melmer

Its beginning to look a lot like GOTY

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Bayonetta 2. It's my GOTY, and possibly one of my favorite games of all time. Even if it's style doesn't appeal to me usually, I think this game just nailed it, it's fantastic.

My second place goes to Banner Saga. I really enjoyed playing this, the story was really interesting and with some really tough choices to make as a leader of the group. I realized at the time I would be a terrible leader, but also that being a leader at times like that it's something terrible by itself. Really great game and I can't wait for the second act.

Third place goes to Shadow of Mordor, great game, the nemesis system was a neat innovation, I really hope devs creates more enemies with some kind of personality. The main quests was great overall, felt very nice figuring out which way you were going to infiltrate the fortresses, etc. I also enjoyed the acting on the game, even in Brazilian Portuguese they did a fantastic job.

Next comes Broken Age, which could be way better if it the complete story. However, I really enjoyed the girl segment of the game, it's fantastic. I was playing this on my iPad and my girlfriend just fell in love with the game, I even gifted her one copy because it was the first time I ever saw her genuinely interested in a new game that isn't The Sims or Little Big Adventure. However, the boy segment of the game wasn't as great.

The last noteworthy game of this year was Wolfenstein: The New Order. It was a really decent shooter with a surprisingly decent story, but that's it. It was better than I expected, pretty enjoyable, but nothing on it was actually mesmerizing.

This list just makes me realize that I played much less video games now that I'm working full time. Have yet to play stuff like Shovel Knight, Fantasy Life and Transistor.

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I don't think I played many that were released this year, so my list is short:

 

The Banner Saga

This War of Mine

 

and runner up:

Infinity Wars

 

 

but Jazzpunk seems like something I would really like, just haven't gotten around to it yet

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I've found it kind of hard to raise a game I've enjoyed this year to its of GOTY plinth.

Transistor was really good but I didn't have the same experience/enjoyment as I had with Bastion.

Stryder, Nidhogg, and Heroes of the Storm would have to be mentioned as standouts.

Dark Souls 2 would also have to be praised.

Same praise to Divinity Original Sin.

But my real game of the year are the Dwarf Fortress 2014 updates.

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I think Dark Souls 2 was the only 2014 game I played in 2014, so my GOTY is Dark Souls 2 by default. I didn't even think it was as good as the original Dark Souls so whatever~~~~

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I'm still catching up on this year's games (was abroad until Sept) but so far my GOTYs are:

 

Divinity: Original Sin

It's refreshing to play an RPG that is 'just an RPG'. It's not trying to be over-the-top epic: the main questline is just a murder investigation. I like that the combat is challenging and non-grindy. Using magic and the elements to your advantage is not optional and I found myself having to re-play some encounters a couple of times to get it right, but not minding this at all. I'm 60 hours in and admittedly my interest is waning a bit, but it kept me enthralled long enough to make it my GOTY.

 

South Park: Stick of Truth

I'm amazed how much it feels like playing a giant episode while also being a good game in its own right. I wish it didn't have to take a South Park license for games to be more creative like this though. Every now and then I would like other games to just decide 'fuck it,

you're now being abducted by aliens

'.

 

Valiant Hearts

The gameplay is not always the most compelling, but I'm fascinated by how this game pulls off being lighthearted while also taking on the full weight of WW1. I thought I knew a thing or two about the history but Valiant Hearts had a lot of educational value to me.

 

Near-GOTY: Banner Saga

I love nearly everything about this game, but what stopped me playing was the horribly impenetrable dialog. My eyes just kept glazing over from all that woolly fantasy tropey bullshit (sorry). When you have to read a sentence three times just to parse a character saying hello or whatever, I'm out.

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I'm gonna change my GOTY. It's Bayonnetta 2! Without a shadow of a doubt, Cereza is my waifu

 

Fuck, I wish I knew someone with a Wii U. I can't justify buying a console for a single game, but damn do I ever want to play that!

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My Goatgames of the Year:


5. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
4. Escape Goat 2

3. Goat Simulator

2. Toto Temple Deluxe

1. Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain E3 2014 demo

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Without a doubt, my game of the year (indeed the last few years) is Elite Dangerous (big shock, I know)!  It's not out for another 8 days (December 16), but does just about squeeze in. However, it's not a game I could simply recommend to everybody, because despite its awesome graphics and audio, and despite being universally hailed as one of the very best VR  experiences out there, it's very much in the same mold as the original game. The idea is to make your way in the Galaxy, gaining money, reputation and power by trading, exploring, piracy, bounty hunting, mining, taking civilian or military missions etc.. There is no main story line, and even though there's various degrees of multiplayer available, it can be hard to meet up with friends, let alone see players you don't know. Also, the player is not at all special, and since there is no leveling at all, there is no scaling either. But it's everything I was hoping for when I backed the game and much  more, with a whole bunch still to come.

