It's the cool multiplayer thing they liked the most in 2019. It's not science.
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Giant Bomb |GOTY 2019| Take Control of the Outer Wilds
- Thread starter Death Metalist
- Start date
It's the cool multiplayer thing they liked the most in 2019. It's not science.
PUBG that year wasn't a controversial pick at all if you payed attention to what they played throughout the year.
Their top 10 this year is pretty good.
- Call of Duty is kind of a boring pick, but not unexpected.
- I feel they're only as high as they are on MK11 because they're not going to stick with a fighting game beyond the single player anyway.
- Ring Fit Adventure is good for what it is, but to be real that is more of a workout app vaguely in the shape of a game.
- Biggest snubs: DMCV and Sekiro
Biggest issue with the ranking is still that not enough people have played enough games, so the discussion around certain games just falls flat if only 1 or 2 people have played it, regardless of the actual quality.
Their top 10 this year is pretty good.
- Call of Duty is kind of a boring pick, but not unexpected.
- I feel they're only as high as they are on MK11 because they're not going to stick with a fighting game beyond the single player anyway.
- Ring Fit Adventure is good for what it is, but to be real that is more of a workout app vaguely in the shape of a game.
- Biggest snubs: DMCV and Sekiro
Biggest issue with the ranking is still that not enough people have played enough games, so the discussion around certain games just falls flat if only 1 or 2 people have played it, regardless of the actual quality.
MK11 has a lot of fantastic stuff to do with a pretty great fighting game story. Somehow pretending the fact that they're not FGC pros doesn't invalidate that, 99.9% of the videogame audience isn't FGC pros either.
One of the big reasons MK remains huge while 'better' fighters don't is because they don't cater at all to regular people.
Wonder how a GB game of the decade would fare?
The feeling is games like Shadow of Mordor should not be there but they had more fun with it than Bayo 2, the year just wasn't good really. Jeff isn't one for changing, would still be the middle finger to TLOU, RDR.
They could do a video conference style game of the decade, trial out a East and West call.
The feeling is games like Shadow of Mordor should not be there but they had more fun with it than Bayo 2, the year just wasn't good really. Jeff isn't one for changing, would still be the middle finger to TLOU, RDR.
They could do a video conference style game of the decade, trial out a East and West call.
What I mean is that IMO MK is just an OK fighting game that gets elevated by all the side stuff around it like the story, production values, the secrets, the fatalities etc. I feel most of the GB guys would have liked it about the same if had just been the story mode, and probably would have actually liked it less if they stuck with it longer.
Yeah I got what you mean, but what makes a fighting game good for the average gamer and what makes a fihgting game good for the FGC are very different things.
lol @ people still being upset that PUBG won in 2017 when it was #1 for Jeff and Vinny, #2 for Brad, #3 for Dan, and #4 for Alex
I don't mean this as an elitist / FGC type thing, but I feel a big part of that is that the average gamer actually mostly wants the same things as the FGC people but they just don't know it (yet).
It created a whole new genre of games that's still popular in 2019. Time has only further vindicated that choice more.
I LOL'd when Jeff was confused about the idea of a translator in Outer Wilds. No wonder why he didn't like the game. Very apt comparison to Mario and jumping.
I'm so happy that game is getting its due. Played it when it came out and I was worried at the time that not enough people would pay attention to it.
I'm so happy that game is getting its due. Played it when it came out and I was worried at the time that not enough people would pay attention to it.
I feel like part of the reason Mordor was so high was that it felt like an important game in the industry due to the Nemesis system. I remember all the discussions about how the Nemesis system was brilliant and would start showing up in all these other games. In reality that didn't happen and we only saw a few games like AC: Odyssey do something similar. The fact that it ended up not being this trendsetting & important game has retroactively made it worse imo. Instead of a fairly good game that has a big impact on other games, it's just a fairly good game that no one really thinks or talks about anymore. There's no way it would end up on a top 10 Games of the Decade list.
That would be a strange conversation for them. I think there are only a few legitimate contenders, in genres that now bore much of the GB crowd (they would likely describe them as "a good 'one of those'" if playing them today for the first time):
Skyrim
The Last of Us
Grand Theft Auto 5
Red Dead Redemption 2
Breath of the Wild
Bloodborne
The Witcher 3
God of War
One of my favorite things ever.The Winter Games were great this year, but nothing will top this:
But yaeh, anyone sleeping on the winter games is slipping. Don't get me wrong, no hitsmas bums me out to no end, but winter games has been a fantastic tradition
Saints Row: The Third would finally get its deserved win.
