Game of the Year 2019: Day Three Deliberations

[@SlayerGiant]

0:00:00 - INTRO 0:02:50 - Sayonara Wild Hearts 0:06:58 - Grindstone 0:09:31 - What the Golf? 0:13:12 - Overland 0:18:48 - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 0:25:40 - Untitled Goose Game 0:31:28 - Contra Rogue Corps 0:35:55 - The Surge 2 0:39:30 - Neo Cab 0:44:15 - Destiny 2: Shadowkeep 0:54:30 - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint 1:01:19 - BREAK 1:01:31 - Indivisible 1:06:10 - Concrete Genie 1:08:13 - Trine 4 1:09:09 - Yooka-Laylee & The Impossible Lair 1:09:44 - Doraemon Story of Seasons 1:14:22 - Disco Elysium 1:30:40 - Valfaris 1:33:32 - Ring Fit Adventure 1:40:00 - WWE 2K20 1:50:53 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:08:44 - The Outer Worlds 2:23:04 - Luigi's Mansion 3 2:29:28 - BREAK 2:29:41 - Death Stranding 3:23:35 - Need for Speed Heat 3:33:55 - Guildlings 3:38:32 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 3:55:58 - Pokémon Sword/Shield 4:11:00 - Shenmue III 4:18:22 - Google Stadia 4:40:08 - Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem 4:48:51 - Dreams 4:53:22 - Satisfactory 4:54:51 - Hades 4:56:07 - Dirt Rally 2.0 4:56:22 - GRID 4:56:43 - Sid Meier's Civilization VI 4:58:03 - Mordhau 5:02:18 - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers 5:02:56 - The Sims 4 5:03:53 - Time Warpers 5:04:17 - Super Mega Baseball 2 5:04:43 - River City Girls 5:05:00 - OUTRO

[@l2enegadesofFunk]

Bless you, beautiful man.

[@PatOfTheRick]

It’s funny Dan is rolling his eyes at the death stranding stuff, but like, this is how Metal Gear sounds to normal people too. (Fan of Dan and Metal gear, but his anger about DS is a little weird)

[@ctrlaltdestroy91]

That’s because the payoff is not worth the tedium the game deliberately puts you through. Finding out who/what the Patriots were at the end of MGS2 was the capping off of a crazy web of conspiracies that the game enticed you to go further down the rabbit hole for. Death Stranding overexplains everything to the point that there is no real mystery to solve by the game’s end and the story has such a surface-level commentary about technology that rivals the likes of David Cage.

[@astrobstrd]

I think it's primarily because MGS was surrounded in an action movie/war drama candy coating that Dan enjoyed, compared to Death Stranding which, if it didn't have Kojima's name associated with it, Dan probably would've turned his nose up at. I also imagine it's primarily because MGS was at its prime when Dan was in his teens/twenties, and it, uh, spoke to him a lot, as weird as that sounds in relation to MGS. It's kind of like how years ago people on gaming message boards would go back on forth on "well it's a good game, it's just not a good (X) game," where X is the franchise.

[@tcbvgames]

Death Stranding lets you skip cutscenes. Dan's complaints were about the unskippable stuff. Specifically, the controls and the pacing, which he clearly hated. Paraphrasing, "I've never felt worse with a controller in my hand than I have playing Death Stranding".

[@MrHandss]

so you prefer a game that is so up its own ass it doesn't even have the answers to the questions you're seeking instead of a game that at least has the courtesy of wrapping up nicely? because im sorry but the conclusion in mgs4 was NOT that satisfying for all the goddamn waiting we had to do.

[@kevintipcorn6787]

Alex had a point imo. Untitled Goose got a lot of play from people who aren't gamers in my life at least.

[@hughJ]

Yeah, I think their argument about the controls being difficult kind of misses the point. The approachability of a game for non-gamers rarely has to do with how easy the controls are, but rather how simply the mechanics are communicated. It's okay for movement to be difficult so long as the player knows what he's supposed to do, how he's supposed to do it, and knows the cause of failure when it happens. Super Mario Bros. wasn't easy, per se, but it *was* simple.

[@OhItsLuCa]

Yes and it also helps that there are no real fail states. When the goose gets caught, he isn’t brutally murdered like Inside. The game doesn’t restart you at an earlier save. You just try it again immediately. So controls being a little difficult (which I don’t even understand at all lol) is much less of an issue for new players when 1) it’s a cute game 2) the concept is easily conveyed to the player 3) there are no fail states

[@GGRC]

@@hughJ Will never understand how they thought the controls were difficult.

[@boochtron]

nothing special about that game

[@RobSomeone]

I like the old ranting and argument format of GOTY talks. It was really intriguing and entertaining listening to the crew make their passionate points about the great parts in games.

