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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Ridureyu on May 12, 2011, 10:34:12 AM

Title: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Ridureyu on May 12, 2011, 10:34:12 AM
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3188-Castlevania-Symphony-of-the-Night (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3188-Castlevania-Symphony-of-the-Night)

And surprisingly, it's one of his more positive reviews!  He took issue with the obtuse method of reaching Inverted Castle (i kind of liked that, though. It wasn't too obvious, but it wasn't too obtuse), and the borked difficulty curve (Well yeah, he's right about that one), but otherwise he likes the game!
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Odile Kuronuma on May 12, 2011, 11:45:38 AM
His reviews are hilarious. He also did a review for LOS. He doesn't like it :D
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: darkwzrd4 on May 12, 2011, 11:56:15 AM
His reviews are hilarious. He also did a review for LOS. He doesn't like it :D
Yeah, it was hilarious considering that most of us would consider what he is saying about SotN to be heresy.  Then again, it does have its flaws.  Considering that it was the first game like that in the series, it was really well done.  The problem is that its successors were for the most part clones with a slightly new combat system.  They didn't really have the "wow, this is a great and new game."  What they had was a "it's a clone of SotN.  Still good though" impression.  Well, at least that's how it was for me.

On another note, does anyone have a link to this guy's review of LoS?  I would love to see it.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Kale on May 12, 2011, 12:02:20 PM
Odile, where is your avatar from? looks pretty awesome.

Anyway, he's pretty spot on for most of it. But he's wrong with alucard's reaction to attacks. He has more than some other games for sure.

Also love the mention of Mortal Kombat... I hope he dcan get his hands on it, cuz I would love a review of it. As it's AWESOME!
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: beingthehero on May 12, 2011, 12:50:39 PM
On another note, does anyone have a link to this guy's review of LoS?  I would love to see it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2251-Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2251-Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow)
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Harrycombs on May 12, 2011, 04:02:57 PM
That was pretty good review. He was pretty fair to it.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Munchy on May 12, 2011, 05:47:50 PM
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2251-Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2251-Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow)

Agree wholeheartedly with this review. Except for the free-roaming bit (and with all REs sucking before 4); wasn't always part of the series, but I think LoS would've benefited much from that structure.

His SotN review is great too. I love the little pictures, especially with Simon behind the wheel of a wrecking ball. And the poster "Every time you palette swap a child DIES." LOL
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: jestercolony on May 12, 2011, 09:09:27 PM
Regards to LoS -

I enjoy the fact people give games crappy reviews but don't really understand the game actually does split itself off from GoW or SoTC... The factor is the combat system is so detailed, half of the crap that goes on really isn't even explained in game.

Castlevania was never a "free" roaming game (unless you count HC/SQ) until the later titles (SoTN...etc.) Secondly, why even bring up RE? This guy needs to go back to journalism school and needs to stop playing games on the snore easy setting and actually sit down and play the game in full detail instead of attempting to rush it like every other snot-nosed video game journalist who do reviews, that are out there.

Ironic part is people sometimes complain that LoS is a love story... Okay? And? Look at some of the other titles in the series. The game (when a storyline was given) was based around "loss" of something. Either it be the love of your life or your soul, it happens.

le sigh...
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Sindra on May 12, 2011, 10:07:00 PM
(and with all REs sucking before 4)

You watch your mouth, boy.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Munchy on May 12, 2011, 11:15:22 PM
You watch your mouth, boy.

Hey, those were Yahtzee's words, not mine. Don't shoot the messenger.

There's a little bit where he brings up RE4 and there's a picture of REs 1-3 in a trash can. I forgave it mostly because the review was hilarious and he made some really good points outside of that one.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Ridureyu on May 12, 2011, 11:17:49 PM
The thing is, even when I disagree with one of Yahtzee's reviews (and I do from time to time), he's pretty well-informed about them.   A lot of his caustic, acerbic comments are because it's good show business to be kind of a jerk. 

It's kind of the same with political pundits on the air - they get more viewers and more money if they're rude and nasty, even though most of 'em are nicer people in real life.  And I'm talking about pundits on both sides, pelase don't derail this into complaining about specific ones:-P
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Munchy on May 12, 2011, 11:21:31 PM
The thing is, even when I disagree with one of Yahtzee's reviews (and I do from time to time), he's pretty well-informed about them.   A lot of his caustic, acerbic comments are because it's good show business to be kind of a jerk.

Exactly. He's like the AVGN; to enjoy it you have to take in the fact that it's his shtick.

