Oh my God thank you! I'm super hyped you liked it! Also I hope it came across well enough in the video but I really enjoyed your TOTK video! Big fan big fan! ❤️ And I am actually going to go back to Skyward Sword this month and see if maybe my tastes have changed. I really want to give it a second chance 🙏
Any time! And Yeeeahh 15 year old me was not a fan of the Wii version of Skyward Sword, but a beefed up HD version with a bunch of upgrades and fixes sounds like a way better time for me 😎 I will return with my new findings (whenever I eventually finish it )
There was a time a few years back where I asked myself if Kingdom Hearts was actually good. Many say yes, many say no…but it occurred to me that the question itself is a paradox. I enjoy Kingdom Hearts. I LOVE it. The quality isn’t why I love them, it’s the vibes, the characters, the music! And really, that’s what is important.
As a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, this is something that I go over in my head all the time. I just love it for what it is, and even with the things I'm not so fond of; I'd rather keep them in there because its part of what makes Kingdom Hearts unique. Like, the dialogue is unbelievably corny but without it, I don't know if Kingdom Hearts would really hit me the same, ya know?
As a friend in a group of ppl who criticize art into the GROUND and who consume/listen to soooo many outside opinions on the art and games they see/enjoy I’ve long held the sentiment this video focuses on and never have I heard it mirrored much less so fucking eloquently. Thank you for taking the time to not only form your opinion on this but to also refine it and process it into something so succinct and consumable. I think that when art, like games, become product they then enter this world of being judged based on the time/money they require, like any other product. I get that. But also art is so personal in how it is received and enjoyed. It sucks to see people write games off based on outside opinions/reviews/video essays/twitter gossip. It can be frustrating to see people approach games as something to tear apart in some hope of either seeming cultured/intelligent or in some vain attempt at finding the objective “good” / “bad”, especially when there is no objective “good” or “bad” when it comes to matters of taste. I’ve long said that taste is either something you have or you don’t. Taste also isn’t something that is “good” or “bad”. It’s personal. Taste is when you know yourself well enough to hate something generally considered a masterpiece and to love something generally considered “garbage”. Go enjoy some trash. Thank you, endlessly, for making this video and helping me feel a lil less alone in this way of thinking.
it's probably a better way of looking at it than most. for me, as i get older, it has turned in to the fact that time is currency. if i'm going to play a game, it should feel like it was worth the time i spent on it, because i have less free time than i ever did growing up. being able to play games is a privilege for many reasons.
Not only older, we're also experienced in playing hundreds of games, and tired of playing the same game over and over. I know I can't stand more cookiecutter roguelikes or metroidvanias anymore.
@@DiegoPrsI always try to find different roguelikes to play myself, but a lot of them are combat focused due to the conventions of the genre. Balatro is quite possibly the biggest breath of fresh air for me since all you need to do is match a given score, no “combat” required at all really.
UA-cam is like the modern equivalent of that old guy you meet at a subway giving you life advice that you didn't ask for, but you needed at the moment. Good work on the video.
There are so many games out there, it baffles me how some people are just stuck on this endless cycle of hate, complaining, and more hate, often for the smallest, pettiest reasons and misunderstandings of what the game, the devs, the writers, and everyone invloved pretty much intended with the game. It's just that in the end, not all games are made for everyone, so take your pick and stick with the ones you do love and enjoy. My Steam library is full of nothing but games I absolutely love, there is not a single one in there that I haven't beaten, and there's over 200 of them. That's Steam alone, and now that I'm trying to get all my games on the same place for the sake of convenience, I'm only picking the ones I know for sure that I'll enjoy, or have enjoyed in the past. I've been through so many console generations and grown not only as someone who loves games, but as a person too, and a lot of it is thanks to the games I enjoyed too. Mario, Zelda, stuff like that is very big and of course there would be stinkers in those big series. So, what? Not every entry is a winner, and the next one might be great. That's exactly what happened with me and Sunshine, which I disliked, and then absolutely loved Galaxy. Gotta focus on stuff you enjoy, and it's so easy to do just that with games and online too. I'm at the point where playing something like Elden Ring and dying like 1000 times to one enemy isn't even annoying anymore because that's part of the fun. And when I'm not in the mood, I can fire up a more relaxing game like maybe play a platformer I enjoyed in the past, maybe do another run of Super Metroid, a game I know VERY well and just have fun and refresh my mind, etc. etc. It really doesn't get more complicated. If you don't like a game, stop playing it. It's ok. Move onto those that you do love.
tl;dr: Time make fools of us all. My first Zelda game was Majora's Mask. Played it fully back when it came out on the N64. I have never played a game like that and haven't played another since. I remember when Wind Waker was teased and the amount of hate it got for it's art style. I was on the forums for those "discussions" (more like hate yelling but besides the point). I was swayed by these convos a little bit (I was a kid) but when I actually got my hands on the game and played it, I fell in love. Honestly thought it was the most perfect video game ever. Twilight Princess came out and I was excited by it. I played through it and was underwhelmed. Hated it because I thought it was trying to be too much like Ocarina of Time and not trying to do something new. Okay fine, that one was a dud but the next game will be amazing. Get very much caught up by the hype around Skyward Sword and pre-ordered the game when I saw the teasers. Finally, it gets released and I rush to play the game. Get through the first dungeon and move to the next area and can't handle the motion controls anymore, it was too frustrating to contend with. It became one of the few games I've ever rage quit in all my time playing video games. I didn't touch the game for years and years and year. Breath of the Wild comes out and I'm all in on the hype. Finally get the game and I'm in a discord server with a bunch of people talking about it and exploring and it's the most fun I've had with a video game in my life. Never had been part of a community like this before and it was exciting to get through a part and immediately talk to others about my experiences. The feedback loop was unreal. See all the references sprinkled throughout the game. After playing the game twice (lost my save file on Wii U due to an external HDD death), make the choice to play through the franchise in release order, especially since I had never played a 2D Zelda before, mostly stuck to the 3D games. Even replay games I had already played but with remasters when available. Surprised at how much I liked Link's Awakening and the combat in Link's Adventure. Surprised at how underwhelmed by A Link To The Past I was. Twilight Princess was actually better than I gave it credit for. Wind Waker HD is a delight still, tied for my favorite with Breath of the Wild, which I never thought anything would come close to Wind Waker like BotW did. Finally, time to play Skyward Sword again. Dreading it a bit but finally get to it aaaaand....... I have a three way tie now for favorite Zelda game. The amount of work the devs put into making you want to save Zelda is amazing. The art is really appealing up close. There is some really novel and interesting stuff with the motion controls that I wasn't expecting. It has THE BEST dungeon in the franchise. I'm shook to my very core and how much I 180'd on this game. I can never ever recommend it to anyone, but I love it dearly for what it tries to do for the lore of the franchise and how much it tried to shake up things with it's gameplay. I've played most of the Zelda games now. Tears of the Kingdom is now my favorite Zelda game. I learned that a bad Zelda game is another franchise's B-tier game. It's not horrible but it's still pretty decent. I learned from Wind Waker that people really just hyper focus on one aspect of a thing and neglect to take in the rest of a work. Twilight Princess taught me that I'm no better at times. Skyward Sword showed me the dangers of hyping a thing up in my mind and that marketing is designed to shut off your reason and just make you emotionally invested without really understanding that flaws are a thing. Skyward Sword ALSO taught me that opinions are not set in stone. That game didn't change but I did. I was a younger adult when I first played it, I was 30+ years old when I came back to it after BotW and had some life events really shake up my emotional core. When I talk about video games on the internet now, I always feel the need to add "I may disagree with you, but opinions are not fact and you are valid to feel about the thing in the way that you do." Because it's true. Opinions are not gravity of the universal constant or electromagnetism. Opinions are from humans for humans and effect mostly only humans. And opinions WILL CHANGE because we all with change. Time trumps everything. This is why, in order to really critique, one must really understand themselves because you are also trying to capture a moment in time and you only get one chance to say the thing right. And you won't. But trying is important, improving is important, and changing is inevitable.
I think that the most important thing to remember is your own capacity for change, and being able to admit when you're wrong on something. That's when real growth occurs. The more you go through life events and your day to day, the more you're becoming someone else. It's happening all the time. So being able to re-experience things through new eyes is always going to be exciting especially when it leads to something positive like what you had with skyward sword! My replay of that game has been overdue for a long time. I think it's time I gave it another shot!
@@Brian.Henken It's also important to remember that, hey, this isn't math or science. Art is up to the viewer too! What you bring into the experience can be just as important and the experience of art itself. So, if you do revisit a game, it's okay to say "Naw, not for me after all."
As someone who’s been playing video games for pretty much my entire life, I’ll just say this…I’m someone who tries to see the game in every game i play. And not just every game, but every piece of media i consume. I’m a pretty optimistic person, I see the good in everyone and everything, there is rarely anyone or anything I genuinely hate. I can pretty much count on my hand how many things I hate, but…at the end of the day…I’ll try my hardest to just relax…and enjoy the media I consume, and that’s especially true for games. Heck, I don’t think I genuinely hate any game I’ve played, sure…I’ve felt disappointed or underwhelmed, but never truly angry. I would just sit back, sigh, and say “this isn’t for me” then…i would leave it alone. And hay, sometimes i come back to it, just to see if my opinions change. And sometimes it does, other times it doesn’t. Overall, i just prefer to stay optimistic, and simply enjoy games, regardless of their flaws. Great video btw, i really enjoyed it.
just wanna say i love ur insights so much and i wish you got more love on this platform, ur writing and production quality deserve soooo much more attention. pls always keep uploading!