[@jjforcebreaker]

Anno 1800? Also 0:40:10 Jeff slipping into maw of darkness.

[@boots_33]

They started this game-by-game thing to avoid lengthy discussions for unheralded games on category debates but man, LET'S GET TO THE GOOD STUFF ALREADY.

[@GrimJackal]

Death Stranding is a very deliberate game and most people aren't going to like that, but I did, and the more you dig into it the more you'll be rewarded. I've put 200+ hours into it and am still running around post game. There's some fun stuff like revisiting the Elder and finding that he's died, and you see a BT in his place - that's cool and kinda creepy. (And for the record, Bridgett is not Sam's biological mother, she adopted Sam, making the relationship between Sam and Amelie potentially a little weirder).

[@ctrlaltdestroy91]

The mechanics aren’t the (entire) problem, though. It’s the _hamfisted story_ wrapped around all the unfocused game mechanics that make for an unsatisfying payoff once you do slog through the game’s “deliberateness.”

[@GrimJackal]

@@ctrlaltdestroy91 That's subjective. I didn't have the reaction the GB crew had. I took the corniness on board early on and relished it like only a great B-movie can deliver.

[@ctrlaltdestroy91]

@@GrimJackal You accepting it for what it is is a perfectly valid take, but it doesn't change the game's low-quality story.

[@GrimJackal]

@@ctrlaltdestroy91 Sure, but boiling it down simply to the quality of the story does it a disservice. It's a fascinatingly weird fantasy setting and the execution is earnest and gorgeous. It made me think about the potential the setting has. I may have rolled my eyes a time or two but I was never bored.

[@Ralathar44]

@@ctrlaltdestroy91 "Low quality story". Regardless of how it's enjoyable a story that is enjoyable is by definition not low quality if it hits the way it's intended. I think the fact they keep thinking it's pretentious says that they missed the point completely. Kojima has never been a serious story person, he's been an interesting story person. They have big moments like the taking off the mask reveal with no mask underneath. With Kojima's record of stories, why the hell would you ever take his story seriously at face value? Just like the Metal Gear games it's a mix of absurdity and subversion and jokes with occasional serious elements bolted around a central theme. It feels so weird how out of step their perspective on the story is. It'd be like going into Detective Pikachu and expecting an art house film and then judging it from that perspective and then criticizing how shallow and hamfisted and etc it is and calling it pretentious. Their take on DS was a big woosh for me and the irony is the person with the most hate for it was Dan, who's favorite game was Call of Duty, which ironically fit right into Kojima's comment about people missing the point...but not in the way Dan thinks he meant it lol. Kojima references how Japan, France, Europe, etc had much more positive reception to the game and that the US had a much heavier negative element and speculated that maybe it's American's gaming culture being so FPS heavy that they were less open to different types of games. That's a fair comment, our culture literally values different things that lean us towards those games, but the GB crew took it as an insult.

[@GreeneSniper]

I'm so happy Abby talked about how utterly disappointing Nancy Drew was. For a franchise that was steeped in accessibility and a real mystery storyline this game just doesn't deliver. It really sucks especially after so long of a wait. :/

[@hughJ]

Looking at previous Nancy Drew games, it seems to me that they're all 90s-style graphical adventure/puzzle games, relying on pre-rendered assets that are probably stitched together with a fairly primitive scripting engine. If this is their first exposure to making a real game on a proper game engine then it's not surprising if it turned out rough even after a long development period. What they were doing before is basically a glorified interactive menu system like you'd have on a DVD/bluray, which is why they were able to churn out 2-3 games per year - they're never going to be able to do that on Unity.

[@Ddarke11]

It's a testament to Death Stranding that even with all it's (very valid) complaints it's a compelling and fun game in a way I was not expecting.

[@thirdcoast6513]

Love the new format. I like that they celebrate every game in 3days, then categories

[@aleech123]

i really appreciate how Ben would avoid the mic when he want to shout or just to raise his voice, while Abby just doesn't care. It was a struggle when you are listening to the discussion on a headphone. And she is suppose to be the sound-lady

[@liquid3600]

1:20:34 Ben: "there's these things called thots" Jan *nods at camera*

[@ryandlv]

best moment tbh

[@odintdk4489]

This remains my favorite show of the year. I love the length and detailed discussion on every single game. Nothing like Giant Bomb in this industry. Keep up being top guys :)

[@xdivinematrix9291]

Everyone's faces when Jan is talking Pokemon was priceless😅

[@PaulLundgren1970]

Brad: "We are going to have a...conversation about 'Death Stranding.'" Me: (gets another cup of coffee, prepares to get comfortable for a while).

[@IXIBobOhIXI]

Good lord abby is insufferable.

