Giant Bomb GOTY 2019 Discussion Thread

@0fstop0: I watched a couple minutes and I just can’t do it. They needed Dan and Alex in there too goofing on wrestling.

The one person videos aren’t ideal.

I really wish the GOTY week was a bit better.

I’d be surprised if they don’t mention the complaints of the community on the beast and bombcast.

The community here and on the sub reddit has been very vocal. To ignore people would be unfortunate.

I don’t have any strong feelings one way or the other about goty content, although I assumed we’d at least get one video a day of the staff hanging out doing something, I always enjoy those. Unless it’s mount your friends or gang beasts, two games I’m sick to death of.

I did notice they completely skipped over Mordhau, which I remember Ben loving. But I feel like maybe something problematic happened with that game and don’t remember what and also am too lazy to research. It’s just weird because I feel like they talked about it a lot earlier in the year.

I kinda wish they went back to the old format.

They need to do more group content instead of buzzfeed top 10's.

I hate to add to the overall negativity here but the idea that they got the whole crew together and thought it was a good idea to do 13 (!!) hours of recap podcasts and 1 hastily thrown together 20 minute group video is honestly insane to me.

I don't want to be too critical - I know spending 2 weeks away from home is hard for the beast crew - but I really do not care for the solo videos.

They have the capability to do cross-coast content, I wish maybe some of that were done instead.

@milkman: this..one group video...day 4 looks to be no better.

I hope starting tomorrow, we can talk about the content of the content and not just be down on the format. I made the thread to maybe talk about their takes but I guess it does make it hard with the recaps...

lol at when Ben said he wasn't a patient player and he usually likes shooting games and Jeff and Dan yelled "yeah!!." That was so true but sad to me.

@liquiddragon: You did a nice thing.

I think the crew tried something different and it’s clear (to the audience at least) that this does NOT work.

There’s nothing wrong with trying something new, even two years in a row. I would hate to think they ignore this negativity though and just brush it off.

I’m so burnt out from the recaps I honestly don’t care about day 4 and 5.

@liquiddragon: Totally agree. The shade being piled on in here right now is pretty mind blowing considering the content itself is only half over and it very much seems to be that they are trying to get a little bit of everything this year with the format change. It's one thing to respond to the content with some thoughts but the pile on here missing some of the older things like Hitsmas etc pretty much ignores the fact that GOTY has ever evolved and changed.

The crew has earned the right to experiment with different ideas, love it or hate it but kinda y'know let them do them? Also how anyone can think the format change is bad after witnessing the genius and hilarity that was Giant Bomb Feud! is beyond me. You must be coming to this site for some validation or some shit but for some peak ass whole crew being whole crew and whole bit landing that is up there with some of the sites best sketches tbh.

As for thoughts on everything this year, I do very much like the short videos that each crew gets to present. It allows them to more creatively get into the games they are presenting. They kind of feel like some of a replacement to the goofy awards themselves, although those could still be coming in the final GOTY deliberations as well. But putting more of a personality spin on the games being highlighted allows it to exist alongside the individual top 10 lists and not feel overly samey.

GOTY is always a divisive time with everyone always thinking that GB can do it better. I've been a subscriber from the very beginning of the site so I've seen it ebb and flow over time, from the skits I loved to the change to group videos to the change to the podcast. While I don't love the podcast format it seems like the staff seem to appreciate just being able to talk about the games a bit more rather than just arguing the whole time.

The videos this year have been very poor though and have not had much fun to them at all. The Feud was okay but I love watching East and West get together as it doesn't happen all that often. I'm cool with just watching them play Rocket League or maybe Heave Ho or Hitsmas or just a fighting game tournament or whatever. It doesn't need to be overly elaborate but I have had little to no interest in any of the content this year - I wonder if the 'numbers' will reflect a general trend or if it's just me.

Again, love the site, I appreciate that they might want to be mixing things up but for me this has not been great.

@liquiddragon: I think the content of the content and the format go hand in hand. If this format had some sort of real structure instead of having some games discussed for 1 hr, others 30 mins, some 10 mins, and some like 15-60 secs it would help. The games with shorter discussion times have no real discussion, more a gut feel of them being positive or negative. Even games with longer discussions can be hit or miss. Like the Destiny 2 discussion was more Brad wanting to gush about how he loves Destiny 2, as it must be discussed in every GOTY, and how great the gun play is while not even mentioning New Light and its reception (which was terrible at onboarding new players). Then during Disco Elysium Abbey of course has to comment how she dislikes the game because it lets you be a racist and sexist while just ignoring the players ability to actively reject those concepts (as Ben and Vinny mentioned with communism and facism) in the game and mold your character to be literally the opposite.

