Tim Rogers is a Madman

I mean it's not a revelatory idea that one could offset the length of the video by not watching it all at once. I just don't find Too Long Form video essays compelling and this guys not really bringing the x factor in as a personality that would be the exception.

I've watched one or two of his videos some time ago I believe. I think they're just a bit too long for me and his style is a little too tangential for me to focus on? If I'm even saying that right. "Wordy" might be more apt. I don't intend for this to sound mean but, it's like he enjoys the sound of his own voice.. Something that could be clearly said in a concise sentence is deliberately drawn out into huge flowery books as a demonstration of his vocabulary/writing. Then take a ton of those books, string them together, and you end up with a 6 hour run time lol

Then again, it'd probably be easier for me to follow along with his runaway-brain train if it was a game I was actually familiar with and was actively interested in hearing about. I think I listened to the Last of Us one? I dunno why, because I haven't played it nor do I find it particularly interesting to hear about.

And take this with as a baseless grain of salt but I get the impression Tim and GB would not mesh. Specifically with Jeff lol They frequently reference various fellow industry writers and such. Mention Kotaku and what not. Have the E3 late night guests.. And Tim is like non-existent to them lol Again, just pulling that vibe outta my ass. /shrug

Tim seems like a very unique individual. I like aspects of his stuff. Think I just need to wait for him to do a game I'm into or curious about.

I haven’t seen all his videos but love what I have. He spends an unhealthy amount of time dissecting design decisions.

@archer88: Tim deserves an emmy for the sheer number of times he puts that toenail clip in that video

After bouncing off the DOOM review, hard, I was curious about what was prompting this reaction from me, given that everything about Tim Rogers seemed up my alley from a distance. So I watched The Last of Us review -- and enjoyed it. Being indisposed with a flu, armed with too much free time, I then watched Pac-Man, and Tokimeki Memorial. If that wasn't enough context for this guy, I then read a lot of his old Action Button.net reviews.

The Tokimeki Memorial review is easily the best thing he has made (that I've seen). I could go into a whole blow-by-blow on what I love about Tim, and what I can honestly do without, but reviewing a reviewer makes me feel weird? (There was a really small YouTube channel I came across once called "Reviewing the Reviewers" that just made cringe. Life is too short to dedicate any time to the sideshow of a sideshow that is criticism of criticism of video games.)

I think I'll just leave it at some bullet points:

• He's gotten a lot less weirdly vitriolic/smug since his written reviews on Action Button.net, phew
• His piece on Tokimeki Memorial, in having to be an earnest case for a mostly underrated game's importance, and not a new riff on an overly known quantity like DOOM or Pac-Man, ends up being the most clear and articulate, and honestly, profound he's gotten. 6 hours, but uses those 6 hours well.
• He's pretty insecure, what with the near constant name drops. Reminds me of prominent game devs (who shall remain unnamed) who felt the need to tell me, an entry level LD guy, within three minutes of the conversation starting which awards their games had won at DICE. Like... cool? I'm happy that Mr. Pac-Man himself liked your games, Tim, but that could have been a sentence, not a whole few minute anecdote.
• I think I really did get off on the worst foot with his work, because his DOOM piece is my least favorite work of his by far. The opening anecdote is setting up the cultural cachet DOOM ("everyone who grew up in the '90s has a story about DOOM, and this is mine," or something to that effect) had, but lasts 45 minutes; we go on a tangent about American McGee's DOOM level for seemingly no other reason than, hey, Tim knows American McGee; "The Point", by Tim's own admission, is a rumination on violence in games in the '90s that ends with no actual thesis (though man, was his friend in school a dirt bag. I honestly got excited that he was going somewhere after that anecdote, but, nope, just kinda fizzled out). Everything else I've seen of his I've enjoyed a lot more.
• Looking forward to what he has to say about Cyberpunk.

I'd highly recommend the Insert Credit podcast he is on with Brandon Sheffield, Frank Cifaldi, and Alex Jaffe. Mostly a tight 60 minutes, 10 questions - totally different experience to the Bombcast.

The ones without Jaffe are a bit meandering, but it's worth going through the back catalogue. They restarted the podcast last year so it's a great time to get into it!

@fraser: Ooo, thanks for the heads up. I drive all day, every day for work so I need podcasts. Will give this a whirl.

Might give this Tokimeki one a shot since ya'll are talking it up and making me feel like a bad person lol Probably while playing some SnowRunner

The main reason I stay away from Tim's long-ass review videos (or just in general) is because his constant need to raise his eyebrows and scrunch his forehead skin, which is painful to watch and a fast-track way to put that beautiful forehead skin in the wrinkle grave.

Tim Rogers' written and verbal streams of consciousness have their adherents, but I've tried to enjoy his work for years (with the gentle prodding of his staunchest defenders) and just can't seem to enjoy any of it. In fact, I actively dislike much of it, even though I respect the hell out of the dude's work ethic.

I don't mind long form video essays and meandering personal anecdotes (within reason), but his delivery makes it difficult for me to take him and his works seriously - his cadence screams 110% satire and I don't believe a word coming out of his mouth.

Glad he's finally found an audience. He's a cool dude. Check out Insert Credit podcast. It's a real hoot! Worth going through its backlog as well for the episodes where they crank their favorite games of old consoles.

