"2017 has been one of the best gaming years" - Yay or nay?

[juanstrong]

I have seen some people saying this, and they bring up examples such as.

Resident Evil VII
-Persona 5
-Neir: Automata
-Zelda: Breath of the Wild
-Horizon: Zero Dawn
-Super Mario Odyssey
-Nioh
-Assassin's Creed: Origins
Wolfenstein 2
Cuphead
Hellblade
Shadow of War
Sonic Mania
Crash Bandicoot Trilogy
Splatoon 2
Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle
A Hat in Time
Hollow Knight

What do you think? Is this really true? While I would say yes, that doesn't mean there aren't still issues going on within the state of the gaming industry. Example; Microtransactions and lootboxes. However, I feel like overall game quality has been increasing. While there have been some weak games, such as Mass Effect Andromeda or Destiny, overall, it seems like more and more developers are making sure their games are actually good.

 

[Majestic Manatee_v1legacy]

Yay. Not for for EA. Even MORE yay. When the marimba Manatee starts to play, dance with me, make me sway.

 

[Aerosteam]

I'd say yay.

While Battlefront 2, Destiny 2 and others are brought up as prime examples of AAA bullshit, those games are crap anyway so it's not like it's a huge setback. If the bullshit was in Persona 5, Breath of the Wild and Horizon, then that would actually be bad.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

No? The standout was Cuphead, and even that's a single console/PC niche indieish game.

RE7 was just OutLast: Youtube Bait

Persona 5 I didn't play, so i won't say anything bad about it.

Neir: Automata was cute, but got old fast

Zelda: Breath of the Wild was an other Zelda game.

Horizon: Zero Dawn blew its load in the fist act and never built up a good pace after that

Super Mario Odyssey I didn't play, but Grass Land, Ice land, Jungle Land, Fire land, Boss

Nioh...which was that?

Assassin's Creed: Origins was just another Assassin's game, and it didn't even have Pirate shanties, so what's the point?!

Wolfenstein 2 I didn't play, because I played that other one, and they all just look the same.

Cuphead was fun.

Hellblade looked interesting, but after watching a few lets plays, I decided I couldn't stand the VA. Shame that, 'cause I like me viking and gore and spectral horrors

Shadow of War...seriously?

Sonic Mania...SERIOUSLY?!

Crash Bandicoot Trilogy...meh. Get back to me when its a Conker remastering.

Splatoon 2 OH! Right, yeah that game came out this year.

Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Not even going to dignify that with a response.

A Hat in Time I heard was alright. Should really check that one out

Hollow Knight which?

Also Ghost Recon Wildlands was shamelessly fun in multiplayer.

So I'd rank it a better than average quality wise, but also higher than average forgettable wise.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I totally think 2017 has kicked the asses of the last 3-5 years of gaming because of how low the bar was set. But I can't say 2017 has been one of the best years of gaming just because it hasn't been shit. The AAA industry, while putting out some gems, hasn't been that much better than it's been recently (just in game quality alone, I don't even wanna get into business practices such as loot boxes). For example, is Star Wars Battlefront 2 anything legitimately great with regards to just its gameplay? Shadow of War is a game that's been made like a million times already, an open world game with Arkham combat isn't anything special. Wolfenstein 2, while a really fun romp, has a lot of odd gameplay issues and design choices (Errant Signal's video just about perfectly sums up the game). Even Nier Automata is just Platinum coming in and smoothing out the gameplay while adding none of their patented depth. Where gaming is really seeing growth is from the mid-tier developers making really polished and amazing games like Divinity Original Sin 2 or Cuphead. PUBG obviously dominated the multiplayer arena this year. We just no longer have to depend on the AAA landscape to give us the next great RPG or shooter or whatever because you have alternatives that are now better than what AAA is producing. You don't have to deal with garbage AAA business practices because you can find a better game without any of the bullshit. That's why 2017 has been a great year for gaming to me because we are finally getting great games that aren't extremely homogeneous like open world games with standard 1st/3rd-person shooting or Arkham combat even occasionally within the AAA landscape.

 

[juanstrong]

@Silentpony, When you say stuff like Cuphead is just some niche single indie game, say Breath of the Wild and Mario and Odyssey are just more of the same, and get frazzled when I bring up Sonic Mania ("SERIOUSLY?!"), it's hard to take your post seriously.

