GOTY 2017

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Craig
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GOTY 2017

Post by Craig »

It's getting that time of year again and while considering your game of the year can lead to frivolous journeys in trying to compare Orange boxes and Apple TV games, we just can't help ourselves. So without further ado, here are my picks -

Best use of Maracas
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Hestu - Breath of the Wild
In a year without a new Samba de Amigo game, this category was wide open but it was Nintendo who stepped up with their indie smash, Breath of the Wild. In the game you play as a shirtless man named Link and must search a barren land finding seeds for Hestu's maracas. When you come across enough of them, you're rewarded with a brief but feisty dance sequence before heading out to find even more. Your ultimate goal in the game is to find all the seeds leading the big man himself to bestow upon you a golden gift of great honour which will means you can see him dance whenever you want. Expect a spin off maraca based rhythm game to be announced soon with immersive dual wielding joy con motion controls and HD rumble.

Most immature giggle from a localisation
Jaxi - Mario Odyssey
Creating a portmanteau is pretty common in videogames when creating new names, so when you have a Jaguar who is also a Taxi, why not put the two together? In a move which feels decidedly more RARE than Nintendo, they settled on a name which is also British slang for arse.
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Well that's just rude

Runner up -
Vroom in the Night Sky
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A launch title for Switch in which the most interesting thing was the frankly bizarre translation.


Most enjoyable fights caused by a game - Snipperclips
Facing stiff competition from Monopoly, Snipperclips has triumphed this year in giving the most agonizing moments of slight miscommunication and skill barriers leading to heart warming moments. Incomprehensible utterances of "Just... a bit more... no not that way... STOP! NO... oh wait" mean that even if you really know the person you're playing with, you're both left baffled at why the other person doesn't quite get what you mean, and what the hell they are trying to tell you. Obviously it's their fault you guys are taking so long.

So what are your games of the year, folks?
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Alex79
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Alex79 »

I think the only 2017 game I've played this year was Yakuza 0, which I loved. I was thinking of making a 'games I've enjoyed this year' thread. My highlights of 2017 have to be Bloodborne, Everyone's Gone To The Rapture, The Witcher 3 and Stardew Valley. But yeah, I don't tend to play 'new' games just because I grab them in sales a little later on. I will almost certainly make an exception however for Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.
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Suits
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Suits »

Ha ha ha, very good Craig man, made me laugh :lol: .

Best things I’ve played/enjoyed this year are rather obvious I’m afraid.

Zelda:Breath of the Wild
Wonder Boy:Dragons Trap
Resident Evil 7
Metroid Samus Returns (remake)

Biggest let down - Destiny 2
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Flabyo
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Flabyo »

Still not played Edith Finch yet, but probably will before I settle on a list as it’s in the XBO Christmas sale.

At the moment My GOTY is a tie between Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn. I’ve spoken about my opinions on those at length already elsewhere though.

I’m hoping to get to play Hellbalde soon, but I suspect that won’t be until some point in January.
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by deacon05oc »

My GOTY is Injustice 2. Horizon Zero Dawn is a very close second. My game clock in Injustice 2 is at 72 hours. I’ve never put that much time into a fighter ever. I hardly play multiplayer too. Just all multiverse play and trying to get each legendary gear for characters. I bought the ultimate edition and work on mastering the DLC characters. I actually want to work with all the characters at some point. Something I can’t say about any fighter ever.
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by kintaris »

My "Best 2017 Game Purchased That I Haven't Even Played Properly Yet" awards are a straight tie:

Pokémon Ultra Sun
West of Loathing
Hellblade
Gorogoa
Little Nightmares
Breath of the Wild

Best game I got around to playing this year is a three-way tie between Gone Home 1st Playthrough, Gone Home 2nd Playthrough and Gone Home 3rd Playthrough with commentary.

Best Videogame Ladder I've experienced this year was the one linking back to Undead Burg in Dark Souls. Worst was Alan Wake.

Ok, seriously now. My 2017 GOTYs are... good God, I've barely played anything new... errr...

Gorogoa (even though I've barely touched it)
Thimbleweed Park
The Sexy Brutale
Tacoma
Assassin's Creed Origins

No particular order. Pitiful year for me keeping up. Most new games I've played this year were indie review codes and frankly there was a lot of shit in that department.

