The HotSpot - Episode 393

Just stopped by to say I am loving this episode and Breath of the Wild is mediocre at best.

2009, phenomenons year for games, also Portal 2 is an incredible piece of story telling through gameplay and superior to the original in my opinion.

It's crazy how many of these lists are tied into specific emotional memories for me. The contrast of nostalgic reminiscence for my first live GotY podcasts versus the terrible quality of the actual list for 2014 (Brad being shocked about Destiny considering how it got on there in the first place was some amusing closure, at least). The agony of the Mario Maker win. The joy-filled relief when Hitman took it over Doom. The frustration with how fractured the 2017 list was. Lots of great times arguing about video games.

Oh damn, Metal Gear Rising came out in 2013 and didnt get on their list. Easily better than anything listed.

Edit: Oh fuck, Risk of Rain 1 came out that year too, oh fuck, oh fuck that wins

I try not to get too worked up about GB GotY, but I really have to agree with all of the statements you just made. Mario Maker and Tetris Effect are fine games, but the circumstances under which they won are strange.

Then again, they acknowledge in this very podcast that the last 3-4 GotY lists got kinda weird, since they're catering to so many different staff members' tastes and reaching a consensus for the site top 10 results in weird political compromises.

Yeah, I will always remember the 2015 GOTY solely because of the fact that it was only Dan and Jeff that really went to bat for it and the rest seemed kind of indifferent.

Also, even though I loved the Witcher III and was glad to see it in the top 10, I think none of the staff even finished the game at the time of recording (maybe Vinny did I don't remember) and was there based on the Bloody Baron questline. I brought that up because Bloodborne (my 2015 GOTY and my GOTG) I felt was the closest game from FROM software to hit their top 10 since several people really liked it, even Jeff liked what he played of it yet pretty much because of Vinny it ended up not doing so and that is one of if not the only thing I hated Vinny for because I love the guy otherwise.

2018 was the last one I listened to pretty much (I didn't bother listening to 2019's GOTY stuff apart from Day 1 since I didn't like the new format at all and preferred when they did categories each day). They pretty much spent ages on RDR 2 during that GOTY discussion and Tetris Effect barely got a mention at all and was like "Hey, let's just make this our game of the year!" without any deliberation as to what else can be on there pretty much.

Battlegrounds was kind of the same thing really and I hated that winning mainly due to the fact that despite the fact it was an early access game still when they did the podcasts and there was no sign of a full release date yet, it got a pass being on categories and on the list whereas games like Dead Cells and Fire Pro Wrestling (which came out before PUBG at the end of the day) did not because they were early access games. It was released by the time the podcasts were put out but what if it didn't though and it ended up being released in 2018? I still think that only won because it was such an integral part of their videos that year and little else because barely anyone talks about that game nowadays. I haven't enjoyed the GOTY podcast on here since 2016, to be honest.

Something cathartic for me to hear them aknowledge that Walking Dead wasn't that great

Uncharted Lost Legacy plays like any other Uncharted game, it’s just shorter. I don’t know why Brad feels the need to make up a story about how different it is to Uncharted 4, because it’s not. It’s also not a better game, as one look at GotY lists at everywhere outside of the Giant Bomb bubble would tell you.

Brad on 2015: Fuck this list.

That was the year Austin brought a nuke to a knife fight.

I agree with Jeff. Outer Wilds does nothing for me and hearing people praise it boggles my mind.

I want it in the format of their worst song of the 80s/90s thing, where you have to put both the worst and best games on the same list, and make decisions on which games just weren't memorable enough either way to make the cut.

Portal 2 is a masterpiece.

Brad is 100% on the money with Breath of the Wild. The things that game does well completely outshine its flaws, which I think are minor. I still dip in every now and then to just explore and experiment with the world.

Also the modding scene is ker-azy.

You can't blame skyrim the game for all the bullshit re-releases that came afterwards. Skyrim at the time was an amazing game at the time, that game is probably my favorite game of all time.

I think the most surprising thing about this podcast was learning that they didn't even include Bloodborne in the 2015 listing, considering how much of a critical darling and a success that game was. It's in my top 5 favorite games of all time, easily.

@rorie: You and me, Rorie. We know what's up.

Wow, really enjoyed this podcast. This kind of special content makes it super worth it to be a subscriber! :)

I'm just happy to hear that Monster Hunter has continued to grow in appreciation even if mentioned for a brief moment.

Brad is 100% right about Zelda.

@curufinwe: All the others are great, but I agree with them on Sekiro. It seemed like they got half way through making it properly, then were rushed to hell.

Oh my god when he read the nominees for 2008 i nearly killed myself... what the fuck happened?

For the most part, the justifications and deliberations were solid and I enjoyed them listening to them all. However, In retrospect PUBG had no business winning in 2017. BOTW is still fondly talked about and remembered and it was a fresh start that Zelda desperately needed. BOTW was a monumental game and the most important entry since OOT. By contrast, really nobody gives a crap about PUBG. Whereas BOTW will be talked about for decades.

2014 same. That year had great gems but somehow a mediocre Arkham clone won?

2008 was a massive disappointment as a year in gaming goes considering how amazing 2007 was. GTAIV and MGS4 are still to this day the worst entries in their franchises and I doubt that is controversial in this day and age. That year was full of disappointments.

Arkham Asylum is leaps and bounds better than Uncharted 2. Agreed there. Although Demon's Souls deserves to win but GB didn't come through.

2011 Skyrim was such an embarrassingly regressed game compared to something like Morrowind, that it was embarrassing seeing it hailed as the second coming. Dark Souls is an EASY win here.

