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[McNum]

So FFXV gets fail of the year #5

Spoiler

I know it was a very small % of votes

and then gives the same game #6 GOTY?

Get your shit together, GAF! I certainly voted FFXV for my #1 GOTY and didn't mention it for FOTY.

Amusingly, my vote for Fail of the Year is also featured on my vote for Game of the Year.

- Street Fighter V has solid gameplay, but anemic content. Good enough for 10th on my list.
- Street Fighter V installed a rootkit on everyone's PC, allowing all unsigned code to have kernel access. Since it harmed me directly, it automatically wins Fail of the Year.

I wonder if anyone else had their Fail of the Year on their Game of the Year ballot, too?

 

[FlynnCL]

---

 

[Nasbin]

Bayonetta 2 barely broke 1,000 points when it won.

The Last fuckin' Guardian released the month of the voting, is super niche/artsy as hell, probably sold less than Bayonetta 2, and STILL got 1300+ points.

like it doesnt even matter what the metacritic on Horizon is, its 1500+ points is written is stone

The Last Guardian is at +1300 because it's a fucking Fumito Ueda game and the worthy successor to two of the greatest games ever made. Look at how quickly this defense mechanism falls apart. Where was Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, or The Order 1886 on their respective GOTY lists? The highest placing Sony exclusive in 2014 was Infamous: Second Son at #13.

This thread has really broken peoples' critical faculties.

 

[Obliterator]

The real bias is exclusives. That's the main thing. This is a board of hardcore enthusiasts and let's be real a huge amount of talking / argument points come from debating about exclusive games.

That's how you really get a leg up on GOTY voting. Not so say multiplat games can't win of course

Look at where something like Battlefield 1 is in comparison to say The Last Guardian. That's a clear indicator of how enthusiast based we are here.

 

[Frillen]

Weak year seeing Uncharted 4 on top. Great game but a typical 8/10 game. So many flaws, winning only because it's a weak year and the fact that so many people bought it.

Glad to see Inside in the top 10. I actually just played through it a few days ago along with The Last Guardian. Man, both games hitting you hard story wise, especially The Last Guardian, with a near perfect ending.

 

[MegaSackman]

I mean I agree Bloodborne is fantastic. If I remember correctly it was my number 2. But again looking at the broad industry Witcher crushed it on both critic and user voting choice. That's a pretty clear indicator GAF is a major outlier.



Then why is Dark Souls 3, a game available on far more platforms which should be able to generate it more points nowhere near Bloodborne in votes

Maybe because is the third in the series and bringed some things from Bloodborne and abandoned others from Dark Souls and people didn't like that? I loved Bloodborne and was kinda disappointed with Dark Souls III despite considering it a great game.

 

[DieH@rd]

Great list, I'm glad U4 won. Amazing game.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

This doesn't make sense, considering that more than half of the DS fan base cannot play Bloodborne.

There is an obvious Sony bias on GAF, nothing wrong with it, it just makes this GOTY election unfair.

Are we already starting this? You clearly don't think "nothing wrong with it" cause in the same sentence you say "it's unfair". Everyone forgetting that Bayonetta 2 won GOTY??

 

[Simo]

Great job guys on the work done!

I didn't vote however because I couldn't really nail down what my favorite was and a lot of the big ones I haven't finished or played yet but 2016 was just a terrific year of highs and lows. I mean within a week of release I had both Uncharted 4 and Doom to play and then Overwatch followed right after. lol

 

[Dahbomb]

Hitman, a stealth game series, wins action game of the year.

Well ok then.

 

[Abelard]

I'm kind of surprised people thought anything else would win.

Last year we voted in Bloodborne (23 critic, 8 reader GOTYs) over The Witcher 3 (169 critic, 88 reader GOTYs).

The prediction formula has been "Biggest Sony Exclusive, unless they're all bad, at which point Biggest Nintendo Exclusive" for half a decade now.

This year should be Horizon, unless it gets a poor reception, at which point it will be Zelda. Edit: AniHawk reminded me that Persona 5 is PlayStation exclusive. It will actually be that.

Next year will be TLOU 2 unless it gets delayed, otherwise God of War.

Looking at some legacy threads, isn't that not true seeing the 2011 results? Portal 2 won that one.

As for Bloodborne, I think GAF's love for Souls should make it no surprise that it won, its right there with the first Dark Souls as well unlike Ds2 and III which were disappointing and felt uninspired. I would expect an enthusiast forums like GAF to give it to Bloodborne regardless of its exclusivity, not to mention Witcher 3 has its fair share of vocal critics here so its not as universally beloved as other places on the .net.