For the most part few of the games are really discussed and its more some peoples impressions, that depending on how much they loved or hated the game, can range from seconds to minutes or longer. I am unsure of what the point of these initial impressions are, but if they want to give time for games that won't be in contention for awards, then make that the goal. Limit these impressions to 5 mins per game discussed and have it be only games that you want to talk about that won't be potentially discussed for awards. Then we have a clear goal in mind with these initial impressions of getting the games the crew wants to recognize for the positive or negative, but that they either don't like enough or didn't play enough to argue during the awards debates.

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the GOTY podcast format and I'm not a huge fan of the change either. I haven't been very excited to listen to them this year.

But, the real disappointment to me is the video content. The holiday videos where the entire crew gets together were always the highlight of the year for me and now that's (mostly) just gone. The solo videos that they are releasing just aren't great in my opinion especially when you consider what they're replacing. I love the site and I appreciate everyone busting their asses throughout the year but this is just sad to me.

I don't think we need (or are owed) an explanation, that's just awkward and way too direct. I'm just going to assume this year is kind of an anomaly, potentially because of personal stuff, and hope for the best next year. Otherwise I'll probably unsub.

Edit: I liked GB Feud for the most part.

@0fstop0: I sympathize. I won’t be holding my sub hostage but I’m definitely disappointed this year.

Pretty much in agreement with everyone here. I could watch them all just sit around and talk about cabbages for 2 hours and it would be entertaining as long as they were doing it together. I'm much less interested in these solo videos. I used to think they were being really thoughtful in previous years by making these cheerful, group videos early and releasing them around Christmas time, so that we could have our own Giant Bomb Christmas. The fact that they didn't do that this year makes me think that was only a coincidence in the past, and that's kinda depressing...

As for the GOTY stuff, they probably prefer it this way to preserve for their sanity, at least for the first 3 days. I don't mind it as much as the I mind the loss of the Christmas group videos.

I think Abby just has a problem with that content being an option to begin with. I don't think she ever claimed you are forced to be sexist or racist.

Game of the year makes me wish for the old site function of clicking on a video and it disappearing. The year of the HUNK was the last time any of these were enjoyable.

I wish they would just do away with the site wide GOTY list in favor of doing more group content. I was never a huge fan of the GOTY podcast, new or old format and always found the individual lists to have way more substance. I only look forward to the video content for GOTY, and while i've enjoyed what they have done this year, it is still a bummer if we only end up with 2 or 3 group videos at most.

I'd maybe add on that the recap feels taken too far, but isn't inherently bad in itself. It feels like it was their solution to try to address all of the "honorable mentions"/"honor to be nominated"/"give X its due", but it also feels like we're seeing way more games mentioned now than we'd usually see mentioned, and it's eating up extra time from "the good stuff". 60% of the GOTY podcasts are the recap, now. More if we're counting volume of minutes. Does a game really need to be addressed if it isn't a staff member's nominee for a category? It feels like the recap would be fine as long as it was specifically designed to serve as a primer for the deliberation categories coming later.

"The good stuff" I'd define in past years as the deep dives. Digging into the premiere/worst games of the year, having them pick apart what worked, what didn't, what was incredible, what fell apart, all just felt like a great way to encapsulate the year and critique games on a higher level. Most games in the recap are barely getting much more time or analysis than they'd get on the normal podcasts, albeit with some minor extra spoiler discussions.

I'd also toss the joke categories into the pile of good stuff, especially when the categories proved to be weirdly competitive at times.

There was something magical about the whole scrappy "knives out" aspect of the old deliberations. I'm guessing that process just got to the point of exhaustion for them, or people getting frustrated due to being overridden/not being heard. It's an inherently unpleasant process for them for the sake of our entertainment, and that's a shitty trade to make. I may not like this direction, but I don't begrudge them for making a format choice that makes their lives happier/better. I'll live. But more time given back to the actual deliberations themselves would go a long way towards bringing back some excitement for me. If the recap has a more targeted focus to set up the deliberations, then I'll care about it too. But as of right now, it's kind of hard to with the format as it currently exists.

