Is there a reason LBP2 didn't get mentioned at all during the entire week? It was a great game which Jeff adored and made for an awesome QL. It's the only five star game which wasn't mentioned at all. Not even a cursory nod for the improvements it made. That really disappointed me.
Giant Bomb's Game of the Year Thread: Skyrim? Skyrim? Skyrim? Skyrim? Skylanders!
- Thread starter The Dutch Slayer
- Start date
The weirdest thing is that Ryan wasn't even pushed.
I don't mind Brad and Patrick defending their #1 game. In fact, I expect it, Jeff and Vinny did the same. I'd have preferred to see SR3 as GOTY, but I don't really care. I just don't understand any of what Ryan did. He voted for a game he didn't play because the game he did picked as #1 was so good he wanted more of it (and isn't a short game: he did all the activities, so it's like 10-20 hours).
DidntKnowJack
Member
I think some of you guys take their picks way too seriously. Above and beyond the actual choices, this year proved again that GiantBomb is really the only website out there doing what they do - creating fun and interesting content, and TONS of it. They let us all in on the entire process for picking their GOTY awards for the last 3 years, for Christ's sake. Who the fuck else does that?
I came to terms years ago with the fact that I am going to disagree with Jeff and the guys at least 50 percent of the time. And that's fine. Doesn't change the fact that they provide more entertainment for me on a regular basis than anyone out there. That said, I agree with their final pick - Skyrim is undoubtedly the Game of the Year. And I played the fucking PS3 version.
I came to terms years ago with the fact that I am going to disagree with Jeff and the guys at least 50 percent of the time. And that's fine. Doesn't change the fact that they provide more entertainment for me on a regular basis than anyone out there. That said, I agree with their final pick - Skyrim is undoubtedly the Game of the Year. And I played the fucking PS3 version.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
I would give skyrim GOTY if I hadn't played TW2.
I disagree with Ryan, it is not a negative if a game makes me want to keep playing after it ends.
I disagree with Ryan, it is not a negative if a game makes me want to keep playing after it ends.
almost the exact same thing happened with LBP1. Ryan gave it 5 stars and loved it but then it was pretty much completely forgotten by the end of the year.
I find it an interesting blind spot considering how much the guys who play the LBP games have enjoyed them - Its not like they get a meh and shrug at release.
Riposte
Member
What post-apocalyptic internet scenario are we talking here if there is only one good website in the world?
It is "doubtable".
Well said. I agree 100%.
You seriously cannot believe that what he wrote meant the entire internet. He was talking about videogame sites obviously.
Yeah that bit of logic was baffling. I could understand if the game was 8 hours, but he said he put 30 hours into SR3.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Stepping back from the Real Giant Bomb GOTY 2011 (SR3) getting usurped by The Pretender (Skyrim), I'm surprised Catherine was so high up on Patrick's list.
Either Patrick is like Vinny, and can't stop talking about the faults in games that he likes, or he was trying to be nice to Jeff, because throughout the rest of the year Patrick could not even mention Catherine without saying "Now Catherine has tons of problems and Jeff (link to Jeff's review) is totally 100% right and I like it only sliiiiightly more than he did..." Then he lists it as his #2 game of the year, while Jeff is trying to get it nominated for "Most Disappointing" because it's a dev team he liked one game from, experimenting in a genre that he doesn't like.
Either Patrick is like Vinny, and can't stop talking about the faults in games that he likes, or he was trying to be nice to Jeff, because throughout the rest of the year Patrick could not even mention Catherine without saying "Now Catherine has tons of problems and Jeff (link to Jeff's review) is totally 100% right and I like it only sliiiiightly more than he did..." Then he lists it as his #2 game of the year, while Jeff is trying to get it nominated for "Most Disappointing" because it's a dev team he liked one game from, experimenting in a genre that he doesn't like.
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Deleted member 13876
Unconfirmed Member
Is there any way of playing You Don't Know Jack outside the US? The PS3 version is region free right so I should be fine if I manage to track that one down.
Riposte
Member
I know he really likes the storyline stuff. I mean he doesn't mention the puzzle mechanics at all in his GotY countdown. It could be that he is simply ignoring that part of the game, which is what Jeff hates. He doesn't seem like to the type though. It's odd lol.
