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miffy495

Goty.cx 2011

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I have no idea how many games i played this year.

It wouldn't be easy to count, sorting out all the 2011 games from my personal library.

I'd guess it was probably in the vicinity of 30? That sounds right.

You know what? i might keep track for 2012 as well.

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It's already 2012 (have a happy one!), but I may have to add SpaceChem as my VIDEO GAMSE OF THE YEAR to take a position on the pedestal besides The Witcher 2 and Blocks that Matter.

It's seriously good. I mean, really really good puzzles. But I'm actually not sure if it's for everyone. It's actually less about space and chemistry and more about programming factory robots. It might be a stretch, but I think I could probably assess someone's programming ability by looking at their solutions to some of the levels in this game. Also, I can't wait until someone comes up with a Monad reactor (but it probably wouldn't be useful because the game seems to have very strict limits on the number of reactors you can use).

Edited by Erkki

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SWTOR is a late write in for me. I am digging it more, the more I play. People dismissing it as too WoW-like are failing to see that those are implicit requirements for this field. You can't just ignore certain things because Blizzard does them that way, they're things that work and are expected by the players. Also, chances are they've come from existing games before WoW, or after WoW, or from player mods that have been built into the game.

The second half of that comparison is that MMOs trying to be WoW are hitting some uncanny valley of WoW simulacra. And I was really afraid that SWTOR was diving into that. It's certainly not as polished in certain areas that WoW is, but on the other hand, it's unbelievably polished in areas that WoW isn't. And it has potential that WoW cannot achieve without making major changes to their game. BioWare didn't just go down a list of things that are in WoW, and things they'd like to see in WoW. They made their own game, and cut out their own space.

And really, the most important thing. Is that they delivered on the promise of story driven MMO content. I was a huge skeptic when I saw what they were going to try to do. It just seemed like they'd be spending time on something that didn't scale gracefully, and it'd either cost a ridiculous amount of money to produce or it'd be a mess. But now that I've seen the framework, I can see how they've pulled it off. The comparison of it being KOTOR 3-7 (or something like that) is fairly apt. This game has 8 unique story lines, that are different and drive the player forward and are frankly more polished than other single player RPGs I've played this year. And while some of the alien subtitled dialogue can be a chore to read, the cinematics and actual English voice acting bring the game up to a point where I actually know what I'm doing most of the time on side quests.

Also, the game can look absolutely beautiful. It doesn't put it's best foot forward with the starting zones. I get the impression that they were trying to optimize the hell out of the load times for those areas. But when you get to places like Alderaan, it starts to take shape.

Also, Huttball is a lot of fun.

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It's already 2012 (have a happy one!), but I may have to add SpaceChem as my VIDEO GAMSE OF THE YEAR to take a position on the pedestal besides The Witcher 2 and Blocks that Matter.

It's seriously good. I mean, really really good puzzles. But I'm actually not sure if it's for everyone. It's actually less about space and chemistry and more about programming factory robots. It might be a stretch, but I think I could probably assess someone's programming ability by looking at their solutions to some of the levels in this game. Also, I can't wait until someone comes up with a Monad reactor (but it probably wouldn't be useful because the game seems to have very strict limits on the number of reactors you can use).

SpaceChem is a weird experience for sure. It actually feels less like a game and more like a (graphical) programming exercise. And it is dumped down surprisingly little.

I liked it, but at some point it started feeling too much like work. Not that I don't like these sorts of things but after an hour or two of hours of continuous play it can get a bit boring.

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I know I said Bastion earlier, but I am changing my mind. I AM CHANGING MY MIND.

SAINTS ROW THE THIRD

SAINTS ROW THE THIRD

I am pretty sure that Volition is like my favorite developer now. There is just so much absurdity in this game. The writing genuinely made me laugh many times. The characters are ridiculous. A pimp who speaks in autotune ALL THE TIME. I don't even? The set pieces for the missions are amazing I AM SKYDIVING WITH GUNS AND JUMPING THROUGH THE COCKPIT OF AN AIRPLANE TRYING TO SMASH INTO ME also and then there's this and that and the other thing. Some seriously boss stuff.

It is the single most video gamey video game I have ever played. It's like when they were making the game, they asked themselves at every turn, "Would that be fun?" and if the answer was yes, they put it in the goddamn game. I want more games to be THIS.

And just as a thing: while I was initially somewhat hesitant to care about the "writing" due to one of the big marketing strings I saw revolving around a giant purple dildo, I can officially confirm that that is not the game. This isn't a game about fart jokes and haha dildos. Those things exist, but they are not the jokes. They simply exist as part of this utterly absurd, hysterical, and most importantly, fun world. And even though it's a sandbox game, for sure, I honestly believe that just the missions alone would make for a pretty damn good game. The sandbox setting adds to the experience, yes, but it is not the whole experience.

Oh Jesus I love this game. I'm genuinely sad that I've finished it. I want... more. I want it to never end. Give me more! ):

Dear Volition,

Please give me Saints Row: On Mars next. Naturally, I expect Red Faction: Guerrilla's destruction tech. (Actually I don't particularly care if it's on Mars as long as the game as FULL as Saints Row: The Third and comes with the RF:G desctruction tech). Also add in some Crackdown style superpowers because I loved Crackdown, but I don't have a 360 anymore.

