Community Game of the Year: The First 10 Years - Results!

shoptroll wrote:
garion333 wrote:

When Sam and Max came back and people got excited I tried to really like it but I didn't.

That's not just you. Sam & Max was oddly hyped* but fell pretty flat in general.

Have you tried Wadjet Eye's stuff? They're pixelly, but the in-house games tend to be much more story focused with less emphasis on inventory shenanigans.

Nope, I haven't, but Technobabylon is high on my list and The Shivah has been on my list for years. I think it's high time I give em a go.

My rankings:
1. Portal 2
2. Portal
3. Oblivion
4. Fallout 3
5. Mass Effect 2

And it would seem that I have played half of the list.

I rank Portal 2 above the original because I actually finished it. At a certain point in Portal, I was pretty sure that I'd figured out how to solve a puzzle but just could not execute quickly enough. The sequel made reflexes less important, and I am glad of that.

Oblivion was my introduction to the Elder Scrolls series and to Bethesda's "run around in first person and do whatever" style of RPG, and so I love it dearly despite its faults. Oblivion with Guns Fallout 3 shares some of the same glow (only radioactive rather than magical!) for me. Turning off the Pip-boy radio and exploring the Capital Wasteland to that eerie Inon Zur score... mmm.

ME2... it was good, but I think I might have liked it better if I hadn't played ME1 first. I spent a big chunk of 2 missing gameplay elements from 1.

garion333 wrote:

Technobabylon is high on my list and The Shivah has been on my list for years. I think it's high time I give em a go.

Technobabylon is fantastic! Do it!

ccesarano wrote:

But, it's better than the "There's Stuff To Do I Guess Simulator" series that Bethesda is rolling out. I guess they just publicly call them "Elder Scrolls" and "Fallout", though? Oh, wait, I forgot, user mods. Let's award a company for content they don't make. I'm sure there's a mod that improves enemy A.I. and brings it up to at least Quake II levels, I'm sure.

Yeah. While I like Bethesdas games, that is a very accurate criticism. At this point it feels like they aren't even trying to polish their games, knowing others will finish the job.
That said, you can award them for making their games moddable in the first place.

misplacedbravado wrote:

ME2... it was good, but I think I might have liked it better if I hadn't played ME1 first. I spent a big chunk of 2 missing gameplay elements from 1.

So much this.

Anyway, I'm shocked, shocked! by how many who have not played Portal.

ccesarano wrote:

But, it's better than the "There's Stuff To Do I Guess Simulator" series that Bethesda is rolling out. I guess they just publicly call them "Elder Scrolls" and "Fallout", though? Oh, wait, I forgot, user mods. Let's award a company for content they don't make. I'm sure there's a mod that improves enemy A.I. and brings it up to at least Quake II levels, I'm sure.

This is the greatest.

Shadout wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

But, it's better than the "There's Stuff To Do I Guess Simulator" series that Bethesda is rolling out. I guess they just publicly call them "Elder Scrolls" and "Fallout", though? Oh, wait, I forgot, user mods. Let's award a company for content they don't make. I'm sure there's a mod that improves enemy A.I. and brings it up to at least Quake II levels, I'm sure.

Yeah. While I like Bethesdas games, that is a very accurate criticism. At this point it feels like they aren't even trying to polish their games, knowing others will finish the job.
That said, you can award them for making their games moddable in the first place.

I think this is why my go to Bethesda experience is now Elder Scrolls Online. Even with mods I'm finding the Enhanced Skyrim not fun for me.

nako wrote:

I noticed that in most accumulated lists, this GWJ collection of 10 years included, very seldomly do games make it to the top purely because of the gameplay, if there's no story or anything of the sort to latch onto, just being outstanding in terms of pure gameplay either doesn't provoke the same emotional response that a decent story does or is something that is hard to agree on - my guess would be the former. In that way, Rocket League is the exception in this list.

