Kaneis

The list doesn't frustrate me, but a lot of the discussion really hit me the wrong way. No point dwelling on the negative though, I have other GB content to catch up on anyway. GB's GOTY this year just wasn't for me; which really sucks, as I loved listening to every other year.

@niko_of_death: Awesome of you to recognize that; it's a rare quality to admit to an off-comment. Thanks for being cool.

Janina's great! Didn't know about her before the E3 talk!

Is SteamWorld Dig 2 really that good? I finished the first game feeling like a blasted through a shallow experience that only propelled me to go downwards. I should go check out that Quick Look.

Thanks Jeff for always keeping it real. Everything on this site continues my interest in video games from the sticks and buttons, to everything around them.

I'm never upset with their choices for the GOTY lists, because the discussion itself has always been a pulling factor for me. The highlight of this particular discussion was Vinny's thoughts on the level of risks between Pyre and Night in the Woods. They're two games that take a weird backseat to gameplay in some way, and both provoke player engagement without traditional mechanics. It was a wonderful, intimate discussion on the success behind both games, and it's one of the big reasons why I love GOTY from Giant Bomb.

Also, really happy to see Abby improve over Day 1 & 2. She took a backseat in places where she wasn't informed this time around, and that is not a bad thing to do. Her comments on Best Music really soured me on the entire discussion, but I'm glad to see improvement, and hope to see her mature as she continues her career at Giant Bomb.

Brad is one hell of a writer. Someone as well-spoken as Brad is too dangerous for this world, wish there was more written content on GB, but video is the way to go for now!

We still miss you Drew! Fantastic work on the Brazil Cloth Map series!

@kishinfoulux: I avoided speaking on Abby's disparaging comments because she has room to grow as someone who didn't grow up thinking about games critically. The Giant Bomb crew (including Ben!) voices their opinions in a thoughtful, respective stance. Except for Abby, but I'm learning to be more patient with her defensive statements that shouldn't really belong in a laid-back discussion about music.

In a medium like video games, it's difficult to separate mechanical feel from the visuals and audio. Abby was frustrated with the gameplay aspect of Nier, and vented these frustrations every time Nier was mentioned during GOTY. It's absolutely okay that she didn't like the game, but it is another thing to be actively discounting everyone else's opinions because it doesn't fit hers.

The GOTY discussions have always been, to me at least, celebratory on aspects of games the staff enjoyed (besides industry drama like the Hot Mess category). This section was lovely because everyone was sitting around a table bobbing their heads to some great music, and I couldn't stop smiling when someone was a little too excited to prod Jason into playing another track.

I genuinely love how respectful Dan and Vinny were over the strong passion for the Nier OST despite favoring Cuphead. I love both games, and it really could've gone either way. It was such a respectful approach from both of them; really makes me love Giant Bomb more and more.

I love these two. Genuinely adorable when hearing Paul's excitement over the SNES classic. Thanks for taking the time Dan.

Fun stream! Really liked how patient Abby was about teaching Dan baking.