Love,

Twig

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I just found this Giant Bomb article in which Erik Wolpaw gives us his top ten games of the year.

It's a great read and makes me miss Old Man Murray even more. Just make sure not to watch the linked video for

.

PS: That purple dildo thing gets mentioned in every Saints Row article. That weapon has officially become the "have sex with a hooker, run her over and take your money back" popularized storyline of this game. One item, though, isn't as compelling as the GTA III story. Thank you, Twig, for indicating that there is more to this game than that.

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So far I've only put about 50 hours into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim but I still feel that it is good enough to warrant it as my GOTY.cx.

For a start, Oblivion completely enthralled me, and I was really looking forward to the sequel, I made sure to drip feed my excitement by not watching too many trailers or watching any gameplay of the game, and I'm happy to say that it was worth it.

The world just feels massive and full of grandeur, though it captures the atmosphere of the events that surround it fantastically, although it's not unusual to feel as if the world is slightly dis-jointed at times.

The visuals, though I'm only playing on the PS3 (Not my first choice, I might pick it up again later down the line for PC) are really inventive and, though it's not THE most beautiful game I've ever seen, it's a far cry from the dirty colours of other games.

I also don't normally notice a soundtrack unless it really adds something, and I think that certain battles and setpieces within this game are ramped up to 11 by a riveting piece in the background.

That said, I've yet to play Saints Row: The Third, so that may top this...

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How would we count honorable mentions to actual goties, or other weird personalized categories?

I just found this Giant Bomb article in which Erik Wolpaw gives us his top ten games of the year.

Holy shit, I love that man's top ten list.

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Portal 2 is my favorite of 2011. I'm trying to remember what else, but that's really the big stand out that made the biggest impression on me.

Dark Souls and Saints Row: The Third need a mention too, because I enjoyed those too. Dark Souls was one of those games where I really enjoyed the community aspect of it, where I would look up how stuff worked and talk strategies with other folks. The style too, where it's just you in a world, there are events happening and I just really like a lot of what they did.

I'm still trying to think of other big title games I've played this year, but it's probably telling that I can't remember them... So I'm sticking with Portal 2.

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I do want to say for the record that while other games may have overshadowed Portal 2 for me, one of the defining moments of my year in gaming was playing co-op with Patters when we discovered that

we had to smash into each other in mid-air to solve a puzzle

. The outburst of joy over the microphone coupled with that being the moment that our robots unlocked the hug animation to express how FUCKING STOKED they were by what we'd just pulled off will stick with me for a while. Going back and playing the co-op DLC with Pat again later only solidified for me that if you haven't played the co-op in that game you've missed one of the best experiences this year had to offer. The single player was by turns funny, charming, and exhilarating, but the co-op has it beaten handily.

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That was a great moment in co-op gameplay. I have seen people casually spoil it in short little videos teasing Portal 2, and I don't understand why.

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I had the same experience with my co-op partner. It was great. So great.

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At this point...Idle Thumbs GOTY is a tie between Dark Souls and Skyrim. Anyone want to break the tie? Maybe a Giant Bomb style roundtable discussion is in order?

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At this point...Idle Thumbs GOTY is a tie between Dark Souls and Skyrim. Anyone want to break the tie? Maybe a Giant Bomb style roundtable discussion is in order?

If only this site had a group of people that all lived in the same city who would want to record themselves discussing video games...

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I'm adding 33 more votes for Saints Row: The Third so now it's a non-issue. :3

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I just posted my massive goty.cx essay thing on my blog. In short...

GOTY: Portal 2

The rest (unordered):

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Uncharted (1 & 2, yes I know I'm late)

Batman: Arkham City

Jamestown

Joe Danger SE

Handheld GOTY: Super Mario 3D Land

Also awesome: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

A lot more ranting here:

http://caffeinemonster.tumblr.com/post/15662933424/my-2011-in-games

Great year for video games, eh? :tup:

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Now, that I have finished Assassin's Creed: [Generic Subtitle], half of Uncharted 3 and Batman: Arkham City, I have to conclude that my game of the year of 2011 has to be either Batman: Arkham City or Witcher 2. I'm leaning a bit more towards Witcher 2, actually, because it was such a pleasant surprise.

I should really play through it again sometime. After all, I have missed what.. about 1/3 of the content altogether.

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Also awesome: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

I didn't have this one in my list, i should have had it in there somewhere.

Ghost Trick was incredible, i love it to death.

Missile is the best pomeranian ever.

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Ghost Trick was incredible, i love it to death.

Missile is the best pomeranian ever.

No arguments here. :)

What I loved about Ghost Trick and Stacking was that both dared to switch up conventional adventure game mechanics, but not to add action sequences like most failed revive-the-genre attempts, but to enhance the puzzle aspects of the game. It'd be lovely if we saw that trend continue into 2012.

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Awesome! You missed Catherine, but maybe you just don't like good video games, I don't know.

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Awesome! You missed Catherine, but maybe you just don't like good video games, I don't know.

You're Rodi.

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