I've only really played 2 games this year, so my GOTY goes to Life is Strange, because the other game is Age of Empires II HD.
However, I feel like binge playing every episode of Life is Strange was a mistake. I should have bought this game when the first episode was released, instead of waiting for the whole thing. I think the game would be much better if I had to wait between episodes.
GOTY: I know it sounds like an echo in here, but Witcher 3. I'm hard pressed to think of a single thing I didn't like about this game. The writing and dialogue were superb, the characters were amazing, the world was incredibly immersive, the developers clearly listened to the fans and continued to implement small changes to the game as it went, and it looked utterly phenomenal. I'm genuinely looking forward to the 2nd DLC coming out so I can play through the game again, it's very rare I ever say that about anything.
Biggest disappointment: Easy one for me, Batman: Arkham Knight. The game was still fun (not too difficult to do with the Arkham games), but considering this was supposed to be the magnum opus of such a great series (I consider Arkham City one of my favorite games of all time) I was hugely disappointed in Knight. The Batmobile was basically subtraction by addition and felt totally out of place, the story was all over the place and had huge plot holes, I guessed who the Arkham Knight was within about 3 hours, they basically completely gave up on trying to have boss battles after having largely excellent boss battles in City, and it also contained the single most disappointing game moment in history (for me):
The Deathstroke boss battle, if you can call it that
Like I said, the game was still fun, but I honestly thought the much maligned Arkham: Origins was an overall better game.
Well, I was gonna post my opinion, but this is basically it. Witcher 3 was fantastic and establishes a new paradigm for how an open-world game can still be story-driven. Akrham Knight had a lousy story compared to the previous series entries, and the presence of the Batmobile resulted in a lot of crappy level design. I haven't logged enough hours in Fallout 4 to have reached a definitive conclusion about it yet, but so far all of the changes they've made seem to have been for the worse. The menu system, dialogue system, and levelup system are all worse than in 3/NV, although none of them are worse enough to be dealbreakers.
One of the surprise gems of this year, was a close call between that and Renowned Explorers as far as im concerned.
I made it easy on myself by not including Age of Decadence as a contender since that has been in early access for a while.
Disappointment of the year:
Pillars of Eternity. I expected more, so much more, from this game, not least due to the amount of buzz it got and how much kickstarter monies went into it.
That it came from Obsidian, only makes it hurt so much more, goddamnit...
I always struggle to remember what came out when. I'd say my GotY (despite initially thinking it came out in 2014 for some reason) is probably Bloodborne. The game was everything I hoped for and more. Such a stellar fucking title and it got me mega hyped for DS3 next year. I am really enjoying Fallout 4 currently, but it is too early to place right now. I don't think it has a chance at being my GotY though. I played a bunch of other stuff that ranged from okay to pretty good on PC and Wii U.
As far as disappointments go, I'd probably say Witcher 3? It's a great game, but I just couldn't really get into it. The world failed to pull me in and I gave it a long time to try. I may return to it someday and change my mind, but for now I'd consider it a mild disappointment.
GOTY: Kerbal Space Program. I enjoy rockets and space and stuff, this game scratches those itches pretty well.
Dissapointment of the year: Pillars of Eternity. What could have been a great game was crippled by overflowery prose, puttting a hatchet to most of Avellone's work, and a combat system that required min maxing.
As a note, these are the only two games I've played that were released this year, and I've been playing Kerbal Space Program for close to four years now.
Most of the complaints I've heard about the game contradicted themselves and/or were little more than angry rants, some of them based on zero first-hand playtime. The series has changed too much from Fallout, yet at the same time it hasn't changed enough. Somebody even claimed the game was raped and called me an enabler for enjoying it. That is just a sad lack of perspective.
My guess is that the angry backlash and usual vitriol has been exacerbated by the marketing campaign and hype. I hope Bethesda doesn't listen to it, frankly, because a lot of it is just depressing bile. I did see some interesting comments about the FPS cap on another site, though. Maybe it's time to build an entirely new engine if this is stuff that's a concrete limitation of the current one; it's a lot of money to start over like that but I daresay they can afford the time and money now.
GOTY for me would be Batman Arkham City, PC version. Because I'm hoping Warner Brothers got burned so badly on this they will actually put effort into future PC releases, and hopefully as a reminder to other developers about why you should finish your games before you release them.
In all seriousness GOTY has to be Undertale for me, no question about it.
