Support NeoGAF

[TheDanimal]

Not enough Gunvolt in those results
At least Nintendo swept the top three though

 

[benny_a]

Let the record know that I played Dragonfall and thought it was bad, so it wasn't necessarily because it wasn't played.

 

[d1rtn4p]

Dragon Age is way too high on the list. Divinity is way too low.

 

[Ricker]

Good choices...I would not place them in that order but still.(Dragon Age would be number one for me).

 

[NEO0MJ]

I'm not just whining or dramatizing here either, I'm honestly flabbergasted at how terrible it is. At the very least, I absolutely expected a Dragonfall top 10 RPG (top 5 really) placement. It's not a particularly hardcore or challenging game (unlike Wasteland 2 and M&MX), and should have broad appeal. For it not to show up in the top 10 at all is shocking. I knew that the polling methodology used inherently results in a popularity contest, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

RPGs aren't really that popular IMO. Other than titles by Bioware, Bethesda and Square most RPGs seem pretty niche.

 

[Aarglefarg]

% of ballots with at least one Microsoft exclusive: 2.093023% (189)
>= 50% Microsoft Exclusive: 0.1845018% (2)
>= 80% Microsoft Exclusive: 0% (0)
100% Microsoft Exclusive: 0% (0)

Truly first class.

Looking at what those were:
XB1 Game of the Year: Sunset Overdrive = 313 points, 11 honorable mentions
2. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die = 63 points, 5 honorable mentions
3. Halo: The Master Chief Collection = 37 points, 7 honorable mentions
4. Killer Instinct: Season 2 = 14 points, 3 honorable mentions
5. Pinball FX 2 = 2 points

That drop off between first and second, with the 5th just being 2 points. Much worse than I was expecting.

 

[dkeane]

Wow at the Nintendo top 3 sweep! Crazy.
Wii U was my most played system last year though. Great stuff.

Love seeing all the additional stats.

 

[The Dear Leader]

I have to formally thank Nintendo as both a developer and publisher for preventing abject failure

Spoiler

(that is, a DA:I top 3 placement)

.

I'm not just whining or dramatizing here either, I'm honestly flabbergasted at how terrible it is. At the very least, I absolutely expected a Dragonfall top 10 RPG (top 5 really) placement. It's not a particularly hardcore or challenging game (unlike Wasteland 2 and M&MX), and should have broad appeal. For it not to show up in the top 10 at all is shocking. I knew that the polling methodology used inherently results in a popularity contest, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

Steam Gaf GOTY save us please!!! Who am I kidding, too much anime crap came out on Steam last year.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Pleased as punch at Tropical Freeze's strong showing, what a nice turn around from its announcement thread. That makes two 2D platformers in the top 10, the genre keeps on trucking at the top of its game.

Not surprised to see Gartooth topping my affinity list, was reading his list at the time thinking that the order was damn similar to what mine was going to be, stealing my list and all that!

Didn't fully expect the Big N top 3 though it was clear that those three would have strong showings, 2015 will likely be a lot more competitive across the board I expect seeing that big name releases don't seem quite so sparse across all platforms (unless there's another bout of delays).

 

[DedValve]

The only list where Nintendo and Alien will be properly recognized.

 

[Enosh]

predictable given all the wii u only list
can't say I agree with the list, but whatever my tastes are unlike gafs quite a bit ^^

 

[Grisby]

Can't fault Bayo 2, even if I think it's a bit weaker than the original.

All that Nintendo love. I liked MK8 but I felt it was way to short on content.

Thanks for the hard work guys, twas' fun.

 

[Haunted]

And the lack of PC games in general is kind of weird, especially the RPG catagory.

You might not notice because PC GAF has healthy threads and healthy contribution, but looking at the overall stats, GAF has always been a US-based console forum first and foremost. That's usually reflected in polls that include so many of the members and not just a sub-segment.

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

I am glad Alien Isolation got some well deserved recognition at the very least.

