Game of the Year, 2015 edition Options

[Alias]

It's coming round to that time of year again, and I though I'd create this to see what everyone else's opinions are.

While I've been playing Fallout 4 recently, and while it is the best Bethesda-developed game of recent memory I have found that I haven't really been inclined to go back to finish it quite yet and have been dabbling in other things. While enjoyable, I don't feel the same pull to it that I have felt with some other games.

I've also been looking over Legacy of the Void, but haven't got around to buying or playing it yet, so looking forward to some opinions regarding that too. I'll definitely get it, but will probably wait until it's on sale.

While I'm pretty much only a PC gamer, with a little bit of PS4 thrown in here and there, I have had my eyes out on the new Lara Croft game and it does seem like that is a good contender for this year too, although I think we'll be waiting until next year sometime until it hits the PC/PS4.

GTA V is a decent contender too, even though it was released the year prior on consoles, but I sometimes feel it has the same problems as Fallout 4 and I'm not as engaged in it as I could be.

However, we now come to what I think is easily the best title of this year, and that has to be the Witcher 3. The main storyline is both engaging and thought provoking, the gameplay is extremely crisp and smooth, it is more than likely the best looking game of this year too (it leaves Fallout 4 in the dust), the world is massive, and really feels populated wherever you go. The whole experience as a whole is just amazing. As I'm getting older, there's not many games I can play for a good 10-12 hours straight, but I did that with this several times (which also gives you an idea of how large this game is, I think I only did maybe half or three quarters of the sidequests and I'm pretty sure I hit over 70 hours.

There is just about only one very small minor thing (the only problem I could find) that I found to be a little bit of a disappointment is that the storyline doesn't tie as well into the previous games in the series like the Mass Effect series does. There were quite a lot of opportunities for several key plot points from the Witcher 2 to emerge, but I'm sure as the first expansion provided some links, the second expansion will definitely provide the same too.

On the topic of the expansion/s, the content in them is quite staggering (10+ hours for the first $10 one, which is more than many standalone RPG games have these days), and a promise of 20+ hours for the second and I'm definitely sure CDPR will deliver. I could probably go on for another 4 or 5 paragraphs about this but I guess I should leave it here, and recommend you buy it while you can (as it's currently on sale on Steam for 50% off, which is a complete steal for how much content you get), I'd also recommend you grab the expansion pass to get the two expansions (which I will call "expansions" rather than DLC because that is definitely how much extra it adds to the game).

Interested to seeing what everyone's opinions are.

This post has been edited by Alias: 4 Dec 2015, 10:09

[(USA)Bruce]

Nice read,

First of all how the hell and why the hell are they selling 50% off a game that game out this year when COD MW3 Has 20-30% off on special holidays at maximum?

As for my runners for game of the year:

1-Witcher 3, It was a fresh, bigger, better experiance overall....
2-Metal Gear solid 5, even with the bullshit of development hell and the war in heaven/board of directors vs Kojima happend...And tha games finished, Its truely a peak of graphics and mechanics.Theres so much stuff added yet preserved..This game would have been a first for me because Im a fanboy but I hear the endings unflished/a cliffhager.With Konami abandoning all AAA tittles other then pes and Kojima leaving Konami we can say that we wont see it.If MGS5 was completed like it was planned to be it would easily be the game of the year...Btw RIP Fox Engine, one game for one engine.
3-GTA 5 is a huge ass blockbuster with the biggest budget in entertainment I think? You could put this one in second place too, considering Im a MGS fanboy I just havent seen much innovation but more polish, content and care in this game.Sure it had bugs all games did....

As for fallout, Im wat ching it but other then graphics and a persuedo better plot with two steps back dialouge....I dont see anything GOTY worthy,
Come at me fallout fanboys, I await your responses

[Svea Rike]

Well my game of the year is Fallout 4 simply because I adore the world its in. I also happen to have played it non-stop since I got and I just can't turn away; I've become addicted. I need FO4 daily. But beyond that, I found FO4 to be one of the better Bethesda-made games. The story they wrote was minimalistic, but that's alright, not every RPG requires a bombastic tale of how a low-life farmer went off to save the world three times over. It was a simple search-and-rescue story that had several branches you could explore with enough quests, quippy dialogue and vigorous combat to easily make it through and find it enjoyable.

