@Kimozabi said:

It's so sad how they dismiss Spec Ops on such shallow reasons.

Extra Credits give a full explanation on just how much especially Patrick missed about the story,

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/spec-ops-the-line-part-1

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/spec-ops-the-line-part-2

but in summary points it is:

1. The level design always putting you up high and making you descend, which ties in with the protagonists fall into crazy town

2. A deliberate differentiation of fading either to black or to white depending on a scene happening in real life or in the mind of the protagonist

3. The main character commenting on repetition for the sake of action.

4. Loading screens that speak directly to the player and challenges their motivations for playing games focusing on the horrors of war.

And a thing not mentioned in the videos is how your Xbox Live/PSN ID/Steam name is listed as a special guest in the opening credits.

There are tons of clues to the fact that this game makes a statement about our motivation for playing this type of game, but it seems like the game is dismissed because they only pick up on the theme of PTS.

Late to the party on these podcasts, but yeh I agree with this comment completely. It's sad that a truly special and important game like Spec Ops, that surprises and subverts expectations on so many levels, didn't get the recognition it honestly deserves.

Man, they always just shit on stealth games. Always pissing on Splinter Cell and Metal Gear.

They kinda lose the right bitch about how "action packed" and un-stealthy something like Splinter Cell Blacklist looks, don't they? That's a series that's being changed to suit gamers like Patrick and Jeff that hate stealth games. I'm not hating on their opinions, but I think it's interesting a game like that is being made with the attempt to win over people that will probably still not like it anyway.

@revel: Funny I had the opposite experience. I had tons of coop fun in Borderlands 1, went to play 2 with mates and we were all bored in about 2 hours. I really found the shooting a little weird, and hated most of the UI elements, particular the inventory and shop interfaces.

So did Giant Bomb collectively forget that Borderlands 2 exists? I wasn't too too hot on Borderlands 1. But 2 was some of the best co-op i'd played in a long time. *shrug* :/

It's so sad how they dismiss Spec Ops on such shallow reasons.

Extra Credits give a full explanation on just how much especially Patrick missed about the story,

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/spec-ops-the-line-part-1

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/spec-ops-the-line-part-2

but in summary points it is:

1. The level design always putting you up high and making you descend, which ties in with the protagonists fall into crazy town

2. A deliberate differentiation of fading either to black or to white depending on a scene happening in real life or in the mind of the protagonist

3. The main character commenting on repetition for the sake of action.

4. Loading screens that speak directly to the player and challenges their motivations for playing games focusing on the horrors of war.

And a thing not mentioned in the videos is how your Xbox Live/PSN ID/Steam name is listed as a special guest in the opening credits.

There are tons of clues to the fact that this game makes a statement about our motivation for playing this type of game, but it seems like the game is dismissed because they only pick up on the theme of PTS.

They probably won't see this comment but the AC 3 Kristin Bell bit was in a Revelations DLC. Which through me for a loop when the off hand comment happened in the game because I didn't play the DLC. So I searched the internet to find out what the heck they were talking about.

No NS2 even on the list of best multiplayer? That sucks. I haven't even heard them ever talk about this game other than the quick look EX.

@BigDaddy81 said:

In reference to the discussion about the ending of Dragon's Dogma, I thought the act of killing yourself is what breaks the cycle. It was implied that there has always been a "God" in one form or another kinda manipulating things and that your character was the first to kill themselves leaving no "God" at all for the first time.The various reincarnations of the Arisen that have reached the end but failed to defeat "God" wind up getting reincarnated as the titular Dragon.

And the "God" that you kill at the end is the same character you played in the prologue.

Of course, it has been a while since I played it so I may be misremembering some things. Anyone else want to chime in to try to clarify this?

No this was my impression as well, though I never got to the part where you apparently walked around as the Seneschal as I tried killing myself during various steps of the final encounter in order to break the cycle (it worked once I had slain the previous Seneschal, before seating myself on the throne). The name of the achievement Closure -Put an end to all things- also suggests that this was the way to end the cycle, though it might also suggest that this act dooms the world...

