elrechazado
Banned
Because giantbomb is a huge outlier, revealing their bias for the game in a year when nobody else thought it was good. It makes them lose all credibility as professional game journalists.
Giant Bomb's Game of the Year Thread: Skyrim? Skyrim? Skyrim? Skyrim? Skylanders!
- Thread starter The Dutch Slayer
- Start date
Because giantbomb is a huge outlier, revealing their bias for the game in a year when nobody else thought it was good. It makes them lose all credibility as professional game journalists.
Wasn't being sarcastic dude, I'm with you on this!
Didn't imply you were, the experience line at the end is mostly for that wall of text above that talked about how unrivaled the "experience" of Skyrim is when it's not shitting the bed with bugs, where the "experience" is nebulous and undefined, with no real qualities given to it by Loxley or whoever posted it.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Killing an unnamed enemy before you're supposed to... uh, kill him causing a quest line to break isn't consequences, it's a glitch.
funkystudent
Member
well they should have reviewed it then.. thats all I am saying.
Saying they are too close to the game to review it but also not too close to give it a bunch of awards iis a little bit silly.
I do remember jeff saying they where thinking about leaving it off the GOTY awards so its nice to know the idea crossed there minds.
Where the heck did this come from? Did I get knocked unconscious in the first day and missed it entirely?
Yeah, I remember that. Easily the best part of that day.
GillianSeed79
Member
While I agree on Portal 2, I think the whole zietgiest argument is kind of stupid. StuBurns can out argue me with both hands tied behind his back, so this isn't really directed at him. It's more directed at the whole kind of "cult of personality" that exists around Giant Bomb. I think Jeff and Vinny made good arguments why SR3 is a good game and Brad and Patrick made good arguments why Skyrim is a good game.
I just don't think that they should choose their GOTY based on, well, we are Giant Bomb and we are zany and crazy, so we have to choose the game that best represtents our collective personality.
Zany and crazy is great, but a game is more than just atmosphere or tone. I find it funny that one thing they agrued about is that that the shooting kind of sucked in SR3 and the melee combat in Skyrim is kind of repetitive and boring.
I tend to agree and those are two pretty fucking big gameplay mechanics to just kind of off handedly dismiss when you are talking about your top two games of the year.
For the record, I love Giant Bomb. Every single person in that organization. Everyone of the cast seems like just normal dudes who happen to be passionate about videogames. They all just seem so genuine in their love for games.
njean777
Member
That is exactly why I listen to them, but I still think skyrim was the wrong choice.
Any #1 choice that wasn't Portal 2 was going to be the wrong choice, but they wrote it off early in their deliberations.
njean777
Member
yeah Portal 2 was great, but I was on the Saints Row 3 train, that game literally surprised the hell out of me with how good it actually is.
That's fine. I'm still much more disappointed that 1) while I really liked Bastion putting it ahead of Portal 2 is a travesty (or even over Batman AC), and 2) not having Uncharted 3 up there makes me sad.
I don't mind Giant Bomb picking Skyrim ahead of Saints Row, but it was kind of annoying hearing Brad just using all these superlatives and stuff without really giving specific examples. Jeff and Vinny named plenty of specific moments where Saints Row was fun, and moments they didn't like Skyrim.
Whenever Brad said that there were plenty of great sidequests in Skyrim, I kept waiting for him to name one of them, and he never did.
Patrick did a much better job articulating why Skyrim deserved the crown.
Whenever Brad said that there were plenty of great sidequests in Skyrim, I kept waiting for him to name one of them, and he never did.
Patrick did a much better job articulating why Skyrim deserved the crown.
snoopeasystreet
Member
Portal 2 and Skyrim are at ends of one another design-wise. Both are amazing. Saints Row is also great but as a game, it's fluff. Fun fluff but still, there's nothing there outside of crazy animations.
Yeah, he pushed it a bit too much with the hyperbole. When he threw out the "it felt like magic" line I seriously rolled my eyes. I can only imagine Jeff's face, lol. Of course, Brad would argue that it only sounds dumb "out of context", but even in context it's a pretty ridiculous claim that Skyrim's quest-giving structure is anything like "magic".
I think I've said it before but they put a lot of weight in Portal 2's co-op (negatively) as an excuse to drop it a few notches. I haven't played it so maybe there is some substance to that claim. Still my GOTY for the SP alone: great and very solid writing, VA and gameplay mechanics.
I think I've said it before but they put a lot of weight in Portal 2's co-op (negatively) as an excuse to drop it a few notches. I haven't played it so maybe there is some substance to that claim. Still my GOTY for the SP alone: great and very solid writing, VA and gameplay mechanics.
