The Besties - The Besties Game of the Year 2013 Video Special - Part 2 (Audio only)

Episode Date: December 30, 2013

In the words of 2 Unlimited, "Y'all ready for this?" The Besties return to finish the fight. Eight games emerged from last week's battle royal, but only one has the grit to claim the title of Besty. Will it be Gone Home? Or Towerfall? Or maybe Zelda? What about The Last of Us, people seemed to like that game, right? The tension is killing me and I already know who takes the title! Stay tuned. We'll notify the winner of the bracket contest shortly! Theme song by Ian Dorsch Get the show: Download MP3" Subscribe to the podcast (RSS) Subscribe on iTunes Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Do you guys think that maybe there's no point to this Game of the Year stuff? Have you guys started to think about that at all? I've been thinking about it a lot for the past hour, the two hours before, last from last week. It's like, what's the point? You know, here's what I think. It's about the journey, you know? It's not about where we're at. No, the journey was last year. Here's the thing. I don't like upsetting more people than I please.

And in doing this, we are upsetting. Our pleasure-to-hate ratio is 1 to 50. Yeah. We need all the people who are pleasured by us. I don't think that's true because I've really enjoyed about this. Even things that maybe I haven't enjoyed as much, like Bioshock, I just really enjoy talking about these games. That's not really funny to say it, though. It's not really funny to say it. that maybe I haven't enjoyed as much, like Bioshock, I just really enjoy talking about these games.

That's not really funny to say it, though. It's not really funny to say it. You were kind of honest just then. Yeah, we're trying to introduce this. It's like a funny, we're talking like, just like, doing it off the top of your head. You know earlier when we were talking about Poops, and that was going to be the original intro,

and the video guys were like, no, you can't do it. We weren't. My name is Justin McElroy and I actually this time do know the best thing of the year. My name is Griffin McElroy. I'm not going to be presumptive. I've got a pretty good idea of what's the game of the year, but we're about to suss that out right now. My name is Chris Plant and I know like eight games that could what's the game of the year, but we're about to suss that out right now. My name is Chris Plant, and I know, like, eight games that could potentially be the game of the year. Yeah. My name is Russ Froschek, and psych!

My name is Russ Froschek, and I know the best game of the week! What? This is the besties? Well, let's be honest. We talk about video games, and we're going to do that now with eight of the best games of the year in whatever that fucking means the eight best games of the year um do you want to break down what we got so here's

we got right now grand theft auto 5 versus saints row 4 one has more numbers one has more numbers the other bioshock versus zelda Zelda. Tower Fall vs. Last of Us. Gone Home vs. Stanley Parable. So that's what we're talking about today. Those are the eight games that are still in contention and are going to have to battle it out. I can't waste any time. Grand Theft Auto V vs. Saints Row IV.

We're not going to introduce these games. We're not going to introduce these games. We don't know what they are. If you don't know about them, go back and watch the first episode of this. Hopefully you got through some of it and you know about these games. Grand Theft Auto V, fifth game in that series. Saints Row 4, President with Superpowers. Guys.

It's also not the fifth game in the Grand Theft Auto. Well, okay. I don't want to... Someone's going to comment about it. It's a bajillion fifth game in the Grand Theft Auto. Well, okay. I don't want to... Someone's going to comment about it. It's the bajillionth game. Fine. How should we go about it? Because we've made our arguments at this point. People know what we think of this game.

But I think we should look at them as... Obviously, they're both open world games. So they're very similar. So putting them head to head... I love that these two have come up against each other. Yeah, it's exciting. Here's how I break it down in my mind. Okay. On one hand, you have Saints Row 4, which is outlandish, superpowers, very wacky.

Yeah. And you have Grand Theft Auto V, which granted is not grounded, but certainly much more realistic than Saints Row 4 From a quality standpoint, I think just like in terms of a city creation standpoint Grand Theft Auto 4 5 trounces Yeah, so that's not even a competition So mostly because it's the same city that you played in Grand Theft Auto 3 Yeah, it's more than that like some crazy Grand Theft Auto 5 trounces the Saints Row 3 city.

But if you're talking about indifference from the last entry in the series, it's no comparison. I mean, here, the Saints Row 4, can we agree that Saints Row 4 is, from a game perspective, more fun to play than Grand Theft Auto 5? Yes, and I would say that's a huge, huge deal because the reason I like Grand Theft Auto 5,

as we've mentioned, or I talked about in the last episode, is not because of the characters and the stories, which really didn't do much for me. It's because they have returned to this earlier style. That burp was the worst. Okay. Sorry. The worst.

It was quiet. It was the worst. Not quiet to my nose. It was perfect. It returned to that idea of fun side quests and more outlandish. It was more outlandish than Grand Theft Auto IV, which I think did actually seem grounded by comparison to GTA V,

but in that department. It's not even close again. No, hold on one second. Let's not make assumptions. I had more fun playing Grand Theft Auto V than I did Saints Row IV. Really? What? I thought almost every single mission uh in the main

story had like interesting things to do for the most part had fun things to do all the combat mechanics all the driving mechanics are all really fun saints row 4 uh you know essentially you get these superpowers which are fun to use jump around stuff like that but the the ways that you're using them in those a lot of those missions is like either it's a parody mission where it's like oh here's like a wacky take but essentially the gameplay is like beat up a bunch of guys it's like the same stuff or um you know it's a little more creative than that but you're still using what uh you know controls and powers that like feel okay but they don't feel exceptional whereas i think grand theft auto 5 like i don't know i really like

it's just driving and shooting like all that stuff feels really really good well and there are i think action set pieces in grand theft auto 5 that are more composed than you see in in saints row 4 stuff like the shootout in the meat processing factory. Yeah, that was cool. The incredible sequence is pretty... The thing that, for me, makes this a hard question is what keeps Saints Row 4 in contention for me is it is, first off, it is subversively progressive

in a way that Grand Theft Auto V most certainly is not. It approaches race and sexuality and gender in a weirdly progressive sort of like, I don't know. Do what you feel. Do what you feel. Make your own identity in a weirdly progressive way that I really appreciate. It also does not have a cynical bone in its entire body. It is not, it does not have a cynical bone in its entire body. It is not about cynicism.

It is about joy and silliness. Saying yes. And saying yes. Like, you want to do that? Go for it. And to me, if you want to talk about what's in short supply, Saints Row 4 has a love for its player. And, like, wanting to just completely make sure the player's having fun the whole time. That I think is in such short supply in the industry right now. And that is what would, I can recognize the quality of Grand Theft Auto V, certainly,

but that's what would push me into Saints Row IV. I agree with everything you said. What has got me so excited about the Saints Row franchise over the last two years is also the characters, which is so weird because they start off so horrible in Saints Row 1, and Saints Row 1 in general has so many problems. And over the course of the past few games, they've not only remedied what they were doing wrong, but in Saints Row 4, gone back and rewritten history like that is actually part of the game is like basically atoning for their sins and and recognizing it and and coming face to face with it and fixing it

and i i've said this comparison many many times but i love the fast and the furious series i love that there is popular media that basically takes this idea of good being such a powerful force that it is above the law it is above the government is above all all things and that to fight it is it's futile and you'll eventually be sucked into its powerful vortex and that in this game everything you come up against eventually they is they're on your side and it's like oh yeah now my buddy roddy roddy piper yeah yeah of course he's yeah totally of course he's on my side. That said, what I will say about GTA 5 and kind of what Freshek said is not just was one mission memorable, most of the

missions were memorable. I can name so many missions from GTA 5, and I hadn't even thought about this until you said it, but everything from working for the Hollywood guy in the Miami Vice-style mission to stealing a submarine to, I mean, there's just so many things that, the Polito job where you

bust out of the bank, the small town bank, and it's like, there is so much about that game that I can picture it, and with Saints Row 4 I loved doing all of it. I can't really remember a mission except for there was something where Roddy Roddy Piper had to fight. Stop right there.

