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[TheYanger]

Something called the internet happened. There's a certification process on consoles that takes time. This way games can release sooner (with a day one patch) and developers can keep working on the game instead of sitting on their hands.

I get why it bothers some people, those with bad internet the most, but the solution is to have devs not do anything from cert to release date and delay every game. Day one patches solve that.

I'm not saying is a good thing per se but I don't find it that bad but, as I said, I'm speaking from a place of privilege and I can understand some people have crappy internet connections.

The internet happened long before this, and nobody says devs need to just 'sit on their hands' between going gold and the release date. Again, this is stuff that absolutely could have happened last gen and didn't (partly due to the policies of MS on patch sizes). It's not like they're working on DLC or just small bug fixes, day one patches are HUGE now. 10+ gigs is lots of shit like art and audio or video assets, the kind of shit that, regardless of anything else, should absolutely be the same as what is on the disc unless the disc version of the game is flat out incomplete.

It's not something thjat would've happened overnight if it weren't implicitly allowed/encouraged, it's a way to cut budgets indirectly, shipping your game a month sooner is directly benefitting publishers at the cost of the consumer. Like, literally the day this gen started is when this practice began, there's no reason that we should think something magically changed between 360/ps3 and One/PS4 other than them being allowed to get away with it.

 

[chillybright]

They have been really civil so far.

 

[Joey Ravn]

I'm still catching up with Day 3, but I'm still sour about

Spoiler

Inside

winning on Day 2. I'm 100% with Jeff on that one: that game did absolutely nothing for me on any level.

Spoiler

Doom

was robbed

 

[oti]

And I'm so glad I didn't like Clash Royale after trying it out for an hour or so. Sounds like a miserable experience for the people who like that game.

 

[Roussow]

So, what's left? Best moment/sequence, best music, best multiplayer(?), and of course best & worst game. I'm missing some.

 

[Bowlie]

So, what's left? Best moment/sequence, best music, best multiplayer(?), and of course best & worst game. I'm missing some.

Best Story.

Last year had a bunch of made-up awards, like "best use of FMV", "animal of the year", "best clicker".

 

[Salarians]

Brad: "anything but ska"
Vinny: "anything but ska?"
Brad: "anything... but ska"

 

[kiguel182]

The internet happened long before this, and nobody says devs need to just 'sit on their hands' between going gold and the release date. Again, this is stuff that absolutely could have happened last gen and didn't (partly due to the policies of MS on patch sizes). It's not like they're working on DLC or just small bug fixes, day one patches are HUGE now. 10+ gigs is lots of shit like art and audio or video assets, the kind of shit that, regardless of anything else, should absolutely be the same as what is on the disc unless the disc version of the game is flat out incomplete.

It's not something thjat would've happened overnight if it weren't implicitly allowed/encouraged, it's a way to cut budgets indirectly, shipping your game a month sooner is directly benefitting publishers at the cost of the consumer. Like, literally the day this gen started is when this practice began, there's no reason that we should think something magically changed between 360/ps3 and One/PS4 other than them being allowed to get away with it.

Limits on patches are dumb and I'm glad they don't exist anymore. And because they don't exist they can do this now when they couldn't before.

They aren't "getting away" with anything. It's not some nefarious shit. It's a way to keep working on games past cert because they still need to cert the games and press them on disc.

10 gb really isn't huge either. Maybe 5 years ago it was but now it's not. Devs are assuming people have capable internet connections and that's why they are doing this, if you are one of those that doesn't it sucks but for others this is better than delaying games.

 

[Tubobutts]

Best Story.

Last year had a bunch of made-up awards, like "best use of FMV", "animal of the year", "best clicker".

I don't see how those are any more made up than any of the other awards.

 

[kiguel182]

Every award is made up. That's the beauty of GOTY awards.

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

does giving a game 8.8 mean its a bad game?

 

[Wunder]

I'm glad Dan got

Spoiler

Stardew

on Most Surprising. Thought he'd let his games go in favor of louder opposition but I'm glad he got that one in at least.

 

[CoolBatteryCharge]

I kinda wish the Holiday Spectacular videos were made public throughout last week, but it's perhaps not fair for me to assume when they were finished production then. Would have made the last month feel less dry on content though and this week has way too much for me to keep up with at once. Maybe I should just save some stuff in case early January is dry.

 

[ScottSullivan]

The Please Stop discussion was great, especially the clash royale part and jeff talking about arbys haha

 

[Hyrule Warrior]

Seeing Doom being #1 on so many lists, I don't know... I really REALLY liked Doom, don't get me wrong. I thought it was a really fun awesome shooter, and a return to the kind of FPS I liked to play. HOWEVER, I do think it started to wear thin near the later parts of the game, with the "boss" fights in the game, being really kind lame in comparison to the rest of the game to me.

