Giant Bomb's 2016 Game of the Year Awards: Day Four

Jeff was a little hyperbolic but I'm closer to him on inside. It looked very good but the puzzles weren't difficult and that moment just didn't affect me very much at all. Also the end was lame.

Best Moment or Sequence is my favorite category because it explores the moments only video games can provide.

The odd thing for me is the winning moment here came immediately for me in The Witness. I played it just as it released, and the very first thing I did was try to do this, which sent me to the credits building immediately. It was kind of weird and I wasn't sure what was happening, but I loved it.

For me, the best moment of the year was indeed also in The Witness, and it was the Greenhouse puzzle. Is that what you would call it? The building with all the plants and the elevator with the one broken floor? Yes, the greenhouse puzzle. I nearly shat myself when it clicked.

Not even a mention of Dark Souls 3 in best music. What the fuck.
Also, why didn't Alex share more of the end of Thumper? The actual final boss is the coolest part there!

I love these podcasts, and every member of the crew rocks hard, but every one of these podcasts showcases how different from my taste Jeff's taste is. And how silly he can be expressing his taste. It does get old when you hear someone say "I don't understand how you can like Inside/Thumper/Witcher 3, it's a bad game" while gushing over something like Rez.

Man, no mention of Trials of the Blood Dragon's soundtrack bothers me. Bad game, phenomenal soundtrack worth discussing.

Dan not finding any of the environmental puzzles in The Witness kinda says a lot for him I think at how he views things and world in general. And don't get me started on Jeff, these GOTY discussions bring the worst out in some people is all I'l say......kinda rubs me the wrong way sometimes.....

I had never heard of Carpenter Brut before, but saw them open for Ghost a few months ago and was floored. They stole the show and they're even better live than they are on the album. They don't play in the US much, but if you ever have the chance to see them, do it. Incredible band. Best cover of Maniac (as in, the Flashdance song) ever.

------

Titanfall 2's multiplayer is ten times more fun and rewarding than Overwatch.

No one I know even cared to play Titanfall 2, I played it and was bored, it's just COD... I don't get it, Overwatch is way better.

@jamjyo said:

R6 Siege came out in December 2015, so it wouldn't have been eligible regardless. I wasn't sure of that myself; went to put it on my personal GotY list and was surprised by the date.

Pretty happy with all the categories and the results of them so far. I may not always agree, but I can see why some of them were picked over other stuff from what they like. Some other moments that didn't get mentioned that were up there for me would be the first five minutes of Firewatch. Really simple and text based but really effective in setting up the game and the Henry character for me. Also, towards the end of Final Fantasy XV when Ignis loses his eyesight and the stuff that happens afterwards or even the last chapter of FF XV. What a year though.

Music is such a subjective category, just like they're saying in the deliberations. I mean sure, all categories are subjective to some extent but music more than the rest. I would've gone with Stardew Valley and Dan just cause of how well that soundtrack serves what's it's meant to to, which is make Stardew Valley and pelican town seem like an super-super happy place to be! ^_^

And I totally feel Vinnys pain about Mass Effect 2. Possibly one of the best games of the gen. But the arguments was sound. I can't deny that. The PC-version is the best I played. But that doesn't mean cutting ME2 from any list is less of a heartbreaker!

Best Multiplayer. I'm with Jeff all the way about Titanfall 2. Much as I liked Overwatch, the design of levels and modes in TF2 coupled with that incredible slick gameplay that makes you feel awesome the whole time just feels so much more deliberate. It's a feat of game design that I'm able to move and do all the things I want to so well in that game. Most other MP-FPS' generally make me feel much more awkward and lame than this one. And I'm not an especially capable FPS-player. It's the first "one-of-those" I ever prestiged (regenerated) in. So great!

Best moment, I'd have picked Inside personally. But Witness is a good choice too. And one that reveals that game in such a "wow" kind of way.

Regarding comments about "hyperbole" from these discussions. I don't think they'd be nearly as much fun without all the passion and over-the-top reactions. It's great that they're all so opinionated and get so worked up over these deliberations. I honestly don't think I would enjoy them as much if they weren't so passionate. ^_^

lol @ Jeff savagely cutting Gears multiplayer.

Edit: never understood the obsession over the opening of the DOOM where your character reloads the shotgun in the time with the music. That was such an "alright, let's do this" moment and then you simply walk out of the elevator into an empty space with no enemies. Cool.