As for these results, I forgot to vote but I am kind of surprised UC4 won. When I was reading the thread, I thought for sure it would be OW.

 

[F0rneus]

Wow, amazing job on everything. Jawdropping work there. Really happy with the list. GAF has good taste! Shame that Dark Souls III couldn't make top 3, but given the amazing games up there, it's no biggie.

My affinity folks!

1. Raitaro (87) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228348642&postcount=1860
2. brandonh83 (83) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228753148&postcount=2112
3. Necron (82) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227168626&postcount=524
3. Santiako (82) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228682550&postcount=2052
3. Wagram (82) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227185433&postcount=557
6. Spyder_Monkey (81) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227231767&postcount=753
7. molnizzle (71) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227456124&postcount=1214
8. EvilKatarn (69) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227226364&postcount=735
9. Beerman462 (68) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227415330&postcount=1162
9. Leondexter (68) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227164148&postcount=487

 

[RexNovis]

I mean I agree Bloodborne is fantastic. If I remember correctly it was my number 2. But again looking at the broad industry Witcher crushed it on both critic and user voting choice. That's a pretty clear indicator GAF is a major outlier.

I think The Witcher definitely had more mainstream appeal. I mean that goes with the territory of being a big open world game these days. So it makes since that the media and mass market would lean more towards an experience that better suits the prevailing trends of modern AAA experiences. Bloodborne in contrast is obtuse, punishing and demands a high level of concentration and focus from the player so of course it's not going to resonate as much other he wider audience. When you loomat an enthusiast community though such a game might actually have an advantage as enthusiasts tend to value uniqueness.

Clearly though GAF has proven this is not the case this year as UC4 is about as mainstream of a AAA game as you can possibly make which makes me think that I was wrong and that some other factor is the driving force behind the support of these exclusive games. Who can say for sure really? I don't think anybody can honestly.

 

[Spirited]

The real bias is exclusives. That's the main thing. This is a board of hardcore enthusiasts and let's be real a huge amount of talking / argument points come from debating about exclusive games.

That's how you really get a leg up on GOTY voting. Not so say multiplat games can't win of course

Look at where something like Battlefield 1 is in comparison to say The Last Guardian. That's a clear indicator of how enthusiast based we are here.

Just wait until Valve goes and drops one more PC exclusive title and we'll see the points just raking in, reminds me of good ol' 2013, the year of Dota 2.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Hitman, a stealth game series, wins action game of the year.

Well ok then.

the genre awards have been totally fucked since inception and have yet to get better. Like, thanks for all the work OP for real, but these genre awards are...flabby

 

[JeTmAn81]

Maybe because is the third in the series and bringed some things from Bloodborne and abandoned others from Dark Souls and people didn't like that? I loved Bloodborne and was kinda disappointed with Dark Souls III despite considering it a great game.

Bloodborne definitely felt fresher as it had a new aesthetic and wasnt a numbered Souls game. Dark Souls II didn't receive nearly the same enthusiasm as Demon's or Dark Souls, for instance, but people still really liked it because it was a Souls title.

 

[Yoshi]

It does seem like GAF is likely to be less populated by the type of gamers who prefer the XB1, as that console seems to have a heavier emphasis on sports games, live TV, and other things that it seems like GAF doesn't really care about.

It does have the best controller though.

Spoiler

And it is the only system with an off-chance that Banjo-Threeie releases on it :/

 

[Spirited]

the genre awards have been totally fucked since inception and have yet to get better. Like, thanks for all the work OP for real, but these genre awards are...flabby

I do love how Dishonored 2 is categoized as an adventure game together with it's genre mates Firewatch, Inside and Uncharted 4.

 

[nynt9]

The real bias is exclusives. That's the main thing. This is a board of hardcore enthusiasts and let's be real a huge amount of talking / argument points come from debating about exclusive games.

That's how you really get a leg up on GOTY voting. Not so say multiplat games can't win of course

Look at where something like Battlefield 1 is in comparison to say The Last Guardian. That's a clear indicator of how enthusiast based we are here.

