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NeoGAF Games of the Year 2015 Awards

T

The Xtortionist

Member
Instro said:
Admittedly I haven't played Demons in years, so my memory is a bit spotty, although I agree with you on it being better than the DS1 & 2. Personally though I prefer interconnected areas over the hub style of design.
Click to expand...

Ideally I would want a world as interconnected as Dark 1, but with the individual area quality of Bloodborne and Demon's. That's what I'm hoping for with Dark 3. Bloodborne's world is technically interconnected, though I think it really downplays that aspect compared to to Dark 1 which has you constantly looping back to different areas. Bloodborne focuses that stuff into just a few moments, like the Forbidden Woods -> Clinic connection, rather than going for it all the time.
 
B

BumRush

Member
Maaaan, this is such a great thread with the OP (et al) putting in WORK to bring it to us, but a few people are just straight ruining it.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
The Xtortionist said:
Ideally I would want a world as interconnected as Dark 1, but with the individual area quality of Bloodborne and Demon's. That's what I'm hoping for with Dark 3. Bloodborne's world is technically interconnected, though I think it really downplays that aspect compared to to Dark 1 which has you constantly looping back to different areas. Bloodborne focuses that stuff into just a few moments, like the Forbidden Woods -> Clinic connection, rather than going for it all the time.
Click to expand...

And it also has a hub, that serves zero purpose aside from forcing you to go through 2 load screens to teleport, or load to level up. :<
 
T

The Xtortionist

Member
Papercuts said:
And it also has a hub, that serves zero purpose aside from forcing you to go through 2 load screens to teleport, or load to level up. :<
Click to expand...

I like the hub in theory. But I think From doesn't always take technical considerations like load times or framerate into account when designing content. See: Blighttown.
 
M

Molemitts

Member
I'm glad Bloodborne won, but it's not my favourite Souls game. That would go to Dark Souls, which is also probably my favourite game of all time. Complaining about Bloodborne winning because it's not as good as Dark Souls does seem strange, though. I would have liked to see Dark Souls win in 2011, but it's clear the popularity of Souls games has grown hugely in the years since, which gives Bloodborne a big opportunity to use that grown popularity this year. Even if Bloodborne isn't the best Souls game doesn't mean it's not one of the best games released this year. Besides, plenty of people think Bloodborne is the best Souls games and I can see why. I personally prefer Dark Souls, because of it's environmental variety and lore which I prefer the anti-authoritarian themes of and how the different sides are trying to trick you, with the characters playing into that and stuff. Also, Estus Flask. Though it's probably also because I played it first, but I have other reasons that I can't be bothered to write about.

Anyway, we all know Undertale is the true GOTY.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Oh, yeah, my affinity list:

Eusis
1. AndyLonn (123) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190149584&postcount=864
1. Venfayth (123) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=191591717&postcount=2062
3. JimJamJones (113) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190054775&postcount=577
4. Mutagenic (110) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=192999455&postcount=3009
5. ultranova17 (107) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190160186&postcount=909
6. ManeKast (102) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190925666&postcount=1752
7. Exterminieren (99) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190759382&postcount=1460
8. Prinny (98) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190357238&postcount=1146
8. THE Caffeinated (98) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190226525&postcount=989
10. Apenheul (97) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190069613&postcount=679
Click to expand...

Also, my own list of games for anyone that feels like comparing. I think I recognize more avatars than names there, and am kind of surprised that while I showed up on the lists of people who voted Trails in the Sky SC, none of those on my list voted for it (one Trails of Cold Steel vote though!)
 
S

SomTervo

Member
Great list, great year, great results.

Angel_DvA said:
Almost agree with the top 15, I just change Bloodborne with Witcher 3 but both are amazing games and we know how much Gaf loves Bloodborne :p , a good year for gaming overall, I hope 2016 will be even more stronger !!
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Same here. I would definitely prop TW3 just above Bloodborne. But only just. I can still absolutely appreciate BB being #1.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Oh, yeah, admittedly Witcher 3 might've gone higher if I had played more, but I'd probably still put Bloodborne above it either due to preference or bias (the line can blur admittedly.) It's just more my style of game, though Witcher 3 is in a similar territory anyway.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
The Xtortionist said:
I like the hub in theory. But I think From doesn't always take technical considerations like load times or framerate into account when designing content. See: Blighttown.
Click to expand...

To me it's more exasperated by the load times while ultimately feeling like a pace breaker for no real reason by design. I was fine with the Nexus in Demon's due to the way levels were split--the game in general felt more old school tackle a level, take a breather to equip/level up/etc., the games after have all not been like this. Dark Souls managed to have Firelink Shrine feel like a hub without forcing it on you, while 2 and Bloodborne lost me a bit by having the level up character separate from a game that is otherwise more grounded and connected.
 