You know it's Game of the Year when Brad's passive aggressive whiny bitching gets his own way and Jeff just says 'Fine, fuck it'

Not having any Titanfall 2 representation for best moment is insane. All 3 top spots could have easily gone to Titanfall 2. Should have been Inside and the the two Titanfall moments they talked about in my opinion.

May geometry wars never be brought up again.

It is a shame Final Fantasy XV and Dark Souls III didn't get a mention in the music category, but it's outside the usual wheelhouse that tends to get the nod.

I wish Alex would stop putting things on the list just to give them a mention and not stick up for them at all. It feels like he's given in on all of his contributions on the lists.

He has fought for some, which is great, but weren't necessarily his suggestions.

@nagafen: nice try, but you didn't play Titanfall 2 if you are claiming it's "just CoD."

______

Not going to gripe about the 360 category too much, but as someone who is playing through the entire Mass Effect Trilogy on the X1 right now, ME2 plays just as good as any other version of the game, and works just fine with DLC and character importing. It was GB's game of the year for christsake. It belongs on the list over Geo Wars or Red Dead. Bless your efforts Vinny. Burnout Paradise definitely belongs though.

Jeff's comment on Inside was nothing compared to the filibuster of Brad on the Saints Row: The Third vs. Skyrim debate.

All of the Mass Effect games are waaaaaay better on PC. I'd never go back to console to play any of those games.

One of the few things I felt Deus Ex: Mankind Divided did really well was the soundtrack. The music for that game is just spot on, like it was for Human Revolution. It's a shame the game didn't have the main plot to support it, but I feel Mankind Divided is a really interesting, flawed game.

The Witness? Never saw that coming. I guess I also didn't notice the environmental puzzles because I bounced off of that game really hard after my first 2 hour session

Also props for Dan for fighting for Stardew Valley. That is one game that I really enjoy, especially because there is no real fail state. It's just a good game to enjoy.

I'm so glad The Witness won best moment because I thought it was instantly a shoe-in for this category when I experienced it. When it clicked and I found my first puzzle I was thrilled and felt rewarded for finding something so cleverly hidden. The explosion of sound and light was an amazing way of signifying "Hey, you did it!" and really made me feel smart. It had me sprinting backwards with joy to find puzzles I had missed.

Knowing the environmental puzzles are there as a requirement for getting the second ending I would say is more ammunition for it being the winner. I was surprised that nobody mentioned it.

For me it was always the first that stood out the most, that game goes into single digit FPS on the Xbox 360 at one particular encounter. For the rest of the game it runs at a sub-par 20-30 FPS. Awful! I ended up re-doing the series on 360 because I got a good deal on all the DLC. I'm itching to play them all on the PC again sometime.

I got a free copy of the third game as an 'apology' for Sim City 2013, then again some might say being given Mass Effect 3 is more of an insult than an apology... (could have chose from other games though)

Makes me disappointed for them to write off Battlefield 1 so quickly even though its the best Battlefield since Bad Company 2. Also the shitting on Gears 4 even though its competitive multiplayer is great, it just takes time and skill to be good at. Overwatch is fun gets boring fast and Titanfall 2 is far better.

FF XV got robbed for best music. It's absolutely insane it wasn't even mentioned. Yoko Shimomura completely nailed it and if nothing else, the game deserved recognition for that. It's a shame nobody on the staff ended up finishing it as it ended up being one of my favorites this year.

Jeff has opinions about video games! You can never call the games Jeff will like with any consistency. Let it Die, is basically hipster Darksouls, and I know he digs contemporary zany, but god, if you look like your trying to hard your out. Disliking Inside and Overwatch falls into his somewhat contrarian nature, but you could never call it cold that Brett would dislike them.

I really like Inside, but I feel that game is basically just a bunch of unrelated vignettes and the developers are having a good laugh at all people bending themselves over backwards trying to make a coherent story for that game (I've read plenty of fan theories, and none of them are particularly convincing at typing all those vignettes together coherently). I think that kind of thing really grates on Jeff - he seems like games that give you a real narrative instead of making you imagine one for yourself. I kind of agree, but I really like the gameplay and aesthetics of Inside and even if the narrative was ultimately incoherent - trying to figure out the story it was telling still served as a motivating element, even if it never really paid off. Also "that moment" was mind blowing regardless of the narrative - but man it would even be better if it was a more satisfying end to a real story.

On the Witness though, I'm fully with Vinny. It's a collection of puzzles in the same vein as Picross. I'll take an incoherent narrative over no narrative. Not sure why people went more gaga over it than similar pure puzzle games.

The problem with the idea that Mass Effect 2 is disqualified due to it having been available cheaply on PC but Burnout Paradise is not because of its DLC is kind of nonsense.