Biggest dissapointment: ooooh boy so many things to choose from, I'm gonna have to go with "Star Wars: Battlefront" without any hint of irony this is the saddest a game has ever made me. I'm not angry, I'm not irritated or anything like that, just watching footage of it makes me feel legitimately depressed that this even carries the "Battlefront" name and that EA has an exclusive license on star wars games(look it up its from 2013 or something)
I know everybody is saying "be happy with what you get, the gameplay is good blah blah blah" but its not a battlefront game and since EA has the license for star wars games this is all we'll get, EA isn't going to release something like "Empire at war" or "Rogue Squadron" and if they do it'll be exactly the same as this: six maps and one of them is a lazy ass horde gamemode. $10 "digital deluxe edition" that only includes two emotes and unskinned guns you can get normally. Until this contract with EA is up they don't have to compete with star wars games period, so don't expect anything but EA riding the IP until "Star Wars game" is synonymous to "movie tie in"
See that reaction is actually what I am talking bout. I find the game alright and its cool you like it, but damn has it made you reactionary. I was doubting the claim that you heard no legit criticisms based on the simple fact that you are overreactionary cause you love it right now thus you disregard them just like you just did with that statement, but hey keep acting like that. Real mature
Most of the complaints I've heard about the game contradicted themselves and/or were little more than angry rants, some of them based on zero first-hand playtime. The series has changed too much from Fallout, yet at the same time it hasn't changed enough. Somebody even claimed the game was raped and called me an enabler for enjoying it. That is just a sad lack of perspective.
My guess is that the angry backlash and usual vitriol has been exacerbated by the marketing campaign and hype. I hope Bethesda doesn't listen to it, frankly, because a lot of it is just depressing bile. I did see some interesting comments about the FPS cap on another site, though. Maybe it's time to build an entirely new engine if this is stuff that's a concrete limitation of the current one; it's a lot of money to start over like that but I daresay they can afford the time and money now.
Maybe so, but I largely agree with him and have a whole laundry list of criticisms about the game myself (after clocking in over 30 hours so far). I think there's a lot of anti-hype going on, which is just as useless as the hype it's attempting to subvert. I think he's mainly calling out the sensational critics who haven't even played the game.
As to his point though, it has never been more apparent that Beth needs a new engine. One of the biggest criticisms I have heard that I wholeheartedly agree with is that the game feels dated, which is not good for a brand new game. Hopefully a healthy modding community will uplift it and Beth will learn from their mistakes. Chances are only one of those two things will happen, unfortunately.
Most of the complaints I've heard about the game contradicted themselves and/or were little more than angry rants, some of them based on zero first-hand playtime. The series has changed too much from Fallout, yet at the same time it hasn't changed enough. Somebody even claimed the game was raped and called me an enabler for enjoying it. That is just a sad lack of perspective.
My guess is that the angry backlash and usual vitriol has been exacerbated by the marketing campaign and hype. I hope Bethesda doesn't listen to it, frankly, because a lot of it is just depressing bile. I did see some interesting comments about the FPS cap on another site, though. Maybe it's time to build an entirely new engine if this is stuff that's a concrete limitation of the current one; it's a lot of money to start over like that but I daresay they can afford the time and money now.
Maybe so, but I largely agree with him and have a whole laundry list of criticisms about the game myself (after clocking in over 30 hours so far). I think there's a lot of anti-hype going on, which is just as useless as the hype it's attempting to subvert. I think he's mainly calling out the sensational critics who haven't even played the game.
As to his point though, it has never been more apparent that Beth needs a new engine. One of the biggest criticisms I have heard that I wholeheartedly agree with is that the game feels dated, which is not good for a brand new game. Hopefully a healthy modding community will uplift it and Beth will learn from their mistakes. Chances are only one of those two things will happen, unfortunately.
And I am not disagreeing with that, I just think he is displaying the opposite himself by claiming there is no valid one. Either way, I feel this would be the wrong place to discuss this as I feel I already went on longer than I should have bout this here. Lets try to get this related to the actual topic ^^
See that reaction is actually what I am talking bout. I find the game alright and its cool you like it, but damn has it made you reactionary. I was doubting the claim that you heard no legit criticisms based on the simple fact that you are overreactionary cause you love it right now thus you disregard them just like you just did with that statement, but hey keep acting like that. Real mature
You comment about his mildly sarcastic reaction to your direct comment about his personal reaction to something You did the internet equivalent of saying "bullshit" to his face, and then saying he's an over excited fanboy. What kind of reaction did you expect? Frankly, I think you're lucky all he did was give you a little bit of snark after saying such a directly insulting comment. Somehow, that comment is labeled as "reactionary" by you? I think you need to recalculate your sliding scale of reactions based, that was hardly anything at all other than a sarcastic comeback.
The main games I've been playing this year were Binding of Isaac, Nuclear Throne, Team Fortress 2, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, a bit of Terraria 1.3, and right now Fallout 4. Only three of the games were released in 2015.
GOTY: Fallout 4 because I'm a gigantic shill.
Disappointment: Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth for giving okay content, nerfing some of the fun stuff, holding back patches for Rebirth that don't have Afterbirth, and the dev being extremely cagey and releasing DLC content later, saying Afterbirth was bugged/not finished/untested (despite the DLC being almost a year of work, 9 months of dev blogs, and being pushed back from the Summer 2015 release date) or as an ARG so we have to wait (as of typing) two weeks to play the full content of a DLC we've already paid almost $7 or even $10 for.
If they released 100% of Afterbirth and paraded the rest of the content as a free update ARG I'd say power to them. But the fact that most of these content additions revolve around owning Afterbirth (since they mostly involve Greed Mode).
