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[Diprosalic]

Spoiler

Doom

as Biggest Surprise doesn't make any sense anymore after the overall GOTY.

Why

 

[Phatmac]

I'm assuming that Winston was robbed.

I love him, but he needs a buff badly.

 

[Noaloha]

Sync-juice.

 

[Human Trashcan]

Said screw it and listened to the Best Overwatch Character part of Day 5 even though I' behind. Couldn't help myself.

Jeff going to bat for Mei made me oh so happy but Dan has the worst fucking opinion there. He's the guy who plays only Offense heroes and he doesn't like Zarya? Dude, you talk up Soldier and Reapers Ults yet you don't like the character who sets both of the up perfectly? UUUUUGGGGHH.

I feel good about my opinions whenever Dan feels the opposite, which is almost all of the time, because Dan is awful and has awful taste in everything.

 

[SmackAttack]

Junkrat is the Waluigi of Overwatch.

That's unfair to Junkrat. He's much more entertaining.

I love him, but he needs a buff badly.

Agreed.

 

[adamsapple]

Man. I was hoping Dan would put up more of a fight for Stardew but the GoTY was always going to be either Hitman or Doom based on how much praise both these games have received from the GB staff over the year.

 

[inky]

Well that was fun. Was expecting a bit more fighting for that top spot.

 

[Hellsing321]

Junkrat is the Waluigi of Overwatch.

This is so accurate it hurts. As soon as I see someone on my team auto-lock Junkrat I can just chalk that round up as a loss.

 

[RecRoulette]

Spoiler

Zero Time Dilemma

getting props from Vinny was fantastic. It was so close to breaking the top 3.

 

[Brannon]

Haven't played the new Hitman yet; could it really, truly be that good?

 

[bigkrev]

Wow, I managed to listen to Best Story and managed to avoid all ZTD spoilers! I had my finger on the button every time Vinny was about to speak and probably missed some other things, but whatever. Of all the games I didn't play this year that I plan on, ZTD was last on my list of things I was expecting full spoiler talk of on Giant Bomb

Overwatch Characters

Spoiler

Boy, the whole hatred of Tracer at the start probably doesn't happen if Blizzard had announced her as gay before recording this

Placement of games on Top 10 vs personal lists

Spoiler

They recorded this almost a month ago, and Jeff made changes to his personal top 10 list as recently as this morning. People had more time to try stuff out.

And as to how the list was put together at the end, it was a lot better than previous years, and I agree with "locking" games early on, but felt they locked way too many games.

Spoiler

I would have locked Doom, Hitman and Overwatch- it felt like Witness and Titanfall just got on their without any debate, and locking Inside led to the debates through the podcast.

 

[therealminime]

This is so accurate it hurts. As soon as I see someone on my team auto-lock Junkrat I can just chalk that round up as a loss.

Anyone that isn't D.Va, Roadhog, Reinhardt, Zarya, or Ana is completely useless right now. Can't wait for a rebalance to kill this meta.

 

[meanspartan]

Haven't played the new Hitman yet; could it really, truly be that good?

I haven't either but will now.

Perhaps the replayability is just off the charts with all the different ways you can tackle a scenario?

In Far Cry, I love resetting and taking down outposts in all sorts of different ways. Maybe that is what Hitman does with its gameplay.

 

[Bornstellar]

I attribute the lack of discussion on Titanfall to the fact that the majority of the staff hasn't played much of it.

 

[Phediuk]

Haven't played the new Hitman yet; could it really, truly be that good?

It plays well with Giant Bomb's style, much as Mario Maker did last year (though I like Hitman more than MM.)

I wouldn't call it

Spoiler

GOTY, though.

 

[meanspartan]

Spoiler

Doom

as Biggest Surprise doesn't make any sense anymore after the overall GOTY.

Why? It went from expected to be bad to

Spoiler

their second best game of the year.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

Haven't played the new Hitman yet; could it really, truly be that good?