[@hellsfoxes]

I’m sorry. I get that this format is more enjoyable for the panel compared to the more competitive debates from previous years, but it’s really not as interesting to watch. I knows things became especially heated in recent years which wasn’t always fun, but throwing out the format almost entirely feels like the baby with the bath water.

[@AwesomeFlotsam]

That's funny, I find this format SO much more entertaining and enjoyable.

[@Veri7as]

This format sucks. We all listen to the podcast all year, we don't need 12 hours of them repeating their thoughts about literally every single game. What a snoozefest this has become.

[@giftofthepadgii]

@@Veri7as I've stopped listening to the podcasts all the time and this is good for me, YMMV.

[@tcbvgames]

@@Veri7as "We all listen to the podcast all year"

[@TNTITAN]

I just wish they talk about the games they cared about. It then going through a game going “This existed, it was that genre. We played it for a day and never again”.

[@scottleland403]

Today I ended up in the ER and my grandmother passed away, but fuck off if you think I'm not going to catch up on GOTY. Thanks Giant Bomb for always bringing us the best week of the year!

[@elidasilva9352]

Disco is a challeging game with ideals and situations that's dont jive with everyone and that's okay.. it's sometimes ridculous where it takes them and exaggerated and you should not to take them seriously. It depends on the person you are..I've seen very conservative purnish people feel uncomfortable and it's all optional..you play how you want and the game reacts to it..and you shouldn't trust them sometimes either... which is a testament to the writing.. aside from the ideals, the world building is fascinating. A post war euro soviet esque steampunk nior..and other crazy stuff... And some real emotional moments (everytgimg regarding "The Past" and how you find it)..the RNG really is brutal and some checks even at high porcentage is BS sometimes.. no shame in save scuming but failing is sometimes rewarding but not always. I love it. Definitely up there with Planescape

[@lin20404]

dan saying sarcastically that Kojima's quote while proclaiming COD as one of his game of the year just goes to show how lack of self awareness he has. MGS has no politic right?

[@RRWcomicsboy]

It makes the idea of games as art feel so pointless when so many people say that they only want their games to be 'escapism' and essentially offer no resistance to Bobby Kotick saying "there is no politics in our games" while making bank off of propaganda like Call of Duty.

[@giftofthepadgii]

@@RRWcomicsboy Yeah it's one of the more frustrating parts of GB, it's absolutely fine to only want to play games that are escapism for you but there is absolutely merit to being socially challenged by a game and they seem to get sidelined a lot. I'm glad that Jeff brought up the disgusting rewriting of a real life war crime in Modern Warfare. I actually enjoy the gameplay of COD games but theirs and the Tom Clancy games politics are so gross, I feel like shit funding them and usually skip em. Even Top Gun is less jingoistic ffs.

[@RRWcomicsboy]

@@giftofthepadgii When they unapologetically bring Oliver fucking North on as a consultant, you know what their idea is of the politics in their games, regardless of whatever PR nonsense they spew out through overly-compliant games media outlets. In my opinion, as the market value and the cultural importance of the games industry continues to grow, its very insular nature becomes more untenable. It's begun to feel more and more like Bobby Kotick and other games execs want to treat this art form like a soulless nest egg that they can more easily keep outside scrutiny away from relative to other businesses that they were involved with in the past.

[@Toquin91]

That's not really the point he's trying to make though. Call of Duty may have absolutely no artistic integrity but it's very good at what it's trying to do as a whole. There is nothing wrong with enjoying it, regardless of politics. Death stranding in the opinion of many, is trying to be a very intense story driven game with an embarrassingly terrible story, with bad acting, writing and pacing. Thus it is bad. Call of duty is trying to be a generic shooter with a bad/low effort message sure, but it's still good at being a call of duty game, its a satisfying brainless shooter.

[@giftofthepadgii]

@@Toquin91 I don't debate that a brainless, soulless shooter that plays well should get good reviews for what it does right. I just think it's weird for say Abby to give out about the more uncomfortable themes in Disco Elysium while COD seems to get a pass. A lot of us see this stuff more like Birth of a Nation than simple escapism. You're right that there's nothing wrong with enjoying something problematic, but there seem to be some double standards here in regards to the discussion.

[@TheDethBringer666]

If you're not introspective, or have no appreciation for existentialism, you probably won't like Disco Elysium. It's all about self-exploration, who you are is a setting unto itself.

[@pepipopa4701]

Found it disappointing how quickly Abby dismissed the game because she feels like the themes of sexism or racism it exploeres can soemhow instantly pollute a player or the claim that is "transfers into real life" As if there haven't been 100 studies proving violence doesn't transfer like that from a game medium into reality.

[@TheDethBringer666]

@@pepipopa4701 It isn't a game for Moralists. ;)

[@606hunter1]

While I'm disappointed that trails of cold steel 3 wasn't talked about (based off the time stamps I saw) you talked about a lot of great titles. Anyone that loves jrpgs, stories, world building should give the trails series a shot. Despite that minuscule disappoint I can't wait to listen to this in between dealing with family but thanks for hours of interesting podcasts. Hope everyone had a good year of gaming!