Or maybe TLG is just a better game than BF1 to people. If you see a fanboy mentality in everyone, maybe you're the one with the mentality.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

My affinity sis

1. Admiral Woofington (114) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227920540&postcount=1640
2. Wagram (77) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227185433&postcount=557
3. Santiako (76) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228682550&postcount=2052
4. Fdkn (66) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227826725&postcount=1602
4. theDeeDubs (66) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227304096&postcount=938
6. JudgmentJay (65) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227457607&postcount=1219
7. branny (62) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228582211&postcount=1992
7. butman (62) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227394564&postcount=1128
7. Cairnsay (62) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227248794&postcount=808
7. Murkas (62) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227133525&postcount=112

Weird, I only recognize like, 2-3 names on that list. Well, well met friends

 

[PensivePen]

That horror game list is also very depressing.

 

[NathanDiego]

When I last checked the thread around Dec 26th or so UC4 seemed like it was firmly in fourth behind a number of other titles vying for first place. Granted this was just eyeballing it though I didn't make an excel sheet or anything so I could've been mistaken.

LOL you are funny,Uncharted 4 was leading from the beginning,go back and count

 

[FelipeMGM]

This doesn't make sense, considering that more than half of the DS fan base cannot play Bloodborne.

There is an obvious Sony bias on GAF, nothing wrong with it, it just makes this GOTY election unfair.

Its this message board community GOTY, a community that in your words is leaning towards a console more than others, so how is it unfair?

If anything its the most fair representation of what this community is, for better or worse

 

[spekkeh]

Breath of the Wild is winning GOTY next year, mark it. Also, if there is Sony bias around here it shows up in lesser picks, not #1's. GAF is nuts for Souls games and would've picked Bloodborne over Witcher 3 even if it was multiplat.

Zelda winning would be something, because at that point the userbase split would be about 75M versus 5M. Luckily Zelda is looking like it's going to be GOAT, so it might actually have a chance.

Though personally, I'm afraid Uncharted winning speaks less to Sony bias, and more to tech enthusiast bias, because it's the prettiest game ever.

 

[Zombie James]

1. Stratosphere (90) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228721436&postcount=2079
2. Wink (83) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227136597&postcount=183
3. alr1ght (70) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227723646&postcount=1548
4. Sulaco (69) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228166076&postcount=1804
5. Agram (68) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228374891&postcount=1874
5. Kureizu (68) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227138898&postcount=232
5. OneEyedKing (68) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227460541&postcount=1224
5. Plum (68) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227151183&postcount=381
9. Aarglefarg (67) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227157705&postcount=428
9. BraXzy (67) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228647915&postcount=2023

 

[Angel_DvA]

I didn't like UC4 at all but I can understand that people love it, Overwatch i still the best game release in 2016 to me.

 

[AniHawk]

Yes actually. That's why it was a major upset first when The Walking Dead won the critic award (due to being non-AAA, which was a huge barrier even if it was "the right type of game"), and then Overwatch this year (due to being the wrong type of game).

However, I think some of that is that some younger critics are now old enough to influence the vote pool, while notably older critics are voting things like INSIDE, splitting off votes from the cinematic/traditional choice of the year.

the walking dead was the first year where it seemed like the mainstream critics collectively threw their hands in the air and just decided haphazardly on a game. there was even an article where someone patted themselves on the back for recognizing digitally downloaded games as being big enough to be goty-quality. and maybe they would have had a point if, two years later, the consensus didn't settle on dragon age inquisition. the walking dead just happened to be that year's most recognized western story-based game, same as what mostly wins outside of enthusiast forums year after year.

 

[misses bull]

the cool kids with good tastes are on this list

1. Knox (133) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227867156&postcount=1617
2. Trojan (122) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227275757&postcount=877
3. spindoctor (116) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228404289&postcount=1885
4. TheExhaustedWalrus (114) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227663236&postcount=1486
5. Hjod (113) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227470447&postcount=1246
5. Magic Mushroom (113) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227548584&postcount=1359
7. swarley64 (109) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228580372&postcount=1991
8. conman (107) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=228780972&postcount=2170
8. Roarer (107) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227511900&postcount=1303
8. Skatterd (107) http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227587666&postcount=1417

 

[Wensih]

Bayonetta 2 barely broke 1,000 points when it won.

The Last fuckin' Guardian released the month of the voting, is super niche/artsy as hell, probably sold less than Bayonetta 2, and STILL got 1300+ points.

like it doesnt even matter what the metacritic on Horizon is, its 1500+ points is written is stone

It was 2014. A new console cycle where all install bases were low and the games line up was weak on all other consoles.