Yeaaaah. I don't like to be all negative but it's certainly hard to even get defensive about it. The fact of the matter is, GOTY was basically my favorite time of year for GB Content, then last year it took a hit with the recap days, and this year it kept that AND cut the video content. It's just disappointing. I dunno if it's just a budget thing or what.

Well, here's hoping for at least a couple good days of deliberations! And I think there's supposed to be at least one more group video, maybe Hitmas?

These videos feel like the bad ads at the bottom of the gamespot pages.

I get the format change on the deliberations but I really miss the produced group content for GOTY.

If they recorded their post-mortem of GOTY 2019 and included some of the well-said critiques on here/reddit, I would find that very compelling.

First 3 days have been very very poor. The video content especially so.

I have a kind of different take on the recap podcasts: I wasn't able to listen to most of the Bomb/Beastcast throughout the year, so these recaps were good to help point me to some games I haven't looked at throughout the year. For people who fall in that category, or are newcomers tuning into GB for the first time (and can dedicate all those hours of listening), it's helpful. But I'm pretty sure we're a small minority.

But I'm absolutely not happy about the lack of group content this year. It feels like we're getting the scraps this year, with the short solo videos from the staff. The solo videos have been fine, but I'd have much preferred the group videos.

There's more I'd want to say, but it's probably been said already in plenty of different ways.

Hugely disappointed in this format. Please change it for next year. I won't be renewing my premium sub this year.

I don’t really post anymore. But I wanted to express some honest feedback that I’m unimpressed with the content for GOTY this year.

I feel like the end of the year had a bit less content and I was hoping they were gearing up for a big GOTY time.

The joke lists Feel lazy and are a really bad substitute for hitsmas (and the like)

The recap is exhausting and feels pointless.

The cut down number and lack of categories makes me sad.

If the community all loves this, Giant bomb and me just might not be for each other anymore!

Well said

I miss the longer form group videos. I always looked forward to GOTY content in years past but this year it feels like a big letdown.

I’m sorry for being negative but I’m finding it hard to find positives this year. The feud was fun at least.

@devise22: I couldn't agree less about feud. It was just bad and incredibly amateur. Many have said it, but you have four full time professional video producer's in that room and yet the audio was terrible, they couldn't get a buzzer working and the graphics overlay was a mess. And not in a good way at all.

The crew still has the same people who made the "TV skits" and the "apocalypse" skits. The apocalypse ones are individual focused videos that played much better than someone sitting in a cold sterile room for about 2 minutes recapping their premium content for the year.

Also feud is maybe the best group video this year sure (by default of being the only one), but it's nowhere near as good as hitmas, or rockband, or vr, or even the stream they did of them all doing one big upf together.

At this stage, I wouldn't mind if GOTY was just dropped as a concept and they spent the entire week just making videos and specials featuring members of both crews in a room together.

I never enjoyed the old GOTY podcasts, and don't listen to the new format ones either. I was always in the GOTY stuff for the group video content, and also thought that got better when they moved away from written skits to the special-tacular stuff of the last two years. I get cutting down their time together for family/life reasons, but that meaning the content I actually enjoyed from this time of the year is gone sucks in a pretty big way, and I would personally do without the Arguing Podcasts (even if they're less that now).

The individual videos are also kind of whatever, but I've never really enjoyed solo content. Hell it's part of why I enjoy GB over a lot of YT/twitch people.

Disregarding the lack of group videos and the pointless recaps, the Buzzfeed lists are the absolute worst part.

If I were to be really cynical, it seems like content born from a corporate mandate.

2008-2016 were fantastic.

2017 was awful.

2018 bounced back enough for me to be satisfied, if not fully on-board.

2019 is feeling less than promising...kinda wondering if 2016 was the end of an era, at this point...

I listened to most of day one before deleting it without finishing it. Seeing that days two and three are more of the same, I deleted without listening. It’s a real bummer to no longer enjoy this series at the end of the year...

@devise22: I feel like these two takes were out here last year, too. Some folks like the “give every game its due” thing. Others want old school knives out.

60% through, it’s all participation ribbons, which I feel must be taking away from the debates.