Perfect. You are misremembering then. Because every mission, every one of those virtual reality, like character specific, there was the Metal Gear Solid mission, there was the ghostbusters but to that to that extent like the metal gear solid mission was not a fun thing to play it was cute if you'd want to talk about a missteps grand theft auto 5 had probably what was the most miserable sequence and the the crate moving working at the docks, running a forklift.

The most miserable, brutal, shitty, like, take that, asshole, thanks for the $60. This is their butt. Take that, asshole, thanks for the $60. Because it was that miserable. I don't understand what was happening. So this is their butthole. The player's butthole. Oh, player.

And that's Rockstar's finger. Yeah, it's their finger. You think it's their finger. You're wrong. It's their finger. Yeah. Take that, asshole, thanks for the $60. Okay. So they're literally talking to thestar's finger. Yeah, it's their finger. You think it's their... You're wrong. It's their finger. No. Take that asshole thing for 60 bucks. Okay.

So they're literally talking to the player's asshole. Take that asshole... Yeah. But anyway. And also, again, I'm not kidding. The last, like, 10 missions require you to drive from, like, downtown to the boondocks. I don't remember having that say, dog, you are... There is some brutal like,

oh my God, you want me to drive how far? But maybe that's because like- They want us to listen to their super clever dialogue. Like- I actually, I think- Some of it was okay, but most of it was like, fuck you, you old fuck. You don't know fucking anything, you old pervert.

Like, be nice for a sec, for like a second's like hey you want to you want to get the real feeling of being at your family's thanksgiving like get in the car with these guys and just like cold lamp with them for 15 minutes so and and hear that sort of uh that that real i mean i i would agree i would say like obviously sandsville 4 has a much more positive outlook and like more like characters that I really like. It's not just positive outlook. In making that game so negative and making all of its characters so despicable, there are points in the story, and I don't think I'm spoiling anything,

where you have these moral decisions that could result in life-or-death consequences for these characters. I didn't give a fuck. Like, they're the worst. Like, the only choices that I wanted to make were, like, I like having three characters, but I don't give a hell... Like, I don't give a shit who they are. they're the worst they're all the worst um i would say though that like like to go back to the mission structure and the fact that like all the mechanics in the game are very strong powered by these like really like the boat where you're chasing the boat

on the highway and he's like we're scrambling around on the boat like there's a lot of those moments in saints row 4 i would agree with you like there are missions that i remember but like again the metal gear solid mission was not fun the like side scrolling beat him up was like cute and enjoyable but not a fun mission to play and it does fall into that mad hazard uh pit sure which is like good joke on, well done, but this still has to be a game. And making that joke, you kind of just did the thing. Right, exactly. Okay, so where are we at right now? Let's get a vote.

Griffin. Oh, God, I'm actually going to go with Saints Row 4. Okay. Chris Plant. Grand Theft Auto V. I didn't expect that. GTA. It's Saints Row 4. So that's where we're at right now. Okay Theft Auto V. I didn't expect that. GTA.

Sanctuary 4. So that's where we're at right now. Okay. Okay. I didn't like Grand Theft Auto V very much. And I think Sanctuary 4 is better than that. I think Grand Theft Auto V. No, let me say this. Grand Theft Auto V, I think, has the potential to be the better game.

If at some point an editor had stepped in and said, no, we don't need that and this and this and this, but the contempt it had for the player's time in Grand Theft Auto V in making you do some truly mundane, especially the driving, just, oh, my God. like mundane especially the driving just oh my god driving as as a momentum killer in that game made me take about twice as long with it than i would have because i just couldn't face down the barrel of more weirdest times like there's this one really intense shootout where you control all the characters and you're rescuing somebody from this sawmill and it's just this crazy

explosive mission and then when it's done you have to drive back to the city it takes like 15 minutes to the worst like road i kept like crashing and like going in a river and the person would drown and i had to do the whole thing over again it was like it was the pit and like it really it really kills the mood i i i agree with you i i mean this is such a great face-off because they really are the opposites. Yeah. Yes, and Saints Row 4 has so much respect for your time. When you try to get into a car, you just dive into it and you're going.

It's constantly rewarding you as you play the game, whereas GTA is really not. And you don't even need to drive the car because you can do whatever you want. At the same time— If you want a plane, you can call for one mid-air and it will form around you. I love Saints Row 4 and I love the series, but not just it feels like what I love about it as I'm

talking about it is like Saints Row 3. And I'm not talking about like the world or just the game. It's like the characters and everything, it's just giving them an extra beat to something that I already enjoyed. And when I keep thinking about it, it's like, well, yeah, I like that. And they really nailed that in Saints Row 3, and now I get another

chance to go back and enjoy that some more. And to go back to a discussion we had in the previous episode, I think this is not as good of a game as Saints Row 3. Just in terms of the gameplay, the way the game unfolds. It's not as balanced. It's not as balanced.

There's superpowers progression, and then there's everything else progression, and all that other shit is just... And what that does is it devalues your connection to the world itself. Because essentially it's like, oh, I'm flying over everything. I can't have an emotional connection to that block

that I remember having a shootout on. This is an interesting thing that happened when I was playing the Holiday DLC recently. You go into the Holiday DLC super-powered, right? And they've done all this cool art design of this world that's like Santa's place at the North Pole. And your instinct is to just jump.

You can literally jump over the whole thing and fly over it and get to Santa's palace. And it's this well-made city with all these little things inside. And I had to stop and go back, like literally walk back to the beginning of the level. Because I was like, oh, yeah. I should look at this stuff. But that's not the type of game this is anymore. And that's where I'm curious to see where they even go from here.

Because it's like, how do you put that back? I would like, this is gonna sound like heresy but i would not want superpowers i think no me neither and it's like i like superpowers i thought it was a fun jaunt and a fun like side trial but i like tricking out my cars like that was super super fun like feeling like my guns as i upgraded them really matter there was some of that because you had to use the guns and powers in concert, but vehicles completely were I think it's great DLC. I think what I like about Saints Row is the progression

and I love that idea of like okay, I get my Saints Row game and if this really was originally DLC, that's a great addition to that game. That would have been some good ass DLC. Okay, I'm willing to concede the point.

