Game Critique, Commentary and Analysis

[danutz_plusplus]

Since we don't have, or at least not to my knowledge, a thread for this sort of game videos, I thought it might be useful to start one.

I've been posting Noah Gervais's analysis videos for some time, and he recently posted one on the Watch Dogs series. It's really nice to listen to. His videos are always sharply written, very informative and in depth.

If you have the time, it's worth listening. Especially while doing something else. Most all of them are very good. He also has some interesting road trip videos where he travels across America in a VW minibus. Those are also cool.

 

[Redglyph]

I've been posting Noah Gervais's analysis videos for some time, and he recently posted one on the Watch Dogs series. It's really nice to listen to. His videos are always sharply written, very informative and in depth.

Good idea! Between NeverKnowsBest, Chris Davis and Noah Caldwell-Gervais, he's probably my preferred, but that's close. Chris Davis may follow the game plot more closely in chronological order, the other two are rather good at dissecting each point and illustrating it with gameplay.

This is the link you were looking for the other day, for reference (it was in the news, under General Non-RPG for some reason - we all have our own classification)

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Good idea! Between NeverKnowsBest, Chris Davis and Noah Caldwell-Gervais, he's probably my preferred, but that's close. Chris Davis may follow the game plot more closely in chronological order, the other two are rather good at dissecting each point and illustrating it with gameplay.

This is the link you were looking for the other day, for reference (it was in the news, under General Non-RPG for some reason - we all have our own classification)

Thanks. Yeah, I had no idea where to post this sort of stuff. Having a news thread for each is good as a notification, but having them or at least referenced from a central place would also be useful, since individual entries tend to get lost.

Yeah, Noah is my favorite also. Besides the nicely written and heavily documented material, he also has a very nice tone and way of speaking.

 

[Redglyph]

Thanks. Yeah, I had no idea where to post this sort of stuff. Having a news thread for each is good as a notification, but having them or at least referenced from a central place would also be useful, since individual entries tend to get lost.

I completely agree, there aren't many quality videos, so they are quickly lost in the news history (as we've just seen). They could be referenced in the game database, but a central thread is better, especially since the videos often regroup several games.

 

[Couchpotato]

This is the link you were looking for the other day, for reference (it was in the news, under General Non-RPG for some reason - we all have our own classification)

Simply because the Watchdog games are not RPGs never were.

Official Genre: Open World Action-adventure

So see there's your classification.

I completely agree, there aren't many quality videos, so they are quickly lost in the news history (as we've just seen). They could be referenced in the game database, but a central thread is better, especially since the videos often regroup several games.

Happens on every news site I visit. New news replaces old news. The only way I could see to make a change is ask Myrthos for a news tag for such videos.

As you can already filter the front-page news to your tastes.

 

[Redglyph]

Simply because the Watchdog games are not RPGs never were.
So see there's your classification.

My classification for an RPG is a bit loose, but along the lines of
- the player has a role that is supported by some story / narrative, so he/she can immerse in the game
- there are rules, preferrably with an evolution of the character's stats

It's certainly subjective, but that's how I see it. If there aren't rules, well, it's in the grey area and a few years back I would have said "adventure game".

Watch Dogs has a story, narratives, tree abilities that are used by rules, for me it's good enough, but of course I'm trying to be tolerant and adapt to everyone's idea of an RPG

EDIT: I'm embarrassed to ask only now... is there a list of criteria of what the site considers as RPG? I've seen the CRPG analyzer, but what about the other ones?

Happens on every news site I visit. New news replaces old news. The only way I could see to make a change is ask Myrthos for a news news tag for such videos.

As you can already filter the front-page news to your tastes.

It wasn't a reproach. That's why it's called "news" anyway
A tag would be fine too, indeed. Cherry on top would be a way to link from the database game to the videos, but this can be simply done manually, I suppose we won't see many of those videos.
The real trick is having everyone to use the same convention

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I'm also very open as to what an rpg is. If Diablo is an action rpg, even though there are no choices aside from character building, a lot of others are also rpg.

 

[HiddenX]

The RPGWatch news editors decide for themselves what is news-worthy for the Watch.

My current policy (and I think @Silver; does the same):

1) Most news about PC-RPGs
2) Some news about other PC-Games with few RPG-Elements (Adventures, Shooters, Visual Novels, Souls-like, Rogue-likes, Strategy-games etc.)
3) Very few newbits about Non-PC RPGs (especially if a future PC-port is possible)

Some remarks:
I like to find and support niche/indie-titles.
I post more about tactical/intelligent RPGs than about simple minded Hack'n'Slash games.
I used to post more about western RPGs, but this has changed with more and more good eastern PC-RPGs releases over the last years.
I post way more video-reviews compared to earlier years, because this form has become much more popular.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Another youtuber that makes great videos, but these are less dry analysis, and more comedy oriented: Ross from Accursed Farms.

Some of his:
Ross's Game Dungeon: Dungeon Siege
Ross's Game Dungeon: Realms of the Haunting
Ross's Game Dungeon: Quarantine

 

[Couchpotato]

I usually listen to Raycevick for Game Critique, Commentary and Analysis.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Indeed, Raycevick is also pretty good

 

[ilm]

Surprisingly I have little gaming stuff in my youtube subscriptions. I watch mostly ACG's reviews, if that counts as in-depth analysis and critique.

I also like super bunnyhop and the research he does for his videos. Seems I also have Ahoy. He doesn't post much but really liked his retro videos (especially the monkey island one).

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll subscribe to some and see how it goes. Admittedly, and i really don't want to nag, 1 hour videos do put me off.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Surprisingly I have little gaming stuff in my youtube subscriptions. I watch mostly ACG's reviews, if that counts as in-depth analysis and critique.

I also like super bunnyhop and the research he does for his videos. Seems I also have Ahoy. He doesn't post much but really liked his retro videos (especially the monkey island one).

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll subscribe to some and see how it goes. Admittedly, and i really don't want to nag, 1 hour videos do put me off.

Oh yeah, forgot about Super BunnyHop. He's also great.

 

[henriquejr]

I like IndigoGaming's YT channel, but he has hardly produced any videos recently.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Mr Gervais has done it again. A magnum opus for my favorite games of the last 5-10 years. Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring. And another whopper at 4+ hours. Goona enjoy this.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

My main criticism is about the system : Cynically put, as long as there is a system that indirectly subventiones / subsides videos, writing reviews will die out.
It is as if google was indirectly eradicating the written word via giving people a profit (money, social) via advertisements and views for videos.
No-one wants to do any written review anymore, because there is no gain in it - no money, no followers, no watchers.
This is basically built upon selfishness : Videos are a way to gain something.

 

[Redglyph]

I saw that but it was so long I didn't even report it because I thought it wouldn't interest anyone. I'm usually not afraid to watch at a long video, but even for me his last videos tend to become very long and over-analyzed. Then the 2 last videos are on a type of game I personally don't like.

But he's doing that very well and with more care than most, if you compare to someone who favours number of videos over quality like Mortismal Gaming, it's a welcome contrast. Like NeverKnowsBest, he's among my few favourites and it's rare I skip one of his videos.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

It's a nice analysis, but I only watched the Bloodborne and Sekiro parts since I haven't played Elden Ring yet.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Now that I've finished RDR2 I've watched Noah Gervais's analysis of it. Great stuff. Really puts into words things I either didn't even consider, or couldn't find the words for.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utf6yph_QQ

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Hbomberguy has a new pretty great video about a dude I knew nothing about. And it goes off the rails pretty fast. It was fascinating.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0twDETh6QaI