How Game Reviews Affect Your Perception

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Video game reviews and opinions are practically inescapable these days and frankly, they have become a massive part of the overall experience, to me. But what exactly does that do to our perception of games and is it a bad thing? Let's take a look at some psych studies on the topic and discuss how reviews really affect your time gaming.
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Gotta Love Opera GX (0:00)
Bloomers and Masterpieces (1:39)
Part 1 - The Divide (4:32)
Part 2 - Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (7:53)
Part 3 - A Counterarguement (13:03)
It's up to you, baby (17:23)
Hey... backlog video next month. (19:03)
▶Games Shown
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)
God of War (2018)
Outer Wilds (2019)
Xenoblade Chronicles (2010)
Octopath Traveler (2018)
Mario Golf: Super Rush (2021)
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023)
Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (2019)
Elden Ring (2022)
NieR:Automata (2017)
BioShock (2007)
Gravity Rush (2012)
Portal 2 (2011)
ANNO: Mutationem (2022)
Pokémon Scarlet (2022)
Honkai: Star Rail (2023)
Starfield (2023)
Rain World (2017)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (2019)
Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023)
Tunic (2022)
Persona 5: Royal (2019)
Mass Effect (2007)
Neon White (2022)
CrossCode (2018)
Haven (2021)
The Last of Us (2013)
The Last of Us Part II (2020)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020)
Jack Move (2022)
Hogwarts Legacy (2023)
Journey (2012)
Inscryption (2021)
Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
Sonic Adventure (1998)
Kirby Air Ride (2003)
Soma (2015)
Death's Door (2021)
Super Mario Wonder (2023)
Sea of Stars (2023)
Persona 3: Reload (2024)
Pokemon Legends: Arceus (2022)
The Witcher 3 (2017)
Ghost of Tsushima (2020)
Final Fantasy XIII (2009)
▶Movies/TV/Anime Shown
Wonder (2017)
Peacemaker (2022)
Predator (1987)
Gifted (2017)
Matilda (1996)
My Spy (2020)
Whiplash (2014)
▶Media/Clips/Considerations:
• Reviews Psych
▶Music Sources (in Order):
Boutique - Pokémon X & Y OST
Dawn - Super Mario Galaxy Music OST
The Valley - Red Alert Retaliation OST
Colony 9 - Xenoblade Chronicles OST
Professor Frankly - Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door OST
Pyrite Building - Pokemon Colosseum OST
Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven
Hopeless Misfortune - Wachenroder OST
Reasoning - Persona 4 OST
Zinnia Battle Music - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire OST
Harmony Square Station - Astral Chain OST
Single Player Menu Medley - Mario Kart 7 OST
Fire Temple (Phase 4) - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom OST
Fountain of Dreams - Super Smash Bros. Melee OST
Mirage - Gran Turismo 5 OST
Sidon's Theme Remix - Mewmore
( • Mewmore // Sidon's The... )
▶Research Sources
docs.google.com/document/d/10...

[@DarylTalksGames]

Get a browser that’s literally better at everything: operagx.gg/DarylTalksGames5 Oh and hey, thanks for watching

[@annocraft]

It's Chinese Spyware, don't use it!

[@mimszanadunstedt441]

Echopraxia.

[@CassidyBooks]

I tried Opera GX, it didn't work for me: so I went back to Firefox

[@Amins88]

I read this as "Get a Bowser that's literally better at everything". So, like Giga Bowser?.

[@jm56585]

Great videos as always, but: - Web Environment Integrity is a big issue and you should switch away from chromium browsers (opera, vivaldi, chrome, edge, etc) to stop it destroying the open web - Manifest v3 will also be deployed on chromium browsers and break a lot of privacy/security extensions - Opera is kinda spyware like currently, since it was bought by a Chinese company. Vivaldi is still developed by the original devs of Opera, so they're probably better It scares me to see so many of my favorite content creators sponsored by Opera.

[@Superninfreak]

I think one big reason why user reviews are more polarized than professional reviews is because if you just think a game is okay or pretty good, you aren’t going to bother writing a review. A normal person is only going to consider writing a review if they think the game is fantastic or if they are angry because they think it’s awful or disappointing. But if you’re a professional critic and you are assigned to review a game that you think is kinda mid, you will still write that review.

[@simplysmiley4670]

Pretty much. Yes. Your average regular Joe Shmoe won't care enough to write down a review without the game having a very positive or very negative effect on them. Including external factors like wether the game was thrown out by Bethesda with so many microtransactions that you could buy several decent or even amazing games for price of a singular skin, or wether the game was made by a passionate smaller studio they wanna support.

[@NihongoWakannai]

Yes exactly, regular people are not reviewers who go into every game with the intention of writing about it

[@ThePC007]

Maybe, but if that was the case, wouldn’t _all_ games amass more negative reviews than positive ones? I think the actual reason is that professional game reviewers’ values simply don’t align with those who play games for fun.

[@MrWhygodwhy]

​@@ThePC007They amass more negative reviews on average compared to critics, yes.

[@maromania7]

@@ThePC007 Do you actually think that every single game has more people hate it than love it after playing? Remember, this is among people who were interested enough to find, buy, and play the game. Most people have to feel a STRONG emotion, one way or another, to spend time writing a review. A review is an opinion. If you don't have a strong opinion to share, there's no review to write. Hell, that's even by design in some cases, like steam only giving you "recommend" and "don't recommend." But even there, reviewer accounts get an exclusive neutral option, because they have to write the review no matter what.

[@MaxIronsThird]

I'm immune to other people's opinion, I'm autistic.

[@Cool-Vest_Leo]

And I have made it my life's mission to be the devil's advocate whenever possible to double-check whether the public perception of something is legitimate or a witch-hunt. But unfortunately, I am not quite immune.

[@thechaoticvideogamer]

Same, but for me; review scores can have the opposite effect, I sometimes feel that games are either over hyped and overrated or underrated and under hyped. And I buy a game that I call an over hyped title; I feel like I have a 50-50 chance of buyer's remorse. Hades, Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Spiderman. These are games I genuinely wouldn't buy.

[@Cool-Vest_Leo]

@@thechaoticvideogamer Interesting. While I want to ask you to play those games (okay Mario Odyssey is probably only an 8.5/10 and I haven't played a Spiderman game) because they are good, there is another part of me that wants to agree with you. Why go on the same adventure as someone else when you could go on your very own. It'll make you more of yourself. Though sometimes it is worth considering what is worth the hype. Breath of the Wild is absolutely worth it, almost unconditionally. Hades and Mario are just "good" at face value, but increase in value another threefold once you truly understand them. I don't even know what the point of this comment is. It has no focus. Just a jumble of half-formed opinions.

[@dunar1005]

I don’t believe you, i bet you are lying

[@Harold_Wilson]

Lucky buggar. I'm the same, and I'm not immune. I'm more susceptible.

[@DED_C]

To back up this point, I am a teacher, and YES, similarly to games, students can also be viewed/judged entirely on emotional response. If someone tells me a game is good, I may inherently have higher expectations of the game. Same goes for if a kid's teacher from last year says "You're lucky to have them in class." And of course same goes for the "bad" kids/games. I've seen so many friends skip solid games because they only casually glanced reviews and I've had co-workers say a student in their class isn't "cut out for it" based on a handful of misbehaviors or preconceptions. 100% agree with this connection

[@ItHamBoi]

yo i found my latin teacher no way

[@NihongoWakannai]

Some teachers really take their bias to the extreme too. This is why I completely lost faith in the education institution and only felt confident in subjects like math where teacher bias can't change my grade.

