Biggest Game Omisions from GB and Friends Lists

Well, so far for GOTY it has been surprise after surprise but i was totally blown away by Brad, along with every one else,  not recognizing Diablo 3 and Ryan not including Assassins Creed 3 on their list. I thought Jeffs list was pretty predictable but excluding Borderlands 2 was a little bit of a shock. It wouldnt surprise me (Date TBD) to see Vinny proclaim Sleeping Dogs his best, but what else has shocked you on this unpredictable season other than frogs.
 
Damn it, sorry its omissions.

Omitting Diablo 3 is the big one. I agree on how much the endgame sucked and still does. But if I can have at least 3 fun playthroughs per character and dump way over a hundred hours of fun into it, then I'd say it deserves to be recognized,

Then again, I'm not really surprised any of the staff ignored it in the top tens. They all had something to replace it with.

I think that with Diablo 3, it was great for em all for the first week or two, but then it dropped off pretty fast and they didn't really mention it again until now, so I'm not as surprised to see it not mentioned as of day 4. With AC3 and Ryan's list, I think a combo of the story in the game, and it not playing as good as 2 or Brotherhood probably pushed it outa his top 10, but I would bet it's in his top 15.

It wasn't an ommission that surprised me the most about the lists, but rather Jeff's out of nowhere mention of P4Golden, which I felt was awesome. That game is amazing, and the technical streamlining and extra content in Golden make it a must play, so I'm glad he threw it some more good words. But damn I wasn't expecting it.

I can kinda get why the GB crew has somewhat overlooked Diablo III, but the complete omission of even a reference to Torchlight II so far has been baffling to me; it's probably the game with the highest score of GameRankings and Metacritic that's had the least attention in GOTY discussions. Not only baffling because they had Max Schaefer on Big Live Live, but also because they were talking very positively about it on the podcast - Ryan pretty much said there was no game he wanted to play more at that moment in time than TL2. Not only did they not get around to reviewing it, but it literally hasn't had a single mention. I played 10 hours of TL2 before other games drew me away, but it's still a game from the year that I consider well worth being discussed as one of the better PC-only games, and it would still probably be on my top 10 list. Also it's not suffering from LittleBigPlanet 2 syndrome - TL2 came out in September.

Also no Planetside 2, Tribes: Ascend, Guild Wars 2, or my personal GOTY Crusader Kings II (I don't really expect the main GB crew to be into CKII). Funny that in the year that the PC dominated the gaming press and enthusiast fan-base, the GB crew still has neglected many of the biggest PC-only games of the year. Where's Dave when you really need him?

It seems like everyyear my favorites are barely mentioned by the bomb crew. I remember them talking a lot about Diablo though, I bet it would have been mentioned if it was released later in the year where it would still be fresh in their minds.

Torchlight 2. I am completely biased as it's my favourite game of the year but I think that most critics didn't have time to play it outside of the review. The cynic in me says it's because it wasn't a title with the name Diablo despite the fact that Torchlight 2 was dubbed by many as what Diablo 3 should have been. But then again I never heard it mentioned when the bombcrew discussed the games they had to play before GOTY.

TL2 & Diablo 3 really got the boot it seems, i never expected them to be in the running for GOTY but i thought they would make it on to some of the top 10's.

Note that all of the games mentioned so far require considerable time sinks.

@L44: Yea, i agree that plays a strong part in it, there a pretty small staff so theres bound to be some gaps. The thing with TL2 and D3 is they both got fairly considerable coverage on the site and in the bombcast. I can see why Crusader Kings 2 was over looked but Diablo 3 i thought would have at least been on Brads list considering he gave it 5 stars upon release.

@L44 said:

Note that all of the games mentioned so far require considerable time sinks.

I haven't beaten TL2, but I find it hard to believe that that game requires more of a time investment than XCOM, which all of them seem to have beaten. TL2 is a more casual experience that doesn't demand multiple playthroughs and grinding. First game you could beat in 20-25 hours, maybe less.

But aside from that, yeah, you've certainly got a point. The GB crew does have the potential to be really into long games like Bethesda RPGs and the hundreds of hours Brad spent playing Starcraft II multiplayer, but it's a consequence of their job that they need to play at least a little bit of pretty much every major game and many minor ones too, so the time demands can be rough.

Also, speaking of time-sinks, can we count Dota 2 as an omission? Is that game still in beta, and is there going to be a formal release at some point? Brad implied earlier in the year that he was very compelled by it.

I figure I am going to be mostly disappointed by their representation of Dishonored, as I don't think anyone other than Patrick ever finished it. I think that game is fantastic and is probably better than Mark of the Ninja. But of course, after last year's snub of Dark Souls, I've become pretty numb to them ignoring or disregarding the kinds of games I like.

@me3639: According to their achievements Jeff has finished chapter 2 and Brad has barely touched it.

Is this just pertaining to the personal lists? Because I was pretty miffed that Dishonored did not even get a mention in the Best Visuals category.

