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Giant Bomb X | Built-In Automatic Death Thing For Secret People
- Thread starter Hot Coldman
- Start date
I don't see it as all that different to some film critics not knowing the ins and outs of the technical aspects to the film-making process despite being more than capable of critiquing a film. It'd add depth to his understanding, but by no means is it absolutely essential. Especially in regards to console gaming and where Dan is coming from as a reviewer.
Most gamer don't know what it means or care. They just care whether it looks good or not, they don't care about the technical aspects of it.
DyslexicAlucard
Member
False dichotomy. You don't need to know everything about it, which I've already clearly stated. But to not know the basics is pretty weird for someone who's been a critic of games for a pretty long time.
Again, if you're Joe Blow, it's fine that you don't know. Same with being a "random GAFer." But if you're actively involved in critiquing something, I'd hope you'd be at least knowledgeable about the general ideas of the subject.
So a critic/reviewer shouldn't know more about a subject than the average gamer? What point is there to having a reviewer over some random friend of yours then? If they're equivocated to the average gamer, which people seem to de saying here, then no wonder the medium is dying in terms of reviews and people are just watching YouTube videos instead.
broncobuster
Banned
What is Jeff's opinion on Driveclub vs Club Drive?
Dan called out jaggies in the Driveclub quick look, and I doubt Dan is down with Hokuto no Ken. He knows enough.
Dan called out jaggies in the Driveclub quick look, and I doubt Dan is down with Hokuto no Ken. He knows enough.
MiniBossBattle
Member
Can someone explain AA in layman terms?
And you call yourself a gamer.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Again, you seem to think that Dan gives priority to graphics to begin with.
No, you point is to go into an OT to driveby a random pointless critic about a prominent figure of said OT simply to brush your ego and try to aimlessly stir shit.
SteveWinwood
Member
and he should be able to explain the difference between fxaa and smaa right
where does it end
DyslexicAlucard
Member
He doesn't call himself a reviewer, which I've said numerous times. Some people's
likely intentional
Now we're using the slippery slope too. Want to move the goalposts next? How about some ad hominem?
call_kotaku
Member
Destiny was probably the game that gave me this impression, because the OT for that game was overwhelmingly positive despite the lukewarm reception that game received, while the review thread was where most of the criticism was centered around, with very little overlap of posters between the two threads. It's made me a bit conscious of posting in OTs for games I like, because as frustrating as it is to read people who obviously didn't do any investigation or analysis before posting a drive-by shitpost about a game you enjoy, it's easy for defenders of the game to pile on and hound away any source of criticism from their hype party.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
I think you have a high standard that not even Gaf has as whole...
So you have to know the technical terms to be able to critique something.
LaserBuddha
Member
I will cut anyone trying to throw shade on Based Dan.
SteveWinwood
Member
youre missing out on strawman!
and what a fig is
DyslexicAlucard
Member
You don't know what a driveby comment is, clearly.
Also, thanks for telling me what my own intent was. I didn't know I was brushing my ego and simply trying to open a dialogue. *shrug*
But clearly this isn't the "right" thread to critique GB at all, as people here will just defend anything to the death, apparently. Oh welllllll.
DyslexicAlucard
Member
Already been done, as people have already implied I said that if you don't know what AA is, you're not a real "gamer".
I never said that. Duh.
Hell Giant Bomb as a site doesn't ever seen particularly hung up on graphics. They don't even really separate technical and artistic graphic awards in their GOTY awards. It's just not something that seems to interest them overmuch.
I go back and forth on this. I get just as frustrated as you seemingly are about the information and general malaise that GB can show about games. Obviously on the other hand, I've followed them for years and gotten hundreds of hours of entertainment from them.
I think of it like this. If GB mentions something informational, it should be right. If they don't want to be largely a general video game news site (and they obviously aren't) that's fine. But it shouldn't be okay to spread false information (obviously not maliciously) and have absolutely no accountability for it. I'm sure there are people who don't go on other sites to consume information about games and I feel sorry for those people they're getting such a very narrow slice of things.