I just am surprised to see that it might end up being GOTY, when I just can't help but feel from all the fun I've had...and the crew of GB seemed to have had with Hitman, that that might be more deserving. I was never a fan of the Hitman series before, but even I love that game.

 

[ScottSullivan]

Seeing Doom being #1 on so many lists, I don't know... I really REALLY liked Doom, don't get me wrong. I thought it was a really fun awesome shooter, and a return to the kind of FPS I liked to play. HOWEVER, I do think it started to wear thin near the later parts of the game, with the "boss" fights in the game, being really kind lame in comparison to the rest of the game to me.

I just am surprised to see that it might end up being GOTY, when I just can't help but feel from all the fun I've had...and the crew of GB seemed to have had with Hitman, that that might be more deserving. I was never a fan of the Hitman series before, but even I love that game.

The final boss fight was just ok, but the cyber demon one before that was great, really took the other things you had learned about the game, platforming, weapon switching, and made it really important

 

[HashtagLapsed]

The most disappointing thing for me is how likely it is Doom wins. Seems super predictable so is less entertaining.

 

[bomma_man]

Best Style should be replaced with Coolest Game imo

 

[Turin Turambar]

Seeing Doom being #1 on so many lists, I don't know... I really REALLY liked Doom, don't get me wrong. I thought it was a really fun awesome shooter, and a return to the kind of FPS I liked to play. HOWEVER, I do think it started to wear thin near the later parts of the game, with the "boss" fights in the game, being really kind lame in comparison to the rest of the game to me.

I just am surprised to see that it might end up being GOTY, when I just can't help but feel from all the fun I've had...and the crew of GB seemed to have had with Hitman, that that might be more deserving. I was never a fan of the Hitman series before, but even I love that game.

Yep, it's good but it isn't as good. As the game progresses the levels are more and more linear, and it uses (or abuses) more and more the 'waves of enemies appearing in a arena' type of combat design. The last 2-3 levels are in fact are series of arenas connected by corridors, and they felt less polished.

It's just a reaction to FPS games of the last 10 years being too reliant on normal human enemies, scripts, a story that most people don't care, 2 weapon loadouts, no freedom, etc.
Because Doom is the opposite to that, and pretty fun thanks to it, it's seen as more good than it is. The truth of what's really happening, is that the other FPS were TERRIBLE, so that's why in comparison Doom seems excellent.

 

[chromatic9]

Weird to hear about data caps being introduced and Jeff being on one and going over it. Unlimited Broadband has been a standard in UK for over 10 years. Of course you can get very cheap deals with caps but standard pricing is unlimited. Would hate it if they started with making it premium.

 

[Chumley]

Yep, it's good but it isn't as good. As the game progresses the levels are more and more linear, and it uses (or abuses) more and more the 'waves of enemies appearing in a arena' type of combat design. The last 2-3 levels are in fact are series of arenas connected by corridors, and they felt less polished.

It's just a reaction to FPS games of the last 10 years being too reliant on normal human enemies, scripts, a story that most people don't care, 2 weapon loadouts, no freedom, etc.
Because Doom is the opposite to that, and pretty fun thanks to it, it's seen as more good than it is. The truth of what's really happening, is that the other FPS were TERRIBLE, so that's why in comparison Doom seems excellent.

Just no to all of this. Giant Bomb stacks it up against every FPS ever made, not just 2016, and even if you want to talk about 2016 Titanfall 2 and Call of Duty IW had fantastic SP FPS campaigns. It also is demonstrably not an "enemy wave design" FPS just because it features enemy waves at certain points. It's about aggression and relentlessly moving forward all the time, using motion and melee and map awareness to survive. No other FPS has ever done what it does.

 

[Reedirect]

The most disappointing thing for me is how likely it is Doom wins. Seems super predictable so is less entertaining.

It's like this almost every year. Super Mario Maker was pretty obvious last year too.

 

[Snagret]

Best Style should be replaced with Coolest Game imo

Yeah, I think even they were a little confused at times as they would slip into treat ing the category as "Best Graphics: Art Style". Not that it really matters much either way though.

I actually think these are some of the most listenable GOTY podcasts they've done in a few years. Very civil, well-made arguments and (so far) no annoying filibustering or getting caught in debating the same points in circles and getting stuck way too long on one category or game. They're able to reach a consensus at a pretty good pace without getting hung up on the minutiae of specific list order. It feels more like a nice reflection of their thoughts of the past year in games. It's nice.

