Even if it wasn't dismissed as a series like you say, Dark Souls 3 was the weakest of the three games that share a common name. It was too much a rehash of 1 and 2, and did little, almost nothing, to try to make itself bigger and better. I very much enjoyed it, mind you, but in this pretty incredible gaming year of 2016, there were easily 10 games better then Dark Souls 3.

But outside that, yeah it's just not the staff's kinda game. Maybe if Austin hunt around, but I don't think even he would fight for it on a top 10 that has some of this years heavy hitters.

Dark Souls 3 doesn't have a prayer.

Woah, I had no idea I already had this thought months ago and made a thread about it.

That may have been the best Mod note to a locked thread that I've seen.

Considering this has probably be the best year ever for games, I don't think Dark Souls 3 would even be in the top 20. Lists are dumb anyway. How can you possibly compare Thumper to Civ VI to Inside to Final Fantasy 15 to The Last Guardian to Dark Souls 3?

I know this is a way old topic but I find it pretty delightful how the statement "I know I've ignored plenty of great games because they don't interest me.." is directly followed by "how can they ignore this great game?" (paraphrased)

Dark Souls 3 should win worst game or most disappointing game. Cause hey, Dark Souls 3 is terruuuuble. Only one good Souls game, and it's Dark Souls.

@bojackhorseman: I can see how Dark Souls III was disappointing because it was linear and less challenging. I don't see how you can like DkS1 and call 3 terrible though because they are almost the same game. I wouldn't say any of them are terrible.

In terms of award snub, I think it might get talked about a little bit for best moment/sequence. It depends how much Brad remembers because Austin isn't here to push for it and I can't remember how much Jason played. But I do remember Brad was pretty impressed with finding Irythyll. It also has some very cool bosses. Abyss Watchers in particular.

Dark Souls 3 is a perfectly fine entry in the series, but it is very much another one of those games. It does some things better than DS2, but it's the fifth game in this mold and very much a game by the numbers, and because this year was particularly strong, with a lot of really good games, I can't imagine it cracks the top 10.

I expect it to be briefly mentioned, then dismissed. I don't think anyone will advocate for it in the site's top 10.

Btw, didn't the Witcher make the top 10 and win an award for best character last year? There is no series, except those featured in endurance runs, with as much video content as Dark Souls. To say they are ignored is nonsense.

I think Dark Souls 3 is a complicated title. It plays great, has fun areas, does the things you want. In the same breathe, it really drops the ball in the story department, and it's so focused on fan service to the point of being kind of off-putting. Each plot line seems to hook into 6 other plot lines, and it's just not very satisfying. Combined with entire areas that feel undone and whole concepts that lack explanation (Can anyone in here tell me what exactly the Profaned Flame is? I would love to know).

I think Dark Souls 3 is kind of a terrible sequel with kind of a lot of unanswered narrative threads. Assuming the second DLC doesn't save Christmas, it's hard to imagine my opinion changing here. So disappointed.

Edit: Additionally, not only does it rely on familiar spaces and characters to draw your interest, it also reuses set pieces from previous games. There is a major environment shift later on that literally was done in Bloodborne, the game before. Very off-putting.

I think it most likely doesn't make the list. Unless they are starving for games to put on the tail end of the list. It's a good game, but none of them seemed super into it. It's also just more dark souls. The sad likelihood is that aside from bloodborne, dark souls 1 was the souls game most likely to have made a mark on the top 10 list for its year, but it didn't because they hadn't played it yet that year if I remember right. The internet dark souls movement didn't hit full swing until the year after. The rest of the games are stuck in the eternal hell of being just more dark souls and not as memorable/impactful as "my first dark souls".

That even seems unlikely. If I had to guess I think it's safe to say it will make it passed that first round of cuts where they just get rid of the filler that people wanted to have mentioned, but it will be one of the first few chosen when they go around and start to eliminate them one by one. I feel the chances of 1 or more people going to bat for Dark Souls 3 saying "wait on that" is slim to none. Maybe it will get one stay, but unfortunately I feel like it will be gone soon.

