I love the end of the year content. It's wonderful and thank you for doing it. It's easily my favorite thing about the end of the year. Again I can't thank you enough for doing it.
This year however felt different from the years past and not in a good way. I have thought about it since finishing and come to the conclusion that three things significantly impacted my reason for being down on the deliberations for 2016.
TOO MANY GOOD GAMES NOT BEING DISCUSSED
At one point recently Jeff said there weren't many games he was passionate about in 2016 but there were a lot of good games released this year. So it really bothered me how a lot of games were completely left off of this discussion panel. Dishonored 2, Gears 4, Forza Horizon 3, The Last Guardian and FFXV all come to mind immediately. At one point Jeff said "well Gears won't make it so lets just not put it on the list". That really bothered me. Forza Horizon has always made their top tens so why change now? THere was no discussion on the game so I couldn't tell you. Typically I have always used this podcast as a way to figure out what I missed on the year and use that to help me to determine what to buy while it's on a steam sale. This new format just left so many games off.
TOO LITTLE DISCUSSION
Playing off the last topic, I feel this lacked a lot of discussion. I personally enjoy every game getting picked apart and seeing what is good that still remains. Games like Gears 4 (which I admitted loved) or Dishonored 2 weren't even given that opportunity. Of the games that were on the top ten list most of the discussion was about where to place or how you liked it more than another game instead of why you thought it was a better game than a compared one. It just seemed like there was too little discussion about most of the games on this list. At the end they said things like most of the games were discussed in other categories but they really weren't. Aside from dancing around spoilers, despite telling us there would be huge spoilers, games in other categories weren't discussed and often they said, "we will discuss this later".
TOO MANY PERSONAL FAVORITES
Of the few games that were deeply discussed they were mainly by someone who was the loan individual trying to get a personal favorite on the top ten. However the personal favorite stuff dilutes IMO what the original list intended to be. I once could look at the giant bomb top ten and feel comfortable spending money on any of the games listed on it because I knew it had the support of the majority of the staff as being a "great game for that year". Now I can't even do this. This all first started when DOTA 2 was put on the list. Since then Austin put his personal title on the list (invis inc), Alex has put multiple titles (jazz hands and now thumper), and Dan has done the same (mario kart 8, star dew valley). I personally feel like I can't trust anything on the back half of giant bombs top ten anymore, which is sad.
I don't expect you to change just because of me but I hope you guys consider revamping and re-looking at this next year. Again thanks for the hard work and keep it up.
I kinda hear what you're saying re: the personal favorites. I think a game Vinny and only Vinny played almost ended up as one of the top three best stories of the year. That's ridiculous.
It was between Vinny's game and Firewatch. It seems like most people played Firewatch and liked it, and yet because Firewatch has some shortcomings the room came very close to nominating Vinny's game over Firewatch...despite the fact that nobody in the room played Vinny's room. The fuck?
A lot of people in the room were almost won over by Vinny's mere description of the story of a game they DIDN'T play over a game they DID play and generally really liked but didn't love. What is that about? Hahahahahaha! Complete and total nonsense.
Same thing that happened to Drew, happened to me. Shaved my beard for the first time in five years, did not remember ever looking like that. It was super unsettling.
Now that the beard is back in, I kiiinda want to do it again.
I had that too. It was especially weird for me because the last time I had a clean shave I had a lot more hair on my head so seeing myself in the mirror with no beard AND no hair, (well, not as much hair) really made me feel like I was looking at a stranger. I really hated it.
After hearing Dan admit that he doesn't know what the difference is between a tux and a regular suit I now want Giant Bomb to start a new segment called, "Dan Asks: What Is It?".
First episode: Cherry Tomatoes. Is it a cherry or a tomato?
One of the deciding factors that lead me to buy a PS3 last generation was that it came with a Blu-Ray player. I already owned a Xbox 360 and I was content with the library of games it had to offer so part of me felt foolish buying a PS3 just for the small amount of Sony exclusives. So what changed my mind? The fact that the PS3 had a built in Blu-Ray player.
Well now I have a vanilla PS4 and Sony's asking me to buy a PS4 Pro even though it doesn't have a 4K Blu-Ray player.
But the Scorpio WILL have a 4K Blu-Ray player. So here I am again, the owner of one console considering buying the competition's console with the deciding factor being a high end disc player.
So they're selling a new iteration of the PS4 with supposedly better graphics, (supposedly because as Jeff mentioned it doesn't translate over an internet stream), but I have to buy a pricey new TV to actually see the difference?
The rent Dan is paying now in SF must be fucking mental if he is finding Manhattan cheap. Move to Brooklyn or Queens Dan. It's more fun there, and for the most part, more affordable.
I second the vote for Brooklyn or Queens. Manhattan is expensive rich-bro central i.e. the thing Dan seems to hate about San Francisco.
Plus unless I'm vastly underestimating how much money Dan and his fiance make I'm guessing the only place they're going to be able to afford in Manhattan is one of those apartments where the bedroom is literally just big enough for a bed and one dresser. It's just not worth it.
And again unless Dan's New York friends are richie rich I'm guessing they all live in the outer boroughs or Jersey. Why live in Manhattan when you're going to spend all your time going to Brooklyn or Queens to hang with your friends?
Don't make your life harder than it has to be Dan! Avoid Manhattan.
Psyched to hear that Dan is moving to New York. He really meshed well with the Beastcast crew and made a great podcast even more fun.
I did however think it was funny hearing Dan say that he'd like to live in Manhattan. Hearing any non-rich person say they'd like to move to Manhattan in this day and age is almost as comical as hearing a non-rich person say, "Ya know, I think I'm going to move to Beverly Hills for a year".
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