I was surprised that Max Payne was only nominated in biggest disappointment out of all the categories. Sure it was a mixed bag but I wouldn't say it was such a colossal let-down as other titles in that category.

I'm really surprised that Patrick hasn't even acknowledged the existence of Lone Survivor at all across both the awards and his list. I'm also a tad disappointed that The Darkness II hasn't appeared anywhere, either. I was counting on it scoring on the bottom half of Ryan or Alex's.

I felt a lot of love for Fez in the GOTY podcast but...not much in the top 10 list. If my memory serves me right.

Dragon's Dogma

but I didn't expect it to be in any of their lists given patrick gave it a three star.

Dear Esther

Dear Esther

Dear Esther

Dear Esther

Aside from the ones everyone's already listed, I thought Cook, Serve, Delicious would have made Ryan's list.

Diablo III is technically is on Drew's top 10 list so with the "and friends" added on as well, Diablo III has been mentioned at least 3 or 4 times so far. Same with Dishonored and Borderlands 2. If anything Torchlight 2 is the one with less representation on year end lists.

Games that so far have appeared on no one's list as far as I can tell:

• Botanicula
• The Darkness II
• SSX
• Guild Wars 2
• Hybrid
• Gotham City Imposters
• Crashmo
• Cook, Serve, Delicious!
• Lego Lord of the Rings
• Dance Central 3
• Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
• Closure
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Darksiders II
• Orcs Must Die! 2
• Dyad
• Endless Space
• Crusader Kings II
• Shoot Many Robots
• Double Fine Happy Action Theater
• Dustforce

@darpa said:

I felt a lot of love for Fez in the GOTY podcast but...not much in the top 10 list. If my memory serves me right.

Thats one thing I didn't understand. They fight really hard for a lot of games that never end up anywhere NEAR their GOTY lists. Although I've come to terms with the fact that, to me anyway, hardly any of these awards or lists seem rational.

@me3639: Here's the Quick Look he did. He seemed to enjoy it quite a bit and recall it being mentioned on one or two Bombcasts. The developer appears to have been happy with the response/coverage Ryan gave the game, as he named a burger after him (and a corn dog after Jeff) in the recent iOS release of the game.

@BaconGames: You're technically correct about SSX, but we all know that the spirit of Sean Coonce is ever present in the minds of the GB crew, and that he is somewhere championing it.

Crashmo is a notable omission, though, considering how high they were on Pushmo and how good their initial impressions were of the new one (Brad, on Crashmo: "2012's 2012 Game of the Year"). The lack of love for their friends at Double Fine and Harmonix makes HAT and DC3 noteworthy omissions (although RB Blitz has been on multiple top 10 lists), but the fact that these are Kinect games makes their omission more understandable - one of the guests did have HAT at the top of his list, but can't remember which one. I don't think Guild Wars 2 was ever going to be a game that stuck with the GB crew in 2012; Jeff made it pretty clear that it was not what he wanted in a new Guild Wars game, and their general MMO fatigue/dislike was in full effect.

Other than that, there are games on that list that somebody somewhere might put in a top ten, but cannot be considered to be snubs. Endless Space and Crusader Kings II got quick looks and brief podcast mentions and nothing more, same for Dustforce if I recall. Gotham City Imposters was played on TNT...but it was January, and things were sloooowww. I don't remember a single sight or mention of Orcs Must Die! 2 by the GB crew; if they did mention it, it was probably Jeff saying "ugh, tower defense".

@Humanity said:

@darpa said:

I felt a lot of love for Fez in the GOTY podcast but...not much in the top 10 list. If my memory serves me right.

Thats one thing I didn't understand. They fight really hard for a lot of games that never end up anywhere NEAR their GOTY lists. Although I've come to terms with the fact that, to me anyway, hardly any of these awards or lists seem rational.

The personal top ten lists allows them to give entirely subjective views on which games were the most important to them in 2012, while in GOTY awards they take more of a objective and intellectual stance. It's less about which games they liked the most, and more about which games they respect the most and think deserve the most recognition. That's why Witcher 2 was ranked so highly on last year's site top ten, despite Vinny being the only guy who had it in his personal top ten. Fez is that game this year; only Jeff really likes it, but the other guys clearly respect the hell out of it. There is always going to be a disconnect when you try and cultivate an objective system for ranking games based on the views of five individuals, as the closest things to true objectivity are large-scale consensus and intellectual criticism. But regardless of whether you think they're right to take that approach, they've been pretty consistent with it over the years, it's nothing new.

Sleeping Dogs should be everyone's #1 everywhere all the time.

@Atlas said:

@BaconGames: You're technically correct about SSX, but we all know that the spirit of Sean Coonce is ever present in the minds of the GB crew, and that he is somewhere championing it.