And then of course, Friday will be a bloodbath lol.

 

[erawsd]

Seeing Doom being #1 on so many lists, I don't know... I really REALLY liked Doom, don't get me wrong. I thought it was a really fun awesome shooter, and a return to the kind of FPS I liked to play. HOWEVER, I do think it started to wear thin near the later parts of the game, with the "boss" fights in the game, being really kind lame in comparison to the rest of the game to me.

I just am surprised to see that it might end up being GOTY, when I just can't help but feel from all the fun I've had...and the crew of GB seemed to have had with Hitman, that that might be more deserving. I was never a fan of the Hitman series before, but even I love that game.

I dont think it is surprising at all. Even outside of these podcasts anytime Doom has come up its just been a total circle jerk over how amazing they thought it was.

 

[| Praxis |]

Weird to hear about data caps being introduced and Jeff being on one and going over it. Unlimited Broadband has been a standard in UK for over 10 years. Of course you can get very cheap deals with caps but standard pricing is unlimited. Would hate it if they started with making it premium.

They did even worse shit in the UK. I was on BT's unlimited around ten years ago, when all of a sudden my speed went to shit. Got in touch with them and they said it's because I used too much they had to throttle me, when I said it was unlimited they pointed me towards their fair use policy and it seemed the cap on that was around 60gb. They argued with me until I was blue in the face that the service was still unlimited and me saying that was complete bullshit if I had hit a cap. Cancelled my subscription with them after and haven't gone back.

 

[Banderdash]

Man... the new Homeworld game hasn't even got a mention.

It's got the Homeworld artstyle.
It's got the Homeworld styyyyylle
It was an excellent surprise (it started life as a damn Facebook game, went through all that crap with trying to buy the IP, before Gearbox announced they were going to publish it).

And to top it all off... it was a damn good game to boot.
So far it's been on one guest top 10 list.

 

[Karu]

I'm playing DOOM right now and - granted on the PS4 - it is nowhere near Best Looking. Was really surprised them praising it in that particular category so much.

Aside from that, would be fine it winning GotY. It will probably land on my Top 10 on 6-10 somewhere, but it is daaaaamn good.

 

[Dany]

Lmao. Who cares about the music in video game trailers. Am I out of touch?

 

[HashtagLapsed]

Man... the new Homeworld game hasn't even got a mention.

It's got the Homeworld artstyle.
It's got the Homeworld styyyyylle
It was an excellent surprise (it started life as a damn Facebook game, went through all that crap with trying to buy the IP, before Gearbox announced they were going to publish it).

And to top it all off... it was a damn good game to boot.
So far it's been on one guest top 10 list.

Duskers got looked over almost as badly.

 

[BlueScrote]

I dont think it is surprising at all. Even outside of these podcasts anytime Doom has come up its just been a total circle jerk over how amazing they thought it was.

The Doom circle jerk has gotten old by the end of day 2. Is it a great game? Yes. Does it look great? Yes. However it doesn't belong in half the discussions it's been in.

 

[LiK]

I find it intetresting that Brad's list doesn't reflect what I thought he would pick if we were going by the deliberations aside from Doom and Firewatch.

 

[| Praxis |]

The Doom circle jerk has gotten old by the end of day 2. Is it a great game? Yes. Does it look great? Yes. However it doesn't belong in half the discussions it's been in.

They have said repeatedly that it's their awards and they don't give a single fuck what anyone else thinks.

 

[Jintor]

I think they should look over the to-release list at the beginning of a year and predict their GOTY picks for end of year. that'd be fun

 

[WrenchNinja]

10 gb really isn't huge either. Maybe 5 years ago it was but now it's not. Devs are assuming people have capable internet connections and that's why they are doing this, if you are one of those that doesn't it sucks but for others this is better than delaying games.

Give me a fucking break.

 

[LiK]

any patch that goes into gigabytes is huge.

 

[Nameless]

I like DOOM a lot too but it's gotten pushed out of my GOTY list over the second half of the year. It establishes a fantastic core loop, which meshes perfectly with its themes of metal and murderous mayhem, but it's a bit of a one trick pony(firey hellsteed if you prefer)that doesn't attempt to offer much more than that in terms gameplay or aesthetics. The campaign definitely over stayed it's welcome by an hour or three.

 

[bigwinnerx]

I liked Doom. I think it overstayed its welcome a little and multiplayer may as well not be there. But it was really good and in my top 3.

But I'd put Hitman and Overwatch over it.

Edit: Ha. "overstayed its welcome" jinx

 

[LiK]

I finished Ep 5 of hitman last night and I have to agree that this would've been in my Top 20 if I had played it sooner but I already puiblished my list. Really fun and challenging to only kill the targets.

