I'm not sure if I should preface this with any sort of spoiler warning since I don't plan on talking, in detail, about any of the major GOTY awards discussion. But if you haven't listened to Day 2's podcast and want to go in with absolutely no knowledge of which games were discussed, you might not want to read this.

I was a bit perplexed by this year's "Best Soundtrack" nominees, though I usually am. For instance, in a year with so many great original soundtracks, why does Metal Gear Solid V's soundtrack deserve to be placed on so high a pedestal when it's riddled with so much licensed music? After spending over 80 hours in this game, I find myself only vaguely able to recall moments in the game where I even noticed the music. How many hours did we spend riding horseback to only the sound of the ground and underbrush being crushed under the combined weight of Snake and D-Horse? Quiet's whistle is the only melody I can clearly recall, and there is a large population of gamers who couldn't stand the sound.

One of the biggest debates stemmed from whether Undertale or Crypt of the Necrodancer should be cut. Originally, I didn't have a horse in this race. As long as Splatoon was in the running, I was fine. But today I popped on my DT 770s and began to make a musical ascension through both the Undertale and CotN OSTs. Before I say what I really thought about the two, I want to issue an apology to Austin Walker as he was the most passionate about the Undertale OST. Sorry Austin. I was dismissive of your arguments because I thought they were mostly based on an emotional response derived from how much you truly seemed to love the whole game as a package. But you were right. The Undertale OST fucking jams.

I feel like there was a bit too much of an advantage given to CotN simply because it was a rhythm game. Most of the argument seemed to be based on the fact that since music was incorporated into the gameplay it should automatically be on the list, but there was no mention of Rock Band or Guitar Hero's expansive libraries. Why not? If MGSV can be put on the list in spite of being made up of mostly licensed music, and CotN was included for simply being a rhythm game, why weren't these other games included in the discussion?

The CotN OST is boring and monotonic. If bits of this music was mixed in with the thousands of other dubstep meets chiptune songs out there, I'd really be hard pressed to pick them out. Maybe that's because Danny B.'s music is so widespread. I don't know. But speaking as someone who paid their way through college by teaching guitar, I would put my musical credibility on the line to say that Undertale's OST is filled with character, style, variation, and good composition that straight up out classes the CotN's OST.

While I don't agree with most of the picks this year, I totally respect the list that Giant Bomb put together. I would just like to ask that anyone who may have been dismissive of Undertale's soundtrack based on its rabid fan base, at least give it a chance because it's pretty damn good.