Crashmo is a notable omission, though, considering how high they were on Pushmo and how good their initial impressions were of the new one (Brad, on Crashmo: "2012's 2012 Game of the Year"). The lack of love for their friends at Double Fine and Harmonix makes HAT and DC3 noteworthy omissions (although RB Blitz has been on multiple top 10 lists), but the fact that these are Kinect games makes their omission more understandable - one of the guests did have HAT at the top of his list, but can't remember which one. I don't think Guild Wars 2 was ever going to be a game that stuck with the GB crew in 2012; Jeff made it pretty clear that it was not what he wanted in a new Guild Wars game, and their general MMO fatigue/dislike was in full effect.

Other than that, there are games on that list that somebody somewhere might put in a top ten, but cannot be considered to be snubs. Endless Space and Crusader Kings II got quick looks and brief podcast mentions and nothing more, same for Dustforce if I recall. Gotham City Imposters was played on TNT...but it was January, and things were sloooowww. I don't remember a single sight or mention of Orcs Must Die! 2 by the GB crew; if they did mention it, it was probably Jeff saying "ugh, tower defense".

All accurate or fair observations but I was exclusively culling from what games that were noteworthy or well received have yet, as of Thursday's lists, to be included in a GOTY top 10 list on the site.

@BaconGames: Fair enough, but I'd like to see what definition of "noteworthy" or "well received" could be said to include Shoot Many Robots.

@Atlas said:

@BaconGames: Fair enough, but I'd like to see what definition of "noteworthy" or "well received" could be said to include Shoot Many Robots.

I really really like that game and it got some decent review scores from GS (7.5), Polygon (7.0), EGM (8.0), Destructoid (8.0). I threw it on there just more as a personal reminder to other people that "hey this game came out and some people like it and I really like it but you don't know that but I'm gonna put it here anyone as a reminder." I don't know, I went back to the QL recently and they seemed pretty positive about it. Don't know if a follow-up on the Bombcast exists and if it is, how positive it is.

I wouldn't touch Guild Wars 2 or Crusader Kings II with a 100 foot pole but I put them in there anyway because those games get talked about a fair bit on forums and other review sites obviously gave a lot of love to GW2. While we're at it, I was disappointed by Dustforce.

I am disappointed Max Payne 3 and The Darkness 2 has not gotten any recgnonition. Very underrated compared to other games this year.

Little Inferno, one of my favourite games this year and it was not even mentioned,

@Hizang said:

Little Inferno, one of my favourite games this year and it was not even mentioned,

It's obvious no one played it outside of the Wii U Quick Look, otherwise it certainly would have been mentioned alongside Frog Fractions.

Torchlight 2. Sleeping Dogs (may have been on one or two but not many). NFS Most Wanted off Best looking in particular

I don't think there are any "omissions", since the GOTY lists are completely personal. I can't force my own experience with a game onto other people, so it's understandable that not every single game released this year is represented in the GOTY awards.

That said, there's a general and disturbing lack of Virtue's Last Reward. That game is, completely objectively, the best game this year and you should be ashamed for not liking it as much as I do.

I think people need to examine what a Top TEN list means.

No one will care what any of these lists contain by the second week of January. I am constantly baffled by the few people who seem incredibly invested in this sort of "recognition" for their favorite games. Play what you like, maybe discover new things to like by listening to the opinions of people you respect (like the gb crew, forum posters, whoever), and revel in the fact that this was a pretty freaking awesome year for games.

I emphasis "few people" - seems like most people understand that this is just a fun excuse to talk about what makes a game special and examine our tastes. If you find yourself getting genuinely upset over any of these arbitrary lists on the other hand, maybe you should take a quick break... and play Kerbal Space Program, the PROPER winner of 2012's 2011 Game of the Year!! ;)

I'm still holding out hope that The Book of Unwritten Tales gets some love from Vinny's list.

Most people who disliked Diablo didn't do so because of the gameplay, it was the anti corporation crowd, or the anti online only crowd. Gamespot kind of fell into these categories, I think the GOTY shows that this year is not a very good year for gamer's games. I mean XCOM was fun but even the crew gave it a 4 out of 5, and Dishnored was fun but I would call it "neat" in most other years not GOTY material. I am disappointed with the industry this year, and the crew not recognizing diablo is also kind of weird, I know they will be all over it in the expansion so... w/e.

Sleeping Dogs not being a real part of the story of the year discussion was ridiculous, Walking Dead was the clear winner, but I think Sleeping Dogs should have been a strong number 2 rather than a passing mention.

Kinda surprised about no one mentioning Borderlands 2 especially Jeff who admittedly had an obsession with the first one. Its a great game and the DLC looks ok

I'm surprised of the thinking that Kid Icarus wasn't a good game because it made peoples hands uncomfortable.

The lack of Final Fantasy 13-2 is not surprising but I'm still sad it is getting ignored. Though I guess it is better than to be dismissed. But, I mean, it has Big Bo in it. A better Big Bo then the one you are thinking of!

Katawa Shoujo Katawa Shoujo Katawa Shoujo Katawa Shoujo.