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[Archaix]

Dark Souls 2 was disappointing but still better than 98% of the games that came out this year.

Among Dark Souls 2, Drive Club, Watch Dogs, and Destiny, DS2 was the only one I thought might have actually been a good game before release. It's pretty easily the frontrunner for most disappointing personally.

 

[Sayers]

If Brad can filibuster ME3 into the top 10 then I expect he will be able to do the same with Destiny.

 

[Zaph]

As always, I would have a hard time limiting my list to ten. Don't see where people are coming from with their "bad year" proclamations (unless you're only limiting yourself to PS4/X1 for some reason).

It's insane. So many fantastic games have come out that I'm probably going to make a timetable up from the Christmas break just in an attempt to catch up.

And it's been so varied too - from your usual stuff to genre revivals like Divinity OS. Even the so-called disappointing games a lot of people seem to be having fun with.

 

[Dany]

Can the most disappointing game of 2014 be in the top 10?

God I can't wait

 

[alr1ght]

So I see there's a Digging Simulator coming out tomorrow on Steam.

Farm Machines Championships 2014
http://store.steampowered.com/app/284290/

$1.99 in a bundle

 

[ab.aeterno]

Typical attempt to re-define a term that has a certain meaning and connotation as a form of branding anyone you don't like with a sweeping generalization. Didn't help that one of the main complaints of GG is the seeming echo chamber amongst the news sites, and then several articles with the same exact argument pop up in a short period of time. Alexander's just had the most incendiary language.

Actually, I think it was an incendiary way of pointing out the total uselessness of the term gamer. After all, what the fuck is a gamer at this point? A person who plays games? What does that mean as gaming continues to become a normalized, ubiquitous medium that everyone enjoys, not just the marketing demographic of young white male, which is what businesses and the outside culture traditionally defined it as?

I mean, we don't have special words for "a person who watches movies" or "a person who reads books," right? We have words for enthusiasts, maybe (though I never recall people calling themselves cinephiles and bibliophiles or whatever), but no one defines themselves by a type of media consumption the way gamers do. Does that even make sense in a world where everyone dabbles in it, to some degree?

The article, from my understanding, is saying that the narrow definition of who a gamer was is no longer necessary because the market for games is now, in essence, everybody.

I don't think Gamergate is inherently a bad thing. There are some in that movement (I cannot think of a better word) that are asking legitimate questions they feel should be answered. However, as with any protest group, there are people that latch onto it and spread anarchy in that groups name. In this case, there is quite a lot of anarchy spreading, so much so that any of what's left of the original message seems to be in tatters.

The list of what the movement has accomplished towards any legitimate questions of journalism ethics is basically non-existent; the list of the people mercilessly harassed isn't.

 

[Data West]

Euro Truck Simulator 3 needs to come out, so it can win GOTY of that year.

I ain't even joking.

 

[TharpDaddy]

Didn't they retire it in favor of the "Old Game" award because of Windjammers?


If that's the case, I'm pretty sure there's only one old game that they've all devoted multiple hours to playing this year.

Congratulations to Mario Party. You're Giant Bomb's Best Old Game of 2014.

Vib Ribbon.

 

[danm999]

Among Dark Souls 2, Drive Club, Watch Dogs, and Destiny, DS2 was the only one I thought might have actually been a good game before release. It's pretty easily the frontrunner for most disappointing personally.

IIRC, Patrick was throwing skepticism on DS2 pre release because of how hands off/uninvolved Hidetaka Miyazaki was with it. That might be enough to let it off the hook.

 

[sixghost]

Among Dark Souls 2, Drive Club, Watch Dogs, and Destiny, DS2 was the only one I thought might have actually been a good game before release. It's pretty easily the frontrunner for most disappointing personally.

Did you not like it at all? I think people have gotten carried away when talking about the game's faults. You'd think that literally every fight contained a hitbox error as egregious as the gifs that get posted in every DS2 thread. It seemed like pretty common knowledge around the release of the game that Miyazaki was off working on the actual next big thing from FROM, so I didn't really expect them to blow everyone away again.

