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Giant Bomb GOTY 2014 - Destiny Has Brought Us Here

Nestunt said:
I dont think it is. At least thats not why I pay silver membership

I go to Giantbomb to hear about the tons of hours they spent in ONE game they love. Not the end of 10 hour playthrough for review the other sites do

If I want variety I will go to big outlets with huge staff. Throughout the years I see Jeff, Brad, Vinny, Ryan, Alex, Patrick as their tastes, and I expect to hear their opinions based on that. Its a personality driven site. Dont change. Its a niche, but a very successful niche that resonates with a lot of people. They wont play games just for the sake of having Dragon Age on their top ten like every other site. And if Dragon Age is not there is probably because it is a bit overrated
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I don't think people are suggesting they change their basic format, at least I'm not, but I like hearing their opinions on games. I'd rather hear Brad's informed opinion on more games rather than fewer, that's it.

I mean take Patrick for example. He stepped out of his comfort zone a couple years back and now they're talking about Danganronpa in their GOTY discussions. Change isn't always a bad thing.
 
Nestunt said:
I dont think it is. At least thats not why I pay silver membership

I go to Giantbomb to hear about the tons of hours they spent in ONE game they love. Not the end of 10 hour playthrough for review the other sites do

If I want variety I will go to big outlets with huge staff. Throughout the years I see Jeff, Brad, Vinny, Ryan, Alex, Patrick as their tastes, and I expect to hear their opinions based on that. Its a personality driven site. Dont change. Its a niche, but a very successful niche that resonates with a lot of people. They wont play games just for the sake of having Dragon Age on their top ten like every other site. And if Dragon Age is not there is probably because it is a bit overrated
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Yeah, I agree with you. It's why I've been a regular on the site since the beginning and also pay for premium. Just wanted some of the guys to be a bit more open minded. Still love them 💞
 
Telling the bomb crew to play more games because "that's their job" doesn't really work when their job is ultimately what Jeff or CBSi tells them to do/gives them the freedom to do, not necessarily what we expect them to do.

I'd love it if some of the crew naturally played more games, or liked more of the games I liked, but sometimes they don't and that's fine. I love it much more that they have the freedom to do things like put a (technically) 2013 game as their personal GOTY, and that they don't feign enthusiasm or passion at times when there isn't any there.

At least if you're gonna demand more of something, demand more interesting video features like breaking brad and mgscanlon; don't demand they put more time into video games they're not interested in, just so that they can make a case for them in an end-of-year feature you'll have mostly forgotten about next month.
 
Berserker976 said:
I don't think people are suggesting they change their basic format, at least I'm not, but I like hearing their opinions on games. I'd rather hear Brad's informed opinion on more games rather than fewer, that's it.

I mean take Patrick for example. He stepped out of his comfort zone a couple years back and now they're talking about Danganronpa in their GOTY discussions. Change isn't always a bad thing.
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I am not arguing for small coverage. I am saying that they should cover games for the right reasons. Even though I prefer games like Dragon Age or Bayonetta I prefer to hear Brad's take on Destiny and Dota (games that I despise) because he goes to great lengths in describing them because of the the amount of time he spent there. Thats the more informative "games journalism" out there. Thats why I found Rorie's review one of the best in recent years.

I think people are too stuck to calendar year in these awards ceremonies across media (even movies). Art and design should always be judged and appreciated to see what really is more contextual and what really is more intemporal. I find it kinda reinvigorating to see Dota on his list. Thats a great testament to that game despite my hate for it. But I can appreciate that.
 
So Brad's GOTY list is wrong of course it's wrong we're talking about Brad. He hates good games.

Don't take any of this too seriously guys. They're just some stupid lists anyway.

Brad's and Jeff's GOTY video I liked the most so far. Brad's so kawaiidesune.
 
Nestunt said:
I am not arguing for small coverage. I am saying that they should cover games for the right reasons. Even though I prefer games like Dragon Age or Bayonetta I prefer to hear Brad's take on Destiny and Dota (games that I despise) because he goes to great lengths in describing them because of the the amount of time he spent there. Thats the more informative "games journalism" out there. Thats why I found Rorie's review one of the best in recent years.

