Giant Bomb GotY 2018 Fantasy League Discussion

For any discussion about the Giant Bomb GotY 2018 Fantasy League.

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Current game scores are based on how many people have included the game in their list and the position that game is on their lists. This will of course be wiped once the GotY content starts but it's a good easy way to have a dynamic scoring system until then =D

I deleted my list because I fucked it up it (sorry Fobwashed) but Monster Hunter World and Hollow Knight were the only games I felt passionately about so i'm not too bothered.

I'm shooting for Marvel's Spider Man as my no.1 spot cuz I feel like it's got the best chance of being the consensus for the top spot on the site list. Everything else feels like it's got too many negatives from a few people but the general mood about Spider-Man seems to be super positive. Still, it's been a pretty damn good year for games so I can see any of my 5 actually taking it...

I CANNOT believe I forgot Dragonball FighterZ. Everything else I actually feel pretty good about, especially he lower-than-top 5 ranking for RDR2.

The question is, how knives out hill to die on will Jeff go for Black Ops 4?

Jeff is a big question mark for me. I haven't really gotten a read on what he's been into this year. It sounds like he's been really digging CoD but enough to really go to bat for it? I dunno...

I can't believe I forgot to add donut county in. I one hundred percented that game, what have i done...

Keep in mind, my personal list doesn't look exactly like this. I think this is something like what they'll agree to. I foresee a dark anime alliance against RDR2.

For a year with so many highly anticipated games, I think 2018 was a bit of a disappointment for me. 2015, 16 and 17 were better for the media in my opinion.

- Lots of people didn't like RDR2, arguably the most anticipated game of the generation (or maybe it just didn't live up to the impossible expectations).

- Spider-Man had very derivative side content for my tastes.

- God of War, though really impressive in terms of polish and visuals, had me wondering what got people so over the moon with it (I played it in August, after the hype had cooled down).

The very fact that a Tetris game and a Dragon Ball game are mentioned so frequently in the GOTY conversations is a testament to how weird this year was in the end (don't get me wrong, they are both great games, it's just that they came sort of out of nowhere). That's why my GOTY was Yakuza 6 (which isn't even the best Yakuza game I've played in the past 2 years). It's simply put the most fun I've had with a videogame in 2018.

My list is mostly AAA bombs: Spiderman, God of War, RDR2, etc. It's hard to guess pack leaders this year, but I agree that God of War and Spiderman have the least resistance. After Dan's RDR2 troubles on the Beastcast, I'm fairly certain him and Jeff will bury it below the top 3. Other than that is anybody's guess. Lots of really good stuff, nothing completely stunning though.

I must add that I do realize my list has no chance of winning the thing, I just put my personal list in the competition. But the game with the least resistance is, weirdly enough, Monster Hunter. I would not be surprised if it made top 3. Jason is crazy about it, Jeff (!) played a ton of it, etc.

The trouble with stacking the list with AAA games, like I and many others did, is that Indies often put up a surprisingly good fight because more people in the room have played them due to their bite-sized lengths. I'm sure Into the Breach, Return of the Obra Dinn, Donut County, and maybe The Messenger or Yoku's Island Express will do well, but the staff might feel obligated to give higher spots to the bigger games for the scope of their accomplishment. It's why I suspect RDR2 will make it on there despite half the crew burning out on actually playing it.

Another thing I should've taken into account is that games released at the start of year typically don't shine as brightly because folk have had time to reflect on their foibles, or the experience of playing them has since slipped their minds. I remember Horizon taking a bath last year, in part because it was a February release and everyone had moved on and forgotten about it. With that in mind Celeste, Iconoclasts, Subnautica, Monster Hunter World, or Dragon Ball FighterZ might do worse than anticipated.

Finally, there's the ever-present Destiny Wildcard Minute feat. Bradtholomew T. Shoemaker. I don't know if an expansion campaign will qualify, but there's no ruling out a room-wearying filibuster to get it on the list regardless.

@mento: The last beastcast makes me feel like RDR2 is gonna have 0 shot at the top spot but enough staff like it that it'll at least make a solid showing on the list. I figured points for guest lists and personal lists should make it a bit more interesting and likely that some non-AAA titles will get some real love.

My list is filled with smaller budget games, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being the only AAA game, and or maybe Hitman 2.

It seems like most people like Into The Breach, Tetris Effect, and Dead Cells. While some who managed to try Astro Bot, Obra Dinn, Hitman 2, really like those games.

Maybe God of War 2 is the one that should be on my list, instead of RDR2.

Obra Dinn is released so close to RDR2, that most don't have time to try it. Might be 2019's game of last year or sth.