Also, to respond to jestercolony on the story front, my problem with LoS wasn't that it had story, or even a love story. It was that this particular story was, well, formulaic and kinda corny. This isn't to say that this isn't a standard for Castlevania, but the buildup of expectations made the problem far worse than it could have been. For all the emphasis they put on the plot being heavily emotional and how much they hid it from the public view, when boiled down it's not much different from Curse of Darkness. Or Lament of Innocence. The main difference was the higher paid voice actors, better sense of foreshadowing and the concept of doubling, which I thought was actually pretty cool and reminded me of Spirited Away. But otherwise the execution isn't much better than IGA's plots.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Ridureyu on May 12, 2011, 11:37:41 PM
When I lived in California, I knew a radio personality who-shall-remain-unnamed.  His show was kinda big in the area, had some exposure nationwide, but wasn't SUPER-HUGE. On the air, he was a loud, obnoxious, sarcastic, crude jerkass.  In person?  Complete teddy bear who was always afraid of accidentally hurting people.  Really nice to people he would have yelled at on the radio.  Generous and polite to a fault, and pretty much the opposite of his on-air personality.  When asked why?

"Well, that's what it takes to keep the show going."
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Munchy on May 13, 2011, 12:02:05 AM
OMG.... his review of DMC4... I'm dying here...
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Odile Kuronuma on May 13, 2011, 04:25:26 AM
Odile, where is your avatar from? looks pretty awesome.

Anyway, he's pretty spot on for most of it. But he's wrong with alucard's reaction to attacks. He has more than some other games for sure.

Also love the mention of Mortal Kombat... I hope he dcan get his hands on it, cuz I would love a review of it. As it's AWESOME!
Yeah it's pretty awesome :) . Found it on Danbooru while looking for Castlevania fanart.
http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/cf7f4ab058f8be84d393ed5f67931983.jpg (http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/cf7f4ab058f8be84d393ed5f67931983.jpg)
I found some pretty nice CV pics, but I'm too lazy to start a new topic :D
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: thernz on May 13, 2011, 08:11:07 AM
I would agree with the difficulty curve in SoTN, even though it never really bothered me.
As for Yahtzee's reviews, I never really liked them. The humor never appealed to me, and some of his points can seem pretty biased or badly constructed like the free roaming thing mentioned in the LoS reviews. A better criticism would be explaining why the stage-by-stage approach is actually detrimental to LoS's gameplay design. Thankfully, Yahtzee makes up for his bad reviews with some pretty decent games.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Flame on May 14, 2011, 06:07:58 PM
Yeah it's pretty awesome :) . Found it on Danbooru while looking for Castlevania fanart.
http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/cf7f4ab058f8be84d393ed5f67931983.jpg (http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/cf7f4ab058f8be84d393ed5f67931983.jpg)
I found some pretty nice CV pics, but I'm too lazy to start a new topic :D

You should add the NSFW warning on Danbooru. it, like Gelbooru, is VERY NSFW
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Odile Kuronuma on May 15, 2011, 12:49:08 PM
You should add the NSFW warning on Danbooru. it, like Gelbooru, is VERY NSFW
Yeah sorry  ;D. I'll try to remember to add it next time . Hope you didn't get into too much trouble.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Nail_Bombed on May 15, 2011, 03:13:01 PM
Cheers a bundle whoever posted this... after watching the SOTN review I immediately proceeded to waste about an hour tittering myself into a hernia at the rest of Yahtzee's reviews. Hi-larious stuff. He does seem to be the games reviewers version of British film critic Mark Kermode - albeit a lot more sweary and a hell of a lot more curmudgeonly - and faster-talking.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Vampire Killer on May 15, 2011, 06:06:22 PM
Yahtzee is a smelly unshaven twat.


Actually, his reviews aren't bad, it's just that after you've seen a few they lose their charm. At least for me.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: Flame on May 15, 2011, 09:05:33 PM
Yeah sorry  ;D. I'll try to remember to add it next time . Hope you didn't get into too much trouble.
Im not saying it for me. Im saying it for others who dont know what those places are.


Quote
Actually, his reviews aren't bad, it's just that after you've seen a few they lose their charm. At least for me.
maybe you. I still find them funny.

Thing is, you shouldnt actually take him that seriously. He often brings up good points, but in an exaggerated fashion.
yknow, like Michael Moore.
Title: Re: Yahtzee Reviews Symphony of the Night
Post by: default2k on May 18, 2011, 12:07:48 PM
I find a little uncomfortable seeing the comment section with pictures of the actual posters...
maybe im just not used to it...