FF9... Of course Spoony never played FF9 because he cant get past the graphics...)
Absurd weapons and humans fighting at an impractical scale are just built into the genre.
Wokka's volleyball IS still pretty absurd though.
I'd imagine there are still limits especially when it makes no sense in the context of the story. Like he said in his review, these are machines specifically built to eliminate the rebels. So what good are they if any old bumpkin with no martial arts training or anything physically special about him can just pound them to oblivion? Most other RPGS don't have those restrictions in the story.
Main characters ain't NPCs. Even if they have no specific training mentioned, they've got an inner something that lets them do stuff ordinary shmucks can't.
Same way you have to accept that if that level 1 town hired even low level fighters from the level 40 town a couple miles away, they could have their monster problems cleared up in an hour. The world just naturally skews to the level of the leads that happens to correspond with the journey they happen to be taken… and if you run across something way outside of your battle range, its probably a natural roadblock saying you shouldn't go there yet, or a story based loss.
Especially bad in pokemon when you revisit old regions on different travel paths and suddenly the old level 1 town is now the level 60 town.
Its just how RPGs are built... no real way around it aside from having the monsters have a chance of being any range of levels no matter where you are that could potentially one-shot you... or provide you no incentive to fight them at all they're so low (them leveling with the characters deals with it a little, but still stretches logic of why you couldn't ind the stronger ones earlier and you no longer find the weaker ones.)
about spoonys ff xiii review. first snow has that coat that makes his punches stronger, the circle thing on his back. second the disentigration could be molecular destabilization, kinda like the plagas in re 4 third all final fantasys are linear hallway affairs. is just more obvious here.
At least in some of the older FF games you can go around and do sidequests or just randomly run in the world doing what you like and advance the main plot when you feel like it. It all started to go downhill from FFX onwards where they ditched the free world airship roaming and added those corridors to all explorable areas, not just in dungeons.
@Thousand:
I do agree with him on how lightweight humans can beat robots with only swords or even just FISTS is stupid enough to be a problem. I mean, that shit just takes you out of the story. It's a sci-fi world, they could have easily solved that plot hole with cybernetic implants or something. But they didn't even bother which shows how lazy the game developers were.
You don't play many RPGs do you?
Bennett the Sage tackles his End of Evangelion review.
http://benthesage.com/reviews/aa/anime-abandon-the-end-of-evangelion/
! Ok, I haven't been watching too many other reviewers recently. But this is like the 3-4th time I've seen one do their existential crisis bit in the last couple months. Is this contagious?
[hide]Well, Lupa and Oancitizen were each having their 100th/50th episode, so it makes sense for them.
And every Spoony review is an existential crisis.[/hide]
I feel like the whole "reviewer has scripted breakdown" bit, where everything gets put aside so that the commenator can go all serious and talk about their childhoods or whatnot, is just a trend. Spoony did it with the Ultima bit, and it resulted in one of the best video reviews ever, so of course everyone's gonna work off that idea. It's how things work. And everyone does do their own take on it, I guess, I haven't seen the Lupa video, but Spoony's moment was incredible, especially in the light of the recent events surrounding the video and built up to an amazing comeback bit, and Oancitizen's served to prove a good point about the nature of the subject matter he was talking about, but above all, I think it also gives these performers a chance to show off their acting/writing abilities by going to an honestly dark place. Considering the comedic format, there's really not many ways one can do that, so I'm fine with it.
Psh, all the other reviewers are just posers. Spoony's been having mental breakdowns before it was cool.
@Nex:
On this day to end all days, it has finally arrived: Chez Apocalypse.
Wow they made a site that actually looks worse than Thatguywiththeglasses layout.
Bennett the Sage tackles his End of Evangelion review.
http://benthesage.com/reviews/aa/anime-abandon-the-end-of-evangelion/
! Ok, I haven't been watching too many other reviewers recently. But this is like the 3-4th time I've seen one do their existential crisis bit in the last couple months. Is this contagious?
! Not to mention he was totally channeling Plinkett with the list of questions about Evangelion (he even used the same music).
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Paw reviews A Muppet Christmas Carol!
CR finally returns with another Familiar Faces where he looks at…Coldheart from Care Bears? Hmm....okay.