Portal 2's co-op is very, very good, and I'm not sure why Jeff had such a negative experience with it. All the puzzles in it are really well done, and even if you've cleared the single player, there are lots of new distinct mechanics to master.
I'm guessing that some of them (like Jeff) don't really enjoy the puzzle aspect of Portal 2, and since the co-op is lighter on the story/writing than the singleplayer, they didn't have as good a time with it.
Portal 2's co-op is such a different experience from anything else it's easy to rub people the wrong way. Plus Patrick and Ryan had a public shaming when they did a co-op TNT. From the sound of it, Patrick still wasn't entirely over that.
It's a shame the in-game map editor wasn't out yet. That might have been enough of a push to get it to GOTY for these guys.
It's a shame the in-game map editor wasn't out yet. That might have been enough of a push to get it to GOTY for these guys.
GillianSeed79
Member
And this is where I'm going to fundamentally disagree. I played Witcher 2 this year on near ultra settings. I've been playing Skyrim on the highest settings on my PC with only one CTD in 65 hours or so because a background program loaded mid-game.
I spent the first two hours with my first explerience with SR3 PC experimenting because the game crashed my PC in the first 15 minutes of starting. I was getting sub 30 FPS in DX10. Even on low settings in DX10, FPS would dip so low to the point where it was nearly like watching a snap shot. Game works great in DX9 on ultra settings. I'm completely retarded when it comes to PC gaming so I'm sure Dennis is going to show up to laugh at my ATI 5870 laptop that I paid $1,200 for last October and tell me I'm trying to play a PC game on an Atari 2600 graphics chip, but my uneducated point stands.
I loved that one of their best trends of the year was better PC ports of console games. Followed by discussion of how shitty PC ports of console games have been in the past. One of the arguments against Dead Island was that it was unplayable out of the gate on PC. SR2, Jeff said, was unplayable on his PC. Yet one of Jeff's points was that he played through SR3 on PS3 and 360 and was "fooling around" with the PC version.
Just from osmosis I'm glad that I was gifted the PS3 version of Batman AC, since I've heard grumblings about the PC performance. Let's not pretend that the PS3 version of Skyrim is the worst port in all of gaming history.
And I honestly feel bad for all the people that got swindled on the PS3 version of Skryim to the point where someone should email their state's attorney general. Seriously? No one remembers the Blockbuster no late fees fiasco? But then again how many years has this generation lasted? How many bad PS3 ports of PC games have their been? For that matter, how many bad Bethesda PS3 ports have their been outside of Oblivion that, correct me if I'm wrong, was handled by somone else?
These aren't $600 and $400 machines anymore.
I don't know why people are even bringing up the PS3 version of Skyrim when it comes to their choice. They didn't review it and it isn't the version they are awarding GOTY to. They specifically said that.
Do I feel bad for owners of that version? Sure. Should it have shipped like that? No. And that's exactly why the PS3 version of the game was left out.
The bad port of the PS3 version does not diminish how good the game is on other platforms.
Do I feel bad for owners of that version? Sure. Should it have shipped like that? No. And that's exactly why the PS3 version of the game was left out.
The bad port of the PS3 version does not diminish how good the game is on other platforms.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Didn't they disqualify Bayonetta last year for certain awards due to how poorly the PS3 port was? Or am I misremembering? If that was the case then, why the change in policy now?
WrenchNinja
Member
0fps is certainly a reason to have it up there.
Bayonetta was never going to hit top ten. Ryan was the only one who really played it, and even he was pretty hot/cold about it. The problems of the PS3 didn't matter.
GillianSeed79
Member
And that's fine and dandy. Skewer it to all hell. Like I'm saying, email your attorney general's office. They have consumer protection offices. Try to get a refund. There's more than a million of you out there. You have a broken prodcut that deserves a recall.
What I'm saying is that my enjoyment of Skryrim shouldn't be dependent on the fact that one port of it is shit. Especially considering that the machine it was released on doesn't have the best track record for ports. Now, of course, I'm not saying all PS3 mutliplats are unplayable like Skyrim, but it's 2012. This isn't 2006. We've had six years of evidence where, unless it's a first party game or FFXIII, chances are the PS3 multi plat port is either going to be not as good as the other ports or it's near parity.
