Game of the Year 2017 Day Five: Best, Worst, Cast, and Capture

Bring back votes.

Bring back justice.

I'm late to the party here but I have to say how depressed I am that a game that 3 of the staff legitimately did not like somehow wins GOTY, a list that is supposed to represent giant bomb. Three years in a row a game has won over better games and just so happened to have a popular video series on it? I get that they have fun with it but it really devalues any actual discussion on the merits of these games.

PUBG is cool but it's also just a standalone version of mods that existed before. It's buggy, poorly optimized, full of rampant hackers, only has two maps, a handful of weapons, an extremely racist community that makes you turn off voice immediately, and is marred by loot boxes, the exact same thing the crew said was the worst trend?? As an outside observer I think it's absolutely absurd this game was anywhere near the top let alone won. I played PUBG for about 20 hours before I got sick of the repetive loot loop. I think the arguments made for PUBG winning discredit all the arguments made against Doom last year. Unbelievably disappointed with this. Oh well.

I think that the amount of love, chatter, and content produced around PUBG made it a know quantity as GOTY the moment they determined it was eligible.

I figured it’d be PUBG followed by Mario and Zelda in take-your-pick order.

Pleasently surprised that Nier finished well and surprised that Horizon didn’t fare better. Shocked that Injustice and Nioh weren’t factors at all.

All this is based on absorbing Giant Bomb content over the course of 2017...

I still can't believe Mass Effect. It's probably the only game I have played where I go red from embarrassment for the creators as I play.

GotY was very tough this year. It's so subjective, it must be difficult to not take it personally when debating.

I was on holiday when all the GotY stuff came out so I've only now just gotten through it all and boy was it a slog to get through. I think I only carried on due to habit and I hope they change things up for 2018. Having these podcasts go on for several hours and just devolve into petty arguments about which game is slightly worse felt counter intuitive. Is this going to be the trend going forward? Hours and hours of bickering just to create a list a minority is happy with and a chore to listen to? 2017 is perhaps one of the best years in games and this was the end result.

PUBG winning was absolutely obvious even though I never felt like it was actually discussed why it was. They've knocked games in the past and even this year for being the worst game of the year and here's this ugly military shooter that's been done to a bunch of times before to a less successful degree but they played it a lot so it wins by default.

Just got through the GOTY podcast myself. I agree with everyone who would rather see a format designed to celebrate wonderful games instead of teasing out every single flaw in something another person holds dear. I peruse each and every personal top ten list. When I reflect on my reason for doing so, I find it's because I'm looking to hear from others who share my passion for my favorites games of the past year. I'm looking to celebrate the games I loved, not to hear explanations for why they couldn't "hang".

When I get to the GOTY podcast, the experience is completely the opposite. So much time is spent tearing others down in order to build up your own preferences; it's like being bullied in junior high all over again. I actually enjoy when someone can argue passionately for their pick, and can get someone else who hasn't played that game to confess to being persuaded. I don't mind seeing Dream Daddy crack the top ten, even if I would have much preferred to see Horizon honored, or Yakuza 0, a game I didn't play but loved every moment of Beast in the East. The most painful moments were when the knives came out, as they did for Nier in second place. Hearing Alex argue the merits of this game was the shining moment of this five-hour podcast. I haven't yet touched Nier, but it's absolutely going to be the next game I purchase because of Alex's plea. Let's have a podcast devoted to moments like, where Abby and Vinny can state their passion for Dream Daddy and be done, Dan won't have to bring out the knives, and the discussion won't wear thin as a result.

I also feel there isn't nearly enough variety to the category awards. The same games continue to be nominated and rewarded. Perhaps it's because the categories are so broad, but too often personal favorites to dominate, while games that do one specific thing exceedingly well don't get mentioned because the overall experience wasn't as fondly remembered. I'd love to see some discrimination in the categories in future years, and really set them up specifically to reward games that won't get moments to shine elsewhere in deliberations.

@maedhros925: Yes. This.

Personally I would love to see them just compile an overall top 10, bring back the GiantBomb videos, and then have each person get 1-2 minutes to champion each game in the top 10. Same with the other categories, figure out which games make the list, then don't sort it. Instead just have the person that championed it break down why it's the hottest mess/ best Styyyyyyyyyyyyyylllllllleeeee/etc, in the video. This way it's a nice end of year video series where you get to hear the whole giant bomb staff over the course of these videos, and they're all getting a chance to tell you about their experiences, NOT killing each other over stack ranking.

Pretty wild how poorly this Top 10 has aged in three months.

Not to say that the list wasn't justified then, but boy lol.

Zelda was robbed. It's only 3 months later and PUBG is already a nearly forgotten memory.

Man this top 10 list is without a doubt the worst of all the major outlets. PUBG is the biggest gaming fad of 2017 at best.