I think people are too stuck to calendar year in these awards ceremonies across media (even movies). Art and design should always be judged and appreciated to see what really is more contextual and what really is more intemporal. I find it kinda reinvigorating to see Dota on his list. Thats a great testament to that game despite my hate for it. But I can appreciate that.
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I see what your saying, and I agree with you somewhat, but in his honorable mentions part Brad specifically lists some games as "games he wishes he'd spent more time with." Which means it's not a matter of forcing himself to spend time with games he's not interested in, it's a matter of one or two games monopolizing his time at the expense of others.

Edit: So it's not all dourness and criticism, Jason and Dan's segments on the GOTY videos cemented them as full GB members for me. Jason's segment in particular was legendary.
 
While I don't mind how many games they play or not, I would like them to have less of a dismissive attitude to games they haven't tried much. Take Demon's Souls and how that game was shat on by everyone except Vinny when it first came out. Fast forward 5 years and now most of them like the series.
 
Berserker976 said:
I see what your saying, and I agree with you somewhat, but in his honorable mentions part Brad specifically lists some games as "games he wishes he'd spent more time with." Which means it's not a matter of forcing himself to spend time with games he's not interested in, it's a matter of one or two games monopolizing his time at the expense of others.
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Like a whole lot of people in this world who have money and would "wish" to play those games but cant stop playing Destiny and Dota. Dont get me wrong, I dont see the appeal of those two games. But the fact is that a LOT of people this year spent a LOT of time playing those two games. Brad is the best "investigative reporter" we have on those cases. I want to hear why and understand the phenomenon. I cant go to IGN or Gamespot for that
 
Bumhead said:
But every single thing you've just said about Skyrim is subjective opinion based on what you think. Skyrim isn't an objective standard of quality. Not even close.

I think Skyrim is fucking garbage. There were several games that I thought were more "pretty awesome", "a thing", "superb" and "Ah yiss! This is why I love vidya gaems!" than Skyrim in 2014.

End of year lists always boil down to opinion and nothing more. It's why I like Giant Bomb's (and to an extent, GAF's) approach of deciding them as they take so many different opinions into account.
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Yeah, it's subjective. From my point of view 2014 was a shit year for games.

From an objective point of view there were a lot more high profile disappointments and broken AAA games this year too. I personally can't wait to burn 2014 to the fucking ground (video games-wise) and start over in 2015.
 
Hm, reading the thread I have to wonder about the Alex hate. I must be missing something but I really like his persona, have a lot of fun watching his quicklooks with Vinny, strange.
 
disastermouse said:
Did they love Oblivion or Morrowind though? Skyrim gets hate because it got a lot larger audience than did the previous games.
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I hate Skyrim, it dumbs down way too many things. I've been playing through Morrowind (I picked it up on a daily deal) to see if my nostalgia blinds me from how bad the game is. I thought it was, when 2 out of 3 attacks kept missing but after I got past that hump I starting enjoying it a lot more, especially breaking the game's systems over my knee. It's great because in order to attain overwhelming power (like being able to enchant constant effects on your items) there are a lot of little steps to do, which turns into a journey itself, unlike things written for you by a designer or writer. Things aren't handed to you on a silver platter, unlike in Skyrim, and I can only break the game as I'm doing because of an extremely deep knowledge of the game's mechanics and world.
 
demidar said:
I hate Skyrim, it dumbs down way too many things. I've been playing through Morrowind (I picked it up on a daily deal) to see if my nostalgia blinds me from how bad the game is. I thought it was, when 2 out of 3 attacks kept missing but after I got past that hump I starting enjoying it a lot more, especially breaking the game's systems over my knee. It's great because in order to attain overwhelming power (like being able to enchant constant effects on your items) there are a lot of little steps to do, which turns into a journey itself, unlike things written for you by a designer or writer. Things aren't handed to you on a silver platter, unlike in Skyrim, and I can only break the game as I'm doing because of an extremely deep knowledge of the game's mechanics and world.
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I guess I'm just not as hardcore. I bow before your greatness.

I still think 2014 was a shitty year for video games.
 