Man this was a great video. I am so sick of negativity in games and this is a refreshing change of pace. I had a lot of fun playing Banjo Tooie, NMS, Day's Gone, Fallout 4 and Starfield. All these games get or at least used to get crapped on all the time but they all ended up being some of my favorite games that I have played many times over. I guess the thing is I am a little older, in my 50s and I have been playing games since I had a little pong machine when I was a kid. I feel like I can appreciate games on a different level because I have watched gaming evolve from little blips to massive immersive experiences. I think it is easier for me because I don't really listen to reviews nor do I got swept up in the hype of games. I just experience them for myself and either I like them (Banjo Tooie) or I am disappointed in them (Skyward Sword). But if I don't like them I don't linger on them. It was always crazy to me how subreddits based on a game have people that just sit there and complain about the game constantly. Like I get it, you don't like it and that is fine, but don't these people have anything better to do than to harp on a game they hate 6 months-1 year later?
This is a ridiculously good video essay. Keep at it and I know you’re gonna make it. Thanks for providing your perspective on the subjectivity of games that many people refuse to understand.
I try to reserve my hatred for things that I believe are deserving of it. I think that most games aren't. Video games are meant to be enjoyed, not hated. Unless they are doing real harm to people I think you should just go "it isnt for me, and thats okay." There are so many games that are available that if I don't like one I can simply move on to the next one.
I think what's important to me is that the criticism must come from a place of love (In the case of divisive games within a beloved franchise), and that people don't state their opinions as fact or pretend that there is any form of objectivity in these discussions, because pretty much none of the objective facts about a game are relevant to these discussions. And also that we allow ourselves to have nuance in our opinions, instead of just putting a single number /10. TOTK... Infuriated me. I greatly loved BOTW though I had some reservations on what was lost when switching to the open-world formula. As a sequel, TOTK accentuated everything in BOTW's philosophy and design to make it even BOTW-er and at this point I *really* missed the sense of progression, structure in the story, puzzles where you actually have to think, etc. Yet despite that, I still spent 250 hours in the game to do all shrines and lightroots and finish it. Because I still had a lot of fun with this sort of gigantic toybox. I didn't like that spending this much time with ultrahand was useless compared to more straightforward methods, but I still found some intrinsic fun in it. A lot of it, in fact. Both of these opinions from me are real and valid at the same time. So it is a game that both frustrated me to no end and that I had a ton of fun with. I accept that. I largely agreed with most of the criticisms in skittybitty's video, though I would never call the game bad or say I hate it, because that is a dishonest dismissal of everything the game does right. Is it okay if they keep going in this direction? For most people, probably, but I will still be really annoyed because I definitely think they can do better puzzles and structure than this. It's funny because, just recently, I stumbled upon the other side of this argument with the latest FFXIV expansion, Dawntrail. I finished it, I loved it, and I had some criticisms here and there and I think the latter part of the story could've been managed better, but overall a great experience. Then I go on reddit to find out that the main character of the story annoyed them to no end and they had a laundry list of criticisms about her specifically, mostly unrelated to mine, and it was so bad that every single discussion about the game, even completely unrelated, would have people coming in and make jokes about how bad it was and that the developers must realize how monumental of a flop this has been. Well, apparently, my opinions are invalid I guess? I'm a bootlicker or something? I cannot seriously enjoy this because it is "objectively bad"? I'm sorry, I hadn't realized. Will we continue having this discourse for two years? I sure hope not. Criticism, discussing opinions, is great and interesting and enhances my enjoyment of any work but when it feels like it comes from a place of malice, people who want you to know that it is objectively irredeemable, who dismiss any positive options, even well articulated, and it ends up preventing any other subject of discussion at all because it'll just be framed as "this is objectively good/bad", then it just makes me want to leave the room. I loved Skyward Sword btw, probably my second favorite behind BOTW
the segment about him meeting his younger self hit home. it reminded me of all the games i played as a kid that i loved. and now when i play them i hate them. what happened to me?
Really beautiful video! The Mother music at the end hit me in the feels I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about your fear of being wrong, because that's what I've felt whenever my brain's decided to latch onto something most people either don't like or don't know about. Not just the loneliness of not being able to connect to other people and share your love for something that inspired you, but that fear that you're wrong or broken for having those feelings. But really, at the end of the day, does it hurt anyone to like a game that other people don't, or dislike a game that others do? The way I see it, only if you let it hurt yourself. It's been a long road getting to the point that it doesn't for me, and I'm honestly not quite there yet. Even seeing the names of certain games I once liked turns me away reflexively because I got burned by the excess negativity of it all. But I can get there, and so can all of us. Thank you for reminding me of that!
Great video! Felt like having a mirror held in front of me at times but 31:59 is something I especially try to carry with me lately and wish more people would do. There's been plenty of popular, celebrated games I just couldn't get into because specific parts just kept me from enjoying them (like Sonic Frontiers back when was released or all Mario & Luigi games except for Superstar Saga) or because I'm just not fond of that particular flavour of genre (most open world games don't resonate with me). But instead of dwelling on it like I used to do at points, I now rather just move on to something else I'd actually have fun with. And it doesn't even have to be something completely different. I've seen deep dives into Sonic Frontiers which showed me why its fans love it so much. And watching other people discover the world of Breath of the Wild was infinitely more enjoyable to me than playing it myself. They are not terrible games by any stretch, it's just not what I personally enjoy playing. And heck, even within my general dislike of open world games, there are specific titles I love like Sainst Row and Like A Dragon. You never know what you'll stumble across unless you stay open-minded and broaden your horizons.
Everything that TOTK gets right is from 2017. The only new mechanics I liked were throwing, and ceiling merge. That’s it, everything else is a negative compared to BOTW progression. It’s suppose to the ending to BOTW, Fi, Triforce, Zelda’s mother, rebuilding Hyrule, new divine beast, Items that arent consumables Instead we goat gods, and Master quest of same missions.
If there is one truth in gaming its the Zelda cycle. every Zelda game releases to 10/10's and general acclaim, but becomes the target of a massive amount of disproportionate hate from subsets of the Zelda community, right up until the next one comes out and suddenly the game becomes "underrated" and then sometime later it becomes a "flawless masterpiece" and we do the same thing over and over again for every single new Zelda release. It really is a microcosm for just how much gaming as a collective fandom is so intrinsically built around the idea of counter culture and out-group mentality. There is nothing gamers in particular love more than building something up and then tearing something down so they can build it back up again later, because gaming sub-culture has been so dependent on cycles of hyping up that which they perceive to be niche, and than rejecting it once it stops being niche and becomes mainstream. It's why Skyward Sword (My favorite pre-Botw Zelda game) was torn to shreds as the worst one, during the period following its release, only for it now to be a more mainstream opinion that its good actually, in the wake of totk's release. It's why Botw and totk's unprecedented success has resulted in the exact same kind of backlash Skyward Sword got, but now in reverse. Skyward Sword was decried as too linear and now Botw and totk are decried as too open. Wind Waker was too cartoony and then Twilight princess was too dark and gritty. No Zelda game is ever truly appreciated until its no longer the latest one. and once that happens it becomes the flawless masterpiece we dare not speak ill of. Mark my words, this time twenty years from now, Botw will hold the same level of status OOt holds, and it will be considered blasphemous to criticize it. and the newest Zelda game released in 2044 will be considered the worst in the series and a complete betrayal to everything that made botw so great. because nobody ever learns their lesson and we're all trapped in eternal cycles of contrarianism.
This has been on my mind a lot. Sometimes I think it's just different crowds being louder than others at different times. Vocal minorities going off while the rest of the player base just quietly enjoys whichever game is new at the time. But other times I think you're super right. The hype and criticism cycles have been going on for decades now, and I can understand it. I personally love propping up a perceived underdog that resonates with me more than it has for others. Maybe the problem is that people in general are just way too hyperbolic about both their praise and criticism in search of the most attention possible. That results in these absurdly long takedown videos with barely any consideration for the other side. Would you really have continued to play it for hundreds of hours if it was that bad?
@@wizawhat I actually think you are right about different crowds being louder than others at different times. Culture is in constant flux, and games and styles are always going in and out of fashion. And I think you hit the nail on the head about how hyperbolic people are with their opinions. These days it really feels like, everything either has to be the worst or best thing ever. You can never have a nice thing to say about something people hate or a criticism about something people love. And that creates a feedback loop, where people become so frustrated with the discourse they take it to the other extreme. Suddenly an aspect of a game that was maybe tedious at worst becomes game breaking, while good ideas that maybe needed a little more polish become perfect and touchable and above critique. There are so many games that have little tedious systems I find annoying, but otherwise harmless that other people insist "ruins" the experience. I love Skyward Sword's motion controls, and understand why some people couldn't get into them, but I've really grown frustrated with the idea that the whole game is "bad" or "ruined" because of them. I think so much of gaming culture being driven by social media has resulted in gaming discourse being pushed to its extremes. I just wish more people were willing to not tie so much of their personal identities to the idea of certain games being universally loved. And I wish more people were willing to praise what they like about a game, without needed to tear down a different game every chance they get.
I've become a big fan of your content, Brian. The soul and production level are skyward! I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember. I've finished over 700 games and I keep building on that love everyday and finding new experiences to better understand myself. Please keep up the great work!
This was an... Odd video. I feel the thesis of the essay came in far too late. I thought it was leaning into a comprehensive look into WHY someone might call a game bad and talk about perspective and public opnion but it pivoted into "no game is perfect stop being so negative." Its a nice message that some people really need but not what i was hopping for. It is great to look for the good in games despite all its flaws. I can write a novel's worth of things i hate about some of my favorite games, but they still manage to give me enjoyment enough to earn my favor. While, on topic, BotW and TotK i had wonderful moments but still ultimately left me with sour taste. I bought TotK on release, using Nintendo voucher because i was hopeful everything in BotW i didnt like was fixed. I loved TotK from the jump i thought it was presented fantastically, music, set pieces, story, all of it. I had a great time with the mechanics all exploring the sky and depths. But that enjoyment faded the more i got into the game. The mechanics held up fine but there wasnt anthing challenging enough to make full use of them. The story had so much potential but they constantly held back any big moves or reveals in lue of safer ambigous narrative that didn't comit to anything. Exploration was fun until you fill out the map and realize how little there is to really see, sky islands were uninteresting and the depths looses all its luster once lit. The probelm i have with TotK is that after everything i cant find a reason to go back and feel like I wasted money on a promise. Where my favorite games despite their flaws i can pick up again and again. I cant get back the good thing about TotK because the good thing was the first experience... People do use "bad game" far too readily when not everyone is of the same opnion or priorities of what makes a good game. I'm not looking for justification but i was hoping for more insight into the perception of a "bad game" outside of "make the best of it" when i cant get that best anymore.
