Weapon Durability, Fanbase Fragility (The Jimquisition)

APeacefulWarrior · 21時間前

Man, there sure are a lot of people in this thread trying to frame this as "Jim Sterling is whining about people disagreeing with him" rather than "Jim Sterling is pissed because he got DDOSed over a slightly-less-positive-than-others review."

I mean, come on people. Regardless of your feelings about BOTW or Sterling himself, can we not at least agree that it is absolutely 100% inappropriate and indefensible for people to launch actual attacks on the man's hardware and online accounts just because they dislike a review he wrote? No matter how abrasive he is, black hat shit is NOT a justified response.

And frankly, acting like it is and engaging in victim-blaming would have a chilling effect on the video game critics community as a whole. What about the smaller reviewers who don't have the same resources Sterling has, and might not be able to handle a DDOS as quickly or pay for whatever damage is done? Don't you think they might end up unwilling to criticize a popular game out of fear of its fanboys doing them real financial harm?

That's not a road we want to go down.

YOU_FACE_JARAXXU5 · 22時間前

I actually think he made an interesting point about the people who spend their time getting mad about reviews. There's become this weird insecurity with enjoying games, and I've noticed that recently gamers have had this strange need for validation in what they enjoy.

It's gotten to the point where people identify with the games they play, and while this sort of makes sense for online multiplayer games, I just don't get the point of caring how a single player game is reviewed. It's not like Jim is rounding up all copies of Breath of the Wild and burning them in a massive bonfire so nobody can ever play it. He's just voicing his opinion, and a bunch of insecure fanboys can't seem to handle that. And this does beg the question, if you think the game is so good, why do you need validation in that?

skyhawk69 · 22時間前

Gerstmann's Twilight Princess review deja vu. I don't see how someone's review can hurt your enjoyment of the game. Everyone experiences games differently. Reviews are no longer meant to convey cold hard truths about a product on a shelf - games criticism had moved beyond that. You don't need to agree with everyone else's opinion but you do need to be respectful.

Clobberknock · 22時間前

He has some solid points, and they're valid ones too- the system as it is can be pretty tedious. It also suffers from the "elixir" problem from the final fantasy games, some weapons feel too good to use on just common enemies.

BUT, and its a big one, I dont agree with his assumption that the game would work without it. If you follow the suggested path maybe, but what if you deviate from the main quest path a bit, and go exploring like I did, and find a 50 damage sword in a shrine when most weapons are still dropping in the single digits. If the weapon was permanent then I've just inadvertently made a whole chunk of the experience rather boring, just running around and one shotting everything I come across. With durability, I have to consider when I want to use the best weapons I'm holding.

I'm not making a huge defense of the durability system because yea the feel of it just sucks, but I think it's just a necessary byproduct of a system where weapons are freely dropped from enemies. To just remove the durability system would make most drops meaningless, you would likely designate certain weapon slots for a couple different weapon types then just gloss over every weapon that wasnt a strict upgrade, not the most compelling gameplay either and wouldn't reduce the micromanagement as much as it would seem at first glance.

unidentifiable · 19時間前

I dislike the degradation for a completely different reason: it makes the game such that all the weapons are completely forgettable. Instead of making a handful of weapons and items that all feel unique and fun, they went with the Skyrim method of "Here's a sword, it's better because it's steel instead of iron".

I'd much rather the Skyward Sword method of upgrades. For all it's faults, SS had a great upgrade system IMO. BotW seems to have kept that system (near enough) for armor, but not for weapons, shields, or bows for some reason. Needing special items to upgrade, a-la the gold dust from MM, or a quest chain a-la Biggoron's Sword would have fit the game perfectly too...but alas I just fight with whatever weapon is the crappiest in my inventory just so that I can clear the space.

Having said that, my major complaint with BotW at the moment is that the dungeons are frankly boring. Each one takes <2 minutes, has 1 bonus chest filled with mediocre loot (oh boy an Opal...) and the puzzles are dull. However, I've only completed my first Beast (Ruta), and even Ruta was super-simple with zero challenge. The map was like literally right inside the front door! Maybe the dungeons will get longer and more complex later. Right now they seem like 1-trick ponies. If I want to play an Elder Scrolls game I'll go play an Elder Scrolls game. I wanted LoZ and instead got TES: Hyrule.

