The more I think about it the more this year is kind of crazy. I mean Xeno 3, Elden, Horizon, God of War and Bayo 3. Not too mention other good stuff like Mario vs Rabbids 2 and Triangle. Lots of good stuff out there.

Yeah, but Elden Ring sits comfortably 5+ points above Xenoblade. Xenoblade reviews are great, Eldens are stellar. So no, while I think Xeno is a good game, I don't think it will compete with Elden. Also Xeno is platform exclusive, something that makes it harder to get general GOTYs.

From major publications sure.  I meant more for personal GotY.  I fully expect Bayo 3 to be my GotY.  I love platinum.

Yes, if Xeno3 can be as special as the first one, many will have it as their personal GOTY.

I started Elden Ring a couple weeks ago, but I don't believe I'm ready to make a commitment to it yet. It will probably get GOTY though. I sampled it along with 2 others and the one that hooked me immediately was released at the end of Dec. 2021 on Xbox. It's Grim Dawn Definitive Edition and most likely will be my main squeeze for next several months and my personal GOTY.

That's just going by scores. From actual feedback I've seen a lot of reviewers, even ones who aren't typical JRPG fans, be shockingly surprised by the depth of Xenoblade 3. Elden Ring got such high initial praise because of how much hype and hope it was already carrying.

If only award shows actually listened to people, not just media drones. But we know they gave The Last of Us II GotY, even though so many original fans were vocally disappointed with it, whereas Ghost of Tsushima which released in the same window has been overwhelming more well received since initial reviews. Tales of Arise didn't even get nominated for the main award last year, and seeing that score after actually playing it only speaks to the bias against JRPGs.

So you're probably right, sadly. Not that Elden Ring doesn't deserve it in this case, but it's unfortunate that we're not even allowed to see a proper competition or debate, as these things are basically premeditated.

Not to take away from Xenoblade by no means, it is a must have for me, but it will not reach the amount of audience that Elden Ring has.  Just by shear numbers alone Elden Ring has a major advantage for GOTY.  Both will hold a special place for me and my shelf.

Well, NOA/Reggie got this nearly killed, like he killed Cing with Another Code R. Reggie distrusted Monolith, so he didn't publish their games Disaster: Day of Crisis and Xenoblade Chronicles in America, despite them already having a translation because of european release. Xenoblade in the end got a very limited release due to fan activism in Operation Rainfall. So yeah, Nintendo nearly mismanaged Xenoblade as well.

It certainly feels like it this year. I know there is GoW R and HZD2, but outside of that it feels sparse this year compared to the last few, which is why I see ER easily winning above all others due to this yr not being ridiculously stacked with other high popularity hitters to give ER heavy competition and a chance at losing. 

Even though I dislike Souls games, I'm not going to say ER doesn't deserve it, but it's clearly going to win by a landslide due to there not being much this year that could knock ER off of the fence.

Yeah, I wasn’t terribly sorry to see Reggie step down. He had a big problem with telling us what we did or didn’t want.