 

Divinity: Original Sin is a highly enjoyable CRPG with a bunch of great systems, and I absolutely loved the first ~50 hours or so, but then the very open and unguided nature comes back to bite it in the ass as I spent a good 20-30 hours wondering what the fuck I was missing, and hunting down things that are required for the only real obstacle to progress in the game, and are easily lost in the scenery. By the time I got to the final fight, I got so fed up, I ended up youtubing the end. If there was a bit of pruning and guidance, it would be an utterly fantastic game 

 

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was my favourite open worldy jumpy stabby game of the year, with fabulously characterful orcs and a great Nemesis system

 

I absolutely loved the atmosphere of The Wolf Among Us, and even though the story line didn't live up to the promise of the first episode I had a good time playing as Bigby, and even bought the first volume of the graphic novel.

 

I'm excited to play South Park: The Stick of Truth  and Dragon Age Inquisition,  but haven't got round to either yet even though I got the South Park game in the latest steam sale. 

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Dark Souls II, Earth Defence Force 2025 were both excellent but after dropping so many hours into the previous games they didn't set my world on fire in the same way. They were still great, really great but failed to capture the same awesomeness.

 

The Evil Within is probably my game of the year.

 

Nods to Sunset Overdrive, D4, Titanfall, Abyss Odyssey, Walking Dead Season 2 and Forza Horizon 2.

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I want to amend my shortlist with Marvel: Puzzle Quest. Easily my favorite PQ game, even with the microtransactions. I play it literally all day seemingly every day.

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I've been pretty poor this entire year, so I missed out on a lot of 2014's best games. As a result, I've really only got two choices: Alcazar, and Shovel Knight

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I want to amend my shortlist with Marvel: Puzzle Quest. Easily my favorite PQ game, even with the microtransactions. I play it literally all day seemingly every day.

You son of a bitch :) I downloaded this last night and have already put in like 3 hours. I'm a puzzle quest fiend

Ooh ironman is now healed, gotta go...

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I think I ended up playing more new games this year than I usually do. I don't have a specific order for these, but here's what I liked the most, and why:

 

Dark Souls 2: Absorbed me every bit as much as the previous game, and although I agree that it's not quite as good overall, it's still fantastic.

 

Mario Kart 8: The Wii U has been the console for me to revisit Nintendo series that I'd skipped over the previous entry of, and I'm definitely glad I caught up Mario Kart. Insanely polished, absolutely beautiful, and Nintendo actually got the online mode right! DLC has been great so far, too.

 

Kentucky Route Zero Act III: I played all three acts at the same time, and the third is by far the best. Easily the most inventive and fascinating game I've played for a long time.

 

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth: Considering my love of the original game, this would have had to do something spectacularly wrong for me to dislike it. It doesn't! It's fantastic.

 

Forza Horizon 2: Kind of a counterpoint to Mario Kart, this is a big sprawling game that's less about racing to me than it is about collecting cars. It's got some pretty compelling online modes as well, though, and I've had a lot of fun with it.

 

Monument Valley: Wonderful puzzle game, with a fantastic art style and lovely design. Need to play the DLC over Christmas!

 

 

Other games that it's worth mentioning: Smash Bros. for Wii U, which I'm really into at the moment, but haven't yet played enough of it to know where it stands. Action Henk, which I kind of knew I'd like from the trailers, and then I did! Crypt of the Necrodancer, which I was kind of obsessed with for a while, but then stopped playing quite suddenly. Bayonetta 2, which I liked a lot, but which for some reason didn't grip me as much as the first game did. Maybe I need to put some proper time into it, and play the game on harder difficulties.

 

I played a lot of Civilization V: Brave New World, too. 

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"It got me by surprise" Award

  • Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends (serious, I am in love with this game, I just waiting a sale for buying those costume dlc and the pre-order for Empires).
  • Final Fantasy XIII

 

Wait, I thought they said the DW8 Xtreme Legends had all the Dynasty Warriors Legends stuff in it already and they weren't going to make DW8 Empires? Have they talked much about features? I absolutely loves DW5 Empires and have been wanting to play another for a while now.

