GOTY is pretty much guaranteed to be ToTK I think. Unless this game somehow reviews at an extremely surprising 95+ meta. I've never played an Armored Core game but judging by all the gameplay/trailers I've seen so far, it looks pretty good. As we approach its release, it's definitely higher on my radar than it was even just a few weeks ago.

Edit: Unless you just meant your personal GOTY then ignore me

Obviously most likely zelda gonna win but this might be my personal goty. Zelda totk is growing on me but it has too much flaws for my personal taste.

Mech games from Japan often don't review well. Before the media sucked From Softs dick at every turn they shat on AC series and esp 4A which was a brilliant game. They shat on Daemon X Machina which is a legit good game. They were not kind to ZOE2 which is one of the best games ever made. IDGAF about meta but I expect this to range wildly. Those who only know From as the Souls guys who don't get this game. Some praise it no matter what because From Soft. The ones who want to be against the From Soft hype train and shit on it anyway. The game will be fantastic but I am not expecting its true quality to really reflect in reviews. Western game journalists rarely get mecha games esp customized ones. I watched GameXPlain shit all over DXM while the guy didn't know how to play it. He never boosted. used Femto. Changed CPU chips or even really moved. To mecha fans, this will end up in a lot of personal lists. It won't be nominated for GOTY in the TGA's tho maybe a generic category like best action game. Which I am sure Like a Dragon Ishin will be snubbed as usual.

Love to see some cool mecha fights. The mecha genre has unfortunately been really niche and unpopular for the past decade. Especially in the west so perhaps the Fromsoft brand could bring some attention.

You know, I remember a time when nobody cared about Armored Core and everyone said it sucked. Now all they did was put the Souls-style camera into the game and now everyone is clamoring for it.

The rule is clear: Does it remind you Souls'? Then it's good :P 

I'm not into mech games either, but it's nice the team can work in different things too.

lol that is an AWFUL rule.

Sounds like everyone wants the same thing over and over again. Then they'll complain "why isn't gaming evolving?" blah blah blah

I would love if some dev really designed a new engaging and exciting combat mechanic unrelated to Souls but they really aren't. Well, except indies. Indies are cool 

Almost everybody goes to the easy and formulaic battle design mechanics...

I'm not talking about exactly the same combat mechanic as Souls. I'm talking about creating a game that evoke the same sense of danger and thrill native to Souls. Generally devs do that creating artificial difficulty (higher healthy bars for enemies and enemies inflicting more damage in higher difficulty). 

Compared to Souls, there is nothing alike. They simply created a system where you need to be careful with your own abilities because many attack have drawbacks as you can be staggered, critical hitted, your magic have a delay to activate and so on. And of course your enemies are subject to the same limitations meaning that you can explore their weakness if you learn them properly. 

None of those mechanics are incredibly ingenious or history-breaking. They are very simple, most devs just don't create something similar because they want to focus on accessibility. Which is nice, but that's not what a Souls fans like me need. 

TLDR: We just want more Souls-like. There isn't enough Souls-like in the market to us.

Nah, the company that makes the game became one of the most well respected in the industry for the Souls stuff. The assumption is that they've learned a lot from creating critically beloved games that they can now put into Armored Core. As someone who played Armored Core games as a kid and Souls game as an adult I'm very curious how their new position in the industry will impact Armored Core.