[@alex.g7317]

@@ItHamBoiyou ain’t cut out to have a Latin teacher

[@ItHamBoi]

@@alex.g7317 what

[@alex.g7317]

@@ItHamBoi it’s in reference to the parent-comment

[@capsey_]

The study that said that reviews didn't change physical response of the player, but their memories of the game blew my mind. That means that looking up review AFTER you played can influence your experience too, just retroactively 🤯

[@skachor]

Like gaslighting?

[@ZelphTheWebmancer]

@@skachor Or changing one's perspective

[@patrickj]

Very true, I became quite a bit more critical about Tears Of The Kingdom, after I finished the game, read and watched others' opinions and saw it referenced in discussions about other titles. From what I can gather, it's mainly things that you can objectively agree with (or rather cannot objectively disagree with), which did not at all bother you while playing. Or totally bothered you in particular, this works in both ways. In a way, it's the transformation from your probably pretty subjective personal experience to a more objective view, incorporating others' viewpoints into your judgement. Unless everyone else is a moron that didn't see the utter brilliance the game unfolded before your eyes. (Your) empathy and (others') authority probably play quite a role here.

[@capsey_]

@@patrickj the question is, does having objective opinion matter if it diminishes your memories of great subjective experience? I think it depends on the game. I had some games from my childhood that I wish I never revisited to realize they were trash all along

[@V1Salvo]

@@capsey_haha, yeah. I revisited Epic Mickey, a game I used to play as a child. I was expecting the dark, atmospheric platformer I olayed as a kid. But tbh, it isn’t that good. But when I think about Epic Mickey and Epic Mickey 2, I get so much nostalgia.

[@DaxVT]

2:42 As a teacher, I noticed "The Pygmalion effect" when you started talking about the test. It basically states "Good expectations from a teacher turn into good results from a student". Thats why I try to celebrate each achievement by everybody and tell them they can do it, I always remember them of the last challenge they had and how the were capable of solving it. I know thats the general idea of the video. TRIVIA: The Pygmalion effect effect is named after the character Pygmalion in Greek mythology, who fell in love with a statue he had created and, as a result of his high expectations and love, the statue was transformed into a real woman.

[@CatFish107]

I would imagine people tend to perform to the expectation of leadership. Treat people like you expect them to perform poorly, and many will. Treat them like it's totally normal and within their capability to perform well, and you will see more effort and higher performance.

[@Amins88]

When I left High School and was deciding what I wanted to do, I at first wanted to go into education, specifically for elementary school. I had a lot of fun teaching German to fifth graders as part of an assignment, and the kids had fun learning. But there was always this thought in the back of my mind. How would I respond to students who struggle more with learning? What would I do with students who just refuse to learn? Can I trust in myself enough to give them the help and attention they need? I ended up dropping out for other reasons, but I still wonder what life would have been like if I went through with it.

[@murray821]

This is why large classes are bad, kids need more guidance and motivation or encouragement.

[@GerultZRivivy]

Interesting!

[@DaxVT]

@@murray821 I have the opposite case in my hands. I am in a rural school that has only 14 kids, so i teach to all grades at the same time. All grades have problems to read. It can be hard sometimes.

[@reqausxobi]

If anything, this video really makes me want to have more demos, especially the ones that save your progress to continue when you buy the game.

[@dootdoot3065]

Yup, demos can really feel like life-savers (or, well, money savers). On one hand, it's super frustrating when the demo is way better than the rest of the game (looking at you, visual novels), but I still think it's better than relying solely on trailers and reviews. For me the best way to go about it is playing a demo and then, if I enjoyed it, reading a few reviews.

[@reqausxobi]

@@dootdoot3065 yeah, and the demo let's you deal with the annoying tutorial period so you can get straight to the action when you buy it.

[@naethavenir9422]

It also helps if you’re unsure if the game will even run at all, of course, it’s not a problem if you’re someone who already has a mid to high end PC it’s no issue, but you could never be too sure. Plus it helps if you need to gauge how much enjoyment you’ll have from the gameplay

[@Descriptor413]

I find that Lets Plays are good for this. If I am watching one and want to play the game based on that, it's usually a good sign.

[@Silvermud21]

Sometimes, I find that even when I disagree with a review, I have a hard time preventing it from affecting my opinions. I can play a great game and then read a negative comment, and it feels like I lose a little bit of the magic I had, so then I overly justify why the review is wrong back to myself, even though it often places that seed of “they’re kinda right though” in my head

[@themindfulmoron3790]

I still don't know how to break this.

[@montyeyesclosed]

you’re so right. experiencing this with spider-man 2 currently :,)

[@justarandomtomato_]

Yeah. I just can not break away from it. I might just start to see scores bluntly and align it with the game's description. The review I will leave to myself.

[@theoaremevano3227]

@@themindfulmoron3790 : I think shaking that off involves shaking the misguided idea many people present, that two differing opinions are completely incompatible with each other. One person can think a game's writing is clunky and ineffective. Another person can play the same game and find the writing to be quite elegant and cohesive. If both people blame each other, they may completely ignore the obvious, and much more likely reality that the game had multiple writers, had flaws in it translation, or that the writer was just a lot better at writing some kinds of dialogue than others. Evidence exists simultaneously for both points of view. They don't cancel each other out. The idea that one can supersede the other is something dreamed up by people, and because they spread that idea, other people feel like they need to justify their opinions too. Frankly, if someone hates my favorite game, I don't need that justified to me. As a fan, I'm well aware of all the cracks in its armor, and how they'd annoy some people. What I find silly is people thinking I don't already know that. XD

[@skylerfreeman1173]

I love league of legends and fortnite which are hated by loads of people for tons of reasons but it doesn't affect me cause when I boot them up, I have fun and time flies by ❤. As long as I'm enjoying it, nothing else matters!

[@felineentity]

This is something I've been thinking about recently as well. I think I wouldn't have enjoyed Starfield as much if I watched reviews beforehand. Also now KZbin is massively annoying with the overly dramatic videos about it.

[@Untrustedlife]

I feel exactly the same about this. The negativity really bugs me.

[@bigstupidgrin]

Me too

[@sierranicholes6712]

i think the whole "how much you identify with the review author" really resonates with me because there have been games where i read mixed reviews and remain on the fence about whether i want to play it, then a friend of mine says they love it, and i immediately just go buy it. because i trust my friend and their taste to be more similar to mine whereas with reviews from strangers i don't have any way of gauging that.

[@BRKsEDU]

Awesome video. Made me rationally realize another privilege of getting early access to games: not having the gameplay experience influenced by external factors. Something I notice with reviews is that a lot of people will watch reviews to validate their own opinions. And those people tend to get extremely upset when others think differently than they do.

[@simplysmiley4670]

Problem with early access however, is that you gamble with your money. Personally reviews did help me avoid a bullet with most current releases, especially triple A ones.

[@hugofontes5708]

obligatory suddenly caralho! also, a second way of getting that is mostly ignoring stuff for years on end until you can run/afford it. it does come at the cost of not riding community hypes and occasional events, though - I missed everything on Tunic like that

[@alexterieur8813]

There is a very strange negative feeling that happens when you see someone bashing something you really enjoy or found valuable. The critiques feel like they are by proxy critiquing you because if you give value to something « unvaluable », it speaks to your taste and your understanding of things. It becomes a critique of your subjective experience and intellect, which feels very invalidating. All that to say that FF 13 was a great game and f**k what you think !!!!!!

[@84bombsjetpack23]

I'm pretty sure early access games have reviews available on Steam just like any formal release games.

[@DADA-yt1pt]

I've fallen in a similar trap. Of wanting my opinions to feel validated. Though, I'm trying not to let it affect me anymore. But at the same time, it's important to remember despite everything, I feel like you don't have to validate yourself for liking something unless if it's legitimately harmful or disgusting. We all like games for reasons that make sense to us. It's good to be critical when you need to, but not to a point where you look down on others for enjoying something you don't find value in. Even if they themselves are critical of what they consume as well.

