Has Jeff become a jaded old man?

Disclaimer: I am incapable of, and not really interested in ever playing Destiny.

Jeff's recent attitude towards Destiny (the game, and maybe life too) has really made me think more about his evolving attitude towards Video Games. I'm no fan of Bungie and I don't think anyone's point of view is "wrong", but I do feel that perhaps he's become a little unfair in how he “judges” games. My concerns all started when the alpha was released. I had been watching some people over at GT play it and they seemed to be really enjoying themselves. When I came to GB afterwards I was completely struck by the stark contrast of Jeff's highly pessimistic attitude. All his concerns seem valid, but it does feel like he's been developing a very negative, or at least an unrealistic level of expectation for video games. This negative attitude also seems to be affecting others around GB like Brad; Who seems to actually like the game, but is almost afraid to express that in front of Jeff.

Technically speaking, Destiny appears to be an extremely high quality and solidly built first-person shooter that incorporates a lot of MMO/RPG elements. So whether you think it's “good” will probably rest entirely on personal preference and taste. Jeff clearly doesn't like what he's seen so far, but does that mean it's an overall bad game? I would say absolutely not. In many ways, I think Jeff reviewing Destiny is a mistake and that someone like Brad or Dan would probably give it a more “fair shake” for what it is. We all know that Jeff reviews the “first-person shooters”, but that definition has become somewhat ambiguous lately. So I think it makes little sense now to determine who reviews what, based on that criteria.

This probably all ties back into the bigger debate over the usefulness of reviews and scores, but on a more personal level I think Jeff may have just become a little too jaded lately and needs a break from it all. Maybe he needs an extended vacation from video games? He's been doing this for a very, very long time. I think some kind of month long break would do him a lot of good.

I agree. Every game that isn't just a rerelease of something he liked in the past he seems to be really hard on.

I totally agree with Jeff's opinions on Destiny (granted I haven't played the game). The game feels blah, bland, and overall way too serious. There's no style and from my point of view little substance to back up all the self serious attitude.

With the amount of hype and talk around this game I find myself, as the consumer, let down with the game. I was expecting a lot more from Bungie's first game on the new consoles and this wasn't what I, personally, wanted.

As for Jeff's opinions, they're his and his alone. Only he can say if he's become jaded or not. Honestly it's hard not to be jaded right now having 2 (3 if you consider the WiiU comparable) and having so little come out for them. Month after month goes by and it seems 2015 will be the year we're finally in full "video games are coming out" mode.

But the stakes for these games have been built up pretty heavily. I was expecting a little more variety from Destiny and Watch Dogs was a deception.

I don't know, Jeff's opinions on Destiny seem to fall in line with what I've seen from most critics.

no

Nope nope nope. It shouldn't matter who takes the review really, you know how Jeff feels about various games and his usual likes and dislikes so you should be able to read into his review and take away what you want. Don't see why handing it someone that would rate it more highly would make the review better, it is just a guy's opinion, take it or leave it.

And Jeff isn't jaded or too negative. Games are just bad.

I really doubt Brad, a good friend of Jeff for over ten years I think, would be "afraid" to express his opinion about a game in front of him.

You're hardly the first person to feel this way about Jeff. I definitely have in the past. But to be honest, he's spot on this time. Destiny is hardly a bad game and certain parts of it are even great, but it doesn't even come close to living up to its promises, or even to the other games it takes most of its cues from. I'm enjoying my time with it, but it really could've, and should've been so much more.

I agree with Jeff on Destiny, but has become? Jeff has been jaded for a long, long time....that's just him, and that's okay. Jeff rarely "loves" anything and if he does love it he probably won't admit it. Based on what I've heard from him I'm pretty confident in saying Jeff loves Diablo 3 being he's sunk crazy hours into both console and PC versions but I bet if you asked him if he loved it he wouldn't say he did. It's just his personality, he's just a jaded dude.

I swear, there's a thread every couple months about whether Jeff's jaded or not.

In my opinion, no. He has idiosyncratic tastes, and I don't agree with half of them, but he's arrived at them after decades in the industry. And he still expresses enthusiasm for a lot of games, including Shovel Knight, so he's not "jaded."

Granted I haven't played Destiny yet, but as someone who never really got why people go so nuts over Halo, I kind of feel like people are catching up to what I've said about Bungie's world designing for years.

Not going to lie, though, this thread sounds a lot like "Jeff doesn't like the game I like, WHAT A JERK" when maybe the problem is that the game isn't what Bungie promised.

I haven't played it myself... but his criticms about Destiny seem perfectly valid based on what I've seen. Gunplay looks good, the rest of it looks bland as hell.

I could be wrong but I thought Jeff liked the Alpha, then when the Beta came out it started to look like there was just going to be more and more repeat running around, at which point he said he liked it but he hoped it was not the same. Since the game has now come out and it looks like it is a lot of that I think he has every reason to be disappointed.

Whenever someone says "jaded" what they really mean is "doesn't agree with me on what is good".