Feel free to resubmit if you want to play. The no edit rule is primarily to prevent cheating and in case things get too populated, to prevent me from having to change stuff from a bunch of people =]

I got nothing this year honestly. I have zero clue where anyone's head is at regarding the site top 10.

I would have said RDR2 was a shoe-in for first place until this weeks beast cast and then with Dan REALLY turning on it and Jeff already being against it I don't think it plays. Spider-Man seems like It'll make the list but doesn't seem like a consensus pick to me. Cause when it comes down to the knives out nitpicking they are going to stab poor old spider man full of holes due to its side content and the battle system being okay but not amazing.

I think Dragonball FighterZ may stand more of a chance here, perhaps off the back of how insanely hype the pro scene has been for it all year, but especially at EVO. Monster Hunter might be back fresh in some people's minds because of the Steam release towards the end of the summer, and the constant drip-feed of content and events it's been seeing, but the crew haven't been playing it since launch, so that may fizzle off into the bottom half of the Top 10 list. I have both of those listed as my tiebreakers, because I don't see them breaking Top 5, but I can see them making the lower half of the list.

Hitman 2 is a big question mark for me. Big expectations coming off the 2016 win, but is there enough there to see it regain its crown at the top? I don't think there is, as it's been an especially strong year for games, but I can see it sneaking into the top 3 as a fan favourite.

And I'm just realising that I failed to mention both Black Ops 4 and this year's Assassin's Creed games. I think both will make the list, but I think they will both be bottom-half games at most.

Very hard for me to call, considering that Monster Hunter is the only 2018 game I've actually played firsthand (moving continents costs a ton of money, who knew?), but I think the games I've picked stand a good chance of making the list.

@fobwashed just a heads up, some posts seem to be being displayed as "Edited" even though they haven't been. @wcarle can confirm?

The only real way to ensure that posts haven't been genuinely edited right now is to check they're posted chronologically

Thanks for the heads up! The no-edit rule was primarily in case I wasn't able to come up with a good way to track things and had to have everyone keep their own score based off game scores I could post and update. I think everyone's gotta be responsible for checking to make sure their picks are accurately represented in the spreadsheet as that's where I'll be checking to see who wins. Also, I don't want to be revisiting and editing people's choices if they change their mind about stuff later cuz I'm lazy -_-;;

I'm starting to think Marvel's Spider-Man might be the classic "game (almost) everyone likes but no one loves enough to fight for" game. A lot of people on the staff liked it, but I'm not sure it's going to be anyone's favorite. Hard to imagine it not making the top 10, but it kept sliding down my top 8 as I thought of new games, until I took it off entirely.

Oh, so we're just making this weird spectator sport official now, huh? Alright. I'm not going to pretend I'm above endlessly speculating what games the staff were into.

I'm with @demoskinos in that I have zero clue how the crew is going to swing this year. If you had asked me a week ago, I would've told you Red Dead seemed like a shoe-in for the number one spot the same way PUBG was divinely appointed last year, but after Dan's recent turn on the game I couldn't tell you. God of War, maybe? Dead Cells as a surprise dark horse pick? Hell man, I dunno. Speaking for myself, there haven't been a whole lot of 2018 games that blew my socks off the same way anything in my top 5 did last year, so that probably colors my opinion.

If there's one thing I can predict, it's that I'm probably not going to finish the deliberation podcasts again this year. 8 people in a cramped room yelling at each other with circular arguments is only fun for so long.

Ah, okay. Thanks for letting me know.

I’ve got to admit, I’m a bit confused by the criteria as it seems complicated. Is the “staff” list referring to each staff member’s individual list? And the site list is the overall staff top 10 from the podcast? I guess that would make sense given the the “site” top 10 is worth ten times as many points as the “staff” top ten. And then separately we’re incorporating the guest lists as well.

As for my commentary, it seems pretty obvious to me that GoW is going to win at this point.

All I know is I listened to a whole lot of Dead Cells talk on this site for at least a month. Surely that game has to be in the top 3...

Otherwise, I'm struggling to find a game that everyone will nod their heads in agreement on. Monster Hunter: World was the first entry in the series to get the majority of the crew to actually care about that series with any legitimate passion. For that reason alone, I can see it getting a write-in to top 8. All the other heavy-hitters seem to have at least one person opposed to it. Jeff and Dan dislike Red Dead, Jeff seemed lukewarm on God of War, Spider-Man got positive reactions from the crew, but also middling emotions towards the stealth and side missions in the game.

This is gonna be one strange year for GotY material...that's for sure.

