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[ShockingAlberto]

I thought Witcher 2 was great, but everyone at GB definitely hated it. Well, I don't know of anyone who played it besides Jeff and Vinny, but Jeff definitely hated it. He played the first few encounters, didn't like it, and it's been a Bad Game ever since.

 

[tchocky]

MM maybe, and even then it's going to be a rerelease so they're not going to count it for most categories. I dont remember hearing him say anything about FE, I'm not sure STEAM will get any attention from him either

Dan was asked to do a top 10 for goty 2013 and put Fire Emblem in his top 10. I think he has mentioned loving Advance Wars as well. http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/dan-ryckert-s-top-10-games-of-2013/1100-4811/

8. Fire Emblem: Awakening

Despite featuring every JRPG narrative cliche in the book, this 3DS strategy title manages to impress with deep combat systems and consistently tense battles (helped in no small part by the penalty of permadeath). I’d frequently fail at missions time and time again after dedicating over a half hour to them, but it rarely felt unfair. Like the best strategy games, it simply made me want to rethink my approach and get back on the field.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

The problem with Ground Zeroes and whether or not the ending is ignorable is that you can not, can not, can not convince someone who thinks Kojima is the greatest writer in the world that he fucked up. The ending of MGS4 won't convince those people, nothing will.

Kojima punches above his weight class, he manages to write some incredible things given the constraints of the medium, the language barrier, and other obstacles. But he has a lot of missteps that, because of his reputation, people are more than willing to write off as merely one piece of a large puzzle. He's not Xanatos.

No writer in the world is as consistently amazing as fans of Kojima think he is.

 

[broncobuster]

What game do you expect to be AAA, from well-known and otherwise talented developers, but kind of shitty

Batman has a good chance at that

Zelda, Quantum Break, and The Division are contenders. No Mans Sky is another, if he's not the type to ask what you do in it.

 

[erawsd]

I thought Witcher 2 was great, but everyone at GB definitely hated it. Well, I don't know of anyone who played it besides Jeff and Vinny, but Jeff definitely hated it. He played the first few encounters, didn't like it, and it's been a Bad Game ever since.

Vinny really enjoyed it.

 

[Infinite Justice]

I thought Witcher 2 was great, but everyone at GB definitely hated it. Well, I don't know of anyone who played it besides Jeff and Vinny, but Jeff definitely hated it. He played the first few encounters, didn't like it, and it's been a Bad Game ever since.

Patrick played it on 360 and loved it but he's no longer GB now

 

[JayEH]

More importantly, what's going to be Brad's big "But c'mon guys, it's _____. It's a big game!"?

Destiny was this year but what we're past examples of this. Someone here mentioned that Brad always pulls what he did with destiny every year and I just can't remember what happened in past years.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I thought Witcher 2 was great, but everyone at GB definitely hated it. Well, I don't know of anyone who played it besides Jeff and Vinny, but Jeff definitely hated it. He played the first few encounters, didn't like it, and it's been a Bad Game ever since.

Didn't Brad(?) once make some comment insinuating that Witcher 2 was some kind of buggy disaster at launch and nobody could figure out what he was talking about?

 

[Fevaweva]

I thought Witcher 2 was great, but everyone at GB definitely hated it. Well, I don't know of anyone who played it besides Jeff and Vinny, but Jeff definitely hated it. He played the first few encounters, didn't like it, and it's been a Bad Game ever since.

Jeff, Vinny and Ryan all played it (also Dave Snider) and I remember Jeff really liking it, it got to no. 5 the year it came out after all

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Didn't Brad(?) once make some comment insinuating that Witcher 2 was some kind of buggy disaster at launch and nobody could figure out what he was talking about?

Oh, yeah.

He was using the fact that they added a tutorial to the beginning of the game as evidence that it was garbage.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Dave's Eastern-European Game of the Year still needs to be a thing.

Didn't Brad once make some comment insinuating that Witcher 2 was some kind of buggy disaster at launch and nobody could figure out what he was talking about?

One of them said it was a disaster at launch because the tutorial could be played in the wrong order or something, which made learning the combat more difficult. I guess it was Brad?

Ludicrous comment, in any case.