 

[jgminto]

My year has consisted of mostly playing PS1 and 2 games. Jazzpunk, South Park and D4 are the only games I remember playing and finishing. I put time into Dark Souls 2 as well but stopped midway.

 

[conweller]

Can the most disappointing game of 2014 be in the top 10?

God I can't wait

It's a sign that the medium is maturing, and it's awesome.

Films, and literature don't have an obvious "Well clearly this was The Best of the year"

For most of their history, there have been good and bad games. The well made games are good, the poorly made games are bad.

We're reaching the point that games are high quality, and we have to start analyzing them for other merits. Are they achieving the tones, and pacing they are shooting for? How do you feel after playing them? Do they strive for something great? Does a game grab you by the story, gameplay, tone, music, or art style?

 

[ab.aeterno]

Can the most disappointing game of 2014 be in the top 10?

God I can't wait

God, I expect

Spoiler

and secretly hope for

a knock-down, drag-out brawl over Destiny. Brad's been more and more open to acknowledging its very real flaws even as he continues to thoroughly enjoy it, while Jeff just seems so bitterly disappointed at how little content there is to it. If it doesn't win Most Disappointing, I'll be shocked. But I expect Brad to fight for it in GotY, and that will be glorious to witness. Popcorn will be at the ready.

 

[sixghost]

It's a sign that the medium is maturing, and it's awesome.

Films, and literature don't have an obvious "Well clearly this was The Best of the year"

For most of their history, there have been good and bad games. The well made games are good, the poorly made games are bad.

We're reaching the point that games are high quality, and we have to start analyzing them for other merits. Are they achieving the tones, and pacing they are shooting for? How do you feel after playing them? Do they strive for something great? Does a game grab you by the story, gameplay, tone, music, or art style?

If anything I think it reflects poorly on video games. An environment where a game could be so impossibly hyped up that it could be one of the 10 best games of the year, while also being the most disappointing game of the year is embarrassing to be honest.

 

[danm999]

Can the most disappointing game of 2014 be in the top 10?

God I can't wait

Personally I'm more excited to see if they revive Best Apology. Currently this is my frontrunner;

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136011-EA-Dungeon-Keeper-Failed-by-Innovating-Too-Much

 

[Brashnir]

If anything I think it reflects poorly on video games. An environment where a game could be so impossibly hyped up that it could be one of the 10 best games of the year, while also being the most disappointing game of the year is embarrassing to be honest.

The videogame hype machine is a pretty embarrassing shit show, to say the least.

 

[Myggen]

If anything I think it reflects poorly on video games. An environment where a game could be so impossibly hyped up that it could be one of the 10 best games of the year, while also being the most disappointing game of the year is embarrassing to be honest.

Wouldn't that be like the new Star Wars film not being THE BEST THING EVER? The Disney hype machine rivals any hype machine in the video game industry. Or the new Radiohead album being just really, really good? I don't think that's a "problem" exclusive to games.

Personally I'm more excited to see if they revive Best Apology. Currently this is my frontrunner;

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136011-EA-Dungeon-Keeper-Failed-by-Innovating-Too-Much

Haha, I hadn't seen that one before. That's fantastic.

 

[TharpDaddy]

Personally I'm more excited to see if they revive Best Apology. Currently this is my frontrunner;

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136011-EA-Dungeon-Keeper-Failed-by-Innovating-Too-Much

Oh EA....

 

[daydream]

If anything I think it reflects poorly on video games. An environment where a game could be so impossibly hyped up that it could be one of the 10 best games of the year, while also being the most disappointing game of the year is embarrassing to be honest.

I agree with this. At least Jeff seems to be somewhat immune to the hype culture.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Jeff can't be disappointed by a game he's never played. It will never win that category.

Destiny is a lock. They'll say something like, "Well, it either has to win GotY or Most Disappointing, and there are other games we all like better than Destiny, so it will have to be the latter."

Vinny, Brad, and Patrick all were looking forward to Dark Souls 2 more than any other of the early 2014 release, and none came away with kinds words for it.

