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Giant Bomb GoTY 2016- Agent 47, take out that Doom Marine

LifEndz

LifEndz

Member
Sleeping Lesson said:
Best story:

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck Firewatch. Alex is so fucking wrong, that game is the quintessential unearned red haring manipulative bullshit. It is the epitome of what I don't like about some indie games, which is to say it's a bad story told badly hiding behind a faux-artsy emotional facade.
Click to expand...

Gotta agree. His impassioned description of his experience with the game and the way he described how much of an emotional wreck he and his gf were after finishing it really made me sit down and play it. What the hell game did he play? I was really digging all the early stuff but by the time I got to
homing detector, remote research labs all being connected to some ex-employee
I was just kind of on cruise control. Some dude accidentally
gets his son killed so he orchestrates some elaborate scavenger hunt?
I guess he was projecting how terrible he'd feel if his gf suffered from the same
medical ailment as the character's spouse in the game
because other than that I'm not sure how this game could elicit that kind of emotional response.


And what was the point of all those notes between Steve and Dave?
 
D

Dazzler

Member
just finished all five days, not enough bloodshed

Was expecting a Brad filibuster for Doom but it just sounded like he wanted out of there
 
C

chillybright

Banned
Sleeping Lesson said:
Best story:

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck Firewatch. Alex is so fucking wrong, that game is the quintessential unearned red haring manipulative bullshit. It is the epitome of what I don't like about some indie games, which is to say it's a bad story told badly hiding behind a faux-artsy emotional facade.
Click to expand...

That whole segment of Alex keeping repeating himself was unwatchable.
 
M

Mr. F

Banned
Finished and found the deliberations pretty damn weak this time around. Here's hoping the gang actually plays through some of the contenders this year.

truly101 said:
I still get tired of how Jeff develops grudges for certain games, and how he can't wait to tell you and anyone else who will listen on how over it he is. Cut that shit out, nobody is impressed that you didn't like Inside as much as the others. At least there were no embarrassing moments like reading the plot synopsis of Life is Strange on the internet.
Click to expand...

It's weird how antagonistic it feels after a while, comparing the way he expresses indifference versus someone like Vinny is just so over the top and awkward in the context of talking through a list of videogames.
 
R

Real Hero

Member
Jeff is probably thinking about keeping it entertaining more than the rest, personally I'd welcome more of his passion either way from the others
 
T

Truant

Member
I don't care about the final list either way, and I don't think anyone else should either. It's fun to see the deliberations, though.
 
A

Aaron

Member
LifEndz said:
Gotta agree. His impassioned description of his experience with the game and the way he described how much of an emotional wreck he and his gf were after finishing it really made me sit down and play it. What the hell game did he play? I was really digging all the early stuff but by the time I got to
homing detector, remote research labs all being connected to some ex-employee
I was just kind of on cruise control. Some dude accidentally
gets his son killed so he orchestrates some elaborate scavenger hunt?
I guess he was projecting how terrible he'd feel if his gf suffered from the same
medical ailment as the character's spouse in the game
because other than that I'm not sure how this game could elicit that kind of emotional response.


And what was the point of all those notes between Steve and Dave?
Click to expand...
Like Alex, I also played through Firewatch with my girlfriend, and she HATED it. So many potentially interesting plot threads resolved in the least interesting way possible, usually with throwaway lines, and to have the main plot really have nothing to do with the main character? One of the worst endings I've experienced in fiction period.
 
S

Sleeping Lesson

Member
LifEndz said:
Gotta agree. His impassioned description of his experience with the game and the way he described how much of an emotional wreck he and his gf were after finishing it really made me sit down and play it. What the hell game did he play? I was really digging all the early stuff but by the time I got to
homing detector, remote research labs all being connected to some ex-employee
I was just kind of on cruise control. Some dude accidentally
gets his son killed so he orchestrates some elaborate scavenger hunt?
I guess he was projecting how terrible he'd feel if his gf suffered from the same
medical ailment as the character's spouse in the game
because other than that I'm not sure how this game could elicit that kind of emotional response.


And what was the point of all those notes between Steve and Dave?
Click to expand...

chillybright said:
That whole segment of Alex keeping repeating himself was unwatchable.
Click to expand...

