Shoe in? Maybe for style, but even then there will be contenders and arguments. However I'm looking at a heavy resistance from Alex on anything but Nier for best music, as it would be for me.

I've never heard anything quite like the Persona 5 soundtrack. It's great, it's catchy, it's varied and it's super original. The Nier soundtrack, while good, is very reminiscent of the soundtrack of Nier 1, which was better and more distinctive.

Fair point, but I have to imagine that Jeff will put in some time into P5 before the year is up, even if only for a couple of hours. I think with that experience under his belt he might support the game's inclusion into the top 10, especially given his fondness for the previous game.

Also, it's a bit of a long shot, but his wife has shown an interest in JRPGs (i.e. FFX). Perhaps she gets into it and he watches her?

like 2 of them

Yeah rpgs have a hard time gaining traction with a significant amount of the crew, I'd be surprised if it makes the goty top 10.

How do you know you don't have all the party members if you've remained spoiler free? Your claim of playing the game for 110 hours without getting all the party members is also pretty ridiculous. Either you're counting idle time or you've been grinding Mementos for an absurd amount of time when there's really no reason to be doing that, and you're missing out on the actual good parts of the game.

Unless the start screen and menu screen for the game is lying I can see all the party members there. Idle time is probably something like 10-15 hours (I left the game on a boss fight for 5 hours because I had somewhere to go). I don't grind Mementos and I'd like to think I'm pretty efficient because last time I was in there I completed 6 requests and cleared 12 new floors in a single game day.

These are my game stats.

Date: 9/27

Playtime: 119:15

Lv: 38 (Everyone's Average Level is 42)

@golguin: Holy crap! My entire playthrough wasn't that long haha

Who knows? Anything could happen. Not to be pessimistic, and I haven't been able to listen to Ben talk about his experiences on the Bombcast yet, but I listened to part of this week's Beastcast. Seems like Alex is waiting for character development which IMO never happens, and Vinny seems to not have time/has problems with the translation. I'd be surprised with all the amazing games that have been coming out so far this year if this makes it any higher than 10 at this point, if it makes the list at all. It'll definitely win Best Styyyyyyyyle though - maybe even Best Music.

If it's accurate, that's an incomprehensibly high playtime. There's not really any way to waste a significant amount of time besides Mementos. Do you have some sort of crazy self-imposed rules like you have to talk to every NPC every time any amount of time passes just in case? Are you writing a guide?

Question: How many?

Answer: Not enough of them...

I'll talk to NPCs once a week to see if anything changes and I do buy up all the SP drinks once a week. I fight every shadow I encounter and I usually talk to every shadow to get as much money from them as I can. This sometimes means that I'll "Hold Up" 2-3 times on a shadow until they die from hitting their weakness. I don't backtrack in dungeons or Mementos. I fuse almost every Persona on the list and always make sure to have the right persona for Confidants.

Other save files say...

Date: 5/23
Playtime: 42:54
Lv: 17

Date: 6/26
Playtime: 64:28
Lv: 23

Date: 7/18
Playtime: 79:01
Lv: 28

I don't think it's top 10. The social links are generally better this time around, but the main party dynamic is similer to Persona 3 rather than 4, which is a bad thing.

Honestly, I think the less people that finish it the more likely it is to win something like best style. It has a striking visual style but I feel like it's a bit overdone and almost becomes grating after long enough. Those first few hours are cool and if that is the majority of what the staff has seen they won't have fatigue from spending 70-100 hours with it.

I also agree that it will have a tough time making it in the top 10. There have already been a lot of great games that are more in line with the staff's tastes, with more to come.

I think what made the crew fall in love with P4 was its specific tone and setting, and P5 deliberately goes in the opposite direction, which is why it's alienated Jeff and Jason.

Me personally, as a millenial in their early 20s, this games story and themes couldn't have come out in a better a time in their life and as well with whats happening in the world at the moment. This game couldn't be a more blatant modern representation of the animosity between the baby boomer and millenial generation, and you can tell how that occasionally rubs them off the wrong way on the bombcast and some of the snark they throw at it.

That, and its a massive game where you can easily get more fatigued playing it than something like Persona 4. I love this game, but I can absolutely see why they have little interest in playing it.

After hearing the podcast this week it sounds like Ben will be the only one to complete the game. I don't think I've ever seen such strong pushback towards the length of a game. I'm currently at 140+ hours and I know I'm going to be bummed once it's all over.

Alex stated on twitter that he finished it and will talk in depth on the Beastcast.

2 Just 2.

While I feel that enough of them will finish that it makes the top 10 of the year, it'll probably be massively undersold. Personally it blows 4 out of the water in every aspect and it's at least top 3 rpg if not top 5 all time game for me. I am hopeful it'll get it's due.

I would hate to see a majority of Giant bomb to not play P5 and at the end of the year be like, well it came out.

Also Brad getting on my nerves for not at least trying the game out for himself. He so high and might on Final Fantasy but so ignorant on other JRPGs.

But whatever, it a game of the year for me not because it what I wanted from it but because it does many smart things.