The whole top ten for the site is really just a complete embarrassment. I don't understand what purpose the list is supposed to serve. What is the value of a top ten list when the games being put on it and voted up and down haven't been played by the whole staff? What does Giant Bomb's endorsement of The Witcher 2 on the list mean if only Vinny and Jeff have really invested something into the game? The majority of the people in that room felt Saint's Row was the best game that year and yet the site's prize went to another game on the backing of someone who hasn't really played it. The whole affair just felt incredibly phony.
I guess the less said about Brad "The Quest Givers Move" Shoemaker the better, so I'll just say I really felt like Patrick brought a lot of really cogent points to the conversation and kept things real.
I guess the less said about Brad "The Quest Givers Move" Shoemaker the better, so I'll just say I really felt like Patrick brought a lot of really cogent points to the conversation and kept things real.
I <3 Brad!
I haven't played SR3 yet so I can't really say, but of the games I have played Skyrim is my GOTY so I was glad to hear Brad and Patrick debate it with Jeff and Vinny. I was sort of surprise Ryan sided with Brad and Patrick when he hasn't played it much. But whatever... I didn't care for Brad hating on Rayman though. I'm really enjoying Rayman. SR3 will be the next game I play I think. Oh, Jeff's dislike for Dark Souls cracked me up!
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I really disagree that Skyrim is *so much better* than Oblivion. I personally vastly prefer the theme of Skyrim, but there are some things that I think were done even worse in Skyrim. The scaling is just as broken, but in different ways. I hate how simplified the skill system is (no longer can you work on running and jumping, for example, to become extremely fast and be able to jump extremely high), and while I like how they changed how magic is cast, the spell variety is extremely weak in Skyrim.
The dungeons do seem a bit better than in Oblivion, but they really stop feeling very unique after 30 hours or so when you start to recognize a ton of overlap.
I like both games a lot, but I can't agree with Brad's "they finally pulled it off!" sentiment. Other than the visuals, I don't think it's really all that much better or different than Oblivion.
You cannot reasonably expect all 5 of these guys to play each and every game they deem worthy of making the list, that is just ridiculous.
Spirit of Jazz
Banned
Anybody mind Patrick's point when it came to radiant quests? I thought they were just the generic randomly generated quests you got from guild leaders once you because leader that nobody would have any incentive at all to do (especially given they also addressed money was pointless). So why was everyone so high on them, am I misunderstanding what they are?
I don't expect them to play the games. I don't expect them to make an entire top ten list where they endorse games they haven't played either.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
If that's the case, then I really don't think they should do an overall "Best of" list. Why do they feel the need to do it anyway? It makes no sense when you have people voting on games they didn't even play.
You're not misunderstanding what they are. They are pointless and just there to make it look like there is more content than there actually is. I'm pretty sure they just have a bunch of templates which various no-name NPCs can give out based on various conditions. Most of them are garbage "kill x" or "collect x" stuff that are the bane of most 'modern' MMORPGs.
They trust the opinions of their peers? I mean I am not exactly sure what you want out of the crew for an end of the year retrospective of the best of the best.
EmCeeGramr
Member
I'm pretty sure they're a mix of randomly generated "please go to this cave and blah blah blah" quests and some semi-randomly generated "these people are scripted to be part of this pool of potential faction quest-related endeavors, we'll randomly pick which one you have to interact with."
I know this because I tried to kill some racist drunk hobo in one town, only to discover that he was invincible. I looked it up, and he was scripted to be part of a "random" Thieves Guild pickpocketing quest. Because goodness me, we can't save the world if I can't take a Silver Ring from a hobo.
I remember Jeff saying it's just for funsies in one on of the subscriber content. Looking at how they produced these top ten vids, it's evident that it is.
Dudes probably should stop being incredibly outraged over the list.
The process was fine before, where there was only one game of the year. I can get that because it's easy for some kind of consensus to form around a game most of the staff has experience with. There's nothing "retrospective" about navel gazing on how great some games you haven't played are.
B_Rik_Schitthaus
Banned
Thank god the visual meme interface didn't win.
while I agree in general I think itd be important for Jeff to play, say, Skyward Sword instead of playing Saints Row three times.