It's fair. There are a lot of things I wish Saints Row had done better, and not as many as I wish GTA V had, but I'm willing to admit that this probably comes down to personal preference. And as such, Grand Theft Auto V brings down Saints Row IV. Please direct your complaints to Chris Plant. Another one, just with the burps. that wasn't a burp that was a i mean i'm getting a smell there's a burp oh that's just a pungent odor that erupts should we explain that we just had like mad pizza we did it's not russ's fault i'm farting um the uh

tomb raider versus bioshock no you did that no no. You didn't let me finish. It was the last one. And now we're doing Bioshock versus Zelda. Bioshock Infinite versus Legend of Zelda. So two very similar games. Link between worlds. You're dealing with... Yeah, I mean, they're... Yeah.

Okay, I think we've outlined both of these very clearly, and I know that we have a lot to get through today. Yeah. I'm just going to say that for all the points that we've talked about, for all the intellectual chances it takes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, Zelda is the better game than Barstow. I do want to say something about these two games because it's kind of interesting. Both of these games

obviously came from a franchise and both of these games tried to evolve the concepts of the franchise in different ways and one 110% succeeded and one really didn't do a great job. Is that a fair thing to say?

I would say one maybe 70% to 75% succeeded. I love Bioshock. It's one of my favorite games of all time. Bioshock 1? Yeah. Okay. The world and the lore of Bioshock Infinite,

I got deep, deep down into this. Sure, and that's not the thing that I'm really knocking, to be honest. They did the lore right in Bioshock 1. I think I was interested in the lore here. Obviously, the overarching story has pluses and minuses. I dug it, for the most part. I was more talking about, like, how they decided, oh, this is how the gameplay should be.

This is how the overall structure should be. I think that we are also doing a little bit of revisionist history with Bioshock because I think what works about Bioshock works so well that it covers up the fact that like using guns and and plasmids in concert still has not felt good it is still too tempting to get one plasmid there's one combo that works and then you I abuse it at least that that's been most of the people I've talked to in my experience i think i think fresh six comparison is really interesting that both of them feel like almost second passes at something that was already pretty great um which is a bold thing to do and for me the issue with

bioshock is well what was great about bioshock when i'll put it more of a positive light is all of the the, the narrative, it all connected with what you're doing in a way that just felt believable and like it made sense. I understood why pladsmans were in this world and what it had to do with the downfall of this society. And everything felt connected, like very well put together. In Infinite, I didn't understand why it had these powers

other than the fact that it was a Bioshock game. And it was explained, but it didn't feel like it really was part of this world. Like this world could have existed and probably should have existed without this. You're in giant fucking balloons. Just look around. Don't shoot each other with fire. Look around. And also all of other with fire. Just, like, look around and stop. And also, also, all of these people who are being oppressed, there are guns and powers everywhere.

Littering the ground. Look at a barrel. There's a rifle. All you have to do is, you know, is take care of it. And that, to me, just, it never clicked. While Zelda, I think, is interesting because it takes something and expands on it in really interesting ways. And it kind of evolves the entire series, which is.

Absolutely. I think this is where Zelda is going. Yeah, and well, Nintendo has said things like, oh, we've looked at Dark Souls. And you would hear something like that, and you're like, sure you have. I'm sure you saw a few screenshots on Google. But you play something like this, and it's like, yeah,

they really are actually listening or paying attention or trying new things. It feels dark for me. It does. You shut your stupid... A little bit. Just a teensy teensy bit. Okay, so Bioshock beats Zelda. Sorry, that was a twist.

I wasn't trying to get one past you. Zelda wins. Zelda wins, okay. So Zelda brings down Bioshock, setting up an improbable battle. Oh, my gosh. That means one of those is going to the final two. We're going to go over right now to Towerfall versus Last of Us. I might actually just recuse myself from this because I I just, I have not played enough Tower Fall.

If you recuse yourself, it basically... The thing is, we can't stick by that this time, because if we do that, then Tower Fall just runs to the end. And it's not doing that. It dies here. Okay? No. Really? I can accept that half of us like a game. That's not enough to get it to the end. So why not do it now so we can have valuable conversations about two games that we that's not a reason but you're but by that logic also then half of you like a different game what does that mean that means

the game that you like is gonna go to the end you're saying i'll accept no i'm saying that we i'm saying that just because you guys really like a game isn't going to get it to the end so let's give the shot to a game that we can actually like that might actually have i really like the last of us but the the argument that i would put up against it is i i was actually saying we preclude discussion and just go ahead and go last of us is what i'm saying just skip the whole as a way to respect right where i'm coming at it from development uh i've i've played tower fall i feel like i understand how far i haven't built the whole rigmarole. As a way to respect. Right. Where I'm coming at it from is, I've played Towerfall,

I feel like I understand Towerfall, I haven't built this crazy cult-like appreciation for it that you guys have for it. I've played all of The Last of Us, and I know its strengths, and also its many weaknesses. So it's hard for me to decide between like the things i don't know about and the things that i definitely definitely do know about because like for me i like last of us a lot i know in my heart of hearts that it's not my game of the year because

my problem with it isn't just that it's like super sad or whatever but that there were some there were some serious mechanical issues with that game. I just think that obviously Towerfall is great and is fun and has brought, apparently it's just a uniting force, sweeping across media companies nationwide that are, well, at least ours. You've seen it, and I think it could spread to other places. I'm just saying that the scale is so much different from some of the other stuff we're talking about that I don't think it belongs in the same car your wait a minute stop it stop it stop it you did not just do that rolling it

you're trolling what right you don't You don't honestly believe? I'm saying it's a smaller game. Because it's a smaller game. What I'm saying is, if you give me enough time, I can make Tower of Fire. Okay? I can draw those little guys in the arrows and stuff. But I couldn't make Last of Us. How do you even make 3D stuff?

I don't know. What do you use, a program? I don't even know. Oh, gosh. I've played both of those games and i have a very different emotional connection to both of those games um one of those games the first three hours made me want to kill myself and not in a good emotional connection way is that my last of us what was it about the first three hours it's really not it's like badly made tutorial is the first three hours. Well, the problem is it doesn't explain that it is a tutorial.

So you are in the game, and it's teaching you things without being clear. And that's great. Like, I appreciate not having my hand held through those things. But there is the scene where you get thrown into a pit with the one-hit kill clicker. And, like, three bad guys. And Up until this point, it's been like, this is a stealth game. Stay away from people. I went through that damn section for at least an

hour of just dying, dying, dying. You gotta stay out of the vision or whatever. I don't think there's a physical way to get past that part without killing. Without getting seen. Oh, shit. I hated that part without killing without like getting oh shit i hated that part and it it like it was so bad that i stepped away from the game for maybe a week or two before people were like no you really have to do it and even then i came back and i was like i

still i'm not really feeling it and once it gets going yes i was i was more talking about less about the intro which i actually didn't have any problem with. It's like, stuff like, there's two puzzles in the game, and they do them over. You come to a body of water, and it's like, well, let's... Here comes a pallet. It's not a joke. Like, from a design standpoint, the best part of a puzzle is seeing these 12 elements

laid out before you and figuring out the first thing you need to do, because once you start pulling that string, it comes across. When you come across a body of water, spoiler alert, find a fucking pallet and you're gonna get across the body of water. To the point where they start making jokes about it in the game. Yeah, time to find another pallet, like,

hey guys, you've done fucked up if you're goofing on yourselves. Yeah. All right, listen. Here's what I'll do. I'll go ahead and concede the tower fall, because there's no way it gets any further than this. It does not get out alive.

