Poll: Vote for the Reader's Choice GOTY for 2015!

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Witcher 3 is my personal vote. Being the only game of this year to absolutely exceed all my expectations and set a whole new standard for open-world RPG's, I can't gelp but appreciate CD Projekt Red's ambition and their ability to pull it off.

That said, if Bloodborne had come to PC, that probably would have been my original pick. Looks extremely fun and from what I've seen of Let's Plays, the atmosphere and art direction looks great.

On the merits of storytelling, I would pick Undertale, but considering that it's a gimmicky tedious disaster to actually play, I feel that there are better picks.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I've only played three of those games (Undertale, Fallout 4, Witcher 3), and its pretty easy to choose - Witcher 3, by far. Fun game play, an engaging story, massive amount of content, a world that actually feels interactive, fully realized characters... just loved it.

Fallout 4 was entertaining, but massively flawed. Undertale was... well, I ended up killing the last Undertale thread I was in, so I'll just say 'no thanks.'

 

[Wary Wolf]

B-B-B-BLOODBORNE! Because, I like some other weird Australian, came late to the Dark Souls party (haven't played either). So this one felt a lot more fresh to me. Where as Witcher and Fallout were not quite as fresh.

I did enjoy Undertale, but I, like AccursedTheory, don't want to be eviscerated by suggesting there were elements I didn't like in it. Solid game, not as fun or with same relay value as BB for me anyway.

Sadly, I haven't bothered with Legacy of the Void, mostly because I got the Terran campaign on the cheap, and that's tiding me over. Well, actually, Broodwar is tiding me over >_<

I'll probably pick up the battle chest when it comes out cheap though, so too late for me to vote / not vote for it.

 

[FPLOON]

I vote for S.U.B. for GOTY 2015! What does S.U.B. stand for?Splatoon
Undertale
Bloodborne
Since my original choice (Tales of Zestiria) and alternate choice (Highschool Romance) are not up in the running, I'm settling with my S.U.B. vote all day/everyday throughout 2015!

 

[vallorn]

Gah so many great games this year!

Well, I have a few Best Of games for this year:
Most Atmospheric Game: Bloodborne
Best Characters: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Best Multiplayer Game: Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
Most Predictable Disappointment: Star Wars Battlefront EA

Overall though, I have to give my GOTY vote to Bloodborne, nothing this year has gripped me in the same way that that game did, pulling me into it's deliciously Lovecraftian world with a masterfully executed twist which changes the entire game from a zombie survival horror esque game into a cosmic horror story involving the classics like unknowable truths, eldritch, uncaring gods, and cults. The gameplay is as solid as once tends to expect from From Software, though, the changes help it to have a pace and style all of its own.
So then:
GOTY: Bloodborne

P.S. you might want to announce this more widely and advertise it a bit more ffronw.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

Witcher 3, hands down.

I was so un-hyped for this game that it sat on my shelf for four months before I started playing it. About 100 hours in, and after a lot of internal "are you sure?" discussions, I concluded that Witcher 3 is my favorite game of all time. A game I knew nothing about, a series I never played before (and heard wasn't very good), unfamiliar lore, and characters who were already well-established? None of that mattered. Witcher 3 blew my mind even more than it blew away my low expectations.

Not since Saints Row 4 and South Park: Stick of Truth have I laughed so hard while playing a game, and those two titles were built for comedy.

I haven't had as much fun with a close-combat mechanic since Dark Souls. As a rule, I never turn up a game's difficulty settings unless there are achievements attached to them, and while that was the impetus that drove me to play Witcher 3 in Death March mode, I feel like playing on an easier setting would have diminished the overall experience.

The soundtrack is amazing - one of only three that I listen to even when I'm not playing the games, the others being Silent Hill 3 and Skyrim. Of course, I'm not counting games with licensed music soundtracks, because that list would be massive.

I'll end this digital make-out session with something I wrote about Witcher 3 in another thread, because it captures the essence of what made the game so special to me:

Throw in a scene-stealing rabbit submitting to an X-rated piggyback ride, a bird-loving druid (the gesture, not the animal), on-demand nudity, and the introduction of the word "blobtits" to my working vocabulary, and Witcher 3 is by far my favorite game in the history of games.

 

[Raika]

Undertale might be my favorite game of all time, so it gets my vote. I've never seen a game so intricately crafted and successful on every level. The world-building, writing, music, combat, and visuals are top notch, and considering that the "retro" aesthetic usually pisses me off to no end, that's saying quite a bit. The only thing released this year that even approaches it as far as I'm concerned is Heavensward, but that's not really a game unto itself, is it?