[@Ironpecker]

15:24 I think that this is the reason why a lot of retrospectives/videogame essays are so successful, it's like a combination of a trip down memory lane (highlighting the cool stuff)+ I also get to feel good knowing, more people than I initially thought ,love a series/game. Ofc I'm the biggest victim of this

[@conejonegro957]

Also some games are review in context of the date, things like FF 13 where criticized cuz it wasn’t open world until the last part of the game because it was release on the era where GTA came out, same with a bunch of other games at that time, we are having really good games now being review not particularly well because the writing isn’t as good as the last of us… anyways IGN can suck a fat D for giving Lollypip chainsaw a 4 🤡

[@emmavoid]

A thing I would point out- near the end you mentioned that someone could not like a game but still think it's a masterpiece, and then added (somehow) after; but like, this is very much a thing? It's very possible to not personally enjoy something but to still recognize the artistry of it, to see how impressive it is and recognize what others enjoy in it!

[@99brickstudios]

Fear and hunger, Patholigic or the like. Something deeply profound where the message is conveyed through mentally hard to power through gameplay. Or just an amazing game in a genre you don’t like or are not cut out for.

[@Flakman500]

This video reminded me of why it took years for me to be able to play certain games. I find it easier with certain titles(example: Undertale) to wait until the hype and hate have simmered down. To where I am not having every friend tell me their take on it. Just letting all the voices pass by until they faint memories in a rear view mirror. Then I get to go into the game late but no expectations because everyone who cares about it is on something else same with those who don't like it. It let's the game speak to me not the outside influence of other peoples emotions.

[@Joshcoshbagosh]

I will say, the release of Starfield has made me come to a lot of these realizations myself. How much I let online discourse affect my opinion and attitude towards things. I would be having a great time with the game, but then start seeing all of the more harsh reviews on youtube or reddit or something, and that would get me down on it and wonder if it is even worth playing anymore. Then after some time I would load it up again and remember how much I was truly enjoying it once I immersed myself again.

[@dawnaeaclaudiuscaesaraugus714]

I actually write video game reviews professionally, and its totally changed my perspective on games! I had always tried to ignore the buzz prior, to varying degrees of success, but now I'm ahead of that buzz - and actively contributing to it - things have changed quite a bit. I am extremely anxious about how my writing will line up when compared to everyone else's sometimes when I'm playing something that is going to get a lot more attention, but at the same time it's wonderfully liberating to be able to form my own opinion unfettered by other reviews, because a lot of the time I honestly have no way of knowing what's going to come out of it. I mean, you can make an educated guess, and no doubt that shapes expectations going in, but it's a pretty cool journey of discovery when I know nothing about a game asides from what developers have shared and I have to find out for myself what it's all about. But at the same time, I have to take into consideration things I otherwise don't much care about to write an informative piece, so it's...not really my opinion, haha. Or I suppose it is, but there's a need to filter out a lot of personal bias for the sake of constructive criticism and this idea of "objectivity" which is what people tend to believe sets professional reviews apart from user ones. Honestly I think user reviews are more valuable sometimes because they come from people who have time to sit down, play a game, and digest it properly, and give an accurate summation of the whole of it. I might get a code a week before launch day and trust me when I say that is not enough time for a lot of games to REALLY dive into it, especially for something like a JRPG. I have a day job too that's not writing reviews. A lot of professional reviews are surface-level out of necessity and that's just not enough sometimes in my opinion. But this was a really interesting video and a great watch! It's made me reflect on how things have changed for me, and just how much reviews affect my personal purchases and choices, even if I don't mean for them to! Nobody really lives in isolation after all, and whilst I like to think myself fairly independently minded, I'm only human, haha.

[@boohoo5419]

if you have nothing to say then why write at all? if your only concern is how your view is lining up with the rest. thats exactly the problem with journalist. GET A SPINE and some character! thats why nobody cares about journalists views anymore. only other journalists. its a echochamber.

[@dawnaeaclaudiuscaesaraugus714]

@@boohoo5419 Wow, you didn't read what I wrote at all, did you? My concern is in delivering an informative piece not weighed down entirely by personal bias so that people can make a more informed decision, there is supposed to be a difference between writing a user review and writing one professionally. Just because I get anxious about being an outlier *sometimes* doesn't mean I will force positivity or negativity where I don't believe it to be warranted, regardless of what others say. I never have. Maybe you should grow up a little if you think having anxiety sometimes about potentially being targeted by a rabid hate mob for expressing your opinion is somehow lacking a spine/character.

[@Evanz111]

What’s the most challenging review you had to write for a game, taking all this into consideration?

[@BOULDERPUNCHER9000]

​@@dawnaeaclaudiuscaesaraugus714dawnaeaclaudiuscaesaraugustus

[@themindfulmoron3790]

​@@boohoo5419 Wow. I didn't know it was possible to misconstrue a comment THIS badly. Stretched so hard you're doing tai chi.

[@lumo_]

I love how down to earth your argumentation is. you always seem to find the words to pinpoint and validate the exact things i'm thinking and feeling.

[@MagosJCDentonus451]

Sounds like this video was a review for you

[@Modenut]

Another interesting (and adjacent) topic is that of spoilers. Several studies have indicated that spoilers often *increase* the enjoyment of a story. It's almost like a relief because you can suddenly relax and see and appreciate the small nuances that would have gone over your head otherwise. And I kinda agree - I really don't mind spoilers and no story has been ruined for me thus far. I do realize people are different, though, so I take care not to ruin it for others. 😄

[@xBINARYGODx]

those studies have issues, and its not enough overall to say what your saying they say. I can think of many times being spoiled "ruined" something for me, so even if those studies where less crap, I dont see what that means for me, personally.

[@chknrsandTBBTROX73]

In life, managing expectations is one of the most useful skills to have

[@pokemonsliver]

I find that experiencing a game free from expectations or at least as few as possible can be fascinating. Your first playthrough stands out as a true one of a kind experience because you don't know what will happen. Related to this channel, I checked out the game Omori because I saw that Daryl was going to make a video on it. What few reviews of the game I saw insisted I go in blind so that's what I did. I had no idea what to expect. Every development sent my brain racing with a million question and possible answers. I was captivated because I wanted the answer to the question: what would happen next? I would definitely say that if you already know you're going to buy a game, then go in blind. It will make everything more unique.

[@ulysseh4598]

I fully agree!

[@latima123ify]

Love that game.

[@murray821]

Going in blind is the best way to play. Too bad that every time im interested in a new game, my feed gets flooded.

[@clementineshamaney5137]

I think this is also a key component of nostalgia. As a kid, you arent reading reviews or taking part in discourse. You just stumble on games older relatives had or got something that looked cool at a store.

[@AngRyGohan]

That approach only works if the game is actually "good". Trailers or the first two hours of the game ( refund window ) might not be representative of the whole game and if the first two hour is something you did not like then you might actually miss out on a game that would actually really capture you an hour later. i'm not gonna tough it out for dozens of hours to possibly waste those hours/money on a game i already dont like.

[@gosha305]

The one true way to consume game reviews is to not play the games they talk about at all.

[@gJonii]

That's my style. Games like Starfield or FF XVI, that I'm not interested in enough to buy them, I'll just enjoy the reviews and analyzes. If there's a game I'm actually interested in, I'd at most read a few sentences, preferably the title of the review, saying "you should/should not play this game". And that's only if I really need external reviews to make my decision after hearing the tagline/category list of the game.

[@TheR6R6R]

@@gJonii Some reviewers even go out of their way to make their reviews a great source of entertainment by themselves. The chances of me playing a game reviewed by Sseth are extremely low but I keep returning to his videos.