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/cr/ff/37728-familiar-faces-episode-71-cold-heart
Not to mention he was totally channeling Plinkett with the list of questions about Evangelion (he even used the same music).
Mike Stoklasa has a really idiosyncratic editing style (I read this interview from an entire decade ago as it being his strongest/only good filmmaking trait) so it's hard to avoid seeing it in this ~POST-PLINKETT~ review world
I remember watching egoraptor's (good) Sequelitis series and thinking about how incredibly similar the editing was at times (rapid cuts re-orienting the narration mid-sentence while tangents are about to be made is probably Mike's signature technique).
So yeah it's… It's hard to avoid seeing it everywhere nowadays, whether or not anybody was actually inspired by it, because Mike's Plinkett format gets so ingrained in ya, haha. Pretty sure, though, that a lot of the places that remind me of it are definitely inspired by them. RLM is probably the first truly memorable series of online criticism uh... Forever?
! Not to mention he was totally channeling Plinkett with the list of questions about Evangelion (he even used the same music).
!
! What's wrong with your faaace?
Dough shows us what goes (or, rather, "went") into the making of an NC episode.
Sage's top 10 Anime.
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/the-sage/specials/37742-sages-top-ten-favorite-anime
ha ha. i'm old enough to remember professor cold heart.
jesu otaku has her own page up now. :)
Linkara celebrates Christmas with a good comic. Batman: Noel, another take on A Christmas Carol. http://blip.tv/at4w/at4w-batman-noel-6484943
I'm sure by now, you've heard that A Christmas Story 2 exists. Here's Brad and Jillian's thoughts on it. http://blip.tv/the-cinema-snob/a-christmas-story-2-review-6484778
Just watched Linkara's Batman Jazz review. Not bad and yeah, the dialogue in the comic seems rather pretentious but I realy like those green things at the end. I just like this sort of wacky stuff, especialy if it's acompanied by a realy out there design.
MarzGurl Reviews Final Fantasy XIII:http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/ir/marzgurl/reviews/37743-marzgurl-reviews-final-fantasy-xiii-episode-1
That wasn't bad, actually. Serves as a nice counterpoint to Spoony's Plinkett rage
Oancitizen talks about his favorite 2012 movies. http://blip.tv/brows-held-high/my-favorite-movies-of-2012-6488950
Y Ruler of Time looks at the manga that premiered in Weekly Shonen Jump this year. http://readrighttoleft.blogspot.com/2012/12/new-manga-from-2012.html
http://spoonyexperiment.com/2012/12/31/final-fantasy-xiii-part-2/
FF 13 part 2
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Not understanding what the fuck is going on is such a plague in JRPGs
Ahh, now that was much better. We got to the meat of the bullshit this episode :)
Jesus Christ, Spoony's explaining the plot as simply as he can and the game still makes no fucking sense.
You know what I can't stand? The bubbly little girls who only exist to be cute. YOU JUST NEARLY DIED. You don't go from motorcycle crash to TEE HEE LOOK WHAT I FOUND KAWAII DESU NE in 2 seconds, you just don't.
It's one thing to be unfazed when a character is supposed to be badass, but these twits are only unfazed because they're missing that part of their brains.
Diamanda Hagan looks at Dolla Morte, an action figure movie that… exists. http://blip.tv/diamanda-hagan-lecher-bitch/special-review-dolla-morte-hd-6489899
CR lists the Next 12 Forgotten Christmas Specials
! Oh man. I loved Ziggy's Gift as a kid.
CR lists the Next 12 Forgotten Christmas Specials
! Oh man. I loved Ziggy's Gift as a kid.
! I've loved Annabell a LOT. In fact, I think I'll rewatch it right now.
That's…..amazingly fast, given previous experience.
Angry Joe discusses the Top 10 Gaming Controversies of 2012. The fact that there were 10 to list is kind of sad. http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/aj/topreasons/37855-top-10-gaming-controversies
Rap Critic presents his Top 9 Worst Lyrics of 2012. http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/rap-critic/rap-critic-reviews/37859-top-9-worst-lyrics-ive-ever-heard-this-year-2012
You know what I can't stand? The bubbly little girls who only exist to be cute. YOU JUST NEARLY DIED. You don't go from motorcycle crash to TEE HEE LOOK WHAT I FOUND KAWAII DESU NE in 2 seconds, you just don't.