 

[JayEH]

The problem with Ground Zeroes and whether or not the ending is ignorable is that you can not, can not, can not convince someone who thinks Kojima is the greatest writer in the world that he fucked up. The ending of MGS4 won't convince those people, nothing will.

Kojima punches above his weight class, he manages to write some incredible things given the constraints of the medium, the language barrier, and other obstacles. But he has a lot of missteps that, because of his reputation, people are more than willing to write off as merely one piece of a large puzzle. He's not Xanatos.

No writer in the world is as consistently amazing as fans of Kojima think he is.

He's pretty good though.

Didn't Brad once make some comment insinuating that Witcher 2 was some kind of buggy disaster at launch and nobody could figure out what he was talking about?

I think that was on the podcast a few weeks ago when they talked about The Witcher 3 delay. It's statements like that show how out of touch the GB guys can be sometimes.

 

[Kelas]

I never understood what the big deal about the start of tw2 was. I played it on launch day and the "worst" thing I remember was it taking me a few stumbles in one of the first combat encounters to get the controls down, and that was it. In the few times it's been brought up on the bombcast over the years since it was released, it has been remembered worse and worse than it actually was.

 

[Wiseblood]

I think a lot of people saw the dragon option and thought "Oooh, that sounds cool" and picked it first and got slaughtered. Didn't they change it so that the dragon segment isn't even an option the first time anymore?

 

[Lunar15]

Destiny was this year but what we're past examples of this. Someone here mentioned that Brad always pulls what he did with destiny every year and I just can't remember what happened in past years.

2012 Skyrim has to be the most perfect example of this. A better pick than Destiny, to be sure, but it was really really funny just hearing his arguments against the rest of the team boil down to "How could it not be Skyrim? it's such a big, important AAA game!"

Brad just likes big, flashy, event games. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and often times I'm exactly the same. But since the rest of the crew isn't really all about that, it's pretty funny hearing him go up against that every year. It always angers people on GAF too because it's usually some mega-popular game that GAF just isn't into as much. Good times.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I think a lot of people saw the dragon option and thought "Oooh, that sounds cool" and picked it first and got slaughtered. Didn't they change it so that the dragon segment isn't even an option the first time anymore?

Yup. You could originally play through one of any four of the tutorial segments from the start, but the Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition changed it so that there was a basic tutorial (overkill) beforehand, and the old tutorial was now a linear progression of events.

I recall choosing the dragon option first on release and relishing how difficult the combat was. Oh, how people differ...

 

[Jb]

Didn't Brad(?) once make some comment insinuating that Witcher 2 was some kind of buggy disaster at launch and nobody could figure out what he was talking about?

If Brad played games as much as he read about them on message boards and twitter his contributions to the podcast would be vastly more interesting.

 

[JayEH]

If Brad played games as much as he read about them on message boards and twitter his contributions to the podcast would be vastly more interesting.

Ouch. Ice cold.

2012 Skyrim has to be the most perfect example of this. A better pick than Destiny, to be sure, but it was really really funny just hearing his arguments against the rest of the team boil down to "How could it not be Skyrim? it's such a big, important AAA game!"

Brad just likes big, flashy, event games. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and often times I'm exactly the same. But since the rest of the crew isn't really all about that, it's pretty funny hearing him go up against that every year. It always angers people on GAF too because it's usually some mega-popular game that GAF just isn't into as much. Good times.

Ahh yes, I remember the classic Skyrim vs Saints row debate.

 

[CosmicQueso]

If Brad played games as much as he read about them on message boards and twitter his contributions to the podcast would be vastly more interesting.

Ahhh, so he is a GAF member... Playing games? Pshhhhhh

(I agree with his thoughts on Destiny)

 

[broncobuster]

Anybody have a list of games spoiled in Best Moment? So long as Danganronpa isn't mentioned, I think I'm fine with it.

 

[JayEH]

Anybody have a list of games spoiled in Best Moment? So long as Danganronpa isn't mentioned, I think I'm fine with it.

It's mentioned.

 

[Proc]

Andrew Allen.

So good! Thanks everyone!

 

[broncobuster]

It's mentioned.

Of course it is. Thanks.