Also rain is WAY too much of a pain in the ass. It makes climbing not fun, and when climbing is 7/10ths of exploring, and exploring is 7/10ths of the game, it is a serious downer to need to just screw around for like a half an hour real time while waiting for the rain to pass just so you can keep playing the damn game.

Lyonguard · 22時間前

I'm all for criticisms of Breath of the Wild, and recognize that everyone holds different views regarding what makes a good game. There is plenty to criticize Breath of the Wild for like any game. I wish it had at least a few traditional themed dungeons, more memorable music, and some greater enemy variety. I understand the decisions made to present the game as it was though. For me, Breath of the Wild is a 10/10 game, because I've just flat out had more fun with it then anything else I've played in more than 10 years. But fun is subjective, and I know not everyone would agree with that.

I do think some of his criticisms are very shallow though. The durability has been discussed elsewhere, but it's basically necessary for how the game is designed. I don't understand the "empty world" criticisms, as its a very dense game with little space wasted. I just can't help but feel he had in his mind that he wanted to be the guy to say "this game isn't as great as you all think it is" and then found justification as he played rather than appreciating what it did well. And from his past controversies, I have to imagine he's enjoying the shit storm his review has kicked up.

I guess if I'm making a point, it's that someone is always bound to fling crap at your sacred cow because they can. If you don't like it, just move on. This man's opinion does not make me enjoy Zelda any less.

War_Dyn27 · 21時間前

I think It was a terrible idea for him to make a video like this so soon after releasing his review of BotW. It really makes it look like he gave the game a controversial score just to spite people and to prove a point.

As for the fan harrassment, remember, 'fan' is short for 'fanatic'.

RadiantSun · 22時間前

I knew this article was coming. I fucking knew it. This is just Jim doing what Jim does. The review was the setup, this is the payoff.

sylinmino · 21時間前

I noticed in the video he seemed to particularly use weapons a ton before showing him equip it in the video. He pulls out a traveler's sword and it lasts 5 hits, but when he's moving over the icon it's not glowing...I've played the game quite a bit at this point, and they last far more hits than shown. I'd estimate about 15 hits for an Ancient weapon, which are some of the most fragile weapons in the game.

EDIT: Courtesy of /u/PlayMp1, see here for verification on this. I couldn't do so because I'm at work.

ChipmunkDJE · 22時間前

As a frequent viewer of his videos, this is probably the biggest "pot calling the kettle black" I've ever seen Jim do. Thought he had thicker skin than this. Can't make a career getting outraged at other people's opinions and then suddenly care when people get outraged at your opinion.

Some of the criticism he is getting is just natural fanboy flames, sure. But some of that criticism is extremely valid and it would be a terrible thing if Jim ignored it. There were many things in his initial review that were just straight up factually wrong about BotW.

nodinawe · 21時間前

I really do wish Jim would go back to making videos about the games themselves, rather than the controversies about them. I liked that kind of content better.

gshurik · 21時間前

Jim just feeding off the outrage culture again.

His videos and actions are so formulaic right now.

Create a video that is contrarian in nature and guaranteed to garner outrage from people who don't know his tricks
Create a follow-up video a few days later chiding people for reacting negatively to his obvious bait video
???
Profit

Spooky_Shuck · 21時間前

Oh boy look he made a video about people being angry about his poorly written disingenuous review filled with outright inaccuracies but some moronic teenagers tried to DDoS him so that makes them all wrong how did no one see this coming?

Seriously there's an entire thread full of people, myself included, who called this shit. It doesn't work. No, it's not reasonable to abuse someone over a review. No, that doesn't deflect the pages upon pages of well reasoned criticism of his lazy, arguably incoherent review.