@arbitrarywater: What? You don't like hearing someone repeat "I think Mario should be higher" or "This game has to be on the list" 50 times in the span of 30 minutes? :P

That's right. I think GoW is gonna get a lot of love but I'm not so sure it hit that great with everyone. At least it feels like there were games that more ppl feel strongly about than GoW.

I have a nagging feeling that RDR2 is going to to be the "Witcher 3/Destiny at number 10 spot" game this year. Dan and Jeff (especially Jeff) will try to push it way far out and likely not want it on the list, but then Brad and maybe another person dig their heels in so much and throw a fit that they get consolation with it at 10.

If I'm being honest, I have a lingering feeling of dread for this years GOTY, mainly because of how rough and tense that last GOTY podcast last year was. I wish they went the method Vinny proposed in '16 when they added games to be considered rather than reducing from a pre-determined list.

I went heavy on indies and Switch rereleases hoping to pick up some points from the individual staff and guest lists. Trying to pick the site list is a herculean feat.

I put together a decent list I hope. I haven't played it yet but God of War had such strong reviews that I could see it being a consensus agreed upon top pick but was really tempted to put tetris effect or dead cells as my #1. i went AAA heavy because i'm less knowledgeable on the indies.

I'm playing Spider-man now and it's an impressive game but not enough to warrant a GOTY overall for me. In my personal slot I still have a 2 way battle between AC Odyssey and FH4.

Nothing about RDR2 appeals to me and hearing people have honest conversations more recently about it instead of in the honeymoon phase have done nothing to change my mind.

This game would be way better if there was a way to split up leagues into groups of 10 and have a proper "Draft" of what games to have in your list of eight. There would be some interesting strategies if you think all of the possible games in the final top ten are picked up, and you drafted a game that you think would win a different category (The Quiet Man for Worst Game for example).

I placed mine with the absolute minimum amount of thought put into it. Now watch this drive.

Quick Update:

Current game scores are based on how many people have included the game in their list and the position that game is on their lists. This will of course be wiped once the GotY content starts but it's a good easy way to have a dynamic scoring system until then =D

There are a ton of ways to make this more enjoyable but they'd all take way more time and commitment from both whoever is setting it up and the people who want to play. Also, you'd need to know ahead of time what the categories are which I don't think we do or will -_-;;

@fobwashed said:

I feel like in the past they generally go for something a few people are very passionate about rather than settling for something they all just like. With that said, Spider-man could still win since there are people who have strong opinions in both directions on many of the heavy hitters this year.

I am trying to think which games will have 3 or more very passionate people lobbying for the number 1 spot and I don't know if I can come up with any.

I mean Read Dead 2 will almost certainly have Abby and Brad with support from Alex, but I doubt Alex will want it at number 1.

It has been so long since the God of War talks I have a hard time remembering how everyone feels. I think Dan will almost definitely push for it as number 1, and maybe he could get support from Vinny/Alex? And the thing with GoW is the people who aren't super passionate about it still enjoyed the time they spent with it, which isn't the case for everyone and Red Dead.

I know most of the crew really likes Hitman 2, Tetris Effect, and CoD Black Ops 4, but I feel like they are all just slight variations on things people already enjoyed which might make them a hard sell for number 1.

At this point everything is still up in the air and I am actually super excited to see how things shake out. We could even see some random dark horse that everyone plays right before going into the talks like Obra Dinn or something taking it. If I had to bet I would say God of War, but it is anyone's guess.

Hard year to pick a number one, but I'm feeling good about Tetris Effect. It's fresh on everyone's mind, and a fantastic game of Tetris which everyone can appreciate.

The RDR2 discussion will be interesting, but I don't see it higher than 3 or 4. It's a game that makes for good first impressions, but I wonder how Ben/Abby will feel about it as they try to rush to the end to finish in time for recording.

Astro Bot could be a wildcard with the way everyone is talking it up. Making a VR platformer that not only doesn't suck, but is actually really, really good, is a pretty good GOTY argument.

My hail Mary is Monster Hunter World. I don't expect it to make it high up the list, but hopefully Jason will fight for it.

Based on this week's Bombcast:

We alllll screwed up.

I noticed only one other person has put Destiny 2: Forsaken on their list even with how much Brad loved it.
Any idea if they count it as a "game release"?

@gletch: @afroofdoom: how’s that?

I’m counting all things Destiny 2 related as Destiny 2. Games don’t need to have been released this year to get points. I don’t even remember if that game came out this year =P

Even knowing I'm playing for points and not just making a personal list, it's still annoying having to put Red Dead on there, even as a tie-breaker lol

I have a feeling it won't quite go the distance, but man it would be awesome if magic happened and Tetris Effect took it this year.