Every.

Single.

Time.

I'm just saying, maybe if video games were good he'd be less jaded

Alex actually feels similarly to Jeff on the game. I think it's conflating the fact that he happens not to like a game you see more admirable things in with a trend that he's become more jaded. I've been following along with Jeff's views on games for a decade and I can say that what's happening isn't much of a fundamental change to Jeff's enthusiasm for games but a growing comfort in being forthright about how he feels thanks to the site.

With that said both Brad and Jeff have acknowledged that doing this for long enough has shifted some of their views to be a little more critical of the big flashy stuff that comes out every year but there are still plenty of instances where Brad's into something big and Jeff isn't and vice versa. Jeff can really get behind games and be really enthusiastic but they aren't necessarily the games that you might want and sometimes that reflects a larger trend in the industry, sometimes it's just particular to Jeff.

I think Jeff commented about this very topic on his Tumblr not too far back. From what I remember the only thing Jeff was jaded about was that people claimed he was jaded.

Jeff is equally as Jeff today as he was yesterday, thus it has ever been.

I think Jeff likes what he likes. And I absolutely echo his feelings toward Destiny.

So if this thread is coming up because of his feelings towards Destiny then I'll happily disagree. I think maybe Brad doesn't keep up too much on the FPS stuff and therefore Destiny, as basic as it is, is still filling a bit of a void for him which might wear out after a week. Where as Jeff seems to play various FPS games on a regular basis and looks at Destiny and thinks yea the production value is great but.. is there anything special about this game? Did all that hype really have nothing behind it? Was Bungie just a one-trick pony with the Halo IP?

Interested to hear what Drew thinks. He doesn't really keep up with FPS games but he's also a big Halo fan. He might just come into it and be like.. ehh it seems like Halo but the overall experience is a lot weaker. He may or may not have high expectations.

Destiny doesn't seem like a huge failure, but it certainly isn't great. It seems to be in a very "meh" kind of state. They got some things right and some obvious stuff wrong and people are wondering how a developer as successful as Bungie could not see such obvious flaws.

Also:

I don't think so. If anything I thought he was a lot more lenient on Destiny than he has been of other games in the past. Most reviewers in fact seem to be strangely apprehensive about saying that a lot of that game is just straight up poorly designed. It's like the entire industry is holding it's breath, worried about saying something that might hurt Bungie's feelings. For 500 million dollars this does not represent next gen gaming in the slightest.

Jeff is very opinionated and with years has become unapologetic about what he likes and doesn't like. Instead of jaded I'd say he's extremely stubborn in that once his mind is made up there is no changing it, even if it's an opinion that was formed years prior. So on one hand it would be nice if Jeff was a bit more open minded about things, and on the other Jeff wouldn't be Jeff any other way.

Since I tend to agree with Jeff 98.1% of the time. No, he is not jaded. He just doesn't like everything, and that is okay.

Jeff should have his own tastes and stick to his guns, otherwise he wouldn't be Jeff.

/thread

Ungh. I don't know. Probably not. Pretty sure he's about the same as he ever was.

It's okay to like a game that he doesn't. I wouldn't worry about it. I certainly wouldn't start suggesting that someone I don't know take a break from his actual career because of my own misguided beliefs. His entire job is to tell you what he thinks about videogames. Honestly, what else do you want or expect? That's not a tacit endorsement of the man's opinion (which he is both entitled to and qualified to have) nor is it some sort of love it or leave it arbitrary line in the sand. I just think it's sort of crazy to make judgments about a person's mental state based solely on that person doing exactly what it is people pay him to do.

I've played quite a lot of Destiny the last two days (level 17), and I'm really into it. But every single one of Jeff's complaints are valid: you do return to the same areas a lot, the mission design isn't very varied, the Reputation stuff is confusing out of the gate (they should really have a prompt that says "this shit is irrelevant until you reach level 18, so don't worry about it!"), and so forth. I'd also add that even though they went and hired these all these fantastic actors (Nathan Fillion, Peter Stormare, Gina Torres, Lance Reddick, etc.), they have essentially nothing meaningful to do. A total unknown could do their parts, and it wouldn't make a difference; they're total non-characters. Also, the Crucible stuff is not very good.

But, I find that the good parts of Destiny are so god-damn good that they more than make up for the (many) weak spots. It is such an incredibly fun game to play, and it is so god-damned polished. The music is fantastic, the world looks amazing, and the atmosphere is outstanding. It almost rivals Mass Effect for world building, and I don't say that lightly. All of those things outweigh the bad parts for me. But if they don't, it's not because you're a jaded and bitter old man: it's because the game is in many respects quite flawed.

Now, Jeff's refusal to play Red Dead Redemption because he didn't like it after playing roughly 30 minutes: THAT'S a jaded and bitter old man :)

The only thing that bugs me about Jeff, is that he talked rather positively about Metal Gear Solid a few years ago, and now when it's brought up be acts like it's the worst thing in the world.

Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game series, so I'm pretty sure that plays a part in my feelings. <_<

I don't know. Hearing about how the game only has 4 locations in it and how bungie built this game up to be "huge" doesn't make me want to purchase it.

If being jaded means being promised a huge game and not really getting a huge game, then, color me jaded along with Jeff

Yes Jeff is jaded, but I don't think that has any bearing on his opinion of Destiny.

Shooters have been terrible since 2006.

The only thing that seems interesting about Destiny are the boss fights, but considering that the game is 6 hours long (according to IGN) there can't be very many of those. Destiny will likely be turned into an annual series, this first game is here simply to establish a brand.

Jeff is bang on. Destiny doesn't suck by any means, but it doesn't do anything interesting either... in other words it's boring.

Eh Jeff is the same Jeff we've known for a long time. The issues he has with it is certainly valid especially in the mission design early on. Going through the same area's over and over again is kinda repetitive.

OP seems like he's a bit too invested in Destiny and sore that Jeff disagrees.

Jeff's job is to give his honest/subjective opinion which is what he did and it's what everyone comes to Giant Bomb for. It shouldn't need explaining but the way the system works is you get to understand the GB crews taste and like them as people and trust them not to deceive you (otherwise go elsewhere); and it doesn't matter who reviews what, if you know that Brad loves a certain type of game that you dislike and Brad gives a game a positive review then you get to be entertained by Brad and learn the game may not be for you. If you want objective game reviews then go to http://www.objectivegamereviews.com.

It's like 20 hours.

I'm about the same age as Jeff and I resent the use of the word 'old'.

That is all I have to say.

No , that's Adam sessler .

Nope

I'm glad we have people in the industry who won't just praise a game for being "technically high quality" and "solidly built." I would question anyone who looks at the current AAA landscape of video games and doesn't seem "jaded."

"Become"?

And to address the other part of your concern - I don't think Brad is by any means afraid to speak his mind to Jeff, as much as he might hedge his praise. It has sounded, so far, like Brad's just not sure he's going to be able to look back on Destiny after finishing it and say "I enjoyed that", even though he is enjoying parts of it so far. I feel pretty similarly. Mechanically it's solid, but the game feels small and kind of lonely unless you have a dedicated pair of buddies to play with.

WORD.

this topic comes up all the time. Can't people just necro some old thread?

If Jeff ever "became" jaded that happened decades ago, not around the release date of whichever game you are excited for :P

@corruptedevil said:

IGN stuff

They said 6 hours...

"He's so jaded, he woke up at before 5am to play a game for hours before going to work later that morning. What an asshole."

I remember when people gave Brad "5-stars" Shoemaker shit for liking things too much.

I have been reading Jeff Gerstmann reviews since 2003. I remember thinking he was jaded before he even did his famous Twilight Princess review. I was wrong then. He has a way of not being influenced by that honeymoon period that new things have.

"Adding up the figures from our accumulated in-house footage, we know that a number of other necessary activities required us to expend closer to eighteen hours finishing the campaign on our first attempt."

As far as Destiny goes I think Jeff actually holds the majority opinion, or one that is growing in numbers anywhoo. Though speaking about Jeff in general, I've long thought that it sometimes seems as if he doesn't really care about games anymore. Hell, he himself has talked about it in the past on his jar time videos, like when he was actually considering in getting out of video games and becoming an all around entertainer with Ryan or something.

I think at least part of it comes down to Jeff not being a particularly enthusiastic person in general. Though it at times does feel as if there are only a handful of series or games that Jeff seems to actually exude some passion for -- Saints Row The Third, Mortal Kombat, and Trackmania are some modern examples that come to mind. Otherwise, yeah, he can sometimes come across as an old man that prefers to sit around talking about his favourite games from ''the old days'' rather than embracing new stuff. Which is ironic considering how he is at the same time the sort of person that clearly enjoys speculating the near-future and its focus on convenience with regards to just about everything else in life.

Here's the thing: On the most recent bombcast, he states that he doesn't like the game about 20 times in a row.

I don't care if people fall in love with certain games or not.. if you don't like it, it's fine. You don't have to. But you also don't have to state your freaking dislike every four minutes. Shit gets tiresome. Like all the people complaining about 'brown' shooters a couple of years ago, or WWII before that. We get it. You don't like it. Do you have to be so vocal about it?

Eh, whatever. Jeff has always had strong opinions and this time it's no different. I just wish he will handle it like he did with Red Dead (he didn't really talk all that much about that one), because I don't want someone to shit on a game for the next five podcasts.

You don't come across many bosses while grinding, do you?

I'm done talking about this.

A lot of people are saying Destiny isn't the game that they expected to be fair it's not just Jeff. I think Jeff is just more brutally honest with how he feels about a game then some people, I don't think he is jaded.

I think if we have someone in the Giant Bomb community who was skilled in some way to make a 8" tall jade figurine statue of Jeff for the office... that'd be greeaaat. Maybe it says "I mean.. it's okay I guess" or some other jaded quote of his on the base of the statue.