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[Nomadic Sparks]

Well personally I'd recommend starting from USD 100 or whereabouts and going up. Mention it is an NA region for clarification.

I'm not even sure if I get the money for it, if I'll use to to even get a New 3DSXL. Like New 3DSXL would be nice, playing Xenoblade Chronicles with a non waggle controller would also be nice as well and whatever else would be the cherry on the pie but what I really want to do with the money would be buy a bunch of can goods for my walk in pantry and put some of the stuff I don't want to a pantry (Franklin County Missouri is a mainly a working class poor county) and maybe buy some house hold items on Amazon or maybe buy a few Nintendo first party games or what not.

It's all really up in the air because I haven't committed to it, yet and I'am broke as fuck right now so sending it Amazon would cost me $$ so :shrug: I gotta play the waiting game until next month.

.........

Apropos of nothing

Would anyone mind if I mad a DEADBOLT thread? I feel like that game needs a bit more exposure to more general audience and I need tips to beat the second level.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Are the Bioware founders even in the industry anymore?

Nope. One went off into a craft-beer hole, the other is dealing with mentoring and investing in tech and media entrepreneurship.

 

[jshackles]

There isn't much time left to vote for this year's SteamGAF GOTY!

I currently have ballots from the following 115 voters:

A Fish Aficionado, Aaron D., AbundantChoice, Admodieus, Adnor, AHA-Lambda, Alex_CWB, Amzin, Anno, Anteater, Arthea, Ascheroth, Atraveller, Axass, Baron von Loathsome, Baron_Calamity, BernardoOne, Bonfires Down, CecilRousso, Crimsonclaw111, ctw0e, cyba89, darkwing-buck, def ault, Dessart, dex3108, diabolusinmusica, DodgeDusk, Dongs Macabre, dot, Dr Dogg, Dragon1893, Echoplx, electroflame, fantomena, fenners, FLD, Flips360, Funyarinpa, Grief.exe, hannes, hardcastlemccormick, Hektor, InquisitorAles, Iron Badger, JarrodL, Jawmuncher, jshackles, Khronico, KingKong, Knurek, Kudo, Kurt Russell, Lain, Large Professor, laserlaser, Last Baron, Leafhopper, Locust, Miletius, Monooboe, More_Badass, Nabs, NeoRaider, Nete, Nillansan, Nzyme32, Oreoleo, Orgen, Ozium, PandaPedinte, pantsattack, Parsnip, PaulSane, Phinor, QFNS, Rayge, Rhaknar, rickyson1, Roboleon, Rockin' Ranger, Sarcasm, SatelliteOfLove, ScreamingTrees, septicore, SilentMatthew, Sinatar, spinalscratch, spindoctor, Spirited, sprinkles, Stallion Free, Stumpokapow, Teggy, Tektonic, texhnolyze, The Dear Leader, the_firewithin, The_Super_Inframan, TheLetdown, thesaucetastic, ThirtyFour, Tizoc, tuxfool, Ucchedavāda, Uraizen, Vazra, vermadas, Wo33er, Wok, xezuru, Yakkue, yuraya, Zero-Crescent, zkylon

If your name is listed here, it means your ballot has been counted. Everyone else, get over the OP for official rules and entry instructions.

As the voting is drawing to a close soon, I figured I would go over some of the specifics. The awards ceremony will be done in this thread sometime around March at 7:00pm Monday Pacific time (three hours after the voting closes). I've been tallying the votes as they come in so it should be easy to have final results fairly quickly. I'm pre-building some graphics for the games I know that will more or less be in the top 10 so it should only take a few hours to put the finishing touches on everything at that time.

For those of you that haven't ever been a part of this process, I'll start with the #10 and work up to the #1 game (Ryan Seacrest / Casey Kasem top 40 style) with about 5-10 minutes between reveals to give the thread time to react and discuss. Try to speculate what's coming next or simply talk about your own experience with the revealed game. It's always been a lot of fun, so be sure you don't miss the excitement!