Additionally I would love to take to heart the ending message that "if you don't give up on a game maybe it will be fixed down the line into something great." But TotK made 4-5 patches that addressed nothing but bug fixes and no plans for DLC despite having so much room for more fun things. I'm almost certain there were more great ideas in that writers room but after breaking their backs for 6 years the team just wanted to move on which is a shame but I understand.
The idea for this video was born after another friend of mine who also makes video essays was talking about how frustrating it was that all of his most successful videos were ones that were more negative. It seemed that people didn't care much for his opinion on the things he liked, but they flocked to him when he was trashing something. I actually gave it a try too just with some tweets and community posts and found that they were some of my most engaged posts. I thought that was a little sad. I realize that in a lot of cases I am hopelessly optimistic about a lot of things lol I'm far too quick to want to see the good in something even when it's pretty bad. I wished more people could see gaming like that. It seemed that so many people on the internet just love to dogpile onto bad games or really take to task the games they personally disliked. I wanted to be able to change that just slightly and offer up the view of like "Hey instead of putting so much energy into the things you hate, why not use that to lift up the things you love?" I wanted to sprinkle that into the first parts of the video subtly so that it would make sense when I finally arrived at the whole point of it all, but I think I may have been a bit too subtle it seems lol In terms of totk though I definitely can agree. While I really enjoy it for the things that charmed me, I know it isn't without its flaws, and the emptiness and replayability are definitely two big strikes against it. Zelda (at least for me, personally) has never really been too incredible in the story department so I honestly was okay with that, but I do agree with you that there's a lot of space for them to have really taken things to a higher degree; they just rarely fully fleshed out any of its countless features. Ultrahand, fusing, and even something as simple as the ascend mechanic all feel under baked in some ways. As for getting back the good thing, I think it definitely still means something though! You were able to have fun with the first part of the game, and while it's a huge bummer, you can still look fondly on those first few hours as time well spent; as it'll further help dial in what you're looking for in the games you play. And if anything, conversations like these are hopefully what game devs can look at to see where to take subsequent games. Maybe help guide them in the right direction to making something really special. Also, even if you didn't fully vibe with the video, thank you for commenting! I do love reading through everything, and finding opinions that differ from my own is always fun just cause it gets me thinking about the games I love in different ways! Thank you!
@@Brian.Henken That's fair enough we both see eye to eye that there is way too much negativity and i respect trying to change that. There is plenty of people who need that in certainly. I think the video is a little confusing in getting to that point especially with the intro. I think more examples of flipping perspective would elevate the argument being presented. "The game isn't bad I just couldn't get use to the mechanical feel" or "the game isn't bad I just appreciate more narrative weight." Thoughts to get people to dissect why they might not like something without calling it outright BAD. It helps your overall goal more and makes the video focused on an individual to think on themselves rather than question the masses tendency dog-pile on things. The problem I think with the video is it presented itself in a way that made me believe there was an answer to a question of mob mentality and why it exists instead of making its own statement against it. Its a great video just not what I expected when I clicked on it.
@@GoldDragon527 That's a fair point for sure! I'll agree with you that there's a bit of meandering there. I think that (maybe to my detriment) I do try and leave some things up to the viewer to try and connect some dots themselves so they leave themselves more room to think on what they've seen or the topic at large. But I'm glad we agree on the overall idea! That's kind of all I ever really want is to use these videos to find some common ground and get people talking about the things they enjoy!
I've noticed this with a lot of self-described fans of certain series only talking about how much they despise it, yet still sticking to it Perhaps negativity just gets more attention on the internet, but I'd genuinely be more interested in people talking about the things they do enjoy. There are things which have disappointed me in the past. The Rise of Skywalker really burnt me out on Star Wars entirely. But rather than feeling bitter about it for years to come, I simply moved on to other interests.
This is really well thought out, thanks for sharing your thoughts! There are some publicly well received games I wasn't a fan of, but that doesn't mean I need to hold on to them as if those opinions somehow hold any weight. With each passing year, I find that I want to simply disconnect from video game culture, because it often gets in the way of just enjoying video games.
For me the sheer number of games to choose from plays a huge role as well. It kind of gives too much room to feel entitled about judging their quality. Because there are so many games with such limited time to play them at hand, I figured I only want to play the best ones. I'm not that picky when it comes to deciding what counts as "good" (my steam library alone includes more than 500 games) and had spent an ungodly amount of time playing those games. However, I had to learn that playing "good" games is cool and all, but it shouldn't be the only reason to play them. It makes me critical of every small flaw and frustrated if it doesn't offer me as much fun as other games had in the past. I treated them as a mere tool to trigger quick and efficient enjoyment on command. That, of course, didn't work. At some point I just decided to take a time off from steam (owning huge digital libraries of games just doesn't seem to be healthy for me) and to scrap everything from my physical collection that didn't actually bring me joy, despite being regarded as "good". I think this has helped me to learn what games I actually liked. I love metroidvanias, but only the gothic-themed ones because I like exploring giant beautiful castles. I love the more straightforward Fire Emblems, because they're a perfect mix of high-stake combat and characters I care about, without turning everything into a dating sim. I love Zelda, but only the linear story-heavy ones with catchy soundtracks, because they make me dream. I'm even playing Skyward Sword now, starting to enjoy its narrative and janky controls. It had been a game I actively used to flame on internet forums because I had been so terribly disappointed (coming from the Twilight Princess era). And don't let me even start on BotW and TotK. They are good games for what they offer. I can see that. But I hated almost every second playing them in hindsight (and those were a lot of seconds). The joy of playing games hasn't gone anywhere. In the final analysis, it was only a matter of playing the right games and seeing their potential flaws as features instead of a reason to move on to something "better". Btw great video. This is not just some half-baked stuff. You're doing some really meaningful content bro. There should be much more important things to focus on than to complain on video games online.
If you call anything else "the worst game ever made", then you're missing something. ...my point being, nothing could be worse than _Custer's Revenge_ for the Atari 2600. It's only uphill from there.
Skyward sword was the first Zelda game I played that made me really want to save Zelda, the relationship between them was great, but the rest of the game was pretty mid, but I enjoyed it for the love
I'm about ready to go back and play it here pretty soon! Never got to try the switch version so I'm gonna give Skyward Sword another shot there! I feel like I need to kind of do what you did. Just focus less on the actual gameplay and try to appreciate the game as a whole (story, music, gameplay, setting, etc.)
I think criticism is just as important as praise. Some things need to be criticised or else they won't get better. And if it's something people are passionate about, it's only natural things will get heated. Also, it depends on whether the criticism is warranted or not. Anyone can just shit on a game for the sake of shitting on it, but if the points that are raised are valid, and the person criticising the game genuinely wanted the game to be good and isn't just a contrarian or something, then it's fine. Just because someone raises good points about bad things doesn't mean you have to find the whole game bad. Like, I genuinely agree with a ton of the things people are criticising about Tears of the Kingdom, but I wouldn't say that the whole game is bad because of it. I still had a ton of fun with it. You don't have to condemn the whole game over some legit flaws. Also, just because someone else really hates something about a game, that can't stop you from loving it. You can always tell the world about how you love a game regardless of what others think about it. Even a genuinely terrible game will have at least a few people who will love it unironically.
You're very right! Like, there's definitely a clear distinction in most cases where someone will just raise points about something they weren't super on board with and another person writing something off entirely for a few minor gripes. I feel like those are fine and important conversations to have. I just wish that the percentages of negative game coverage vs positive game coverage were flipped from what they currently are (or at least what I come across in my internet travels). I always feel better seeing people lift of the games they love rather than putting so much of their energy into the things they hate. But that's definitely more of a ME thing lol
@Brian.Henken Maybe this is because when something doesn't work, you wanna pick it apart and figure out WHY it didn't work and lay out all the flaws. But if you do like it, you can just say you liked it and move on. So a game having flaws will be discussed a lot more than a game just being good. Maybe. Of course, some people will still wanna do the same for a game they love, but I think humans inherently have a drive to dissect bad things more than good things.
People love focusing on the negative and it gets clicks. Now we have a whole wildly popular platform for it! What could go wrong? The internet might have been a mistake.
I find myself conflicted. On one hand, i definitely understand the sentiment of the video. I'm all for loving things even when they're objectively not very good, Fallout 4 being an example. I love most Bethesda games despite a lot of them being bad in a lot of ways. So i can agree with the sentiment of games should be fun. But at the same time, i also don't think it's wrong to focus on the negative aspects of gaming either. Analyzing a game and thinking about what makes it bad in your eyes is honesty a big part of the medium in my opinion. It shows that you're able to think about the media you consume and what it says. Too many people box up video games as things that can only be fun. But i frankly disagree. Art is made to make you experience lot's of things beyond positive emotions. I am someone who will always be for art that is meant to make you uncomfortable. To give you a negative emotion. One of my favorite books, or atleast the one i think about most, is No Longer Human. Specifically the manga adaptation which was drawn by Junji Ito. It is a vile book that makes you feel very uncomfortable reading it. But it's also a really fascinating look into the perspective of someone who feels deeply disconnected from humanity as a whole. Someone who's desperately struggling to find comfort in a world that doesn't understand them. So while i do think that people shouldn't dwell on the negative aspects of a game, i also don't think they should just ignore them. TOTK is a good game. But it has a lot of glaring issues that make it hard to really love. The story is mostly mediocre and outright bad regarding a certain person who's name starts with Z doing a certain thing in the story. The exploration largely doesn't work well because Hyrule wasn't designed with cars and floating islands in mind. The floating islands are largely empty and pointless. And most of them are copy paste. While these may seem like small problems to you, they may be much bigger for people like me or Skittybitty. And don't take any of this as me trying to bash you or anything. I just disagree on a few things. Or maybe i just completely misread the video. That's definitely a possibility.
