The Masterpiece I Can't Talk About

#EqualizingTest #zzzero #ZZZ
Zenless Zone Zero pre-registration link! hoyo.link/27sf...
You can pre-register for ZZZ using the link above! There's a lot about the game that I didn't mention like the comic book style cutscenes and the general story, but I wanted to highlight the gameplay since that's my favorite part.
Twitter: / mhswoocer
There are some great games, even some masterpieces that I very deliberately chose not to talk about, this video explains why I avoid them.
Songs used in order:
Argentum Xenoblade 2
Undertale Shop
Crisis Honkai Star Rail
Overworld Theme Final Fantasy 9
Crisis Honkai Star Rail
Crystalline Unsighted
Forsaken City B Side Celeste
Blade Barracks Xenoblade X
Gaur Plains Day Xenoblade 1
Still Move Forward Xenoblade 2
The Bereaved and Those Left Behind Xenoblade 3
Able Sisters Animal Crossing New Leaf
My Dearest Friends Celeste
That's a lot of songs, jeez lol
#honkaistarrail #xenobladechronicles3 #critique

[@mhswoocer]

The Pinned Comment: You can pre-register for Zenless Zone Zero here! hoyo.link/27sfFOAL It's genuinely super good, I think you'll enjoy it a lot!

[@warriorshedge6772]

Why'd you bring it up, what if blackrock finds out and takes these games and makes them ass

[@achatmaster95]

Before whalers discovered the treasure trove of oil that a blue whale could provide, the species was plentiful. But with the advent of 20th-century whaling fleets, their population plummeted until finally receiving worldwide protection in 1967. From 1904 to 1967, more than 350,000 blue whales were killed in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In 1931, during the heyday of whaling, an astounding 29,000 blue whales were killed in a single season.

[@yozu365]

I've found that Honkai: Star Rail felt more generous in terms of currency and respecting your time compared to Genshin. I hope that Zenless Zone Zero intends to focus on the same albeit still being a gacha.

[@ThorsShadow]

100%. I absolutely despise Gacha games and out of the ones I've played, HSR seems very fair. In terms of being a game, Genshin also seems to be very fair, because you can actually spend time just exploring the world, looking for treasure and have an awesome time (the game does look really pretty) and you can do that with starting characters. I think it's fine. Of course, if you feel the need to pull for every single limited banner character, you're going to be ressource-starved or money-starved. But if you plan out your pulls, I think the game is entirely fair.

[@benj4845]

even with the changes, mihoyo games are still the least generous gachas i have ever played

[@OmniUni]

I've been really enjoying Honkai Star Rail. It's essentially as generous as it needs to be. Unlike a lot of Gacha games, it has a story, character quests, and side quests that they actually want you to do, and they don't want you to easily power past them. If you don't spend any money at all and just do the side content, you can complete the game. They give you plenty of events, a character of each weakness type, and ways to get armor and other enhancements for your character to beat the game. The greater character variety is nice if you use the Gacha mechanic, but not necessary for anything in the game. The hardest sell in the game is really the monthly pass, which gives you extra items as you reach goals. Overall, I think it's a really fun experience that I haven't felt overly compelled to spend a lot of money on. I occasionally get the $5/month upgrade, and mostly because then I'm supporting something I'm enjoying.

[@metastase895]

Despite Xenoblade Chronicles X being the best open world game of all time, I don't blame you for being afraid of analyzing it. It got a lot of flack for its storytelling being all over the place and the gameplay systems being obtuse so it's equally as easy to find people saying it's the best game ever or the worst garbage ever made so no matter how you approach its analysis you basically got no shot.

[@MrManInATie]

As far as developing your story analysis skills, I would say start off by listing the things you like and don't like in a story. "This fight was really cool," "What that character did was dumb," "I would have liked to have seen more of this thing in the story," "That plot line was never resolved." Try writing some reviews of books or movies you've read/watched, and make sure you're writing down your opinion (if all you're doing is summarizing the story, you're writing a synopsis, not a review.) There's some rule I heard about for movies, which is that you watch the first time for enjoyment and the second for analysis (and if you're real good, you can do both on the first viewing), so you can try this, though I don't think this rule holds up as well for video games just because games can last anywhere from 5 minutes to two weeks at a full-time job. There are a bunch of other things I could bring up and discuss (like looking at your emotional state, your history of a medium or genre, your knowledge on a topic a story is exploring or brushing against, etc.), but the tips above should serve as a decent foundation. Overall, story analysis isn't too different from gameplay analysis. You're just looking at different things. P.S. One final tip is that it's easier to analyze a bad story than it is a good story. Once you see what doesn't work, you can see how the good stories make those same things work (a good example off the top of my head is Bleach's Soul Society arc vs. its Invasion of Hueco Mundo arc; both feature largely the same story beats, but the latter is generally regarded as a stripped-down rehash lacking the spark of the former).

