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GOTY 2017 - Vote Here! - Too late, voting closed!
Mr_Grinch
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First off, round of applause to @Infidel for hosting this thing, I actually do very little except post the op. Vote here:
http://goty.padev.net/
Every year since 2004 @MCC has been doing a Game of the Year poll on this forum. As with previous years, there is a simple verification system in place via pm. Just follow the instructions after your vote.
There are a lot of Game of the Year polls out there, but the thing that makes this one interesting is that although most GOTY polls just give you a list of maybe five of the best-selling games from the last year, and ask you to choose your favorite; THIS poll gives you a list of EVERY game that came out in the last year (more or less) and asks you to vote for [up to] your top 20, ranked by how much you liked them. We actually wind up with a serviceable ranking of the top hundred or so games from the last year, with blockbusters, obscurities and cult hits mixed in side by side.
The poll is going to run for the next two weeks (maybe longer) to give everyone time to vote, and then the results will be posted.
Thanks everyone for the help with this poll! @Infidel is doing all the funky technical script and hosting business. @Mcc set all this up originally and kindly passed it on for us to use. And full credit to all you guys that chipped in and tidied up my Wikipedia sourced list to come up with all the nominations. All credit goes to you, all mistakes are mine. Also that crazy game name that starts "Near My Sins" and is a ridiculous number of characters long has been shortened to "Near My Sins // Awaken Thy Blood [newline] (PC)", appreciate this probably isn't its correct shortened name, someone did post the correct one but I'd already passed on the list so t that's what it gets for being awkward.
If you feel like using this thread to post how you voted, the last page of the poll script spits out what you voted for.
http://goty.padev.net/
Every year since 2004 @MCC has been doing a Game of the Year poll on this forum. As with previous years, there is a simple verification system in place via pm. Just follow the instructions after your vote.
There are a lot of Game of the Year polls out there, but the thing that makes this one interesting is that although most GOTY polls just give you a list of maybe five of the best-selling games from the last year, and ask you to choose your favorite; THIS poll gives you a list of EVERY game that came out in the last year (more or less) and asks you to vote for [up to] your top 20, ranked by how much you liked them. We actually wind up with a serviceable ranking of the top hundred or so games from the last year, with blockbusters, obscurities and cult hits mixed in side by side.
The poll is going to run for the next two weeks (maybe longer) to give everyone time to vote, and then the results will be posted.
Thanks everyone for the help with this poll! @Infidel is doing all the funky technical script and hosting business. @Mcc set all this up originally and kindly passed it on for us to use. And full credit to all you guys that chipped in and tidied up my Wikipedia sourced list to come up with all the nominations. All credit goes to you, all mistakes are mine. Also that crazy game name that starts "Near My Sins" and is a ridiculous number of characters long has been shortened to "Near My Sins // Awaken Thy Blood [newline] (PC)", appreciate this probably isn't its correct shortened name, someone did post the correct one but I'd already passed on the list so t that's what it gets for being awkward.
If you feel like using this thread to post how you voted, the last page of the poll script spits out what you voted for.
Mr_Grinch on
+6
Posts
To get things started, here is my list. Probably won't match up with most others, but I didn't actually play that many games this year. A four year old is very demanding on time:
And yes, I did really enjoy Mortal Blitz that much. It's a total budget game but that and Superhot really grabbed me in VR. Superhot would have been my GOTY but it was out last year.
This list may change before the end of the voting window if I squeeze any other games in; going through the list reminded me how much I haven't played yet! Don't forget if you make a mistake or play a game in the next two weeks you can vote again. Your previous vote will be over-written.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Edit - By the way West of Loathing I kinda put down and forgot about. Everything up to that point I liked plenty. Animal Crossing is the one game on my list that I did not enjoy.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Edit - The verification thing seems to be working fine by the way. I gave it a few minutes after I sent the PM to refresh just to be sure I didn't rush / break anything. Thank you everyone who set this up, I love seeing the results.
I had to update my validator and was like WTF when I saw the MSX game.
But the important thing is OMIGOSH THE SNES BUBSY IS ON STEAM AND NOBODY TOLD ME.
Heck yes, into the cart you go.
(I suspect it'll feel like hot garbage without an SNES style controller, but still.)
