First of all, I was happy they brought back the categories rather than just going through the games that came out in 2020, as I just never really enjoyed that change and preferred the category format and even though it was only 2 per day, the discussions were fun and probably the first GOTY discussions I enjoyed on the site since 2016.
And it was surprising to see that their game of the year matched my own in Hades since that never happens because none of their GOTY from 2012-2019 were in my top 10 whatsoever since 2011 was the last year we both had Skyrim although I retroactively have changed it to Dark Souls since then but at the time it was. Ori was also my number 4 as well and I was happy to see it on there.
I've only played 4 games in the top 10 (Hades, Ori, Spiritfarer and Animal Crossing) but I plan to play the rest over time especially 13 Sentinels and Kentucky Route Zero and to go back and finish Spiritfarer, as I only played it for a few hours.
I have been pretty much out of Giant Bomb for a good while now. Dan leaving at the start of 2020 was a big blow though to be honest and I watched bits of their live streams here and there but that was it. Watching these videos this past week has kind of got me wanting to come back and just listen/watch more of the content again.
Anyway, I am rambling on at this point so kudos to this week and let's just hope 2021 is better overall.
I haven't read every single guest top 10 list so not sure if anyone else had it but nice to see Kenny have Nioh 2 in his top 10. It was in my top 3 and think it is better than the original game thanks to the awesome burst counter technique.
The Mario Maker thing still kills me! That is the GOTY debate I still remember the most because of how mad I was. Literally NO ONE besides Jeff and Dan loved that game. They made it GOTY of the year when 2 PEOPLE loved it a lot and everyone else thought it was okay at best.
Also the Tetris Effect year was really dumb. I remember that one vividly also. Everyone was just worn out and Tetris Effect won by default.
Yeah, I will always remember the 2015 GOTY solely because of the fact that it was only Dan and Jeff that really went to bat for it and the rest seemed kind of indifferent.
Also, even though I loved the Witcher III and was glad to see it in the top 10, I think none of the staff even finished the game at the time of recording (maybe Vinny did I don't remember) and was there based on the Bloody Baron questline. I brought that up because Bloodborne (my 2015 GOTY and my GOTG) I felt was the closest game from FROM software to hit their top 10 since several people really liked it, even Jeff liked what he played of it yet pretty much because of Vinny it ended up not doing so and that is one of if not the only thing I hated Vinny for because I love the guy otherwise.
2018 was the last one I listened to pretty much (I didn't bother listening to 2019's GOTY stuff apart from Day 1 since I didn't like the new format at all and preferred when they did categories each day). They pretty much spent ages on RDR 2 during that GOTY discussion and Tetris Effect barely got a mention at all and was like "Hey, let's just make this our game of the year!" without any deliberation as to what else can be on there pretty much.
Battlegrounds was kind of the same thing really and I hated that winning mainly due to the fact that despite the fact it was an early access game still when they did the podcasts and there was no sign of a full release date yet, it got a pass being on categories and on the list whereas games like Dead Cells and Fire Pro Wrestling (which came out before PUBG at the end of the day) did not because they were early access games. It was released by the time the podcasts were put out but what if it didn't though and it ended up being released in 2018? I still think that only won because it was such an integral part of their videos that year and little else because barely anyone talks about that game nowadays. I haven't enjoyed the GOTY podcast on here since 2016, to be honest.
@alex Honestly, I couldn't relate to you more with what you said in your opening paragraphs because I was pretty much the same way. This year has been the worst for me in terms of playing games probably ever and there were days on end where I just didn't feel like playing anything at all. While gaming took a bit of a backseat, I got more sociable with people online and off thanks to wrestling and it helped me a lot throughout this year.
Like my favourite game this year is probably Beat Saber when I would assume it would be something like Sekiro or maybe Shenmue III but I didn't love Sekiro as much as other people did and I have hardly played Shenmue III despite loving the series and waiting 18 years for it but as I said before, it's been a weird year for me in terms of gaming.
Judgment is a game I definitely need to go back to since it is one of the many games I put time into then just dropped for no good reason this year. Glad it got into the GB top 10 and in a way righted the wrong that was the dismissal of Yakuza 0 2 years ago.
@do_the_manta_ray: They have this although it is just basically listing the winners and runners-up of each category rather than a explanation as to why a game won the category. https://t.co/FG30hQSyJt
@hiczok: RDR II will be in my top 10 but that was the biggest problem with the game for me in that it was too long and there are easily parts that could be cut from it to make the game have better pacing. I actually really enjoyed the epilogue since it was just a nice, laid back section with not a whole lot of shooting compared to what occurred in the previous 2 chapters.
The deliberations on this last day were much better than last year's since at least Best Game was reduced to 2 hours and wasn't nearly 5 like last year. That said, they spent too long on RDR II a lot of the time and by the time they got to Tetris Effect, it felt more like a "we are done discussing so let's just make this our GOTY and get out of here" kind of vibe since they talked about it for 5 minutes or so. It is the first GOTY they've ever had where I haven't played the game at all and have no desire to since I've never been into Tetris whatsoever and having audio and visual synthesizers isn't going to change that for me.
For those that are going on about Best Style, at least it wasn't Best World since that was a big mess last year where they argued more on what the category actually was more than the nominees themselves.
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