Poll: Game Of The Year- Let the battle begin...

[Latenz1134]

As of now my game of the year is Fire Emblem Awakening. Not only is it my favorite game of the year, it is one of my favorite games of all time. It will be hard for any other games this year to beat that.

Is Fire Emblem: Awakening only available on the 3DS, or could I be able to purchase it for regular DS?

 

[Hazy]

No, I said that the game's usage of Quantum Mechanics is a real world application that is used incorrectly, which it is. The game takes the template for a real-life property, goes along with it (for the most part, anyway) and then at the very end decides to re-write it to fit its own agenda.

The idea of "super powers," "mechanical men," and "giant flying mechanical birds" are all fiction. Those are all fair game. I'm saying that you can't suddenly pull the "hey, the whole infinite worlds thing? Turns out they're not really infinite" card and get away with it.

Is there a list of things somewhere I can peruse that states all the different things that fiction/fantasy writers cannot "get away with"? I was laboring under the stupid assumption that "getting away" with bending the rules of how our universe works is rather the point of fantasy.

You can't contradict yourself. They give a real-world explanation for the way the city can fly, using real world science, quantum mechanics, but then at the end of the game decide to make up their own shit because they painted themselves into a corner. The key magically manifesting itself at the lighthouse door is a clear indication that they have no idea what they are talking about.

It is science, not magic. It does not alter just because you want it to.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

You can't contradict yourself. It's one way or the other. They give a real-world explanation for the way the city can fly, using real world science, quantum mechanics, but then at the end of the game decide to make up their own shit because they painted themselves into a corner. The key magically manifesting itself at the lighthouse door is a clear indication that they have no idea what they are talking about.

It's like saying "blue is a color," and then at the end of the game saying "okay, blue isn't actually a color."

Is that then, your supposition on how this played out? Not that Bioshock Infinite is primarily a game of alternate realities that employ CONSPICUOUS amounts of magic realism with a thin veneer of scientific gobbledygook layered over top of it for flavor, but rather that the authors set out to make a scientifically rigorous game that crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's, and just fell down years into the project? Someone shouted "EGADS, we have PAINTED OURSELVES INTO A CORNER" and perhaps someone else replied with "DO NOT WORRY, THE SHEEPLE WILL NOT NOTICE", and then a bunch of stained manilla envelopes containing wads of cash went out in the mail to ensure there would be sufficient positive reviews to gloss over this narrative catastrophe?

 

[Hazy]

You can't contradict yourself. It's one way or the other. They give a real-world explanation for the way the city can fly, using real world science, quantum mechanics, but then at the end of the game decide to make up their own shit because they painted themselves into a corner. The key magically manifesting itself at the lighthouse door is a clear indication that they have no idea what they are talking about.

It's like saying "blue is a color," and then at the end of the game saying "okay, blue isn't actually a color."

Is that then, your supposition on how this played out? Not that Bioshock Infinite is primarily a game of alternate realities that employ CONSPICUOUS amounts of magic realism with a thin veneer of scientific gobbledygook layered over top of it for flavor, but rather that the authors set out to make a scientifically rigorous game that crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's, and just fell down years into the project? Someone shouted "EGADS, we have PAINTED OURSELVES INTO A CORNER" and perhaps someone else replied with "DO NOT WORRY, THE SHEEPLE WILL NOT NOTICE", and then a bunch of stained manilla envelopes containing wads of cash went out in the mail to ensure there would be sufficient positive reviews to gloss over this narrative catastrophe?

We're at an impasse here. I simply cannot explain this any simpler without retracing my steps, and I have neither the time nor the patience to sit around here while my gym hours slip away. When you use real-world science, which it does, and then skew it in your own favor, we have a problem. Jumping between realities? That's fine. That's fiction. There is no possible way to jump from one reality to another, so that's a moot point.
That said, yes, they did rewrite the story in 6 months. Do with that what you will.

But if you're implying that I'm saying they paid to get good reviews, no, I don't. Dear Esther also got great reviews, and that game didn't know what it was talking about either. The majority might think something, but it certainly doesn't make them right.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

We're at an impasse here. I simply cannot explain this any simpler. That said, yes, they did rewrite the story in 6 months. Do with that what you will.

But if you're implying that I'm saying they paid to get good reviews, no, I don't. Dear Esther also got great reviews, and that game didn't know what it was talking about either.

Indeed we are. You've indicated the hallmark of good fiction, or at least "deep" fiction, is "whether or not they know what they're talking about", and have basically indicated that Bioshock Infinite's failure to qualify as good hard science disqualifies it from even being considered "good", to the extent that praise of it on the grounds of its story is "incredible".