[@mhswoocer]

Thank you so much for this! I really needed the tips honestly lol, appreciate the help!

[@thecooleraliguar]

I love mihoyo's games but i cannot tolerate the gacha mechanics they always stuff in. Eventually it always becomes a chore list. I really wish they just sold the game for 60 dollars, id buy them in a heartbeat :(

[@Wolfy400]

Funnily enough I started watching this channel because of monster hunter content, but always associated it with Xenoblade because of the Elma pfp and the occasional cameo a Xeno game would make in a video. Realizing you have never gone in depth about a xeno game kinda blew my mind

[@mhswoocer]

Yeah it is kinda crazy to think that in the 2+ years of uploading over 100 videos, only the first one has been xenoblade focused, and even then, it was on X and not the numbered games. I'd like to talk more about them some day though, and I'm glad so many of you guys like the games!

[@SuperSavajin]

I will stick around for the eventual Xenoblade vids

[@HibiTeamQueso]

I'm a simple man, I see Xenoblade, I click.

[@PyReexx]

same xDD

[@fatbro7283]

so it IS a xenoblade video WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@elenaschmidt9476]

XENOBLADE X MENTIONED

[@sprinkles9504]

Awesome vid man, I always love hearing your takes on the xenoblade games and would love to hear more if you ever do more for them in the future

[@monadomaster2007]

It’s nice to find another XB fan who’s also a Genshin fan. It’s pretty rare I think 😅😅😅 Nothing to do with your video (which was really nice and entertaining), but bro have you seen the most recent leak about X??? The one of the remake?? I really hope the game finally gets the respect it deserves :)

[@SilentVinyl]

Xenoblade x mentioned lets go!!!

[@gmg9010]

Who remembers video stores here?

[@sonicya]

The bmz trilogy absolutely concluded as a masterpiece amomgst games. So glad to see it being represented here.

[@hokco2074]

I started out playing genshin and never moved on to playing Honkai Star Rails due to me already playing 2 gachas. Knowing me if I started Star Rails I would honestly never stop playing it, I heard Star Rails' combat system was inspired by Trails or in Japan the Kiseki series which is a game made by Falcom it is also a series that I adore and love. I'm glad Star Rails became a popular game since I'm always a fan of turn based combat gaining popularity

[@al-aminsh6436]

Here's hoping that trails never goes down the gacha road, cuz tbh with the length of the series it feels like they can just straight up convert it into a gacha

[@Xenowolf8]

Favorite open world game Xenoblade X mentioned

[@hcsnake]

Great video as always, but the implication that anyone wouldn't know what a movie rental store is is literally killing me. 😭

[@TornaitSuperBird]

I feel like people are really getting fatigued with MiHoYo's gacha mechanics, and for good reasons.

[@foggy8298]

I would honestly just suggest throwing yourself into the fire, so to speak, when it comes to story analysis. Maybe try a more individual game first? Xenoblade X might actually be a good example, considering it’s story is highly separated from the numbered games and other Xeno franchises. Everyone can have their own analysis style, so don’t feel like you need to copy anyone. Do you want to give a synopsis of the story bit-by-bit, all at once, or not at all? You can just say “don’t watch this video before playing X” You could separate the script into sections based on characters, chronology of events, themes, or anything else. I’d suggest finding 1 major thing you’d like to analyze in the story and build the rest of the analysis around that, kind of like a persuasive essay. Maybe if one were to write an analysis of FF7 they could look at it through the theme of memory, or from an environmental perspective, or from a perspective of generational trauma. Also, it’s probably worth acknowledging the biases you do have in the video itself, instead of trying to avoid them. Unbiased media doesn’t exist, so be open about what biases you have. We all hate Tatsu, it’s okay if you gloss over him a little more than what would be “fair” You have good taste btw (besides the gacha games, but I’m glad you aren’t making videos on them at least)

[@TheLloydLightning]

Highly predatory gambling game that prays on addiction with anime optics. Haven't seen that before.