After the top 10 are revealed here, I'll post a thread over on gaming side with our official results showing all the games and their rankings for full discussion. DON'T MISS IT!

 

[Durante]

Just sent my votes.

GOTY:
(5 Points) - Momodora: Reverie under the Moonlight
(4 Points) - The Witness
(3 Points) - SHENZHEN I/O
(2 Points) - Dark Souls 3
(1 Point) - Phantom Brave PC

I had a hard time deciding what to put into these top 5. Both Dark Souls 3 and Shenzhen I/O are really "only" good sequels to their respective predecessors without too much innovation, but I loved those predecessors so much that they still make the list. I also wanted to acknowledge Phantom Brave's PC release, just because it's my favourite N1 game of all time and criminally underappreciated. Just how much I enjoyed the Witness came as a surprise to me, but doing 100% of it without any assistance made me really appreciate the design of many of its puzzles, particularly the environmental ones. It probably also helped that I played it basically in "co-op".

Despite all that, Momodora: Reverie under the Moonlight was not actually a difficult pick for number one. When I finished it rather early in 2016, I actually did something I have never done before: because it was rather early in the year, I wrote it down as a potential GotY pick, so that there is no chance for me to forget about it.
To me, it was that rare game which is almost entirely perfect: Perfect pacing, perfect gameplay, perfect atmosphere, perfect music, perfect controls, perfect level design, perfect difficulty, perfect length, perfect art. I honestly can not think of anything I would change about it to improve it. And that's why it is my Game of the Year.

EA:
(3 Points) - Raw Data
(2 Points) - Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter

Just having 5 slots available in the main rating ultimately prevented me from putting any VR games into that list. Luckily, my favourite VR game overall right now, Raw Data, is still in early access. Between the active 360° tracked design, the full coop support, its high-end graphics and most importantly its truly challenging, deep and difficult to master gameplay it seems designed explicitly to provide what I want most out of a VR game right now.

Note that I haven't yet played Tyranny, Civilization 6 and probably dozens of other games I'm forgetting which might have had a good chance to make the list otherwise.
N++, Deus Ex, Salt and Sanctuary, Root Double, Xanadu Next, and The Lab barely didn't make it.

 

[Regginator]

I don't think you can specify a year, but you can browse your library and sort by release date here: http://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/

It was noted with some amusement that the two doctors who founded Bioware announced their retirement from the industry five years to the day EA acquired them. Suggestive of contractual obligation.



I found Steam Gauge to be helpful for sorting my library by year. You also get to see what devs never bothered to update their release dates.

And I found Steam library filters helpful for finding Early Access games.

So far I haven't found any good way to find DLC in general, let alone by year. I might be missing something obvious though.

Thanks! I'll go sort my 2016 games and think about my top 5 GOTY

 

[Large Professor]

Apropos of nothing

Would anyone mind if I mad a DEADBOLT thread? I feel like that game needs a bit more exposure to more general audience and I need tips to beat the second level.

Coincidentally I just beat the second level (on hard mode). Some tips: don't go left, use the hammer when you can (no point in wasting ammo), turn-off the lights in each room, and the zombies with armor take 3 hs with the normal pistol to be taken down.

(edit) I was actually referring to the third level. The same tips apply for the second level though (hammer -> knife) except "don't go left".

 

[NingenJanai]

Finished Jotun, nice game, although the final boss almost made rage quit.

 

[Knurek]

Note that I haven't yet played Tyranny, Civilization 6 and probably dozens of other games I'm forgetting which might have had a good chance to make the list otherwise.

There's one game missing from that list.
You know which game I'm talking about.

 

[Grief.exe]

Nope. One went off into a craft-beer hole, the other is dealing with mentoring and investing in tech and media entrepreneurship.

Those actually seem like better long term investments tbh.

The video game industry is very risky, and in a bit of turmoil right now with the console side stagnating.

Yo grief you grabbin' yakuza 0 next week?

Do I look like I own a PS4?

