I just got this game because it was recently on sale. Glad I did because I definitely overlooked it when it came out. I'm about halfway through and after beating the first 'big' area everything just clicked for me. Glad I've stuck with it 'cause. admittedly, I thought it felt a bit slow at first. But wow, what a beautiful looking, tight-controlling and fun little game.

The thing that stands out the most, though, is the music. Like, did no one else at Giant Bomb really play this game except Brad? I don't see Drew or Austin for that matter having played this, and then given up the music category to, Splatoon, of all things. I know music is a very subjective thing. I could also see the crew favoring more upbeat music given the situation they were in. But...wow, the melodies and motif featured in this game are incredible. How did Metal Gear Solid V even beat this in runner-ups? With licensed 80s pop songs?

I don't know, playing it now I sensed a strong injustice. This game was robbed and deserved higher recognition in 2015, if for nothing else the beautiful soundtrack.

Well, this generation the Xbox-centric games have been unfairly ignored. I agree with you on Ori, but I would go further than the music. It's a beautiful game that I found substantial. But in the same way as Sunset Overdrive or Killer Instinct is silently wonderful, Ori fell into that group. If you ask what the top five best fighters or platformers were on this generation of consoles, I'd have them both on the list. It's reasonable, the PS4 library has been incredible from day one and this year it's almost stronger than ever. The PS4 just delivers constantly.

Ori is fantastic and I wish more people would play it. The development is interesting as a personal story and the actual game is really great. :-)

@ricobanderas: if I remember correctly Brad makes a very specific point with regards to this game about how the team they have will never recognize a game with a more "traditional" orchestral soundtrack due to their tastes. He essentially says that Ori should win but the group they have will never pick it, so it's a moot point but he personally viewed it as the winner.

Profanity is not allowed in thread titles.

@quid_pro_bono: On the other hand, if that's not the teams tastes, then it's not the team's top game in the category.

OP, you can make all of the objective cases you want but games aren't robbed in their lists because they decide them as a group to reflect their opinions. If the group decided their favorite soundtrack or story was Duke Nuken Forever then they're not wrong.

You can only argue about how much you like a particular game for categories more or less, but not that it deserved anything different in their list.

@flashflood_29: yeah I have no opinion on this topic due to never having played Ori, but this discussion still sticks out in my mind since I think Brad did have a point about some of their blind spots. I don't actually think a game can get robbed when this is all for fun and an excuse to talk about some cool games, and in general I think artistic awards are pretty silly.

Counterpoint: Sunset Overdrive was the same year and had a way better soundtrack.

Sunset Overdrive is a fine game but it got about as much attention as it deserved, imo; its the only xb1 exclusive I even really like.

I mean this isn't like Witcher 3 levels of underration from duders.

If you look at GOTY as anything other than the culmination of the opinions of x number of guys, you're doing it wrong.

No it didn't.

It got robbed in the GOTY category.

I think it's agreed even by the guys that ever since Journey lost the Best Music category has been a total pupshow.

Exactly this. It's easy to feel like certain games are overlooked, but then you remind yourself that it's just one group's opinion. If you look elsewhere, you'll see that Ori won the 2016 DICE award for Music Composition and was nominated elsewhere as well. It reminds me of when people got annoyed that Witcher 3 was overlooked when it won literally hundreds of GOTY awards from other outlets.

I could get up in arms about how overlooked Dishonored 2 was, but then I see it won game of the year from PC Gamer and got in the top ten for Gamespot and Polygon and remind myself that Giant Bomb isn't the only place capable of praising games.

Splatoon has a great soundtrack.

I think the ending of this game might have cost it some points when the end-of-year review came along. Some people just don't like it when a poignant, and arguably emotionally manipulative, early death scene is undone at the very end of the game. Warps the stakes. :-P

That having been said, I loved the soundtrack too.

I mean, sure. Okay. I get what the GOTY podcasts are. It's just frustrating to see a game not get its due on my favorite game website. That, or I would've liked to see Brad go full "invisible inc." for it, but he picks his battles.

Just sayin'.

It doesn't have a grimy bass-heavy soundtrack, so it never had a chance. Yes, I know Splatoon actually won.

Eh... the soundtack was decent for that style of music. For it to have won there would have needed to be more people on staff who are into that genre. I think that Ori received as much recognition as it deserved.

brad was pushing hard for it iirc. proof he's the best bomber.

e: the save system in this is also kinda ingenious.

Orchestral music tends to get judged as "generic hollywood music" by the GB staff. Most of the "Best of Music" categories get awarded to chiptune stuff. I don't get it either. Some AMAZING orchestral grand video game soundtracks got completely ignored "cuz boring generic music I dunno."

Orchestral music doesn't play very well for the crew. They can admire it, but that style doesn't tend to win the music category.

While we're on the subject though this year's music category is going to be hell for me to pick a favorite. Both Nier and Persona have killer soundtracks with just the right amout of style.