The conversation was largely around pinging etc. The things that Apex bought to the genre that they all said they'd like to see in basically all other multiplayer games. It's not Apex itself that's the 'cool thing'. It's basically the great pinging system.
The Winter Games were great this year, but nothing will top this:
I was just watching this earlier today. This and the staring contest between Alex and Vinny were peak Winter Games.
I also didn't need them to run down all the games they played this year, all the discussion was front loaded in the first two, good thing I had to walk this week otherwise I wouldn't of listened to it at all. I don't know why I feel like this year was actually bad besides Jeff being totally like wtf about the translator LOL & that the GOTY list even if I feel like RFA didn't deserve a spot at all. Y'all about personal rankings more... idk GB hasn't been the same for me since 2017, I also didn't renew this year for the first time I hope it gets better with the coordination between East & West but maybe this isn't for me anymore.
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I love the format where they just discuss every game. Great way to revisit the entire year and it helps ensure they don't miss anything even if a game isn't a great fit for any awards.
I may be in the minority here, but I would be perfectly fine if Giant Bomb scrapped Game of the Year deliberations entirely. It certainly sounds like nobody wants to be there and I feel that the time spent (20+ hours) could be better used on creating fun new content.
In my opinion, the best End of Year/GOTY content is stuff like Winter Games, Hitsmas and Rock Band. I thought that the individual GB crew videos were a nice addition this year. Vinny's 'Favorite Games He Played with His Kids' and Abby's 'Favorite Games She Enjoyed Playing On Stream and Nowhere Else' are content I would love to see more of at this time of year. Jeff spending 2+ hours ranking WWE 2K20 faces is also cool :).
In my opinion, the best End of Year/GOTY content is stuff like Winter Games, Hitsmas and Rock Band. I thought that the individual GB crew videos were a nice addition this year. Vinny's 'Favorite Games He Played with His Kids' and Abby's 'Favorite Games She Enjoyed Playing On Stream and Nowhere Else' are content I would love to see more of at this time of year. Jeff spending 2+ hours ranking WWE 2K20 faces is also cool :).
The GotY podcasts is generally my favorite thing about the site and I would be extremely disappointed if they got rid of them. I do feel it was a little bland and boring this year, but don't just get rid of it as the answer.
The more I think about it, the more I kinda liked the "put it on and take it off" way of mentioning other games because it still was talking about those games in a context very distinct from a regular podcast. Saying xyz game has a really good visual style to it worth mentioning for this catagory even though it won't hang perks my ears up more than "next on this list is xyz game, here is the bullet point list of general thoughts about it that were 100% certainly already said elsewhere, and lets move on".
I don't even listen to half the podcasts, but they repeat the 1 minute general thoughts about the five biggest games of the month often enough I still don't feel I've heard anything new at all in that 3 day recap.
Just make a honorable mention/vibe check list which is automatically assumed to not be in real contention until others jump on.
The more I think about it, the more I kinda liked the "put it on and take it off" way of mentioning other games because it still was talking about those games in a context very distinct from a regular podcast. Saying xyz game has a really good visual style to it worth mentioning for this catagory even though it won't hang perks my ears up more than "next on this list is xyz game, here is the bullet point list of general thoughts about it that were 100% certainly already said elsewhere, and lets move on".
I don't even listen to half the podcasts, but they repeat the 1 minute general thoughts about the five biggest games of the month often enough I still don't feel I've heard anything new at all in that 3 day recap.
Just make a honorable mention/vibe check list which is automatically assumed to not be in real contention until others jump on.
Still my favorite: The hilariously one-sided Perfect Dark match between Dan and Jeff.
I didn't listen yet, but that top 10 looks like they compromised a bit more and gave spots to games only one or two people were passionate about. That's not a negative, just something I take away from looking at the list. Ringfit, Disco, Judgement are three such titles.
Oh did it? See, that's what I get for not listening. I thought that was all Abby.
Oh okay. Well, they let two games two people were super passionate about on, which is better than a game everyone found just okay.
I didn't expect it at all but I was really hoping with the shorter categories that they might drop a GOTD on us. I don't even know where they would have started with that but it would be a fascinating listen I think.