This year is friggin' weird, man. I can't think of game in recent years more divisive than RDR2, especially after Dan turning on it so hard. Jeff really likes COD, but I doubt it would rate at all for anyone else. God of War feels like 2018's Horizon: Zero Dawn. And I don't think anyone is that over-the-moon for Spider-Man are they? This feels like the year that small games really shake things up at the top of the list. Games like Tetris Effect, Donut County, Astro Bot, etc.

@fobwashed: Have you talked to Rorie about how he runs his Box Office prediction giveaway threads? I believe he lets people pretty much edit their posts as much as they want up to a certain date, then he locks the thread and everyone's posts are set in stone (though I believe you can still self-delete your post if you really wanted). It seems like this might be an easier method than disqualifying any "edited" posts, since the forums are so finicky about sometimes showing completely unaltered posts as "edited" for whatever weird reason.

The no edit rule is primarily so I don't have to change ppl's entries onto the spreadsheet. Even as is, entering all these manually is borderline more than I'd like to deal with as is without having to keep track of everyone's changing picks -_-;;

Hard year to predict. The big games that they all played are either divisive (Red Dead) or there just isn't a lot of passion around them (Spider-Man, God of War). The games that individuals seem most passionate about are going to get "yeah but.."'ed down the list. Yeah but it's just Tetris, yeah but it's just more Hitman/Call of Duty/Forza, etc.

I still ended up putting the big games at the top because I think they'll at least clean up in the categories for stuff like moment/character/story/graphics and I think God of War or Spider-Man will end up with a Shadow of Mordor style consensus win. Also those are the ones that are going to show up on the most lists so it just becomes a numbers game.

Does anybody else feel like Hitman actually has the best odds of being GB's GOTY again?

Jeff and Dan seem very much against Red Dead, excitement for God of War cooled off pretty significantly, there's plenty indie games I could see make the list, but none that really sounds like a GOTY winner. Hitman on the other hand is a game that everybody on staff seem to enjoy. It's pretty insane if it wins over other big (and arguably more impressive) games after just winning two years ago, but to me it's the strongest contender since everyone can get behind it.

If you told me when i was glued to the TV feeling God of War with every ounce of my soul that it wouldn't be my game of the year, id have laughed. 100+ hours into RDR2 now I am just not sure which of those is the best game this year, but it is certainly one of the two. I'm not trying to get all internetty "my game why you no like" but the fact that tthere isn't more fanfare for either game is really blowing my mind. I'm beginning to wonder what Jeff DOES like, and Dan was the big surprise for me with RDR2, given how I play it the way I played BoTW. Spider Man is a game I platinumed and honestly think is not very good at all, just generic open world fodder. The only way I dont lose my mind as my two favorite games of the year that are both in my all time top 10 lose, is Tetris Effect wins.

The current top 10 by points doesn't look too far off what I would expect.

1. God of War
2. Tetris Effect
3. Dead Cells
4. Red Dead Redemption 2
5. Marvel's Spider-Man
6. Hitman 2
7. Into the Breach
8. Monster Hunter: World
9. Call of Duty: BO4
10. DragonBall FighterZ

Although, I think people are probably underselling Monster Hunter World. I would wager quite a bit that it places higher than spider-man and possibly dead cells. Everyone seemed to enjoy all those games, but it seemed a few of them turned a bit on Dead Cells when they got to the late game and I would say no one is super passionate about Spider-Man, where as a couple of them had a lot of passion for MHW and the fact that its the first MH game to actually win many of them over probably helps its chances.

I'd also be kind of shocked if Celeste doesn't make top 10, possibly landing in the middle of the list somewhere. I think Ben will push super hard for it and I think Jeff will support him.

I'm mad at myself for forgetting Donut County when I submitted my list but this has still been fun.

I expect GoW to be Dan's and Vinny's GOTY (Dan is a huge GOW fan who absolutely raved about it and Vinny literally 100% PLATINUMED the game, something he very rarely does).

I also expect it to be very high on Ben's list and we know that Jason enjoyed it enough to finish it. We don't know of anyone on staff who actively disliked it. I think that is more than can be said for any other game that came out this year.

Just submitted mine. The hard part of this was for me was figuring out how to much to factor in the guest lists. For example, I expect certain games to place very high on the internal staff's lists, but the guest list is generally a reflection of the the industry wide consensus. So while something like Hitman 2 will be on a bunch of staff lists, I doubt it will be nearly as high on the industry lists. Meanwhile, RDR2 has a friggen 97 on Metacritic. I imagine it will be the #1 game on the aggregated guest lists. I ultimately used that to break ties.