T

The Xtortionist

Member
Papercuts said:
To me it's more exasperated by the load times while ultimately feeling like a pace breaker for no real reason by design. I was fine with the Nexus in Demon's due to the way levels were split--the game in general felt more old school tackle a level, take a breather to equip/level up/etc., the games after have all not been like this. Dark Souls managed to have Firelink Shrine feel like a hub without forcing it on you, while 2 and Bloodborne lost me a bit by having the level up character separate from a game that is otherwise more grounded and connected.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you play Demon's by doing all X-1s, then all X-2s, etc, since you're forced to return to the Nexus anyway to switch zones. I wouldn't say I warped to the hub in Bloodborne with greater frequency than I ever did in Demon's - usually after beating a boss (which can feel like a level) or after spending a long time in an area and unlocking a shortcut (like the first elevator shortcut in Forbidden Woods).
 
V

Vulcano's assistant

Banned
generic_username said:
What is design? Level design, encounter design, enemy design? A case can be made for BB being far superior to the Witcher in each of those respects.

Now even if we start focussing on traditional rpg leveling systems you are left with putting points in areas meant to enhance the combat system or make the combat more rewarding ( alchemy, swords, magic etc.. ). Because the core combat system is subpar I never got any sense of empowerment from leveling up. Yeah my swords improve the chance of bleeding and higher damage but practically nothing changed when I fight. It is still the same subpar combat system with sub par weapon depth and feedback. So having a ton of different areas to put points into ultimately still does nothing to improve core gameplay.

What you are left with is quest design which is cool but once again most of your interaction with quests comes from navigation ( poor ), combat ( poor) or just using Batman detective mode ( which is what it is - neither poor nor particularly noteworthy ) so again it is not particularly satisfying. The writing is cool and element of choice is cool but ultimately for people who want mechanically strong games it could be a let down.
Click to expand...

How come one cannot make a point in this thread without someone thinking it is always about pinning one of these games against another? I'm not even mentioning Bloodborne or the freaking Witcher in my post.

Someone said,"gameplay is all" then I replied "not it is not, not in more obvious cases like Fallout, nor even for Souls series, people love content and design to go along with gameplay".
 
T

Toparaman

Banned
Great list. I've been gaming for two decades now, and 2015 was definitely one of the best years. There was something wonderful for pretty much every taste.

Here's to another year of hype, hyperbole, and fun.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Really, it should come down to what entertained you most. Trails in the Sky SC wouldn't top Bloodborne in raw gameplay, but I liked the whole experience for SC and I liked the gameplay well enough. So if the gameplay of Bloodborne entertained you more than the story of Witcher 3, great, but you shouldn't make it a case of "well I really really liked the story and quests in Witcher 3 more than I enjoyed actually playing Bloodborne, buuut since I didn't quite like Witcher 3's combat I guess I have to give the nod to Bloodborne instead."
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
Vulcano's assistant said:
How come one cannot make a point in this thread without someone thinking it is always about pinning one of these games against another? I'm not even mentioning Bloodborne or the freaking Witcher in my post.

Someone said,"gameplay is all" then I replied "not it is not, not in more obvious cases like Fallout, nor even for Souls series, people love content and design to go along with gameplay".

You want o know what design means in an rpg? It means everything, it is the systems through which the game is delivered to you. Amazing design can have poor content, and can have poor gameplay because games function as a machine and a machine can fail to do what it is designed to do, like being janky or unresponsive for instance.
Click to expand...

Some people are so myopic about this.
 
I

ike_

Member
I'd say that's a pretty decent list. Thanks to cheesemeister and timetokill for the moderation and all that neural network statistical datamining posthumous static language processing analysis. Also nice to get some input from Evil himself, more than I can say for a lot of other GOTY sites discharging random lists.
EviLore said:
Did people start drinking some sort of brain poison while I wasn't looking
Click to expand...

What? No! Of course not. No.
3MXBy0t.gif
Click to expand...
 
M

Maddrical

Member
Great list! Very surprised & happy to see Bloodborne take out #1, I think it's a game that won't get any backlash in years to come unlike a lot of GOTY winners. Though TW3 certainly wouldn't either. My only surprises are Fallout 4 being so high & Ori being so low. I would've swapped those 2 around.
 
R

Rozart

Member
Yaaassss, Bloodborne with the numero uno. Yaaassss Splatoon, Rocket League and Until Dawn(!!) are all in the top 10.