Kind of miss his year-end video but get why he didn't do it since his job now went from playing a new game everyday to playing the same game every day for a month.

If anyone knows all the albums he lists in his top 11, slap me up with that list!

Thanks for putting that into words. For all the personal touches, he's got a very impersonal way of conveying it.

@seikenfreak: Hope you enjoy it! It can be a bit hipstery and intentionally obscure (unsurprisingly!), but I think if you can work with that it's a really great show. One of my faves - put me onto Nier and a few things in 2013 I'd never heard of before.

I appreciate the dedication and effort he puts into these videos, but there's just something about his... Duke Nukem-esque delivery that I just can't stand. At first I thought it was thematic to the DOOM video, but then clicking another he kept talking that way, so I guessed that's just how he talked. But recently I watched a few of his translating FF7 videos, where he speaks in a more relaxed tone, and I find those much more enjoyable to watch.

I never considered the Duke Nukem delivery but now I can't not hear it.

I'd never seen this man before I saw this thread but I've watched all these action button review videos and I want everyone here to know that I've decided that I would fucking die for this man. do not @ me.

Tim Rogers will always be far too laborious for me. I don't want to read War & Peace every time I read / watch a review. It's not really the length, because I've watched video game review / analysis / etc. videos that clock in at an hour or more sorta often, but his style is exhausting. I get sometimes it is for this "effect" but running at 100% the whole time just does not appeal to me. I far prefer someone like Summoning Salt's history of speedrunning videos. Those have a far more satisfying editing pattern and arc. I also like Game Maker's Toolkit and a bit of Matthewmatosis too, those are obviously very popular.

It's like reading a paragraph written to distract you away from the fact there isn't enough content to fill out a healthy length of an essay. That is the case for like a grade school kid who didn't read the book they need to write an assignment for and not Tim Rogers' reviews, but it gives me that effect and I actively hate that shit.

I think the only thing of his I've ever watched more than a couple minutes of was his DQ11 review, which I'm not even sure I finished.

I liked this more than his passionless and obligatory Pac-Man video. Even when his videos are long, they're chock full of jokes. Give him another chance imo. He's doing some really cool things with this series.

@fraser: Oh word, I'm definitely going to check that out. I like everybody you mentioned

Alright.. I consumed the 6 hour video. And my conclusion is: I still enjoy aspects of his content or a particular angle he is coming from. I thoroughly enjoyed the video up until when he starts his first playthrough. At that point, it felt more like what I remember his other videos being. Lots of incoherent rambling where the lesson hes trying to teach gets lost in tons of anecdotes and verbs.

So yea, I think I liked the beginning (which was like, what?.. 2 hours? haha) because it was a broad view of the game, the series, the genre, the history, other games that may have been affected design wise by this one etc etc. Interesting stuff and had some structure. The only dating sim stuff I've messed with, super briefly I think, would be something with full on hentai in it.. and I just wanna see the hentai.. Putting the work in makes it slightly more fun but then also who cares. Hence, I've done this like once.

I think I would've enjoyed it beyond the initial overview section if he had instead made separate parts for different games in the series in a chronological order and talked about what improvements or changes were made between titles, reception, backlash to changes, and a summary of his experience playing it. And in a final section, then go on to speculate on how the tendrils of the games' design went on to affect other genres or games released after.

Love his style or hate it, I'm just glad this stuff exists. Nowadays, we have a great spectrum when it comes to examining games, from 5 to 10 minute reviews on websites like IGN, to multi-hour breakdowns from insane people talking about their love of scrolling chequerboard backgrounds.

@seikenfreak: His Kotaku reviews were the best because they were mostly an hour long. Within that hour you had equal measure of fun anecdotes, interesting facts and honest critique. I would recommend checking those out - like his Metal Wolf Chaos video.

Tim Rogers is Performance Art.

Because of this thread I have a new favorite YouTube channel, thank you all for the discussion!

I find it funny that people think Tim Rogers is “smug”. He's very smart, probably smarter than a lot of us, but he seems more like a self-aware neurotic that is just as honest about his flaws as he is about his talents. It's heartbreaking hearing him talk about losing a relationship over not being able to have kids, and his story about dismissing an early look at Braid and losing a budding friendship with Jonathan Blow is unflattering and relatable in so many ways.

I do appreciate all the calls to edit his “reviews” down to get rid of all the winding anecdotes and flowery tangents. I wish I could have read your analysis of Hunter S Thompson's Mint 400 coverage. “He could have edited out all this drug bullshit. I'm not reading 204 pages of this self-indulgent navel-gazing!”

With Jeff Grubb recently reconfirming this on Grubbsnax. Tim Togers is a Madman and here’s his new review of Cyberpunk 2077

https://youtu.be/LnBKX_vdYQI

Before his review of Tokimeki Memorial is the first time I heard that title and after hearing him say it those 100s of time now I can't get it out of my head. He is hilarious and as far as long form reviews go this is king.

You know what. I only looked at the run-time. But if it's broken down like that - I'll give it a try.

Tim has been 50/50 a bit.

I find him funny and insightful, and I enjoy his tangents and at least seemingly sincere personal anecdotes. I also can totally see people finding him insufferable, because yeah, he is a madman and yeah, he is unequivocally a hipster. Dictionary definition. Just, you know, a smart and funny hipster.