[@notfunny3397]

Literally the same developer too

[@check9094]

Making a good game is considered predatory nowadays. Interesting.

[@notfunny3397]

@@check9094 games targeted at children and also have gambling are considered good games now. Interesting

[@Gameboy-2007-yt]

@@check9094Huh?!

[@es2cs]

People promote anything for a buck

[@mustachelegs1809]

normally I try to think "whats the most obnoxious comment I could possible make" but this is so goated I'm dropping the act for once. HOYO SPONSORED LETSFUCKINGGOOOOOOOOO. thats the goat, good shit bro

[@mustachelegs1809]

also while I'm being kind (for once) you do have such a good youtuber voice

[@mhswoocer]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THANK YOU (I don't know how to handle compliments so I will scream :D)

[@pdch759]

Oh God yeas. I haven´t played Xeno 3 yet and i will love it. I am rly courious about how they build on the combat of Xeno 2 cause it´s the best. I had a hard time geeting in to it, but once it clicked god that felt good. I believe only a other Xeno game that buids upon this system can beat it for me as my favourite Combat system. The satisfaction and flow and team planning, it´s almost unbeatable.

[@randalthevandal4170]

I reccomend you to check out pgr You might like it

[@Ishin69]

hoyoverse games look SO clean, both graphics and gameplaywise, but i just can't support gacha mechanics, it's the worst. i'd love for them to actually do a singleplayer rpg for a change. i'd gladly pay full price for that

[@Boba19423O]

Not sure if you've covered it but Crystal Project seems like the kind of RPG you'd cover on this channel

[@IskandarTheWack]

There is no such thing, everyone is biased about every game. If you like a game cuz it has trains vs don't like a game, there is still bias, the fact that you don't just open a game and go "it runs, it didn't crash, frame rate stable, therefore buy it" is already bias. No one expects lack of bias, and you shouldn't avoid reviewing or covering games you love or hate. If art isn't specific to a certain type of person, it will be mediocre to everyone. It takes a game being authentic in itself and taking risks/having specific things the artist puts in there, to truly connect with people, and they'll shun players in the process. Also like, a fuck ton of people are into trains and space, trains are an autism stereotype it's such a prevalent thing (I'm high functioning and not into trains, but damn do I know a lot of train lovers), and space is pretty much one of the most fascinating things in the modern age alongside increasing technology and the ocean's depths, it's 99.99999999999999999 (almost infinitely 9s) percent of all existence, and the tech that it would require to get there puts it in the increasing technology territory, and in a lot of scifi games, they have oceans too. Point being, if a game is highly specific to you, just pointing that out is enough so that people can go "okay, this is something specific to them, I might love it if I like these things too", which ultimately is a review too, people have things they like and hate, and listing those things off and talking about genre/etc falls into that same category. So yeah, don't be scared to talk about games. Also don't be scared to make videos rapid talking about "what you've played recently" or whatever, it's your youtube channel, they don't have to be one game per channel. Of course since it's your channel, don't feel inclined to talk about the games you personally connect with, but don't feel non qualified to talk about it, playing a game qualifies you to have a review of it, the only qualifying markers in game reviews is writing quality, presentation, and editing fr, and you don't really even need any of that to have a youtube channel. (it helps)

[@GordonGordon]

Great video 😎

[@wraith-cat]

I love genshin to bits and I find it really annoying how people completely disregard it because it's gacha. If anything, my biggest issue with it is the artifact grinding/grinding in general (which is also based on rng like the gacha system, except this isn't what people are talking about when they say "ew gacha"). Really sad.

[@foggy8298]

It is, though. The game is designed to incentivize microtransactions to those who don’t have the self-control or self-awareness to realize they’re being scammed (AKA, children mostly) So, yes, Ew gacha

[@milesedgeworth6353]

Thanks to this channel I actually managed to find some really good games I wouldn't have played otherwise(i.e crosscode) and I'd rather this channel steer clear from Mihoyo and it's cesspool of gacha shit, that company is a blight on the gaming industry and the last thing we need is more content creators pointing people towards games that engage in heavy anti-consumer practices from a developer that couldn't make a succesful nongacha game to save their lives. If you are gonna throw money away, might as well give it to small indie devs that put forth actual quality games without any strings attached over giving Mihoyo money just so they can churn out even more FOMO style,dripfed content and have everyone slave away for it thinking it's fine because the next set of anime tiddies is already on the horizon.