[@gJonii]

@@TheR6R6R I actually feel bad because Sseth specifically reviews games I'd want to experience myself, so I can't watch his reviews that much. His content is awesome, but plenty of amazing games ruined for me

[@jacobmonks3722]

I love watching in-depth discussions like those from KingK because they are very good at finding things that I never did or approaching something from a different angle that let's them appreciate it in a different way. It does nothing but increase my fondness of the experience I had and encourages me to play it again to see what else I might have missed.

[@madspunky]

Exactly!

[@toooydoeur]

nah kingk sucks

[@danielmontero9953]

KingK is great!

[@DADA-yt1pt]

Yeah. His Kingdom Hearts videos are some of my favorites from him.

[@Sampai420]

Kingk is great, but I feel like his essays have declined in quality since 2020. Check out Tim Rogers, Noah Gervais, or Grimbeard. They don't fuck around.

[@pneumaticFrequency]

My approach is to avoid hype, spoilers and reviews and put things that look good on the wishlist. At some point, I decide is it worth buying based on a few reviews and still try not to spoil much, going in blind is great

[@jerg4n159]

I've reached a point where I've played so many games that my scores are more influenced by my past experiences than anything. I naturally end up comparing the games I play and score them based on which did something better, which immersed me more or which game did I have more fun with, and why that is. I think reviews do somewhat affect the expectations of how I feel going into a new game, but I feel like I have gathered enough experience with games to properly get my own opinion on them.

[@Agon1stt]

exactly this

[@OtepRalloma]

The part about checking out game reviews AFTER I'm done is so true. I like seeing what other people thought of the game. After I beat Signalis earlier this year, I went on a hunt for reviews and playthroughs precisely for that

[@dinogolfer]

I'm glad you used Pokémon clips multiple times here. I think that's a crazy good example for myself personally, and probably a lot of people. It took me a long time to realize how much looking at reviews before I played them negatively impacted my experience overall. Probably didn't help that these "reviews" were usually more so discourse on social media/etc (which is sometimes hard to avoid). The recent games and DLC I played without looking at anything beforehand, and I found it a lot easier to enjoy myself playing the game. I was still able to notice the issues, but they didn't impact my overall experience or make me upset anymore.

[@maynardburger]

Great video. The hard part is that most people are REALLY BAD at recognizing their biases or when they're letting themselves be influenced. Even when presented with ideas on how to do such things(like with this video), people usually just assume they're already good at doing it and so dont really dig deep into that pool of self-awareness that we all hate venturing into in order to actually assess whether we could be better about it or not. Nobody actually thinks they are unreasonable. Which is a self-fulfilling prophecy of its own, as the less reasonable you are, the more likely you will not find a path to be more reasonable. Difficult.

[@mikesproductionsgamedev]

This is such a good explanation for a weird phenomenon I experienced the other day. I was watching a somewhat obscure anime called Eden on Netflix, and I didn’t hear much about what the anime community thought of it before watching. I realized as I updated my anime list each time I watched an episode, I actively avoided clicking to view the page for the series because I would’ve seen the score people gave it. For some reason, I felt like if I saw the score, I would wind up changing my opinion on the show retroactively in order to agree with the score. When it came time for me to score it on my anime list, I did view the page for it and saw the score other people gave it. They gave it a six point something, which is usually indicative of being a pretty bad anime since almost every anime gets a score over a seven even if it’s average. I wound up thinking about it as a below average and then gave it a score (4/10) lower than the average score that I give (6/10) than I usually give, because I had been given the impression that the anime deserved to be scored lower than my usual score. I think I agree with Daryl that it’s important to understand the psychology of reviews so that we know why we react the way do.

[@ChibiMalzahar]

This actually reminds me a lot of sports. Basketball specifically is so commercialized and the media is so involved. So if a number 1 draft pick turns out to be a fringe all star instead of the generational best player since lebron james, they might get traded or labeled a bust. But if a top 10 draft pick turns out to be a solid starter player, theyll be loved by fans

[@momob4276]

Love this video. This is why I am annoyed by the trend of youtubers monetizing videos that are "Why X game is actually bad." I feel like so many perfectly average to good games, get dragged before given a proper chance because people are chopping at the bit to give their hot take and drag it through the mud to get those delicious hate watchers. I've actually started going out of my way to avoid most negative reviews of any game on KZbin because I question the motivation of the person making those negative reviews. It's ok for a game to just, ok or good. Not every game needs to be Elden Ring.

[@itisWhatitis12345]

"Never let the internet ruin your love for something." I once read this somewhere and has stuck with me. So glad i found your channel. I really feel like I'm the only person who actually likes Starfield but the discussion around it is so stupid right now. There is no nuance.

[@S_raB]

That's just algorithms pushing you towards negativity once you view a negative piece of content, tweet, post that has a lot of likes & views. Starfield is mid (like 60-65) across all review congregation platforms, which doesn't mean it's a bad game at all. Plenty of defenders of you search here on KZbin for positive Starfield reviews. Regardless, Bethesda is out dated on a lot of what they use in this game. Mocap is like 3 generations old looking. Guns are almost entirely terribly designed & would not function at all in real world. Traversal is a mess. No map for the main city is downright terrible. If you enjoy it, it's just like other Bethesda games, or any other games, is in spite of or even because of the flaws which provide distinct personality...just like any work of art. Point is: people should interact with others that disagree - it's the best way to grow, but needs to be done without defensiveness, personal attacks, or the vitriol so often spewed online because someone has a differing opinion.

[@zaratio509]

One of the reasons why I love this guy's videos is because they genuinely feel like a conversation. People in the comments bring up points themselves, and the ones that are particularly interesting or have a lot to do with the video get responded to by the creator.

[@TheBeerBaron]

Anecdotally this is absolutely true. I like to think I'm pretty self aware and I can tell when I'm nitpicking a game because it got low review scores, and when I'm forgiving flaws because it had a high review score. This is why I try to avoid reviews for games I'm already interested in because I'm far too aware of my ability to be swayed by the anchoring effect. I also noticed the extreme opposite effect, when a game has absurdly high praise like the original Resident Evil 4, to the point of exhaustion I almost find myself nitpicking the small things saying "how are people calling this the best game ever when THIS is here" and similarly I find myself trying to overlook the flaws of a game that is universally panned. I actually quite liked the new Saints Row because I think I wanted to find a diamond in the rough.

[@ThePurpleCheeseMan]

It's so rare that I check reviews any more. The only ones I really engage with are KZbinrs that I like for their personality/taste, like SomeCallMeJohnny or Arlo. I can usually just read from the vibe of a trailer or gameplay video if something looks like I'd enjoy it, or if it's from a developer I trust.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Nitro Rad, Petronious and I don't have a Nose Reviews have nice styles and personalities to their videos as well. Their tastes are mainly in the world of 3D platformers, with IDHAN Reviews focusing mainly on licensed titles. If you decide to check them out, i hope they'll be fun for you.

[@ThePurpleCheeseMan]

@@jurtheorc8117 Yeah, I've seen some Nitro Rad videos! His stuff is good

[@Fast_and_Ferbious]

To be honest, my best game experiences end up being the ones where I don’t see any reviews beforehand, good or bad. I did this with Inscription and RE4 Remake and now they’re two of my all time favorite games

[@OldyAlbert]

i don't think i ever read professional reviews, but i do sometimes look at the scores. Since i mostly play niche indie games i like to read steam reviews, and specifically read them not just look at the %. People on steam usually don't give a full comprehensive review but point out most important things they like/dislike, wich is crusial i think - sometimes i read a negative review that makes me want to play the game and sometimes read a positive one that completely turns me aways from it. But i think indie games and AAA are completely different thing on topic of the reviews, with small games reviews are more about recommendation, on bigger games reviews more of evaluation.