 

[Fox12]

Bloodborne for sure, with Undertale coming in close behind. It was really innovative and fun, and is probably the best cosmic horror story I've ever seen, certainly in a game.

I just got Witcher 3 yesterday, but it hasn't really drawn me in much : /

 

[gorfias]

probably would of picked Bloodborne if I owned the freaken game but no cigar since I have no PS4 ... *weeps in the corner*

Hey! Get on that already!!!! It's been around for 2 years! But seriously, it is fun. And I voted Bloodborne as I have yet to even boot up Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 doesn't get shipped to me till tomorrow.

 

[Nismu]

probably would have voted witcher 3 if my computer weren't too bad to handle it but again pillars of eternity was awesome too.

 

[Supernova1138]

The only two games on that list that I've played are Witcher 3 and Fallout 4. Witcher 3 is the better of the two on technical aspects alone before we even get into story or overall quality of the content, in which Witcher 3 also wins, so I'll go with Witcher 3 for my vote.

 

[Pinkilicious]

Ah, so it's just a 'flat' poll this year? (ie: no 'brackets' or multiple 'rounds' of voting?)

I prefer it this way, it's simpler.

Last time we did a flat poll Mass Effect 3 won GOTY. It made me giggle with glee.

Oh my. That sounds like it probably caused an exceptional uproar!

I had to go with Bloodbourne because, yeah, same boat as many others, Witcher 3 is just too beast ;-;
There's always LPs, I guess.
Undertale feels like it left me just as I got so much into it. I'm like "No...NO! THAT'S IT!?!?! IT CAN'T BE OVER ALREADY, NOOOOOOOO!"
I must say I never completely broke and overturned a game so fast though. Straight from ending back into replaying for a week straight, just trying to shake out that little bit more from it. Ending like it does, I can see why there was such a huge fandom explosion though! xD

Also it had such a nifty little thing I hadn't seen before, attack patterns changing based on what type of enemies and how many...but the bosses are all encountered solo, and there's no creatures that call for backup, and the possible encounters seem to have pre-set configurations rather than be totally random. So, so close to perfect...

Really, even more than more undertale, what undertale makes me want is a traditional 50-hour RPG with that battle system!

 

[Strazdas]

i guess ill go for the underdog again. Cities: Skylines were awesome, fixed what EA couldnt and was made and published by amazing people. Its early release probably made many people forget about it by now, but it was a great game made even greater by active modding community.

 

[IceForce]

Ah, so it's just a 'flat' poll this year? (ie: no 'brackets' or multiple 'rounds' of voting?)

I prefer it this way, it's simpler.

Last time we did a flat poll Mass Effect 3 won GOTY. It made me giggle with glee.

Oh my. That sounds like it probably caused an exceptional uproar!

LetalisK isn't kidding. The results can be seen here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.397062-The-Escapists-Game-of-the-Year-2012

13.48% doesn't seem like much of a share of the pie, but it's still more than any of the other games got.

Actually, that's interesting. Back in 2012 we didn't have an 8-option limit on the GOTY poll, so why do we have that limitation now in 2015?

 

[ffronw]

Due to popular demand, we're extending the voting on Reader's Choice through noon on Monday, January 4. Get those votes in!

 

[Elfgore]

What?!?! No Pirate Warriors 3!!!!! That's clearly the GOTY for everyone!!!

I guess from the list I gotta give it to The Witcher 3. Played it more than any other game on the list and had a damn fun time doing it too.

 

[BX3]

Jesus, I voted for UT, but maybe I should've given it to Skylines. Didn't know it was dead last.

 

[EHKOS]

What?!?! No Pirate Warriors 3!!!!! That's clearly the GOTY for everyone!!!

I guess from the list I gotta give it to The Witcher 3. Played it more than any other game on the list and had a damn fun time doing it too.

It gets disqualified for the random coins again. Also I'd rather get scored on damage than Kizuna but that one's just me.

OT: Lighters up for the fallen MGS:V. Fantastic gameplay, it's not the devs fault it wasn't finished. It was great as it was, imagine if Kojima got to polish it.

 

[VanQ]

Well, I haven't played any of those games except Witcher 3. So I guess that gets my vote. Just how out of touch with western gaming have I gotten lately?