You're saying mutually assured destruction. Mutually assured destruction. Towerfall ain't getting out of the next round. I like Towerfall a lot from what I've played of it. I think... I'm just saying, the only reason I'm letting Towerfall slide here is because I will admit

that there are also big problems with The Last of Us. So, like, I will take your word for it that those same problems are not even. Can I also say, if there is one example of this all being frivolous and silly and just something We are comparing. That four people like an excuse to see each other each year around Christmas time, it is this conversation.

Spaghetti or cookies? Yeah, it's like, it's truly. No, it's not even that. It's like spaghetti or the Constitution. I don't know. I love them all. One's pretty good. They're both so great.

And I think we can all agree, The Last of Us is at least an eight. You okay with that? Yeah. Let's just all be reunited by the fact that Phil was so wrong about The Last of Us. Super, super. So The Last of Us falls to Towerfall.

Probably enough. Okay, last one in the Elite Eight is Gone Home versus The Sandcastle. Jesus, please. to tower fall appropriately enough okay last one in the elite eight is gone home versus the sam please this one hurts this one sucks um so that i think this is actually closer than i mean in in terms of what they're what the the the actual product is yeah easier comparison than than kentucky route zero and gone home because i think this is this is a very in terms of what the actual product is. I think it's an easier comparison than Kentucky Route Zero and Gone Home because I think this is a very deliberate thing

it's trying to say. First-person shooters. It is. Well, not shooters. Stop saying shooters. First-person lookers. First-person lookers. New genre.

First-person finders. One is giving a very thoughtful and obvious critique of what games are. One is doing that just in being a type of exploration game that nobody has ever really made. People have made these kinds of exploration games like Proteus or Deer Esther. But I think this is the one that is going to define the genre for a while, and it sort of takes apart this idea of games needing conflict. Like this game felt, I got so pissed off when people said,

I don't want to pay $20 to play this two-hour long game. I would rather just watch a movie because it's the same. It's super not. Like the game is the way that you interact with these innocuous objects in a house and in doing that it tells one of the richest stories of any game this year okay hold on one second because this is something that i have had an issue with um here's the situation the the gone home story is good it's well presented it's interesting i was engaged by it but the thing that keeps me from being like, this is the most amazing thing ever, is that if that same exact storyline was in a movie,

no one would bat an eye. It'd be like a lamb that had been walked over 15 years ago. I think that's a fair argument. But if you look, and I hate to use movies at this point, but if you look at the history of movies, too, and you look at early movies and the landmark films, it takes time. It's not like somebody's going to be like,

here's Anna Karenina or Lolita. We've hit it. For someone to have made this game, and you actually said something earlier, the most shocking part is that this is the only one. That this is a coherent story about something that matters, that is normal. It's infinitely relatable.

There's no ghosts in it. That's the other thing I would say. So Stanley Parable is a great criticism of games in a very blunt way, and I think an excellent way. But what's so interesting is you mentioned the Ghost, and in a strange way, Gone Home is like a criticism of horror games and first-person games and what we expect from them. Because we're playing through it, and everyone says that when they talk about it.

They're like, I kept thinking that something was going to jump out. I kept expecting it to be a survival horror game. It's designed that way. That's intentional. It is, but that is why I think it's good criticism. Is they're using our expectations of video games against us in really interesting ways to create tension in a story that otherwise would have been void of tension. But that's what I'm saying. You can't make, you guys are making a point for me, you can't make that comparison to

movies because the satisfaction, the enjoyment that I got out of Gone Home is knowing that the story that was told was there, but it wouldn't have existed in my life, in my universe, if I hadn't found it and pieced it together myself without any aid from anyone. I think that, I actually think that that's a fair, I think that that is absolutely how Gone Home succeeds. For me, Stanley Parable did that like several times. For me, it made me, and I'm somebody who thinks about games a lot, obviously, for a long, long time.

And what Stanley Parable does so brilliantly, I think, is it makes you think about video games in a way that doesn't force you to confront or even abandon sort of the things that it is examining. I'll give you a great example. There's one ending of the game where you find buttons throughout the stage, and you have to actually play heaven, which is just round circles of buttons spinning around you that you can just walk up and press to your heart's content. They do nothing. They're just buttons for you to press. Russ, we got to that ending, and Russ, we laughed at it. And then Russ, and the exact same thing I did, which is go up and start pressing some buttons. Like, oh, okay, good. I'm going to press these buttons.

And it wasn't like I felt dumb or silly. It was like let's think about, like let's actually think about this critically. Think about what you're doing. The next time you play in a game, like actually engage with it in that way. And, like, to me, the fact that someone made a game that does that is so shocking to me and so like... Yeah, and does it in a way that's funny and engaging and doesn't feel like work.

And not pretentious. And weirdly moving. And sometimes some of the endings of the game are like, wow, that's like really... You are also using mechanics. And the very idea of a narrator that dies when you're not around, for example, or something like that, it's using game mechanics to make you feel something from an emotional perspective.

But point of order, I think it's interesting that these two games are dueling, because I don't think Gone Home falls prey to any of the endings, each of which is like a little lesson in flawed game design. I wouldn't say flawed game design. I would say an example of game design.

Overdone game design. I would just say game design that probably needs examination. Cliched game design. I would agree with that. I don't think Gone Home, there was no ending in Stanley Parable that's all about, like, looking around the environment for this sort of emergent form of storytelling. Like, it's this new kind of thing.

Like, it sort of escaped parody in that example. It was its own kind of thing. I can't imagine another game doing it. I think other games have tried to do it. Sure, but I mean if it is... You talking about Stanley Parable at this point? No, talking about Gone Home. Because yeah, while I really enjoyed it,

if there was another game that came out next year and it's like, here's a hotel. And like you gotta... But there will definitely be other games. Totally, like 100%. I hope there are. Because we're saying this now because I would have said the same thing last year

before Gone Home came out. Can you imagine if there was a game where you just looked around a house looking at board games? Well, I want the like... I mean, what I felt like when I was playing Gone Home was what I felt like when I was walking through Sleep No More.

Which is like, I have full power to explore whatever I want, read whatever I want, go wild. And that's the experience that I want to see more in games. Are we at a point where we can at least take an initial vote? Sure. whatever I want, read whatever I want, go wild. And that's the experience that I want to see more in games. Are we at a point where we can at least take an initial vote? Sure. Actually, I think a second ago you were going to make a point. Oh, I was just going to say, if you want to say that about Gone Home,

that it's linear and it's pulling you through, the same thing can be said more so against Stanley Parable where the joke is on you that you are trying to, you know, not let it be a linear game and trying to break it, and it's completely controlled. That's the nature of this medium. It is authored content. Even like Skyrim, the most open-ended game in the world, if you put enough hours into it,

you're going to see all the shit that there is to see. I'm not comparing. I wasn't using that as a point of testing. Okay. I want to hear what you guys think, where you're at. I don't feel strongly one way or the other. Oh, cool. Great.

Okay. Gone home. Gone home. See, I would say Stanley Parable. I honestly feel equal amounts of enjoyment from both games for different reasons. So, like, I would give it to Gone Home based on that. Okay. You okay, Justin?