[@briancaster2876]

I've found that the most useful reviews, for anything, are the 2 star reviews. They tend to be more balanced in their approach and more honestly evaluate the things they like and didn't like. Which I find is a brilliant stepping off point for me.

[@simplysmiley4670]

When it comes to "professional vs amateur" that I personally noticed is that quite a lot of those "professional" ones focus more on graphical fidelity and story of a game, more then the gameplay of the game itself and wether it works well for what the game is trying to be, while amateurs can wildly differ but from what I seen often focus more on the "fun" of the game, wether the gameplay was good for the type of the game. No matter the medium, blog posts, videos, dedicated review sites or even just talking with someone directly that is on the "pro" side of reviews, first thing that's talked about is, more often then not, the graphics of the game. Even in the reviews I prefer to look over, the in-depth ones, the first thing that gets brought up is almost always graphics which, honestly to me are the least important in a game.

[@hrarcher4151]

Every single video of yours is an absolute masterpiece. The finishing sentences on them alone are amazing and give lots to think about afterwards.

[@Game_Hero]

17:29 Surprisingly in touch with the video's subject, I felt validated seeing that point and feeling...normal, when you see people everywhere ridiculing people thinking about ending social media like Facebook/Twitter/other similar sites/apps, not joining them or getting off of it as a "waste of time" or "impossible" or "non-desirable", I felt like something was wrong with me. Now I feel less alone. Does anyone else felt something similar before?

[@Game_Hero]

​@@sleepywolf3517 In the press, on TV shows, on the radio. Not online.

[@shadowmaksim]

Some of my favorite games are also the ones that haven't reviewed too well. Low 7's at the highest to even 5's at the lowest, if not even less somehow. And let me tell you, most discussions regarding those games tend to be rather miserable as a result. People who liked the games end up too busy complaining about the reviews, the people who have only seen the reviews go in guns blazing about how bad they apparently are, and then those two groups get stuck fighting each other...among other things as well. This does not create a healthy community and it does end up impacting your experience with the games itself cause, even if only subconsciously, they are stuck in the back of your mind, souring your mood even if only slightly. I don't take much stock in reviews anymore and just generally try to stay away from them the best I can. I know what I like tends to not be popular, I just want to enjoy them in peace.

[@MrAGame]

Another banger vid man! It’s crazy how much people are unknowingly effected by the noise on the internet, whether it be reviews, social media discussion or even youtube comments or live chat!

[@DarylTalksGames]

Thanks so much man!

[@tomotion7293]

It's really nice to see that two of my favorite content creators watch each other's content. :D

[@JapanNights]

Thank you for this video. I played Baldur's Gate 3 and thought it was so boring, and the last act so bad, I had no clue how it was getting 10's, but still thought it must be a masterpiece because online reviews. After watching this, I did a bit more research and found out most reviewers either A) never even finished act 2 before writing their review or B) had some deep love for D&D or CRPGs going into it, heavily biasing their opinion. And there was also an extremely well coordinated / complex social media campaign pushing the narrative that "Baldur's Gate 3 is too good, other devs mad! its doing things never done previously!" before the game was even released that really changed my attitude going into it thinking it was some revolutionary thing, when after actually playing it, it does literally nothing new and there is zero pay off for the perceived depth of characer choice during act 1 once you get to act 3 and everything falls apart. Your early choices essentially amount to nothing, and 2 times characters I killed off randomly appeared in late game cutscenes that they shouldn't have been in. The Mass Effect trilogy did what the internet told me this game was going to do much better over a decade ago, the only difference was Baldur's Gate 3 had a starved D&D/CRPG fanbase who had been so desperate for anything while simultaneously being psyopted by one of the most intelligent marketing campaigns ever into believing BG3 was the best RPG ever before it was even out or finished by a single person.

[@PedroGomes-cx7ku]

I played about 60 hours of BG3 before dropping it - not because it wasn't good or I didn't enjoy the combat, but it didn't feel like it was the revolutionary game I was told to expect and that everyone was saying was the best RPG there ever was. To me, Baldur's Gate 3 was just okay. It felt... safe and familiar and a little bit generic. I had already seen that kind of reactivity in Dragon Age: Origins (a much better game than BG3) and Mass Effect, I had already seen cinematic storytelling in (again) Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition and The Witcher 2 and 3, and I had already seen good, modern turn-based combat in Wasteland 3. Plus the story was as generic as they come, and it didn't hook me at any point. I do think BG3's combat, character creation and class system are much better than the combat in DOS1 and DOS2, though. I also like BG3's world and races a lot more than Divinity's. That said, most of these things come from the Baldur's Gate IP and D&D setting and not directly from Larian.

[@painuchiha2694]

I was thinking recently how people being overly critical of game ruins the magic of this hobby and it seems I was right Seeing too many reviews can probably impact our opinions negatively and it’s best to stay away from online discourse for the most part and just play games

[@olafthebear2327]

One important thing about the point on how "amateur" reviews are more varied: The scale is also different for the 2 groups. Us regular gamers will use the entire scale of 1-10 or 0-100 stars etc. but the "experts" only use the top 40%. That is to say, the lowest most journos will ever rate a game is a 6 out of 10. If people want to be honest about these numbers, you have to adjust the scale for the "experts"

[@xBINARYGODx]

I dont think I agree with that, as far as I have seen it - everyone treats 1-10/1-20 or 1-100 scores like grade-school grades so anything under 8 or 80 as "bad".

[@tituslupus5454]

I really appreciate this. I've had such a difficult time judging game quality from reviews at all since there's always counterarguments, critiques that do not make sense without context, and sometimes just really opinionated claims that don't judge what a game actually does. Reviews will always have some level of subjectivity to them. While I can intellectually acknowledge that what merits or detriments someone may see in a game may mean nothing to me and be a waste of my money and vice versa, there's always something emotionally that's unsatisfying when there's discord. Oddly enough, I usually end up incredibly questioning when I see other reviews. When people rate games poorly before I play them, I often go, "It can't be that bad, come on." Positive reviews often leave me wary and questioning, "Really? There's got to be more problems somewhere." Guess this puts me into the reactionary counterculture category then. Ultimately, it's a big reason why I've mostly stopped bothering with reviews. Either I'll hate it, love it, or forget it, and move on. While it's a great ideal to try and take in more views to get a bigger perspective, a hobby to have fun shouldn't involve more work than engaging with the game itself and I've found myself happier to just not bother with reviews and mostly just look at what I like, take a gander at gameplay if I'm curious, or just skip it, positive and negative reviews be damned.

[@Untrustedlife]

I think this really brings into perspective the starfield situation.

[@maynardburger]

There's something this video doesn't really cover - and that's that impressions and expectations of games start to form WELL before reviews ever come out. In fact, I actually think that hype level of a game tend to be the easiest way to predict the review scores for that game nowadays, which should NOT be the case. So to really discuss the whole 'preconceived notion' aspect of how we experience a game, we should really consider the whole timeline, and not just act like review scores are suddenly when such preconceptions form.

[@tumultuousv]

Ooooor, they shouldn't of advertised it as "next generation experience" when it most certainly isn't and just a Bethesda game... in space.

[@tumultuousv]

@maynardburger ehhhh, Elden ring was hyped to hell... and it delivered for the majority. Tears of the kingdom was hyped by the fan base (not so much Nintendo as much as it could have been) and it was everything most people wanted. Starfield hype could have been better if advertised correctly.

[@degg7129]

@@maynardburgeri mean, Elden Ring had massive hype and came out to 9s and 10s, meanwhile Cyberpunk 2077 also had crazy hype but the story went the complete opposite way

[@juice2307]

Eh, Sarfield’s problem has less to do with expectation and more to do with general gameplay direction. Gamers have been giving Bethesda the same “less fetch quests and procedural generation” criticism for a long time. It’s on Bethesda for never addressing their critics or trying to make something with more depth than a puddle.

