Giant Bomb's Game of the Year 2010: Day Five

Don't agree with our choices? Then be sure and listen to our Day Five Deliberations Podcast to make yourself even angrier!
 

The Northies - Best Performance By Nolan North

Mafia II

Best Competitive Multiplayer

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty 

Best Ending

Red Dead Redemption

The "Take a Break" Award 

Final Fantasy 

Best PlayStation 3-Only Game

God of War III

Don't agree with our choices? Then be sure and listen to our Day Five Deliberations Podcast to make yourself even angrier!
 

The Northies - Best Performance By Nolan North

Mafia II

Best Competitive Multiplayer

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty 

Best Ending

Red Dead Redemption

The "Take a Break" Award 

Final Fantasy 

Best PlayStation 3-Only Game

God of War III

 better categories than yesterday, at least

Bringin' it for the 5th day in a row

Fuck yeah

Sweet North on North action!

At first I was shocked (SHOCKED) that God of War III won PS3 GotY, considering how much of a damn disappointment that game was (though, that may just have been me).  Then, I remembered that console exclusives are a thing of the past.

Where is the soulja boy award if you drink and get drunk or smoke and get high?

I agree on all accounts....great!

Kinda surprised Heavy Rain didn't get best PS3 game, but then again, not so much after yesterday's podcast wherein Ryan said that he didn't like the story-twist stuff and plot holes.

The Northies makes a triumphant return! God of War III....okay fine. (Still think Heavy Rain is better)
Wonder when Final Fantasy XIII Versus will be their comeback?

5 straight days of podcasts...impressive!

Red Dead Redemption for best ending? If, at a certain point, I'd been allowed to use the multiple sticks of dynamite I had, the ending would have been very different.

I really enjoyed Splinter Cell Conviction's ending, but Red Dead Redemption's ending was Great also.

YUS!

Am I really the only person who liked FF13? I will concede FF14, but not 13, damn it. If you want a crap Final Fantasy, go back just one entry. Yes, to the one that got all the critical acclaim; the one that fits every FF13 criticism more aptly than FF13 itself.

In what way exactly is Starcraft II's ending even worth considering for that category? It's a fucking joke of an ending. 

The Northies runners-up list is fantastic. Why settle on 3, when they're all crucial performances?

" In what way exactly is Starcraft II's ending even worth considering for that category? It's a fucking joke of an ending.  "

"Maybe it's time to let a Western studio take a crack at this hallowed franchise."
 
I've been rather agreeable with most everything said in the awards this year, but to this statement, I can only say "Fuck you."
 
This whole eastern vs. western game development debate has gotten too out of hand.  As much of a piss poor effort that Final Fantasy XIV was (and let's not forget, as an MMO it has little in common ground with any game in the series other than XI), I enjoyed the hell out of Final Fantasy XIII.  It's one of my favorite games of the year.  I'm perfectly fine in seeing what Square Enix cooks up for FFXV.
 
But more than anything, the suggestion that it would take a western studio to do better strikes me as nothing more than foolish rhetoric.  Final Fantasy games are always a venue for experiments from the nature of combat to character progression to narrative structure.  The series is, while still traditional, an antithesis of Dragon Quest, which is unapologetic about clinging to its origins, and yet remains a high quality series to this day.
 
When western studios make traditionally Japanese-style RPGs, there are typically two ways that the developers go about it.  They either build it completely out of irony (lol, see how dated and pointless this is?  lol!!1), or they rip off gameplay from established games almost point for point  (I'm looking at you, The Lord of the Rings:  The Third Age).
 
And then there's just the way that western RPG development has progressed over the years.  Most western games put no true focus into the narrative or the primary character.  Oblivion and Fallout 3 are two of the worst RPG narratives to come out of the past decade.  Sure, they have some fine set-pieces, but Oblivion plays the generic western fantasy card far too often, and Fallout 3's ending was marred by the inability to allow the player to make the intelligent decision (send the super mutant into the highly radioactive environment) only to be retconned later.
 
And don't give me any of that "But Keiji Inafune says Japanese development is dead" crap.  It seems more to me that Inafune's mind has been spiked with westernophilia.  The grass-is-greener mentality that the better development is occurring elsewhere.  Fat lot of good that did for Dark Void and Bionic Commando.
 
(And on the non-Capcom front, Obsidian couldn't code a game that wasn't fucking broken if their lives depended on it.)
 
This has veered crazily into rant territory and I apologize for that.  However, this has been a subject that has bothered me for quite some time.  People seem to think that Japanese development is on a decline, but they can't smell the shit that's being slung from the western side of the ocean.  Leave the development of Final Fantasy to the people at Square.  If westerners really want to make a decent Japanese-style RPG, let them try with their own original ideas and leave the ironic humor at home.

Offtopic: Is it the player or the video? It is all choppy today. Pauses every like 10 seconds. Really annoying.

YAY! The Northies!

" Am I really the only person who liked FF13? I will concede FF14, but not 13, damn it. If you want a crap Final Fantasy, go back just one entry. Yes, to the one that got all the critical acclaim; the one that fits every FF13 criticism more aptly than FF13 itself. "

HERCULES WAS VOICED BY KEVIN SORBO!!!!

Of course they didn't mention the Rock Band series. :P We got two of those this year. 

That is indeed a lot of North.

" Am I really the only person who liked FF13? I will concede FF14, but not 13, damn it. If you want a crap Final Fantasy, go back just one entry. Yes, to the one that got all the critical acclaim; the one that fits every FF13 criticism more aptly than FF13 itself. "

Starcraft 2 rapes those games in every hole...