I love Stanley. Yeah, they're both great games. They're both really good. Here's how I'm going to justify it to myself. I think that anybody could, given the time and inclination. What? Oh, no, I thought I actually was thinking something else. Sorry.

Okay. I think that anybody could, given the time and inclination, get through Gone Home Story and take something really cool away from it. I think that you have to play a lot of video games to enjoy the Stanley Parable. Definitely. Do you know what I thought you were going to say? Tell me. I thought you were going to say if there's one game that could possibly beat Towerfall,

it's Gone Home. No, that is accurate, though. All right. We're going to take a break in the action right now to exchange these gifts that we've worked so hard to pick out. We're at halftime. We worked pretty hard. I think we worked fairly hard.

Who wants to go first? Who wants to volunteer? I'll go first. All right, go ahead. So, it's the holidays. You've made eye contact with me a few times, which makes me kind of nervous. We all know the holidays are a time for giving.

Big money, no whammies. And not about just giving from your wallet, but giving from your heart. Oh, God. And maybe using your creativity to build something like nothing before. Now, Griffin, I know you're a big fan of, what is the game called?

Tearaway? Tearaway? Griffin, I know you're a big fan of Tearaway. called? Tearaway? Griffin, I know you're a big fan of Tearaway. So I thought, what better gift for Griffin than a handmade Tearaway style gift? That sounds actually kind of nice. That sounds actually kind of exciting.

So I went out and I got some equipment and I made your gift. And here it is. Ready? Yeah. Oh, that's so... Oh, I guess. Show it to the camera here.

This is the ghost of Milton Bradley and he's saying I don't trust the Irish, is what he's saying. He looks like a little poop. Looks like he's got some mustard on there. He's got a little bit of... Yeah, it looks like a little bit of mustard. What is this? Did you use food?

Is this mustard crumbles? So here's the backstory there. I went out and got macaroni. Oh, it's macaroni. It's the cheese from the macaroni. And yeah, the macaroni cheese. What I'm realizing right now is that for managing any of this, I paid you to do that today.

You did. Okay, good. I guess all things considered, you could have made Ghost Milton Bradley say things worse than he did say. There were a lot of options. To me, that is present enough. Thank you very much. My pleasure. Happy holidays.

I'm going to put this up on the old Frigimorator. I got a present for you, Ryan. Man, that cheese was not secure. You were so generous to Griffin, and I was thinking a lot about you and the things that you like, and I knew that you wouldn't want any handmade shit. No. You'd want some dope consumer electronics.

Damn skippy. Okay, so I scoured the city. Okay. Okay. Up and I scoured the city. Okay. Okay. Up and, up down downtown. Up. Ellis Island.

And spending just $10. Okay. In this big apple of yours. Yeah. I got you two gifts. Two gifts? That was against everyone. Well, they're, they're, they're, they're related.

Okay. We'll see. So, here is the first gift. Okay. I'm just. Okay, so here's the first gift. Okay As a genuine There's a genuine iPod shuffle For you and you can tell it's genuine

Apple genuine apple that someone drew did you draw this on the back? No no no it's genuine That looks more like a persimmon to me. If you look in the back, it's got everything you could need. Okay, so on the back it says... I wouldn't read that. Mini metal clip MP3 player without card reader, black. It also says it's new, fine, good, made in China, 7 MP3. It's new, fine, and good. It holds 7 MP3s.

You can put 7 MP3s in there, no problem. And look, it's got a micro SD reader. Like, I don't even think, this might be a prototype. It's got a micro SD reader. I don't even, I don't want to open it. I want to keep it in the box. Keep it in the box. Wait, there's another one.

Oh my gosh. What's up? iPhone 5S? Yeah. A gold iPhone. Here you go. For you. You can give it a look.

What? Well, okay. This one's going to need some work. It's a fun project that you can do. It's not perfect. It's an iPhone 5S. This is actually a 5S. It's a gold iPhone 5S.

It's a gold iPhone 5S. Let me make sure I have mine still here. Okay. I do. Happy Merry Christmas. Justin destroyed your expensive phone. You know, it seems like this isn't really a screen. I don't know if it's really a phone necessarily.

Okay. But it does very much look like a phone that is very popular. It's funny that the glass was already broken. It's weird. Like a real iPhone, the glass is very easily broken. Yeah, I guess it's like a... But you can just put this like here. Just glue it, it's no problem.

And, oh my God, Justin. That's my gift to you. Two high-end electronics. So generous of you. Yeah. Well, I looked all over the city. Not just, as you may be thinking, in the building or on this floor, but the whole city I really looked because it was cold.

It was really cold. But that's my gift to you. Awesome. Thank you. No problem. I wish I had your beer though. Can you give me your beer as a gift? Thank you. I have Justin.

So I know that you like us and family and just people. What do we got here? What if this is actually really, really nice? It's just us. Oh, look at that. It's a beautiful car. See, that's actually kind of nice.

It's got our names on top. Oh, shut up. Chris, you asshole. You actually did a nice one. I got a great secret sale. That was not under $10. I just wanted you to remember. This is wonderful. Thank you so much. That is so thoughtful.

I think you went overboard. You got some custom bullshit. It may have been worth less than $10. Thank you so much. But like in heart. In heart. Oh. And look.

Russ is a beautiful woman. Am I a lady? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm totally a lady. Oh, this is beautiful. There's our dog bestie. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm totally a lady. Oh, this is beautiful. There's our dog, Bestie. Oh.

And this is beautiful. Thank you, Chris. Well done. I will definitely put this in my suitcase. I didn't think I'd have to put whatever I got in my suitcase, as it turns out. Yeah, this star is going to be tough to bring back around. Yes, I can let that go. I call the head.

I had Chris Plant, who I also got an Apple product. Oh. Uh-huh. It's the only, this one works. It's the new iPad Mini Retina Display. What? Oh, this is my iPad Mini. Oh.

It is your iPad Mini, but it's what's inside it. I didn't want to waste any environmental resources. Okay. So I bought you a DigiGift. You can find it in your Kindle application. Kindle. Yeah, you have to find it because I'm not a big reader. So did you use your account to do this?

I figured out a way to gift it through my Amazon account. Is it Diamonds and Hearts? It's Diamonds and Hearts, a poetry memoir. You can go ahead and look at that old cover. Let's try to look at it. Okay. Oh, it's about baseball.

It's about love, and it's about baseball, and it's written by last season's Bachelorette. What? Desiree. Desiree Hartzell. Oh, my God. It's perfect. And the winner of the last season of Bachelorette.

Oh, it's a poetry book. It's a poetry book about love and baseball and baseball-themed love. There is a book. There is a book. You can and baseball and baseball-themed love. There is a... Please spin the wheel of poetry. I'm worried that we will get sued. Okay, yeah, I'll read one. No, no, no. If we say whether we think it's good or bad poetry,

it's fine. The first one is called Observations. I think Observations is like the... No, that's probably not a poem. Oh, it is. Oh, phew. Griffin's going to read one. Griffin will do it. is. Oh, phew. Griffin's going to read. I mean, I'll read it, but quietly to myself.

Out loud. Read it. It's not baseball themed is the problem. I want one that's like, every time I kiss you is like a grand slam. I don't even know, do they like baseball? That didn't even come up in the show. He was a former baseball player. Did you watch the fucking television show?