[@boochtron]

you gotta admit dude it's super niche. you need to have played the previous 2 games, hell you even need some knowledge of the games that have only been released in Japan. i like the ambition where Sky, steel and that only japan one are interconnected somewhat, but i've heard 3 really connects hardcore to the other stuff

[@606hunter1]

boochtron who cares about if a title is niche? Devil may cry 5 is a niche title but has a high marketing budget along with a major publisher to support it. Death stranding is incredibly niche too, survival horror, Disco Elysium, etc are all niche titles that have gotten attention from publications simply cause of name recognition, word of mouth, and/or the fact people obsess over indie titles. The trails series accomplishes so much with its budget and has an interconnected story that makes it feel like one of the most lived in settings of any videogame. The amount of passion and talent at Falcom shines through the series despite how low their budget is compared to other companies. I'd also add that you don't necessarily need to have played every title but you get much more out of the games if you do (if you do start the games go from sky 1, cold steel 1 or if you really hate older games cold steel 3 isn't an awful place but you lose a lot). Certain fans truly overstate the importance of playing everything cause there's plenty to enjoy without every piece of context and reference. There's truly no expectations that any gaming outlet would give it a try but jrpg fans should. Will everyone that tries it be blown away? No, but people that love story, characters, world building, etc will imo have a fantastic time.

[@boochtron]

i don't know if you've noticed but none of the GB members are really jrpg people. ben or jan might play a few but other than that not really. can't blame people who don't play 100 hr pls jrpgs. i listen to lots of gaming podcasts, even among the people who do play some jrpgs there aren't many who played cold steel series. i can only think of 2 people

[@606hunter1]

boochtron boochtron of course I've noticed but I have no idea what you're trying to argue. The game is niche, jrpgs are a niche market already, and it's highly unlikely a company without a massive publisher will get any recognition making games in that genre currently. Being a little disappointed that they game is completely overlooked is normal. Plus length has nothing to do with the argument, people spent fifty hours walking in death stranding, hundreds of hours playing one map in Apex Legends, thousands playing Civ VI, etc. Mentioning lesser known games may eventually get someone to try and potentially like them which is the only reason I talked about it.

[@boochtron]

@@606hunter1 not arguing anything. just saying them not playing that game isn't a crime against humanity. it's totally understandable why they didn't. also only two of them finished death stranding to the end. only alex plays civ 6. apex some of them played but varying hours. alex isn't a jrpg guy, he played persona 5 and didn't super like it.

[@ogJbizz]

Love the new format

[@crysiscore2051]

I’ll be the one to say I like these days of review. Gives small games the attention that they deserve and then in GOTY the awards can focus on the big hitters.

[@joshwilliams6464]

Same here. There are dozens of us. DOZENS

[@BunnLilah]

@@joshwilliams6464 I honestly think most people are fine with it. KZbin comments are just garbage overall. One of the top rated comments of an older video seriously said that Dan isn't passionate about video games because he didn't like one of them. It had like 160 likes! Knowing how Dan talks about MGS makes that comment fucking laughable.

[@EyeCaptureImages]

Disagree completely. There have ALWAYS been proponents of the smaller games. They always get discussed. A few years ago, Austin got Invisible Inc. onto the final top 10. You may still like this new format, but to say it's to highlight the little guys is disingenuous.

[@xxxx777xxxx]

Anyone else notice Jason falling asleep?

[@Veri7as]

We all are. This format is boring AF.

[@qster4]

@@Veri7as I believe the next 2 (or more) days are going to be where they set up the categories and they will have the heated arguing you crave. As for why Jason is probably falling asleep, he really doesn't play much and after sitting there for 5 hours (and about 7 hours on the previous 2 days), I can't blame him. That, and I imagine those chairs are at least somewhat comfortable too, considering they have to sit in them for so long.

[@evidicus]

That’s just Death Stranding

[@NintendoSphere]

Boy did I LOVE that Death Stranding breakdown, holy shit what a mess.

[@felixenigma4335]

Jesus the criticism is really hard to take this year. The way the spoke about Disco Elysium just really put me off. I appreciate all that Giant bomb does (they are really the only people with GOTY discussion that goes this in depth) i think i just don't agree with most of the members on videogames anymore. They celebrate what i find terribly average while the generally really shit on games that are special (Sekiro, Disco Elysium, Dmc 5, Astra Chain etc etc).