Spoiler

I preordered the Switch

 

[Tizoc]

I was playing a 2D game and I noticed a diagonal screen tear; what is the cause of this and how do I stop it from happening?

 

[NingenJanai]

I was playing a 2D game and I noticed a diagonal screen tear; what is the cause of this and how do I stop it from happening?

are you sure it's not some polygon seam?

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Feck, I couldn't do an accurate top 5. Top 10 would've worked better for me lol

 

[yuraya]

Finished up Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. Took me about 5-6hrs.

Neat little stealth side scrolling action game. Story was kind of meh, the AI kinda of dumb and the controls kinda of clunky. Overall I would give it a 7/10. Had fun with it especially the climbing and stealth. Enough fun to continue the series for sure.

The one major gripe I had with it is the Ubisoft fetish for making so much of the game feel like some kind of tutorial. They really need to get rid of this type of game design and creative mentality. The game is only 5hrs long and in the 3rd hr they introduce some new gameplay mechanics. Like come on man.

 

[Backlogger]

Nah, main reason i dropped Far Cry 4 after 15 hours was very gray and monotone palette. FC4 world was extremely boring and lacks interesting locations besides neverending mountains and forests. With repetitive gameplay it made a very bad combo, that's why i didn't care about Primal until it received major discount.

While I didn't always enjoy the gameplay aspects of it the Shangri La areas looked incredible in Far Cry 4

 

[Rhaknar]

went back to FFXIII since its one of the bigger harddrive hogs I have installed, and that game's battle system still fascinates me. I know most people hate it (and the game), but my view on it is almost like you are playing mmo dungeon master.

Its like you are a a mmo dungeon party puppet master, with your tank, dps and healer, and you decide what role they take at each turn. That auto-battle seems to be the best way to play since the AI seems to be smart enough to choose who to heal, or when to taunt and whatnot, is almost to its benefit as battles turn into this stance dance while shit is hapening on screen.

I cant explain why I like it so much, nor would I even defend this battle system to be honest (or the game, and yes, I quite like the game), it might be my many years of mmos that make me have this view I guess. As for the game itself, again, im not even sure whyI like it, its incomprehensible gibberish of a story with a weird ass battle system and the most linear paths in a jrpg ever for like 2 thirds of the game. Like I said, I wouldnt defend it lol.

I still maintain that Lightning is a fantastic design tho.

 

[Durante]

I was playing a 2D game and I noticed a diagonal screen tear; what is the cause of this and how do I stop it from happening?

Was this on a laptop?

 

[pretty done]

Dunno between Yakuza and RE7. I kind of feel like supporting Yakuza because Capcom sucks, but at the same time Sega also sucks.

Probably gonna go Yakuza tbh. Maybe they'll localize PSO2 with all the money they get from Yakuza (lol)

 

[Nomadic Sparks]

Deadbolt thread made :0

 

[Dragon1893]

went back to FFXIII since its one of the bigger harddrive hogs I have installed, and that game's battle system still fascinates me. I know most people hate it (and the game), but my view on it is almost like you are playing mmo dungeon master.

Its like you are a a mmo dungeon party puppet master, with your tank, dps and healer, and you decide what role they take at each turn. That auto-battle seems to be the best way to play since the AI seems to be smart enough to choose who to heal, or when to taunt and whatnot, is almost to its benefit as battles turn into this stance dance while shit is hapening on screen.

I cant explain why I like it so much, nor would I even defend this battle system to be honest (or the game, and yes, I quite like the game), it might be my many years of mmos that make me have this view I guess. As for the game itself, again, im not even sure whyI like it, its incomprehensible gibberish of a story with a weird ass battle system and the most linear paths in a jrpg ever for like 2 thirds of the game. Like I said, I wouldnt defend it lol.

I still maintain that Lightning is a fantastic design tho.

The battle system is one of the 2 only things (along with the music) that most people liked. I liked it a lot.

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

The battle system is one of the 2 only things (along with the music) that most people liked. I liked it a lot.