Auto-Reply said:
Hm, reading the thread I have to wonder about the Alex hate. I must be missing something but I really like his persona, have a lot of fun watching his quicklooks with Vinny, strange.
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Alex is great. His GameSpot review of Big Rigs from 10 years ago is one of the best video reviews ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR3a0gixfwI

Earlier this year, he mentioned to Patrick on their morning show that he nearly got to interview the guy who made this game for Giant Bomb this year in relation to another project. He joked that it was the closest to a Frost Nixon moment the video games industry would ever have.
 
Dat Brad filibuster incoming? Dat Brad filibuster incoming.

Dave Lang's Destiny (tm) is gonna be #10. Mark my words.

Edit:

I always liked Alex. He has his heart in the right place + is not afraid to speak his mind. He's also really grown on camera and as a talker since he's started Bombin' with Patrick.
 
disastermouse said:
I guess I'm just not as hardcore. I bow before your greatness.

I still think 2014 was a shitty year for video games.
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It's not that, it's just Skyrim is very rote. You know the best, most efficient way of doing anything, whether it be combat, casting, traversal or doing quests because the game's not complex, but the skill execution to do it in that best, most efficient way is also way too damn easy. None of it makes you think, which is my biggest problem with it.

For what it's worth, I think 2014 is okay when it comes to game quality. I've recently started getting real tired of AAA releases and have been playing smaller games (and Nintendo stuff) so all the broken games don't really affect me (though on principle I will diss them for being hot messes).
 
danm999 said:
Alex is great. His GameSpot review of Big Rigs from 10 years ago is one of the best video reviews ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR3a0gixfwI

Earlier this year, he mentioned to Patrick on their morning show that he nearly got to interview the guy who made this game for Giant Bomb this year in relation to another project. He joked that it was the closest to a Frost Nixon moment the video games industry would ever have.
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His Robocop review is also pretty fantastic
 
Destiny being the top 10 is a lock by virtue of most of them playing it but I really want to hear the dumb mudslinging to push it higher.
 
Manbig said:
I'm on team Bayonetta 2 for this one. I very much enjoyed Mordor, but Bayo 2 just shits on everything else.
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team Mordor here :P

I loved Bayonetta. Because its more Bayonetta. The Nemesis System and better AC/Batman all in one just surprised me
 
demidar said:
I hate Skyrim, it dumbs down way too many things. I've been playing through Morrowind (I picked it up on a daily deal) to see if my nostalgia blinds me from how bad the game is. I thought it was, when 2 out of 3 attacks kept missing but after I got past that hump I starting enjoying it a lot more, especially breaking the game's systems over my knee. It's great because in order to attain overwhelming power (like being able to enchant constant effects on your items) there are a lot of little steps to do, which turns into a journey itself, unlike things written for you by a designer or writer. Things aren't handed to you on a silver platter, unlike in Skyrim, and I can only break the game as I'm doing because of an extremely deep knowledge of the game's mechanics and world.
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The systems in Morrowind are more complex but they're still broken and not very good. You can cast buffs that buff your buffs until you have infinite health / mana, permanent levitation and 1-shot kill spells. Any challenge in that game is entirely self imposed. Dumbing it down the way they did in Skyrim wasn't necessarily the right way to go, but they never had a good foundation to iterate on. In my opinion they should just gut all the systems in those games and build something better from the ground up. Also, Morrowind is good despite its problems, because the other parts make up for it. Skyrim, well they dumbed down the rest as well.
 
Nestunt said:
I found Mordor's combat more satisfying

Stealth in Batman and world are better
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Agree with you there.

Also, Skyrim is fucking amazing. I still play that game from time to time, it has one of the best modding scenes ever and is still regularly in the top 5 games played on Steam (which is INSANE, especially since it's a single player game). I was behind Skyrim as GOTY from day 1, and still am. I agree that the scaled levelling system wasn't good, but the world and the rest of the game more than made up for it (and now you can use mods with other systems, so who cares now).

edit: You don't need any deep knowledge of Morrowind to completely break that game, come on now.
 
After listening to the first four days of podcasts, I hope that for next year, Jeff just declares himself the MC of the Game of the Year proceedings, picks 2-3 games for each category and the overall #1 GOTY, and if anyone wants to change any of his picks, they have to convince him personally. Because that's what already happens, and stating it plainly would be much more honest.