The Lost Inning. Oh, that's good that seems good uh still i mean the title is uncertain is what to expect rain delay is all that's next 9 10 to 20 pushed back so much umpire not quick to rush so basically we're talking about a book full a book full of that that. I'm so happy. Well done. Good pick. Thanks.

It took me a while. Did you try to go to Borders first? I tried to go to Walden Books. That shit closed a while ago. Books are sort of dead. I made that same point in my video. I made a lot of great points about the state of books. Yeah.

Well done. Wow. Can we finish this podcast? Let's do it. What we have now. Grand Theft Auto V versus Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds. Okay. Can we do this one right now?

Should we just pick it? Yeah. Do you think we can vote? Zelda Link Between Worlds. I mean, I agree with you, but that seems kind of anticlimactic. Why? Why is it Zelda? I agree, but why is it Zelda?

I haven't said this, I guess, the whole show, and I was arguing for Super Mario 3D World, so it may seem like I was lying before. But A Link Between Worlds is just a fucking perfect game. There was not a thing about that game that was bad. It was 100% good. a thing about that game that was bad it was a hundred percent good it was way improved and and far more uh uh risky than any zelda game that's ever been made except for the first one which yeah that's pretty good i guess they kind of went on a limb with that one um grand theft auto 5 uh

had this crazy engrossing world um and and was, and was, I think, far improved over its predecessors. But when you talk about, like, the level of audacity that went into these two games, and also the percentage of quality, if that's what you want to break it down to, like, Link Between Worlds is a perfect game. It was a perfect game. Yeah. I'm not saying it's the best game,

but what it tried to do, it did well. And I think that's the thing that we keep coming back to, I think. And that, for me, is the same thing, where Grand Theft Auto V, I think you could argue, has a much larger scope, much more ambition than Zelda. And Zelda, I don't think, is quite as restrained as a Tomb Raider, for example, which we talked about earlier. But Zelda achieves exactly what it sets out to do.

Every decision in Zelda is there for a reason and is, I think, the right one. And what it sets out to do is markedly different from previous Zelda games. Right. That's the thing. My problem with the past few games, and I've liked all those games. Right. That's the thing. That's my problem with the past few games and I've liked all those games. I love Skyward Sword. The problem with

Skyward Sword is it was like 20 hours too long. There were 20 hours of good game there. And there's tons of cut scenes and way too directed for the player. Well there were dungeons

that they made you go back and do a second time. Like they were obviously trying to pad that out. There's no padding. It's no filler.

All killer. I think that at the end of the day the goodwill trump people and like and while there's so much i like about gta 5 the cynicism eventually it just crushes it and weighs it down zelda next tower fall versus gone This is going to be a problem. It's not going to be a problem. It is. It's going to be a problem. It's not going to be a problem. You guys can have your own personal list. If you fold on this, I will never forgive you. What the?

Oh, no. We can't do that. We're not about a rivalry. We're here to figure out the quality. This is a life and death decision, guys. Here's where I, in all honesty, like, I really enjoyed Gone Home. There's no question about it.

Tower Fall is a game that I could see myself playing for the next five years, easily. I'm not saying that's a... No, I know, that shouldn't be... You can say that about World of Warcraft. But... Chess. Chess.

Well, if chess was up here, it would be a pretty easy decision game of the millennium chess well thanks for watching the besties we went with chess

so you talk about a game you talk about a game that sets out to do you know what it tried to do and succeeds Towerfall

takes you know sort of it's clearly like built on the shoulders of games like Super Smash Brothers but it's clearly like built on the shoulders of games like super smash brothers

but um it's so refined and so like both approachable and competitive and with like a killer like really cool art design with like really cool like special effects and like detail thrown in crazy good music um it really is just a fucking triumph of a game um a game that like i really honestly cannot remember the last competitive multiplayer game that i played that i enjoyed that much and uh i cannot imagine a more fitting eulogy i'm i'm actually moved and I don't really care that much about the game. That was haunting. I'm haunted right now.

This is gonna be the big stalemate, I think, of the show because Justin and I haven't played enough of the Tower Fall to love it the way you guys love it. I don't care if I played it 100,000 times. I've had, we have all, and my friends and people I work with and just like strangers at events over the past couple years have had so much fun playing johan sebastian joust and i i think it's because it's a great idea and it's a great concept but it doesn't make and

and the fun i've had with people playing it, it doesn't, it obviously speaks to the quality of the game. But if you're talking about, like, a point that I had, there isn't one. I can tell. I can tell, like, three sentences in. Buckle in. Here we go. Hope you brought some snacks.

Well, you put that up there. I'll just spike it down. And what I would say is Towerfall has so much depth. That's the other thing. And recently Samurai Gun came out, and people were very jazzed about it. And I think Samurai Gun is great in a lot of ways. What's so special about Towerfall is all of the crazy modes that are in it. You can modify the arrows, modify what type of arrows, modify how the screen scrolls.

There's all of these things that you can adjust. And while the game is already so well balanced and it's just original Coke flavor, however you twist and turn it, it still somehow feels balanced and sane. And it feels like a deck of cards. And like you can play solitaire, you can play poker, whatever. Let me ask a question, I think I'll make this a little easier.

Raise your hand if you love Towerfall. Okay? Raise your hand if you love- Griffin, I saw a finger going up. Raise your hand if griffin i saw a finger going up no no raise your hand if you love gone home this is a that's this is about no let me finish i have a point raise your hand if you love gone home okay yeah everybody okay my point is this is a list we're all making together and i've let go of some things that I liked more than other games. But you're not going to be able to convince Griffin and me

that this game is better than Gone Home. We haven't played enough. And it's our list together as a family. You remember that ornament? Remember the ornament that we made? Wait, why are you using my ornament against me? This is our collaborative list. I will shatter that ornament.

This is our collaborative list. We all love Gone Home. Half of us love Towerfall. It seems to be a pretty easy decision here's what i will say and and i'll use this as an example of why you just shouldn't care about any of these lists as much as we love doing these shows is tower fall i think is truly a fantastic game a special game a game that we will be playing for years and when these lists are made they are made by people who are human and don't have time to play every single game right so powerful will probably not be the game of the year on polygon well i definitely believe it should be and there are a

lot of people at our staff who did simply because a majority of people weren't able to play it because it was on a bad platform you're assuming assuming that if we had played as much Towerfall as you, we would love it. The reason I would say that is because every person who was a naysayer who then played it... I'm not a naysayer. No, no, I'm not saying you're a naysayer. I'm saying every person who wasn't convinced,

who had only put in a little bit of time, who then put in the time and actually tried it, has switched and been converted. Because I'll give you the example. So the first time I played Towerfall was at i think gdc of last year igm was throwing some party and they had a ton of indies there and i just like wandered up and i was like oh this looks cool and i played it i was like damn that was a fun game like i had a good time no part of me after i played it was like damn that's the game of the year and i only got to that point after playing it over and over and over again to the point where i slowly

understood the level of depth the level of custom uh customizability of the game um and just like the polish that's the craziest thing about this game is this was essentially made by one dude i mean obviously people helped with music and stuff like that but essentially the game was made by matt thorson and he crushes it from every angle and uh this is not like a flash in the pan game this is a fucking seriously like forget call of duty forget competitive multiplayer games you've played over the last 10 years this is my favorite trap it up. I feel like Freshik and I have argued our point. I think it's gotten as much defense as it wants. If you want Gone Home to go, and this is our group list,

that's fine. I think we made a fair argument to why Towerfall won't be there. Like I said, it's because we're human and we can't play everything. The fact that, yes, Towerfall was released on the OUYA and not everybody has an OUYA in their homes. Or people to play games with.