[@felixenigma4335]

@JM S Well that is beating a death horse. I was specifically comparing there criticism to other years. So no actually this goes to the consistence of their opinions and criticisms. They just seem extra salty this year. The basically shit on almost any game that was praised by most reviewers gamers. Or perhaps even worst are completely uninterested. But hey i guess you have your specific opinion about my opinion. I guess some people feel the inherent need to always support people regardless of the actual strength of their argumentation.Seems like America is infected with it as of late.

[@evidicus]

Death Stranding has fascinating asynchronous multiplayer, and the orienteering and building of infrastructure was enjoyable. But everything else about the game was pretentious, tedious and needlessly convoluted (even by Kojima standards). The protagonist is barely a character, the dialog is horrendous, and the only performance that stands out is Mads (who steals every scene he’s in). The game has a serious Stockholm syndrome effect. It forces you to struggle with cumbersome mechanics for hours, and then when you finally unlock new tech that alleviates some of the tedium, your brain gets hit with a dopamine rush. But it’s bullshit. It’s forces you to earn solutions to problems it invented. My biggest example are zip lines. I set up intricate, map-spanning zip line networks. I loved it. I put hours into it. But then it struck me: what I enjoyed most about the zip lines is that they allowed me to not have to play the rest of the game that I hated. I could literally fly over all it and just not engage with it. There’s a better game hidden in Death Stranding. Had it been set on some Earth-like colony world in space that was cut off from the rest of humanity, it would have been way more interesting than claiming this weird landscape was “America”. If it had featured aliens instead of bullshit tar ghosts, I’d have been more invested in the story. Had Higgs and some of the other characters been fully fleshed out instead of just 2D caricatures, I may have given a shit about them. Kojima has interesting ideas, but I feel he needs some adult supervision and editors to keep him focused.

[@car060383]

I gotta say, I heard them and others talk about how the game doesn't direct you. I never played the GameBoy game, but I played a lot of the original Zelda. Now, the original game doesn't really guide you, but Link's Awakening for sure guides you and is not difficult to get through without a guide or help. It might not hold your hand as much as some new games do, but I am not really understanding the beef with Link's Awakening.

[@boochtron]

hey. 1 year later. that game is super hard and obtuse. it's probably the hardest zelda

[@wideyon5]

Was I lost? I thought it was obvious that the reason why BB’s name was Louise was that was the name of the child that Sam lost in the void out..

[@NNick12]

Nope they were lost on a lot of the key plot points/payoffs among other obvious things they miss. I think this is apart of journalist culture where they have to rush through games as much as possible. The Amelie scene in particular where they complained that a gun didn't work, it is like the point is to have the player ask why they think about shooting first.

[@TNTITAN]

NNick12 But what if you don’t connect with the characters that’s your like “shoot them, sure no problem”

[@countbrackmoor]

I think that may have been the point but it was lost on me because I didn’t shoot or want to shoot, but like Alex I didn’t see the button prompt and didn’t know what to do

[@DarthStone]

It says something that the people that are in the podcast are falling asleep. Imagine your audience, Jeff.

[@BunnLilah]

I'm fine so speak for yourself.

[@sinosleep007]

X game doesn't commit to or go far enough with this theme, so it's bad. Same people, COD, Disco Elysium, Death Stranding, Sinking City went to far with a theme and now I'm offended.

[@brokenwizards9122]

Appreciated the death stranding discussion, but it was so unlike all the other topics and so much longer. Kinda wish it was cut out of this video and made into its own.

[@ludogatari9558]

I loved it. I wish in the normal scheduling they did more in depth discussions of games to this extent. There was the Review format they briefly trialled last year and then got rid of...

[@ikissedmyghost2703]

That Death Stranding segment though... haha, love it

[@Bahamut-bj3bh]

1h Death Stranding 39 seconds for Shadowbringers 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@Fugoy1130]

It's almost like one was played by almost the entire staff and was a major aaa release and the other was an expansion to an mmo that takes 100s of hours to properly invest in that literally no one played. Just a thought

[@GrimJackal]

None of them played it. Even Jan said he hadn't played that content yet. It's lucky it even got a shoutout.

[@Mamiya645]

The weakness of Dreams is that it's not as easily accessible as LBP, but luckily I'm happy to create basic 8bit gameplay. Remember to make your stuff remixable and share audiovisual resources!

[@RPLHYO]

What podcast did Dan rant about Death Stranding?

[@boochtron]

love that one

[@TheElliotEquation]

Watch The before-and-after impressions for death stranding video that giantbomb has on their KZbin channel

[@David-uc6sg]

Love when Jeff busted out Rapper's Delight.

[@stellar8healing]

OUCH! I guess Death Stranding isn't for everyone.

[@JoeHeisler]

Yeah I personally really enjoyed death stranding despite the Kojima-ness. I liked the mechanics (could just kind of relax) and the multiplayer part was nicely thematic like what Vinny mentioned. And I usually hate fetch quests and grindy things which is one reason why I can’t stand mmos.