 

[Toxi]

Then why is Dark Souls 3, a game available on far more platforms which should be able to generate it more points nowhere near Bloodborne in votes

Because frankly, people are experiencing fatigue. Dark Souls 3, as even mentioned in the OP blurbs, doesn't feel particularly fresh. It's just the same old Souls goodness, and if I had voted I probably would have put a few games above it despite being a huge Souls fan (DOOM's #1 for me). It doesn't help Ashes of Ariandel wasn't even close to the quality of The Old Hunters or the Dark Souls 2 crown DLC.

 

[benny_a]

Zelda winning would be something, because at that point the userbase split would be about 75M versus 5M. Luckily Zelda is looking like it's going to be GOAT, so it might actually have a chance.

Zelda is also on Wii U so more like 75M vs 17M, but there will of course be a certain overlap between Wii U owners and Switch owners at that point in time.

 

[Raylan]

Weak year seeing Uncharted 4 on top. Great game but a typical 8/10 game. So many flaws, winning only because it's a weak year and the fact that so many people bought it.

Glad to see Inside in the top 10. I actually just played through it a few days ago along with The Last Guardian. Man, both games hitting you hard story wise, especially The Last Guardian, with a near perfect ending.

lol Last year was great. A lot of great games. And Uncharted 4 still won.

 

[Obliterator]

Or maybe TLG is just a better game than BF1 to people. If you see a fanboy mentality in everyone, maybe you're the one with the mentality.

Not at all. Battlefield 1 shipped more copies in its first day than the Last Guardian will sell Lifetime.

If you are asking the market what's the better game BF1 wins in a landslide by an extraordinary rate.

I'm pointing out indicators of how far of an outlier GAF is in representation of the general market. We aren't even close at all.

And yes my blatant fanboyism against Sony is why I have 25 Platinum Trophies this gen and why it's my main gaming source

 

[Abelard]

I think The Witcher definitely had more mainstream appeal. I mean that goes with the territory of being a big open world game these days. So it makes since that the media and mass market would lean more towards an experience that better suits the prevailing trends of modern AAA experiences. Bloodborne in contrast is obtuse, punishing and demands a high level of concentration and focus from the player so of course it's not going to resonate as much other he wider audience. When you loomat an enthusiast community though such a game might actually have an advantage as enthusiasts tend to value uniqueness.

Clearly though GAF has proven this is not the case this year as UC4 is about as mainstream of a AAA game as you can possibly make which makes me think that I was wrong and that some other factor is the driving force behind the support of these exclusive games. Who can say for sure really? I don't think anybody can honestly.

Actually, this year the usual suspect of a mainstrea, triple A blockbuster would probably go to Overwatch.

 

[RexNovis]

There's a zip file link in the OP, that includes the affinity lists. I had to use Explorer to open it. For some reason I couldn't do it on Chrome.

Ah thanks! Somehow I missed that link. Interesting data to parse through.

 

[Toki767]

Zelda winning would be something, because at that point the userbase split would be about 75M versus 5M. Luckily Zelda is looking like it's going to be GOAT, so it might actually have a chance.

Though personally, I'm afraid Uncharted winning speaks less to Sony bias, and more to tech enthusiast bias, because it's the prettiest game ever.

It wouldn't be a surprise to me if it won. Zelda is still going to sell a few million units this year. Consider where smaller games like TLG and Bayonetta 2 ended up when they had far less sales.

 

[DashReindeer]

Funny, of all the GOTY lists I have perused from last year, this is the one that least aligns with my own personal taste. I thought I had more in common with the rest of GAF tastewise, but I guess not.

 

[Yoshi]

Or maybe TLG is just a better game than BF1 to people. If you see a fanboy mentality in everyone, maybe you're the one with the mentality.

Let me tell you something about the systems I own (starting last gen):
Wii, Wii U, 3DS
Xbox 360, Xbox One
PSP, PSV

In particular: Not PS3, PS4. But I would definitely prefer Last Guardian over BF1 any day. This is such a useless comparison, because they are completely different kinds of games.

What I am surprised of is that Dark Souls 3 performed so weakly when comapred with Bloodborne. GAF has a major love for Souls games and more people had the chance to play DS3, yet it even missed top 3. Not that I am sad about it, because I think Dark Souls 3 is insufferably horrible, but it is remarkable nevertheless.

 

[AniHawk]

i'm wanting to do a gen 7 vote this year, and have it start in may. if that happens, i think we'll have a good first look at how persona 5 is going to perform for the end of the year.