[@repeekyraidcero]

0:36 oh that looks so good :D

[@astreakaito5625]

Can't be masterpieces of anything if it's gacha. Except masters of being predatory. But I get that these games are fun. I just don't think they should praised quite so far.

[@mhswoocer]

The Xenoblade series was the masterpiece, the gacha games are just personal games. The video is structured as the types of games I don't talk about and why being: personal games, games that don't stand out, and story games (masterpieces) that I don't feel qualified to talk about. Although I think you're not the only one who thought I was calling Honkai and Zenless masterpieces meaning I probably just wasn't clear enough

[@Dermetsu]

2 gacha games in a row, disgusting.

[@edwardrivera8936]

Your videos are always a treat! Regardless of what you can or can't cover. The Blaster Master Zero games are such underrated gems! The pixel art alone is worth the playthrough. I love me some Inti Creates games. I think I will try Honkai Starrail now because I had no clue it was a turn-based game. I am curious to hear about your console over pc thoughts. I work on a PC all day from home programming and talking to clients that moving to a handheld or console is always a refreshing experience and really separates my work from play. Glad I am not the only one who thinks consoles still have a place in the market.

[@mhswoocer]

Thank you! In regards to console vs PC, it's nearly the exact same reason as you actually. I do YT full time which means I spend a *lot* of time at my computer. It's a great computer out of necessity since I need it for work so I *could* play games on it, but it's just really refreshing to game on a console instead of the same device I've been using for work all day. However there is a second reason: I just really don't like troubleshooting PC games lol. I was far more tolerant and patient with it back in the day, but now that I'm a busy adult I just wanna sit back and play games, not troubleshoot, even if it comes at the cost of lower fps or graphics.

[@edwardrivera8936]

@@mhswoocer Thank you for sharing! I totally get it. Time to troubleshoot or go through the motions on PC really hinders the original point of jumping into a game to begin with. At least I am noticing it more so these days as an adult with a family than before. Mods can be fun but at the expense of time as well. The Steam Deck is also a nice middle ground when the games are supported. I can appreciate its existence and the other companies trying to compete with it.

[@le1660]

Rip xeno 3 review

[@GreenMonkeySam]

Having watched all of your videos, this feels almost like a speedrun of your channel. Yes, I caught up to your whole library.

[@iamLI3]

hey some really cool looking games in here i'll have to check out

[@ThorsShadow]

Could you maybe not randomly make me cry by playing FF9's overworld theme? God damn, I love you mate. :D FF9 was the first game I got with my first own console by my parents (PSone). I got introduced to the FInal Fantasy games (1 to 8) by one of my cousins. That was before FF9 came out. When it did come out, my mum got "the new Final Fantasy" and a PSone.

[@dbappio]

ff9's overworld theme is unforgettable and i would die if the ff9 remake came out with its own rendition of it

[@mrmiesfies3941]

Don't worry, stories can be interpreted in many different ways. There is no 100% right way to do it. Of course there are some established methods to analyze the structure, some themes and the actual plot, but the really interesting interpretations are those who have an individual approach. Take movies like The Shining or 2001: A Space Odyssey. There are countless theories, interpretations and conclusions and none are really "wrong". Many contradict themself, but the individual ideas of the construct are often viable and shared between the different opinions. So even if you'll make a video where not everyone agrees with everything, it will still be interesting to watch. I am playing XC3 right now and I am discovering so many new things this time with full context and knowledge of the DLC. So it would really interest me to hear you thoughts (on all three games).

[@r.c.3813]

I get the story problems I want to start making videos at some point and talk about characters and story I like but I’m very easy to please so idk if I can actually do it correctly either way I don’t have the money for the equipment I need so I probably won’t be able to do so any time soon and than I also need the guts to actually upload a video.

[@heythere8866]

Hey, have you ever played Tevi yet??

[@mhswoocer]

Not yet! But it's on the list of games to play. I actually got a code for it not too long ago so I do plan on playing it soon!