[@boochtron]

@@JoeHeisler as someone who LOVED RDR 2 but had to grit my teeth a Dan destroyed that game... seeing him hate the one game he was looking forward to for YEARS brought me some joy. ll

[@gangwaygamer8831]

Yep, they forgot about Wargroove. That game came out this year.

[@theengine]

I bought wargroove and forgot about it.

[@boochtron]

none of them super liked it. when they first played it is when there were no checkpoints

[@aichpvee]

The Death Stranding story is stupid AF, but the game is fucking great. There is not a single good take on it in this entire discussion.

[@CaffeinatedKing]

I may have missed something regarding Jan's comment as to why it's a big deal but the EV training and Vitamins stuff has been around since Gen 2 on Gameboy Color, possibly Gen 1, and then there were hold items that sped that stuff up in those old games. Being able to change one's nature is kind of neat though. But I feel SUN/MOON were still the *last games* in that series. As this is kind of a different thing now that simply happens to share a few mechanical similarities with the old RPGs.

[@giftofthepadgii]

Really excellent discussion of the flawed Death Stranding, except from Dan being completely unwilling to articulate his issues with the game. DS has some of the absolute worst writing imaginable but I did really enjoy wide swathes of the gameplay and a lot of the tech and aesthetics. It reminds me a lot of the Star Wars prequels in being an example of what happens when a "auteur" is let loose with no oversight, you end up with what is essentially a failure that teaches. I would take Death Stranding over all of the AAA generic stuff from this year. I think you will see a lot of its mechanics in better games in the future and I'm glad it exists but From Software are innovating on a AAA scale while also creating fully formed projects that make Koji-pro look like a bad joke in comparison.

[@ctrlaltdestroy91]

DS being Kojima’s Phantom Menace is the best analogy, as it’s definitely the case of the creative pendulum swinging too far in the opposite direction towards no creative feedback.

[@troyisfilming]

Man, some of those conversations were fascinating.

[@karaochris]

The wrestling puns during the WWE section were strong in this one.

[@AlexFurry]

lol Jeff can't stop bringing up food fight this past months XD Pd. Im a little sad most of them hated the game, at least Brad is my boi on this one.

[@Technomancr]

Real content starts at 4:22:06

[@wink7845]

Still so wrong about Death Stranding, but I can't really blame them. Its design flaw is that it is built as a 100 hour game with lots of menial tasks, like survival games for example, that's where it shines and makes the most sense. But most media enthusiasts did just walk towards the ending in 40 hours which simply doesn't work well. I think more roadblocks would have actually been better so that players are forced to build themselves up more, either you go for the meditative repetitiveness or you'll drop off, game shouldn't have tried to have it both ways maybe.

[@RockBottomRiser21]

Mary Kishmas

[@TheFizzjunior]

Hahaha

[@felixenigma4335]

Abby.....I hate Disco Elysium...but i love Ringfit adventures. I guess that sums up Giant Bomb 2019....

[@Sleepgarden]

5 hours? time to strap in, we goin in dry

[@Z_Twe12e]

They need to scale it back. 13 hours and 3 days is just too much and too dull just discussing games they've already discussed before. Make it 1 day and blaze through them in 4 hours. They don't need to fill the 2 days with GOTY stuff. They can use it for gaming/collaborative content. I think this year feels worse because they didn't do enough video stuff that was collaborative. The bulk of the video content was more individual lists. I like seeing east meets west gaming.

[@Hahkil]

40:10 Sleepy boy Jeff

[@kyuii2642]

no blasphemous?

[@palchristianandersen9086]

Just imagine Jeff saying that he booted it up, but it failed to grab him.

[@Billinous]

Was looking forward to hearing their thoughts on this one as well. Definitely in my top 3 of 2019 (also my best soundtrack).

[@boochtron]

@@Billinous no one played it. honestly guys, too many metroidvanias or this type of game

[@ThisIsMrBenShow]

This is why I watch GOTY, tear that fucking game open and pick at its bones. Amazing Death Stranding conversation

[@rebootcomputa]

Shame no one played superliminal the game did really cool shit

[@BunnLilah]

They did but I think they didn't find it interesting enough for game of the year. The quick look is on their channel.

[@rebootcomputa]

Plinko Penguin ahh damn must of missed it thx

[@jordov9398]

no, Ben was right, Crusader Kings definitely has that fan base

[@BladeBlur]

CTR got the shaft

[@superblahblah666]

Yes Jan for mentioning FF14 I'm at the end of dragonsong we will get to Shadowbringers one day.

[@Cakeyyama]

If you love HW, you'll love Shadowbringers. Stormblood is..well, it was fine.