I definitely think Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are good steps in the right direction for what Zelda could be. It just needs a bit more focus. Tears of the Kingdom especially tries to be a lot of different things but doesn't do many things exceptionally well; save for the ultrahand stuff which I think is really cool! There's a lot of great ideas there that I found enjoyment in, but I definitely agree with the sentiment that it can leave a lot to be desired. Basically what I was getting at with this whole thing is less in the way of saying that hating a game is a bad thing. On the contrary! I think if you don't like a game that it's more than okay! And venting those frustrations can be a good way to focus your thoughts and help better inform yourself on what you want out of the games you play. But what's disappointing to me is just sort of hanging onto that hatred and letting it leave a sour taste in your mouth even after you've moved onto other games. There are some exceptionally bad games out there that don't make it easy to forget, that's for sure! But I think there's just a better way for fans of these games to handle or display their disappointments, and that I hate to see the more negative outlooks from people who claim "video games aren't fun anymore." That's one of your favorite hobbies! It's something that started as a way to unwind and enjoy yourself, and to view it in that sort of more pessimistic light just makes me a little sad. I guess that's basically it really. Just an optimism vs pessimism thing!
@orangeslash1667 not Gregg Mayles though, who was the creator and level designer of Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie, he's still at Rare along with a few other important people who worked on the Banjo games.
tears of the kingdom isn't bad. but I don't like it i know this without playing it. this isn't hate this is a difference of opposing ideals of what i want out of zelda. im one of those guys who is one team, i want dungeons, good lore, and tight intentional design.
The issue with 6/10 games like TOTK is that they aren't actually that fun. If a game keeps my interest all the way through and doesn't leave me with a bad taste in my mouth then it's a 10 or close to it, regardless of what rough edges it might have. A game that isn't enjoyable is not good. That's the fundamental issue.
Do you have any junk food or guilty pleasure games? Games that have lots of issues that you acknowledge but still enjoy the game in spite of? For me that game would probably Star Fox 0. It kinda sucks but even when I’m battling with the controls, I’m fully engaging with it. The game is too short and a waste of my money, but I’ve never felt that it was a waste of my time. All that’s to say that Star Fox 0 or any game like it is still a 5/10. Even I think it is and I’m one of the few people who likes it.
You seem to have a problem with the people rightfully not liking totk and stating their opinion, and pulling up the metacritic score doesn't help your point because most of the reviews are from people who hadn't finished the game yet or didn't think that much about it and just gave it a 10 . also did you actually listen skittys points (I now understand that this was a joke and I was an idiot)
I think you missed the point of that review segment. That entire bit was a joke. You can see him cut his own “point” off with skyward sword’s review score, which is a game that he thinks is bad despite its high review score. He knows that a review score isn’t indicative of how much you will enjoy a given game, hence the bit. He also does say that he understands the points skitty was making, even if he didn’t strictly agree with them.
The thing is, while I may really enjoy Tears of the Kingdom, I'm more than aware it's not without it's faults. There are a lot of serious strikes against it, but it's a coin toss as to whether or not any one of those strikes actually degraded the experience for me, personally. I typically didn't let them get in the way of my enjoyment but it's understandable how others may not vibe with it that way. And I think I was pretty clear right after that little Verdi montage showing all the UA-camrs who didn't love the game. I said "clearly people have thoughts about them. Not because they want to hate but because they love the material so much." So while I may disagree, I'm not gonna roast them for it. They're completely valid in their thought process. That's why I used Skittybitty's video as a great example, because it's someone who is very clearly passionate about the game and isn't just trashing it for no good reason. It's well thought out and presented in a really effective way. It's a great video! I watched the entire video while a worked, and as I stated in my own video, while I disagree with a lot of the points they raised I can still understand their point of view. Me bringing up metacritic at the end of that segment is to drive home that idea of subjectivity. I used totk's high metacritic score as evidence that the game was undeniably great yet I was blindsided by skyward sword (a game that I hated) also having a similarly high score. It's to show how my own biases were clouding my judgement and that, just because I feel really strongly about a game doesn't mean that I'm inherently correct. I hope that sort of clears it up a bit!
No no you're totally fine! Haha I'm always just overly conscious of wanting to make sure my points are getting across well while still leaving room for people to make the connections themselves while being able to take things further haha it's a whole fight I'm constantly having in my head 😅 you're totally fine!
Love it when everyone suddenly forgot they played baseball at one point in their lives, forgot how their wrists work essentially. And then, nonchalantly, bash on Skyward Sword because "bUt MoTiOn CoNtRoLs" Honestly, git gud. SS rules. Get your wrists checked. *Edit:* I was gonna leave it at that, but then you started to absolutely glaze on TotK. Undeservedly so. And you wanna know why I think this? TotK's story is bad, Fs with pre-established key lore aspects, absolutely shatters all the Master Sword's reputation, unga bunga buff Dorf with little to no ambition other than "me strongest there is" uninteresting, nearly everyone forgot who you were despite this game taking place a mere 4-6 years after Wild, Rauru existing is an insult, no Fi, no breaking of the Demise curse despite it being falsely hinted being the case what with all the Skyward Sword PR this game got (I distinctly remember Skyward Sword being advertised as heavily linked to TotK somehow which, again, is misleading as on Nintendo's part), no dog petting, no hookshot spiderman swinging with the physics being suuuuch a driving factor in these newer Zelda games, no underwater exploration instead a damp dark smelly overgrown cave can't see jack, COLLOSAL missed opportunity to hitch the princess with her handsome knight in shining armor, no stakes since Zelda's sacrifice was reversed giving the story little to no agency or consequence, Link as a protagonist felt nonexistent feels like everyone else was the star of the show not the guy who's saving all their 🫏s, no Link backstory before any of this went down aka no Arryl 2 or Granny 2 aka NOT WIND WAKER, didn't make me cry like Twilight Princess, dungeons are STILL NOT dungeons (pulling a couple levers to open a door and then be treated with literally the same copy-paste cutscene at the very end with each champion? Yeah naw), sky islands hardly anything worth noting although they are pretty asf to look at, I was expecting a totally NEW revamped endgame super Saiyan master sword golden tier 4 legendary new hilt new everything but naw same design with a booboo scar and hilariously less powerful... hoverbike autobuild pales in comparison to THE Master Cycle As a game, sure, it's leagues above BotW but BotW will never be topped as a one-in-a-lifetime *experience* TotK was an overblown $70 DLC and I'm tired of pretending it's not. Mid. *also that little jab you gave to Kingdom Hearts didn't help either--that franchise's combat alone can kick any other's 🍑 in a split second............Well....... maybe not Monster Hunter's--but you the gist!*
Not trying to be rude or anything but I think you're missing the point. If you're paying attention and you watch the whole video you can see that the whole idea being pushed is that opinions are subjective, and that spending so much mental energy to hate a game when you could be using that energy to enjoy and lift up other games is ultimately going to sour your ability enjoy other games at all. The same with getting riled up and angry with people over a simple difference of opinion when it comes to game. You're allowed to disagree and still both be a big fan. It's the whole optimism over pessimism thing. I'm showing that just because I or anyone else has a certain opinion about a game, it doesn't make them correct, or give them the right to put anyone else down for a difference in that opinion. If you put more of your time and energy into loving the games that you love, rather than hating the games you hate; then you find that you just have a more positive outlook on games as a whole. And you can enjoy video games as a fun hobby again, rather than something you have to fight people over and be angry about. So again, it's not to show that these opinions I have on TOTK or SS are objectively true; it's just showing that people can like things others don't and vice versa, without souring everything in the process. Opinions are subjective and that's okay. Also Kingdom Hearts is my favorite video game series of all time. I've played every game multiple times and I love them all dearly, but even I can admit that the dialogue is pretty rough lol Hope this helps 👍
I Love This Video (It’s Good)
(also skyward sword is top 3 zelda)
Oh my God thank you! I'm super hyped you liked it! Also I hope it came across well enough in the video but I really enjoyed your TOTK video! Big fan big fan! ❤️
And I am actually going to go back to Skyward Sword this month and see if maybe my tastes have changed. I really want to give it a second chance 🙏
thanks so much!! also defo play the switch version if you can, it’s a massive upgrade over the wii version in every way (especially with the amiibo)
Any time! And Yeeeahh 15 year old me was not a fan of the Wii version of Skyward Sword, but a beefed up HD version with a bunch of upgrades and fixes sounds like a way better time for me 😎 I will return with my new findings (whenever I eventually finish it )
There was a time a few years back where I asked myself if Kingdom Hearts was actually good. Many say yes, many say no…but it occurred to me that the question itself is a paradox. I enjoy Kingdom Hearts. I LOVE it. The quality isn’t why I love them, it’s the vibes, the characters, the music!
And really, that’s what is important.
As a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, this is something that I go over in my head all the time. I just love it for what it is, and even with the things I'm not so fond of; I'd rather keep them in there because its part of what makes Kingdom Hearts unique. Like, the dialogue is unbelievably corny but without it, I don't know if Kingdom Hearts would really hit me the same, ya know?
@@Brian.Henken exactly! No matter how small the thing is, it’s core to what KH is now.
Kinda how I feel about the Trails/Kiseki series
"The best thing we can do as people who love video games, is to do just that; love video games."
