Game of The Year Awards
- Thread starter Jax
- Start date
VGX was an unmitigated disaster. Not only did I disagree with GOTY, that Joel guy was so awkwardly unfunny and distracting. Why didn't they air it in Spike? Why couldn't they get an audience? Geoff Keighly looked like he wanted to just smack that other guy so many times. Only 1 actual game reveal and nothing from Naughty Dog, Bioware or Bethesda. Hopefully next year will be better.
No Man's Sky looks promising...
And Tales From The Borderlands looks good...
And Tales From The Borderlands looks good...
Game of the Year
Gotta go with GTA5. I'm a huge GTA fan and this one hit all the right marks. It was a game that put a spring in my step even when not playing, just from the knowledge that I'd be playing it later. It has been a long time since I felt that way about a game.
Studio of The Year
Paradox Development Studio. They make grand strategy games that used to be quite buggy and obtuse, but in recent years they turned things around and focused on polishing their games and designing better user interfaces. That was exemplified this year by the release of Europa Universalis IV, a game which had some balancing issues but was nonetheless a big improvement over its predecessor.
Best Voice Actor
William Morgan Sheppard. He's the voice in Civilization 5. I'm playing the new expansion for that game right now and, I don't know, I just like his voice. It might be sacrilegious to say it around here, but I prefer him to Leonard Nimoy in Civ4, Sheppard just puts more life into the quotes in my opinion.
Most Anticipated Game of 2014
I don't know, nothing really stands out. Infamous Second Son, I guess. I don't think I've ever played a game set in Seattle before.
Gotta go with GTA5. I'm a huge GTA fan and this one hit all the right marks. It was a game that put a spring in my step even when not playing, just from the knowledge that I'd be playing it later. It has been a long time since I felt that way about a game.
Studio of The Year
Paradox Development Studio. They make grand strategy games that used to be quite buggy and obtuse, but in recent years they turned things around and focused on polishing their games and designing better user interfaces. That was exemplified this year by the release of Europa Universalis IV, a game which had some balancing issues but was nonetheless a big improvement over its predecessor.
Best Voice Actor
William Morgan Sheppard. He's the voice in Civilization 5. I'm playing the new expansion for that game right now and, I don't know, I just like his voice. It might be sacrilegious to say it around here, but I prefer him to Leonard Nimoy in Civ4, Sheppard just puts more life into the quotes in my opinion.
Most Anticipated Game of 2014
I don't know, nothing really stands out. Infamous Second Son, I guess. I don't think I've ever played a game set in Seattle before.
Between these I had to go with Super Mario 3D World, because most of the list is dominated by games that focus on graphics and cinematography rather than interesting gameplay or anything that encourages problem solving and strategy.
Whereas I think SM3DW brought the best new ideas to the Mario series for a while (Though not as good a game as Galaxy, has better new ideas).
This was a pretty weak year for the sort of games I prefer, probably due to the transition period between gens. 2012 had XCOM, The Last Story, Growlanser IV, Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky, Mass Effect 3, Tales of Graces, and so on, all of which I liked better than anything from 2013.
I might have to go with Tales of Xillia as my favorite game released in a generally meh year. Though I haven't played Dragon's Crown yet.
Like, Last of Us has a wonderful story, beautiful cinematography. It easily wins 'Best movie releases among games'. But the gameplay is boring and stealth executed really mediocrely. So the great story is like I'm eating shitcake with delicious frosting.
I think most gamers feel the reverse now, that the story/cinematography is more important than the gameplay. Most of this list is dominated by those kinds of games.
2014 is looking to be a little more exciting for non-cinematography oriented games. Persona 5 is definitely at the top of my list there, but Dark Souls 2 and Bravely Default come early in the year.
Whereas I think SM3DW brought the best new ideas to the Mario series for a while (Though not as good a game as Galaxy, has better new ideas).
This was a pretty weak year for the sort of games I prefer, probably due to the transition period between gens. 2012 had XCOM, The Last Story, Growlanser IV, Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky, Mass Effect 3, Tales of Graces, and so on, all of which I liked better than anything from 2013.
I might have to go with Tales of Xillia as my favorite game released in a generally meh year. Though I haven't played Dragon's Crown yet.
Like, Last of Us has a wonderful story, beautiful cinematography. It easily wins 'Best movie releases among games'. But the gameplay is boring and stealth executed really mediocrely. So the great story is like I'm eating shitcake with delicious frosting.