I hate how they went thru God of War 3 without showing any of the amazing bosses off.

" "Maybe it's time to let a Western studio take a crack at this hallowed franchise."
 
I've been rather agreeable with most everything said in the awards this year, but to this statement, I can only say "Fuck you." "

CL60 deserves a mention concerning the Northies since that's his video.

" @Hailinel: I'll agree with you about FF and Bethesda, but Obsidian, while their games are buggy, are the most exciting things coming out of WRPG's, so shut your mouth :P "

Even thou Nolan North having a conversation with himself is pretty awesome/crazy/money saver, I have to say his role as Vashyron in Resonance of Fate easily topples his performance in Mafia 2. Especially this inner monologue: All we have are raisins.

" "Maybe it's time to let a Western studio take a crack at this hallowed franchise."
 
I've been rather agreeable with most everything said in the awards this year, but to this statement, I can only say "Fuck you."
 
This whole eastern vs. western game development debate has gotten too out of hand.  As much of a piss poor effort that Final Fantasy XIV was (and let's not forget, as an MMO it has little in common ground with any game in the series other than XI), I enjoyed the hell out of Final Fantasy XIII.  It's one of my favorite games of the year.  I'm perfectly fine in seeing what Square Enix cooks up for FFXV.
 
But more than anything, the suggestion that it would take a western studio to do better strikes me as nothing more than foolish rhetoric.  Final Fantasy games are always a venue for experiments from the nature of combat to character progression to narrative structure.  The series is, while still traditional, an antithesis of Dragon Quest, which is unapologetic about clinging to its origins, and yet remains a high quality series to this day.
 
When western studios make traditionally Japanese-style RPGs, there are typically two ways that the developers go about it.  They either build it completely out of irony (lol, see how dated and pointless this is?  lol!!1), or they rip off gameplay from established games almost point for point  (I'm looking at you, The Lord of the Rings:  The Third Age).
 
And then there's just the way that western RPG development has progressed over the years.  Most western games put no true focus into the narrative or the primary character.  Oblivion and Fallout 3 are two of the worst RPG narratives to come out of the past decade.  Sure, they have some fine set-pieces, but Oblivion plays the generic western fantasy card far too often, and Fallout 3's ending was marred by the inability to allow the player to make the intelligent decision (send the super mutant into the highly radioactive environment) only to be retconned later.
 
And don't give me any of that "But Keiji Inafune says Japanese development is dead" crap.  It seems more to me that Inafune's mind has been spiked with westernophilia.  The grass-is-greener mentality that the better development is occurring elsewhere.  Fat lot of good that did for Dark Void and Bionic Commando.  (And on the non-Capcom front, Obsidian couldn't code a game that wasn't fucking broken if their lives depended on it.)  This has veered crazily into rant territory and I apologize for that.  However, this has been a subject that has bothered me for quite some time.  People seem to think that Japanese development is on a decline, but they can't smell the shit that's being slung from the western side of the ocean.  Leave the development of Final Fantasy to the people at Square.  If westerners really want to make a decent Japanese-style RPG, let them try with their own original ideas and leave the ironic humor at home. "

I'm not sure if handing FF over completely to western developers is the best idea, but definitely getting some input from them is would be nice. I only played a bit of 13, but it seemed like such a step back after 12, both mechanically and storytelling wise. Whenever 15, or whatever it's going to be called, comes out I hope they take a hard look at what's going on both in the western market (ME2, Fallout, Oblivion, etc) and their own market (the Persona series) and see what they can do to update a formula that they've pretty much run into the ground.

" Am I really the only person who liked FF13? I will concede FF14, but not 13, damn it. If you want a crap Final Fantasy, go back just one entry. Yes, to the one that got all the critical acclaim; the one that fits every FF13 criticism more aptly than FF13 itself. "

Nolan North's Resolution: Appear in at least one game released every week for the entire year.  That is hilarious, him speaking to himself.  And WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON IN THAT ROF VIDEO!?!?!

 Man, the small clip of Final Fantasy XIII in that video made me really want to go back and play more Final Fantasy XIII.     
 
While I loved FFXIII, I can see it winning the take a break award, but just for FFXIV (which is what they should have used for the video clip). I still can't wait for Versus XIII and whatever else they have in store for that series. 
 
Their complaints about outdated jRPG mechanics makes no sense, really, when you talk about 13. And I really don't understand the hatred for the roman numerals. But let a western developer make a Final Fantasy game? Get out of my face with that. That's one of the stupidest things I've read on this site.

Wow, take a little while to prep and refresh yourselves on controls and make a couple good checkpoints before immediately jumping into the video demonstration of your PS3 GotY pick. Really shortchanged God of War III by fumbling around like this and making fun of it the entire time.

" Wow, take a little while to prep and refresh yourselves on controls and make a couple good checkpoints before immediately jumping into the video demonstration of your PS3 GotY pick. Really shortchanged God of War III by fumbling around like this and making fun of it the entire time. "

" @whatisdelicious said:

" Wow, take a little while to prep and refresh yourselves on controls and make a couple good checkpoints before immediately jumping into the video demonstration of your PS3 GotY pick. Really shortchanged God of War III by fumbling around like this and making fun of it the entire time. "

You must be new here "

I couldn't agree more about Red Dead Redemption. When I finished that game, I just sort of stared at my television for twenty minutes and didn't play another game for a few days. It was such a rare experience and it was executed so damn well. 
 

" @Sharpless:   They're grown men on the internet, and they sling around enough crap at times that it would be hypocritical if they couldn't take some slung in their own direction. "