 

[Vyzendir]

Jazzpunk is the one game that, more than any other that I can remember, made me feel like I had wasted my time (moreso than my money) on playing it. The fact that Giant Bomb loved it as much as they did - enough to put it into their top 10 of the year - makes me a lot more wary to listen to their suggestions in future.

 

[Real Hero]

Jazz Punk is hilarious. I'm not sure why you would even go past the first few jokes if you didn't like it, it doesn't exactly hide what it is.

 

[Vyzendir]

I was told it was pretty short and I thought I'd give it a chance the whole way through. I knew I was going to end up talking to my friends about why I didn't like it, so I wanted to play enough to be able to articulate why. Plus I was sort of hoping that maybe once I got a bit further in I'd have softened up to that kind of humour.

Also I hate myself I guess I dunno.

But yeah, it's not Jazzpunk's fault that I kept playing it, but I still resent it for the time I spent even if I had quit when I wanted to.

 

[Corgi]

patrick was the one that really liked witcher 2 right?


But yeah, Jeff is probably gonna hate every single game in the top 10 list.... so splatoon or mario maker will win if either turns out ok.


Or maybe MGS5 if Dan got a good passion speech. Would be even better if drew catches up on MGS3 and 4 and beats 5.

which was the last 3d zelda the current staff liked? Wind waker?

 

[rouken]

so uh patrick works at kotaku now?

just read from my FB feed: Hi Kotaku, I'm Patrick Klepek

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

so uh patrick works at kotaku now?

Holy shit... What a letdown...

 

[RE_Player]

so uh patrick works at kotaku now?

Extremely disappointed. Good luck to him though.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

so uh patrick works at kotaku now?

Well I'll be.

 

[chaobreaker]

Holy shit... What a letdown...

Extremely disappointed. Good luck to him though.

Kotaku isn't as crappy as it used to be.

 

[Wiseblood]

Kotaku isn't as crappy as it used to be.

Brian Ashcraft still works there.

Hey, did you know McDonalds is only selling small sized fries in Japan?

 

[firehawk12]

Let's be honest though. Any news that Patrick breaks will be posted here immediately, so you don't have to read through the cruft anyway.

 

[CarbonFire]

so uh patrick works at kotaku now?

just read from my FB feed: Hi Kotaku, I'm Patrick Klepek

Well best of luck to him. Maybe he can help turn the site into something worth visiting?

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

Kotaku isn't as crappy as it used to be.

Still a letdown. I mean, it makes sense given that he prefers written stuff but... Uh...

 

[pelican]

Wonder why he left GB to go to Kotaku?

Seems an odd move, but good luck to him.

 

[chaobreaker]

Brian Ashcraft still works there.

Hey, did you know McDonalds is only selling small sized fries in Japan?

Is that really something worth to get mad about?

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

Is that really something worth to get mad about?

He does daily and for worse stuff. (Pantsu!)

Still, Ashcraft can be a good reporter when he has the chance (Sony Japan article)

 

[eot]

I never understood what the big deal about the start of tw2 was. I played it on launch day and the "worst" thing I remember was it taking me a few stumbles in one of the first combat encounters to get the controls down, and that was it. In the few times it's been brought up on the bombcast over the years since it was released, it has been remembered worse and worse than it actually was.

I played the unpatched version too. The combat was fairly punishing, but not broken hard. I never quite got what all the fuss was about either, at least not in the early game. First Letho fight was kinda rough.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Wonder why he left GB to go to Kotaku?

Seems an odd move, but good luck to him.

The obvious answer is that Gawker probably pays their Kotaku writers better than CBS pays the staff writer that doesn't work in the main studio of their not-Gamespot site and presumably Patrick wants to, you know, have a family at some point.

Unless you're unmarried, childless, and/or actually own the site you have you sold to CBS, video game journalist staff writer for a second-tier website (in terms of traffic) is probably not going to be enough to live on.

Vinny used to be video producer for all of Whiskey Media and currently helps CBS with CNET stuff (and Gamespot stuff when he was still in SF). I imagine that makes him valuable enough to pay more.

 

[Tripon]

Is that really something worth to get mad about?

No, the maddening thing about Brian Ashcraft is that he steals his stories straight from 2ch to paint Japan as a racist caricature that he can mock for the clicks.