Aaron said:
Like Alex, I also played through Firewatch with my girlfriend, and she HATED it. So many potentially interesting plot threads resolved in the least interesting way possible, usually with throwaway lines, and to have the main plot really have nothing to do with the main character? One of the worst endings I've experienced in fiction period.
Click to expand...

It's really cathartic hearing others have similar feelings as I toward Firewatch.
 
LifEndz

LifEndz

Member
Not a bad slew of GOTY podcasts this year. The "Please Stop" category is becoming a personal favorite of mine. Never really dwelled on how annoying all these terrible cover songs in games marketing was, but when they started talking about it I had to agree.

During the Overwatch char of the year discussion I legit laughed out loud when Jeff was describing how generic Soldier 76 is and Dan happily chimed in with how Soldier is one of his favorites, to which Jeff responded with a disgusted "of course YOU like him."

Hearing the beating Uncharted 4 took was brutal. Guess I'm a weirdo for enjoying the combat in Uncharted games and in the Witcher 3 lol.

Maybe it was just the games released in 2016, but I really hope we get something in these podcasts close to what we got in the Arkham Asylum vs Uncharted 2 game of the year discussion.
 
R

renzolama

Member
Aaron said:
Like Alex, I also played through Firewatch with my girlfriend, and she HATED it. So many potentially interesting plot threads resolved in the least interesting way possible, usually with throwaway lines, and to have the main plot really have nothing to do with the main character? One of the worst endings I've experienced in fiction period.
Click to expand...

In 20+ years of gaming, Firewatch is the only game that I've ever finished and felt anger that it had been a complete waste of my time. It felt as though the developers had intentionally trolled me by selling me an adventure story that ended up having absolutely no adventure at all. If I wanted to hear about how life is pointless, boring, and depressing I would have simply turned on the news or started a conversation with one of my co-workers. Thanks for nothing Campo Santo.

(I'm still angry about it!)

Edit: There are dozens of us....dozens!
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
With new years, I've been busy these past few days but I'm back now and here are my favorite moments from Day 5.

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Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.

Here's a Neogaf script that blocks gifs from imgur and the like for those with data caps or slow internet.
 
R

repeater

Member
Death Metalist said:
With new years, I've been busy these past few days but I'm back now and here are my favorite moments from Day 5.
Click to expand...
That is AWESOME! Almost makes me want to watch the videos rather than listen to the podcasts next year, but there's just no way to fit that into my life, especially around the holidays..
Do we know if anyone is doing video edits of the best of the GOTY deliberations?
 
I

InaudibleWhispa

Member
My problem with Firewatch (despite not hating the ending as much as some) is that I actually really like the idea of subverting expectations and having the game be about two lonely, troubled people slowly losing it and getting paranoid over nothing in the wilderness. The problem is the complete lack of subtlety in establishing the paranoia; they should be paranoid because the game outright shows you several mysterious events/locations. I'd have preferred something like Gone Home which subverted my expectations by not having
any horror elements whatsoever.
But unlike Firewatch, Gone Home doesn't really establish that theme in any great way other than the pure atmosphere of the house and situation
(girl alone on dark, stormy night). It just feels creepy. There are no actual jump scares; no big ghostly set-piece
, just enough little dialogue pieces to plant an idea. And, unlike Firewatch, what actually happened turned out to be more interesting than the story I was inventing in my head.
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
On day 4, and if Alex says "I just wanted to say my piece" one more time I'm going to reach through my phone and strangle him.
 
W

Whoyouare

Member
I dont know. Not much of a fan of this years debates. They need to change up the formula for top 10 games of the year. They could have saved a bunch of time just going around the table and have each member pick their favorite game since they all made the list.

Its not fun for the listener when there are certain games some people didnt play. Dan is pretty much the only one that likes
Stardew Valley
yet it still makes the list.

I know that they cant play every game but there has to be a better way going forward. Something needs to change that is for sure.


Edit - I know exactly what needs to change going forward. Change the title. It should be Giant Bomb's Top 10 FAVORITE games of the year.
 
