Peanut
12-11-2015, 10:54 AM
Another year has almost reached its end and with that comes our new GOTY thread! Here (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=50491) is last years thread. We seem a bit busier around here this year, so hopefully we have more participants and some actual discussion.
I've got less time to make mine this year, so I won't be as pretty with it, but here's my list!
10. Halo 5
Halo 5 being so incredibly low is super surprising to me. I had it much higher in the list, but the more I thought about it the more I realized I was holding it higher because of nostalgia and some twisted form of loyalty. I think it's probably the best campaign Halo has ever had, but there's also a sense of extreme fatigue with the series, regardless of how good it is. I was really looking forward to Warzone being more interesting also, but it all boils down to which team is more willing to burn their high-end cards on dominating weapons/vehicles. Still an incredible game, but like most things I didn't hold my attention long enough.
9. Broken Age
Broken Age is game I'm incredibly surprised to find on my list and one that I kept having a hard time cutting once it came down to it. It's charming, it's funny, the VO is incredible, the premise is super interesting and it has a lot of great (sometimes frustrating) puzzles. Watching the game be made also brings it a little closer to my heart than I think it would have otherwise. A fantastic little adventure game that I gladly slot in alongside my favourites in the genre.
8. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Yet another game I never expected to be on this list. I played the demo and hated MH4. In fact, I had played and hated multiple Monster Hunter demos/games since they've been coming out. I don't know exactly what made me give MH4U my full attention, but I'm really glad I did, because it's amazing. I spent hours and hours on the game and still feel like I barely scratched the surface. It's something that has continued to linger in the back of my mind all year and I keep meaning to go back and sink a ton more time into it.
7. Yoshi's Wooly World
Wooly World is the sequel to Yoshi's Island that I've been dying for for years. It absolutely nails the core feeling of the SNES YI game, something every other Yoshi game since has failed to do. There's so much diversity to the levels and elements within them that every single moment is a treat. It would be much higher up my list, but playing it co-op with my wife hasn't allowed me to sink as much time into the game as I want to.
6. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
I never really played Majora's Mask on the N64 and I always regretted it. I'm glad I finally got the chance to play it through fully, because it's really incredible. I did absolutely everything in the game, something I very rarely do any more, and it was totally worth it. It climbed its way pretty far up the rankings of my favourite Zelda games.
5. One Piece Pirate Warriors 3
It's a DW game from Omega Force. It's One Piece. It's the most diverse game in the series. I can play as Doflamingo. There's a costume for Shambled Tashigi Smoker. Solid.
4. Tales from the Borderlands
My biggest surprise of the year. Telltale (yuck) + Borderlands (kill me) = Most incredibly endearing and well-written piece of interactive fiction of the year? What the hell? I absolutely adored the characters, the story was super rewarding, the VO was amazing, the opening sequences of each episode...my GOD those openings! It nails all of it. Even the creaky TT engine couldn't put me off. Please play it, because it deserves to do so much better than any other Telltale adventure.
3. Yo-Kai Watch
I get it, Japan. I really really get it. Yo-Kai Watch is the fresh new take on monster party building I didn't know I wanted. Part Pokemon, part SMT, part nostalgic Japanese childhood trip. It has so much more personality and energy than any of the Pokemon games, something I think gives it a huge edge against the lifeless and sterile Pokemon universe. Another incredibly endearing game. Level-5 has quickly become one of my absolute favourite developers.
2. Rise of the Tomb Raider
This is the one "big" game that I absolutely loved, top to bottom. I never wanted it to end. It's also a game I was going to skip in favour of Fallout 4, which would have been an awful mistake. It's so gorgeous, so sprawling, so satisfying. The story is still kind of sh*t and it plays up every cliché of the genre to the nth degree, but it's forgiven for how absolutely flawless the execution is. It's incredibly sad the game bombed, because it is not only the best Tomb Raider game ever made, but it's straight up one of the absolute best games this year.
1. Super Mario Maker
I have, and will continue, to play this game for a very very long time. Leave it up to Nintendo to make doing their job not only fun, but incredibly rewarding. I didn't have super high hopes for SMM at first. I thought it would be fun to mess around with, but I never expected to get absolutely absorbed by the mechanics of creating levels. Incredible game that deserves all the love in the world.
And, of course, 2015's GOTY that didn't come out in 2015 for me is a 3 way time between El Shaddai, WET and Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. I played all three in succession randomly early in the year and really enjoyed them all for what they were. Considering how poorly they all reviews (especially Yaiba) I enjoyed them a lot, especially for the bargin bin prices on WET ($5 about 2 years ago) and Yaiba ($2 earlier in the year).
I really got down to the wire this year and had to start making difficult cuts. Stuff like Splatoon, Axiom Verge, J-Stars and The Order: 1886 (yes, I enjoyed it for what it was) couldn't make it. I left Rare Replay out, because it seemed sort of unfair to the entire thing lol. I'm floored by both the things that made this list and the things that didn't. Tales from the Borderlands f*cking astounds me. Meanwhile, you have Fallout 4 and MGSV not even getting into my initial list before I started making cuts. If you had asked me last year to give a quick thought about what I assumed would make my list, both would be at the top. So so incredibly disappointing in ways I can't begin to describe.