It's one thing to be unfazed when a character is supposed to be badass, but these twits are only unfazed because they're missing that part of their brains.
It really depends on the character in my eyes. In contrast, I actually really like Vanille. Yes, she is ridiculously cheery, but I think for good reason. She's been through horrible things and done horrible things herself. She's traveling around with a man who's son she pretty much sentenced to death (sort of). She has guilt over this. She could spend her entire time with Sazh feeling guilty and horrible for what happened, but instead, she tries to cheer both of them up, hoping it will never happen.
It's blind optimism. Toward the point of seeming insanity. I'm not saying that's a good thing. I'm saying that's her character. That is the obstacle she needs to overcome. That smiling doesn't solve everything, because when true horror shows up, you're not going to smile and smiling won't solve it.
I feel a lot of cheerful characters kind of work that way, where they've been living too much in sadness, that they want to be cheery. Some of their happy attitudes DO benefit, like Meru from Legend of Dragoon bringing an end to the racism of her people or Rikku trying to show that the Al Bhed don't have to live in constant sorrow of their "crimes".
Vanille is much more interesting. She's smiling and laughing during a revolution. People are dying around her, and she picks up a machine gun and pretends to shoot Snow like a child. Is it stupid? Is it insane? Sure. But she feels she's been miserable for so long, why can't she smile for a second? It's not strength in her character. It's weakness she must overcome.
That's probably one of the biggest compliments I can give FFXIII. Not a big of the game. Like the characters. Don't hate it nearly as much as Spoony or most people do.
About his review, it seems like he is nitpicking it (FF XIII), rather just flat out pointing out flaws. So it turns out I was right about Snow and the coat he wears.
The first part was real nitpicky (thought there was a point to it being like that). The second part is much more structured where the nitpicks are just for entertainment rather than being the actual review.
http://blip.tv/todds-pop-song-reviews/the-top-ten-worst-hit-songs-of-2012-6500013
Todd's Top 12 Worst of 2012 is here!
List surprised me!
[hide]I actually thought he'd like #10 and #9 to some extent. At least, I did, and I'm not the biggest fan of Train. Thank God I wasn't a big fan of/hated every song after #9, or I'd be in trouble.
#8: Actually, I liked this one too, but I always knew it was bad. It's just very much a guilty pleasure for me. And as he mentions in his video, Todd is actually starting to like Pitbull. Not for his music, but Pitbull is a kind of nice guy.
#7: Hated this song, my god…
#6: Spared from this song.
#5: Heard this one a few times. Not fan.
#4,3,2: Yeah, I really didn't like ANY of these songs this year. And I'm actually insane enough to confess that I like Flo Rida.
#1: I've avoided all things Chris Brown. Spared myself from this song out of disgust. It really is terrible.[/hide]
I liked his usage of "Blow Me One Last Kiss" on the list. Was afraid it would wind up on the list (I'm a Pink fan). Was worried about Starships too, but meh, he acknowledged it.
Hyped for his Top 10 best!
I understand why Chris Brown hasn't been lynched yet (because of his millions of stupid fans) but why does Chris Brown continuously rub it in our faces that he's an asshole? Is he that arrogant and self-serving? Does he get his jollies out of pissing people off?
http://blip.tv/todds-pop-song-reviews/the-top-ten-worst-hit-songs-of-2012-6500013
Todd's Top 12 Worst of 2012 is here!
List surprised me!
[hide]I actually thought he'd like #10 and #9 to some extent. At least, I did, and I'm not the biggest fan of Train. Thank God I wasn't a big fan of/hated every song after #9, or I'd be in trouble.
#8: Actually, I liked this one too, but I always knew it was bad. It's just very much a guilty pleasure for me. And as he mentions in his video, Todd is actually starting to like Pitbull. Not for his music, but Pitbull is a kind of nice guy.
#7: Hated this song, my god…
#6: Spared from this song.
#5: Heard this one a few times. Not fan.
#4,3,2: Yeah, I really didn't like ANY of these songs this year. And I'm actually insane enough to confess that I like Flo Rida.