Just don't make sense why they're doing this other than releasing the DLC early despite it being unfinished.
EDIT: Actually I take that back. Disappointment of the year and probably the next few years goes to Payday. How Overkill turned a unique PC game with a devoted fanbase into a disgusting example of microtransactions gone wrong with probably hundreds of thousands of fans turning their back on the game overnight, then they trashed the game's already weird balance even further, then they turned a deaf ear to the outcry of microtransactions calling it already successful and all naysayers (including those who made a splinter community based around preserving the update before the game went south) were a vocal minority, then this week they released skins that actually give you boosts to your XP and rewards.
In the space of one month, the game went from being a unique experience "PC mustard race" game to almost mobile game standards of microtransactions and P2W. Overkill did more than shoot themselves in the foot. I very well believe they've committed corporate suicide, and it's going to be a slow and gradual suicide until they're bought out (and hopefully lead by someone different because Almir or whoever else obviously don't have the game or community's interest at heart) or outright go bankrupt.
To paraphrase Jim Sterling on the situation: "Don't make me regret liking you." And they totally are making that their mission.
My game of the year is... and hold on to your pants cuz I'm probably the only one who's going to say it, is Evolve. I haven't had this much fun with a game in a LONG time, and its a breath of fresh air in a AAA market that loves to do the same thing over and over again. Here I get a truly skill-based asymmetrical game, with a lot more depth and complexity then a lot people ever gave it credit for, and often gave reviews with flat out false information. (looking at you Angry Joe with your "Wraith is pay to win" crap. She's in the base game and unlockable after a few games and has been rebalanced appropriately)
Granted I haven't gotten around to Witcher 3 yet, so its entirely possible that would supplant Evolve in my favorites.
Biggest Disappointment? Akrham Knight. Game still barely works on PC, and half the game is that fucking bat-tank which gets really boring really fast.
Is.... Tales From the Borderlands a thing? I mean, I know it was TECHNICALLY released last year but it wasn't FINISHED 'til this year and.... God I can't believe it but the only other game from this year that I've played is Undertale and hype ruined it for me.
So yeah! MY GOTY is Tales From the Borderlands. HA! HA HA! What's everyone gotta say about THAT? . . . . I'll just leave the way I came in. //drags Troy Baker behind me
Also most disappointing goes to Undertale because it's not as great as everyone says SORRYYYYY
GOTY: Witcher 3. I've posted on threads before about "what is your dream game?" and I always said "a Bioware quality story in a Bethesda quality open world". Never thought it was actually possible, but CD Projekt pulled it off. Interesting characters and dialogue, fun, tactical combat system, and the best side quests ever that actually had properly fleshed out stories of their own.
Biggest disappointment: Batman Arkham Knight (PC). Loved Asylum and City, Origins was okay. Can't even be bothered with Knight because I don't play games that are broken pieces of shit.
No, really. None. There hasn't been a single game this year that has "wowed" me. And I'm not saying that to be contrarian or 'edgy'. I genuinely mean what I say.
Fallout 4 is an outdated mess. The Witcher 3 was pretty but hollow. Metal Gear Solid V was dumb. Evolve was barely a game. Batman was broken. Halo 5 is decent at best. Undertale was funny but not that mind-blowing. Splatoon wasn't great. Super Mario Maker was pointless. Syndicate is dull. Black Ops 3 is just sort of there. Life is Strange made me cringe.
It's just....not a single triple-A game, nor even many games from smaller devs, really did much for me this year. Grey Goo was alright, I suppose, as was Oblitus, but otherwise? Egh.
Maybe I'm forgetting a game that was loads of fun, but it can't have been too memorable if that's the case.
Oh well. I know that makes me sound like a whiny cynic, and maybe I am, but it's how I felt this year.
That said, next year's looking a bit better for me. No Man's Sky, Hob, Routine, Firewatch, etc. Here's hoping something turns out great.
Most people didn't buy Witcher 3 because they're well-aware of what broken shit every game CD Projekt pushes out.
But you have idiots who worship them out of a sad attempt to spite another developer because that developer wouldn't kiss their asses when those idiots threatened to kill them unless they changed their game. So Witcher 3 fans are sad, pathetic trolls.
And once again, you're talking Bethesda games. People avoid them because they are buggy and broken. CD PR actually got props for being surprisingly bug free at launch... In all their games that I've played too. And funnily enough, most people did end up buying Witcher 3, because they heard how amazing it was, and thousands of people who had never heard of the games before came in and bought the whole series. I would know. I was in the stores.
I get you love Betheseda, but they've been outplayed this time. It ain't about changing the game, its about making a good game to start with. Bethesda make passable games - again, wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle. CD PR? They made something wide and deep, moreso than has been done before in gaming. Content to match an MMO, open world, and dialogue and story that put fan-favourite Bioware to shame. Helps they had a book series to work off, but they created a masterpiece.
In terms of open world games, CD PR is king at this point. Maybe Bethesda will release something to rival them, but it'd surprise me. Their style of game is wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle. And believe it or not, people are getting tired of that.
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