The whole thing about your pawn waking up to be you is confusing though. The only theory I have is that they were going for some sort of Pinocchio angle where the pawn gets the ultimate reward of becoming "real" in the end, but I dunno.

Really... Journey for Multi-player, I know for a runner-up...?

What?

I still don't understand how so many well-rated games can be betrayed by the very same people who gave them the high score to begin with. Assassin's Creed III- 4/5 Mass Effect 3- 4/5 Max Payne 3- 4/5

The reason that I don't read Jeff's reviews is that he's a smart guy, but he uses those smarts almost exclusively to rationalize his really arbitrary emotional reactions to things. I mean, yeah, it is a little convenient that ME3 is a reunion tour, but what were they supposed to do? Leave those characters out of the game? They have X number of resources, to make Y number of missions, with Z number of story threads and character arcs from previous games to close. You ran into past characters in almost every mission because it mathematically HAD to be that way.

And saying that it should have been another way is just stubbornness and not wanting to see the issue from all angles, which is another thing that Jeff doesn't do very well. Most of the things he damns games for are things that would damn them either way.

But really, Jacob is going to be in that hospital (which is a bug -- it should be obvious that that was not intentional), just like Jeff is going to come up with really "so what?" reasons to poo poo games. You can set your watch to it.

And the ME3 multiplayer was more than just another horde mode. Again, blinded by emotions and reaching for any convenient excuse to dismiss something.

Retail game: Product

D/L game: Service.

Sadly, this is how they'll shake out.

"That is the last outcome I expected to come out of that."

I don't usually come at anyone's opinion, but I mean, Brad didn't play ACIII. I feel that's the only reason he didn't see it coming, because I did from a mile away. You just knew ACIII and ME3 were going to be on that list, but I had no doubt in my mind that ACIII was going to win that coin toss.

@GaspoweR: It could bet that he enjoys it more because its more a 3rd person class based multiplayer.

@Artso said:

Edit:

Brad saying that Mass Effect 3 is a better shooter than Gears of War 3 kind of blew my mind. It's his opinion but I've never heard that before.

Yep, that's why he is known every year as THE FILIBUSTER.

@jwstephe2 said:

It feels like I'm the only one who found those clues that Kristen Bell was a templar in AC.

You're not the only one.

@golguin said:

I finally took the time to get Dust and I'm currently playing it now and man it is a damn shame that more people didn't play that game. The game looks fantastic, the combat feels great, and the story is pretty damn depressing. I think it is freaking crime that people didn't play this game because "fuck furries". If I finish this game before the end of this year (I think I will) it will knock off Diablo III off my list and easily end up above Fez.

I need Dust and Fez to be released on PC! I don't have a Xbox, so I haven't been able to play either, yet. :(

It feels like I'm the only one who found those clues that Kristen Bell was a templar in AC.

@Krystal_Sackful: Yeah, I was a fan of Max Payne 3, as well. It's definitely in my top 10.

Just because it seems like there's quite a few people (including multiple podcasts) that don't know what Wadjet Eye means and think it's something made up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

@Dylabaloo said:

Jeff was being awfully reductive about the Mass Effect multiplayer while Brad was being quite objective and reasonable.

Which means the world did end and we're all dead and in purgatory.

The walking dead of the year award!!!

too bad I have no interest in the subject material, and I really need to get started on Marks of the Ninja.

I WANNA RIDE DUMBO

It's weird, back in the GameSpot days...I was never a huge fan of Ryan Davis because he seemed kind of pricky. Strangely, he's really starting to grow on me and I like him a lot now. We have pretty similar tastes in games and he's a funny dude.

@dr_mantas said:

So basically there's only one of three games that can be Game of The Year...

The Walking Dead, XCOM or Far Cry 3.

I wonder what won? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I'd be happy with either of the first two. FC3 was great, but was still just another open world FPS that didn't do anything new or innovative.