#1: I've avoided all things Chris Brown. Spared myself from this song out of disgust. It really is terrible.[/hide]
I liked his usage of "Blow Me One Last Kiss" on the list. Was afraid it would wind up on the list (I'm a Pink fan). Was worried about Starships too, but meh, he acknowledged it.
Hyped for his Top 10 best!
The only 2 songs i knew of are Alex Cross - Too Close and Jessie J - Domino. I guess now i know why
I was walking through Tesco the other day and I suddenly realised they were playing "The Lazy Song".
Hightailed it outa there like I owed backtaxes.
I actully kinda like the Lazy Song. I at least can relate to it. Sexy and I Know It is like repellant to me though. I hear it and I get as far away from the source as possible.
It's funny how I at least think I'm following my time but these "hit songs" are like totally unknown to me. In fact it's the same with Todd material always. Does he ever do stuff that's not modern american pop song related?
It's funny how I at least think I'm following my time but these "hit songs" are like totally unknown to me. In fact it's the same with Todd material always. Does he ever do stuff that's not modern american pop song related?
Well, that IS the area he specializes in, is what he tends to limit his scope to. There's rap critic for other stuff and… whatnot.
However, one hit wonders go back a aways and into different genres, he does musicals ocassionally (though thats mostly Paw's bag) and he did do the nut-shot video.
It's funny how I at least think I'm following my time but these "hit songs" are like totally unknown to me. In fact it's the same with Todd material always. Does he ever do stuff that's not modern american pop song related?
Even just from my brief visit I can tell you that while there is large and common crossover, the music market (both pop and indie interestingly) manifests very differently on both sides of the Atlantic. Even genre wise there's still huge difference with Europeans being way more into techno stuff, and America definitely having more "black" music for lack of a better word.
We're a nation of 300 million (plus Canada's 35 million), we're our own continent of pop culture even if lots of it leaves our shores.
Believe me, there's lots of British stuff that Europe hears that Americans never do, it's the vice versa of that.
@Monkey:
America definitely having more "black" music for lack of a better word.
I went to Austria a few years back and the rap and R&B section was literally labelled 'black music'
So would you say Britain is more in line with NA or Europe music-wise?
I went to Austria a few years back and the rap and R&B section was literally labelled 'black music'
So would you say Britain is more in line with NA or Europe music-wise?
Britain seems more Euro oriented, definitely.
One strange vibe I got over there was kind of like…
Like Japan did not reroute it's pop culture from the 80's, it just kept going at it.
Well likewise I feel like the musical late 90's never ended in Britain/Europe.
@Thousand:
I understand why Chris Brown hasn't been lynched yet (because of his millions of stupid fans) but why does Chris Brown continuously rub it in our faces that he's an asshole? Is he that arrogant and self-serving? Does he get his jollies out of pissing people off?
Yes. It's how he stays relevant. It's how he stays popular. It's like the bad guy in a wrestling show. You boo him, but honestly, you're glad you have someone to boo.
Regardless, that song was surprisingly vacant this year. His big song this year was "Turn Up the Music" which… I actually kind of like. However, his misdeeds this year held greater volume than the popularity of his music.
@Thousand:
I actully kinda like the Lazy Song. I at least can relate to it. Sexy and I Know It is like repellant to me though. I hear it and I get as far away from the source as possible.
I still dislike Lazy Song to some extent. There are few times when I'm not stressed out, and I'm not a big fan of gloating about how easy I got it.
Sexy and I Know It…. has grown on me. A lot. I'm starting to like it now. I'm slowly starting to realize that I relate more to Lindsay than I ever did to Todd, cause as Todd has said in the past, The main reason he hates that song is because Lindsay played it for her own enjoyment about forty dozen times.
It's funny how I at least think I'm following my time but these "hit songs" are like totally unknown to me. In fact it's the same with Todd material always. Does he ever do stuff that's not modern american pop song related?
Todd's not very skilled in music outside of the US. Especially with foreign languages. He had his comment in the Gangnam Style review of "How can you enjoy a song that isn't in your own language?" I really didn't agree with that comment, and other people got livid over that. I've seen a stream with him and Lindsay, and the two of them talked about Hispanic music. Lindsay knows more on that subject than Todd.
Actually, Lindsay has a taste for Cuba music. Respect points!
But again: Todd focuses entirely on US pop music.