Really loved Dark Souls 3. My personal game of the year. I felt it was much better than 2 and an amazing way to send the series out so I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

@golguin: One time a saw a zombie thread from years ago. It asked a straightforward question and I had a straightforward answer. I posted before reading the three pages of old replies--but, turned out, I'd already answered early in the thread's life with, almost verbatim, the exact same response.

It happens, I guess!

To quote the OP: "Everyone is entitled to like and dislike whatever games they want."

How has this thread dragged on for 60+ posts? The crew doesn't have any particularly big Souls fans and therefor these games struggle to make GOTY. Done.

I'm not even sure that Dark Souls 3 will get mentioned during the entire week of podcasts guys. If it does, it will be an obligatory mention from Jason. I think Jason and Brad are the only ones who even reached the road of sacrifices and I'm not sure if either finished the game.

I'm a single individual with limited time and resources (money) so I don't have the luxury to give possibly great games a shot. The site staff is made of many individuals that make a living out of playing games and talking about games. That would be the main difference.

@golguin: They gave it a shot. It's not like they ignored the game.

Dark Souls is like religion and politics - you're probably not going to change anyone's mind. People like what they like - and the GB crew in general just aren't huge fans. They seem to respect the game though.

I personally loved Dark Souls 3, it's my favorite series, and IMHO it was the best game since DS1. Will be my personal #1 or #2 (It's between DS3 or Doom).

I know this thread is old, but I think you're way overselling the importance of the Souls series to gaming as a whole. Sure, it has influenced some games, but "a paradigm shift in game development"? Nah. Saying "X is the Dark Souls of blah blah blah" is nothing more than a meme at this point. As for the site's coverage of the Souls games, I think Vinny, Brad, and Jason like the games to varying degrees. If they were going to gush over a Souls game, I don't know that it'd be Dark Souls 3 though.

I've played plenty of Dark Souls 3 and, whilst it will probably make my top 2, it just doesn't have the impact of the earlier games. And it's not a paradigm shift. It's slowly influenced a genre around it but you're not seeing a lot of games with corpse runs and the risk / reward mechanics such as the ones seen in the Souls series.

Also, with the series now being much more mainstream, the cult status diminishes with the fans needing to be less ferocious about soapboxing. Again, it boils down to impact.

None of the better entries in the series made Top 10 GOTY, so I can't see a good but not great entry making the list. Giant Bomb does their own thing. Saints Row the Third almost got GOTY in a year where Skyrim, Dark Souls, and Witcher 2 came out.

What's really going to be entertaining is seeing where Overwatch falls on the list. I'm guessing 5-7th place, and there's going to be a lot of people upset that it was not higher or lower.

2016 was too stacked with amazing games for something few of the crew finished and that got a mixed reception on podcasts to make the list. Overwatch, Hitman, Uncharted 4, and DOOM will definitely be on there. Witness, and INSIDE might make it. Then you start adding in personal favorites that someone like Jeff powerplays to get on, and there's just no room.

Dark Souls 3 might be my favorite in the series. It is the only AAA game of the generation that I Platinumed, and I reinstalled last night to go for a fourth playthrough. It's at the top of my personal list. But I doubt it'll even get an Honorable Mention for any of the lesser awards. It's hard for me to get mad about it, unless during deliberations they crap on it.

@golguin: Since it is their job to cover games, that limits the time that they can dedicate to each and every one. They did Quick Looks for each release, they did endurance runs, they even recently QL'd the DS3 DLC. I would hardly call their treatment of the Souls series a "snub" nor would I say they advanced the medium as a whole in a significant way. The crew, while recognizing their unique draw for some, simply don't enjoy them to the point where they would dump obscene amounts of time into each and every one. Jason said he almost beat DS3 but his save got corrupted. This would not be a problem for a hardcore fan or someone with limited resources as you mentioned that has bought a single game they intend to play for the next several months. For someone like Jason who has a baby to look after and needs to stay relatively up to date with other releases that's just a huge no-no.

You wanna talk about amazing genre defining titles that get the Giant Bomb snub then let me tell you about the Dishonored games..