Oh boy! If it's already gotten this heated over the Witcher after just Day 1, Friday is gonna be SALTY! Mmmmmmm : p

Nice list, Dan. Your choice for The Witcher was a surprise to me, but I see your point. Happy New Year!

Yes, Dan is clearly wrong about his own perception of enjoyment...

You can give reasons as to why your view is different, but you can't say Dan opinions are just objectively incorrect.

Putting Fallout 4 over Witcher 3 feels kind of strange considering the criticism against The Witcher. Unremarkable gameplay and worthless stories/quests is pretty much the Bethesda way.

Witcher 3 Game of the Year award reactions have hit Twilight Princess 8.8 levels at this point.

Someone set this thread up bit back. Maybe it should get bumped and a lot of this discussion get moved there so every one of these comment sections doesn't get dominated by Witcher 3 talk.

Yeah, its gonna get pretty good. I'll need to get a big bucket of popcorn ready... =D

Great list Dan. I hope the back and forth between you and Patrick goes on for as long as possible because it's hilarious

I agree, but I also can see where Dan may be coming from. I adored Witcher 3, but didn't like the gameplay. I actually really liked Fallout 4's gameplay, but didn't like practically anything else.

It's easy to see a shooter take precedence over lackluster melee, despite the vast differences in story quality.

He lives in Lenexa, Kansas with his wife and three children.

Made me laugh for good 10 minutes :D

are CD Projekt RED just not good at PR?

I never and will never understand people bashing the combat/movement in the witcher 2 and 3. It is always the same excuses like they didn't even try. If it was truly "unchallenging gameplay" why not try something else than hitting with your sword only? You have so many tools at your disposal in these games from bombs to potions to signs. Turn the difficulty up to Death March and see how long you have survive mashing the attack button. Is it Dark Souls level? Hell no, but it certainly is a lot better than people give it credit for.

I don't understand how the crew can simultaneously complain about sequelitis and remastered games while praising a game like Mario maker which literally relies on gameplay that is 30 years old. Is there a single franchise in the history of video games that has been beaten into the ground more than Mario? Why are Nintendo games like Mario, Zelda, etc. immune from these criticisms that get thrown at every other franchise?

Super Mario Maker is the game of the forever.

Honestly though, it's not just a Game of The Year. It's one of the best games ever, in my opinion. Glad to see both Dan and Patrick (though, more Dan) recognized it in a similar fashion.

Agree so much!

I feel like there are more people saying "Witcher 3 fanboys are coming out of the woodwork" than there are people actually defending it (or at worse, complaining). I put W3 way above everything else this year, but I don't care if other people didn't like it as much. The comments sound more like people trying to make it seem like W3 fans are upset than anything else. I wouldn't even expect it to get an honorable mention from Dan (nor would I have expected that he played it at all). Nobody is mad at anyone else's personal list.

I mean anyone that puts Mario Maker at #1 is wrong, but I ain't mad at ya.

Someone explain to me why it's cool that people shit on fans of W3 yet fans of W3 dismayed at it getting fucked over by most of GB are considered "salty" or whatever dumbass buzzword for disagreement is in these days.

Like why would I even listen to these people if I didn't care about what games they like? That's the whole point. When Gerstmann says some crazy shit like RDR is garbage or none of them even touch on how moving W3's writing is, it completely pushes me away as a listener. There's a story about alcoholism in W3 for fucks sake, yet the majority of the crew doesn't care because the combat didn't stimulate them enough. It's really annoying and makes them look like children.

I really want Austin to step up to Gerstmann more often. His opinion always dominates everything and no one else has the balls to call him out.

Great list

The top two games for Dan have been obvious for months, but they still make the most sense. The others on the list shows a good variety that I wasn't expecting as much. Loved the list!

@lando81: Thanks

Dan, Man it seems like you have benefit the most of anyone on staff from taking recommendations that come out of nowhere that became surprise hits for you. It's always a good time when stepping out of your comfort zone results in unlocking a whole new avenue that you didn't know you'd enjoy. Also, you're an asshole, but you're OUR asshole and I love it, don't change man.

Great list, Dan. I think Witcher 3 does the thing you say Fallout does better than Fallout does it, but eh!