G

Gestahl

Member
Is Firewatch the game they spent like at least half a year going "but what IS X???" in every other video because that shit made me not want to touch whatever that was on principle
 
D

Dartastic

Member
I did admittedly want some more passionate fights. That really felt like it was missing from this year's debates. I'm glad Hyper Light Drifter made it on though. It really deserves to hang. Also, Firewatch is unremarkable in every way outside of it's art design and concept. The story just falls completely flat on it's face and doesn't deserve to be anywhere near best story.

I also think the "best moment" of environmental puzzles in the Witness is one of those things that is completely subjective and can either be AWESOME or just absolutely boring with no impact whatsoever. When I played the Witness I discovered the environmental puzzle in the opening area (the door border in the opening room) like, immediately, therefore making that "coolest moment" or whatever absolutely nothing.

I also wonder what would have happened if someone on the staff had finished The Last Guardian before they recorded this.
 
T

Tinfoilhatsron

Banned
So after listening to the GOTY 2015 podcast, Jeff never spoils the ending of Life is Strange. Just states that he read the ending up on wikipedia and thought it was terrible.
 
A

Aaron D.

Member
Whoyouare said:
Dan is pretty much the only one that likes
Stardew Valley
yet it still makes the list.
Click to expand...

Before listening to the deliberations, I thought this game would have been an easy lock for the Top 10.

It was a undeniable, breakout hit on Steam and I thought GB caught the fever as well. Has a great solo-developer "rags to riches" story behind it too.
 
U

ultron87

Member
The most paranoid parts of Firewatch caused a physiological response in me that felt like a panic attack. I'll always appreciate it's ability to cause some very real feeling distress just with environment, voice acting, and a single jump scare.
 
S

Sleeping Lesson

Member
ultron87 said:
The most paranoid parts of Firewatch caused a physiological response in me that felt like a panic attack. I'll always appreciate it's ability to cause some very real feeling distress just with environment, voice acting, and a single jump scare.
Click to expand...

To me that makes it worse, because then the game
pulls the rug out from under itself and pretends it's on you. It's manipulative, not clever.

Honestly I don't hate the game, I just think the bad aspects of it are really bad.
 
L

LiK

Member
Sleeping Lesson said:
To me that makes it worse, because then the game
pulls the rug out from under itself and pretends it's on you. It's manipulative, not clever.

Honestly I don't hate the game, I just think the bad aspects of it are really bad.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you watched the KF video with the devs but it seems like they basically ran outta money. It kinda shows. I'm guessing they cut a lot of stuff out.
 
S

Sleeping Lesson

Member
LiK said:
Not sure if you watched the KF video with the devs but it seems like they basically ran outta money. It kinda shows. I'm guessing they cut a lot of stuff out.
Click to expand...

Shit, I meant to watch that but didn't. Interesting! That does make sense.

Despite my virulent criticism of the game, I'm glad it sold well. I just hope the devs take the right thing away from that success and build something better, and have the time and resources to not gimmick away their potential.
 
R

Roussow

Member
BannedEpisode said:
Was just listening to the waypoint podcast and Austin did do the environmental puzzles either. See? Dan isn't the only one LOL.
Click to expand...

He did discover and complete some environmental puzzles I believe, just not all of them. He completed all/most of the main puzzles and The Challenge. Dan didn't even discover any of the environmental puzzles. Sorry, just wanted to clarify that.

Tinfoilhatsron said:
So after listening to the GOTY 2015 podcast, Jeff never spoils the ending of Life is Strange. Just states that he read the ending up on wikipedia and thought it was terrible.
Click to expand...

He never spoiled anything, I just thought it was a really shitty way to argue something off the list. I'm totally okay with the rational of "you've only played three-fifths of a thing" as an argument against it, as opposed to a criticism via a second hand source.
I can't remember what category it was for, but I recall Jeff backing off of a point by saying something along the lines of "I don't want to use second hand information for this" in this years deliberations. I was glad to hear that.

Also, Firewatch is my favorite game of 2016, glad Alex had some fight in him for that one. I also standby pretty much every point that's commonly critiqued, that game is close to perfect in my eyes.
 