Truest statement ever
As a friend in a group of ppl who criticize art into the GROUND and who consume/listen to soooo many outside opinions on the art and games they see/enjoy I’ve long held the sentiment this video focuses on and never have I heard it mirrored much less so fucking eloquently. Thank you for taking the time to not only form your opinion on this but to also refine it and process it into something so succinct and consumable.
I think that when art, like games, become product they then enter this world of being judged based on the time/money they require, like any other product. I get that. But also art is so personal in how it is received and enjoyed. It sucks to see people write games off based on outside opinions/reviews/video essays/twitter gossip. It can be frustrating to see people approach games as something to tear apart in some hope of either seeming cultured/intelligent or in some vain attempt at finding the objective “good” / “bad”, especially when there is no objective “good” or “bad” when it comes to matters of taste.
I’ve long said that taste is either something you have or you don’t. Taste also isn’t something that is “good” or “bad”. It’s personal. Taste is when you know yourself well enough to hate something generally considered a masterpiece and to love something generally considered “garbage”. Go enjoy some trash.
Thank you, endlessly, for making this video and helping me feel a lil less alone in this way of thinking.
it's probably a better way of looking at it than most. for me, as i get older, it has turned in to the fact that time is currency. if i'm going to play a game, it should feel like it was worth the time i spent on it, because i have less free time than i ever did growing up. being able to play games is a privilege for many reasons.
Not only older, we're also experienced in playing hundreds of games, and tired of playing the same game over and over. I know I can't stand more cookiecutter roguelikes or metroidvanias anymore.
@@DiegoPrsI always try to find different roguelikes to play myself, but a lot of them are combat focused due to the conventions of the genre. Balatro is quite possibly the biggest breath of fresh air for me since all you need to do is match a given score, no “combat” required at all really.
UA-cam is like the modern equivalent of that old guy you meet at a subway giving you life advice that you didn't ask for, but you needed at the moment.
Good work on the video.
There are so many games out there, it baffles me how some people are just stuck on this endless cycle of hate, complaining, and more hate, often for the smallest, pettiest reasons and misunderstandings of what the game, the devs, the writers, and everyone invloved pretty much intended with the game. It's just that in the end, not all games are made for everyone, so take your pick and stick with the ones you do love and enjoy. My Steam library is full of nothing but games I absolutely love, there is not a single one in there that I haven't beaten, and there's over 200 of them. That's Steam alone, and now that I'm trying to get all my games on the same place for the sake of convenience, I'm only picking the ones I know for sure that I'll enjoy, or have enjoyed in the past. I've been through so many console generations and grown not only as someone who loves games, but as a person too, and a lot of it is thanks to the games I enjoyed too. Mario, Zelda, stuff like that is very big and of course there would be stinkers in those big series. So, what? Not every entry is a winner, and the next one might be great. That's exactly what happened with me and Sunshine, which I disliked, and then absolutely loved Galaxy. Gotta focus on stuff you enjoy, and it's so easy to do just that with games and online too. I'm at the point where playing something like Elden Ring and dying like 1000 times to one enemy isn't even annoying anymore because that's part of the fun. And when I'm not in the mood, I can fire up a more relaxing game like maybe play a platformer I enjoyed in the past, maybe do another run of Super Metroid, a game I know VERY well and just have fun and refresh my mind, etc. etc. It really doesn't get more complicated. If you don't like a game, stop playing it. It's ok. Move onto those that you do love.
tl;dr: Time make fools of us all.
My first Zelda game was Majora's Mask. Played it fully back when it came out on the N64. I have never played a game like that and haven't played another since. I remember when Wind Waker was teased and the amount of hate it got for it's art style. I was on the forums for those "discussions" (more like hate yelling but besides the point). I was swayed by these convos a little bit (I was a kid) but when I actually got my hands on the game and played it, I fell in love. Honestly thought it was the most perfect video game ever. Twilight Princess came out and I was excited by it. I played through it and was underwhelmed. Hated it because I thought it was trying to be too much like Ocarina of Time and not trying to do something new. Okay fine, that one was a dud but the next game will be amazing. Get very much caught up by the hype around Skyward Sword and pre-ordered the game when I saw the teasers. Finally, it gets released and I rush to play the game. Get through the first dungeon and move to the next area and can't handle the motion controls anymore, it was too frustrating to contend with. It became one of the few games I've ever rage quit in all my time playing video games. I didn't touch the game for years and years and year.
Breath of the Wild comes out and I'm all in on the hype. Finally get the game and I'm in a discord server with a bunch of people talking about it and exploring and it's the most fun I've had with a video game in my life. Never had been part of a community like this before and it was exciting to get through a part and immediately talk to others about my experiences. The feedback loop was unreal. See all the references sprinkled throughout the game. After playing the game twice (lost my save file on Wii U due to an external HDD death), make the choice to play through the franchise in release order, especially since I had never played a 2D Zelda before, mostly stuck to the 3D games. Even replay games I had already played but with remasters when available. Surprised at how much I liked Link's Awakening and the combat in Link's Adventure. Surprised at how underwhelmed by A Link To The Past I was. Twilight Princess was actually better than I gave it credit for. Wind Waker HD is a delight still, tied for my favorite with Breath of the Wild, which I never thought anything would come close to Wind Waker like BotW did. Finally, time to play Skyward Sword again. Dreading it a bit but finally get to it aaaaand....... I have a three way tie now for favorite Zelda game. The amount of work the devs put into making you want to save Zelda is amazing. The art is really appealing up close. There is some really novel and interesting stuff with the motion controls that I wasn't expecting. It has THE BEST dungeon in the franchise. I'm shook to my very core and how much I 180'd on this game. I can never ever recommend it to anyone, but I love it dearly for what it tries to do for the lore of the franchise and how much it tried to shake up things with it's gameplay.
I've played most of the Zelda games now. Tears of the Kingdom is now my favorite Zelda game. I learned that a bad Zelda game is another franchise's B-tier game. It's not horrible but it's still pretty decent. I learned from Wind Waker that people really just hyper focus on one aspect of a thing and neglect to take in the rest of a work. Twilight Princess taught me that I'm no better at times. Skyward Sword showed me the dangers of hyping a thing up in my mind and that marketing is designed to shut off your reason and just make you emotionally invested without really understanding that flaws are a thing. Skyward Sword ALSO taught me that opinions are not set in stone. That game didn't change but I did. I was a younger adult when I first played it, I was 30+ years old when I came back to it after BotW and had some life events really shake up my emotional core. When I talk about video games on the internet now, I always feel the need to add "I may disagree with you, but opinions are not fact and you are valid to feel about the thing in the way that you do." Because it's true. Opinions are not gravity of the universal constant or electromagnetism. Opinions are from humans for humans and effect mostly only humans. And opinions WILL CHANGE because we all with change. Time trumps everything. This is why, in order to really critique, one must really understand themselves because you are also trying to capture a moment in time and you only get one chance to say the thing right. And you won't. But trying is important, improving is important, and changing is inevitable.
You've gone through an excellent journey. Continue to learn, and enjoy the joy and wisdom that you've already earned. What an uplifting read.
I think that the most important thing to remember is your own capacity for change, and being able to admit when you're wrong on something. That's when real growth occurs. The more you go through life events and your day to day, the more you're becoming someone else. It's happening all the time. So being able to re-experience things through new eyes is always going to be exciting especially when it leads to something positive like what you had with skyward sword! My replay of that game has been overdue for a long time. I think it's time I gave it another shot!
@@Brian.Henken It's also important to remember that, hey, this isn't math or science. Art is up to the viewer too! What you bring into the experience can be just as important and the experience of art itself. So, if you do revisit a game, it's okay to say "Naw, not for me after all."
As someone who’s been playing video games for pretty much my entire life, I’ll just say this…I’m someone who tries to see the game in every game i play. And not just every game, but every piece of media i consume. I’m a pretty optimistic person, I see the good in everyone and everything, there is rarely anyone or anything I genuinely hate. I can pretty much count on my hand how many things I hate, but…at the end of the day…I’ll try my hardest to just relax…and enjoy the media I consume, and that’s especially true for games. Heck, I don’t think I genuinely hate any game I’ve played, sure…I’ve felt disappointed or underwhelmed, but never truly angry. I would just sit back, sigh, and say “this isn’t for me” then…i would leave it alone. And hay, sometimes i come back to it, just to see if my opinions change. And sometimes it does, other times it doesn’t. Overall, i just prefer to stay optimistic, and simply enjoy games, regardless of their flaws.
Great video btw, i really enjoyed it.
just wanna say i love ur insights so much and i wish you got more love on this platform, ur writing and production quality deserve soooo much more attention. pls always keep uploading!
Thank you so much! That really means a lot 🥹 I'll keep doing my best!
Man this was a great video. I am so sick of negativity in games and this is a refreshing change of pace. I had a lot of fun playing Banjo Tooie, NMS, Day's Gone, Fallout 4 and Starfield. All these games get or at least used to get crapped on all the time but they all ended up being some of my favorite games that I have played many times over. I guess the thing is I am a little older, in my 50s and I have been playing games since I had a little pong machine when I was a kid. I feel like I can appreciate games on a different level because I have watched gaming evolve from little blips to massive immersive experiences.
I think it is easier for me because I don't really listen to reviews nor do I got swept up in the hype of games. I just experience them for myself and either I like them (Banjo Tooie) or I am disappointed in them (Skyward Sword). But if I don't like them I don't linger on them. It was always crazy to me how subreddits based on a game have people that just sit there and complain about the game constantly. Like I get it, you don't like it and that is fine, but don't these people have anything better to do than to harp on a game they hate 6 months-1 year later?
This is a ridiculously good video essay. Keep at it and I know you’re gonna make it. Thanks for providing your perspective on the subjectivity of games that many people refuse to understand.
I try to reserve my hatred for things that I believe are deserving of it.