No one fully knew what Destiny was until the Alpha, and even then some at GB had trepidation that there might not be enough game there to make it interesting in the long run, some of those were proved right. And Brad still likes the game regardless.

Most of the Destiny hype game from marketing. Dark Souls 2 hype came from actual humans anticipating a game. Dark Souls 2 deserves the nod.

 

[Curufinwe]

Actually, I think it was an incendiary way of pointing out the total uselessness of the term gamer. After all, what the fuck is a gamer at this point? A person who plays games? What does that mean as gaming continues to become a normalized, ubiquitous medium that everyone enjoys, not just the marketing demographic of young white male, which is what businesses and the outside culture traditionally defined it as?

I mean, we don't have special words for "a person who watches movies" or "a person who reads books," right? We have words for enthusiasts, maybe (though I never recall people calling themselves cinephiles and bibliophiles or whatever), but no one defines themselves by a type of media consumption the way gamers do. Does that even make sense in a world where everyone dabbles in it, to some degree?

The article, from my understanding, is saying that the narrow definition of who a gamer was is no longer necessary because the market for games is now, in essence, everybody.


The list of what the movement has accomplished towards any legitimate questions of journalism ethics is basically non-existent; the list of the people mercilessly harassed isn't.

Everyone doesn't play games. Not even close. And there's nothing wrong with calling someone who plays a lot of games or plays games a lot a gamer. It doesn't mean games are their only interest.

 

[Archaix]

Did you not like it at all? I think people have gotten carried away when talking about the game's faults. You'd think that literally every fight contained a hitbox error as egregious as the gifs that get posted in every DS2 thread. It seemed like pretty common knowledge around the release of the game that Miyazaki was off working on the actual next big thing from FROM, so I didn't really expect them to blow everyone away again.

I didn't finish it. I still haven't gone back, nothing about it grabbed me and almost everything felt off.

 

[Haunted]

Looking at the games I've marked for consideration in my goty.xls file...

• Dark Souls II
• Hearthstone
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
• The Banner Saga
• Halfway
• Xibalba
• Lethal League
• Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments
• Lyne
• Broken Age

I don't see a lot of them having a chance in GB's GOTY considerations. Haven't played Divinity yet. The big budget fall games (Shadow of Mordor, Alien and Ryse) have all been "good but not goty" material, imo.

 

[ST2K]

I think the key difference is Destiny is a bad (or perhaps mediocre if we're putting it gently) game while Dark Souls 2 is "merely" a good game following in the footsteps of a game they'd describe as beyond great.

What's the bigger drop-off? A new game that'd been hyped to hell turning out to be bad and under-delivering in almost every way? Or a game in existing IP that failed to live up to its predecessor's colossal shadow?

I think it's highly subjective and depends on how much emphasis you put on hype for a new IP and hype for a sequel.

 

[Haunted]

I don't know if the fact that Titanfall hasn't come up in this "most disappointing" discussion is a sign that it wasn't all that disappointing, or a sign that it was really disappointing and has already been forgotten by most.

Vinny, Brad, and Patrick all were looking forward to Dark Souls 2 more than any other of the early 2014 release, and none came away with kinds words for it.

They did? I didn't notice that turnaround, the first impressions and ongoing videos they made all seemed to be pretty positive.

 

[Myggen]

I don't know if the fact that Titanfall hasn't come up in this "most disappointing" discussion is a sign that it wasn't all that disappointing, or a sign that it was really disappointing and has already been forgotten by most.

I think Titanfall was pretty much what they announced that it was gonna be, but it just didn't find a big audience. It's not a very disappointing game in my book.

 

[bonercop]

i'm playing ground zeroes right now, and it's surprisingly fun as someone who was on the "wtf is with this slo-motion shit when you get caught, this is mgs for babies"-train when i was watching previews and shit. brad and jeff liked it, so i hope it doesn't get robbed by something lame like south park.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I think the Rams and going the beat the 49ers...

What do you think guys?

 

[LeBart]

All I remember of the Dark Souls 2 coverage is Vinny playing it for 80 hours in like a week, and Brad saying he would give it a 5 if he had to review it. They didn't sound all that disappointed by it.