Again, I feel sorry for the 12-year-old kid who saved up his lunch money to buy a PS3 and has no internet access to get patches, because I was the prior. But then again I don't feel sorry for people who buy a multiplat game in 2012 and then act surprised when the PS3 version underperforms.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Pretty sure they all played quite a lot of it - pretty sure Jeff and Vinny finished it as well as Ryan, and Brad had played some as well. Can't remember the podcasts specifically where those were all discussed as it was spread out over last year.
I only asked about Bayonetta as someone mentioned something about it in a different thread I believe and wanted to verify.
I dunno about that - for the most part, over the past year or two the PS3 version of multiplats have been perfectly fine. Now, if you specifically said Bethesda game, you may have a better point.
WrenchNinja
Member
I did not buy Skyrim on any platform and do not intend to.
How does winning or not winning game of the year affect your enjoyment of Skyrim?
There is a huge difference between being not as good and straight up not working after 60 hours.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I don't think I've felt so out of sorts with GOTY picks than when I listened to GB's deliberations. Outside of Skyrim and Saints Row, I didn't think any of the games they picked belonged on the lists.
Picking MK for anything and then not even considering KOFXIII or MvC3 is just complete insanity. Of course, it's not about me. It's what they like.
It was just so weird to see 5 people all pick games I would never put in a GOTY list, and completely ignore games that I thought were brilliant.
Then I checked Eric Wolpaw and Greg Kasavin's GOTY lists. Those were things of beauty. Especially Wolpaw's.
This is my other issue with GB GOTY deliberations. I get that they all have limited time, but they strike things off the list purely because they didn't all play it. Why didn't they all play it? Because it's not a super popular AAA game that people care about.
Again, I get that they have limited time, but unless one person is downright OBSESSED with the game, it gets unceremoniously ignored.
Picking MK for anything and then not even considering KOFXIII or MvC3 is just complete insanity. Of course, it's not about me. It's what they like.
It was just so weird to see 5 people all pick games I would never put in a GOTY list, and completely ignore games that I thought were brilliant.
Then I checked Eric Wolpaw and Greg Kasavin's GOTY lists. Those were things of beauty. Especially Wolpaw's.
This is my other issue with GB GOTY deliberations. I get that they all have limited time, but they strike things off the list purely because they didn't all play it. Why didn't they all play it? Because it's not a super popular AAA game that people care about.
Again, I get that they have limited time, but unless one person is downright OBSESSED with the game, it gets unceremoniously ignored.
Jeff and Brad barely played the game, going by achievements. Vinny finished it on normal, he tends to finish what he starts, but didn't go back to it. Ryan reviewed it so no surprise he finished it. I only remember Ryan ever talking about it, with Vinny throwing in a bit here and there, but no one really loved it. So yeah was never going to be in top ten.
This year the only thing that really annoyed me was neither Brad nor Patrick playing the Witcher 2 at all. Vinny could not have talked up that game more, and they didn't even touch it.
Jeff finished Bayonetta. I remember him talking about it, it's his favorite character action game actually.
It was bizarre they wrote it off for the awards last year because the PS3 version is bad. It's about half the framerate, but that is true of basically every 30fps console game that's on PC too, they aren't all written off as garbage.
It was bizarre they wrote it off for the awards last year because the PS3 version is bad. It's about half the framerate, but that is true of basically every 30fps console game that's on PC too, they aren't all written off as garbage.
I was just listening to the Day Six GOTY 2010 for Jeff's RDR nullification, when they bring up Bayonetta he says something like "it doesn't roll in this company."
Brad really has no excuse. Patrick though, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think he owns a gaming PC. He mentions on the podcast that he can't wait for it to come out on the 360 because he's really looking forward to trying it out.
Kinda in the same boat as me. God, I really hope that it's a good port.
He either finished it on the PS3 or an alternate account, because he doesn't have the achievement for finishing the 4th level, which is about a third through the game.
Maybe he didn't finish it then, I'm not saying he said he did. He said it was better than 'any of those games' has ever been, but I don't know that he specifically claimed to have finished it. If he didn't make it to the bike, he probably thinks it's better than it really is actually.
GillianSeed79
Member
It doesn't because my GOTY is Portal 2. Skyrim is like No. 5 or 6 on my list. My point is that I've enjoyed a lot of what I've played of Skyrim, but the impression that I get now is that there's this internet backlash against it and that if you like Skyrim you aren't a real gamer, you are the 1 percent, Bethesda is the satan spawn of Activison and Bioware and any game site that even feigns praise on it are now corporate shills. I actually like the fact that most everybody is calling Oblivion crappy these days, becasue that was my long lasting impression.