Agreed, I loved the battle system.

 

[kagamin]

No one told me about Hildibrand, but he is probably the best Final Fantasy character by far.

 

[Last Baron]

I have an old Steam key for Dungeonbowl, would that activate the Knockout Edition?

 

[dex3108]

I am still amazed with R6 Siege growth

Those are just Steam numbers, i can't imagine how big numbers are with combined platforms (Steam + UPlay).

 

[Rhaknar]

The battle system is one of the 2 only things (along with the music) that most people liked. I liked it a lot.

Agreed, I loved the battle system.

interesting, I seem to remember people hating it. Im like 17 hours in (chapter 8, NAutilus city or whatever) and auto battle is still the best way to go, does tht ever change? I mean, like I said in my post, I actually think that benefits the system so you can focus on the paradigm dance, but I forget if you ever have to manually choose stuff.

Maybe when you have lots of buffs on sinergisis? Its all a blur tbh, I remember there was one giant boss with lots of wings or lots of tentacles or whatever it was that was a HUGE pain in the ass when I played it on PS3, is there a known pain in the ass boss?

Kinda like that level in Valkyria Chronicles that is known to break people?

 

[Uzzy]

Just submitted my GOTY list, huzzah. Sadly, there wasn't any space for Rise of the Tomb Raider, because we're limited to five places and not five thousand.

It was a struggle to come up with a list this year. I think there's been a whole lot of really solid games with some flaws, but not really anything that stood out from the crowd.

 

[tmarg]

It's all really up in the air because I haven't committed to it, yet and I'am broke as fuck right now so sending it Amazon would cost me $$ so :shrug: I gotta play the waiting game until next month.

If you're going to do it, I'd do it soon. Supply is still low from the holiday, but if Nintendo restocks the $100 N3DS it could cut what you can get for it in half.

 

[zkylon]

staring right into your soul

love how this looks :>

is this ff4?

 

[rickyson1]

I have only screened through the games released between 2014 and 2016 (696 games, holly molly, what have I done...) and with an overwhelmingly positive rating (101 games). The overlap with my Steam library is not that big (41 games).

Out of these, the ones that I have selected have the right prices for a BTA inclusion, and turn out to have been part of a humble monthly bundle a few months ago, which make them even more likely.

If you want to have a look and make up your mind yourself from there, here is the list of 41 games. Of course, the additions could be games which I don't already own, but I don't have the tools to filter the whole Steam store.

i'm gonna guess TIS-100 from that list

just feels right and I want something to brag aboutif I happen to be right

 

[Rhaknar]

love how this looks :>

is this ff4?

yes

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

interesting, I seem to remember people hating it. Im like 17 hours in (chapter 8, NAutilus city or whatever) and auto battle is still the best way to go, does tht ever change? I mean, like I said in my post, I actually think that benefits the system so you can focus on the paradigm dance, but I forget if you ever have to manually choose stuff.

Maybe when you have lots of buffs on sinergisis? Its all a blur tbh, I remember there was one giant boss with lots of wings or lots of tentacles or whatever it was that was a HUGE pain in the ass when I played it on PS3, is there a known pain in the ass boss?

Kinda like that level in Valkyria Chronicles that is known to break people?

I think I sometimes choose skills to use poison on some of the tougher enemies for bounty quests where it was best to get poison on them and then switch to Sentinel/Medic. Other than that it was only using the signiture skills Death, High Wind or Army of One which was mostly just fine farming Adamantoise. I remember tge AI was usually good about about getting the right buffs/debuffs out like haste or slow immediately. I dunno, maybe there were times where I wanted a specific heal spell as well.

 

[Ascheroth]

i'm gonna guess TIS-100 from that list

just feels right and I want something to brag aboutif I happen to be right

TIS-100 and Infinifactory were in a bundle just 2 months ago, I doubt it.
But there are a lot of games on Woks list that would be nice additions, I'm very curious whats it going to be.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

How do I find out if a Steam key is already redeemed?