 

[MegaSackman]

I think people believe that games likes every genre or something, I mean if that were the case then the list might be different but people have different tastes, for instance if you don't like multiplayer then Overwatch or B1 won't be anywhere on your list.

 

[benny_a]

I'm pointing out indicators of how far of an outlier GAF is in representation of the general market. We aren't even close at all.

Who is saying GAF is a representation of mainstream popularity. Don't we have world wide sales for popularity?

Actually, this year the usual suspect of a mainstrea, triple A blockbuster would probably go to Overwatch.

Implying Overwatch isn't mainstream is rather silly. It's even very popular on this board, despite the more console and singleplayer slant in general.

 

[Ridesh]

Just watch Mass Effect Andromeda being so damn amazing that it will win over Zelda and Persona 5 this year just like Mass Effect 2 won over Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2 in 2010.

Spoiler

Nah, I think it will be great, but Zelda will win for sure unless it has really, really boring open world.

 

[Loris146]

Bayonetta 2 barely broke 1,000 points when it won.

The Last fuckin' Guardian released the month of the voting, is super niche/artsy as hell, probably sold less than Bayonetta 2, and STILL got 1300+ points.

like it doesnt even matter what the metacritic on Horizon is, its 1500+ points is written is stone

TLG is selling way better than Bayonetta 2.

 

[Obliterator]

Who is saying GAF is a representation of mainstream popularity. Don't we have world wide sales for popularity?

No doubt. We are heavily invested, enthusiast gamers who like to sit on the Internet and argue about games all day.

That's going to naturally lead I to being more invested in certain titles and why you see predominantly exclusive games winning GAF votes, while more casual who don't really care about that, vastly prefer and purchase 3rd party games

 

[tdwig]

Kills me to see amplitude with so little attention, such a great rhythm game.

 

[Nirolak]

Looking at some legacy threads, isn't that not true seeing the 2011 results? Portal 2 won that one.

As for Bloodborne, I think GAF's love for Souls should make it no surprise that it won, its right there with the first Dark Souls as well unlike Ds2 and III which were disappointing and felt uninspired. I would expect an enthusiast forums like GAF to give it to Bloodborne regardless of its exclusivity, not to mention Witcher 3 has its fair share of vocal critics here so its not as universally beloved as other places on the .net.

As for these results, I forgot to vote but I am kind of surprised UC4 won. When I was reading the thread, I thought for sure it would be OW.

In 2011 you could vote without giving reasons, so a lot of people who were junior members with very low post counts, and thus not exactly part of the core community, could often tip our rewards notably more mainstream.

The threads have improved tremendously since we required reasonings, but it does make the taste of our core members have way more influence.

As I said, that's not a problem, but it does make it more easy to generally predict what will happen.

 

[FelipeMGM]

People are forgetting about Nioh when trying to picture the GAF 2017 GOTY

Prob wont crack my personal Top10, but that game has a hardcore following already around here

 

[kpaadet]

Not at all. Battlefield 1 shipped more copies in its first day than the Last Guardian will sell Lifetime.

If you are asking the market what's the better game BF1 wins in a landslide by an extraordinary rate.

I'm pointing out indicators of how far of an outlier GAF is in representation of the general market. We aren't even close at all.

And yes my blatant fanboyism against Sony is why I have 25 Platinum Trophies this gen and why it's my main gaming source

If you asked the market what was the best movie the Transformer movies would win best picture every year they released. Mass market will always watch/play what is being advertised to them. I would like to think Gaf was above that, how many GOTY critic awards have BF1 gotten vs TLG?

 

[DieH@rd]

XB1 Game of the Year: Rocket League = 18 points, 3 honorable mentions
2. Stranger of Sword City = 12 points
3. NHL 17 = 5 points
4. The Walking Dead: Michonne = 4 points, 2 honorable mentions
5. Raiden V = 4 points, 1 honorable mention

Ouch, rough year for Xbone exclusives.

 

[Rncewind]

Uncharted 4 winning is disappointing. Shows how strong the Sony fanbase is here at neogaf. Don't think it deserves it over Overwatch or Doom, and imo not the type of gameplay we should be rewarding,especially considering it's a poorly paced run of the mill sequel. But a message board game of the year list is not really anything to get worked up about, so it is what it is.

dont worry, i think nintendo is gonna winning something this year so you can salt less with false facts (protipp: uncharted 4 got a buttload of GOTY awards outside of gaf)