[@andykazoo]

Everyone should play TUNIC

[@chuckydee2951]

I should get back to it but I remember I'm stuck x.x

[@TreFoxR3]

Agreed.

[@Halcyon1997]

​@@chuckydee2951same. The game is very charming and the soundtrack is absolutely GOATED. But the isometric view mixed with the vague treasure hunter style map leads me to feel pretty lost almost all the time. It's really hard for me to anchor myself into the world and navigate where I need to.

[@tbnwontpop8857]

The final part of the game is not good lol. It turns into a grindfest for some reason.

[@kbarrettoh]

No doubt

[@questingcrusader]

every time you end the video it ends like the end of a TV show episode, perfectly in line with the music and timing. Good editing!

[@thelegendmusashi9479]

i highly recommend everyone to find some content creators who have similar tastes and more importantly similar values as you do. completly ignore mainstream review sites. for me that stuff is just entertainment to laugh at.

[@GFMarine]

I do quite enjoy looking at reviews after I beat a game I feel very particular about be it, positive or negative, and I got stunned at how loved Breath of the Wild was because I detested almost everything about it, and I'm sure if I had read all the glowing praise it got before playing it, I would've been even more disappointed after credits rolled.

[@drgonzo123]

In 2020 I jumped back into gaming from a 15 year break. In doing so, I grabbed a handful of games I was barely aware of, since I didn’t follow any news or gaming websites, going in to the games I bought as blind as possible. The games I played are still some of my favorites today, but do I feel that way because it was all novel? I’m neck deep in video game discussions these days, so I’m rarely surprised by a game anymore. Do I feel that way because the games I played in 2020 were that good, or did having no preconceived notions really help me enjoy those games to the fullest, not contaminated by reviews and trolls? (The games were Uncharted 4, RDR2, TLOU, Spider-Man, FF7 remake and Hellblade) I may never know.

[@tumultuousv]

The games you played are beloved by many avid gamers so it's probably not just novelty.

[@degg7129]

Yeah, those are very, very good games you played (the only one i cant talk from experience is Hellblade)

[@RKanth54]

it’s both tbh. they’re all exceptional games but not having any preconceived notions helped make the games feel more enjoyable for u, as looking at reviews for any of them will explain the flaws that each game does have

[@mindymac_does_stuff]

I had the same experience in 2018, for me the games are Breath of the Wild, Stardew Valley, and Horizon Zero Dawn. All which tend towards positive ratings and fandom love. Also of note is I went through some crazy life shit in 2018 so I often wonder if that plays into it as well. But no games since have matched my experience with those three titles. And I chase that dragon so hard 😂

[@summerycast7936]

I recall playing a gamecube game (Virtua Fighter) that I'm sure will score horrible under many reviews. But I was a kid at the time, with little choice in choosing my games. Just played what was given, and social media wasn't what it is today during the early 2,000s. I bad no expectations. It was just sink or swim. Honestly, that had many *many* frustrating moments. But I still powered through to eventually the credits. Even though I was using cheap hit and run tactics for the final level, it was such a long boss rush, many moments where I slipped up felt like the end of my run. And once I beat the game, the rush of accomplishment felt at that time was palpable! Nowadays I'm always checking both professional and user reviews, though not by random users but from KZbin channels that have excellent video editting and speaking. However, when I see a negative comment or counter-argument, my enjoyment of the product changes. Suddenly I become a lot more picker, or I actively search for the issue and then try to counter it if I had a different experiemce. Sometimes I would read so many reviews, I end up not even trying the game, or just playing for a few hours before dropping it. Overall, I do agree with what the video states. Community posts, reviews, user scores... All of it affects my perception of the product, and my post-commetary of it. It is quite interesting looking back to the titles I played while I was young, only to re evaluate them. This topic is honestly fascinating!

[@spaceowl5957]

This might also explain why people on Reddit and such often aggressively defend something they think is really good against the negative opinions of others, often with personal attacks and so on. Maybe they instinctively feel that the negative opinions of others will decrease their enjoyment with the thing they like so much, and so they feel the need to protect their positive experience and regard of the thing.

[@hopalongjens]

I think your backlog video is your first video I found since I looked up videos about backlogs shortly after you posted it. I was sad to realize I had a year to wait (I was hoping this was some older video before checking). I’m thrilled to finally get the results back on that.

[@JkNiikko]

This happens a lot to me with music albums If people finds an album good, sometimes I would listen to it a lot of times to get "whats good" about it

[@phorchybug3286]

I remember watching a lot of THIS THING SUCKS as a kid and slowly turned into a foul mouthed overly opinionated monster around my friends and family. Thankfully, I'm trying to snap out of that mindset now. That garbage was depressing anyway.

[@imSovi]

This is my first video of yours. I like the way you communicate observations/thoughts and the way you edit is good. Subbed!

[@nerdalysis]

Loved this so much. I think it is almost irrational of us to believe that we can come to a game without bringing in some kind of preconceived notion of whether or not the game is "good." But when we go into a game knowing that, we can help to shape our own experience and maybe analysize why we're having certain reactions to a game. Or we can just go in and accept that we are influenced. Also, that research study that found that participants experienced the game the same way, it was just how they remembered the experience that colored how they felt blew my freaking mind.

[@SwiftWaif]

Great video, it covered basically most of the reasons I have about game reviews affecting the experience of playing a game. I have since adopted a mentality of if there is a game that I am excited about, I will avoid all media about it past the reveal trailer, and then finish the game before going online to look at game reviews and opinions surrounding the game. More often than not it's easy to come across hot takes such as "game only gets good after x hours" or "it's not that great actually" and then have these opinions linger in your mind that affect your enjoyment of the game. In fact I even take this into account when discussing games with friends, especially if they have not played it as I want them to experience the games for themselves before talking about it, in case what I said actually affected their perception of the game. Another thing is that review scores have lost all meaning as journalists hands out 9s and 10s like its candy, especially games with technical issues that never get resolved.

[@simplysmiley4670]

To be honest this *is* gambling with your money when going into games blindly. especially with triple A, they are prone to drag out past the point of it being possible to refund, if it was even possible to refund the game in the first place. Cyberpunk and Starfield for example, personally, I was hyped for both, cautiously but still. I would have bought into both of them and be frankly disappointed as hell. Cyberpunk being a buggy mess when it released and had to be fixed with a DLC later on and Starfield underdelivering heavly on what I was hyped about.

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@simplysmiley4670 thats your experience, clearly, as written, thats not the experience of the OP. I have had lots of both, but hey, GP is right there, and I dont tend to buy games when they come out and cost $50 plus.

[@JReybabay]

I purposely refrained from watching reviews for tears of the kingdom and the recently released super mario wonder and im glad i did because I wanted to just experience the games for myself first

[@pampamtamtam4001]

I'm incredibly excited to see the results of the backlog video! That is my favorite video you put out.

[@markusmillius3133]

Awesome video. You make some great points😊 I always tend to avoid reviews until after I've fully played a game that I want to, but if it's a game that I'm not super interested in, I'll watch a review to see if it changes my mind.

[@bigdogty4dawin]

I can see this dude doing skits and they being bangers 😂

[@danobano704]

Man watching this video, has bee quite a wake up call. I wish I could not be biased by reviews but I ain't that good.

[@FireFox64000000]

The difference between comedy and psychology is the way you use it. Both require an inherent understanding of The human condition.

[@HibiTeamQueso]

I usually look for positive reviews, I can't remember the last time I didn't enjoy a game 😂 The games that don't get my attention I usually just skip the reviews. Looks like my plan is working great so far. Enthusiastic reviews make me enjoy my games more so that's just a plus in my books 😎

[@hindsightdocumentary8351]

I feel like I've been becoming more and more aware of this lately (especially this year with so many bangers) and you put a lot of what I've been feeling and thinking into coherent words.