Or for Ryan to have given Skyrim more time in December after the big releases had ended.
just throwing that out there.
No, but I can expect them not to fight for a game they have not played.
Saints Row 3 was robbed.
But I don't agree with this either. Ryan played SR3 all the way through and he decided that it was lacking something that made it worthy of being GOTY for the site. You don't think he hadn't seen hours upon hours of Skyrim gameplay already, between watching Brad during his review playthrough, the quick look, or Greg Kasavin's 12 hour marathon? I think he was more than able to make that decision. Not that I agree with his decision, but he certainly had sufficient knowledge of both games to make it.
On another note, LA Noire sucked and Uncharted 3 should have had its place in the top 10.
The problem with LA Noire is that all of the interrogation stuff is absolutely meaningless. They put in that super technical facial stuff only to set up the story on multiple occasions to where no matter which person you decided to arrest, it was the wrong person. And then the TRUE culprit would appear later. So what the fuck was the point of any of it? None. Jeff was right - tech demos are not games.
Oh, and WWE All Stars should have at least made it into the realm of discussion. It was not top 10, but it deserved to be discussed more than Trine or Might and Might or Rocksmith. All Stars was the first wrestling game I have liked in... possibly in forever, unless you count Pro Wrestling for the NES. It certainly was the first wrestling game I've played where I truly felt like I was playing in a world where pro wrestling is real and that I am one of the characters rather than a dude in tights. And the Paul Bearer interview segments were wonderful. I felt like a kid again, watching Saturday Night's Main Event.
But I don't agree with this either. Ryan played SR3 all the way through and he decided that it was lacking something that made it worthy of being GOTY for the site. You don't think he hadn't seen hours upon hours of Skyrim gameplay already, between watching Brad during his review playthrough, the quick look, or Greg Kasavin's 12 hour marathon? I think he was more than able to make that decision. Not that I agree with his decision, but he certainly had sufficient knowledge of both games to make it.
On another note, LA Noire sucked and Uncharted 3 should have had its place in the top 10.
The problem with LA Noire is that all of the interrogation stuff is absolutely meaningless. They put in that super technical facial stuff only to set up the story on multiple occasions to where no matter which person you decided to arrest, it was the wrong person. And then the TRUE culprit would appear later. So what the fuck was the point of any of it? None. Jeff was right - tech demos are not games.
Oh, and WWE All Stars should have at least made it into the realm of discussion. It was not top 10, but it deserved to be discussed more than Trine or Might and Might or Rocksmith. All Stars was the first wrestling game I have liked in... possibly in forever, unless you count Pro Wrestling for the NES. It certainly was the first wrestling game I've played where I truly felt like I was playing in a world where pro wrestling is real and that I am one of the characters rather than a dude in tights. And the Paul Bearer interview segments were wonderful. I felt like a kid again, watching Saturday Night's Main Event.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
So many goddamn immortals in Skyrim. It got ridiculous. I won't be surprised if you can't even draw your weapon in town in future Elder Scrolls games.
krameriffic
Member
Everybody has a game on their list that makes you go, "wait, wut?" Trackmania 2 on Jeff's list. Catherine on Patrick's list. DCS A-10 Warthog on Drew's list. These are personal taste games that I accept simply because they are human beings with nuanced guilty pleasures that nobody else likes.
Beelzeboss
Member
Wait a second where are people coming up with Ryan never playing Skyrim?
I thought he was playing as a racist nord.
I thought he was playing as a racist nord.
rollingstart
Banned
The second giantbomb starts acting that way is when it all goes downhill. I don't want to hear about people dispassionately talking about certain games they didn't want to play. The great thing about giantbomb is that the guys come across as enjoying games; and not the usual podcasty way of "the best game of all time is the one I played this week."
It's more like how I play games. I haven't played a lot of the big games this year because I wanted to replay wind waker at one point. Or held off on Dead Island because I wanted to play Deus Ex HR again. The only person who should be required to play a game is the chosen reviewer, however their processes is. Things like that make giantbomb entertaining, even though my own opinions rarely aligns with the giantbomb staff's.
although I haven't listened to the podcast yet. I don't know what this Ryangate thing is about.
