PancakePatriarchate

I plan on truckin' along to this behemoth while truckin' along IN a behemoth with American Truck Simulator. The podcasts really fly by between Elko and Yuma, I tell you wut.

1. Super Mario Odyssey: Universally enjoyed by the staff and with no major knocks against it, other than maybe it didn't change the formula enough.

2. PUBG* / Zelda: BoTW: If included, the former will land here not for staff-time played but for "changing the landscape; new genre, etc." while acknowledgement of the deep problems of the experience will keep it from winning. The latter will be #2 (*or #3) thanks to changing what was becoming a very tired formula and pulling it off very well. However, I could see concerns from several staff (it's not just Jeff, folks) over its design decisions knocking it down to no further than the #5 spot with Dan locking the doors if it is considered below that.

3. Neir: Automata: Multiple staff members (unlike Zelda's one) will pull VERY HARD for this game (unlike Horizon's more general praiseworthiness) that will overcome the core gameplay concerns of just wanting to stop playing and get to the next story beat (unlike Wolfenstein which will not overcome those concerns). I hope that all made sense.

4. Horizon: Zero Dawn: Well liked by most of the staff for doing the open-world thing very well but perhaps not exceptionally; quests and collectables drip-feed the mystery surrounding the world and story, unique combat encounters (not counting the humans), and of course it's frickin' beautiful. Also, it's a new IP... from the Killzone people?? However, the GOTY awards are about passion and I don't see it breaking into the top three because of it.

5. Cuphead: 'Indie GOTY' for sure and with few major grievances; I don't think its difficulty will be counted against it. If pushed hard by its several supporters I could see it topping Horizon and even Zelda (see #2).

6: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: Perhaps the 'it got its due elsewhere' game of this list the marks against it seem much stronger than in Neir's case; some staff seem to straight up not enjoy playing it. Coolness and 'nailing what they were going for' will keep it in the middle though.

7-10: Honestly I just don't know enough of what people are individually, or perhaps as a duo, pulling for. This has seemed to be the 'fight to put your personal #2 or #3 on this list' zone and passion always triumphs over consensus. This is where your Nidhogg 2's and Hellblade's and Assassin's Creed: Origin's will land. This is where Destiny 2 will land if enough dark pacts and blood-offerings are sworn to place it on the list.

Games NOT making the list: Prey, Injustice 2, Splatoon 2, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, Tekken 7.

Most Disappointing Game: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Star Wars: Battlefront II Presents - Hottest Mess: Star Wars: Battlefront II

Worst Game: Would not be surprised to hear them consider Star Wars: Battlefront II solely because of how poorly designed / unbalanced the multiplayer is.

@notnert427:

Thank you for the summary. The bit about the "maximum profitability window" is so soul crushing to me. This game was pushed, by EA, as a make-good after the last one; the idea that they would sacrifice the goodwill they needed for temporary profit is just so... *places palm on forehead* so EA.

The way I understood the discussions around the Detroit and Last of Us 2 trailers was 1) David Cage isn't exactly known for having a delicate / nuanced touch when it comes to anything in those games. Case in point, I would not be surprised if in that child abuse scenario the kid is harmed the game will take great pains to tell you "You could have prevented this!" That's just what I've come to expect from those games, in a nutshell.

As for 2) the Last of Us 2 trailer was completely free of context. Yeah maybe those were Fireflies or Ellie's mom or something but it could just as well have popped a 'Days Gone' title afterwards (if not for the clickers at the end). Fans of that series are obviously there for the characters and narrative so zeroing in the tone on "It's the zombie apocalypse and humans-are-the-real-monsters world #387" is missing the mark; yeah we already knew things are sh!tty in this setting, remind us why we care about this one.

I did get the sense from the Bombcast discussion that some staff were relaying a "The violence is too icky" sentiment from who-cares Twitter/Reddit. With that I can agree with the original poster in being confused.

I'm typically in the 'rarely disappointed because I know what to expect' camp and I was still letdown by Mass Effect:Andromeda after playing ~7 hours of the 10 hour demo last month. Knowing full well what people had to say about the story / writing issues, I just didn't think it would be so flat and boring. One too many droning conversations with SAM reminded me of how fun the other games were and how this one just wasn't.

I can see where you're coming from, especially regarding the monthly subscriptions for certain features. But for better or worse I don't think they have any desire or ability to plan out specific things like that 2-4 months down the line; I don't think it's ever been like that. I originally subscribed for the Powerbombcast and Alt+F1. Neither exist here anymore. I knew full well the former was a 'when we feel like it' feature and the latter could end after any given F1 season. I never felt entitled, as you say, to know if they were still down to do it. Ultimately I think it comes down to 1) whether or not you think it's ok to fly by the seat of your pants, as this site has always seemed to and 2) whether or not you think your subscription is "worth it". Personally I do not jive with the customer mentality at all, but others may feel differently.

Edit: And as others have said a lot of the background stuff comes out in the podcasts and stuff anyways. I feel that if someone is so interested in finding out what the plans are, they'll probably pick it up in a number of places anyway.

Similar to n00bs I think you're experiencing actual nostalgia in that there's an emotional / psychological response to wanting to return to something you can't. The word gets thrown around way way too much, like, "Hey, remember SWAT KATS? Nostalgia!!" < That's not really nostalgia unless you have a deep longing to return to a time when you watched SWAT KATS and it's probably associated with a lot of other feelings. No, what I described is more "Ah yeah SWAT KATS was rad."

Same feeling. Even though I did have fun playing it I spent quite a while trying to convince myself it lived up to the first one. And yeah the story is kinda astonishingly bad especially considering the first game had next to no story (which it seems was for the best). The AN being lame oil-hungry Americans, the Venezuelan rebels basically being afterthoughts, and whatever the hell they did with Peng was all just bizarre. I do remember liking the drunk Russian helicopter pilot though.

I'm vaguely interested, but if it's going to be the same Western Europe campaign we've all seen before there'll have to be some really interesting gameplay ideas to get me to buy it. I also hope the developer is really making a game they want to make rather than a playable apology for Infinite Warfare, per Activision's view that only 13 year olds want to play CoD. I've got my ears perked up for it, but hearing that Jeff was told "it's exactly what you'd expect" is not inspiring.

I know I'm being down on it, but... what's with the name? It legitimately reads like placeholder text. You know what would've been a good name for a return to the WW2 setting?

CALL OF DUTY

That video folks.

2014: "Having only up to four players in this arena game sounds really boring."

#Gofvckyourself

2017: "Having only up to four players in this arena game is really boring."