Burnout Paradise is a bit more of a web to navigate if you want all the DLC (especially since one piece of it was only available officially on consoles and was modded into the PC version). But DLC is also the reason I've never got very far when I've tried to play through ME2 on PC. Sure the base game is readily available on Steam and Origin for very cheap but the DLC is not available on Steam, unlike some of the DLC being packed in with Burnout on Steam. It is available on Origin (or the old Bioware Social site if you already purchased it from there back in the day) but only through Bioware Points still and they've never ever discounted that DLC. The closest thing happened was that over Christmas Bioware Points were discounted 10% on Origin because that was the flat discount rate that was applied to everything on their store that wasn't explicitly discounted.

If your in a situation like me where you already own the DLC on 360, replaying the game on PC is the much more expensive route than Xbox One backwards compatibility. And the 360 DLC has occasionally been on sale.

Also the additional disqualification of waiting for the remastered collection is super weird because that has been rumored for 3 years and if it was going to happen it would have happened by now in the lead up to Mass Effect Andromeda. So I'm totally with Vinny that how ME2 got disqualified was nonsense.

If the full Trilogy and all dlc were easily available for re-purchase/download, then I think Mass Effect would have easily won.

I only sort of had that moment in The Witness, since I saw them lying about in the background everywhere during the Quick Look before playing the game.

The thing that everyone seems to have missed in Inside is that the girl puts a helmet on you as you die. The boy is dead, he isn't "breathing underwater."

I had that moment in The Witness almost immediately so its effect was lessened on me. The saw mill has this giant, pointless block in the center and while you're doing puzzles across the way it lines up too perfectly not to be suspicious. How Dan didn't interact with it after completing hundreds of puzzles is crazy to me.

I wish I could've cared about The Witness as much as these guys. It's pretty in a picturesque way but almost completely static. It's smartly designed but also it exists only to teach you how to play it. For every category The Witness was suggested I would've fought for Obduction.

Our lord Satan is displeased with the Music winner.

I'm pretty bummed Thumper didn't make the best music category, but then again I may start sweating heavily if a track comes on.

You've maybe watched it by now but holy shit Jeff was SO sour about INSIDE taking that 3rd slot over Titanfall 2. Serves him right for strong-arm'ing Mario Maker as GotY last year. :P

Furi deserves that award. That soundtrack is SO dope and fits that game so well. It's been in rotation on my Spotify since release. Pretty great game too, especially since I got it with PS+.

I think this is the day that I disagreed with the most.

Furi has pretty good music, but I think Brigador , Firewatch and Virginia were all better. Mostly a subjective thing. Not a huge gripe. Edit: I loved the Deus Ex Mankind Divided soundtrack, but I think I'm in the minority there.

I enjoyed Overwatch and played a fuck ton of it, but I could also support Titanfall 2 for that one. When you pull awesome shit off in the TF2 MP it feels incredible, but in the same way you can really feel like shit when you just aren't playing well. Overwatch is a far more even experience.

I find Geometry Wars pretty one note and don't think it's worth playing for more than a couple hours. I agree that Mass Effect 2 is a great game that is better played elsewhere, but Burnout Paradise is fucking amazing and is best played on the Xbox. Should have been the clear winner.

The Witness winning is garbage. That moment happened for me very early on, like less than an hour in. (There's drainage pipe near the town that is clearly a starting point for a line puzzle.) It just seemed so obvious to me. I'm not trying to claim I'm some fucking genius or anything but I assumed that there was more to the island setting than just being a place for line puzzles. Yes the environment was used to solve those puzzles, but it was clear there was more to it than that. Titanfall 2 wins this category and it's the SERE Kit sequence. It starts with BT telling you to "Brace for impact" and then it's on. Not only are you wasting mother fuckers while you wall run and knee slide all over the goddamn place, but it ends with a Titanfall and you bringing BT back. So fucking good! Fuck The Witness and Inside.

@efesell: no

Answer for your crimes @efesell, you coward!

@sethmode: I think we can all agree, with the benefit of nearly two years of hindsight, to heck with that opinion and the reprobate who said it.

@sweetz: "I really like Inside, but I feel that game is basically just a bunch of unrelated vignettes and the developers are having a good laugh at all people bending themselves over backwards trying to make a coherent story for that game (I've read plenty of fan theories, and none of them are particularly convincing at typing all those vignettes together coherently)."

This is exactlyhow I feel about Little Nightmares. Inside is a lot more coherent than you think.