GWJ Conference Call Episode 637

Part Two of Our Games of The Year!

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Part two of our games of the year discussion with a Cory and Allen segment!

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Comments

It’s funny that Spider-Man hit so high on so many lists. The more I played it the less I liked it. The combat felt like Splenda Combat, in that it sent signals to my brain suggesting that this is something that has the form of fun but it wasn’t, actually, fun. It was grindy and repetitive in a way that I didn’t enjoy, and I generally enjoy some grindy, repetitive stuff.

Far Cry 5, on the other hand, was robbed.

It has a companion who is a grizzly bear that you can give belly rubs to and who will maul the crap out of anyone.

Greatest Far Cry game ever.

Far Cry 5 was a lot of fun when I played it with Zenke and pretty... average the rest of the time.

There were some systems that were improved or expanded on. The vehicle system got some upgrades and the companion system is much better. However, It’s pretty telling that the only NPC characters worth having accompany you for any length of time are the animals.

The “stash” exploration mini-game is a bunch of fun the first time around but once you’ve done all of them, there’s little replay value to the puzzles.

However there are some noticeable regressions. The skill tree is just horribly designed with no notable additions compared to previous games. Crafting is largely rendered a waste of time through in-game NPC shops. The aerial vehicles are now more useful but less interesting.

The plot was just trash. You’ve got the guy, his brothers, and the sister. They’re crazy, man! And you will be forced to listen to their craziness three times per zone with no choice in the matter. It was a huge step back from 4 and slight step back from 3.

FC 4 had a very interesting plot with several decent twists towards the end and Baker’s Pagan Min was just a delight.

FC3 had a serviceable story with an awful protagonist. Vaas was interesting but they killed him off and replaced him with a Euro-ish bad dude.

Overall, I did enjoy the game but it would not have made my top 10 in probably any year out of the last five years of releases.

Great episode and great selection of games! It's my most favorite couple of episodes about best games if 2018 because the lists are so unconventional.
Every other podcast about video games I listen to get to include all the same titles and I get that, they all are kinda after the hottest thing, but this crew gave me so much interesting insights into games that are not the triple A hotness.
I mean it's even a bit dangerous to listen because so many games are on steam and the winter sale is on...

"Donut County is so wholesome." (Amanda) Hehehehe. Holesome... I agree, I've been loving Donut County as well, it's so good.
Was super interesting to listen to the GWJ's lists, and compare and contrast with those of our community.

Spoiler:

I'm not sayin' nuthin'!

Are the lists somewhere in text format?

Nice GOTY shows, really enjoyed both parts. Think it's pushed me to give Battletech a go, though I have absolutely no background in mech fiction. It'll be interesting to see how approachable the game is to a layman.

A word on a couple of the high flyers in these personal lists:

I adored Spider-Man- it sold me a PS4 and I couldn't be more delighted with the experience. Great polish to all the swinging and combat mechanics but the story was absolutely stellar in my eyes. Having recently seen 'Into The Spider-Verse', I'm officially recognising a 2018 Spider-Renaissance.

On Red Dead 2, I specifically went on review blackout as so often I can't detach from other people's criticism when trying to form my own opinion. This was the first time I've listened to anyone talk about RDR2 and I was really surprised how much Julian and Sean didn't enjoy it. The game is much slower paced than I had expected but I grew to love quiet moments in the world. This provided contrast against scenes of heightened tension and drama. I would totally agree however that I thirsted for a greater range of interactions above resolving every stand-off with a gun fight. I suppose the stylistic design decisions were unavoidably going to polarise opinion, but it's a shame Rabbit and Elysium bounced so hard.

Congratulations to everyone for not groaning when Sean summed up Subnautica by saying that he would be deeply shocked if the expansion is not on his Top 10 next year.

Polygon's take on it sounded similar to what Sean told Amanda: "Super chill... until it's super not".

HSB wrote:

Are the lists somewhere in text format?

They are now! Bottom of the article.

Hmmm, I followed the "Bottom of the article" link to see the lists in text but all I see is the Writers Lists, nothing from this podcast. What am I missing?

kernelVenus wrote:

Hmmm, I followed the "Bottom of the article" link to see the lists in text but all I see is the Writers Lists, nothing from this podcast. What am I missing?

The spoiler text box right at the bottom of the article. It’s easy to miss!