It's certainly *a* way to read fiction, even fantasy fiction, but I find it a deeply unfortunate and confusing one. I've never considered the primary purpose of either science fiction or fantasy to be exceedingly clever and make sure they don't gloss over any important real world details. Indeed, many of the entries in both genres widely regarded as seminal classics pay little to no attention to establishing scientific rigor, choosing instead to use the fantastical backdrop as a tableau upon which to set emotional/thematic stories. Which Bioshock Infinite did.

PS - Heading out now, no replies for a while if it is your pleasure to continue this.

 

[LAGG]

The year is not over yet.

Too early to call. But so far I'd go with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which as a very good surprise I got for free from pre-ordering Bioshock Infinite. That game is what made the pre-order feel worth it and the game I was actually looking for was a disappointment.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Every time someone asks this I cannot for the life of me remember what games came out this year. I really like metro last light. Bioshock infinite was a good game in its own right but after riding the hype train for 2 years and getting something that was nothing like the previous 2 games I was disappointed in the end. Brave new world even though its just an expansion was amazing for me. Too hard to pick. Transformers fall of cybertron was also surprisingly awesome. I know it did not come out this year but i just played it a few months ago.

 

[Weaver]

I dunno, but every AAA I played this year has been utterly disappointing in nearly every way (except Bioshock Infinite's story).

 

[wooty]

As much as I'm thoroughly enjoying GTA5, The Last of Us wins it for me. So creepy, so nerve wracking (for me at least), so intriguing, rather emotional, looks gorgeous, made me want more.

Marks of a quality game for me.

 

[Caiphus]

Is that then, your supposition on how this played out? Not that Bioshock Infinite is primarily a game of alternate realities that employ CONSPICUOUS amounts of magic realism with a thin veneer of scientific gobbledygook layered over top of it for flavor, but rather that the authors set out to make a scientifically rigorous game that crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's, and just fell down years into the project? Someone shouted "EGADS, we have PAINTED OURSELVES INTO A CORNER" and perhaps someone else replied with "DO NOT WORRY, THE SHEEPLE WILL NOT NOTICE", and then a bunch of stained manilla envelopes containing wads of cash went out in the mail to ensure there would be sufficient positive reviews to gloss over this narrative catastrophe?

I hear Bioshock Infinite's narrative was actually meant to be a physics PhD student's thesis, but it was, strangely, denied by the professor for being "Absolutely bloody insane, what is this? Are you even a student here?"

They then decided to make a video game because you might as well get something out of it, right?

 

[RedmistSM]

Probably Metal Gear Rising Revengeance for me? It's not Platinum/Clover's best game, but I had a ton of fun with both the game and the story. Bioshock was interesting, but I don't like the gameplay in that at all. Haven't tried a ton of other games that came out this year. Rayman Legends has some really poor stages on my console since they were made for the Wii U touchpad.

 

[not_you]

Yeah... where are more choices in the poll?

Saints Row 4 should be there...
Metro: Last Light stayed true to the original and was a greatly improved game...

I would like to say Payday 2 for indie of the year, until Overkill was bought by Starbreeze (or something to that effect)...

ARMA 3 is also a great shooter at least...

And then there are the games not even out yet...
As much as I hate to say it, we all know that CoD: Ghosts and BF4 will get some piece of the pie...

Then there's Gran Turismo 6 due in early December...

Then again, the one "Game of the Year" title will belong to either GTA 5 or SR4 purely due to the grounds they cover as games... Not really being one "genre" in themselves is kinda unfair...

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Bioshock Infinite... just because it was my personal favourite game this year... (though I haven't played The Last Of Us yet and I'm only a tiny way into GTA V so my opinion may change),

But even then... Bioshock: Infinite hooked me and didn't let me go until weeks after I beat it... it was fun, engaging and impacting, not much more I want out of a game myself.

 

[boradam]

Metro: Last Light, and/or Wasteland 2 (depending on if it actually releases this year and is as good as I'm expecting it to be.)

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

He does bring up major problems, have you seen that video? Linear level design, two-weapon limit that discourages you from experimenting, the game treating you like an idiot, the anti-climactic Songbird encounter, the underwhelming Vigors, poor item placement, melee that is never touched on again, etc etc Ad nauseam.

It's not supposed to be funny - it's supposed to give an in-depth analysis of the game and its components. The majority of the video is a complete overview of the story, which makes sense, given that it's the majority of the actual game.

Look at it like this: Part 1: BioShock Infinite's core mechanics, Part 2: BioShock Infinite's story, Part 3: BioShock Infinite's design when compared to another, older, and better game.