I don't know what I shouldn't like anymore, though, internet. One minute it was annualized MP modern military shooters now it's 300 hour long fantasy, sword and sorcery based single player RPG's.
I think I might just buy a copy of Skylanders and Trackmania and meditate.
StevePharma
Member
Opinions on products on the internet will probably always skew a bit to the negative side, some exceptions noted. I can't blame the PS3 Skyrim users for complaining as much as they do (I'm one of them), they have all the right to do so. It's downright stupid Bethesda still gets away with this stuff and some lonely rude dude at Ocean gets flamed by hordes and hordes of people in a few days because he treated ONE guy badly.
The Bayonetta deal last year, I guess was probably easier for the guys to dismiss the title because not all of the members were as invested in it.
I wanted to put Skyrim at my #1 spot in the GotY list, but I just couldn't because of its issues, both on PC and PS3 (yes I own two versions, I'm part of the problem I know)
Zodiac MF summed it up best I think.
ZODIAC MF said:
Not bagging on the quality of Bastion, but IMO it's pretty clear that if it was by some developer they didn't know that they would have cared way less about it. If only for the fact that half of them probably wouldn't have come round to playing it.
Riposte
Member
One of the best/worst moments in Giant Bomb history lol.
I wouldn't be surprised that The Witcher 2 becomes 2012's 2011 game, with the Xbox 360 port that everyone actually plays.
Possibly, although it was the big XBLA release of the year, and if I remember correctly, they put Shadow Complex high on their list that year.
AcceptableGhost
Member
Bastion is one of the few games that all of the people at Giant Bomb played all the way through this year, I think that is one of the big reasons it is on their top 10. There was no kneejerk reactions to that game because they felt inclined to give it a chance. If SuperGiantGames had made something polarizing (but super high quality) like Dark Souls it would be on the list just on account of all of them giving it a fair shake.
Listening to other gaming podcasts, when people bring up Bastion you always hear the couple of people "EH I PLAYED IT FOR A LITTLE BIT, WHERES THE LOOT BRO???".
Listening to other gaming podcasts, when people bring up Bastion you always hear the couple of people "EH I PLAYED IT FOR A LITTLE BIT, WHERES THE LOOT BRO???".
It's still hard for me to put aside their relationship with SGG when listening to them glow about Bastion. It doesn't help that when they're talking about the best debut for a game, Brad argues that it's the first game from "an exciting new studio." True or not, I could never picture him making that argument for another game.
I'm pretty sure they still would have played it even if it was from another developer, it was a summer of arcade release after all.
Hot Coldman
Banned
I do think its a shame that Japan's best doesn't get more of a look-in. Bayo last year, Zelda and DS this year.
And Ghost Trick! Although I know that none of these guys like their interactive novel games, so not much of a loss
Riposte
Member
I think that has more to do with MGS4:
1. Being a relatively simple TPS and for the first time in the series controls in a way familiar to other TPS.
2. Being mostly centered on the story, which is the part they care about most. In this respect it is like Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption.
3. Having always appealed to the west with its cinematic visuals and audio.
So MGS4 has a lot going for it.
I don't think they have the aptitude to really appreciate it as anything more than a "4/5". Which might be why every time I hear them talk about it its about the wacky cutscenes and mad visual effects during combat. I mean I love those, but seriously?
Ghost Trick is a puzzle game which approaches its challenges more or less like Portal 2's campaign: A strong focus on atmosphere and overall easy puzzles with a few exceptions. I think they would find the mechanics very novel, which goes a long way in their book (see: LA Noire).
The didn't review it as reviews are designed to influence purchasing decisions.
GOTY, however, is just a list of the staffs favorite games. I don't think it's fair to completely ignore Bastion due to association.
What gives you that idea? So many other publications were raving about it, do you think GB would simply ignore it? As a Summer of Arcade game, there was no way it wasn't going to receive attention from the staff.
If the game were poorly reviewed elsewhere you might have a point, but it's generally loved across the board. Their opinion is in no way unique on Bastion.
It just depends what standard of journalism you hold yourself to. I'm not sure why GOTY awards are not considered purchasing advice. They certainly are for me. I bought Renegade Ops three days ago after hearing them rave about it the entire week.
I completely disagree. GiantBomb said Skyrim is the best game released last year. How much more of an endorsement can they possibly give? It's way beyond giving it a 5/5 because it's saying it's better than any 5/5 last year.
GotY awards do attract people to games.
It's GiantBomb's GotY, not Jeff's or Ryan's or anyone else. They decided to put out an institutional opinion.