I always have such OCD with these games, to be a "one track" hero, despite my efforts I always end up picking the same options - so its really refreshing and fun to watch another person play this their way, like telling Jowan and Lily they are on their own, or the bit about Duncan's bed.
Hope you keep playing this Ben if you enjoy it, and thank you for the stream.
Again I never normally comment, but seeing those "wha wha won't re-up my sub" comments that add no critique, I feel like I have to and say how cool this was.
I quite enjoyed it. Great chill stream and something different. Cheers Beasts!
I think its refreshing. It's nice to have things challenged and helps keep the balance with all the heaps positive things that the others lay on it. Didn't get the chance to say it on the other podcast, so glad it was discussed.
This sums up my reservations over this years podcast content exactly. Its not about what games they have on there or don't. Its a representive list for Giant Bomb.
But am I any wiser as to their thought processes over certain games? Was it the looking up any 'opinions from message boards' that they could use on the laptops that led to snap incoherent statements about games? Blanket statements about games looking like flash games or music being generic jrpg.
Really was not a fan this year, however the non-deliberation video content has been great. I guess I less see Giant Bomb as an authoritive voice on games and quality and more as an entertainment site - nothing wrong with that, I'll just have adjust my expectations accordingly.
@rilber: That's all fine and I respectfully disagree with you re marketing (it's an indie game, and an indie visual novel at that!). The issue me and many others are having is that there were plenty of people on staff not making great arguments this year (par for the course, there are peaks and valleys every year, it's part of the fun) but they aren't being singled out for it in the same insane way.
Exactly this. People are literally criticizing Abby for using "generic arguments," as if the language of video game discourse isn't already full of the same phrases everywhere you look. That's not a knock on game reviewers--I'm sure people who review thriller novels for a living also fall back on tried and true methods of conveying meaning to their audiences. A decade or so ago, visceral was the word everyone used. These days, I'd say that satisfying is in vogue.
As far as specific words Abby has been singled out for using, like cohesive, Ben also uses that to describe Night in the Woods. I don't see any comments about his use of certain (common) descriptive words. Huh.
Guys, strong arguments or not, Abby used the same phrase "I think it's good" or "I think it's very good" or "it's so good" probably ~50 times throughout these podcasts. In fact, there was a point during best story discussions where she called the same story "good" in three straight sentences, which led to me turning that podcast off entirely out of frustration. It got to the point where I was contemplating if she was outwarding trolling the listeners.
Yes, she made other legitimate arguments. And yes, everyone uses crutch words and phrases from time to time. And yes, I understand that it is very difficult to speak into a mic for hours on end. However, this was on a whole other level, and there is really no comparison to be made with others on the staff. Some people on here are being obnoxious about it, and it's certainly possible that others may have sexist motivations in pointing it out, but it's perfectly legitimate to make the observation and be frustrated listening to it. I know I was, and I generally like what Abby has brought to the site quite a bit.
This was the biggest problem for me during this years deliberations. I don't really care what games they put on their list, when I listen to Giant Bomb's goty content, I'm looking for the staff to explain why they liked certain games this year and the reasons behind them. For example they picked Galax-z for best styyyyyyle all because it had a VHS pause screen. Or the time that Austin successfully argued for Anno 2205 to be a top 3 clicker/incremental game, how freaking amazing is that?
This year it seems like the arguments either didn't make sense or went around in circles more than most years. Like during Best World Jeff chimed in multiple times asking if anyone can explain exactly what the category meant, and everyone talked around the question. So much so that Jeff gave up and sat out of discussion. Each member seemed to have their own definition and games were being cut randomly for arbitrary reasons. As a listener I had no idea what was going on.
In other categories, members sat out of discussion when they had no input to offer because they didn't play enough of a game. On the other hand Abby would go to bat for a game having not played it (Mummy Demastered) and fall back to her argument of "I think it was so good, so fun." This was a very frequent occurrence and she would never elaborate further than that. She wasn't the only one who fell onto this argument as after a certain point that's what discussion always comes down to. Other members also argued that a game was simply fun or made them feel like a child (Alex with Nier, Dan with Zelda), the difference being they would only resort to these arguments after running out of thoughts and already explaining in detail why they liked the games so much.
Maybe Abby needed someone to help get her started. Like when she argued for Dream Daddy in the best game category, she fell into her trap of "its good, its fun". Once Vinny helped her out by expanding further, Abby was able to make some solid arguments for the game and gave decent arguments for why it deserved to be there. This year listening to these deliberations made me really miss Ryan more than I have ever felt before. After Abby said "it's good, it's fun" for the 50th time, he would've said alright we know that, but why? Maybe that's all it would have taken is someone to ask why and then Abby could state her thoughts more clearly. Ryan always allowed people to speak and always cut through the bullshit when he knew people were making arguments but had no basis for them. Like when Abby stated twice that Dream Daddy innovates the visual novel genre while saying directly after that she doesn't play other games in the genre. That was not a good argument and I commend Dan for calling her out on that.
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