Secondly, I have been spending hours upon hours building settlements. Holy cow. I cannot stop. I have to transform every settlement into a fortress because... I CAN, and I WANT TO. This kind of feature is rare in a role-playing game, and I am superglad they added it as a feature. Then of course there is the gameplay. It has been improved upon in every aspect from previous games. VATS feels more intense now, shooting is more fluid and dynamic, and even small things like lockpicking and hacking works better now. I don't know why; they just do.

As for the dialogue system; I like it. I would always just skip through redundant dialogue in previous Fallout games, but now I'm inclined to listen through all of it because the voice acting is also superb. I like my protagonist more now that they have a voice, and hope Bethesda sticks with it for future titles. I also adore the little details, like how almost every named character has a unique voice actor and unique piece of clothing. Makes the world more immersive. And the cherry on the cake is the comedy gold they have slapsticked all over the place. Just from a random guard comment I burst out laughing, something I rarely do.

So there you have it; Fallout 4 is my game of the year. Witcher 3; tried to get into it, but it was such a slog. MGS 5; the two maps they made were unbelievably boring and I didn't feel compelled to continue the story at all, for some reason. GTA V; absolutely loved it but it came out two years ago, so it doesn't count. Bloodborne; hasn't played. Super Mario Maker: Okay for a while but I recently lost interest. Halo 5; only interested in the story, and it was good. Splatoon; while I enjoyed the gameplay, I soon felt that matches became pretty much the same once I realized the recipe for success was getting the best teammembers. And I can't choose that. Plus, the music annoyed the hell out of me. Black Ops 3; buggy as hell on PC, and I lost my save file halfway through the campaign. Screw you Activision. And... that's it.

[Evan]

I will stand over here and said Rainbow Six Seige will be a heavy contender...

[Skitt]

City Skylines, all im gonna say

[Basilisx]

I hear everywhere how fantastic Witcher 3 is, but I'm still at Witcher 2, which is also agreat game

My personal top would be:

Killing Floor 2. I put hundreds of hours in KF 1 and KF2 is an improvement in every way. Better graphics and lightning, better dismemberment, more perks, more weapons, more enemies. I simply love it and there is more to come, as the game is still in early access.

Fallout 4. Really cool game, there is so much you can do in this world and I like this post apocalyptic flair + still in the 50's mixture of culture and technology of the future. I sunk a few dozen hours in the game and every time I launched Fallout, the game surpirsed my somehow. Still waiting for a mod to have a companion + Dogmeat with me

Unreal Tournament. It is UT, nothing more to say, one of the first PC games I ever played and still going strong for me.


Out of competition I would also add Squad to the list, put it will be only released in 10 days. Squad will be the game between the casual Battlefield games and the hardcore sim ARMA. It is the spiritual successor to the BF2 mod Project Reality and I am really looking forward to this one. Perhaps when this one is out I have to revisit my top list

[Skitt]

Killing Floor 2. I put hundreds of hours in KF 1 and KF2 is an improvement in every way. Better graphics and lightning, better dismemberment, more perks, more weapons, more enemies. I simply love it and there is more to come, as the game is still in early access.

Same im on 1050 hrs on kf1 and 102 on kf2, but...
kf2 wont win not by a long shot. its buggy, performance issues, and to top it off its in Early access and they have done microtransactions, a good chunk of the kf community is pi***d off with tripwire doubt they get many votes

[ComradeCrimson]

If we are counting indiegames here, Undertale was a novel game for that category.

In terms of Triple A titles... tough to say. MGS5 is up there for certain. I haven't played it yet or any others.

[Basilisx]

Same im on 1050 hrs on kf1 and 102 on kf2, but...
kf2 wont win not by a long shot. its buggy, performance issues, and to top it off its in Early access and they have done microtransactions, a good chunk of the kf community is pi***d off with tripwire doubt they get many votes

The microtransaction thing doesn't bother me at all, as it is just cosmetics and you don't get skins with better weapon stats like in some famous burglar game that pissed off a good chunk of fans.
Despite that they also explained that everyone benefits from that thing, as they back up development for future and also free content and if you know TWI, you know they make a lot of free content for their games, not only for KF.

In KF1 you had 2 times a year a new weaponpack and or new, skinpack. Why not put them in an ingameshop ? It doesn't make a difference for me. Granted, people were asking for more content and when they hear, no you get an ingame shop that can be dishearting BUT people also received a new update last wekk, so that's cool with me and many more updates will follow.

Other than that there is nothing wrong on my end. Performance is top, no bugs spotted to far. I might be too big of a fanboy to see those problems

Give me a call, if you like to play a round.