[@robsonpr1]

Abby yells too much, geez

[@chillnspace777]

Her nod was set to high compared to the others it needed to be lowered a little then ot would have been more balanced

[@deztructo]

2:58:56 - The whole game is a gender reveal. Sums up 2019 in general.

[@crysiscore2051]

deztructo it’s literally just an extra scene that’s like a touching moment. Leave it to them to over exaggerate it though

[@GrimJackal]

Louise was the name Sam gave to his unborn child that died along with his wife years ago. The reveal is also a commentary on our predilection as a society to just arbitrarily assign unknowns with a masculine pronoun.

[@TomBrienProfessional]

I appreciate Abby's view on Disco Elysium. I think all choices available in the game contribute to its' voice whether you pick them or not, and the wounds that the author spends time picking at might seem juvenile if you have already had the life experience to move passed them. I think Ben's experience of having to gut-check himself and ask "Do I sound like a fascist?" is a legit experience too, even if it's ugly to say out loud. Ben's and Abby's difference on this game is so interesting. Lots of Ben fiddling with his hands as he praises this game!!!!!

[@fredt1983]

1:18:20 Stick with it and watch everybody with the "cringed expressions" and "Ugh..." reactions. Other people have opinions, but don't want to "go there" when you have Abby being so...PC about it if that's the only way to describe it. Much like the 100's of comments that got deleted in that quick look..

[@tcbvgames]

@@fredt1983 Giant Bomb has made clearly repeatedly that the staffers can speak to each openly, with love. SEE: The end of GOTY 2018. We're all friends here, they remind folks, and everyone has a say.

[@TomBrienProfessional]

@@fredt1983 in this clip you can hear Jeff lay up Abby for her notes on the game. I think the old guard of GiantBomb know they're not the guys to dissect this topic, so maybe they take a back seat for a sec, but I think they all generally support Abby voicing it. I pointed it out because I wouldn't have thought from that perspective myself, and I'm glad she shone a light on it. Her and Ben's opposite takes were my favourite part of the discussion.

[@Arrrash]

Did Halo coming to pc not count since it was an existing game? I was curious to hear their thoughts on it. Obviously it wouldnt win any game of the year stuff

[@gerzie]

I listen to the podcasts. I've been a paying subscriber for years. Please stop going over "the games released this year" and provide actually new GOTY content.

[@HRZN_YT]

They don't give a fuck about their subscribers.

[@spectre244mc]

Unsubscribe than. I don't prefer the way they do it now, but I still want to support them over most other game coverage.

[@HRZN_YT]

@@spectre244mc Unfortunately I will be. I've been here since the beginning and it's just become a sad shadow of what it once was.

[@spectre244mc]

@@HRZN_YT 😁 fair enough. I can definitely see how different they are than they used to be. Can't expect people to never change. I still enjoy GB. Definitely not as much as I used to.

[@Cakeyyama]

Eyy a whole 38 seconds on Shadowbringers. Nice. :(

[@KyleHarrisonRedacted]

1:18:30 annnnd there it is Abby :| was mostly impressed until here with this take lol but to credit that was like 8h or whatever of solid discussion before landing on yet another one of these takes Can't wait to see what next year's take on 2077 is going to be 🙄

[@boochtron]

hey, i'm from the future and cyberpunk had so many other issues lol

[@JoyceHenderson-yi6ey]

2 hours and 29 minutes

[@rebootcomputa]

I agree with Dan whole heartly on DS

[@RockBottomRiser21]

1:47:57 lmao

[@thejimd]

Has Dan ever been as wrong about anything as he is about Death Stranding?

[@tcbvgames]

Final Fantasy X being a "good" game, for starters ;-)

[@bitroast]

last year he did spend lengths ragging on Red Dead Redemption 2 despite the game being more or less exactly what any person who has played Red Dead Redemption 1 would expect from a game called Red Dead Redemption 2.

[@tcbvgames]

@@bitroast I heard that rant. Dan was one of those RDR 1 fans who was excited to play the sequel. Which is the main reason why he was so disappointed by RDR 2. Vinny also qualifies as a RDR 1 fan who had a lot of problems with RDR2. No outrage here. Just an understandable reaction to a game that frustrated many of the people who WANTED to like it.

[@evidicus]

Dan is 100% correct. Death Stranding is pretentious, tedious and convoluted. It does interesting things, but it’s so up its own ass that I can only grudgingly appreciate them.

[@Choteron3]

Totally agreed with Dan about Death Stranding

[@Toquin91]

Likewise, i get it's trying to do something different but it's bad at what it's trying to do. It's trying to be a story driven emotional ride but its badly paced, written and acted. Just because it's trying to be different doesn't mean its allowed to get a free pass at being bad at it. You still need basic concepts of a story to be able to tell a good story.