He takes at least a minute talking about not being able to throw a ball. The 1st Bioshock had way more problems than Infinite. The stupid hacking and the stupid research. I'm glad they got rid of hacking, every game with a hacking mini-game gets really tiring not even halfway into the game no matter how good the mini-game is. The 1st Bioshock was so horribly paced, everything felt like a side mission, it took me 3 years to play through the damn thing because I kept putting it down because of the middle sections being so boring. The 1st Bioshock also stopped doing things that it actually does well like the horror bits are great in the beginning, then the game just gives up on that.

The 2 weapon system is fine. I would've preferred having all weapons with me but it wasn't a big deal at all. I played through 1999 mode without buying any ammo and I didn't have an issue having to use some crappy gun. I even upgraded stuff that I didn't even want really as I had plenty of money even in 1999 mode. The level design wasn't that much more linear than Bioshock as Bioshock was more open because you backtrack a lot more and the game also had respawning splicers as well. The vigors were better than the plasmids in Bioshock, plus the vigor combinations are awesome. The only thing I liked better in the 1st Bioshock was the tonics, which were overall better than Infinite's gear.

I thought the Songbird fight at the end was fine, I thought it was cool that instead of being a boss battle, Songbird fought on your side. The bigger issue (which he doesn't bring up for some reason) with that whole scene was that Elizabeth didn't do much as she just summoned a freaking tornado just a bit before that. What's wrong with the melee, you can build a melee-only Booker if you want to and melee is the best way to beat Lady Comstock so I don't get what's wrong with the melee.

His story analysis was horrible. He explains it so people don't say he didn't understand it, but that only proves that he didn't understand it. His whole part about there being all those Comstocks doesn't make sense; the game makes it 100% apparent that Comstock ONLY comes about from the ONE Booker getting baptized, then a million million Comstocks spawn from there. No other Booker becomes Comstock like he was saying in the video. That's just one example of him not understanding the story, I could go on and on about how wrong his story analysis is like how he says you don't know what happened to Elizabeth at the end but you know she left and lived (it's pretty obvious in the final scene as Booker says "who are you?" after the last door is opened since that's a different Elizabeth when Booker is drowned plus no necklace as well). He just didn't "get" it.

I can't comment on the story since I stopped playing. And the reason for that is perfectly explained in the gameplay portion of this video. The gunplay feels terribly flacid and unsatisfying, the enemies don't react to being shot at all untill they die, and enemies spawn so randomly that you have no choice but to just stand there and take massive amounts of damage untill everyone is finally dead. A lot of features feel crowbarred in without considering the rest of the game mechanics, like weapon upgrades in a game that allows only two weapons to be carried at a time. Meaning you either clutch to the same two weapons for the whole duration of the game, or you switch weapons for the sake of variety foregoing your upgrades.

Those are already pretty major problems.

The point of this video was not to outright shit on the game, but to give some counters as to why the massive praise it has gotten might be a bit overblown, seeing as it has so many annoyances.

This game was at its best when it was not trying to be a first-person shooter, which unfortunately was only 20% of the time that I played it. I got to the Chinese weapon smith, and at that point my patience with the abysmal shooting sections had been exhausted.

The shooting is pretty good for me and I'm a pretty hardcore shooter gamer as I won't play COD because it doesn't have leaning for example. As just a straight-up shooter, it isn't anything special but Infinite is a shooter more along the lines of Borderlands (which isn't a great straight-up shooter either) where you're supposed to build your character (with gear) and use powers so that you're rarely just shooting like you throw out the crows plus devil's kiss, then you shoot. Or lift enemies with the bronco vigor, then shotgun them. On that level of shooting, the game plays great. You can make a melee Booker with the right gear. The game is meant to be played by being creative with the gear and vigors so that you're not straight-up shooting enemies. You should be using power weapons most of the time as well (like the sniper rifle, shotgun, volleygun, hand cannon, etc.)

 

[The_Lost_King]

As of now my game of the year is Fire Emblem Awakening. Not only is it my favorite game of the year, it is one of my favorite games of all time. It will be hard for any other games this year to beat that.

Is Fire Emblem: Awakening only available on the 3DS, or could I be able to purchase it for regular DS?

It is only on 3ds. Sorry. The regular ds could probably not handle this. The 3ds is worth the money, plus pokemon.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

A little early to be deciding the game of the year.. and there aren't many that deserved that title this year from what I've played so far.. games I think shout be contenders include Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, Naruto Shippuden ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Tales of Xilia and the Last of US... can't think of any others that were that great this year so far.

 

[Dyan]

Metro Last Light takes my GOTY spot. I just can't think of any other game this year that I enjoyed as much as I did Metro.

Honorable Mention goes to Saints Row IV.