You don't get to lump me in with script kiddies just because I think your review was poorly written clickbait that contained absurd, factually inaccurate statements and vague gripes over cutscenes that you can skip, Jim. For a critic he really can't deal with (reasonable, calm, non abusive) criticism - the title of the video is 'fanbase fragility' - really? It's the whole fanbase that's using DDoS attacks? Just...wow.

I'm not even part of the 'Zelda fanbase' or 'community' or whatever it is. Seriously, read that thread from yesterday. There was no angry mob frothing at the mouth. I have no brand loyalty to Nintendo, let alone one particular game that's last main installment was pretty shit. The majority of the people in that thread had entirely valid criticisms of his review and made their points in a calm, civil manner.

Are they part of this 'fragile fanbase'?

Just because a tiny minority of lunatics took things too far, that doesn't mean you can't be criticised for a weird, vague review that I, personally, found genuinely hard to follow and see the logic of.

RJFTW · 15時間前

I'll be so glad when this game has been out for a month or so and people aren't jerking themselves off over it and have had time to calm down.

This is typical of every time a Zelda game gets released.

LukeTheFisher · 21時間前

I've been saying the same thing about weapon durability for yeeeeeeaaaars. Funny thing is: people will agree with you that weapon durability is a shitty system. Then you mention it in a game they like and the inevitable response is: "Yeah, but it wasn't that badly implemented in [insert game]." But wouldn't the game just be better without it? Why does it need to be there in the first place? "Not that badly implemented" isn't a good defense of a shitty system that takes more than it gives.

lupianwolf · 21時間前

I haven't played Zelda yet and while the combat does seem interesting I don't like pausing combat to look through menus. I hated it in Skyrim and I'd probably hate it in Zelda too. Hopefully healing isn't also done in menus.

I like the idea of weapon durability because I don't like maining a weapon in a game like Dark Souls when so many others have really unique and fleshed out attack animations. The game encourages you to stay with a weapon due to upgrades. I'd like to be using a spear and then have to switch up to a sword or a dagger and not have to worry about upgrades. I thought Nioh was like this in the Beta and then some of the fanbase detested it and I believe it was ultimately changed.

Penakoto · 18時間前

Sorry, but, he's right.

I know the people on /r/games generally aren't going to agree, I mean we just had like three or four threads defending the weapon durability in a row the past couple of days. It's been the biggest subject of discussion here in awhile, and the majority of people are on the side of the weapon degradation being a good part of the game.

But, no, I agree with him that weapon durability isn't fun, that it doesn't encourage variety by "forcing people to use different weapons" (which I swear people were saying verbatum here before this video happened), and that the game would've been better without it.

He starts to lose me near the end though, especially the idea that "you're not playing the game right now, so it must not be that good of a game". Hi, Jim, I don't tend to play games for 100% of my free time, I like to look at stuff on the internet, like funny videos or discussions about things, or jerk off, if a game sucks because I'm not playing it non-stop until I've done everything in it, then I guess every game sucks, every game I played anyways.

I think he makes excellent points, and that he's more or less 100% right about Breath of the Wild, but he makes his argument pretty terribly.

-RichardCranium- · 18時間前

I feel like all of this happened because video games reviewers nowadays are incapable of rightfully criticizing something because they don't want to get shit thrown at them like Jim just did. Honestly, a reddit commenter from the video said it himself (quite ironically actually), "Most reviewers give every major release a 9 or above". People are just scared of judgment when they're given the task of reviewing a major release because the bar is set high and as such the reviewers just end up in this echo chamber of positivity about every game (unless there are major flaws to be noticed or a track record of bad experiences with some game companies like EA or Ubisoft).

It just goes to show how biased the video game media is towards giving good scores and making the audience happy ('cause everyone wants people to come to THEIR video game reviewing website). No risks are taken, everyone is happy, BOTW gets 10/10s all over the board and pissy fan boys who are used to this system of 9s and 10s on every game get angry when people like Jim Sterling tarnish their game with his "terrible score".

shaved_banana · 21時間前

Can't help but think this whole thing was set up to encourage as much outrage as possible so the inevitable backlash from the dregs of the internet could be put down in a video like this. The main pointer for me was how he gave the game a solid score, generally said in detail that he overall liked the game a lot...and then titled the review with some inflammatory nonsense. If you don't want click bait backlash, don't use click bait tactics then complain afterwards. If you overall like a game then title your review accordingly, it might seem like a minor thing but it sets the tone for the rest of the review. Imagine a car reviewer found a Ford to be overall great but titled their review "The new Ford: a good car with a terrible radio".

