Game of the Year 2016: Day Four Deliberations

Red Dead Redemption is better than any GTA game.

At least the best moment won. But I agree with Jeff - fuck Inside.

Yeah it's a good game but I don't get the fervor the crew has for it, beyond being a standout from the early indie arcade days.

I will never understand the staff's love for Inside.

I like Shadow Warrior's humor and usage of Stan Bush, but Brad is totally right on the key change in that song. I hadn't heard it, and it's really jarring.

Since when did Best Backwards Compatible Game = Most We Would Likely Play Again?

Vinny is right. Everyone else is insane.

@rockyraccoon37: yeah it's sad, plus it seems like such a Vinny game to me at times

I'm actually bummed out that Let it die wasn't released in time to at least being discussed in this year's Best music.

@zombie2011: get used to it. Alex saying, "It doesnt make this list but I wanted to say my piece" is so frequent and just shows how inconsiderate he can be of others and tries to pass it off as ok because, problems.

Titanfall 2 got robbed for best multiplayer. I would much rather play more titanfall 2 multiplayer over overwatch

@dunchad: EDIT: I can't believe Dan never discovered that bit in The Witness. How is that even possible?!? That really Blows my mind.

Think about Dan, subtlety and deeper meaning are not really his wheelhouse.

Nah, Titanfall 2 is good, but it's a pretty standard FPS. Overwatch has a lot more stuff going on.

@dunchad: Which bit did Dan not discover about The Witness?

When they were going over best moment and they didn't have the environmental puzzles in The Witness on the list, I was shocked. Thankfully they remembered to add it to the list. That was my favorite moment and a real brain exploding experience for me.

Anybody timestamp the Best moment/sequence spoilers and which game they're in?

I appreciate Dan's effort with the music, but it's hard to have people appreciate it without context. The visuals changed with the seasons and the expressions of the town folk as you talk to them complement. There were a few tracks that especially stuck with me, so I'm thankful it was discussed for a bit.

@therealminime: He finished The Witness, but never discovered the environmental puzzles. 2:12:17 in the video

Jeff is totally right. The rightful Best Multiplayer Game was robbed!!

I agree with Jeff, FUCK INSIDE.

Great stuff.

@dunchad: Cheers!

Absolutely mind blowing and amazing that people can go the entire game with noticing the environmental puzzles in The Witness.

I am with Jeff in that the twist in Inside is weird and it didn't actually cause anything to me. I actually thought that it was temporary and I would resume being a boy shortly, and the ending was like "what the hell? Is that it?"

Fuck Inside.

@thebojangler: yeah, when I saw the initial list and it wasn't on there I was dumbfounded. Hearing them talk about that twist in the vague way they did prior to playing the game played a large part in me getting back in PC gaming so I could experience it myself.

I'm happy Dan went to bat for Stardew Valley music. It really nailed the sort of pleasant good feeling of the best sort of jRPG town music. The problem is that its hard to sell it outside of the context of what you are doing in Stardew Valley because playing the game is what worms the tunes into your head.

Its kinda like how anyone who hasn't played games like Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger might not have the nostalgia for the tunes, but for anyone who has they are timeless and never get old.

Dark Souls 3 not even mentioned in best music? I know there's a general bias against orchestral scores but come the hell on.

So much Inside hate here. :(

@zombie2011: In fairness dude they had already decided to get rid of it, for some INSANE reason. Alex was just the man who swung the sword.

@thehbk:I don't take it like that at all. To me this is a way of Alex giving much needed props to games that deserve it but wouldn't get a look in otherwise and I think just speaks to him knowing which battles he is never going to win.

So they gave Undertale the Best Music award this year to make up for last year's mistake, right? Right??

Thanks as always for these podcasts. I actually have to commend you guys on splitting up the categories per podcast the way you have. I remember normally you have my favorites like Best Music, Most Disappointing, and something else I really like all on one of the early days and it front loads the GOTY stuff for me. Feels a bit more balanced this year for some reason. Music this year was from a lot of stuff that I have not played yet so it gave me some things to think about trying.