(The reason I haven't got round to BOTW is because it's on the Wii U and I hate turning that thing on and wishing it was a Switch.)
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Some of the best games I played this year (by release order), from this year were:

Last Guardian (I'm cheating, but it came out so late and I got it so late that I'm counting it as from this year)

Danganronpa 1&2 Reload

Sublevel Zero Redux

Dragon Quest 7

Nier Automata

The Silver Case

Wipeout Omega Collection

Puyo Puyo vs Tetris

Persona 5

Wonderboy the Dragon's Trap

Ys Origin

Etrian Odyssey V

Zelda - Breath of the Wild

Super Mario Odyssey
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Stanshall
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Stanshall »

1. Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus

With a good couple of hundred hours on its nearest rival, it's impossible for me to overstate how much I got into this game since it appeared on the US eShop back in April. It killed off Zelda, MK8D, and nipped ARMS and Splatoon in the bud as the months passed. I've obviously been back to all four, they're superb, but for a good while, my Switch was an Isaac box. I watched a lot of Northernlion vids. I devoured the Platinum God website. I dreamed of Isaac, saw patterns everywhere, felt the tear trajectories, craved the soul heart sound. And sometimes, sometimes, I got eight-way, reflective, spoon bending, poisonous Brimstone. My gaming achievement of the year, and probably my life, was to get all hard completion marks with The Lost. For someone who's not really much good at games, this was the most rewarding gaming moment of my life. I'll never forget taking down Ultra Greedier or Mega Satan and feeling like my heart was about to punch through my chest. I've since put it aside, almost completely, because I feel like it's all downhill from there but I won't ever forget it.

2. ARMS

One of the best supported games of the year, it's boosted its roster of larger than life characters by 50%, and in the Party Crash, it's added a better timed event than Splatfest. The badges (achievement-style rewards) have also given players much more encouragement to mix up their mains and go-to combinations of arms. It's done quite well, I hear it's the sixth biggest seller of the year on the Switch, though I don't believe that. I also suspect it's one of the most returned Switch games. It is just a bit weird and takes time to learn how to play. It's not 'easy to pick up, difficult to master'. It's not a button basher. But it is its own weird, beautiful and often joyous thing. It's pretty much all footsies and mind games, which I love (though I'm a bit shit at), and constant experimentation to try to find your way through your opponent's defence and learn how to counter their attack combinations. When you have an evenly matched fight, and you're both reading each other well, and you're trying to get a bit more height and a bit more curve on your heavy Kerblammer to get up and over their Clapback and they're jabbing you with the Tribolt or hitting you almost at right angles with the Coolarang and you switch it up and throw an S-curving Parasol to fake out the dodge, and then BAMMMM they dash back into your charged hammer...my word, it's a special game. And even better when it's against a Ninjara!

3. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

As with BotW, every individual encounter is a story in itself. I just made a truly hopeless gamble and landed on the edge of the island, with a view to ransacking the pier area. I was shit outta luck, ended up with a pistol and baseball cap and fled with my tail between my legs, only to find that the playing area was as far from me as possible and the clock was ticking. I'd never make it. I was trapped on the coastline, essentially, due to the very heavy firefights over a motorbike, and I just thought fuck it, hug the shore, maybe I find a boat. As I kept swimming, tick tock, tick tock, I'm going nowhere fast. I couldn't even climb out and up the rocks at this point. I'll just keep going. I can hear the occasional motorbike and jeep speeding into the distance, leaving me behind, no chance of a lift. I came to a mini jetty, crouched and aimed down sights. I could hear automatic rifles on both sides. Why weren't they running like hell for the circle? I caught sight of them, a couple of nihilists ducking behind fences, accepting their imminent death but too proud to be a sitting duck, going out on their own terms. As I made a run for the long suspension bridge, I could hear the victorious duellist's bullets whizzing past my ears on my long lonely sprint. I was zigzagging and jumping, survival instinct I guess, even though I knew I wouldn't make it to the playing area. I was miles off still. One burned out car after another on the bridge, a burned out van, a house in the distance, some rocks, a tree, a fuckin BUGGY. I jumped in and just started burning it as the crow flies, bullets just a distant crackle in the background, the circle now shrinking behind me in view. It was like Twister or some shit, foot down, one way out, pure exhilaration. I had no weapons to speak of, a cap to keep the sun out my eyes and the slimmest chance of surviving any encounter, but I made that circle with seconds to spare. I finished eleventh, twelfth, something like that, a decent effort considering, but that's not the point. The end result means nothing compared to what I went through to get there. That wilful, hopeless dash may end up as my enduring memory of this game. I've never played anything like it.

