Feedbacks for GOTY debates 2017

Super Mario Maker over MGS:V is a perfect example of this.

Here is the history of Best Looking category. Games in bold are what would qualify as technical achievements.

2016: Inside (Uncharted 4, DOOM)

2015: The Witcher 3 (Ori, Rise of the Tomb Raider)

2014: Guilty Gear (Destiny, Neverending Nightmares)

2013: The Last of Us (Battlefield 4, Proteus)

2012: Journey (FarCry 3, Fez)

2011: The Witcher 2 (Rayman Origins, Dead Space 2)

2010: Kirby's Epic Yarn (Hot Pursuit, Limbo)

2009: Uncharted 2 (Arkham Asylum, A Crack in Time)

Technical games win 50% of the time (4/8) and make up 54% of the nominees (13/24). I kind of think they are doing the category fine considering the stats.

Please do not remind me of the Super Mario Maker debate. I still cannot believe when Brad made the irrefutable argument that the game's lack of curation made it random if you had a good time with it or not, Jeff's counterpoint of 'you can say that is a big deal, but it actually is totally not' prevailed. I understand when people who love Mario and had the randomness work in their favor had a good time with it, but goddamn if I did not and couldn't for the life of me ever change that. Cool concept in theory, but without a doubt the worst Nintendo game I have ever played.

@ahifi: You can buy every achievement in the game with the currency you earn playing it. You don't have to do anything to collect 100% of the trophies or achievements in the game you don't want to, including beating extremely challenging bosses or looking up skirts.

Yoko Taro is an odd prankster who likes joking around, if you ever read or listen to any of the few interviews he gives it's apparent he doesn't take interacting with the public or the press seriously. The Polygon article you linked also has a photo-shopped image in it - here's an article about it that includes the original image which isn't nearly as detailed as the Polygon piece would have you think.

@zevvion - I think it's Guilty Gear is a prime example of why "technical" can fail as a definition. That game is a technical masterpiece. They made a game with 3D models look like a 2D sprite based fighter which allowed them to do some crazy things with special moves busting flawlessly into and out of 3D. It's part of the reason people are flipping out about the new Dragonball game. They took a property that more people like and they put it in what's probably the best looking 2D engine around. And nobody else has come close to doing that.

I don't think Destiny is any more technically impressive graphically than Guilty Gear and I mean technically impressive. Not aesthetically, but technically more impressive than nice sky boxes and sci fi guns with sci-fi particle effects.

Just finished listening to the game of the year podcasts. I'm sure if/when Abby re-listens to the content she'll cringe quite a bit. As most have said here, certainly enjoy her take on things, but she made the content more difficult to listen to.

This is a good idea. It's not necessarily practical (who would have the time, how would they get paid, etc) but it would really help smooth the conversations out.

The time thing is key. Consider that the crew did 25+ hours of podcasts for this year's GOTY. That's a bit much, and a moderator probably would have cut that down to something maybe a bit more manageable.

My perfect choice for a moderator (which will never happen) would be Danny O'Dwyer. He's got the right attitude and personality to keep the inmates in line. Like I said, never happen for a variety of reasons.

Austin might be good too, especially when it comes to drawing more out of the crew than "I think it's good" and that kind of thing. I remember a comment on one of the GOTY podcasts when Austin was working at the site saying he seemed to draw more out of Jeff in particular, and causing everyone to up their game a bit.

@ahifi: Actually you can get the 100% completion without ever doing that.