Wow Zeta, again TL ; DR. Make your posts shorter so I'd bother reading them again. Long posts imply timewasting rants to me.
ON ZETA
Except that you should always read what Zeta writes.
His rants are the rants of a
connoisseur, not of a dullard. Nor of an imbecile. Nor of a hipster.
And, honestly, even when he is having fun and just in "Cathartic Rant" (CRT) mode, he can at least back up his hyperbole with some reasoning. Of course, you should counter his reasoning, not his insults, because that's the most important thing.
ON "TRUTH"
Now, on this particular issue of Turok: he is arguing that it is a *categorically bad game*, whereas you are arguing otherwise.
I can't provide any support for either position, since I knew better than to play N64. Trüe Storie.
ON ELITISM
However, when he categorically dismissed Van Halen, you might have sniffed the scent of elitism (as he distanced himself from artless mainstream pop music, proclaiming to have "refined tastes"). I smell prog Rock vinyl!
Granted, this was only an analogy—but it's a start!
ON DETERMINING VALUE
Well, this might be the kernel upon which to (1941) Counter-Attack* Zeta:
should the technical limitations/flaws of a game be the sole criteria for establishing its value?The answer, of course, is HELL NO!
There are countless games that I have had tremendous fun playing playing, despite their "flaws/limitations".
ON VAN HALEN ANALOGY
Just as "tone-deaf vocals and three-chord simplicity" in a damn catchy punk rock song is *not inherently inferior* to the "theoretically amazing mathematical note progression" in a crappy, boring prog Rock song, Turok can genuinely be fun today (or when it was released), despite its perceived/real limitations.
I could go on, but some folks skip long posts. Damn them!
Of course, Turok sucks, but that doesn't mean I can't defend it.
ON FOOTNOTES
*Awesome SuperGrafx game, by the way.
** My goal was to create a long post, but also I should note that I am guilty of elitism when it comes to the arts. And video games. So, maybe I see myself in Zeta.
*** I am not a Van Halen fan.
**** I am not a prog Rock fanbois.
****** I do like some Van Halen songs, though. Damn!
******** I enjoy tons of prog Rock I listened to from my youth, but I don't really seek it out as an adult.
*********** Somewhere hidden in this forum is my guilty pleasure from eons ago: Hard Drivin' on Genesis. Even upon release, that game was "laughable", but I got my money's worth and played it and enjoyed it. I just had to learn how to adjust my sense of time to the game (forgo "real time"). I had way more fun than any objective, scientific, technical critique would allow for. I play Hard Drivin' every few years and still enjoy it.
*************** All of this is inconsequential, since Turok is a prehistoric turd that sucks.
****************** Hard Drivin' is a prehistoric turd, too, but it is superior to every game for the N64, in every way possible.
********************* I don't really hate N64, but the desire to tease wins.
ON EDITS
This post grew until it at least appeared to be longer than Zeta's post. However, I cheated with lots of spacing. Every time I visited the bathroom this morning, I edited the post.