That being said I've never understood how anyone could take criticism of a product as an assault upon themselves personally. I completely agree with him that the backlash is retarded and disproportionate over a plaything - but i can't help but think it was intentionally provoked. I'm guessing the publicity must be worth the barrage of hate, either that or I'm completely wrong and this is all genuinely a surprise to him.

cliftonmarshall · 22時間前

Jim is not dumb. But I think he is becoming a harmful voice in the gaming sphere. He's getting significantly more and more abrasive, without taking time to measure the wake he's leaving behind him. I think it's easy to assume that all of his fans are rational, calculated, people, and I'd say 90% of the people who listen to him take what he says with a grain of salt and move on, but the 10% that go on and regurgitate the negativity are expanding with his burgeoning fanbase.

At the end of the day it's just a Youtube video. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about the community that has developed around Video Games and the general mood that has become increasingly vitriolic, no matter how pathetic it is to admit it as a gainfully employed 26 year old.

Ennyish · 14時間前

It's not the score that bothers me, it's the inconsistency. The fact that he gave BOTW a 7 whereas Nioh got a 10 is disheartening. It means that after all these years of brutal honesty, the need to break away from the mainstream has overtaken his better judgement. Sure, his video was a cool perspective on the mechanics of the game, but his overall score for the game was just showmanship. He's lost some credibility, which is so vital to his whole schtick that I feel he made a huge mistake.

mhenke10 · 10時間前

Out of curiosity: how can some people have opinions without playing the game? I know that I'm not done with the game, so I can't comment on my own personal score. It's jarring to me that so many people who haven't played have such passionate opinions of the game.

And in addition to that, who cares what everyone's opinions are? Geez man. Everyone everywhere gets so upset now a days. From video games to tv to movies to politics, everyone feels the need to argue about what is good or what's bad. What ever happened to discussion, where you listen to what the other person has to say and open your mind to the possibility of their opinion? I swear you say one thing to disagree with somebody and they take it like some personal attack.

Can we all just shut up and enjoy our games and talk about how fun they are?

SerenityTranquilPeas · 18時間前

I am 100% not surprised how this is all playing out:the comments, the backlash of death threats and DDoS. We all have opinions on video games, and attacking someone's character or "motivation" for a review is pretty pathetic. No, he didn't do it for the clicks or to stir up controversy. He would have rated it at a 1/10 and written "FPS drops below 30, unplayable". He makes money through patreon alone and he will probably lose supporters over this. Yes in his review he did say that you can't teleport to shrines until you complete them. This isn't some blatant lie or anything, it is just a mechanic which is never explained to you in the game so it is possible to miss. I'm sure he will edit it when he wrangles back control of his website as he has done in the past.

"He rated Dead Rising 4 at an 8... nuff said" is the most infuriating thing I've seen in these threads. He writes SUBJECTIVE reviews, God forbid he likes something you hate. He isn't lying or overemphasizing the blood-moons because this is a known glitch on the Switch(But come on, you only need to see the cutscene once to know what is going on). If you think he just did this to get back at Nintendo, I'm going to have to limit your internet usage until you finish your schoolwork. If you hate his personality, his writing, and how he reviews games... then great, this shouldn't effect you. Its not a valid argument against his review. Why even watch the video or read the review if you know you'll hate it? If you love the game, good. I do too. If you hate the game, good. Thank you for sharing your opinion, no game is universally loved, nor deserves to be. Every game has its flaws and subjective qualities, and they affect people in different ways. I know you're able to overlook the weapon durability, but others can't. You may enjoy the puzzle dungeons, while others want a more traditional dungeon. Its okay to have an opinion, but know if someone feels differently, there is no reason to jump down their throat like they slew your firstborn son.

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