I think most gamers feel the reverse now, that the story/cinematography is more important than the gameplay. Most of this list is dominated by those kinds of games.
2014 is looking to be a little more exciting for non-cinematography oriented games. Persona 5 is definitely at the top of my list there, but Dark Souls 2 and Bravely Default come early in the year.
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I meant to put Other on the poll and forgot and also forgot Arkham Origins (sorry). Yeh the VGX was AWFUL 
, Geoff was fine but the other guy Joel was it? a poor choice with poor autocue lines who didn't seem like he wanted to be there. Don't even get me started on that concert, SPIKE grow the fuck up will ya.
However No Man's Sky looked AWESOME
just wow. How can GTA V win GOTY but Naughty Dog win Studio of the Year 
, Geoff was fine but the other guy Joel was it? a poor choice with poor autocue lines who didn't seem like he wanted to be there. Don't even get me started on that concert, SPIKE grow the fuck up will ya.However No Man's Sky looked AWESOME
just wow. How can GTA V win GOTY but Naughty Dog win Studio of the Year I'll admit I really need a good story these days but the gameplay is still just as important. A great story truly immersives you into the game and a bad story just keeps bringing you out of the moment in my game.
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Because Rockstar North/DMA Design have been almost exclusively working on GTA games since GTA2, the only other title they've released since then was Manhunt 1. GTA5 was a superb GTA game, deserving of the Game of the Year award in my opinion, but the studio itself didn't do anything unexpected. Naughty Dog did, they released an entirely new IP to superb reviews. That's an impressive accomplishment, even though the game might not necessarily be better than GTA5. (I'm unfit to judge as I didn't play TLOU.)How van GTA V win GOTY but Naughty Dog win Studio of the Year
I meant to put Other on the poll and forgot and also forgot Arkham Origins (sorry). Yeh the VGX was AWFUL
However No Man's Sky looked AWESOME
I'll admit I really need a good story these days but the gameplay is still just as important. A great story truly immersives you into the game and a bad story just keeps bringing you out of the moment in my game.
For me story is only immersive if the story is gameplay driven. For example, in Mass Effect the conversation system makes you feel like your actions are driving the story. It's not actually less linear than other games, but it manages a convincing illusion that it is. When the cutscenes are totally separate from the gameplay or the story is used mostly to drive you down the right tunnel, I think it makes the story very unimmersive.
And I think the reason newer Final Fantasies are so much less immersive is that in older entries the plot happened directly on the playable map, so there wasn't that separation of game and story where it's like 'Ok cutscene time, time to put down the controller and settle on the couch.'
For me, good world design is much more immersive than story. If the area you're exploring is convincing and absorbing, that's what makes me really feel engaged in the drama. Even if the story itself is minimal, like I find Demon Souls much more immersive than Last Of Us.
I require a quality story when I'm playing a JRPG or a visual novel, but for anything else the story just gets in the way. Just give me a quick "The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue him?" blurb at the start of the game and I'm all set. Anything more than that and I'll be very annoyed.
My GOTY goes between The Last of Us, Tomb Raider and GTA V. I'm leaning towards TLOU because that was the most immersive game for me in quite some time. Thinking back in it, I can't find one moment if contrived narrative in it... And technically, it was flawless.
Tomb Raider was also highly immersive and technically impressive. I really wish Lara would've gotten her trademark dual pistols earlier in the game. Nontheless, I had a ball with this game and look forward to the sequel.
GTA V... What can I say. It seems like I can do anything in this game. I had so many problems trying to learn how to land a plane and now it's my favorite thing to do... Drive into an airport, hijack a plane and land it. Once I flew over a military base and let them shoot me down and bailed out with a parachute. The plane crashed in downtown Los Santos and this initiated another 3 star wanted level. So I managed to land in the river and had to swim for dear life to an aqueduct to avoid being shot. This may very well be the perfect game.
Tomb Raider was also highly immersive and technically impressive. I really wish Lara would've gotten her trademark dual pistols earlier in the game. Nontheless, I had a ball with this game and look forward to the sequel.
GTA V... What can I say. It seems like I can do anything in this game. I had so many problems trying to learn how to land a plane and now it's my favorite thing to do... Drive into an airport, hijack a plane and land it. Once I flew over a military base and let them shoot me down and bailed out with a parachute. The plane crashed in downtown Los Santos and this initiated another 3 star wanted level. So I managed to land in the river and had to swim for dear life to an aqueduct to avoid being shot. This may very well be the perfect game.