I think that most games aren't. Video games are meant to be enjoyed, not hated. Unless they are doing real harm to people I think you should just go "it isnt for me, and thats okay."
There are so many games that are available that if I don't like one I can simply move on to the next one.
People need to remember that just because you don't enjoy something as much as you'd hoped, _doesn't_ mean its bad.
I think what's important to me is that the criticism must come from a place of love (In the case of divisive games within a beloved franchise), and that people don't state their opinions as fact or pretend that there is any form of objectivity in these discussions, because pretty much none of the objective facts about a game are relevant to these discussions. And also that we allow ourselves to have nuance in our opinions, instead of just putting a single number /10.
TOTK... Infuriated me. I greatly loved BOTW though I had some reservations on what was lost when switching to the open-world formula. As a sequel, TOTK accentuated everything in BOTW's philosophy and design to make it even BOTW-er and at this point I *really* missed the sense of progression, structure in the story, puzzles where you actually have to think, etc.
Yet despite that, I still spent 250 hours in the game to do all shrines and lightroots and finish it. Because I still had a lot of fun with this sort of gigantic toybox. I didn't like that spending this much time with ultrahand was useless compared to more straightforward methods, but I still found some intrinsic fun in it. A lot of it, in fact.
Both of these opinions from me are real and valid at the same time. So it is a game that both frustrated me to no end and that I had a ton of fun with. I accept that. I largely agreed with most of the criticisms in skittybitty's video, though I would never call the game bad or say I hate it, because that is a dishonest dismissal of everything the game does right.
Is it okay if they keep going in this direction? For most people, probably, but I will still be really annoyed because I definitely think they can do better puzzles and structure than this.
It's funny because, just recently, I stumbled upon the other side of this argument with the latest FFXIV expansion, Dawntrail. I finished it, I loved it, and I had some criticisms here and there and I think the latter part of the story could've been managed better, but overall a great experience.
Then I go on reddit to find out that the main character of the story annoyed them to no end and they had a laundry list of criticisms about her specifically, mostly unrelated to mine, and it was so bad that every single discussion about the game, even completely unrelated, would have people coming in and make jokes about how bad it was and that the developers must realize how monumental of a flop this has been.
Well, apparently, my opinions are invalid I guess? I'm a bootlicker or something? I cannot seriously enjoy this because it is "objectively bad"? I'm sorry, I hadn't realized. Will we continue having this discourse for two years? I sure hope not.
Criticism, discussing opinions, is great and interesting and enhances my enjoyment of any work but when it feels like it comes from a place of malice, people who want you to know that it is objectively irredeemable, who dismiss any positive options, even well articulated, and it ends up preventing any other subject of discussion at all because it'll just be framed as "this is objectively good/bad", then it just makes me want to leave the room.
I loved Skyward Sword btw, probably my second favorite behind BOTW
the segment about him meeting his younger self hit home. it reminded me of all the games i played as a kid that i loved. and now when i play them i hate them. what happened to me?
Really beautiful video! The Mother music at the end hit me in the feels
I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about your fear of being wrong, because that's what I've felt whenever my brain's decided to latch onto something most people either don't like or don't know about. Not just the loneliness of not being able to connect to other people and share your love for something that inspired you, but that fear that you're wrong or broken for having those feelings. But really, at the end of the day, does it hurt anyone to like a game that other people don't, or dislike a game that others do? The way I see it, only if you let it hurt yourself. It's been a long road getting to the point that it doesn't for me, and I'm honestly not quite there yet. Even seeing the names of certain games I once liked turns me away reflexively because I got burned by the excess negativity of it all. But I can get there, and so can all of us. Thank you for reminding me of that!
Great video! Felt like having a mirror held in front of me at times but 31:59 is something I especially try to carry with me lately and wish more people would do. There's been plenty of popular, celebrated games I just couldn't get into because specific parts just kept me from enjoying them (like Sonic Frontiers back when was released or all Mario & Luigi games except for Superstar Saga) or because I'm just not fond of that particular flavour of genre (most open world games don't resonate with me). But instead of dwelling on it like I used to do at points, I now rather just move on to something else I'd actually have fun with.
And it doesn't even have to be something completely different. I've seen deep dives into Sonic Frontiers which showed me why its fans love it so much. And watching other people discover the world of Breath of the Wild was infinitely more enjoyable to me than playing it myself. They are not terrible games by any stretch, it's just not what I personally enjoy playing. And heck, even within my general dislike of open world games, there are specific titles I love like Sainst Row and Like A Dragon. You never know what you'll stumble across unless you stay open-minded and broaden your horizons.
Everything that TOTK gets right is from 2017.
The only new mechanics I liked were throwing, and ceiling merge.
That’s it, everything else is a negative compared to BOTW progression.
It’s suppose to the ending to BOTW, Fi, Triforce, Zelda’s mother, rebuilding Hyrule, new divine beast, Items that arent consumables
Instead we goat gods, and Master quest of same missions.
If there is one truth in gaming its the Zelda cycle. every Zelda game releases to 10/10's and general acclaim, but becomes the target of a massive amount of disproportionate hate from subsets of the Zelda community, right up until the next one comes out and suddenly the game becomes "underrated" and then sometime later it becomes a "flawless masterpiece" and we do the same thing over and over again for every single new Zelda release.
It really is a microcosm for just how much gaming as a collective fandom is so intrinsically built around the idea of counter culture and out-group mentality. There is nothing gamers in particular love more than building something up and then tearing something down so they can build it back up again later, because gaming sub-culture has been so dependent on cycles of hyping up that which they perceive to be niche, and than rejecting it once it stops being niche and becomes mainstream. It's why Skyward Sword (My favorite pre-Botw Zelda game) was torn to shreds as the worst one, during the period following its release, only for it now to be a more mainstream opinion that its good actually, in the wake of totk's release. It's why Botw and totk's unprecedented success has resulted in the exact same kind of backlash Skyward Sword got, but now in reverse. Skyward Sword was decried as too linear and now Botw and totk are decried as too open. Wind Waker was too cartoony and then Twilight princess was too dark and gritty. No Zelda game is ever truly appreciated until its no longer the latest one. and once that happens it becomes the flawless masterpiece we dare not speak ill of.
Mark my words, this time twenty years from now, Botw will hold the same level of status OOt holds, and it will be considered blasphemous to criticize it. and the newest Zelda game released in 2044 will be considered the worst in the series and a complete betrayal to everything that made botw so great. because nobody ever learns their lesson and we're all trapped in eternal cycles of contrarianism.
This has been on my mind a lot. Sometimes I think it's just different crowds being louder than others at different times. Vocal minorities going off while the rest of the player base just quietly enjoys whichever game is new at the time. But other times I think you're super right. The hype and criticism cycles have been going on for decades now, and I can understand it. I personally love propping up a perceived underdog that resonates with me more than it has for others. Maybe the problem is that people in general are just way too hyperbolic about both their praise and criticism in search of the most attention possible. That results in these absurdly long takedown videos with barely any consideration for the other side. Would you really have continued to play it for hundreds of hours if it was that bad?
@@wizawhat I actually think you are right about different crowds being louder than others at different times. Culture is in constant flux, and games and styles are always going in and out of fashion.
And I think you hit the nail on the head about how hyperbolic people are with their opinions. These days it really feels like, everything either has to be the worst or best thing ever. You can never have a nice thing to say about something people hate or a criticism about something people love. And that creates a feedback loop, where people become so frustrated with the discourse they take it to the other extreme. Suddenly an aspect of a game that was maybe tedious at worst becomes game breaking, while good ideas that maybe needed a little more polish become perfect and touchable and above critique. There are so many games that have little tedious systems I find annoying, but otherwise harmless that other people insist "ruins" the experience. I love Skyward Sword's motion controls, and understand why some people couldn't get into them, but I've really grown frustrated with the idea that the whole game is "bad" or "ruined" because of them.
I think so much of gaming culture being driven by social media has resulted in gaming discourse being pushed to its extremes. I just wish more people were willing to not tie so much of their personal identities to the idea of certain games being universally loved. And I wish more people were willing to praise what they like about a game, without needed to tear down a different game every chance they get.
Yeah that dude in the painting doesn't have to backpedal his catch, but he does.
Be happy what you caught, my guy.
I've become a big fan of your content, Brian. The soul and production level are skyward! I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember. I've finished over 700 games and I keep building on that love everyday and finding new experiences to better understand myself. Please keep up the great work!
Thank you so much! I'm really happy you're enjoying my stuff! And I'm glad you're having such a good time with everything you're playing! 🙏
someone just shared this on r/banjokazooie so it's my first time seeing one of your videos but this is a great video essay, i'm subscribing
This was an... Odd video. I feel the thesis of the essay came in far too late. I thought it was leaning into a comprehensive look into WHY someone might call a game bad and talk about perspective and public opnion but it pivoted into "no game is perfect stop being so negative." Its a nice message that some people really need but not what i was hopping for. It is great to look for the good in games despite all its flaws. I can write a novel's worth of things i hate about some of my favorite games, but they still manage to give me enjoyment enough to earn my favor. While, on topic, BotW and TotK i had wonderful moments but still ultimately left me with sour taste. I bought TotK on release, using Nintendo voucher because i was hopeful everything in BotW i didnt like was fixed.
I loved TotK from the jump i thought it was presented fantastically, music, set pieces, story, all of it. I had a great time with the mechanics all exploring the sky and depths. But that enjoyment faded the more i got into the game. The mechanics held up fine but there wasnt anthing challenging enough to make full use of them. The story had so much potential but they constantly held back any big moves or reveals in lue of safer ambigous narrative that didn't comit to anything. Exploration was fun until you fill out the map and realize how little there is to really see, sky islands were uninteresting and the depths looses all its luster once lit. The probelm i have with TotK is that after everything i cant find a reason to go back and feel like I wasted money on a promise. Where my favorite games despite their flaws i can pick up again and again. I cant get back the good thing about TotK because the good thing was the first experience...