Its a good Hitman game. I loved the first 4 games so I was less impressed as some but it was way better than Absolution and I am happy to see it gain a wider audience. Its very much like the older games but set in bigger maps with more moving parts. Its well deserving of its praise I think.

 

[KingKong]

we all know the real goty is

Spoiler

Dark Souls 3

 

[SmackAttack]

I feel good about my opinions whenever Dan feels the opposite, which is almost all of the time, because Dan is awful and has awful taste in everything.

Yup. I disagreed with him all the time when he joined GameInformer and I still do with him here.

 

[Dr Duncan Steel]

We are done-zo, Gerstmann.

 

[firehawk12]

Other than the top 2, this felt like the least contentious discussion ever.

 

[SexyFish]

Haven't played the new Hitman yet; could it really, truly be that good?

I loved Blood Money, was slightly disappointed by Absolution.


Hitman is the best in the series for me. The episodic nature works perfectly. And the elusive targets are grand too.

 

[TheXbox]

I can't listen to the Best Music category anymore. Shit triggers me so hard, such a naked bias against orchestral music. FFXV runs the fuck away with that shit. Zero discussion. The fact that it hasn't even been mentioned yet is just... ughhhhhh

 

[Crashdown]

Just running through a mental exercise since they usually disagree when it comes to #1...

Jeff vs. Brad Scorecard

2008 - Jeff (GTA4) over Brad (MGS4)
2009 - Brad (Uncharted 2) over Jeff (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
2010 - Jeff (Mass Effect 2) over Brad (Red Dead Redemption)
2011 - Brad (Skyrim) over Jeff (Saint's Row the Third)
2012 - No contest (Consensus: X-COM)
2013 - Brad (The Last of Us) over Jeff (anything but The Last of Us/THE GUNPOINT ROPE-A-DOPE)
2014 - No contest (Consensus: Shadow of Mordor)
2015 - Jeff (Super Mario Maker) over Brad (MGS5)
2016 -

Spoiler

Jeff (Hitman) over Brad (Doom)

I apologize if someone read this before I edited 2016 to be in spoiler tags.

 

[Phediuk]

Other than the top 2, this felt like the least contentious discussion ever.

No, that was 2014 when Shadow of Mordor won without debate because it was the only game that everyone played and kinda liked.

 

[Zornack]

Dan is the true kingmaker.

 

[Human Trashcan]

2016 - Jeff (Hitman) over Brad (Doom)

How on earth is this our reality, I will never understand. Not that Hitman won, but that that was the fight. If anything I'd have expected them to take opposing sides there.

 

[Hellsing321]

I can't listen to the Best Music category anymore. Shit triggers me so hard, such a naked bias against orchestral music. FFXV runs the fuck away with that shit. Zero discussion. The fact that it hasn't even been mentioned yet is just... ughhhhhh

The game had just come out and I don't think any of them played it for more than an hour when they recorded these podcasts. Not that it would have made the list in the end even if they did play it.

 

[MassiveNights]

Jeff didn't even like Hitman that much for like 11 months and 14 days

 

[Kusagari]

Jeff having Rhythm Heaven on his list is both a great surprise and annoying since he should really talk about it more.

 

[Noaloha]

I think Civ V beats FFXV within that perspective. FFXV's OST is fantastic but Civ V's OST is actually beautiful.

 

[K.Sabot]

darn, got spoiled

oh well guess I'll listen to it anyways.

 

[shiftplusone]

any top 10 list without

Spoiler

___________uncharted 4___________

is one I can agree with

 

[RecRoulette]

I can't listen to the Best Music category anymore. Shit triggers me so hard, such a naked bias against orchestral music. FFXV runs the fuck away with that shit. Zero discussion. The fact that it hasn't even been mentioned yet is just... ughhhhhh

They used a cover of "Stand By Me" with no irony whatsoever, I can't back that.

 

[Phediuk]

They used a cover of "Stand By Me" with no irony whatsoever, I can't back that.

lmao did they really?