 

[sixghost]

I think Titanfall was pretty much what they announced that it was gonna be, but it just didn't find a big audience. It's not a very disappointing game in my book.

The other way to frame it is that Titanfall was the first game made by the guys who literally redefined the entire genre 5 years prior. To have that game come out and realize that it didn't really have any new ideas besides parkour and robots was a huge disappointment. I remember back in 2011 when the guys on the bombcast were talking about looking forward to Respawn's first game as something that could break the console FPS genre out of its rut. Instead they just made another game that felt the same.

 

[Haunted]

All I remember of the Dark Souls 2 coverage is Vinny playing it for 80 hours in like a week, and Brad saying he would give it a 5 if he had to review it. They didn't sound all that disappointed by it.

Well, that coming from Brad "5 stars" Shoemaker isn't too much of a shock.

 

[alr1ght]

i'm playing ground zeroes right now, and it's surprisingly fun as someone who was on the "wtf is with this slo-motion shit when you get caught, this is mgs for babies"-train when i was watching previews and shit. brad and jeff liked it, so i hope it doesn't get robbed by something lame like south park.

It's 6 minutes later, so you've probably finished it by now.

 

[ab.aeterno]

Everyone doesn't play games. Not even close. And there's nothing wrong with calling someone who plays a lot of games or plays games a lot a gamer. It doesn't mean games are their only interest.

Well, not everyone watches movies, or watches TV, or reads books, either. If your bar is "everyone or close to it," nothing will rise above it. While more people consume those other mediums than games, I expect that to change over time, as it has been, until it's on par. The medium is expanding, that's the point. I see a mind-boggling number of people playing Candy Crush and other mobile games.

People can use the word however they want to. I'm just trying to explain the point of the article, as I understood it. I am slowly leaning towards agreeing with it. You can disagree, that's fine.

 

[funkystudent]

Titanfall and Watch Dogs just seemed like very pedestrian affairs. They where exactly what you expected from them. Nothing more or less. No surprises. Games that will be forgotten years from now.

I guess Watch Dogs takes a knock because of the downgrades but thats about it.

 

[bonercop]

All I remember of the Dark Souls 2 coverage is Vinny playing it for 80 hours in like a week, and Brad saying he would give it a 5 if he had to review it. They didn't sound all that disappointed by it.

I thought i was going crazy. what's everyone talking about? i know the internet(me included) sort of turned their backs on DSII after we got past the initial wave of hype, but all I remember from the GB guys is praise for the game's mechanics. Vinny did say he preferred the first because of the story, but still put 100+ hours into it if memory serves.

It's 6 minutes later, so you've probably finished it by now.

oh, i did that hours ago, lol. took me 50 minutes. gotta get my S-ranks on these side ops, though!

 

[Scizzy]

I think the people hoping for a Destiny war during GOTY will be disappointed. It'll be like ME3, where Jeff and Brad already drew their battle lines weeks before and have come to an uneasy truce before it all begins. The Mario Kart battle is going to be much, much worse.

 

[daydream]

I could see Jeff making a case for Gauntlet in the 'Most Disappointing' category.

It's a great IP to bring back, and having the Magicka people on it seems like a perfect fit. Unrealistic that it'll make top 3 but who knows.

 

[TharpDaddy]

I could see Jeff making a case for Gauntlet in the 'Most Disappointing' category.

It's a great IP to bring back, and having the Magicka people on it seems like a perfect fit. Unrealistic that it'll make top 3 but who knows.

I'm not sure Jeff had high hopes for it in the first place. He's very vocal about Gauntlet not working outside of an arcade setting.

Edit: Just noticed Evil Within quick look at midnight. I'm really curious if it will end up being any good.

 

[Haunted]

I could see Jeff making a case for Gauntlet in the 'Most Disappointing' category.

It's a great IP to bring back, and having the Magicka people on it seems like a perfect fit. Unrealistic that it'll make top 3 but who knows.