My buddies :

1. Violence Jack (121) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143591257&postcount=255
2. Moff (107) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143687572&postcount=439
3. mreddie (104) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=144430612&postcount=890
4. MichaelEM3 (103) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147844181&postcount=1896
5. ElectronicOldMen (102) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143570779&postcount=33
6. DukeBobby (99) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147681584&postcount=1646
7. CambriaRising (94) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147071741&postcount=1441
8. Simzyy (92) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=144369946&postcount=858
9. Teggy (91) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147276785&postcount=1489
9. UberTag (91) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143579212&postcount=172

 

[Delstius]

That RPG list makes me sad.

I agree on the sentiment. That being said, while there was a lot of interesting RPG this year, most were clearly not GOTY material to be honest, and that come from someone who love the genre. Also, no one play old school cRPG/non-mainstream JRPG anyway (hence DA:I first place).
On the bright side, 2015 should be more interesting.

 

[Haunted]

Looking at what those were:
XB1 Game of the Year: Sunset Overdrive = 313 points, 11 honorable mentions
2. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die = 63 points, 5 honorable mentions
3. Halo: The Master Chief Collection = 37 points, 7 honorable mentions
4. Killer Instinct: Season 2 = 14 points, 3 honorable mentions
5. Pinball FX 2 = 2 points

That drop off between first and second, with the 5th just being 2 points. Much worse than I was expecting.

oof, not a good year for MS exclusives.

 

[Rafterman]

All this Wii U bias, gross.

Wii U-GAF is more a marketing firm than a community at this point.

Only 1000 people voted, I wouldn't say it's a Wii U bias, just a couple hundred Nintendo fans doing what they do. I wouldn't let it bug you.

I'm not just whining or dramatizing here either, I'm honestly flabbergasted at how terrible it is. At the very least, I absolutely expected a Dragonfall top 10 RPG (top 5 really) placement. It's not a particularly hardcore or challenging game (unlike Wasteland 2 and M&MX), and should have broad appeal. For it not to show up in the top 10 at all is shocking. I knew that the polling methodology used inherently results in a popularity contest, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

Dunno what you were expecting, this is still a console centric site. RPGs don't exist if they aren't on a console, and even then it's mostly jRPG crap that gets the play around here. The RPG is list is disgusting, though.

 

[Haunted]

predictable given all the wii u only list
can't say I agree with the list, but whatever my tastes are unlike gafs quite a bit ^^

100% Nintendo Exclusive: 2.02952% (22)

Clearly, the 22 Nintendo exclusive votes out of 1084 total votes decided it all.


That said, if a user's list contained only Nintendo or Sony titles, I'm not sure how serious I can take that contribution.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Haha, Nintendo fans putting in work. Makes sense I guess, there was not much standout unequivocal everyone agrees 'Best Game' on the other platforms (lots of disappointments too) meaning you're splitting between 7-8 top titles while Nintendo console fans had only 3 really to split the vote between.

I enjoyed Bayonetta 2, but it felt like a lacking sequel that lost some of the originals flavour and zanyness so I just couldn't choose it as my own GOTY. I guess for a lot of people though this was the first year they even experienced Bayonetta at all, so maybe thats where we differ.

 

[Jucksalbe]

Thanks for the hard work Cheesemeister and timetokill! I really love those affinity lists.

And yay for Banished making the Simulation GOTY, even though competition wasn't exactly fierce. Also glad that Crimzon Clover got some recognition.
I'm surprised the top 3 are all WiiU games given the sales of the console, well deserved, I guess (only played MK8 out of those 3).

Was there really not a single 360 exclusive this year (that made someone's list)? But I think last year was already similarly barren.

Hmm...my top 10 games made #95, #39, #92, #2, #86, #40, #112, #6, #182 and #282, so basically a typical year.

 

[GeoramA]

Such a meh year full of sequels, remasters, and fan-service games that I didn't even bother voting. Congrats to the winners though.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Nintendo swept all the first places this year. What a magnificent year it was for them.