 

[Haunted]

Patrick will be missed. Shame I won't be able to see his articles or videos anymore.

Here's hoping the decision turns out well for him, best of luck!

 

[Leafhopper]

so uh patrick works at kotaku now?

just read from my FB feed: Hi Kotaku, I'm Patrick Klepek

What the hell...

Well good luck either way.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Also, Dan is my new hero. He bled for Mario Kart 8, even when Alex left him drowning at sea and all hope seemed lost.

I didn't care about Mario Kart, picked up it in July after the hype and the get a free game promotion...and it wound up being by far my most played game of the year. Over 100 hours, I played it solo, online, with my girlfriend, with my family, with my friends.

I beat every Nintendo employee's track time, unlock every racer and part, 3 starred every cup, got all the DLC & a bunch of amiibos...and I'm still looking forward to the next round in May, and hoping they announce more after that. That game deserves its due.

 

[Nibel]

What game do you expect to be AAA, from well-known and otherwise talented developers, but kind of shitty

Batman has a good chance at that

Couldn't he apply his DOTA2 strategy to Destiny when the next big DLC hits later this year?

 

[border]

It's lame that Dan is a hero for digging his heels in to get Mario Kart 8 on the list, but Brad is a villain for doing exactly the same thing with Destiny. Jeff would have done the same for CoD except that he has so much seniority nobody dares go toe-to-toe with him. It seems like 4-5 people got games on the list through their own force of will. That's what makes this deliberation interesting though. Lame choices based around staff consensus are how we wound up with a boring GOTY like Shadow of Mordor, where it feels more like the least offensive choice than the best game.

That said, I'm surprised Brad had such an ill-prepared argument in favor of Destiny, as it's clear he knew a showdown was inevitable. Your selling point for that game should be that it's taking multiplayer FPS co-op to the next level in raids, not that "Running those old missions again at a high level is different!" The Nightfalls actually can come close to feeling like classic Legendary-difficulty Halo at times when you're seriously under pressure.

 

[daemissary]

Finally finished the last day of podcasts.

Saying that Destiny deserves to be on the Giant Bomb top 10 because Brad loved it is insane. There were tons of other people in that room that haaaaaaaated it and that should count against it. Whereas Patrick loved Divinity and everyone else either liked it or were mostly indifferent to it. Doesn't that seem like a better consensus?

 

[Flipyap]

The problem with Ground Zeroes and whether or not the ending is ignorable is that you can not, can not, can not convince someone who thinks Kojima is the greatest writer in the world that he fucked up. The ending of MGS4 won't convince those people, nothing will.

Kojima punches above his weight class, he manages to write some incredible things given the constraints of the medium, the language barrier, and other obstacles. But he has a lot of missteps that, because of his reputation, people are more than willing to write off as merely one piece of a large puzzle. He's not Xanatos.

No writer in the world is as consistently amazing as fans of Kojima think he is.

What constraints of which medium? Kojima writes lengthy radio dramas and CGI anime scripts, neither of which ever come into contact with the interactive parts of his work.
Writing boss taunts might be the only time he comes close to having to consider what works and doesn't work in video game writing.

 

[tchocky]

It's lame that Dan is a hero for digging his heels in to get Mario Kart 8 on the list, but Brad is a villain for doing exactly the same thing with Destiny. Jeff would have done the same for CoD except that he has so much seniority nobody dares go toe-to-toe with him. It seems like 4-5 people got games on the list through their own force of will. That's what makes this deliberation interesting though.

The difference between MK, COD and Destiny is Dan was not the only one who enjoyed MK, Alex also had it as one of his favourite games of the year and with COD Dan also really liked it and even Patrick had some positive things to say about it. With Destiny it is not just that Brad was the only one who loved it, half the crew hated it and not in the Brad and Jeff hate Mario Kart 8 because they will always hate every MK and will never play it outside of a ql but the destiny haters wanted to like it and were looking forward to it and played it for over a dozen hours each and disliked multiple things about the game which they mentioned repeatedly.Dan made multiple arguments for MK including its the best MK ever, great solo, local and online, fantastic dlc great music, visuals etc. rad made no such arguments he just said he wanted it in the top 10 and waited for the others to give up.