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Hmm, I trolled through my Excel sheet to pull out a few of the games I've beaten this year that stood out.

 

 

Game of the Year, 2014

Shadows of Mordor - This game did a lot of things that other games have done before, but I didn't play a lot of those games so it was all awesome for me. The nemesis system was icing on the cake and I can't wait to see it expanded and made even more mechanics crazy the next time around.

 

Honorable Mentions

Titanfall - Though it died quickly, I really had a good time playing Titanfall with friends and I expect that a lot of the advances made with scale and mobility will influence shooters for a long time (heck, look at this year's CoD and Evolve to see some of that happening already)

Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall - After some debate I decided to take this one out of the top slot since it built so much on Shadowrun Returns from last year. Still a damn good game and pretty much everything I wanted from a Shadowrun revival.

Massive Chalice - I've had a ton of fun following the development and even more fun playing the early release version of this, but it narrowly misses the GOTY slot because I haven't actually played the finished version yet.

 

Old Game of the Year

Fez - By the time I noticed the craze for Fez, it was already past its peak so I never really got into it. It was only because it was free on PS+ that I even tried it at all, and boy was it a treat. I managed to get a pretty far ways in without having to look anything up, and I felt awesomely clever the whole time

 

Honorable Mentions

Device 6 - I downloaded this when I was on a business trip and I really didn't know what to expect. It seriously messed with my mind in a way that The Room and Year Walk didn't quite hit, and it stuck with me for a long time after.

Thomas was Alone - Simple, yet awesome. Basic, yet deep. I don't know exactly why it grabbed me, but man it grabbed me hard.

 

Ancient Game of the Year

X-COM: UFO Defense - Yes, the old X-COM. I never played it when I was young and with the help of a few mods that updated some of the UI bits, I finally got to experience it. I kinda understand now why people were a bit upset with the new one, it's a completely different style of game with much lighter resource management aspects than the original.

 

Honorable Mention

Divine Divinity - When everyone else was ranting about Original Sin, I decided to go on Steam and buy the Classic Divinity pack. It's been rough going at times, but it's amazing what this game was doing 12 years ago. It definitely stands up against Diablo 2 with slightly poorer mechanics but way more story and non-linear game play.

 

Party Game of the Year

Mount Your Friends - This year brought a wave of loneliness as my wife and I moved out of a shared house, so we bought a bunch of party games and started inviting people over. This is the game we always go back to. It's perfect in so many ways, music, wangs, grunts and all.

 

Wife's Favorite Game of the Year

80 Days - I just had to mention this somewhere. While I liked this game quite a bit, my wife has played through 8 times. It has crazy good writing and I hope that the author goes on to write more games like this, even if she has to go to another game studio to express herself.

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I finally played Thomas Was Alone this year as well, and it's deserving of all the praise it gets.  Had I played it in 2012, it would have been shortlisted for GOTY.

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Party Game of the Year

Mount Your Friends - This year brought a wave of loneliness as my wife and I moved out of a shared house, so we bought a bunch of party games and started inviting people over. This is the game we always go back to. It's perfect in so many ways, music, wangs, grunts and all.

 

I played quite a lot of this as well, and it's really great! The kinds of things you can do when you understand the mechanics are often really impressive.

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80 Days - I just had to mention this somewhere. While I liked this game quite a bit, my wife has played through 8 times. It has crazy good writing and I hope that the author goes on to write more games like this, even if she has to go to another game studio to express herself.

 

I'm looking forward to finding the islands she wrote for the Sunless Sea once it comes out of early access.

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Wife's Favorite Game of the Year

80 Days - I just had to mention this somewhere. While I liked this game quite a bit, my wife has played through 8 times. It has crazy good writing and I hope that the author goes on to write more games like this, even if she has to go to another game studio to express herself.

This really got my interest, I like this kind of narrative driven games on mobile.

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Wow, I am well aware that I suck at both starting games (I pre-ordered Portal 2 and still haven't gotten around to it) and also finishing them, but I've gone through this whole thread and out of everything mentioned I played Darksouls 2. I guess I also played Valkyria Chronicles, but it was super early in the year on PS3 so I don't think that counts. I kickstarted Banner Saga and Broken Age, but haven't gotten around to Banner Saga and am waiting on Broken Age to be all out to start it.

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I just remembered that FTL: Advanced Edition came out this year. That definitely makes it on my list, considering I put as much time into it as I did the original.

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