 

[Rhaknar]

I think I sometimes choose skills to use poison on some of the tougher enemies for bounty quests where it was best to get poison on them and then switch to Sentinel/Medic. Other than that it was only using the signiture skills Death, High Wind or Army of One which was mostly just fine farming Adamantoise. I remember tge AI was usually good about about getting the right buffs/debuffs out like haste or slow immediately. I dunno, maybe there were times where I wanted a specific heal spell as well.

thats what I thought.

 

[someguyinahat]

How do I find out if a Steam key is already redeemed?

Try to redeem it. It'll say "Duplicate product code" or something if it's already been redeemed. If you already have the game...different story.

 

[Kagemusha]

I can't think of any DLC i've actually played last year except for Grim Dawn's Crucible


Early Access .... I see that I have Divinity Original Sin 2 but I've only played an hour of the first game.

I picked up a PS3 and I really like it.
I'm playing Journey, Ico, Red Dead, Demon's Souls, and Tokyo Jungle and a bunch of PS+ from the past 2 years.

 

[Thorgal]

anyone have trouble adding custom amounts of currency to the steam wallet ?

minr keeps saying error .

 

[Tizoc]

FF13 has a good battle system but that's it. The team behind it had no idea how to incorporate any other elements into the game itself.

Note that Syn will ALWAYS rush Haste and would generally only cast 1 buff at a time; so they'll cast Haste only the first turn, then in the second cast maybe Shell OR Protect, noth both together even though they have enough ATB slots to cast both back to back. I could be misremembering though about the latter, but I am certain they would rush Haste only should they have learned it.

Dunno between Yakuza and RE7. I kind of feel like supporting Yakuza because Capcom sucks, but at the same time Sega also sucks.

Probably gonna go Yakuza tbh. Maybe they'll localize PSO2 with all the money they get from Yakuza (lol)

Nah they're both cool to me, I enjoy the games they make. They're managerial decisions will always be baffling til the end of time but at their best they make some of the best games you could play.
Y0 is an Action RRG set in late 80s Japan, where punching people in the face, slamming a motorbike on their chest or slamming their face to the wall has money flying out of them.

RE7 is a horror game.

Take your pick :3

Was this on a laptop?

Yup. GTX 970M with G-Sync enabled.

 

[Emperor_EL]

I love how brutal the critical shots in XCOM 2 look, especially with the Storm Gun & Plasma Lance. I think I waited too long to make Pyscho Soldiers because they didn't seem as useful or game changing as they did in the 1st game.

 

[fantomena]

Spoiler

I preordered the Switch

You're in US right? If so, you can buy the Switch for almost 300 dollars cheaper than me.

However, good luck with the launch lineup. It looks good with Zelda and

 

[Anteater]

love how this looks :>

is this ff4?

yep

 

[zkylon]

i really should play that version of ff4

 

[Kagemusha]

I'm getting Zelda on Wii U and then I'm done with Nintendo for a while. I can play most indies on Steam. I still need to finish 10 or more games on Wii U anyway.

 

[Wok]

i'm gonna guess TIS-100 from that list

just feels right and I want something to brag aboutif I happen to be right

TIS-100 and Infinifactory were in a bundle just 2 months ago, I doubt it.
But there are a lot of games on Woks list that would be nice additions, I'm very curious whats it going to be.

I have noticed my first sentence did not make sense. The figures which I provide are only relevant to my Steam library, since I don't have the tools to filter the whole Steam store. It should have been: "Among games which I own, I have only screened through the games released between 2014 and 2016 (696 games, holly molly, what have I done...) and with an overwhelmingly positive rating (101 games). The overlap is not that big (41 games)."