So basically there's only one of three games that can be Game of The Year...

The Walking Dead, XCOM or Far Cry 3.

I wonder what won? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

@Undeadpool: It's all good. I wasn't angry or offended, sorry if it came across like that. Tone is hard for me to convey over the internet.

@byterunner: Agreed, the moment I saw Molyneux jump on the Kickstarter bandwagon was the moment I realised I would never donate to a kickstarter ever again.

The only bug I got with the Walking Dead in 2 playthroughs was right at the beginning of Ep.1 there was some framerate issues that were apparently related to ATI cards (which I think has since been fixed). What were these other supposedly game breaking bugs people are talking about because I didn't see them?

Even when I agree with their opinions, the times when they just talk about games like they're complete garbage always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I hope the GOTY discussion is not such a bummer considering this year had a lot of great games.

Patrick's anti-Mass Effect 3 nonsense has gotten extremely annoying. From his constant sighing anytime it's mentioned, to the incorrect bullshit that he brings up all the time, they should've just muzzled him whenever it came up. It barely takes anytime at all to play through Mass Effect 3's multiplayer to get points and there are plenty of people who don't spend any money on points.

Today's podcast wins the "Fuck you Brad for Brute Forcing Skyrim as 2011 GotY" award as they just destroy every game Brad wants on the lists (or does not want in the case of Most Disappointing) to the detriment of better games. Again though, I wonder if Journey came out at the end of November if people would feel stronger about it.

I actually thought Brad's fillibustering fr ME 3 multiplayer to be too much. I just dont think the multiplayer is THAT good as Brad and even Vinny pointed out. Also Brad's point of the shooting in ME3 being better than Gears to be somewhat strange. I think the shooting isn't necessarilly better in ME 3 but I think he just likes the feel of the weapons in this game since MOST of the weapons barely have any recoil and spread which makes it easier to just spray with the automatic weapons and even the ones that have more spread more often than not are a lot better in midrange. It just makes the shooting more stable while running around considering how often you can get overrun in the MP but I just dont think the feel of the weapons makes it a better shooter than Gears.

I can't wait to hear the most disappointing talk

One thing they're all getting wrong in the AC3 discussion is the fact that it was not just a throwaway line in AC3 that made her character a Templar. There were multiple clues you could find in Brotherhood which established that her character was already in communication with the Templars. I stumbled across this, IIRC, while reading through people's e-mails in the Desmond sequences.

@JBrosk89 said:

Jeff allowed his disdain for the way ME3 ended, and his overall dislike for the way ME3 let him down personally, cloud his objectivity to rating ME3 Multiplayer. Playing a ton of ME3 MP, love it. Its understandable, but kinda saddening.

That is your opinion though and you don't know what is going on inside Jeff's head. I could just as easily say that Brad let his hype for having recently played ME3 and wanting to enjoy it lead to him defending it. I for one don't think that ME3 MP is anything special at all and to say that the shooting mechanics is better than GOW3 is crazy to me. Brad's argument was "many people enjoyed it at launch" while not actually saying what was good or bad about it, at least Vinny tried to say "eh.. powers?"

@Iceland said:

Really disappointed by Hitman: Absolution getting no mention in the Most Disappointing Game category.

so disappointing they forgot about it

If I ever suffer from insomnia I know I can rely on a recording of Patrick trying to retell a story to help me fall asleep.

I think ME3 could have won MP if someone at least knew more about the game and its history as well as Brad and Vinny fighting harder knowing that. I don't personally think it is the best this year but better than Need for Speed.

None of them seemed to know about all the free DLC and updates the game has received since it came out leading to Brad and maybe Vinny talking from a totally different stand point than Jeff since he only played it on release. There are a ton of new class/race combos added with new abilities, a lot of new maps, new weapons, new mods, new equipment and a challenge system that rewards banners. All of that has also been free and is still being released.

Also Patrick up to his usual tricks of speaking way out of turn with his bullshit on needing to pay to unlock stuff.