It's why I'll always compliment Mr Klepeck even if I largely disagree with his views on technical aspects of games. Because even if he does write off a game originally he will change his opinion of it over time given experience and necessity. And frankly I don't know many people anywhere, including myself, that have that type of attitude about anything.
As far as Dan not knowing what AA is, I don't know that it's a huge deal. He can still point out a jaggie or two without knowing what programmers need to do to fix it. Just like he could point out that a game looks blurry without really caring that the reason is it's rendering in a lower resolution.
JesseEwiak
Member
But you basically said he shouldn't review games, which is the same thing.
Sorry, but your passive-aggressive demeanour suggests that the only reason you came in here is to do exactly what Megasoum described only to have people point out to you that you're being a dick about the whole thing which in turn plays into your narrative of "lol, fanboys". That's just how it comes off.
FWIW I think your opinion is valid but I disagree that knowing the technical ins and outs about AA is required to properly critique a game. Stating the opposite as fact doesn't make it true, it's a matter of what style of criticism you're talking about (and, therefore, an opinion).
Xyrmellon
Member
It's a stick, duh.
All that Destiny jargon in the Bombcast makes me sleepy. Also I'm hearing foreshadowing of GOTY discussions.
Edit:
Edit:
Well, yeah.
Xyrmellon
Member
Brad Destiny filibuster incoming. He may break Jeff, but he'll never get Dan to cave. I have no idea of what Dan's GOTY is at this point, but I am pretty sure it ain't Destiny.
John Rabbit
Banned
DyslexicAlucard
Member
This doesn't even deserve a response. "Funny."
I never said that. I said it's "weird," and that he probably should know. Did I say all of his reviews are invalid?
But hell, he should have picked it up in some point in his life, though that seems to be an ongoing theme with Dan. It's both entertaining and frustrating, depending on the situation.
I honestly don't care if you think I'm being passive-aggressive. It's honestly hard to critique anyone without a bunch of defenders coming out of the woodwork and warping the arguments, especially in insular threads such as this one. Thing is, I'd like to take it to a thread about game criticism, but the GamersGate thread is a clusterfuck and I don't think it's that big of a deal, which is why I put it in a comment here and just called it "weird."
It's a thought without an appropriate home, apparently.
Also, again, I never said he needed to know the "technical ins and outs." I said knowing the concept is enough.
7DollarHagane
Banned
Imagine making an apple out of only square legos. The apple is round, but the bricks are square.
So that your Lego apple can appear round and apple like, you must round the edges created by the legos somehow. You could melt the outside so the corners blend together, or dip it in clay so that it fills in the gaps, make it huge so that you have to get really close to see the square edges, or use smaller lego pieces to make the edges less visible.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Smilies mean I'm not angry
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
???
See, I can't imagine Jeff breaking on Destiny either. He seems to think it's a thoroughly mediocre one trick pony. Brad basically needs a strong presence in the room to back him up if he has any chance at pushing Destiny as GOTY (like he had with Patrick for Skyrim), otherwise it's going to struggle to make the top ten.
I suppose that also raises the question of who will be at the GOTY this year as well. Patrick? Vinny? Alex?
DyslexicAlucard
Member
Smilies mean I'm not angry
Pretty much, actually. It's hard to put a tone in text, especially when you're critiquing someone or something, so sometimes I add stuff like that to let people know I'm not foaming at the mouth or anything.
All of them, I bet. At worst, the East Coast duders just Skype in.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
But hell, he should have picked it up in some point in his life, though that seems to be an ongoing theme with Dan. It's both entertaining and frustrating, depending on the situation.
Then way use it as an example of "GB ignorance and their defenders" when you now that Dan is... Dan.
I ,mean, you would have a bigger case with Alex playing with delicate computer components while being snarky about consoles. But Dan? LOL
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
I'd also probably say that some of us are sick of the argument after the whole assassin's creed thing.