Jeff really doesn't like Naughty Dog

@miceman64: its game of the year, not game of years to come. they've been pretty explicit about that.

overwatch xD

Echoing what a lot of people have said here - this was such a great episode. It’s a discussion that I’ve wanted to hear for years and never thought GB would do it. Thank you guys, and please keep the HotSpot going throughout 2021!

@quasiconundrum: The broader sentiment isn't really relevant. This is their list. Trying to guess at the general public's top 10 of the decade would be a disaster, and a ton of people would be unhappy no matter what the results.

this Uncharted 2 disrespect smh

I like outer wilds, best game out of those ones? No shot, no shot, no shot.

Great podcast!

Good for Vinny for sticking up for Mario Odyssey. Best 3D Mario. Think BOTW wins 2017 just because of what a leap it was but I can see an argument for Odyssey being a more polished game.

I'm still with Jeff on outer wilds. I pretty much forced myself to beat it because of all the praise it got, and had 0 fun with it. It was so boring and did nothing for me.

@dragontoaster: I''m not saying they have to like them because everyone else does, or that they should like them at all, or change their opinions. I just have an issue with the way they voiced their opinions.

Jeff & Vinny acted completely bewildered and disgusted that Brad might be willing to play Skyrim again, or that he thought so highly of Breath of the Wild. Them acting like Brad was the crazy one for liking these two very popular, well-regarded games just made them sound completely bonkers, regardless of whether they personally liked the games or not.

mgs4 never held up.

Fantastic episode!

I’d love to see some hotspot episodes of retroactive game of the year discussions, what would 1998’s top ten look like as judged in 2021?

yeah- it's very well known at this point. for once i'd like to hear him rearticulate why- because if i were a betting man i'd fully expect him to call TLoU2 a bad game in the forthcoming GotY discussions (which, of course is expected and his prerogative) but i feel like there's a good bit of distance between the rough patches of 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gunplay/encounter design and 2020's fairly tight The Last of Us Part II stealth action. even the QT events in something like TLoU2 are used for a pretty different net effect than the way they're used in Uncharted.

i get it- those games are not for everyone- but i feel like i've heard him just say 'i don't like this' or 'they're bad' for so long, i don't really know his reasoning anymore aside from vague notions of Jeff doesn't seem to like cinematic, story-heavy games where frenetic gameplay is simplified/abstracted/deemphasized.

...but now that i think about it- i think he said in this episode that he wasn't that hot on Resident Evil 2 (remake)- which probably shares more DNA with something like TLoU2 than Uncharted, so maybe that gameplay style just isn't for him (for whatever reason).

I bounced so hard off of BOTW. I really wanted to like it, but I just had no drive. Maybe it was a time and place thing but, I felt like I was forcing myself through it. I should really give it another shot. Brad is very convincing.

Yes, no one gives a crap about the game with the third highest peak players on Steam today, only behind CSGO and DOTA2. If you don't like a game, that's fine. I've never even played it. However, don't just make shit up in your headcanon about a game that's been consistently one of the most popular games in existence since its release.

This was a lot of fun. Even more so if you take all of the GOTY over the years with a wee pinch of salt...!

Looking forward to next week!

Glad they are going back to the debate format. Just talking about every game that came out was kind of boring because those games were already discussed throughout the year.

The only title I'm still kind of sour about is Shadow of Mordor, which I think shouldn't have even been in the year's top 10, regardless of how bad 2014 was for games. I thought the sentiment would've turned on it somewhat when they revisited it here, but evidently it's just me that didn't like it. I still find it to be incredibly bland game, and borrowing years old combat mechanics with an underbaked gimmick perched atop does it no favours.

I mean not to sound negative about anything aside from the game though. This was a really fun podcast to listen to, and I greatly enjoyed it. Looking forwards to this upcoming week's deliberations!

I'm still so heated about 2015. Best stealth game ever lost to a creation tool that Nintendo stole from modders, just like that runner Mario.

This was alot of fun to listen to :-)

Oh boy, I'm not agreeing with this "modern context" stipulation.

It was super fun to listen to them reminisce but honestly, it was more fun thinking of my own lists as they talked.

First my ranking of Giant Bomb's GOTY's (based purely on my own experiences if enjoying playing or watching them): 1=Best, 12=Worst

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Outer Wilds
3. X-Com Enemy Unknown
4. Tetris Effect
5. Super Mario Maker
6. Hitman
7. Player Unknown's Battlegrounds
8. Skyrim
9. The Last of Us
10. Uncharted 2
11. GTA IV
12. Shadow of Mordor

Then, finally my ranking of the years 2008-2014 the games that I look back on most fondly/Were most important to me from those years: 1=Best, 12=Worst

1. 2011 - Fave: Xenoblade Chronicles ; Runner-Up: Dark Souls
2. 2017 - Fave: Nier Automata ; Runner-Up: Breath of the Wild
3. 2010 - Fave: Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep ; Runner-Up: Mass Effect 2
4. 2019 - Fave: Sekiro Shadows Die Twice ; Runner-Up: Control
5. 2012 - Fave: Final Fantasy XIII-2 ; Runner-Up: Journey
6. 2008 - Fave: Mirror's Edge ; Runner-Up: Mass Effect
7. 2016 - Fave: The Witness ; Runner-Up: Dark Souls 3
8. 2013 - Fave: Antichamber ; Runner-Up: Bioshock Infinite
9. 2009 - Fave: Assassin's Creed 2 ; Runner-Up: Kingdom Hearts 359/2 Days
10. 2014 - Fave: Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster ; Runner-Up: Dark Souls 2
11. 2015 - Fave: Bloodborne ; Runner-Up: Her Story
12. 2018 - Fave: Tetris Effect ; Runner-Up: Shadow of Colossus Remake

Hitman 2016 is just a really fucking good game!