Outside of the nemesis system the rest of the game was about as mediocre as it gets, not surprising no one cares about it.
Another problem that the sequel--Wardor revealed--is that neither game makes Nemeses matter. They're thrown at you like popcorn, so they just become generic enemies, no matter how many configurations are thrown into the mix.
XCOM 2 was a better showcase of a Nemesis System, because it genuinely made the different Nemeses (the Chosen) into game-changing foes. With personality! I remember my tangles with them more than anything in either Shadow Of... game.
XCOM 2 was a better showcase of a Nemesis System, because it genuinely made the different Nemeses (the Chosen) into game-changing foes. With personality! I remember my tangles with them more than anything in either Shadow Of... game.
Oh god i'm having flashbacks to the XCOM 2 Chosen. That game was already super stressful to play. Having them show up in missions... god they had the worst timing. I don't know if I liked them or not. I don't like that they throw a wrench into the methodical and risk-handling gameplay of XCOM, but that was the point of them I assume.
Well, they already included the Alien Leaders or w/e. The Chosen were that, but they came back to taunt you.
Also I'll never be able to forget Waypoint turning the Chosen Hunter into a woke centrist, in their XCOM 2 streams. God it is so good.
Yeah it put it over the line for me. I loved everything else in the expansion, but the delicate balance of manageable stress went into full on stress and it was draining to play. Same reason I don't like horror games or battle royales, they're draining.
Gonna be honest, kinda missed the festive apparel and decorations but things have changed
I do often appreciate that feeling. Something actually sapping the tension out of me to leave me in a tired, emotionally-spent heap can be good at the end of the day.
Day 5 stuff:
Jeff shoulda treated Outer Wilds like an old-school Zelda 2 game. His tolerance for that is huge but in 1P with space combat seems to kill that.
You know.... that's totally a missing aspect. Wish it comes back soon.
Finally got through the podcasts. My thoughts (that no one cares about):
The recapping went on for too long. Cut it down by at least one more day.
The awards went on for too short. The conversation just gets more animated and interesting when they're arguing over something rather than listening as one person explains the impact of a given game. Biggest mess was MIA and I missed it dearly.
The video stuff was great.
The non-staff lists were great.
Loved the "Best music" award section (and came around to agreeing with the winners).
Still can't get into Outer Wilds.
The recapping went on for too long. Cut it down by at least one more day.
The awards went on for too short. The conversation just gets more animated and interesting when they're arguing over something rather than listening as one person explains the impact of a given game. Biggest mess was MIA and I missed it dearly.
The video stuff was great.
The non-staff lists were great.
Loved the "Best music" award section (and came around to agreeing with the winners).
Still can't get into Outer Wilds.
this doesn't seem fair to ring fit at all. if anything the praise about it has been how much of a game it is
Just not feeling the recaps. It's the most surface level, sterile discussion imaginable for a majority of the games covered. It felt like most discussion centered around one or two staff members liking something, saying they liked it, and some staff member who didn't play it saying it sounds cool. Rinse and repeat.
At least with the debates over awards, it usually brought out better discussion on the game in question. It doesn't need to be cutthroat, but it can't become sterile either (which I feel has become a problem with their E3 coverage the past year or two) to the point of having no value.
I don't know what the answer is if the staff feel the old format is dead. I'd like to see more award days than recap days though. Maybe limit how many games they cover by limiting each staff member to 2-3 games they bring to the recap? Put the focus on the games they feel more strongly about instead of going for the quantity approach?
At least with the debates over awards, it usually brought out better discussion on the game in question. It doesn't need to be cutthroat, but it can't become sterile either (which I feel has become a problem with their E3 coverage the past year or two) to the point of having no value.
I don't know what the answer is if the staff feel the old format is dead. I'd like to see more award days than recap days though. Maybe limit how many games they cover by limiting each staff member to 2-3 games they bring to the recap? Put the focus on the games they feel more strongly about instead of going for the quantity approach?
The past 2 years the end of year recalls pods just aren't doing it for me. The fun and goofy categories are what it was all about for me.
There are a million workout games with similar concepts that have came and went. This one happens to have a Nintendo logo on it so of course it has to be treated like the second coming.
Does Giantbomb treat every Nintendo property as "the second coming"? And I think their point is exactly that this is the 1 out of the million fitness games that has finally nailed the concept.