Jeff didn't like it from the very first time he played it some time before release, and everyone else that played it (Drew, Dan, Brad) thought it was pretty good. I don't think it has a place there.

I think that the hyped and highly marketed AAA titles like Destiny, Watch Dogs and Titanfall are obvious frontrunners for this category. Depending on how the rest of the year goes, it might just be Destiny because it had the biggest development and marketing budget out of them all and will be freshest in their mind at that time.

 

[Myggen]

I'm not sure Jeff had high hopes for it in the first place. He's very vocal about Gauntlet not working outside of an arcade setting.

Yep. He already saw what that game was at E3 (or was it PAX?), so that game wasn't really disappointing.

 

[danm999]

I could see Jeff making a case for Gauntlet in the 'Most Disappointing' category.

It's a great IP to bring back, and having the Magicka people on it seems like a perfect fit. Unrealistic that it'll make top 3 but who knows.

Possibly but IIRC correctly, he basically said something on the podcast two weeks ago to the tune to it being an impossible series to revive anyway, and that it never showed well, so that the end product wasn't great wasn't overly disappointing, even if they did make a bunch of mistakes along the way.

I really think Destiny and Watch Dogs are locks for the list, as for the third, I have no idea, except that Dark Souls is probably going to get off the hook.

Too bad we didn't get another Sim City this year to completely sweep the category.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Dark Souls II Crown of the Ivory king for add-on of the year.

 

[daydream]

Yeah, I concede that it will definitely not make top 3. I think it deserves a mention but ok, as opposed to Jeff, I had *some* hopes for it and it turned out crap.

The discussion will be amazing, in any case.

Dark Souls II Crown of the Ivory king for add-on of the year.

I heard the DLC is really, really good but unless Vinny finds a way to play it on the office machine before the end of the year, it probably won't be in contention (Edit: yeah, IF they even have a category for it).

 

[Haunted]

Dark Souls II Crown of the Ivory king for add-on of the year.

Oh yeah, no doubt. The Dark Souls 2 DLC has been incredible, I can't think of anything else that even comes close this year.

If they have a category for that.

 

[hamchan]

Among Dark Souls 2, Drive Club, Watch Dogs, and Destiny, DS2 was the only one I thought might have actually been a good game before release. It's pretty easily the frontrunner for most disappointing personally.

And here I am thinking it's still a GOTY contender, despite not being as good as the first game. It's been a very weak year after all.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Is dark souls 2 even on the hook for most disappointing anyway? Vinny and patrick seemed to have liked it, and brad is just waiting for the PC version AKA getting too addicted to DOTA 2.

 

[faridmon]

Wouldn't that be like the new Star Wars film not being THE BEST THING EVER? The Disney hype machine rivals any hype machine in the video game industry. Or the new Radiohead album being just really, really good? I don't think that's a "problem" exclusive to games.

Radiohead have great trackrecord. That is why its its anticipated if there was one announced. That example doesn't work.

 

[Archaix]

And here I am thinking it's still a GOTY contender, despite not being as good as the first game. It's been a very weak year after all.

I can't even argue against that. It's the only game released so far that I had any expectations for and failed to meet them though.

I think it's telling that a game that was looked forward to with such expectations that they started a video series tracking their progress, quietly petered out into nothing, with Brad stopping halfway and never picking up the PC version.

Yeah, and compare that to Destiny, which got him to completely quit playing Dota in the middle of that tournament series they were playing.

 

[Fotheringay]

Is dark souls 2 even on the hook for most disappointing anyway? Vinny and patrick seemed to have liked it, and brad is just waiting for the PC version AKA getting too addicted to DOTA 2.

I think it's telling that a game that was looked forward to with such expectations that they started a video series tracking their progress, quietly petered out into nothing, with Brad stopping halfway and never picking up the PC version.

 

[Antiwhippy]

I think it's telling that a game that was looked forward to with such expectations that they started a video series tracking their progress, quietly petered out into nothing, with Brad stopping halfway and never picking up the PC version.

Did it peter out to nothing though? Vinny finished it, then he moved away. Also we all know why brad didn't finish it.