Thanks for a stupid-ass 2015, ya lunatic!

This is a solid list. Except for Pac-Man. No thanks.

Eh.

@fear_the_booboo: We'll have to agree to disagree. I never had an issue with the movement or the timing, both before and after the patch. It was pretty clear to me from the start that movement had momentum, much like GTA, and I played the game accordingly. I can understand people disliking that, but The Witcher 3 is hardly the first game to handle that way.

As for not wanting to engage with the systems, that's fine. You can play the game how you see fit. I wouldn't say you're playing it wrong, I just think you are missing out on part of what makes the game enjoyable. I would be bored too if I never delved into the signs/crafting/alchemy/etc.

My point isn't that Dan fucked up by not playing the game a certain way, it's that he, and others, may have enjoyed it more if they changed the difficulty. There's an argument to be made that the game should be engaging and the systems interesting at any difficulty level, and I can accept that as a criticism of the game and why it isnt deserving of a higher spot. I also don't think his opinion is wrong per se. Like everyone else he can like whatever he likes. I just don't agree, and there's nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day I just think The Witcher 3 is a game worth experiencing and I want to encourage people to give it a shot.

As an aside, since when is having a healthy discussion about a game "being butthurt"? Comments like that produce a toxic environment and doesn't really fit with Giantbomb, IMHO.

Is that a photo of Patrick or some Psychonauts concept art linked at the end there?

Oh Dan, you card! You cad, and whatever else...at least you also gave Batman: AK a respectful mention (don't blink or you'd probably miss it), and we are eye-to eye on Fallout 4. It doesn't innovate, but does it really have to at this point?? As long as the game is fun, it sorta delivers what you're looking for, so I'm right with you on that one.

Dan almost has me convinced that he doesn't remember being Patrick's co-worker for a number of months...

@archer88: I do not think you sound butthurt and your comment was fair. I wanted to clear why (personally) I didn't enjoy The Witcher 3 and why I think it is OK for the GB crew to not like it as much as everybody else.

It seems like there's a few people that love The Witcher 3 that are really angry the Giant Bomb crew does not have the same opinion as them and they feel like their favourite game didn't get a fair chance, but they're a minority.

@fear_the_booboo: Yeah no worries.Your comments were fair.I was just talking about the discussion around The Witcher 3, in general.

Wow you didn't enjoy time with witcher 2 or 1 and you found the combat not to be challenging ... wow .. I knew we had different tastes but man did I not think they were that different. Given your love of open world games, metal gear, and fallout you were my west coast hope for Witcher. Sigh ... guess mario will be game of the year ... sigh. As someone with no nostalgia for Mario and being much more of a computer/rpg/strategy gamer than a console/platformer gamer I don't get it at all.

Perfectly fine list, Dan. Similar to my list this year. Except Splatoon. I hated that game a lot.

If the gameplay part of the game is not very good, then who cares if it deals with serious topics?

What we've got are people who have different approaches to playing games. Some more focus on the story content while others focus on how good the act of playing the game is. Mechanics or Content.

Calling them children over this is really silly. Maturity in games doesn't mean you focus on the writing over gameplay. It means balance.

Dear Dan Ryckert,

Please stop referring to video games as "titles". I get that you want some variety in your writing, but you should only substitute one word for another that is equally descriptive. "Title" is not nearly as descriptive as "video game" or "game". Plus it just makes your writing sound like a press release or like a transcript from an UbiSoft earnings call.

Love,

Ben

What a list! Dan's relentless needling of Patrick as he releases dastardly levels may be my gaming highlight of 2015.

I mean, he did tell you which 10 games he liked the most. Pac Man 256 is up there, and above Witcher 3, because he got bored of one but is compelled to keep playing the other.

Good list Dan!

Dan...you're great on Giant Bomb, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Personally I still find you somewhat irritating on occasion but I can't deny that you are one cool skeleton dude. Keep up the great work next year.

Just realized Dan's list is the one GB list that's the most similar to my own. This is not a pleasant fact!

I expected a tie for #1. I'm glad to see that Dan had the balls to pick one. Nice list.

Even the Paint Roller? :(

I never would have guessed that Dan would like Undertale before I heard him talk about it on the podcasts.