D

Dangansona

Member
Yall can hate on Alex fighting for Firewatch if yall want, but if it wasn't for him I don't know if any game would have been talked about this year other than Doom or Hitman. Kind of bummed me out a bit tbh.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
funkystudent said:
Firewatch is everything wrong with indie darlings.


The free passes that thing gets was insane.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say everything wrong, but it's pretty emblematic of all these indie games with narrative ambitions but without the writing talent to execute on them. Walking Sims could be really awesome if the writing didn't suck in almost all of them.
 
A

ArjanN

Member
Dangansona said:
Yall can hate on Alex fighting for Firewatch if yall want, but if it wasn't for him I don't know if any game would have been talked about this year other than Doom or Hitman. Kind of bummed me out a bit tbh.
Click to expand...

Honestly I feel if they made more of an effort to just play each other top 10 lists the discussion would be a lot more interesting.

It basically seemed like Alex was the only one.who actually played a lot of stuff.
 
M

mnz

Unconfirmed Member
I prefer a bigger variety of games being played by the crew than to have them only play the big games. Makes the rest of the year more interesting.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
I was listening to the final GOTY discussions last night and was kind of surprised at the difficulty they had coming up with a list of contenders. Nobody mentioned Battlefield 1, Dishonored 2, Civ 6, Infinite Warfare, The Last Guardian, etc. I understand that none of these were likely contenders, but to listen to those long pauses as they went around the group to form their preliminary list of 21+ games left me very surprised at what they were overlooking. And I actually do think a case could have been made for Battlefield 1 to be in the top 10.

The biggest bummer is that Let it Die's late release gave it no shot to make the list. If that game had come out between August and November I guarantee it would have made it.
 
M

Morts

Member
I just got to the Titanfall 2 discussion in Best Moment or Sequence and it bums me out that no one mentions that Dishonored 2 does it just as well, if not better.

Also my girlfriend and I love the story in Firewatch.
 
G

gutterboy44

Member
I appreciated the shorter deliberations. It didn't feel like people just giving up because they were sick of arguing. I think the trade of Uncharted 4 for Hyperlight, Stardew, and Thumper was brilliant. Collectively UC4 had more support but not the passion. I think the list is better by trading one more unanimous game for three split but ultra passionate games. Giantbomb is about personalities, not review scores. I have never heard Dan more happy than on the Stardew Valley Quick Look. It reminds me of Ryan Davis on the Hotline Miami QL, the game just seemed to appeal to them across the board. That and Alex's bond with Thumper needs to be represented on a top 10 site list like GB.

2016 had a lot of great games and I feel like nothing got completely robbed or over hyped in any of their lists. Alex jumped up a rank in my books from that fantastic defense of why the Palmer Luckey thing needed to be the hot mess of the year.
 
V

Velikost

Member
Finally got all caught up earlier today. Glad to see Hitman and DooM got the top spots, but man was it rough listening to some of them shit on Doom's multiplayer and use that to knock it from the top spot, especially considering they all sang the praises of Overwatch and called it "balanced."

I dunno if I'll ever look at Jeff the same now knowing that he likes Mei.

UamxeHe.gif
 
B

border

Member
Jeff coming out hard against Doom at the end was a totally unexpected heel-turn. He was totally in love with that game for every other segment! I guess he was just kind of salty that Titanfall 2 and Superhot didn't rank higher.

I would have bet good money that Doom got GOTY, and for it to get denied on the basis of a crummy multiplayer mode seems weird and unexpected.
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
border said:
Jeff coming out hard against Doom at the end was a totally unexpected heel-turn. He was totally in love with that game for every other segment! I guess he was just kind of salty that Titanfall 2 and Superhot didn't rank higher.

I would have bet good money that Doom got GOTY, and for it to get denied on the basis of a crummy multiplayer mode seems weird and unexpected.
Click to expand...

it's because at the last second Brad and Vinny turned against him and put Inside on top of Titan Fall 2

jeff needed his revenge
 
B

border

Member
Tripon said:
I missed best clicker gsme this year.
Click to expand...

Every year it seems like they have a category that is custom-made for Jeff to run the table on and basically decide the winner by himself. This year it was Best VR Experience, last year it was Best Clicker/Incremental Game. I don't mind at all though, since Jeff is the best.
 
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