[@Cklodar]

There was a game, a VN specifically, that was bashed for being shallow, banal, didn't live up to the pre-release expectation or quality set by the producer's previous work, some parts of storylines were just stupid, etc. I'd like to think I made an effort not to be swayed by these user reviews and to approach the VN on my own terms, and... I flippin' loved it when credits rolled. For a while, I passionately argued with detractors on forums in favor of the game, but even in doing so, the effect of their noises were clear: I would condition my arguments by conceding that certain non-central storylines were indeed poorly crafted, but the core story (true end) was definitely an amazing piece of multimedia storytelling. Living with the fact that your favorite game is disliked by many was certainly a demoralizing experience, but at the end of the day, I still loved the game. So much so that I led the fan translation of it into my native language, a project that took multiple years to complete, so that my countrymen who didn't know Japanese could actually play the game on their own, instead of relying on hearsay alone to judge it. And... To the surprise of nobody, a majority of people still seemed to dislike it (or consider it meh) more than like it. Would I have loved the game as vehemently if it weren't poorly received? Would I have committed to translating the whole thing in that case, something I only did this once, not before or since? Perhaps both were indeed a contrarian reaction to the poor reviews. But I didn't care, as I could now occasionally come across reviews written by my countrymen that really resonated with my love for the game, especially its true end, and these warmed my heart: someone was able to share the emotions I felt for the game through my translation. As such, I was glad I saw through to the project's completion.

[@Cman04092]

I never knew i needed a copy of the declaration of independence, but with the word man swapped to bad bi**hes, until now that is, lol.

[@arcanusafonso2647]

Preconception and engagement with other's opinions about a piece of media is always a fascinating topic. I am more inclined to see the reviews when I am already deeply engaged in the experience or right after it, as a sort of "conversation", because I mostly play nicher titles. So when I finish my playthrough of, let's say, Etrian Odyssey Untold 2, none of my friends can actually hold a conversation besides "neat, mate, I am happy you enjoyed it". These reviews become an easy way to have a social discussion of the game and help me put into words exactly how I felt about it. In the case of Untold 2, it would be something like "what a great update to Untold, the characters are more interesting, the dungeons are better crafted and the Story Mode party is weirdly optimized, which I personally enjoyed a lot!". TL;DR: game reviews are just like any human interaction on a certain subject. Which may or may not include people being unable to properly express themselves. Or being civil. Or actually reading the very thing they are criticizing

[@Mega0re0]

Well written and well edited. Thanks for this one man. Subject was very interesting!

[@retrogradess]

i started looking at reviews and general public opinion of games differently after playing mass effect andromeda, so this was a fun vid to watch. i knew it had really bad reviews from people but i played and really enjoyed it, so it taught me to always take reviews with a grain of salt… nowadays i try to hold off looking at reviews other than just getting a sense of if the game seems enjoyable for my tastes or not, and that works out really well for me & made gaming fun for me again :]

[@fabioguerrero3513]

Sometimes is better, to play without knowing the opinión of influencers, critics or other gamers.

[@rainbowsorceress2082]

​​@@CombatUnit621what if i just avoid completely any of that? I somehow managed to with cyberpunk and really enjoyed the game. I didnt even know the game was coming out until it did

[@statesminds]

I dislike when people think reviews are the end all be all and sit there arguing about it bc one game is on their plastic box lol. And i dislike how people think games in 60-70s are bad. The whole review scaling is messed up lol. Also nothing is worse than people hating on games they’ve never played just bc of what others say unless its like obviously broken from first glance lol

[@clarityc481]

Smart as ever, Daryl! I think the other thing worth talking about with reviews influencing experience is the 'defies expectations' problem. I don't have a lot of time or energy, so I don't play a lot of video games or watch a lot of movies, and sometimes I'll only pick one up if it's been extremely hyped in a way I think sounds interesting. Then, if the game (or movie, or tv show, or book) is at all frustrating or unengaging or monotonous, I inevitably feel not just disappointed but sort of betrayed. Inevitably creates a much stronger negative emotional reaction than if I'd just engaged with the thing unspoiled and found I didn't like it much on my own. It's not that I went in looking for the thing to be bad (the way I will admittedly sometimes go in to a thing with mediocre reviews looking for it to be Good, Actually), but it for sure makes the ragequit much worse.

[@evelyntelevision]

Great video. It can be a tricky thing. I know very well that reviews will affect my opinion, and I've even had times where I hear a criticism of a game long after I played it, and notice that it changes my own opinion of the game in retrospect, which feels kind of weird. I'm aware that someone else's opinion is changing my own, but still can't do much to stop it. Brains are weird.

[@kayanims]

Sometimes it's impossible to avoid reviews. First of all, they are all over your KZbin feed, Secondly you cannot buy every single good game. Reviews help you figure out if it is for you. Finally, reviews make you aware of some hidden gems. We just need to recognize that reviews are part of a marketing machine so we take them with a grain of salt.

[@EggEnjoyer]

We went from a world where people didn’t have accesss to the internet or used it seldomly, to now living in a world where it’s apparently “impossible” to not use KZbin and twitter.

[@BlakeTheDrake]

Excellent video, well-researched and paced - I give it a 9 out of 10! (Let's see how much opinion *that's* gonna shift... :P )

[@Jdude217]

I love how there was a clip of FF13 right at the end since that's a game everyone has always talked garbage about but that I've just always loved for some reason lol, made the whole video make perfect sense for me.

[@northcoast1306]

I'm glad you posted this video. I always felt a bit influenced by reviews whenever I'm about to play a game or watch a KZbinr play it. Good job on the research, presentation and conclusion. ❤

[@RetroCheats]

I know what I like. does not matter if it gets a 10.. I know if it's not my type of game it will bore me. Pokemon is a good example.

[@TheBlueLink3]

This was a great video. In my personal experience, this is all pretty accurate.

[@gary.420]

Sometimes a “7/10” from a random reviewer is enough to dissuade someone from a game they would’ve otherwise loved. Likewise sometimes the “10/10 masterpiece” just quite simply doesn’t click with you.

[@thedeegeesaga]

Really cool! I believe this is kind of related to the anchoring perspective that some people have with consuming products. Which is why reviews are so important!

[@heatstreak]

This exactly happened to me with Mass Effect Andromeda. I have never played any Mass Effect game before (yes, you can crucify me for that 😂), so I just picked up Mass Effect Andromeda ps4 from a shelf and played it. I had a very good time and enjoyed it a lot, traveling through universe, meeting different creatures and cultures, harsh and beautiful terrain, only to see that it was considered one of the worst games.

[@Cinetiste]

Mass Effect Andromeda is an excellent game ! At the end, we may recognize the qualities by ourselves, when we develop criterias and by aknowledging the work leading to their achievement. I simply think you were right and that playing independently, you have seen it as it was, in its qualities.

[@chainsaw8507]

So...... The reason I have a hard time deciding to play more Starfield despite enjoying it every time I play IS because of all the hate I'm seeing for it...... That's so weird to think about. Whatever, I'll just play Starfield and enjoy it. This video validated my experience with the game.

[@jamisonthomas9244]

The StarField hate is absolutely ridiculous and some of the most dramatic shit I've ever seen

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@jamisonthomas9244 well, I am not sure it REALLY different than the Oblivion hate that was around almost 20 years ago - but it is BS - insofar as the narrative around that game, and most games if not all, is increasingly far outside of reality.

[@DOUGULON]

I've been thinking about this forever. You really put it in a understandable and interesting way. Great job!

[@utkarshgaur1942]

The editing in this video earned you a well deserved sub. Have to check out your back catalog now.