Im pretty sure I forgot to vote this year, although from what I see I didn't need two, every great game I was going to put in my list is in the lists in one way or another, that makes me happy.

EDIT Oh shit, reading some comments there seems to be some salt for nintendo getting the first places. So sad. The games the did this year were great, I could undertsand if they are not your cup of tea, but don't try to spin it with nintendo bias or some other shit like that.

 

[Jucksalbe]

Haha, Nintendo fans putting in work. Makes sense I guess, there was not much standout unequivocal everyone agrees 'Best Game' on the other platforms (lots of disappointments too) meaning you're splitting between 7-8 top titles while Nintendo console fans had only 3 really to split the vote between.

1. Nintendo = 4439 points, 164 honorable mentions, 29 titles

Whatever fits your narrative, I guess.

 

[Empty]

Wait, only 23% of ballots had a Nintendo exclusive on it yet the entire top 3 is Nintendo exclusives?

nintendo exclusives were focused around a few games, other ballots were more spread out across a wider range of games and with wider opinions on them

i think that kind of reflects the year, no? nintendo fans had very good feelings about a small bunch of games that catered to them very well indeed, but there was a very mixed, fragmented, hard to pin down year on other platforms, little consensus, wide range of stuff, gaming going in very different angles.

 

[Silky]

Sunset Overdrive got Shooter of the Year and Xbone exclusive of the year.

And yet Insomniac can't make good games anymore, right guys?!

--

Satisfied with this

 

[AlephAlpha]

Great choices. Not a huge Bayo/Platinum fan myself, but I can see that it is an exceptionally well made game.
I hope Nintendo will keep up the quality for the next years and that consumers will thank them by buying their games.

Fantastic work on the data by timetokill and Cheesemeister. Really impressive.

 

[Majmun]

Can't complain with the #1
Bayonetta 2 is a masterpiece

Hopefully Nintendo will fund a sequel again.

 

[flatearthpandas]

Is there a 3DS top ten? Did it not get ten different titles nominated?

Anyway, thanks for outting thus together. Legitimately surprised at the number of Wii U titles up there.

 

[Zia]

Ha, my affinity list is pretty interesting this year as my ballot was composed entirely of big Japanese games (!!!) and indies:

1. megalowho (95) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143647918&postcount=374
1. myco666 (95) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147223460&postcount=1474
3. sarcoa (88) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143582227&postcount=212
4. ShockingAlberto (83) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=145050373&postcount=982
5. Bronetta (80) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147829802&postcount=1833
5. Maragidyne (80) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143800588&postcount=526
7. daegan (78) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143651755&postcount=379
7. Raging Spaniard (78) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147527060&postcount=1559
9. thefil (77) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143765749&postcount=511
10. Fee (76) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=144364798&postcount=855

 

[ukpanik]

DA: I at 4. Ugh.
The majority of Gaf consider that go collect/one button combat pile of shite a great game! Embarrassing. IGN that way-->

 

[Dice]

Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is a strategy game? Uh, okay...

 

[Kathian]

Good list. Reflects the year well imo.

 

[CitizenCope]

Went through every page of the voting thread last night. At quick glance I didn't see one ballot that had both Bayonetta 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition on it. Again this was a quick glance and I'm sure that's nearly impossible so later I'll go through and do some numbers. Just an interesting tidbit.

 

[Silky]

Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is a strategy game? Uh, okay...

Very much so. You played the Co-Op?

 

[toddhunter]

Sunset Overdrive got Shooter of the Year and Xbone exclusive of the year.

And yet Insomniac can't make good games anymore, right guys?!

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. It is like having an amazing year by producing four sequels.

Ladies and gentlemen, 2014.