[@heythere8866]

@@mhswoocer It's very good, with a combat system full of possibilities and an engaging story.

[@adult11252]

I love art also gameplay direction of Mihoyo gameplay lately, but honestly, I cannot play Gacha not because of money, but gacha games mostly make a game like a chore. I heavily play Gacha games like two or three years ago but I don't have passion to play it anymore. When I played a new Gacha, it must have something that I cannot take time to play like two weeks and when I come back to play that game again, the contents shifted or gone, and I just ditch it to another game. No offended to gacha games, they just need only a decent amount of whales who can keep playing regularly, and I respect their money.

[@towinandsave1520]

I would love genshin as a single pay game with monthly paid (?) dlcs. I just cant justify spending that much money for pretty character or waiting for my energy to recover. Really sad

[@minarainary5408]

M Y P U S S Y I N B I O

[@jebstuart3162]

Hearing the Celeste soundtrack over not Celeste is pretty jarring lol

[@duzemir7126]

Ngl, i was also not expecting it when i played FF XVI

[@Murasane]

I was not expecting to hear the ff9 soundtrack great choice

[@nunyabiznes7446]

Shilling for Hoyo games - no mention of gacha mechanics. ok dude o_o I genuinely don't care how good a game is if its economy is that scummy. You can attach my favorite games to those systems and the overall result would be a game that's bad. Like on a moral level.

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid

[@klassified13]

Mr swoocer gets it done again

[@krakendragon6721]

Pls play bloodborne fromsoft made it, it's a life changing game

[@Zephhi]

Nah we are not gassing up some fucking Star Rail bruh no way

[@lesshumanmoredead]

Bro ain't no way, mihoyo did it again. Zenless Zone zero is literally Astral Chain but with microtransactions and more fanservice and just overall worse quality. Just like genshin is an average ubisoft open world assassin's creed game but with anime and fanservice, how do they keep getting away with it and keep getting praises for it holy hell

[@ultimatemacchia]

The -waifus- character design and overall presentation hard carrying their mid games once again, what's really infuriating is that they *choose* to make them mid so they can sell the cure to the pains of intentional bad game design and get you addicted to gambling

[@lesshumanmoredead]

@@ultimatemacchia What's even more infuriating is the fact that they're gonna get millions of players from this game no matter how bad it is. And those players will defend the games to their death and they'd rather spend money on those games gambling instead of just buying better games.

[@MasterMemo]

It fully is the character designs. The gameplay always seems *fine* and I think sometimes *fine* is underrated. People do kinda just like to vibe with low stakes sometimes. But the character designs are what keep tempting me to try one. I haven't yet, but the characters look cool to me. And I actually don't mean the fan service, which is all fine and good, but I can find that anywhere and not gacha locked. But these fantasy, sci fi, anime ass kingdom hearts lookin designs call to me. And probably many others

[@ultimatemacchia]

@@lesshumanmoredead yeah it's insane how much gacha gamers can cope, especially when I know for a fact some of them actually play good games on the side

[@Purpletrident]

​@@ultimatemacchiaThis may be hard to understand, but maybe people just have a different opinion and like something you don't. Crazy, I know.

[@RKIC]

Wierdo with the Xenoblade avatar.

[@lukass64]

I dislike this title.

[@SanyaBane]

>>casino >>good game Where did we gone wrong?

[@archshade7891]

Easy money for a kidney

[@seethruhead7119]

man i just subbed to this channel and this blatant ad for a shit game with gacha nonsense is really making me consider unsubbing

[@nekokinds]

cool story bro

[@MasterMemo]

People gotta make money. But it is discussed that he was emailed about it, it's not dishonest. But it does go into other stuff. Feels like "I have to do an ad, may as well segue into something else"

[@seethruhead7119]

@@MasterMemocame off as a little too disengenuous

[@MasterMemo]

@@seethruhead7119 that's fair.

[@thefallenfaith1986]

Did you just write your complaint in the form of a haiku?

[@kekconnoisseur9809]

My first experience with mihoyo was genshin impact. I played for around two months before I called it quit. The game experience is pretty flat in terms of difficulty from start to finish but the game is printing money so I figured that it would be pretty stupid for mihoyo to change their strategy. Once I realized that I just stayed the fuck away from their games