At least give good reasons.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

When you say stuff like Cuphead is just some niche single indie game, say Breath of the Wild and Mario and Odyssey are just more of the same, and get frazzled when I bring up Sonic Mania ("SERIOUSLY?!"), it's hard to take your post seriously.

At least give good reasons.

Cuphead is a niche game. Its a boss-run platform bullet-hell shooter with a 20s cartoon art style. That's pretty damn niche.
Breath of the Wild and Odyssey are Zelda and Mario games, and Sonic Mania does deserve a Seriously?! Post.
Those are all perfectly valid responses. They don't detract from your personal experiences, but encapsulates commonly held or at least known criticisms of repetition, stagnation, predictability, blind defense and forget-ability.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Lots of good games this year but I wouldn't call it a standout.

 

[American Tanker]

We haven't had a "good" year in gaming since 2007. And the late '90s were better still.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

A big fat no. In fact it's been one of the worst years IMO.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It certainly was one of the better ones. Early 2017 was a feast thanks to Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn alone. But then I don't know who has final say in these things, I only go by my own enjoyment. I mean, if it was a shitty, or even mediocre year, Mass Effect: Andromeda coming out and being total garbage might've still been fresh in my memory. But thanks to all the goodness that the rest of the year has given, 'tis but a forgotten blemish.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I am enjoying my time with Total War: Warhammer 2 and its 4 new factions and pitting them all in Custom Battles.

Cannot wait for Tomb Kings next month.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Eh...Hard to say. There were some standout games this year (Persona 5, Sonic Mania, Prey, and Styx Shards of Darkness were all amazing), but given how much industry BS is going on...I really don't know if I can say it's one of the best years for gaming.

It was certainly pretty good, and some really great stuff came out, but...I dunno.

 

[Erttheking]

It's been a year of extremes. Some of the best successes and some of the worst stinkers.

 

[sXeth]

To be "one of the best gaming years", I'd expect something to amaze by leaps and bounds. Which I can't say I've run across in 2017's offerings. A decent amount of good, some counterbalancing absolute awfuls, a few greats, but nothing that really pushes and stands out as iconic. Even most of that list in the OP is a ton of sequels, throwbacks, clones, one actual remaster.

2017 hasn't done bad for itself, but it hasn't really done much past break even.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Voted Nay.

I've neither played nor have interest in playing any of the titles listed. I think the only new game I bought this year was Destiny 2, which I was pressured into buying thanks to two of my friends, and was quickly abandoned like three weeks after its PC launch.

I've mostly just been playing XCOM 2 with the Long War 2 mod and Path of Exile.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I went through a list of my most memorable favorite games, and found that it ranged from 1998 to 2007.

The year with the most number of games:
2003, with such gems as Beyond Good & Evil, Freelancer, Harbinger, Master of Orion III and Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic.
Followed by 2001 with Anachronox, Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and Startopia.

Granted, this was only from direct memory and I may have forgotten some titles.
I do find that most of my games can be found within the '95 to '05 decade.
After those years it becomes increasingly harder to find a good game and nowadays I'm lucky to even find one every other year.
I'm reduced to only looking at Indie games and alpha/betas as it is.

So. Nay. Not a single 2017 game got my attention.

 

[Squilookle]

I do find that most of my games can be found within the '95 to '05 decade.

I always found this too, give or take a year. It was when developers still let their imaginations run wild, the publishers were still willing to take risks, and graphics were still finding their feet instead of becoming the be-all-end-all of game design.

For 2017 I'd vote no. It may have been better than the last half dozen years or so, but that really, really isn't saying much.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Definitely yes if you like Japanese games, not sure about it if you only play western games.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Here's the thing, we have to declare what kind of gamer we are.

I'm a fighting game/RTS player.

Tekken 7, Updates to SF V, Pokken Tournment, Tekken 7, Injustice II (not my cup of tea), Absolver, Tekken 7, and the bevy of announcements we have. I'm finally going to have my Third Strike on the go. On the month of my Birthday Next year. I feel so damn happy.

Meanwhile, we have Dow III... a game so badly thought out and died so hard that I'm getting it free with my Humble Bundle and I couldn't care less. Total WH II is supposed to be good but I never played it. Starcraft remastered? Halo Wars 2? Picking were slimmer than Fighting Games with not that much news on the horizon.

I'm thrilled with this year on the fighting aspect of things. I'm relatively pleased with everything else.