Well, there's my list. Gonna put some more detailed thoughts on each game in spoiler tags:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS, WIIU)
That's actually everything that came out last year that I've actually played. I forgot how many games I didn't even touch from last year until I was looking at the list.
as always, there are plenty of games that definitely would have made the cut if I had got to them, but this year there was a surprising number of games I did play that weren't even worth naming as number 15 or whatever. Mass Effect and Zelda chief among them
I actually had a pretty hard time sorting this list, since I really enjoyed all the games. But Persona 5 was fantastic, and EO5 was the pinnacle of the series which puts them at the top.
Top 4 are all pretty close together but then towards the end there is a huge drop off. For what its worth I enjoyed Andromeda, just not a very much.
Feel pretty bad about not getting around to either Cosmic Star Heroine and Resident Evil 7 (stupid backlog), I'm certain either would easily fit in the upper half of that list. Total Warhammer II probably as well, just need to finish up with Total Warhammer first.
On the other hand I played a good bit of Endless Space 2 but I didn't see it on the selection list. That would have fit right under Metroid.
I also didn't notice Universal Paperclips was on there, that was another fantastic game (until I accidentally closed the tab on my phone and lost everything).
I would vote for Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City but I suppose it wasn't long enough to go on there.
Correct, you won't get any response by PM. The page will acknowledge you by your forum name, which confirms you're good to go.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WIIU)
2. Assassin's Creed: Origins (PS4)
3. Friday The 13th: The Game (PS4)
4. Star Wars Battlefront II (PS4)
5. Lego Worlds (PS4)
6. Pinball FX 3 (PS4)
7. Call of Duty: WWII (PS4)
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
Alex Navarro said it best, I think. The idea that only games that hit 1.0 this year can be considered feels goofy in a year that includes 1.0 releases of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Battlefront II.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
I really wish I could have put EO5 higher, but I didn't get around to playing much of it yet.
Replaying Night in the Woods now, to see what the weird autumn update added. Dang that game is just so fucking good.
I personally didn't like it much at all, so YMMV.
Also, top games:
Didn't really play much from last year. My Steam and PS4 backlog just from last year is too big >.<
Left off Mummy Demastered and Cosmic Star Heroine from last year since I bounced off of both of them.
Times is hard for the monies, ya know?
No enemy repeats? That's pretty incredible. I've played the demo but didn't get the game till way later, so it killed my momentum in regards to actually playing the game. I need to get on that soon.
My ACTUAL #2 game is Stardew Valley on Switch, but apparently I can't choose that
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
Switch: SW-7603-3284-4227
My ACNH Wishlists | My ACNH Catalog
This year was dominated for me by a relatively small number of very long games. Not that I normally beat many more than ten new games a year, but in 2017 I barely touched my backlog and had to scramble near the end of the year more than usual.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - And we thought ALBW was a big departure! Even more than the abandonment of Zelda's story/dungeon structure, the shift from a rigid system of locks and keys to a physic-based system that allows open-ended puzzle solving was a shock. It works because Nintendo put the effort and thought into examining the question of open-world design from first principles, creating a Hyrule that subtly and naturally guides players across a landscape of enticing distractions, engendering a true sense of adventure and freedom. Pushing out into uncharted territory with only a distant landmark as a guide, never sure what you might encounter but confident you'll be able to overcome, I experienced a feeling of adventure that LttP and OoT inspired in me as a child, and which I feared I would never experience again.
The world feels alive and full of character. You'll run across NPCs with their own interests on their own journeys, guess at the purpose of ruins both ancient and more immediately post-apocalyptic, run across wildlife and strange phenomena only rumored beforehand, and even see what monsters do when they're not trying to kill you. The unified aesthetic of the Sheikah technology ties it all together, although it does get it a bit samey after a while. A lot of the puzzle-solving has been shunted off into shrines, leaving the dungeons to focus mostly on puzzle-box mechanics where you have to manipulate the very structures themselves; they're a bit short, but I don't mthind, as long dungeons of the past always were a bit intimidating. I like how they all tie into their respective elemental themes, too. Hyrule Castle is not only a tense, exciting place to explore, it also feels like a real place instead of a constructed set of challenges, more than any Zelda dungeon since Snowpeak Ruins. The story was somewhat slight but still emotionally affecting; I thought the voice acting, while not the best, was certainly fine.