BattleBlock Theater ; Besiege ; Broforce ; Crawl ; Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair ; Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc ; Day of the Tentacle Remastered ; Don't Starve Together ; Fran Bow ; Google Earth VR ; Hexcells ; Hexcells Infinite ; HuniePop ; INSIDE ; Infinifactory ; Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes ; Kingdom Rush ; LYNE ; Lethal League ; Life Is Strange™ ; Mini Metro ; Nuclear Throne ; One Finger Death Punch ; Ori and the Blind Forest ; Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition ; PRICE ; Pony Island ; SHENZHEN I/O ; SOMA ; Shantae and the Pirate's Curse ; South Park™: The Stick of Truth™ ; Stardew Valley ; TIS-100 ; Tales from the Borderlands ; The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth ; The Room ; The Room Two ; The Talos Principle ; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; This War of Mine ; Valiant Hearts: The Great War™ / Soldats Inconnus : Mémoires de la Grande Guerre™

 

[fantomena]

I'm getting Zelda on Wii U and then I'm done with Nintendo for a while. I can play most indies on Steam. I still need to finish 10 or more games on Wii U anyway.

The only launch game that interests me currently is Zelda and that's on Wii U, so, no need for the Switch currently. And apparently, I read 2 days ago or something in a thread here on gaf that there will be 4 games lanching with the device in Europe. 4 fucking games. Good lord.

 

[Hektor]

Nah they're both cool to me, I enjoy the games they make. They're managerial decisions will always be baffling til the end of time but at their best they make some of the best games you could play.
Y0 is an Action RRG set in late 80s Japan, where punching people in the face, slamming a motorbike on their chest or slamming their face to the wall has money flying out of them.

RE7 is a horror game.

Take your pick :3

One of these companies is smart enough to release their games on Steam including spin-offs, where as the other one doesn't even wanna localise half their spin-offs tho.

Spoiler

I preordered Y0 over Re7 as well tho

i really should play that version of ff4

The fights run at 15FPS tho

 

[Anteater]

i really should play that version of ff4

i'm sorta enjoying it more than the original for some reason

also theme of love will never get old

 

[tmarg]

I'm getting Zelda on Wii U and then I'm done with Nintendo for a while. I can play most indies on Steam. I still need to finish 10 or more games on Wii U anyway.

I'll reevaluate the switch when the Mario game or a Monster Hunter comes out.

 

[Kagemusha]

GOTY:
(5 Points) - Abzu
(4 Points) – Fire Watch
(3 Points) – Grim Dawn
(2 Points) – Dead Rising
(1 Point) - Cursed Castilla


DLC:
(3 Points) -Blood and Wine
(2 Points) - Grim Dawn - Crucible Mode
(1 Point) - !!! PLEASE HELP ME THINK OF SOMETHING !!!!


EA:
(3 Points) - Divinity: Original Sin 2
(2 Points) - Everspace
(1 Point) - Torment


I think the only games I finished last year were Abzu, Grim Dawn and Firewatch. Everything else I dropped after an hour. I couldn't even manage to finish Pony Island but I'll try to complete that today because I have to be close to

Spoiler

losing my soul

.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Hey, I asked this is a little while ago and no one responded. Has anyone heard from HoosTrax since she (I think she, right?) ceased being active on GAF/Steam? I did manage to track down the other user I was asking about. Thanks.

 

[Dragon1893]

interesting, I seem to remember people hating it. Im like 17 hours in (chapter 8, NAutilus city or whatever) and auto battle is still the best way to go, does tht ever change? I mean, like I said in my post, I actually think that benefits the system so you can focus on the paradigm dance, but I forget if you ever have to manually choose stuff.

Maybe when you have lots of buffs on sinergisis? Its all a blur tbh, I remember there was one giant boss with lots of wings or lots of tentacles or whatever it was that was a HUGE pain in the ass when I played it on PS3, is there a known pain in the ass boss?

Kinda like that level in Valkyria Chronicles that is known to break people?

I actually did all the sidequests on Pulse because some made you use the battle system to its fullest. That was the most fun part of the game, you unlock new areas and get into some fun fights that really force you to master the system.

BTW, does XIII-2 still run like shit? I actually regretted selling the PS3 version since I like that game a lot.