It's ridiculous to sit there and listen to him say over and over again that something isn't making the list just because he doesn't like it (or couldn't be bothered to play it, which is even better), and offering next to no reason other than something like "Only idiots like this" and employing the time-honored "More louder = more better" method of arguing. He could at least be open about it and say he runs the site so his choices are going on the list regardless of what anyone else thinks instead of constantly repeating nonsense like "We're talking about the people at this table." (Which, of course, just means him.)
 
Dunbar said:
After listening to the first four days of podcasts, I hope that for next year, Jeff just declares himself the MC of the Game of the Year proceedings, picks 2-3 games for each category and the overall #1 GOTY, and if anyone wants to change any of his picks, they have to convince him personally. Because that's what already happens, and stating it plainly would be much more honest.

It's ridiculous to sit there and listen to him say over and over again that something isn't making the list just because he doesn't like it (or couldn't be bothered to play it, which is even better), and offering next to no reason other than something like "Only idiots like this" and employing the time-honored "More louder = more better" method of arguing. He could at least be open about it and say he runs the site so his choices are going on the list regardless of what anyone else thinks instead of constantly repeating nonsense like "We're talking about the people at this table." (Which, of course, just means him.)
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TLOU winning so many awards last year pretty much contradicts this
 
Dunbar said:
After listening to the first four days of podcasts, I hope that for next year, Jeff just declares himself the MC of the Game of the Year proceedings, picks 2-3 games for each category and the overall #1 GOTY, and if anyone wants to change any of his picks, they have to convince him personally. Because that's what already happens, and stating it plainly would be much more honest.

It's ridiculous to sit there and listen to him say over and over again that something isn't making the list just because he doesn't like it (or couldn't be bothered to play it, which is even better), and offering next to no reason other than something like "Only idiots like this" and employing the time-honored "More louder = more better" method of arguing. He could at least be open about it and say he runs the site so his choices are going on the list regardless of what anyone else thinks instead of constantly repeating nonsense like "We're talking about the people at this table." (Which, of course, just means him.)
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Well, Smash made it as to the top 3 of best local multiplayer at least ;) I can't remember many categories he stnewalled this year. And yeah, TLoU last year is a pretty big counterpoint to this.
 
Dunbar said:
After listening to the first four days of podcasts, I hope that for next year, Jeff just declares himself the MC of the Game of the Year proceedings, picks 2-3 games for each category and the overall #1 GOTY, and if anyone wants to change any of his picks, they have to convince him personally. Because that's what already happens, and stating it plainly would be much more honest.

It's ridiculous to sit there and listen to him say over and over again that something isn't making the list just because he doesn't like it (or couldn't be bothered to play it, which is even better), and offering next to no reason other than something like "Only idiots like this" and employing the time-honored "More louder = more better" method of arguing. He could at least be open about it and say he runs the site so his choices are going on the list regardless of what anyone else thinks instead of constantly repeating nonsense like "We're talking about the people at this table." (Which, of course, just means him.)
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Nah. Jeff doesn't really control the awards. If he did TLOU never would have won GOTY last year.

And Destiny would have won Most Dissapointing this year.

And Smash wouldn't have made it on the "Best Local Multiplayer" list.

And Saints Row 3 would have won over Skyrim. etc etc etc
 
Nestunt said:
I found Mordor's combat more satisfying

Stealth in Batman and world are better
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Interesting, the animations were cool for sure, but it felt extremely hollow and didn't really expand much past the initial basic stuff. Also I found the later enemies extremely frustrating to fight against.
 
I think the reason some people feel like Jeff "controls" this is because 1) his taste in games is very different from a lot of people on GAF, especially Nintendo fans, 2) he can be very loud about stuff :P But going by the evidence, he often gets one game on the overall list that wouldn't be there otherwise, but not much else in terms of results.
 
Myggen said:
I think the reason some people feel like Jeff "controls" this is because 1) his taste in games is very different from a lot of people on GAF, especially Nintendo fans, 2) he can be very loud about stuff :P But going by the evidence, he often gets one game on the overall list that wouldn't be there otherwise, but not much else in terms of results.
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This

and said game usually is so whimsical that should be mentioned
 
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