I've got less time to make mine this year, so I won't be as pretty with it, but here's my list!
10. Halo 5
Halo 5 being so incredibly low is super surprising to me. I had it much higher in the list, but the more I thought about it the more I realized I was holding it higher because of nostalgia and some twisted form of loyalty. I think it's probably the best campaign Halo has ever had, but there's also a sense of extreme fatigue with the series, regardless of how good it is. I was really looking forward to Warzone being more interesting also, but it all boils down to which team is more willing to burn their high-end cards on dominating weapons/vehicles. Still an incredible game, but like most things I didn't hold my attention long enough.
9. Broken Age
Broken Age is game I'm incredibly surprised to find on my list and one that I kept having a hard time cutting once it came down to it. It's charming, it's funny, the VO is incredible, the premise is super interesting and it has a lot of great (sometimes frustrating) puzzles. Watching the game be made also brings it a little closer to my heart than I think it would have otherwise. A fantastic little adventure game that I gladly slot in alongside my favourites in the genre.
8. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Yet another game I never expected to be on this list. I played the demo and hated MH4. In fact, I had played and hated multiple Monster Hunter demos/games since they've been coming out. I don't know exactly what made me give MH4U my full attention, but I'm really glad I did, because it's amazing. I spent hours and hours on the game and still feel like I barely scratched the surface. It's something that has continued to linger in the back of my mind all year and I keep meaning to go back and sink a ton more time into it.
7. Yoshi's Wooly World
Wooly World is the sequel to Yoshi's Island that I've been dying for for years. It absolutely nails the core feeling of the SNES YI game, something every other Yoshi game since has failed to do. There's so much diversity to the levels and elements within them that every single moment is a treat. It would be much higher up my list, but playing it co-op with my wife hasn't allowed me to sink as much time into the game as I want to.
6. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
I never really played Majora's Mask on the N64 and I always regretted it. I'm glad I finally got the chance to play it through fully, because it's really incredible. I did absolutely everything in the game, something I very rarely do any more, and it was totally worth it. It climbed its way pretty far up the rankings of my favourite Zelda games.
5. One Piece Pirate Warriors 3
It's a DW game from Omega Force. It's One Piece. It's the most diverse game in the series. I can play as Doflamingo. There's a costume for Shambled Tashigi Smoker. Solid.
4. Tales from the Borderlands
My biggest surprise of the year. Telltale (yuck) + Borderlands (kill me) = Most incredibly endearing and well-written piece of interactive fiction of the year? What the hell? I absolutely adored the characters, the story was super rewarding, the VO was amazing, the opening sequences of each episode...my GOD those openings! It nails all of it. Even the creaky TT engine couldn't put me off. Please play it, because it deserves to do so much better than any other Telltale adventure.
3. Yo-Kai Watch
I get it, Japan. I really really get it. Yo-Kai Watch is the fresh new take on monster party building I didn't know I wanted. Part Pokemon, part SMT, part nostalgic Japanese childhood trip. It has so much more personality and energy than any of the Pokemon games, something I think gives it a huge edge against the lifeless and sterile Pokemon universe. Another incredibly endearing game. Level-5 has quickly become one of my absolute favourite developers.
2. Rise of the Tomb Raider
This is the one "big" game that I absolutely loved, top to bottom. I never wanted it to end. It's also a game I was going to skip in favour of Fallout 4, which would have been an awful mistake. It's so gorgeous, so sprawling, so satisfying. The story is still kind of sh*t and it plays up every cliché of the genre to the nth degree, but it's forgiven for how absolutely flawless the execution is. It's incredibly sad the game bombed, because it is not only the best Tomb Raider game ever made, but it's straight up one of the absolute best games this year.
1. Super Mario Maker
I have, and will continue, to play this game for a very very long time. Leave it up to Nintendo to make doing their job not only fun, but incredibly rewarding. I didn't have super high hopes for SMM at first. I thought it would be fun to mess around with, but I never expected to get absolutely absorbed by the mechanics of creating levels. Incredible game that deserves all the love in the world.
And, of course, 2015's GOTY that didn't come out in 2015 for me is a 3 way time between El Shaddai, WET and Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. I played all three in succession randomly early in the year and really enjoyed them all for what they were. Considering how poorly they all reviews (especially Yaiba) I enjoyed them a lot, especially for the bargin bin prices on WET ($5 about 2 years ago) and Yaiba ($2 earlier in the year).
I really got down to the wire this year and had to start making difficult cuts. Stuff like Splatoon, Axiom Verge, J-Stars and The Order: 1886 (yes, I enjoyed it for what it was) couldn't make it. I left Rare Replay out, because it seemed sort of unfair to the entire thing lol. I'm floored by both the things that made this list and the things that didn't. Tales from the Borderlands f*cking astounds me. Meanwhile, you have Fallout 4 and MGSV not even getting into my initial list before I started making cuts. If you had asked me last year to give a quick thought about what I assumed would make my list, both would be at the top. So so incredibly disappointing in ways I can't begin to describe.