I haven't agreed with a lot of Jeff's opinions in these deliberations but I am 100% behind him in Best Multiplayer.

I'm with Jeff. Fuck Inside.

Yeah, fuck 'em. I LOVE Inside!

I thought Virginia's soundtrack seemed like it belonged in a totally different game...

Music: Even more subjective than Styyyyyyyle.

Literally everything they said Battlefield 1 DIDN'T do for multiplayer... it totally does do and is why i still play it every night...

@pliny said:

dark souls 3 hasnt been mentioned once so far, and i doubt it will be at all, and its damn near criminal. but then i remember that the tastes of the gb crew are totally alien to mine, so i dont actually care what they like. its just fun to hear them argue about inane shit

jeffs picks constantly getting shut out is kind of crazy, since he normally gets his way during goty deliberations. i have a feeling the top 10 discussion is gonna get real nasty

It got SOO tense in best moment. holy cow. Titanfall 2 got NO LOVE.

Titanfall 2 deserved better.

The fact that during the discussion of nifty level shifting mechanics and time travel nobody mentioned dishonored 2 at all really underlines for me that nobody on staff bothered to finish that game. I think the bit in titanfall is pretty cool, but i thought it was much more fun when applied to stealth mechanics rather than left trigger right trigger.

While I'm with Jeff that Titanfall 2 is the best multiplayer game this year (and for me in a while), Overwatch at number 1 does make sense. It's also very very good and also pretty accessible to those who don't normally play shooters/competitive games and that's pretty great. Real tough battle there.

And that Backward compatible segment was solid gold from start to finish - Vinny was fantastic fighting for ME2 (tho I agree it wasn't top 3).

@xiphos480 said:

This is the second outlet that didn't even mention Dark Souls 3 in their Best Soundtrack deliberations, and I honestly have no idea why, maybe I missed something in past years and they have a good reason to not even mention it, but it really hurts me inside...

Things got real in this one. I loved Vinny's reaction to the Mass Effect 2 cut.

It definitely got a little tense at times but remember that they don't mean anything personal about it. Some of my favorite parts of the GOTY podcasts are when they discuss really passionately about the games they love.

Edit: That being said I think it's pretty dissapointing to see all the hate for Inside. It was definitely one of the coolest/craziest moments for me in a game I played this year. I feel like people only react so strongly against it because it got on the list. Inside definitely deserves all the praise it has recieved.

Shout outs to Vinny for bringing up Zero Time Dilemma

@xiphos480: it is the best we will get, but its probably the biggest "fuck you" to Dark Souls III, putting in the same place as Salt & Sanctuary, that game had such a brief spotlight by being released 2 or 1 weeks before DS3, and everyone just wanted Dark Souls, and after DS3 released Salt & Sanctuary disappeared.

Can anyone tell me the exact songs they played for "Brigador" starting around the 27:00 mark? Because I'm having trouble finding them on Bandcamp.

@philscorpio: Well, it kinda makes sense? By now, you would've probably played Red Dead, Mass Effect 2 and Burnout to death by now. So while they're excellent games, being able to play those again might be not that interesting (they are not remastered). But a game like Geometry Wars is something you can keep on playing so having it on your main platform again is kinda neat (I don't think the PC version of it is bad btw, same goes for Mass Effect 2).

Just picking the best game would be more for a game of the generation podcast.

Can't wait to see the fight tomorrow.

Bring on the DOOM

It's refreshing to see Jeff not getting everything he wants in these deliberations. In the past it's almost felt like he bullied his picks into the top spot. This year, he still does the whole "this has to be in top 3 and probably even win", but he hasn't gotten away with it much. Also, I hope tomorrow is the last time I have to hear Jeff say "Inside did nothing for me" because we've heard it about 20 times this week.

Agreed :P