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NeoGAF Games of the Year 2014 Awards

Of course I had to vote Bayo 2 to defend Nintendo, as last year I voted Tlou to make sony-gaf the true master of gaming.That's definitely what happens in my mind, yep. Not that I just like games.
 
Bayonetta is a better game for the Bayo 2 fans who like that game. IF Bayo 2 was OBJECTIVELY a better game, more people would have been attracted to it than the numbers tell us.

This is a weird statement. All sales show us is what companies objectively market their games better. Bayonetta 2 was a niche sequel to a niche game, and (I'm only guessing here) most of the game's budget probably went to the actual game, not for marketing purposes. Compared to Activision's $500 million they spent on Destiny, of course Destiny is going to reach more people and sell more. And I'm not just talking Destiny, either. Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, all those games are more heavily marketed and heavily pushed for the general crowd of people who don't buy games that often. But the attach rate has absolutely no bearing on how objectively GOOD a game is. Just look at all the games that were plagued with bugs, errors, or gameplay problems.

As bad as that sounds, I almost have to agree. It sometimes feels like people voted for those Wii U games(and Bayo 2 as #1) cause they wanted to "root for the underdog"

What? My top 5 games were Smash Bros, Dark Souls 2, DKC: TF, South Park, and Shovel Knight. Because those were the best games I played this year. Why else would I rank them like that? Why else would anybody rank their games other than the ones they enjoyed playing?
 
Holy shit, there are more Nintendo fans here than I ever thought.

Why do people that like video games that happen to be released on a certain platform need to be called "Nintendo fans"? What difference does it make what platform a game is released on?

Is this where we are really at? Talking about games primarily by what platform they were released on.

These are really sad times.
 
When I was writing my own list I thought, "this was so much easier last year" but now seeing the results , 2014 was a disappointing year. Let's hope 2015 brings better games for our shiny new consoles.

Seems Nintendo fans are GAF's GOP. They get out and vote when it counts....despite being wrong about everything. I kid, congrats to Bayonetta2. That is the only game I actually want to play in the top 20 (that I haven't played yet). Got to love those Driveclub pity votes. That game is so much worse than I imagined. Biggest regret purchase of 2014.
 

spekkeh

Banned
For the same reasons other companies make high quality third party games...

You're not making sense. Third parties don't make loss leading games because they have no reason to. If Bayonetta 2 was ever released third party (it didn't, because no third party was interested in losing money so everyone turned it down) it would at least have monetization schemes to maybe recoup the costs, meaning it wouldn't be high quality.
 

Vitor711

Member
Infamous above Sunset Overdive? Look,I enjoyed both guys, but come on. When it comes to superhero power fantasies with excellent traversal, give me Sunset any time. It also has a decent combat system that made you feel powerful yet vulnerable while keeping you on the move constantly, something Infamous was sorely lacking.
 

Cheech

Member
GAF's disgusting Platinum bias rears its head once again.

Something like that. I haven't played Bayo 2, but the first game was fun for about 10 minutes max. I'm mystified.

difference does it make what platform a game is released on?.

It's relevant when it taints the results. Didn't Bayo 2 bomb? How is it even possible that many people actually played it to completion? Mario Kart is at least a bit easier to digest.

That said, props to OP again, these are always a lot of fun and I look forward to the next one!
 

seady

Member
Bayonetta 1 made it into 4th place in 2010 when it was voted here. The three games it lost to are Mass Effect 2 (1), Red Dead Redemption (2), and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (3). What gave Bayonetta 2 the GoTY win is more likely due to a vacuum of competition than anything else. Add in the opinion that the game is better than the first and there you go.

Wow Bayonetta faced some super powerhouse back in 2010. All 4 games have now become classics though.
 

Ramenman

Member
Thanks again OPs for all the work !

Best New IP Award
The top 20 games that do not belong to a preexisting franchise.

1. Shovel Knight = 549 points, 14 honorable mentions
2. Destiny = 344 points, 21 honorable mentions
3. Sunset Overdrive = 313 points, 11 honorable mentions

Yesss ! bravo Sunset, thanks Insomniac ! :D

Seal of Quality Award
The top 10 publishers for the year, based on total number of points for all their titles.

1. Nintendo = 4439 points, 164 honorable mentions, 29 titles
2. Ubisoft = 1303 points, 73 honorable mentions, 16 titles
3. Sony = 1257 points, 101 honorable mentions, 21 titles
4. EA = 1201 points, 48 honorable mentions, 12 titles

Hahahaha, I just love this one, considering those two get insta-shit upon so much all the time.

I love this result, it puts the "minority" back in "vocal minority" (even within this community itself), and secondly, it shows those big evil nameless corporations for all the games they released this year, and not just for the 2-3 that went wrong and controversy-ish.

For every ACU fiasco there is a Far Cry 4, a Child of Light, or Valiant Hearts.
For every shitty Battlefield launch there is a Titanfall, a DA Inquisition or a Garden Warfare.

It shows deep down we all acknowledge that.

Love and Hugs everyone.
 
Infamous above Sunset Overdive? Look,I enjoyed both guys, but come on. When it comes to superhero power fantasies with excellent traversal, give me Sunset any time. It also has a decent combat system that made you feel powerful yet vulnerable while keeping you on the move constantly, something Infamous was sorely lacking.

There is nothing super hero about SO. You're using guns.
 