Was hoping that Arkham Knight might crack the list but it's alright. I'm satisfied. Seriously, what a fantastic GOTY list.
 
J

jpd1408

Banned
I agree with all the picks!! Blood borne is amazing and was my first souls game. A ps4 should be owned just to experience it!! Best gaming world period!
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
how anyone can argue dark souls 1 > BB is beyond me; the class stuff opens some doors, but the 2nd half of the stages kinda nosedives, whereas Blood doesn't do that. the "refinements" of the souls games aren't just there, they're improved upon in a design system which feels like an even more evolved take on risk vs reward...yeah, i'll grand Demons' as higher, but BB earned its spot

EviLore said:
Did people start drinking some sort of brain poison while I wasn't looking
Click to expand...

yeah, this one puzzled me as well - there's weird souls fans that wanna extend it to everything...you see them in zelda threads too
 
H

HeelPower

Member
In much the same way people can argue Bloodborne isn't as good as Das/Des,I think its arguable that Witcher 2 is better in important ways than Witcher 3 and I am sure some of the fanbase can provide evidence of that.

I think the overall story is much more well constructed and the game has a better system of choices and more intricate quest design,political world building and dialogue than in Witcher 3.Witcher 2 has better gear,and better replay value.

Both games are roughly the same when it comes to combat so Witcher 2 actually can win in a comparison against 3.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
Ostinatto said:
Yup, but i think Gaf loves Persona more.
Click to expand...
The results in the Most Anticipated thread tell me, otherwise... and I think Persona 5 has more room to disappoint than Uncharted 4 does.
Has more competition from other high profile JRPGs... AND it's cross-gen.
 
M

myco666

Member
Ostinatto said:
The best game won, nothing wrong with that.

Persona 5 is gonna take it this year. Gaf loves japanese games. :D
Click to expand...

You sure about that? This is Atlus we are talking about so there is no guarantee that EU is going to get it this year meaning it loses lot of potential votes.
 
R

RespectThySole

Member
HeelPower said:
In much the same way people can argue Bloodborne isn't as good as Das/Des,I think its arguable that Witcher 2 is better in important ways than Witcher 3 and I am sure some of the fanbase can provide evidence of that.

I think the overall story is much more well constructed and the game has a better system of choices and more intricate quest design,political world building and dialogue than in Witcher 3.Witcher 2 has better gear,and better replay value.

Both games are roughly the same when it comes to combat so Witcher 2 actually can win in a comparison against 3.
Click to expand...

I don't think it has better dialogue just due to the fact that the quality of writing in TW3 is flat out better, but I can see why you think this even if I don't agree.(you prefer the political tone) The Witcher 2 does have great replay value, but I'm not sure it's actually better than TW3 in this regard. There are way more different outcomes to see in a replay of the TW3 than TW2 even with TW2's branching Act 2&3. It's just a bit easier to replay TW2 since it's the shorter game.

World design, exploration, atmosphere, soundtrack, monster design and side quests are far superior in TW3. Gwent is so much better than arm wrestling and dice poker. Linearity isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I just find the game to be entirely too restrictive in comparison to TW1 and TW3.

Political world building is better, but that was the focus of TW2 so it really should be. I like the combat a lot more in TW3 than the TW2. To me, TW2's combat is barely serviceable and that's only with the rebalanced combat mod. Quest design is highly subjective, but I feel the best quests in TW3 are better designed than the best in TW2. There were more meaningful choices to make in TW3 overall as well imo. TW3 also has better characters, but obviously TW2 is no slouch in that area either. The main story itself is probably slightly better than TW3 just due to how focused it is, but TW3's resonated with me more because of the cast.
 
K

Knuf

Member
Genuinely shocked Bloodborne got not robbed, given that other games were on 3 or more platforms while Bloodborne was available only on one: there's something pretty telling when the three gaming sources I trust the most share the very same GOTY (Edge and Eurogamer being the other two).
Well done, GAF, well done.
 
M

Magic Mushroom

Member
tattooed_dwarf said:
Well that's sad since we haven't even played games coming this year. I understand why some get hypes but to make it GOTY already?!
Click to expand...

Not saying it's mine though.

But that franchise has become such a beast and as it's topping Most anticipated with ease. I feel next year won't have the suspense of this year,

I hope I'm wrong. :)
 
O

OléGunner

Member
Not surprised that Bloodborne got #1 on Gaf.
That fanbase is uhh "passionate" to say the least.

Of course I think The Witcher 3 should be overall winner as it's an unparalleled game experience but it's really just semantics at the end of the day.

Nice to see Until Dawn squeeze in at #9 too, such a nice surprise for 2015.
 
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