I still can't believe it blew up as much as it did.
I still can't believe it blew up as much as it did.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
first Brad chooses *not to save* then he walks right past the other save point
I'm afraid to unpause the video
I'm afraid to unpause the video
Your critique is silly though. You haven't explained why knowing what AA is is important to a review.
"there are lots of jaggies in this game"
"there's a lack of AA in this game"
What's the difference between those two sentences to the audience? Functionally they both accomplish the same thing.
Xyrmellon
Member
You might be right, but I seem to remember Jeff going along with The Last of Us simply because everyone else liked it, although in his opinion it "suuuuuuuuuucked". Yes that is a quote.
As far as the GOTY lineup, Id honestly like everyone there if possible.
Vinny and Dan in the same room may cause a tear in the fabric of the universe though.
I honestly don't care if you think I'm being passive-aggressive. It's honestly hard to critique anyone without a bunch of defenders coming out of the woodwork and warping the arguments, especially in insular threads such as this one. Thing is, I'd like to take it to a thread about game criticism, but that place is a clusterfuck and I don't think it's that big of a deal, which is why I put it in a comment here and just called it "weird."
It's a thought without an appropriate home, apparently.
Like I said, your posts suggest that the only thing you were out for is to provoke. If you were honest about it, you'd admit that you didn't just call it "weird", you called Dan's ability to perform his job into question ("that seems like it'd be an essential piece of knowledge to perform your job properly..."). The spoilered comment as well as the remark about "fanboyism" in a subsequent post suggest that you were just fishing for these responses and, well, looking to confirm your narrative about "fanboyism" in this thread.
But ok, let's suppose you didn't have such intentions. I'm ready to believe you.
Literally no one would have responded the way they did (which in the beginning wasn't "defensive" in the slightest) btw) if you had worded it differently, for example: "I was surprised that Dan didn't know about AA. I thought game reviewers had a pretty good idea about technicalities like that but I guess not." Add in some self-reflection if you want: "Maybe there's a reason they don't." Or try and start a civil discussion instead: "I think that is something game reviewers should know about and here's why." Like I stated in my post, I disagree that AA is something a person like Dan must know about and I challenge your notion that it is required knowledge. If it is, I would like to hear your arguments why, and if you could point out an instance where it would have improved Dan's critique of a game, I would be all ears.
Lastly, I'll tell you a secret. GB members get criticised all the time in here.
I just wanna say that this explanation is amazing.
DyslexicAlucard
Member
Just going to say I'm done posting here for the night. It's taking up too much time; people are intentionally warping my arguments; and since I feel a need to address all comments when possible, that's only becoming more and more time consuming, so I'm going "nothing" in my "all or nothing" choice.
It's still a pretty basic piece of knowledge and I find it disappointing that he didn't know it. You can disagree -- and that's fine.
It's still a pretty basic piece of knowledge and I find it disappointing that he didn't know it. You can disagree -- and that's fine.
SteveWinwood
Member
damn i wish i had this explanation for calculus
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
we can't read your mind. If you have a complete thought, you need to articulate it.
Yeah it'd be great if they could all be in the room together. Skype is a fine substitute, but there's something about the energy and chemistry in the room when they're all there together.
As for predictions, I don't necessarily know Jeff will get beaten back with Destiny like he did with TLOU. With TLOU literally everyone else was on board with TLOU being right high up on the list based on their personal lists; Alex (#1 on his personal list) Vinny (#2 on his personal list), Brad (#2 on his personal list), Patrick (Patrick #3 on his personal) and Drew (#2 on his personal).
Whereas Destiny does not seem to have lit anywhere near that kind of fire under anywhere near as many of the duders. In fact, at this point so far I'm tempted to say Mordor has the best bet of being the consensus GOTY.
vitaminwateryum
corporate swill
If you're looking for Dan content and haven't watched the Game Informer Super Replays that he's on, go watch those. I just finished the Blue Stinger series and it's amazing.