Seriously, how do you spend 15 hours just listing games and giving takes? It’s not good to listen to, and I’d think it’d be infuriating to spend your time doing it. ESPECIALLY when it’s one of two times a year that you’ve got the crews together. It feels like a huge waste, from that perspective.

One day, sure. Three days...I can’t do it. And I feel like the content I want is almost certainly going to be truncated and compromised, as a result.

Frankly, if this is the direction they continue to move in, I just need to let it go and no longer listen to the end-of-year content. I’ve complained, a lot of us have, but this direction continues. The crew set a course, and maybe it’s just not for me anymore...

I like the podcast thumbnail. Hope they make a print of it.

@0fstop0: Jeff gave an explanation on his Tumblr and it kinda sounded like "yeah, he wear you but we don't care and we're going to do things this way now because we're tired of the old ways". So sadly I think we won't see any change.

I'm completely fine with the old format being gone, I was getting tired of it too, but this new format is terrible and I don't see why it has to be the old way or this new way and nothing else. Seems a bit extreme. Some experiments could still be made. It's obvious that some of the problems most people have with this format isn't so much about wanting the old format back but more about the lack of entertainment, funny categories, group videos, and acceptable audio/video production.

But yeah, from the overall quality of the site's content this year to the way these GOTYs are going and including their way of handling the community, I'm not sure if I'll resub my subscription either...

This is still a huge amount of work & effort, and I'm strongly in favor of them staying sane & happy.

To me, even with a lighter load, 30+ hours of podcasts just aren't nearly as interesting as any of the group videos or features. They could shave off all deliberations except 1 day of the final top ten and have a bunch of time opened up for other content. Heck, even if it didn't kneecap the rest of the features, that'd be great too. Even if some people really love it, I have to assume that fewer people actually listen to the full duration of these podcasts.

ALSO: Metro Exodus wasn't my favorite, but hearing Alex rag on it after watching him play on the QL in such a hamfisted way is frustrating. On mouse & keyboard and a harder difficulty level, I think that game shows a lot better.

Regarding Sekiro, it's a bit annoying to hear derisions of its clear & well executed "offensive" combat vision with criticisms that they "couldn't play however they wanted", and then on the flip side mock the prevalence of RPG mechanics in the industry at large. I totally get not vibing with this game, but I was really thrown by some of the arguments.

Just looking at Jeffs Tumblr he's really defensive and going to handle feedback with the same, pandering tone as he always does. It's too bad they are so often like that. Trust me, there are times where the community response here has been wild but this is not one of those times.

Like you say, not asking for the old format just asking for something with any single bit of entertainment, fun, and production values.

I'll still say what I think and thumbs down or whatever and hopefully someone there has the ability to reasonably listen to feedback.

Since few of them are Dark Souls fans or RPG fans I feel you but I can tell you that's EXACTLY why I didn't like this game and I love the Souls series. I didn't find the combat that well done and it was very repetitive with almost no freedom.

And there are a lot of terrible, shallow yet still myriad RPG mechanics in a lot of games right now that are poorly done, so I'm with them on that. Souls series has never been that tho.

Pretty much my sentiments.

So looking at the upcoming videos for tomorrow, the last day, unless there's a video that's not listed because the box only shows 4 items, the last possible group video is about Outer Wilds, a game they're likely to gush about more anyway during the deliberations.

No Hitmas. No Rockband. No Jackbox or anything group focused. Which is really meh if it turns out that way.

@jesus_phish: you can see past 4 on qlcrew.com and

I look forward to the GOTY podcasts over Christmas break. I haven't listened to much of it because it seems like they are just summarizing the games they played this year. This is pretty disappointing and boring. Are there any other video game podcasts out there that are like the old GOTY ones?

@jesus_phish: one small hope for Hitsmas is that some of the videos just don’t show up on the list right away. The Family Feud didn’t show up for me until later on Day One (after the noon stuff was posted and it had been showing Day Two stuff for a few minutes).

My guess is that they are still adding stuff to the CMS to keep them as surprises (or still doing last min editing).

That’s my hope. I really want more group content. At least a nice long couch co-op session.

The crew are obviously allowed to experiment, but that makes it even more important to voice our opinions on it. Else they will not know if their experiment worked or not. Judging from the overall opinion, this year has been a misfire.

Day Four! Fingers crossed that this is some of the real...