 

[yuraya]

The way they threw out

Spoiler

U4

to put in the other stuff in the top 10 was so good. The highlight of the deliberations imo. I wish they would do that more often for games no one is actually making a passionate argument for.

 

[ScientificPizza]

They used a cover of "Stand By Me" with no irony whatsoever, I can't back that.

it's a good cover though

 

[SexyFish]

I can't listen to the Best Music category anymore. Shit triggers me so hard, such a naked bias against orchestral music. FFXV runs the fuck away with that shit. Zero discussion. The fact that it hasn't even been mentioned yet is just... ughhhhhh

Came out late in the year + barely any of them have touched it.

lmao did they really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv2DSmy3Tro

 

[K.Sabot]

They used a cover of "Stand By Me" with no irony whatsoever, I can't back that.

And half the music in the game is just lame-ass modern lounge music anyways.

The good stuff everyone posts gets overused imo because it serves as the foil to the massive amount of filler music everyone seems to ignore or merely acknowledge as "okay".

If we wanna talk japanese OST getting shafted this year, we can go no further than Grand Kingdom.

 

[DamnBoxes]

we all know the real goty is

Spoiler

Dark Souls 3

You and me both, homie.

 

[Human Trashcan]

They used a cover of "Stand By Me" with no irony whatsoever, I can't back that.

Oh no, sincerity! hide!

 

[RecRoulette]

lmao did they really?

Yes, plays right at the beginning as everyone is pushing the car. It's a great cover, but holy fucking shit.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Yup. I disagreed with him all the time when he joined GameInformer and I still do with him here.

I love the hilarious moments from him and I'm sure he's a fucking great genuine guy, but Dan Ryckert most definitely strikes me as having a WIS 7 on the D&D gradient.

They used a cover of "Stand By Me" with no irony whatsoever, I can't back that.

Agreed. That fucking song.

 

[bigkrev]

How on earth is this our reality, I will never understand. Not that Hitman won, but that that was the fight. If anything I'd have expected them to take opposing sides there.

Vinny- "Doom is a complete package"
Jeff- "No it isn't!"

Jeff really takes issue with the fact that Doom's multiplayer is terrible.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Just wanted to pop in and say that the Day Three discussion about using cover songs in game trailers was pretty rough to listen to. I love the show and think these guys are great but man were they too cool for school during that part. I was just shy of shouting at my phone "GET OVER IT, PEOPLE LIKE SONGS YOU DONT".

Just getting rolling on Day Four right now.

Maudlin covers of classic songs in trailers is absolutely one of the worst trends in marketing right now. From top to bottom it is creatively bankrupt regardless of how you feel about the covers themselves.

 

[Curufinwe]

I can't listen to the Best Music category anymore. Shit triggers me so hard, such a naked bias against orchestral music. FFXV runs the fuck away with that shit. Zero discussion. The fact that it hasn't even been mentioned yet is just... ughhhhhh

No one played it.

 

[Catvoca]

The way they threw out

Spoiler

U4

to put in the other stuff in the top 10 was so good. The highlight of the deliberations imo. I wish they would do that more often for games no one is actually making a passionate argument for.

Even as someone who likes that game a lot I was very happy with that decision. I'd rather a game someone loves get on the list than a game most people think is alright.

 

[Human Trashcan]

No one played it.

The bias against orchestral music is real though, every year. It's always dismissed as generic or whatever.

 

[oti]

And half the music in the game is just lame-ass modern lounge music anyways.

The good stuff everyone posts gets overused imo because it serves as the foil to the massive amount of filler music everyone seems to ignore or merely acknowledge as "okay".

If we wanna talk japanese OST getting shafted this year, we can go no further than Grand Kingdom.

I couldn't hear your wrong opinion because I'm listening to VALSE DI FANTASTICA OVER HERE IT'S SO GOOOOOOOD.

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

The way they threw out

Spoiler

U4

to put in the other stuff in the top 10 was so good. The highlight of the deliberations imo. I wish they would do that more often for games no one is actually making a passionate argument for.

Yep! Absolutely the right call for the right reasons. Dan suggested that, right?