JCX

Member
Generally we include a lot of ballots that would be disqualified. Every year we have a large number of invalid ballots and we do extra work to include the majority of them, we just make the stipulation that if you don't follow the rules we don't guarantee your ballot will be counted, and furthermore that you may be subject to a ban because list threads aren't allowed, and not reading the OP can subject you to a ban as well.

The commentary on it this year relates to the number of people who had invalid ballots (most typically, not formatting comments correctly) and they didn't get recommendation or affinity data because of it. Cheesemeister went above and beyond to help these poor unfortunate (illiterate? :p) souls.

Looking too deeply into participation rates beyond the graph I posted is really going to subject yourself to a large amount of confirmation bias.

I demand Gaf Voter ID for 2015 GoTY!
 
Some of the rationalization some members have in this thread is amusing. Keep the salt coming.

Wanna know why me and many voted for Bayonetta 2 as the best game of the year? because it's the best game we played this year, I'd even vote it the best game I have played since Mario Galaxy 2 and Xenoblade. I love EVERYTHING about the game and I can see myself replaying it many times in the following years.

and with Mario Kart 8 and Smash 4 being the best versions of their series to date, I can easily see how they ended up getting the 2nd and 3rd spot.
 
Something like that. I haven't played Bayo 2, but the first game was fun for about 10 minutes max. I'm mystified.



It's relevant when it taints the results. Didn't Bayo 2 bomb? How is it even possible that many people actually played it to completion? Mario Kart is at least a bit easier to digest.

That said, props to OP again, these are always a lot of fun and I look forward to the next one!

How can you question how possible it is for people to vote the game if you never played it?

It wasn't for me, but I get why it has a following.

And bomb? Well, lots of sales bombs thrive here. Some have multiple OTs.
 
Wow, people are so salty that Bayonetta 2 won and that Nintendo dominated that they're conjuring up conspiracy theories to explain this outcome? Good God. Are they really that salty? Are they really so ignorant to the fact that despite all the stupid stuff Nintendo does, they are still arguably the best software maker in the industry?
 

Haunted

Member
I like that the mods allow a page or two of saltiness before dropping the banhammer so everyone can have a good laugh at the expense of the haters before they're removed. :D
 
If you want to know why people voted for these games, there is a public thread that contains people's ballots with reasons for why they voted as they did. It's not a conspiracy, it's not a mystery, it's right there. A cursory glance on my part gives me the impression that people voted Bayonetta 2 highly because it's a really good action game, and it's a game that wasn't broken in a year where the majority of the big releases were.

no ur wrong. Gaf is biased for Bayonetta (i think its cuz kamiya directed the second 1) it was all a setup rigged from the jump to give the underdawgs the upperhand
 

Effigenius

Member
And air dashing
And water dashing
And wall running
And creating giant tornadoes
And doing big ground pounds


Have you seen the shit you can do in SO? It's not just a 'using guns' game.

Personally I know that I Grind on telephone lines all the time on my way to class or work. Nothing super hero about that.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
And air dashing
And water dashing
And wall running
And creating giant tornadoes
And doing big ground pounds


Have you seen the shit you can do in SO? It's not just a 'using guns' game.

Sure it isn't, but it's not a game that goes for a 'superhero' theme.
It's a colorful, wacky, batshit crazy world and you're a player in it with all kinds of batshit weaponry, base defenses and outrageous moves. It's a big, fun cartoon playground.

In SS there's a relatively 'normal' world with a handful of individuals that have legit superpowers.
The comicbook superhero parallels are pretty damn apparent in Second Son.

I'm not commenting on the gameplay quality of either game as I haven't yet played them.
 
As bad as that sounds, I almost have to agree. It sometimes feels like people voted for those Wii U games(and Bayo 2 as #1) cause they wanted to "root for the underdog"

Smash and Bayonetta got higher metacritics than any original game this year, and Mario Kart did very well there too. There should be nothing surprising about them winning, there's no need for conspiracies when they were reviewed better than anything else out of the gate by critics, were very positively received by fans and maintained that positive word of mouth after the initial hype cycle had died down.
 

Gummb

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about Rayman Legends Wii U.
Such a great analysis of the data, thank you!

I didn't vote this year, but it's always fun to see the results and watch how the narrative forms around the winners.

Thanks a ton!
 

adj_noun

Member
Both South Park and Dragon Age's placement represent (to me, at least) a heck of a journey. South Park went from a morass of notoriously bad licensed games to one of the most true to the license and entertaining games I played in 2014, with moments that are...unforgettable...to say the least. I guess that's what happens when Trey and Matt get involved.

Dragon Age went from Dragon Age 2's reception to a darn respectable placement; something I suspect would have been unimaginable in the months following DA2's release.

Congrats to Nintendo for its amazing showing and I hope this year is even better. :D Pillars of Eternity, man. This is gonna be one heck of a ride.

edit: Oh yeah, also great job with all the results! Tons of data there.
 

Riposte

Member
Holy shit, there are more Nintendo fans here than I ever thought.

A Nintendo fan being someone who likes Bayonetta 2, Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, and/or Super Smash Bros 4 enough to think they are among the best genes of the year?

I like that the mods allow a page or two of saltiness before dropping the banhammer so everyone can have a good laugh at the expense of the haters before they're removed. :D
They went for it too soon. I wanted to see what he would do when his plainly false statement was proven wrong.
 

Lunar15

Member
Will those Nintendo fans ever get off their bias? Just because Miyamoto made Bayonetta 2 doesn't mean you have to slobber all over it. It's like you just worship everything he makes.
 
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