I mean, and I'm not knocking that against it. I'm just saying that's part of the appeal. I will probably, I don't know, I'll probably get some game groups together, but we have it here in the office. That is the ideal circumstances to play the game in. But I really don't think we should hold that in. I don't think that is,

that's just what type of game it is. Yeah. It's again like, if you play one game this year, fuck you. Like what are you doing? There are at least 16 like super good ones right here. This is such an arbitrary decision. Let's just stop right now.

So gone home? Yeah, it's fine. Gone home. All right, gone home. This one hurts. arbitrary decision. Let's just stop right now. So gone home? Yeah, it's fine. Alright, gone home. This one hurts. Gotta go to sleep at some point. Okay, we're at the finals. Oh my god. Sort of a big deal. I saw this coming a mile away. Yeah, you did. This is not a good situation to be in. I saw this coming a mile away.

Let me say it out loud. Zelda versus, or let me say the whole title. Stop the graphic. Start it again. Put it in reverse. Make those little rewind things. I'll be adjusting. Legend of Zelda. Link to the Past. Nope. Got it. Do you still have the Chiron?

Was the... Has a spiritual successor. And that game is Legend of Zelda. You forgot the name of the game. And we are putting that game against Gone Home I know I said Zelda was a perfect game

earlier after revising my initial statement that it wasn't a perfect game it was just perfect enough to beat GTA it was perfect enough to beat GTA but now guys I don't know I'm going to make this at least in terms of me very easy I'll tell you which game

did i enjoy more i'm not talking about like art of games games are art blah blah blah wow which game did i enjoy more bullshit uh as much as i uh enjoyed playing gone home zelda was a fucking blast start to finish i'm not saying that every game needs to be a blast start to finish but like everything about it i thought from from puzzle design from gameplay design from the story i was surprisingly engaged with i just loved the whole thing and gone home honestly like had some moments where i was like it felt a little bit like a chore to get through i i i love gone. I thought it was brilliant. And I think that the most exciting thing to me about Gone Home

is this big statement that says, like, here's another way we can play video games. And I can't wait to see where it goes from that point. But. But, well, Zelda, on the other hand. Is Zelda. What? It's Zelda. No. It's Zelda. It's just a pair. point like but but on the what well zelda on the other hand is a zelda what it's a zelda no zelda this is it's just a pair i'm not saying one is better than the other i'm saying this is what zelda is zelda is someone coming and looking at something established and say okay i'm gonna make

this not just perfect because that's that's a that's suspect language. But I'm going to make this modern and relevant to what is happening. I'm going to take a game that is nearly 30 years old and make it relevant to what's happening today. And to me, I can't wait to see what happens with Gone Home, but to me, Zelda is the better experience. It does. Wait, wait. I want to take those words for a second.

Okay. None of that was a criticism. That was just saying where I'm at as a person. What I would say is, well, Zelda's great, and I'm very impressed that they made a fun game fun in its own way. I would by no means say that they made it modern, which is what I would say is what Gone Home is like gone home feels like modern and like it actually is exist in our world and it has something to say that relates to our world and when i'm playing it i'm thinking about something

other than what is right in front of me on the screen while like a very you know straightforward fairy tale when i play zelda it's like yeah this is this exists in my ds and i am playing this to just get into hyrule and then i close it and i'm and that's my game it was a great it is the most great classic style of video game so what justin said earlier uh struck with me which was it really does like gone home is an impressive achievement but it also feels very much like the first really really good step in the right direction or at least like like it feels like the beginning of something very new and different and i don't think as an experience um it takes it gets to the like level of like unbelievableness that I think it can get to.

I disagree that this is the first step because the guys, the people at Fulbright Company are all coming from places that have been tinkering with this idea of emergent environmental storytelling for their entire careers. All of those,

all of those lessons, they're not even lessons because they they fucking invented that stuff it has culminated in a game that is explicitly about that um and it manifests that idea in this like perfect sweet little package like that's not like yeah you're on your way like they're there like they done found it it, like, you know, I'm impressed that they went to the moon, but, you know, until we have colonies up there, I'm not really happy with it. But let me flip that on you a little bit. While from a gameplay perspective, I think that you are probably right, but as a storytelling conduit, I don't feel like the story they're telling

is necessarily the most sophisticated one that they could possibly tell. I think it's certainly, as Russ said earlier, compelling and interesting, and there's a lot of stuff going on there, but it is not... If you consider environmental storytelling games as a medium, there are like five of them. So it still is very early in the

idea of what a game like that is. I think it's pretty sophisticated. I think the fact that you're even able to consume it and track what's happening, to be able to track a story in a video game... It's not even a story. We keep saying story. There's not much story. There are characters.

I could write you ten page book reports about every character that you never meet in person There are characters. I could write you 10-page book reports about every character that you never meet in person in that game. Like, I love collecting the audio logs in Bioshock, but, like, I can't tell you who wrote them, let alone, like, what they were about just from memory. Gone Home, like, I can tell you everything about the mom and dad. Okay, but you would say there's a main story arc.

Well, each of the characters has arcs. When they say story, it's like the characters begin in one place and end change because of something that happened and her sister is clearly the main story arc and that story in particular while fine and interesting uh is not a story i'll remember in a year or two years really are you on crack well okay i kind of yeah you are definitely on crack you're a monsterless monster. It's not because I don't think it's a personal story. No, you say you can't remember that, but what game has A, tackled that subject a handful, and B, made it the entire game arc of the game?

The way my brain works is like, okay, there was a relationship that was going on. You know, things happen. You are so gender and sexuality blind. I think that might be it. What I liked about it was, even beyond the sexuality, was it felt like a story from high school.

Like, I just felt like I related to it. Like, I was like, I remember that. I remember passing notes in high school. And I remember being in this uncomfortable place of, like, not remember that. I remember passing notes in high school. And I remember being in this uncomfortable place of not knowing that somebody liked me. Somebody who you know is cooler than you. Yeah, and also all this insecurity and like, oh my gosh, maybe this person who's cooler than me thinks I'm interesting. And going through all that and finding all these items, it's the 90s. I mean, that is my childhood.

I'm having to sit here and practice self-deception for both of these to try to act like there's any way to like say zelda is better than god home like am i eight let's okay let's let's do this let's take a quick vote let's just see where we're at and i don't even think it should be decided by a majority vote because i think we're all at least a little bit perplexed by this by this question it sucks I've been perplexed for like the last three. Like I said, the good thing about this is none of this matters. What's great about it is the conversation we have.

That's the fun part. It's a chance to talk about how great I was. What's good about it? I don't know. Great conversation is like, I don't know. They have to watch. They'll let them be the judges. Griffin.