People do use "bad game" far too readily when not everyone is of the same opnion or priorities of what makes a good game. I'm not looking for justification but i was hoping for more insight into the perception of a "bad game" outside of "make the best of it" when i cant get that best anymore.
Additionally I would love to take to heart the ending message that "if you don't give up on a game maybe it will be fixed down the line into something great." But TotK made 4-5 patches that addressed nothing but bug fixes and no plans for DLC despite having so much room for more fun things.
I'm almost certain there were more great ideas in that writers room but after breaking their backs for 6 years the team just wanted to move on which is a shame but I understand.
The idea for this video was born after another friend of mine who also makes video essays was talking about how frustrating it was that all of his most successful videos were ones that were more negative. It seemed that people didn't care much for his opinion on the things he liked, but they flocked to him when he was trashing something. I actually gave it a try too just with some tweets and community posts and found that they were some of my most engaged posts. I thought that was a little sad. I realize that in a lot of cases I am hopelessly optimistic about a lot of things lol I'm far too quick to want to see the good in something even when it's pretty bad. I wished more people could see gaming like that. It seemed that so many people on the internet just love to dogpile onto bad games or really take to task the games they personally disliked. I wanted to be able to change that just slightly and offer up the view of like "Hey instead of putting so much energy into the things you hate, why not use that to lift up the things you love?" I wanted to sprinkle that into the first parts of the video subtly so that it would make sense when I finally arrived at the whole point of it all, but I think I may have been a bit too subtle it seems lol
In terms of totk though I definitely can agree. While I really enjoy it for the things that charmed me, I know it isn't without its flaws, and the emptiness and replayability are definitely two big strikes against it. Zelda (at least for me, personally) has never really been too incredible in the story department so I honestly was okay with that, but I do agree with you that there's a lot of space for them to have really taken things to a higher degree; they just rarely fully fleshed out any of its countless features. Ultrahand, fusing, and even something as simple as the ascend mechanic all feel under baked in some ways.
As for getting back the good thing, I think it definitely still means something though! You were able to have fun with the first part of the game, and while it's a huge bummer, you can still look fondly on those first few hours as time well spent; as it'll further help dial in what you're looking for in the games you play. And if anything, conversations like these are hopefully what game devs can look at to see where to take subsequent games. Maybe help guide them in the right direction to making something really special.
Also, even if you didn't fully vibe with the video, thank you for commenting! I do love reading through everything, and finding opinions that differ from my own is always fun just cause it gets me thinking about the games I love in different ways! Thank you!
@@Brian.Henken That's fair enough we both see eye to eye that there is way too much negativity and i respect trying to change that. There is plenty of people who need that in certainly. I think the video is a little confusing in getting to that point especially with the intro. I think more examples of flipping perspective would elevate the argument being presented. "The game isn't bad I just couldn't get use to the mechanical feel" or "the game isn't bad I just appreciate more narrative weight." Thoughts to get people to dissect why they might not like something without calling it outright BAD. It helps your overall goal more and makes the video focused on an individual to think on themselves rather than question the masses tendency dog-pile on things. The problem I think with the video is it presented itself in a way that made me believe there was an answer to a question of mob mentality and why it exists instead of making its own statement against it. Its a great video just not what I expected when I clicked on it.
@@GoldDragon527 That's a fair point for sure! I'll agree with you that there's a bit of meandering there. I think that (maybe to my detriment) I do try and leave some things up to the viewer to try and connect some dots themselves so they leave themselves more room to think on what they've seen or the topic at large. But I'm glad we agree on the overall idea! That's kind of all I ever really want is to use these videos to find some common ground and get people talking about the things they enjoy!
So happy I got recommended this video❣️❣️🙌🙏
I've noticed this with a lot of self-described fans of certain series only talking about how much they despise it, yet still sticking to it Perhaps negativity just gets more attention on the internet, but I'd genuinely be more interested in people talking about the things they do enjoy.
There are things which have disappointed me in the past. The Rise of Skywalker really burnt me out on Star Wars entirely. But rather than feeling bitter about it for years to come, I simply moved on to other interests.
This is really well thought out, thanks for sharing your thoughts! There are some publicly well received games I wasn't a fan of, but that doesn't mean I need to hold on to them as if those opinions somehow hold any weight. With each passing year, I find that I want to simply disconnect from video game culture, because it often gets in the way of just enjoying video games.
Also, The Fog Warning is a pretty cool painting, thanks for introducing us to it!
For me the sheer number of games to choose from plays a huge role as well. It kind of gives too much room to feel entitled about judging their quality. Because there are so many games with such limited time to play them at hand, I figured I only want to play the best ones. I'm not that picky when it comes to deciding what counts as "good" (my steam library alone includes more than 500 games) and had spent an ungodly amount of time playing those games. However, I had to learn that playing "good" games is cool and all, but it shouldn't be the only reason to play them. It makes me critical of every small flaw and frustrated if it doesn't offer me as much fun as other games had in the past. I treated them as a mere tool to trigger quick and efficient enjoyment on command. That, of course, didn't work.
At some point I just decided to take a time off from steam (owning huge digital libraries of games just doesn't seem to be healthy for me) and to scrap everything from my physical collection that didn't actually bring me joy, despite being regarded as "good". I think this has helped me to learn what games I actually liked. I love metroidvanias, but only the gothic-themed ones because I like exploring giant beautiful castles. I love the more straightforward Fire Emblems, because they're a perfect mix of high-stake combat and characters I care about, without turning everything into a dating sim. I love Zelda, but only the linear story-heavy ones with catchy soundtracks, because they make me dream. I'm even playing Skyward Sword now, starting to enjoy its narrative and janky controls. It had been a game I actively used to flame on internet forums because I had been so terribly disappointed (coming from the Twilight Princess era). And don't let me even start on BotW and TotK. They are good games for what they offer. I can see that. But I hated almost every second playing them in hindsight (and those were a lot of seconds).
The joy of playing games hasn't gone anywhere. In the final analysis, it was only a matter of playing the right games and seeing their potential flaws as features instead of a reason to move on to something "better".
Btw great video. This is not just some half-baked stuff. You're doing some really meaningful content bro. There should be much more important things to focus on than to complain on video games online.
So glad i stumbled upon this video. I love video games so much. Thank you for the positivity
If you call anything else "the worst game ever made", then you're missing something.
...my point being, nothing could be worse than _Custer's Revenge_ for the Atari 2600. It's only uphill from there.
Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing has entered the chat 😳
@@Brian.Henken Counterpoint: _Big Rigs_ has no sex crime.
@@iblitz95 i concede 🤢 Custer's Revenge takes the cake
Raise your hand if you thought this video was about smash because you thought you looked at the thumbnail
Skyward sword was the first Zelda game I played that made me really want to save Zelda, the relationship between them was great, but the rest of the game was pretty mid, but I enjoyed it for the love
I'm about ready to go back and play it here pretty soon! Never got to try the switch version so I'm gonna give Skyward Sword another shot there! I feel like I need to kind of do what you did. Just focus less on the actual gameplay and try to appreciate the game as a whole (story, music, gameplay, setting, etc.)
@@Brian.Henken amen brother, I like how u think about things, but sometimes it's nice to have a fresh take and take something just as it is
@@boscomcfly2342 yeah! Like, it's been forever since I've tried it and I really want to enjoy it! So I think another look is overdue 😎
That boy washing the hell outta that plate
Women want me 😏
Dirty plates fear me 😈
@@Brian.Henken 😂
That ending was beautiful. I actually got a bit teared up from hearing that.
I think criticism is just as important as praise. Some things need to be criticised or else they won't get better. And if it's something people are passionate about, it's only natural things will get heated.
Also, it depends on whether the criticism is warranted or not. Anyone can just shit on a game for the sake of shitting on it, but if the points that are raised are valid, and the person criticising the game genuinely wanted the game to be good and isn't just a contrarian or something, then it's fine.
Just because someone raises good points about bad things doesn't mean you have to find the whole game bad. Like, I genuinely agree with a ton of the things people are criticising about Tears of the Kingdom, but I wouldn't say that the whole game is bad because of it. I still had a ton of fun with it. You don't have to condemn the whole game over some legit flaws.
Also, just because someone else really hates something about a game, that can't stop you from loving it. You can always tell the world about how you love a game regardless of what others think about it. Even a genuinely terrible game will have at least a few people who will love it unironically.
You're very right! Like, there's definitely a clear distinction in most cases where someone will just raise points about something they weren't super on board with and another person writing something off entirely for a few minor gripes. I feel like those are fine and important conversations to have. I just wish that the percentages of negative game coverage vs positive game coverage were flipped from what they currently are (or at least what I come across in my internet travels). I always feel better seeing people lift of the games they love rather than putting so much of their energy into the things they hate. But that's definitely more of a ME thing lol
@Brian.Henken Maybe this is because when something doesn't work, you wanna pick it apart and figure out WHY it didn't work and lay out all the flaws.
But if you do like it, you can just say you liked it and move on.
So a game having flaws will be discussed a lot more than a game just being good.
Maybe.
Of course, some people will still wanna do the same for a game they love, but I think humans inherently have a drive to dissect bad things more than good things.
Ever play a game people love to death and hate it?
...The Last of Us is a terrible game.
People love focusing on the negative and it gets clicks. Now we have a whole wildly popular platform for it! What could go wrong?
The internet might have been a mistake.
What went wrong? The youtube algorithm is at fault here (social media too)
11:08 Brain, you forgot to attach the Wii Motion +. No wonder the controls didn’t feel good!
