@bluemorning104: But do you really need that? There are tons of providers for that kind of stuff and I think one of the best things about GB is their "unprofessional" casual discussions, be it a review or a quick look. Written reviews are often one-sided and this is better for getting different opinions.
I don't know, I guess we'll see where they go from here.
There are literally 100 websites that do that. Giant Bomb has always been a lot stronger with the discussion/podcast format. This could help to condense the Bombcast a bit by having a more detailed, in depth discussion in this format, so that big games don't end up taking up an hour of the podcast(instead they could do like 10-15 minutes in the Bombcast and then refer to something like this as a bigger focus in on it)
It's lazy, and below their pay grade. If I wanted an unprofessional discussion of the game, Joe Schmo on Youtube can give me that, or I could actually have that discussion with my own friends instead of my favorite internet talking heads. I want a professionally written think piece about the game that highlights its highs and points out its lows, and if I want other opinions, I'll go read other reviews. If you really think that Giant Bomb's unprofessional content is leagues better than their professional content, so far as to replace the latter with the former, than maybe they're no better than Youtube personalities.
Plus it's worth mentioning that even though the GOTY videos are usually pretty fun to watch, they're unwatchable when people are incapable of talking about the subject, and these discussions will most definitely suffer the same issues.
Did you even watch/listen to the video that was posted?
Nah, just recently. I've enjoyed reading their reviews over the years, and would rather not listen to an hour podcast of rambling rather than someone's concise take on a game. They can do better.
That said, I appreciate the attempts at something new.
I feel like the podcast has always been the strongest piece of content that the site has produced, from Day 0. Quick Looks are also great, but they serve a different purpose from this. The written reviews aren't bad, but I also feel like they are pretty antiquated.
Feels like a cop out of writing an actual review. Instead of thinking out creative ways to illustrate the point that you're trying to make, just talk about it with some buds for an hour.
I'm disappointed, to say the least.
There are literally 100 websites that do that. Giant Bomb has always been a lot stronger with the discussion/podcast format. This could help to condense the Bombcast a bit by having a more detailed, in depth discussion in this format, so that big games don't end up taking up an hour of the podcast(instead they could do like 10-15 minutes in the Bombcast and then refer to something like this as a bigger focus in on it)
People aren't calling him out, 1. Because he never made that argument before, but Abby has on many occasions before the GOTY debates. 2. Because by then it was obvious that Vinny was backing her up on a lot of things because of how bad she was looking. Also, it doesn't take a genius to guess the 8 hours she played of it was her looking for reasons not to like it beyond just 2B because her mind was already made up and that clearly came through during her arguments against it Dream Daddy made the list, solely because Vinny helped her out. Truthfully, hardly anyone cared for that game besides respecting the message of it, but Abby wouldn't let up and Vinny threw her a bone, and Jeff made it official. I'm not saying Abby is a bad person or she would leave GB and some of the other harsh things people are saying, however, the critics are warranted. Ben was great in his arguments. Abby miss the mark. Better luck next year.
Exactly. Abby was going out of her way to try to tear Nier down the list, as opposed to trying to push anything up the list above it. It just came across as her having a grudge against the game and was unwilling to hear any arguments about what that game did positively. Literally every time that Ben and Alex gave impassioned arguments for all of the things Nier did well, she would just counter with "yeah, but here are the xyz reasons why I dislike it, even though I didn't get to the point in the game where I could even experience any of the stuff you are talking about." Then she would just repeat that same thing over and over ad nauseum until she could try to force it to be lower, without even caring about what moved up in its place(though she did continuously repeated the same "I think Cuphead should be higher" dozens of times even though literally nobody else was receptive to that).
Man, Dan's reasoning against Dream Daddy just gets worse and worse. The idea that it "doesn't do anything new" is bad on it's own, but it's particularly bad considering it's being made in the face of two people that feel turned off by Dating Sims really enjoying it.
Meanwhile, he's standing up for Uncharted Lost Legacy and Destiny 2 so...yeah, the idea that something had to do something new just feels like an excuse to cut Dream Daddy.
Destiny 2 skating while Dan makes the same dismissive argument against Dream Daddy over and over was fucking wiiiild.
I'll agree that Dan's arguments against Dream Daddy were terrible, but the arguments for Dream Daddy were pretty limp as well.
As I said before, Dream Daddy is not important or relevant within the Visual Novel genre. It is charming and it has good characters, but it is a poorly fleshed out Visual Novel. It doesn't have many meaningful choices/routes, which is literally the single most important game element of the genre. It has arcs for the characters, but it doesn't explore the characters in a deep way. In the interest of being as specific as possible, there are really only a Good and Bad ending for each Dad, and in most ways the end is very similar even amongst the different routes. As a Visual Novel it feels like a prologue or first act...
My thoughts on the entire Dream Daddy situation are basically as follows.
Vinny and Abby clearly liked the game and characters, but have absolutely no business talking about the game as it relates to anything within that genre. They don't know the genre and they don't know where this game fits into that genre.
The assertion that Dream Daddy is important or even relevant for it's genre is just a completely baseless assertion. Among Visual Novels and Dating Sims, Dream Daddy does almost nothing new. In fact, in most ways, it is a regression. It has fewer character routes and endings than most games of it's type, it does very little with it's branching paths, the various routes it does have are short... It is charming and it's characters are great, but as a Visual Novel it honestly just feels like a fraction of a game.
Abby literally forced the game into the discussion. I'm not even convinced that Vinny would have brought it up in the discussion in the absence of Abby. I'm sure it would have been on his personal list, but I doubt it would have registered on this list.
@handlas: I'd honestly be happy if they changed the entire format of the discussions to something like that. Like each category could be people listing their personal top 3 for the category and presenting their argument on behalf of that game with other people offering input and thoughts to supplement(both for and against). Then they can end each category with discussion of what one they feel wins. That would force everyone to think about their primary contenders in depth to make a cogent argument, and allow everyone to make their case without being talked down by someone else who is trying to sell their games. Then the Best Game could be like that only with 10 games each instead of 3, and the discussion at the end would be to determine the top game.
Dream Daddy is not even the top 3 VN to come out this year.
That's where I'm at too. They don't play Visual Novels, but one had a gimmick that managed to get Abby interested and she managed to drag Vinny along(that is incredibly reductive, and not an accurate representation, but is illustrative of my point). Dream Daddy admittedly is a good visual novel. However, like you said, I don't think it's even in the top 3 of it's genre...
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