Ryan turned heel and hit Jeff with the steel chair while Jeff was on the mic giving the fans a shoot interview in the middle of the ring.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
And it would be all AAA + Bastion as a result.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
What does this even mean?
Votes of sympathy? "oh, this wasn't my favourite game but the dev team really tried their hardest"
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Really? If anything I would think this comment should apply to Saints Row. I'm only a few hours in, but the things I've done so far have been completely off the wall. I mean, robbing a bank, getting carried off in a helicopter only to get caught, take onto a private jet from which you escape by parachute only to dive back into the plane, shoot up some badguys, and exit by parachute again all while having a firefight in the sky and rescuing one of your crew.
Then, later, you jump from a helicopter on to the top of a building, with some of the most perfect use of licensed music in a video game, and shoot up the place to take the building as your own. Later on you're fighting mutants with flamethrowers, jumping onto big ass balls that crash through dozens of floor to smash the bad guy in the basement. There are just so many fucked up crazy scenes that I've played, and I'm only like three hours into the game.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Ryan hadn't played Skyrim but he voted for it anyway. Because he played 30 hours of Saint's Row, extremely loved it, but wanted more, while it sounded like Skyrim had tons of stuff (that he hadn't played).
funkystudent
Member
wait if Ryan was the decider then how did the other 4 guys vote?
I thought the advantage of having Patrick there was with 5 people these sort of split decisions wouldn't happen.
Or did he Vote for something that wasn't Skyrim or Saints Row?
From the sounds of things reading your posts Saints Row was probably the staff favorite GOTY but skyrim won out because it was the better game from a purely technical reviewer point of view.
I thought the advantage of having Patrick there was with 5 people these sort of split decisions wouldn't happen.
Or did he Vote for something that wasn't Skyrim or Saints Row?
From the sounds of things reading your posts Saints Row was probably the staff favorite GOTY but skyrim won out because it was the better game from a purely technical reviewer point of view.
Do I have to do this again? You haven't played the games (not on your Steam list, not on your XBL list), so grow up and back out of the discussion. It shits up the entire discussion when someone prances in and tries to discredit something without knowing anything about it. The blind Saints Row hate is really insane.
Jeff, Vinny and Ryan had SR3 as #1 on their lists. Brad and Patrick had Skyrim.
Skyrim wasn't in Vinny's list (but he played a bit) or Ryan's (he never played it). Ryan voted for Skyrim.
Live Free or Die
Banned
Wow no love for uncharted 3. Sad.
It wasn't really a vote.
Patrick and Brad went with Skyrim, Jeff and Vinny with SR3. Then Ryan with Skyrim, despite it not being in his top 10 list at all (which features SR3 in the number 1 spot).
It's was kind of ridiculous.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Maybe it had something to do with the combat encounters being pretty shitty throughout?
Tell us how you really feel.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I just did. Uncharted 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. Other than the graphics and set pieces, I thought 3 was pretty bad.
Im not talking about trying to play everything during the year. Im saying that during the lull periods it might not be a bad use of their time to play some of the bigger games that they know will come up during the GOTY discussions.
If they know after a couple hours that they will never want to play that game again, then they dump it and move on.
By them not doing this, you get those weird conversations about Mario Galaxy 2 winning best Wii game and one dude played it. it just results in poor discussion and debate for a big chunk of the GOTY finalists.
anyway, Im not gonna harp on this point. It was just a thought and maybe they already did this and just didnt communicate it well. who knows.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Catherine was impressive because of the themes it addresses. No game this year, if in recent years, approaches human relationships in as meaningful a way as Catherine does. That's why I think Patrick would also like Yakuza 4, but I don't think he'll ever play it.
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Also, you know what's funny about this list?
Brad not only got his way with #1 by being stubborn, he also managed to get LA Noire on the list as well.
funkystudent
Member
ah that makes seance.... I was doing my maths wrong.
Actually having 5 people pick GOTY seems silly since it will almost always come down to the last man. They should skype Alex or drag Dave or even Kessler in next time to have even 6.
Kind of dumb that Ryan would agree to giving GOTY to a game he hasn't played.... They should make sure that doesnt happen again next year.