 

[AngryMoth]

Weird to hear about data caps being introduced and Jeff being on one and going over it. Unlimited Broadband has been a standard in UK for over 10 years. Of course you can get very cheap deals with caps but standard pricing is unlimited. Would hate it if they started with making it premium.

Yeah, I was only half listening to that part and when Jeff said "...so I have to pay them an extra 50 bucks..." I was like WTF, and EXTRA 50? Think we pay less than half of that for fibre optic broadband with no data cap.

 

[kiguel182]

Every time someone talks about internet in the US I can barely believe it. No wonder people complain about patches so much when the only issue I have is waiting for the shitty PSN speeds. If I used Steam I really couldn't care less.

Edit: even the cheapest fiber here (20 euros, 30 mbs) has no data caps.

 

[Death Metalist]

any patch that goes into gigabytes is huge.

To put things into perspective Inside is 2.31GB, The Witness is 4.1GB, Firewatch is 3.22GB, ABZU is 2.97GB, The Turing Test is 9.06GB, Shadow Warrior is 6.78 GB.etc When your day one patch is a couple of games in total or exceeds 10GB then something is fucking wrong.

 

[Rked]

Doom is great, I really like it. But like Jeff has kinda been hinting at, Brad is super blind to the shortcomings it has. Plus it's being shoehorned into categories it has no business being in like Best New Character.

I like Doom, but there is at least one section I can think of that makes me never want to play through it again. It's in my top 10, but probably somewhere around the middle.



I actually uninstalled Doom recently because of all the patches and their size. I don't give a fuck about your new multiplayer maps, stop trying to force it down my throat.

My feelings towards overwatch have no idea why people rate it that high. mid level game

 

[Curufinwe]

Jeff's "Nuclear Clone" discussion with Paul Barnett was really funny and sad.

 

[daveo42]

That Mario Maker video was okay. Vinny just hates everyone...or at least Dan...when it comes to putting devices of pure torture into the level. The

Spoiler

telephone box

was a real nice touch tho.

To put things into perspective Inside is 2.31GB, The Witness is 4.1GB, Firewatch is 3.22GB, ABZU is 2.97GB, The Turing Test is 9.06GB, Shadow Warrior is 6.78 GB.etc When your day one patch is a couple of games in total or exceeds 10GB then something is fucking wrong.

It still comes down to fixing the cert process for physical games. I understand that you want the game to function when you put the disc in and do some basic things, but the amount of lead time you have to have to get your game submitted and approved through cert to make a release date is insane. I know it's been posted before in this very thread, but this post by Rami does a good job in why the process is fucked and will continue to be until properly addressed.

Meaning it probably will never be.

 

[Joeku]

Can someone tell me roughly how far through TLG I am? Maybe gonna try to finish it before the spoilery awards if I'm close enough: The Last Guardian Spoilers

Spoiler

Last big scene was me getting slashed at by another (masked?) Trico after jumping off a huge tower that tilted over, and now about a half hour later I just passed a crumbling enclosed bridge where I had to pull a statue to a little door that trico broke through.

 

[LiK]

Can someone tell me roughly how far through TLG I am? Maybe gonna try to finish it before the spoilery awards if I'm close enough: The Last Guardian Spoilers

Spoiler

Last big scene was me getting slashed at by another (masked?) Trico after jumping off a huge tower that tilted over, and now about a half hour later I just passed a crumbling enclosed bridge where I had to pull a statue to a little door that trico broke through.

I think you're 2/3s done.

 

[Joeku]

I think you're 2/3s done.

Gotcha, thanks!

 

[Arion]

To put things into perspective Inside is 2.31GB, The Witness is 4.1GB, Firewatch is 3.22GB, ABZU is 2.97GB, The Turing Test is 9.06GB, Shadow Warrior is 6.78 GB.etc When your day one patch is a couple of games in total or exceeds 10GB then something is fucking wrong.

Unless you are a developer you can't say that definitively and the fidelity of these AAA games are several times higher than the games you mentioned.

 

[amstradcpc]

I'm playing DOOM right now and - granted on the PS4 - it is nowhere near Best Looking. Was really surprised them praising it in that particular category so much.

Aside from that, would be fine it winning GotY. It will probably land on my Top 10 on 6-10 somewhere, but it is daaaaamn good.

So do I and the control is horrendous coming from TF2 buttery smooth control. So far is only wave after wave of enemies. I dont see a GOTY contender anywhere.

 

[Smurfinator]

Surprised Battlefield 1 wasn't in the top 3 best looking but they chose other good looking games as well!