God forbid the 70th installment of in the mario franchise doesn't win game of the year.
Seriously though, that's fine by most of us. Opinions are relative and thanks for sharing yours.I feel that the story can be just as important as the mechanics, which is something nintendo afficinados usually critical of on some story driven games. because a good story helps fans become invested in the characters and their struggles, victories and defeats. Mario and his crew as well as Link and his crew are established characters whose stories have been told many of times. TLoU/Bioshock/GTAV characters are new to players so a good story and character progress is required for them, where as Mario and his crew can jump (hue) right into the action because there is little exposition needed for them other than the reason why they are to partake in their quest. Mario games are pretty much mechanic/gameplay because its story is something we see almost every time, Bowser is up to no good or in Zelda, ganondorf/[enter villain name] is up to no good and link must stop it.
The game of the year could have gone to many different games this year. GTAV and Bioshock Infinite are the strongest contenders besides the TLoU this year. Super mario 3D World and the new zelda game are phenomenal games, with critical acclaim...but we have been there before. We have been there many of times, which doesn't take away from the greatness of a game but i think it puts them at odds with story-driven games.
The best example i can think is Uncharted 3. On a technical level, the game is an improvement for the franchise, the story was significantly worse or better than Uncharted 2 but gamers have been there before, which took away of its "wow" factor. Mario Galaxy i think is a nother good example. From what i've seen and heard, there is a bit of a divide in fans, where Mario Galaxy is regarded as being superior to its sequel for similar reason to Uncharted 3.
With the TLoU, the setting, story and gameplay were not revolutionary or even inventive, but blended together they help the game stand tall among many of these years contenders.
I don't see why somebody would get mad at your choice for game of the year, it seems silly to get riled up about something so trivial and relative.
"Trick shot? The trick is NOT to get shot." - Lucian