Special mentions, of course, for BotW and Odyssey, the two games which reached highest and made me feel like a kid for many hours - it's just all been said already. Not far behind were Splatoon 2, MK8 Deluxe, Xenoblade Chronicles, all absolute stormers. Nier: Automata made its mark, as did HZD, and Persona 5 (though I've not finished any of them). However, my very special bonus mention must go to:

4 Gran Turismo Sport

After I picked up a One X, I was thrilled by Forza Motorsport 7. The range of cars and tracks and SP & MP options. The lighting is probably unsurpassed in gaming. The dynamic weather and time of day. Genuinely stunning when the stars align. It's the ultimate game to show off your fancy new console, basically. And then I got GT Sport and I've barely touched Forza since. The handling on GTS is simply beyond compare. You learn the cars, you feel the subtle differences. You learn their nuances and they behave exactly how you expect. Cornering and acceleration has simply never felt so satisfying or challenging. It's timing, timing, timing. Angles. Weight transfer. But you can feel every input and feel the impact. You know when you've blown it, when you're just clinging onto the asphalt, and when you're coming out of the bend 5mph up on your rival, and they can't do anything about it. It's a game of beautifully fine margins which teaches you to improve again and again, and even formally so. It's also got my favourite front end home menu of anything I can remember. Stunning, slick presentation, gorgeous catchy music - you feel like you're partly in a museum, partly a car showroom and partly a Japanese jazz club. It's on sale on PSN now and it's as good a driving game as I've ever played in my life.
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Chopper
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Chopper »

I had a lot of time off this year, and I put it to good use. I bought 80 games altogether, 36 of which were released in 2017. Of those 80, ten were ‘unfinishable’ games like sports games, sandbox games etc, so my 71% completion percentage this year was based on completing 50 of the remaining 70. I’m fairly happy with that as it shows I’m not buying stuff for the sake of buying it.

The big event of the year for me was VR. Some of the games released have been almost transformative (I’m trying to stay away from hyperbole here) as they enhance atmosphere, immersion and tactility – the three standouts being Resident Evil 7, Statik and Superhot, so far.

I really enjoyed Stellaris (from 2016) and Factorio (early access) which don’t really count. My list of standouts is:

Nioh
Resident Evil 7 VR
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
KONA
What Remains of Edith Finch
SuperHot VR
Prey

I’m hugely tempted to give my personal GOTY to Resi 7 VR or Edith Finch, both of which were great. In the end though, I’m giving it to Prey, a game that wholly won me over after a rough beginning. It’s also one of the more ‘traditional’ entries on the list above, which pains me a bit given that I feel that artistic risk should be rewarded (Hellblade, Edith), but I feel it’s a magnificent achievement in its own right, and for me was the most satisfying gaming experience of the year.
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Simonsloth »

My personal goty is tricky as nearly all the games I played were from the previous year.

I haven’t finished resi 7 or horizon but both would probably make the cut if I had.

Overall I think Edith finch was amazing and made such an impact I was trying to explain to everyone at work how amazing it was the next day (without sounding like I was talking nonsense).

I hope this is on the list for next year as I would love to contribute to a podcast about it
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

I’ve played through 11 games this year. Only 4 were released in 2017, but I always consider my GOTY really to be my personal GOTY regardless of the actual year of release. Games are games after all, and the best thing I play in any given year could come from anywhere!

So this is everything I’ve played through in 2017 ranked based on the pure enjoyment of the experience. Worth saying I liked every game in the list - I’m not the type (and don’t have the time!) to persevere through something I’m not enjoying. Life’s too short...

1. TLOZ: Breath Of The Wild (Switch)
2. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
3. Forza Horizon 3 (XO)
4. Sonic Mania (Switch)
5. Gears of War 4 (XO)
6. Mass Effect 3 (X360 via XO)
7. Uncharted 4 - A Thief’s End (PS4 Pro)
8. Severed (Vita)
9. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
10. Titanfall 2 (XO)
11. Football Manager 2017 (iOS)
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Simonsloth »

Good list. I tried to play severed on iOS and vita but bounced off it in the first hour or so. Worth another shot?
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Michiel K
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Michiel K »

I just heart your post, Craig. And I really enjoy your updates and insights on ARMS, Stanshall.