BotW drew me in like few games ever have, and set forth a roadmap for Zelda and for the industry as a whole.
2. Super Mario Odyssey - Few games drew me in like BotW...but Odyssey is one of them. Mario is more mobile than ever, and the absolute bullshit you can do with the cap throw and dive combo is amazing; even using it to a fraction of its potential makes you feel like a platforming god. The Capture ability is a brilliant evolution of the power-up system, with tons of crazy abilities that could conceivably have formed the basis of entirely separate games.
Odyssey is touted as a return to the exploratory nature of 64 and Sunshine, but in truth it goes far beyond either of them. This game is dense with Power Moons, yet for the most part there's still enough challenge that finding them remains engaging. Like BotW even clear paths from place to place go by enough cleverly placed distractions that you'll often abandon your plans to explore something that caught your eye, almost always coming away with a reward.
It also seems that all the wacky NPCs that people have been complaining about missing from Paper Mario games have been in here all along! Gardening robots, skull people, French snails, even normally-proportioned humans in old-timey fashion are all hanging around with their own weird quirks and issues. Seeing them visiting all the other kingdoms in the post-game is honestly pretty heartwarming.
3. Persona 5 - Quite simply the best feel of any turn-based combat, ever. Dynamic menus, animations, and camera work make even the most rote random encounter feel exciting. The story is simultaneously a deeply specific response to political apathy in modern Japan and a universally applicable fable about the danger of complacency; it's a shame that its gender and sexual politics are occasionally somewhat retrograde. It also features one of the most meticulously well set-up twists I've seen in any work of fiction.
4. NieR: Automata - Platinum has always done well collaborating with auteurs. In this case, they and Yoko Taro have a shared love of genre shifts, particularly to shmups. The core combat feels smooth, thought the game never really asks the player to explore it deeply, and the transition to hacking never feels too jarring.
But of course the story is the main attraction here. Through both the core experience and the many sidequests the cast of sad robots explores themes of the meaning of life, nihilism, war, othering, and even the value of video games.
5. Hiveswap Act 1 - A short-but-sweet point and click adventure game, crammed to the brim with clever jokes and worldbulidling tidbits of the Homestuck universe.
6. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Production-wise the best Fire Emblem yet, with gorgeous character art, high-quality voice acting on all but the least important interactions, and a beautiful remastering of Gaiden''s 8-bit soundtrack. Unfortunately Gaiden's NES-era level design hasn't been improved on as much, with basic win conditions, mostly uninspired map layouts, and a difficulty curve based on throwing tons of harsh terrain and huge quantities of enemies at the player rather than anything truly engaging by modern standards. Still a must for any Fire Emblem fan, especially for its many mechanical departures from the norm.
7. Cosmic Star Heroine - A love-letter to classic JRPGs, with a brisk combat system that rewards planning. The story is also fast-paced, sometimes to its detriment; some moments probably needed more time to land, and many of your party members get no development after joining up. Still, it keeps the length down, which makes it an easy recommendation even for people with tons of hundred hour RPGs in their backlog.
8. Cuphead - An impossibly well-done recreation of rubber-hose cartoons from the Golden Age of Animation, Cuphead also features punishing yet addictive battles, with enough the strategic elements of changing your loadout that let you adapt your preferred playstyle to the challenge at hand. I honestly think the game is a bit too hard, but maybe I'm just getting old; still, it's hard to stay positive when you take so long to beat Grim Matchsticks or the Devil that it makes your arms ache.
9. Metroid: Samus Returns - One of the more stressful games I beat this year, Samus Returns always keeps you on your toes, filling its world with increasingly tough enemies, shifting to new Metroid forms just when you've gotten used to fighting the old ones, and throwing in some new surprises just to test your adaptability. (That final boss is harder than some Cuphead bosses, I swear.)
10. Splatoon 2 - I'm not much for multiplayer, but like the first entry the single-player mode is pretty good, with lots of interesting ideas developed across well-designed levels. I have mixed feelings about certain levels needing to be beaten with specific weapons; in some cases I really enjoyed it, but some weapons just did not suit my playstyle at all.
And a dishonorable mention to lootboxes, and every game which has them.
But as far as recycling enemies from previous games goes, non-existent. The rats that are iconic from the series' start? They don't show up anywhere.