[@migaDbr]

I want to share a recurring thing that happens to me. It's become a joke at this point, but I can't deny that it affects me. I try to go into anything blind, but something tends to happen to me with movies in particular. Since I don't tend to go to the cinema on release day or anywhere close to it, it ends up taking me a few weeks to actually watch any new movies I'm interested in. And, for whatever reason, most times, on my way to the cinema, I run into people (be it a group of friends, a couple, whatever) where one of them mentions the movie I'm going to watch and says, "I've already watched it, it fucking sucks." The funny thing is that they're often going to the same movie they're talking crap about... So while the negative comment affects me, it makes me wonder why they'd put themselves through it again (and paying money, no less!) if it really is that bad.

[@Inverse_to_Chaos]

Daryl recently made a video on why people continuously play games that they actively dislike. As for the folks you run into at cinemas, either they were told by THEIR peers that the movie was splendid, and they want to verify the validity of their seemingly negative experience with said film. Or, those folks were sunk cost victims, hoping for something to come out of the movie they have seen instead of cutting the current losses. Interesting you brought this up now, but you should check out the other vid, have you not yet.

[@99brickstudios]

Im not sure I had this experience. But I kind of hate going to the cinema/movies because people are always talking so much shit before, during and after. German movie goers are either extremely entitled, don’t give a single fuck with their phone out the entire time and yelling or completely silent. Which is probably every country.😅 I just don’t enjoy watching an amazing movie and then leaving with everyone whispering „eh, was fine I guess. Kind of sucked…“

[@thetravelerofworlds8359]

A trick I learned from my literature and writing studies is to immediately start trying to separate the subjective and the objective when looking at a piece of media. it's not always easy (and sometimes incredibly difficult) to do. But if I can recognize the places where something is a personal issue with a piece of media, or where I enjoyed it because it happens to suit some of my interests or likes or whatever... then it gets easier to figure out what problems are objective issues and why or what parts of the piece of media were genuinely good. Sometimes I find myself having to deal with the issue where I completely hated a piece of media, hated every bit of it, did not find any enjoyment in it whatsoever... but also having to admit that objectively it was well made and really quite good for this reason or that. Sometimes i find the opposite. I loved a piece of media for this reason or that, and enjoyed it a great deal. But objectively (and I try to list out the exact reasons and why they matter objectively instead of subjectively) its a really badly made piece of media. I don't always succeed, but i do find that even the attempt can force me to see the piece of media in a different light that i would otherwise.

[@lime31373]

Very well made video. I recall watching some of your videos a year ago and thought it was nothing special about, so it’s nice to see that you’ve improved a lot. :)

[@lanfae9353]

For me, having high expectations of a game can often make me MORE critical of it because the bar is sky high. Like, I enjoyed BOTW but it wasn't my favorite thing ever because I found it a bit long and tedious (mind you I don't really play open world, so it's just not a genre I'm really used to, and I feel this way about every open world I try), but everyone's been talking for years about how it's a masterpiece, so I kinda forgot my mild frustrations (it's still like a 7/10 for me, don't get me wrong) and started thinking of it as a masterpiece too. Then when TOTK came out, everyone started saying it was even better, so my expectations were really, really high. When I started playing and I remembered how much the physics-based puzzles frustrated me and how stressful the combat is and all that, and especially when I struggled to grasp the new powers, I got really upset and had to keep putting the game down for days at a time because I couldn't understand why I wasn't having this absolutely AMAZING time with it that I was expecting to have. I ended up taking a break for a few months and just started playing again, and now that the buzz has died down, I'm enjoying it a lot more because I'm not beating myself with a mental stick telling myself that I HAVE to enjoy it because everyone else is. Same thing with Baldur's Gate III. I can't play it because my computer can't handle it, but I went to try it out on a friend's computer. I'd heard so much about how good the character creator is and how trans-friendly it is, and then when I went to make a character, I ended up being really frustrated because I thought I could make my character look a certain way and I just couldn't. If I'd been assuming it was a normal "pick boy or girl and pick a hairstyle" situation, I would've been delighted by the options, but after hearing about the groundbreaking representation, the fact that there wasn't an androgynous body type and androgynous voice option really disappointed me, and I didn't even get to try the actual game because I never got past the character creation screen. Again, my expectations were just way too high. I feel like I'll have the same problem if I actually do try the game, because I play DnD all the time, and everyone says it's a really faithful adaptation, and I just know that every little difference is going to bother me because everyone says it's so good.

[@gotcopper42]

Featured patron this month, lets go. In other news, i would hazard a thought that you hit the target, ill look at steam reviews to see if a game is broken or whatever before, then see what others thought of the game afterward. I have had experiences with not liking game that are said to be amazing, neir automata being one of the most recent. Older game that most people say is fantastic, and the story seemed intriguing at least but there are some mechanics of the game that i knew would piss me off over time and didnt make it further than a couple hours into it. Solid video as always.

[@Kentman513]

Regarding the second half of that reviews-impacting-game-enjoyment study: holy shit is anything we tell ourselves true?

[@DarylTalksGames]

Makes you wonder lmao

[@kaleenar963]

Nope, your reality is an illusion of truth masked by cognitive biases.

[@ivanllopis5882]

Another piece of art. Looking forward to Backlog pt.2, and if it is as good as this one, man it's going to be amazing.

[@brandonsteele2826]

I like how this channel is respectful towards how people feel. He tries to understand rather than judge.

[@awesomereviews1561]

Calling game reviewers “experts” is the funniest thing I have heard in a while. Most of them are below average players, and in some types of games (fighting games or RTS) they don’t know anything ( talk about things that matters very little in what a good or bad fighting games). And there is also the problem of “access media” from some big companies (IGN for instance) that makes it inherently unreliable/biased. Edit: and a lot “experts” are just activist nowadays. I remember the review for Kingdom Come on Eurogamer where the reviewer was losing his mind because there was no black people in a game that takes place in 1300 ish in Bohemia ( close to Poland). But when he reviewed Ghost of Tsushima he had no problem that they were no black people there at all. Game reviewers are (most of them) a bad joke.

[@ManticBurrito]

Great video. Similarly, I found that my hype before a game releases also affects my enjoyment of the game. If I can control my hype then I usually end up enjoying the game more than if my hype was too high leading me to be disappointed.

[@coralreef6298]

Not exactly related to the topics you discussed, but I really enjoyed the banger OSTs you chose in this video, awesome work, the discussion was also interesting.

[@AccursedHawk]

Bro made a 20 minute video to basically say that if you see a game with mid reviews you’re more likely to not buy it lmao

[@razbuten]

But it’s not. Like, that is not the takeaway at all or even really what is discussed. Did you watch it lol?

[@Nathancreatescontent]

@@razbutenthey prob just read the title 😂

[@ANZLegatos]

He literally didn't talk about purchase decisions at all in the video, aside for a two second bit.

[@sam-bj2hp]

@@razbutenraz had to step in

[@AccursedHawk]

@@razbuten get off your knees bud

[@ChillinWithTheCapuchins]

Nice vid! It feels horrible being a frequent outlier. There are just so many games that seem to be universally adored that I've had a miserable time with and vice versa. Not every game of course, but what feels like a substantial amount of games.

[@majixajinxix12chartdisplay33]

I am somebody who like to see many perspectives especially in terms of both objective and subjective views and or experiences which I am always interested to learn and understand with a considerate, kind, honest, open, and respectful mindset. I usually see the objective 1s 1st and then see the subjective 1s unless only either 1 is available or in some cases their are strange vague views which make me want to see out more about views of said ideas even beyond games.

[@kenziishy]

I do the same thing when I read books. I go into a book with zero opinions and then read the reviews after. I'll probably start doing that with games too because it makes the whole experiance so much more enjoyable.