 

[Coxy]

RPGs aren't really that popular IMO. Other than titles by Bioware, Bethesda and Square most RPGs seem pretty niche.

and that is terrible indeed

 

[Nasreddin]

62. Nidhogg
48. Jazzpunk
29. The Wolf Among Us
72. Hohokum
66. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
xx. Road Redemption
58. Monument Valley
53. Threes
69. OlliOlli
154. FRACT OSC

Thought a few of my favorites would do better. At least Wolf Among Us and Ethan Carter.

Many thanks @ Cheese and timetokill!

 

[J0dy77]

What an amazing year for the Wii U. Such an underrated console. It's not just about the horsepower under the hood of the console that makes it worthwhile.

 

[Kurtofan]

Haha, Nintendo fans putting in work. Makes sense I guess, there was not much standout unequivocal everyone agrees 'Best Game' on the other platforms (lots of disappointments too) meaning you're splitting between 7-8 top titles while Nintendo console fans had only 3 really to split the vote between.

I enjoyed Bayonetta 2, but it felt like a lacking sequel that lost some of the originals flavour and zanyness so I just couldn't choose it as my own GOTY. I guess for a lot of people though this was the first year they even experienced Bayonetta at all, so maybe thats where we differ.

Bayonetta was bundled with Bayonetta 2.

 

[Busaiku]

Why is there no 3DS awards category?

 

[Adam Prime]

Why is there no 3DS awards category?

... They forgot ?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Congrats to Bayo 2. That game ruled.

 

[sora87]

Thank goodness Gaf gave Bayo 2 the recognition it deserves at least, most of the "big" gaming sites screwed the pooch on that one.

 

[Haunted]

Why is there no 3DS awards category?

timetokill's PSVita bias rears its ugly head again!

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

You know what I hate forgetting not to vote?
No affinity lists for me Those were fun.

 

[Melchiah]

Looking at what those were:
XB1 Game of the Year: Sunset Overdrive = 313 points, 11 honorable mentions
2. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die = 63 points, 5 honorable mentions
3. Halo: The Master Chief Collection = 37 points, 7 honorable mentions
4. Killer Instinct: Season 2 = 14 points, 3 honorable mentions
5. Pinball FX 2 = 2 points

That drop off between first and second, with the 5th just being 2 points. Much worse than I was expecting.

oof, not a good year for MS exclusives.

Especially how their 1st party games fared. Without the 2nd party releases the top 5 would look even more dismal.

 

[Silky]

And the lack of PC games in general is kind of weird, especially the RPG catagory.

I've always figured that the console only population of gamers was much larger than the PC only / PC+Console owners.

 

[UtterlyPerplexed]

Seal of Quality Award

2. Ubisoft = 1303 points, 73 honorable mentions, 16 titles

Hmm, frankly, I'd have chosen a better award name.

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

DA: I at 4. Ugh.
The majority of Gaf consider that go collect/one button combat pile of shite a great game! Embarrassing. IGN that way-->

I don't like the game either but people have the right to enjoy things other people don't right ?

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Haha, Nintendo fans putting in work. Makes sense I guess, there was not much standout unequivocal everyone agrees 'Best Game' on the other platforms (lots of disappointments too) meaning you're splitting between 7-8 top titles while Nintendo console fans had only 3 really to split the vote between.

I enjoyed Bayonetta 2, but it felt like a lacking sequel that lost some of the originals flavour and zanyness so I just couldn't choose it as my own GOTY. I guess for a lot of people though this was the first year they even experienced Bayonetta at all, so maybe thats where we differ.

Or, like many of us, we feel Bayo 2 is simply a better game. Leaner, more vibrant, none of those shitty QTE's, bloated SEGA hommages and platform bits that took away from the excellent combat. 2 takes the essence of Bayonetta and builds the entire game around it.

I don't see the list as Nintendo bias either. I own all machines, but it's hard to argue (like last year then) that Nintendo is on a streak of releasing excellent titles and having a studio like Platinum - the best developer of action games on the planet - support your platform with exclusives is a massive cherry on top.

I'm no fanboy, I'm in it for the games and the Wii U did gaming better than any other platform last year.