Merry Christmas, everyone!
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Indiana747
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Indiana747 »

Got my finalised top ten for 2017:

10. Nier Automata
9. Sniper Elite 4
8. The Surge
7. Uncharted:The Lost Legacy
6. Prey
5. Horizon Zero Dawn
4. The Evil Within 2
3. Resident Evil 7
2. Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
1. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.



Games that nearly made the list were:
Nex Machina.
Call of Duty: WWII.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands.



Biggest disappointments of 2017 were:
Mass Effect Andromeda.
Destiny 2.
Star Wars Battlefront 2
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seansthomas
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by seansthomas »

Easy top choice for me. Zelda. Predictable but I honestly think it's wonderful.

Carved up a well established franchise, changed open world games forever, took risks, introduced systems no other game has, looked wonderful, taxed my brain and I lost 150 hours to it on my clunky old Wii U, despite the way the shrines and enemy settlements were blatantly created in a way to make more sense on Switch with its drop in and out ability. I think it'll change the direction of what multiple developers are working on for a decade and be lauded like Ocarina of Time was.

Also enjoyed Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, ARMS and Thimbleweed Park a huge amount. Mario Vs Rabbids and Sonic Mania were thoroughly decent too.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Simonsloth wrote: December 24th, 2017, 10:54 pm Good list. I tried to play severed on iOS and vita but bounced off it in the first hour or so. Worth another shot?
Definitely! The game doesn’t get going in the first hour at all so you ain’t seen nothing yet. The core hook of Severed is the combat and it’s the progressive arc of this that is where it really shines.

In the first hour you’re just learning the absolute basics really, but as you move through the game getting stronger and acquiring new skills, the combat becomes and fantastically balanced dance. It’s all about managing multiple enemies all with their own strengths, weaknesses, and timings, who come at you from all angles. It’s immensely satisfying when you clear an encounter, with no small amount of skill required in the latter stages.

There’s also some decent levelling up/skill tree stuff going on as well if you like that kind of thing.

If that sounds appealing then please do give it another go. That said, having noted in my own post that I myself don’t stick with games I’m not enjoying, I recognise it’s a bit rich of me to tell you to do the opposite!

If you do give it another go though let me know your thoughts!
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Alex79
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Alex79 »

Simonsloth wrote: December 24th, 2017, 10:54 pm Good list. I tried to play severed on iOS and vita but bounced off it in the first hour or so. Worth another shot?
I thought it was brilliant, although I need to finish it. I would say if you're not in to it after an hour, the game play doesn't really change other than get more frantic and more power ups etc, so it's maybe just not for you.

EDIT: Haha, OK I basically said the exact opposite to Gregstrum! Sorry, probably didn't help much!
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Chopper
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Chopper »

Indiana747 wrote: December 26th, 2017, 2:25 am Got my finalised top ten for 2017:

10. Nier Automata
9. Sniper Elite 4
8. The Surge
7. Uncharted:The Lost Legacy
6. Prey
5. Horizon Zero Dawn
4. The Evil Within 2
3. Resident Evil 7
2. Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
1. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.
The Surge was firmly in my top ten for three of its five levels. Then I felt it overegged the pudding for the final two - long confusing levels with two or three enemies stationed where there’d be one before, just felt it turned into a slog for no good reason.

Nice to see Hellblade and Edith getting a lot of year-end love.
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Combine Hunter
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Combine Hunter »

Not going to rank em, but in alphabetical order my favourites of 2017 are

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrafice
Nier: Automata
Persona 5
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Prey
Resident Evil 7
Shoverl Knight: Spectre of Torment
Super Mario Odyssey
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
What Remains of Edith Finch
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

STRONG year.
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Re: GOTY 2017

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

I usually spend ever year playing games from the year (or years) before, so favourite games from 2017 that I actually played in 2017:

Persona 5: flawed and brilliant, as it is entirely possible to be both. And man oh man... do I love that soundtrack.

Doki Doki Literature Club: no hyperbole. It is a sincere, dark, and charming game, and spoiler - the message from Dan Salvato that you receive after you get the true ending - is reflective of a person who is passionate about gaming, and positive about what gaming as an art-form is capable of. In a year where companies like EA hit some new lows, it's nice to know that some creative people still care about the end product over profit.

And honestly, that is all the games from 2017 that I actually played in 2017. I'm not counting Mahou Daisakusen mainly because it is a 1993 game getting some M2 love in 2017.

Some of this years releases will more than likely be played in the following years. I have more games than I do have time to play them, like I think most of us?
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