[@swalsh216]

Dan throws "it's subjective obviously" in his Death Stranding rant and then says "there is nothing anyone can find fun in this" which is an obviously objective statement. Dan is completely allowed his views and opinions on whatever game he wants, but his rants on Death Stranding are borderline nonsensical and biased. It often feels like he forgets other people have opinions. And this is coming from someone who only thinks the game is okay at best. He needs to reel it in and I'm glad Brad called him out on it a bit. Don't just say "it sucks shit. it's one of the worst fucking games ever. it's boring, pretentious bullshit". You're a game reviewer--say WHY you think these things. I love Dan but Death Stranding has brought out his worst side if you ask me. The fact he turned off his controller noise to ignore the baby clearly shows he a) was playing the game wrong and b) barely gave it a shot. Very ignorant.

[@giftofthepadgii]

Yeah, real bad look for a professional critic. Meet the thing on its own terms and show your work.

[@tcbvgames]

"The fact he turned off his controller noise to ignore the baby clearly shows he a) was playing the game wrong and b) barely gave it a shot."

[@Toquin91]

I do agree to a certain extent but if a game is making itself so unpleasant to the point where you need to mute it, the game itself has issues for that person.

[@GrimJackal]

I mean, this is the same reviewer who sabotaged their Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey quicklook by willfully ignoring the in-game prompts then declaring "What do I do?! It won't tell me what to do!" and still calling them monkeys instead of apes to this day. He not only lacks understanding in certain areas, he relishes in not wanting to learn. He's one of a couple of members of the GB crew that has to have their hand held and be told explicitly what to do to enjoy a game.

[@spectre244mc]

Ya had my own problems with him in that situation. Its pure petulant child stuff. Put your big boy pants on and talk about the game. If you dont like it talk about things in a way other people will understand where you are coming from.

[@ogJbizz]

I really love the disco Elysium discussion. It's so important to include perspectives like Abby's when we live in a male dominated game critiquing world. It genuinely gave me a different perspective on the way the game handles "good and bad". Kudos

[@jamster126]

Dan's rant on Death Stranding did himself no service. I like Dan but he sounded like a 5 year old child. You can't just call something shit without giving reasons and justifying that opinion. You are supposed to be a professional critic......act like one.

[@drez4726]

2:30:22 😂👍🏽

[@tedd.6719]

Drez47 Dan is too fucking funny🤣

[@symir547]

2:58:55 holy shit

[@jaykurant]

A lot of White nationalists actually are into Crusader Kings 2. I know Vinny was referring to Kingdom Come Deliverance, but both games seem to have a large White nationalist fanbase. CK2 the devs disown them, while KCD, the devs themselves seem to coyly intentionally appeal to it.

[@archiemisc]

Phantom Hourglass is by far the worst Zelda game

[@Johnmafia81]

This just "Lets talk about games" for 3 days thing is quite tiring and uninteresting really. At least for people who are regular listeners of the podcast or Quick Looks, there isn't much new to glean from them. I much preferred the categories and debates about those cause that at least was some new entertaining content. This is just a chore, just like last year. If it continues GotY at Giant Bomb is just a 2 podcast thing rather than 5 from now I guess, which is quite disappointing.

[@lancerfour]

nah, i think it's pretty cool. it feels more unbiased this way (though they aren't too much to begin with) and allows for comprehensive dialogs versus the shorter in-the-know competitions of years past. granted, i can totally understand preferring that, but i'm pretty okay with a detour/experiment from time to time so that they can have fun, reaffirm, and test the waters. i certainly do with they had more extraneous segments, though.

[@joearnold6881]

Disco Elysium Come on, Vinny You don’t hafta be a Tankie, but Workers of the world unite, y’know? ;)

[@DarkKnight2029]

I waited till I beat Death Stranding to watch the section they talked about it. I knew I’d disagree with them but man, I didn’t think I’d disagree as much as I do! Jesus!

[@omegacygnus]

3:56:30 WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! You could NOT import Pokemon from the Game Boy games to later systems.

[@boochtron]

pokemon bank, using the virtual console versions on 3ds.

[@clarknova1567]

Gender Reveal lol that's perfect.

[@Veri7as]

This format is boring.

[@DarthStone]

Oh Giant Bomb... How have you strayed from the path so? Please focus your content. Also, your individual pieces are RIDICULOUS and PRETENTIOUS, and they all sound like an inside joke that you don’t get to “get” unless you live and breathe Giant Bomb content. Jeff: You’re like George Lucas in his fucking ewok phase, but your ewoks are Ben, Dan and Abby. Poor Giant Bomb, it started great.

[@thegameneededme5]

This whole video is just an elaborate gender reveal.

[@MajorPhilGraves]

Kojima DISGRACED himself with Death Stranding, casting a permanent shadow over his oeuvre.

[@thelarkascend1ng]

not your favorite gaming experience? i can appreciate that. disgraced? not in the slightest.