@inappropriate_touchscreen: I think its more about the fact that Peter Molyneux has the ability to get funding else where and not from crowd funding, a system that is mainly to promote smaller projects and experiments that normal means of getting money for in the gaming industry wouldn't fund. Molyneux is a well enough known name that I believe he could get a contract that is beneficial for him (IE the publisher doesn't have all the power in how the game is created) and make what he wanted. And When someone like him goes to crowd funding, it kinda over shadows what Kickstarter was for. Also, maybe Patrick has a bad taste in his mouth from Curiosity becoming pretty much a ad, and that Molyneux is known to not deliver on what he promises. Which can hurt the reputation of the already fragile belief in the Kickstarter project.

That or he just forgot about the whole Double Fine thing, or just has a biased towards them.

@Dylabaloo said:

Jeff was being awfully reductive about the Mass Effect multiplayer while Brad was being quite objective and reasonable.

Which means the world did end and we're all dead and in purgatory.

@bluefoxxy said:

I'm with ya on that. My first time playin. Episode two had me struggling mentally. Decisions I thought were just ate away at my soul after seeing peoples reactions. Clementine means the world to me now.

Welcome to the club, cry&hug meetings every sunday.

Hmm, what did I miss ... why did they drop Borderlands 2 that fast on MP? In fact it seems weird BL2 hasnt been mentioned at all in any of the other categorys.

Resident Evil 6 is more disappointing than Assassins Creed 3. I enjoyed running around burying my tomahawk in people's chest. I still enjoyed climbing towers to synchronize the map. The ending in AC3 was disappointing but I still enjoyed the hours before the last few minutes.

Resident Evil 6 is just FUCKING terrible. I was totally jazzed to play RE6 until I heard about how terrible it is and renting it and playing it for myself. The movement sucks. The amount of screen tearing that game is infuriating. It relies too much on bad quick time events. Its just BAD.

But hey that's just my opinion

@bunkerbuster05 said:

I'm currently playing through Walking Dead after all the talk over this week.

Oh yes, it's really fucking good. I haven't been so emotionally invested in characters possibly ever. It's such a realistic story, each character's death is FUCKING KILLING ME INSIDE.

I'm with ya on that. My first time playin. Episode two had me struggling mentally. Decisions I thought were just ate away at my soul after seeing peoples reactions. Clementine means the world to me now.

I'm currently playing through Walking Dead after all the talk over this week.

Oh yes, it's really fucking good. I haven't been so emotionally invested in characters possibly ever. It's such a realistic story, each character's death is FUCKING KILLING ME INSIDE.

Klepek really hates Metal Gear because he thinks it's about trial and error... I always saw it as being about observing your environment, being careful and being decisive in your actions, otherwise you get punished. It's the same risk-reward I enjoy in games like Dark Souls and Monster Hunter. Ironically he loves Mark of the Ninja, which is a game that also hands you your ass if you don't pay attention. I just don't think he knows much about Metal Gear and is extrapolating from severely limited experience.

When hearing them talk about "Most Disappointing Game" among other awards it has become clear to me that the staff has no interest in talking or thinking about how games play. Why is there almost zero discussion on game mechanics or systems?

Man....it really grinds my gears that these guys don't share the same opinions on games that I do.

'Yeah I get it, but at the same time, it's just another multiplayer driving game.'

I totally think Most Wanted totally should have won, because it really isn't just another multiplayer driving game, but Jeff was really selling the ME3 multiplayer short. It's not just another horde mode. Vinny touched on why pretty well by mentioning the classes and the differences in enemy factions.

Jeff had a point when he said it's probably different now. When ME3 first came out, you could see that it wasn't just another horde mode, but there still wasn't that much there to really sink your teeth in. BioWare capitalized on that with every MP update bringing more enemies, more classes, and more gear.

But if you just want to compare out the box, on release multiplayer modes, it's still a disservice to reduce it to being just another horde mode.