Beautiful video
this is amazing
Imagine enjoying video games instead of playing video game as a full time job 🤢
I find myself conflicted. On one hand, i definitely understand the sentiment of the video. I'm all for loving things even when they're objectively not very good, Fallout 4 being an example. I love most Bethesda games despite a lot of them being bad in a lot of ways. So i can agree with the sentiment of games should be fun. But at the same time, i also don't think it's wrong to focus on the negative aspects of gaming either. Analyzing a game and thinking about what makes it bad in your eyes is honesty a big part of the medium in my opinion. It shows that you're able to think about the media you consume and what it says. Too many people box up video games as things that can only be fun. But i frankly disagree. Art is made to make you experience lot's of things beyond positive emotions. I am someone who will always be for art that is meant to make you uncomfortable. To give you a negative emotion. One of my favorite books, or atleast the one i think about most, is No Longer Human. Specifically the manga adaptation which was drawn by Junji Ito. It is a vile book that makes you feel very uncomfortable reading it. But it's also a really fascinating look into the perspective of someone who feels deeply disconnected from humanity as a whole. Someone who's desperately struggling to find comfort in a world that doesn't understand them. So while i do think that people shouldn't dwell on the negative aspects of a game, i also don't think they should just ignore them. TOTK is a good game. But it has a lot of glaring issues that make it hard to really love. The story is mostly mediocre and outright bad regarding a certain person who's name starts with Z doing a certain thing in the story. The exploration largely doesn't work well because Hyrule wasn't designed with cars and floating islands in mind. The floating islands are largely empty and pointless. And most of them are copy paste. While these may seem like small problems to you, they may be much bigger for people like me or Skittybitty. And don't take any of this as me trying to bash you or anything. I just disagree on a few things. Or maybe i just completely misread the video. That's definitely a possibility.
I definitely think Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are good steps in the right direction for what Zelda could be. It just needs a bit more focus. Tears of the Kingdom especially tries to be a lot of different things but doesn't do many things exceptionally well; save for the ultrahand stuff which I think is really cool! There's a lot of great ideas there that I found enjoyment in, but I definitely agree with the sentiment that it can leave a lot to be desired.
Basically what I was getting at with this whole thing is less in the way of saying that hating a game is a bad thing. On the contrary! I think if you don't like a game that it's more than okay! And venting those frustrations can be a good way to focus your thoughts and help better inform yourself on what you want out of the games you play. But what's disappointing to me is just sort of hanging onto that hatred and letting it leave a sour taste in your mouth even after you've moved onto other games. There are some exceptionally bad games out there that don't make it easy to forget, that's for sure! But I think there's just a better way for fans of these games to handle or display their disappointments, and that I hate to see the more negative outlooks from people who claim "video games aren't fun anymore." That's one of your favorite hobbies! It's something that started as a way to unwind and enjoy yourself, and to view it in that sort of more pessimistic light just makes me a little sad. I guess that's basically it really. Just an optimism vs pessimism thing!
@@Brian.Henken I confined that yooka-laylee! is getting a remake, which will be made by former developers of Banjo Kazooie.
Amazing video
@orangeslash1667 not Gregg Mayles though, who was the creator and level designer of Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie, he's still at Rare along with a few other important people who worked on the Banjo games.
tears of the kingdom isn't bad. but I don't like it i know this without playing it. this isn't hate this is a difference of opposing ideals of what i want out of zelda. im one of those guys who is one team, i want dungeons, good lore, and tight intentional design.
I Love This Video
Bravo! 👏🏻
The issue with 6/10 games like TOTK is that they aren't actually that fun. If a game keeps my interest all the way through and doesn't leave me with a bad taste in my mouth then it's a 10 or close to it, regardless of what rough edges it might have. A game that isn't enjoyable is not good. That's the fundamental issue.
Do you have any junk food or guilty pleasure games? Games that have lots of issues that you acknowledge but still enjoy the game in spite of? For me that game would probably Star Fox 0. It kinda sucks but even when I’m battling with the controls, I’m fully engaging with it. The game is too short and a waste of my money, but I’ve never felt that it was a waste of my time. All that’s to say that Star Fox 0 or any game like it is still a 5/10. Even I think it is and I’m one of the few people who likes it.
It is fun though lmao
You seem to have a problem with the people rightfully not liking totk and stating their opinion, and pulling up the metacritic score doesn't help your point because most of the reviews are from people who hadn't finished the game yet or didn't think that much about it and just gave it a 10 . also did you actually listen skittys points (I now understand that this was a joke and I was an idiot)
I think you missed the point of that review segment. That entire bit was a joke. You can see him cut his own “point” off with skyward sword’s review score, which is a game that he thinks is bad despite its high review score. He knows that a review score isn’t indicative of how much you will enjoy a given game, hence the bit.
He also does say that he understands the points skitty was making, even if he didn’t strictly agree with them.
@@avocadeous oh
The thing is, while I may really enjoy Tears of the Kingdom, I'm more than aware it's not without it's faults. There are a lot of serious strikes against it, but it's a coin toss as to whether or not any one of those strikes actually degraded the experience for me, personally. I typically didn't let them get in the way of my enjoyment but it's understandable how others may not vibe with it that way.
And I think I was pretty clear right after that little Verdi montage showing all the UA-camrs who didn't love the game. I said "clearly people have thoughts about them. Not because they want to hate but because they love the material so much." So while I may disagree, I'm not gonna roast them for it. They're completely valid in their thought process.
That's why I used Skittybitty's video as a great example, because it's someone who is very clearly passionate about the game and isn't just trashing it for no good reason. It's well thought out and presented in a really effective way. It's a great video! I watched the entire video while a worked, and as I stated in my own video, while I disagree with a lot of the points they raised I can still understand their point of view.
Me bringing up metacritic at the end of that segment is to drive home that idea of subjectivity. I used totk's high metacritic score as evidence that the game was undeniably great yet I was blindsided by skyward sword (a game that I hated) also having a similarly high score. It's to show how my own biases were clouding my judgement and that, just because I feel really strongly about a game doesn't mean that I'm inherently correct. I hope that sort of clears it up a bit!
@Brian.Henken sorry I was being hasty when I wrote my comment and completely missed the point you're making, but thank you for clarifying
No no you're totally fine! Haha I'm always just overly conscious of wanting to make sure my points are getting across well while still leaving room for people to make the connections themselves while being able to take things further haha it's a whole fight I'm constantly having in my head 😅 you're totally fine!
this one is for the girls
Love it when everyone suddenly forgot they played baseball at one point in their lives, forgot how their wrists work essentially. And then, nonchalantly, bash on Skyward Sword because "bUt MoTiOn CoNtRoLs"
Honestly, git gud. SS rules. Get your wrists checked.
*Edit:* I was gonna leave it at that, but then you started to absolutely glaze on TotK. Undeservedly so. And you wanna know why I think this?
TotK's story is bad, Fs with pre-established key lore aspects, absolutely shatters all the Master Sword's reputation, unga bunga buff Dorf with little to no ambition other than "me strongest there is" uninteresting, nearly everyone forgot who you were despite this game taking place a mere 4-6 years after Wild, Rauru existing is an insult, no Fi, no breaking of the Demise curse despite it being falsely hinted being the case what with all the Skyward Sword PR this game got (I distinctly remember Skyward Sword being advertised as heavily linked to TotK somehow which, again, is misleading as on Nintendo's part), no dog petting, no hookshot spiderman swinging with the physics being suuuuch a driving factor in these newer Zelda games, no underwater exploration instead a damp dark smelly overgrown cave can't see jack, COLLOSAL missed opportunity to hitch the princess with her handsome knight in shining armor, no stakes since Zelda's sacrifice was reversed giving the story little to no agency or consequence, Link as a protagonist felt nonexistent feels like everyone else was the star of the show not the guy who's saving all their 🫏s, no Link backstory before any of this went down aka no Arryl 2 or Granny 2 aka NOT WIND WAKER, didn't make me cry like Twilight Princess, dungeons are STILL NOT dungeons (pulling a couple levers to open a door and then be treated with literally the same copy-paste cutscene at the very end with each champion? Yeah naw), sky islands hardly anything worth noting although they are pretty asf to look at, I was expecting a totally NEW revamped endgame super Saiyan master sword golden tier 4 legendary new hilt new everything but naw same design with a booboo scar and hilariously less powerful... hoverbike autobuild pales in comparison to THE Master Cycle
As a game, sure, it's leagues above BotW but BotW will never be topped as a one-in-a-lifetime *experience*
TotK was an overblown $70 DLC and I'm tired of pretending it's not. Mid.
*also that little jab you gave to Kingdom Hearts didn't help either--that franchise's combat alone can kick any other's 🍑 in a split second............Well....... maybe not Monster Hunter's--but you the gist!*
Not trying to be rude or anything but I think you're missing the point. If you're paying attention and you watch the whole video you can see that the whole idea being pushed is that opinions are subjective, and that spending so much mental energy to hate a game when you could be using that energy to enjoy and lift up other games is ultimately going to sour your ability enjoy other games at all. The same with getting riled up and angry with people over a simple difference of opinion when it comes to game. You're allowed to disagree and still both be a big fan. It's the whole optimism over pessimism thing. I'm showing that just because I or anyone else has a certain opinion about a game, it doesn't make them correct, or give them the right to put anyone else down for a difference in that opinion. If you put more of your time and energy into loving the games that you love, rather than hating the games you hate; then you find that you just have a more positive outlook on games as a whole. And you can enjoy video games as a fun hobby again, rather than something you have to fight people over and be angry about.
So again, it's not to show that these opinions I have on TOTK or SS are objectively true; it's just showing that people can like things others don't and vice versa, without souring everything in the process. Opinions are subjective and that's okay.
Also Kingdom Hearts is my favorite video game series of all time. I've played every game multiple times and I love them all dearly, but even I can admit that the dialogue is pretty rough lol
Hope this helps 👍
@@Brian.Henken Ok but we waited 6 years for mediocrity. Just saying.
@@Giggles_iJest not really the point I'm trying to make but sure 🤷♂️
Skill issue