Griffin. Don't start with me, please. Okay. You want me to end with you. Fair. Russ. Zelda. Plant. You want me to end with you. Fair. Russ. Zelda. Plant. Gone Home.

Okay. Griffin. Perfect games. I know. It's really quite perfect. It's almost a perfect game, you said. It's a perfect game. Coming back. Polygon says Gone Home. Better than perfect perfect we gotta change it to an 11 better than shigeru miyamoto's old ass this is the new standard of perfection once again that guy ended up it was me damn it i don't know where you at justin what are you feeling what are you feeling like? What are you feeling like? What are you feeling like? Let me tell you what I think. Okay.

I think that if we are trying to... Raise your hand if you love Zelda. What we're doing is we're bumping up against the question of like, what do you want to reward? Do you want to reward mechanical? Funzos? If you want to record mechanical execution and fun, Zelda wins it. If you want to reward

ingenuity. You could not actually have a fucking better question of how divided these two things are. These two things don't belong in the same fucking conversation. It's like trying to compare

movies and sandwiches. Like, it doesn't matter. Like, so yeah, you press buttons to make them go. Like, what you're trying to achieve with Zelda— But that doesn't matter. All that's going to matter is somebody's going to tweet, Bessie's pick, gone home. You're saying we should pick Zelda

to save ourselves a little headache? Maybe. No. Oh, God. Do we want to reward aspirational games? Or do we want to... Yeah, I mean, that's what it boils down to. It's the same question we've been coming down to.

Throughout the entire thing. Do you want to reward aspiration? But I don't think... I'm not saying Gone Home has bad execution. I'm not saying Zelda isn't aspirational because it definitely, definitely, totally is. Yeah. That's bad.

It's our show. Can't they just both win? We could bring Chris Grant in here but I know he's gonna pick Zelda. No. No. Well, he's an unfeeling monster. Yeah, he's a robot.

I think that's good. I think they both should win. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. I'll kill one of us. We hate the idea of there being a game of the year, but there should be a game of the year. Let me tell you where, since I didn't actually choose one,

I think that for me, in what I would want to, for me, I loved Gone Home. I think Gone Home is brilliant. I think it's doing a lot of things that are fascinating and laudable. of things that are fascinating and laudable for me zelda not only uh executed nigh perfectly on uh what it was trying to do it like reinvigorated my love for like a franchise that i thought i was 100 done with not only was i going in with an open mind, I went in with active bias against this thing and it turned me around. And for that, I gotta give it to Zelda. Chris Grant just voted for Gone Home.

Gone Home behind us. Did he really? Yeah. He did behind us. He's just trolling us now. I'm actually gonna go with Zelda. Wow. What you said is 100% right. I feel... I'm going with my gut like i felt a deep deep deep connection with both of these games i like sat in the dark after finishing gone home just like

thinking about it like i can't believe nobody else it's fucking humiliating that this is like the only game that is this fully realized that does this thing like that's embarrassing i feel like and and it's it was staggering it was a staggering game but like that's perfect man and you're right like it turned me around on this franchise i think it's a boon for nintendo at a time when they desperately need a boon but like overall it's just it's it's a perfect it's a perfect game so good i can't believe that's where i want to know something plan are you okay with this because i don't want it to be a majority thing i i do you understand where where i mean if it says zelda it's your show too are you angry about that no

i'm not angry perfect it's not yeah but it's not how you would like to see it shake out well this is it's literally a conflict of like because i feel the same it's a how you would like to see it shake out well this is it's literally a conflict of like because i feel the same it's a conflict of what i what i enjoy and what makes me excited about video games versus things that i find like well fine like i'm okay i personally i would be okay if like zelda stopped and i had everything forever so the idea of there being like well great now i can be excited for more Zelda just doesn't connect with me because it's like I love Zelda I would be so happy

if Nintendo cut you know loose on all of it's franchises and tried some more new things and put all their creative energy into that so like that just personally with me in terms of video games doesn't resonate quite the same way I guess my nostalgia as a kid

who grew up with a sega genesis has been stripped bare so many times that like oh so this is about sonic yeah no no i i loved i loved nintendo games too but i think i just am more enthusiastic about the new it's a new thing sure going home is the the leading the charge of this it's the Tesla if you will and Zelda sure but but overall

it the choices could be way worse and I am excited to have discussed it with you well I'm actually curious about something

before we wrap it up can I say it I just need to say it oh yeah say it ladies and gentlemen officially what's the name of the thing the best

the best the legend of Zelda no legend of best. The best. The Legend of Zelda. No, Legend of Zelda. Link Between Worlds is the best bestie. It's the bestiest bestie. Bestie's bestie of 2013. So, someone needs to get Miyamoto's

home address. Yeah, we're talking about one man shows. Zelda's. He's back there coding all of it. I do want to ask all of you a question is this the game we thought was gonna that is the question well not thought what your personal okay let's go around the room i want to ask if i just ask you look at this 16th yeah what's gonna win it well those are two different questions what is it what is your personal game of the year i think is the valuable question you know it's fucked up mine Mine's gone home. What is this?

When I first, no, I'm being serious. When we started, when I looked at that list, I was gone home for sure, but in talking about it, the problem with Zelda is that I literally did blow through it. Like I really did finish it very, very quickly. And so it took like talking about its merits to remember that it is a perfect video game. And in doing so, I sort of turned a corner on it.

Yeah. Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag. Really? Really? That's your game of the year? No, I don't know. I haven't really thought about this enough. It will probably be, I don't even know if my game of the year

is on this fucking list, because there's like Gunpoint, there's- Animal Crossing, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, they're both different games. Oh my God. That's the one and two right there, baby. State of Decay. Yeah, that was fascinating. They're both different games. That's Griffiths 1 and 2 right there, baby. State of Decay. Yeah, that was fascinating.

Yeah, that's great. I loved Brothers, Stanley Parable. I really can't. Honestly, the thing that I found the most worthwhile and like, I can't, I don't even fucking know. I was about to say Kentucky Route Zero. Yeah. It's like the thing that has got my mind turning the most now.

But I don't know. Ask me again in a week. 2013 has been an amazing year. It's like the thing that has got my mind turning the most now but I don't know ask me again in a week. 2013 has been an amazing year. It's been really good. Towerfall. I'm tied between Towerfall and Kentucky Route.

What did you think was going to win? Gone Home. Yeah I thought Gone Home was going to win. No way would I pick Zelda to win. It didn't start

until I started really thinking about it I was like Zelda's really Zelda's a super good movie. Anyway that's going to do it for us on the Besties. Thank you so much for joining us. We hope that we'll see you again at some point. We don't know what 2014 will hold for us, but hopefully we'll be there in some form to—

We're not going to, like, die. —shepherd you through. Russ might. Russ might die. I might kill Russ. It's too early to say. might die. I might kill Ross. It's too early to say.

Thank you to our fantastic dudes in the booth who've been sitting with us having to watch this the whole time. Thank you dudes and thank you to you at home for watching it. Until next time we're all together again we'll

be with you in your heart because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games? Besties! We're on camera four. Camera four? Besties! Camera, camera, camera.

Do you know which picture we're in? What? Okay. Yeah, they're right here. Wait. Besties! Besties! Besties!

Besties! Besties! Besties! Besties! Besties! Besties! Besties! Besties!