I love many games based on gameplay alone. Just not Rocket League. It would qualify as a like. I'll go to bat for Resogun, Alienation, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Splatoon, and Mario Kart 8, based on pure gameplay, to name a few. Sadly, those great games didn't get half the recognition that Rocket League did. Rocket League is the exception not so much for its gameplay, which has merit, but for its community depth, which is as integral. Remove the GWJ community and it becomes hit and miss with random players, or a milage may vary single player experience. Almost everyone owns it because it was a PS Plus title. I'd never play it if not for that GWJ player base. It's the only game I've ever owned with that prerequisite. Community or bust.

Bump for a new week. The leaders won't surprise anyone at this point, but it's been interesting seeing how the rest have been shaking out so far.

I've finished all but one game, and that lone exception is a game which I have no interest in (Rocket League). None of them are games which I'd name my Game of the Year, though some would have made my list of 10.

I'd rank them in groups rather than by number, and in no particular order. Like this:

Games which were pretty good overall:

Mass Effect 2. I never liked the main plot or working for Cerberus. Certain of the characters were unreasonably bland. The art direction and music were less to my taste than the first game's despite an increase in quality. Before they patched it to be faster, planet scanning was bewilderingly bad. What about the rest of the game? The rest, to greater and lesser extents, I liked. Particularly the team structure and character-based missions, the weapon upgrade system, and certain characters and scenes. The suicide mission is a great concept and exhilarating to play, the need to understand your team as well as aim a gun. Shepard will always be special for me as Mass Effect 1 was the first time I got to play as a female character which fit what I wanted. ME2 did a mostly good job of building on that. This is my favourite Bioware combat system, though I find the ammo limits a chore compared to the first game's heat system. The DLC was mostly good. Mordin. Mordin's song. Dialogue interrupts. I've played it twice and plan to replay again next year. Overall, I prefer Mass Effect 1 despite its numerous flaws. I fell in love with that game, and have never fallen out of love with it despite replaying it far too many times.

Dragon age: Origins. I've finished it 3 times so clearly I like it. Standard combat encounters aren't much fun and the world feels like such a bland brown blob. I much prefer the sequel; for all of its many and sizeable failings it's a more interesting game and I adore sarcastic female Hawke. My ideal Dragon Age party would be Sarcastic Female Hawke, Fenris, Varric and Cassandra. Origins lacks stand-outs despite having some likeable characters and that hurts the overall. Also I hate that fade dream section. Even the Deep Roads are better than that bit, and they go on for twice as long as I want them to. In fact, that can be said of many of the dungeon areas. Each is slightly too long, with too many similar fights. The talking is where this game does better, so get the spiders out of the way and let it talk!

Games which were ok but I wouldn't replay and don't think about much:

Oblivion. One of my first xbox 360 games. Very pretty. It addressed some of the things I found clunky in Morrowind at the cost of ditching a lot. I got all of the achievements and mostly enjoyed myself for something in the region of 70 hours. I finished the entire game at level 1 because the levelling system was so broken. Ultimately forgettable if pleasant enough at the time.

Portal. I liked the puzzles and the general humour, until it got interneted to death. The short run-time was perfect. In all ways excepting graphics a superior game to the sequel. Decent game but I never liked it as much as most people seemed to. Credits were cute. It would probably make the lower end of a list, depending on what else came out that year.

Portal 2. The problem with humour is that it's highly subjective, and this game relies heavily on it. I found ThatBloke-McTalking a chore to listen to. BritBot was boringly bothersome. I didn't want GLADoS' backstory. The first game was more low-key with its humour whereas this one was constantly in my face yelling "I am funny! Look at how wacky I am! Laugh!" which guarantees nearly everything falls flat for me. The puzzles were ok as tutorials but the game always moved me on to a new set right when things were getting going. I remember spending more time walking between some puzzles than working on them. The co-op mode was wasted content for me as I had no one to play with, and reportedly that's where the good stuff was so oh well. Then the whole game got interneted to death. The credits song was the best thing about the game, mainly because it was permitted to stand alone instead of being over-laboured like everything else.

Fallout 3. At the time I gave it a fair bit of credit for being the first Bethesda game to not have a horrible character growth system. I could finally get the patented exploration experience without needing to do stupid things like jump up and down on the spot for three hours. As with Oblivion I got all of the achievements and put a lot of time into it, but overall can't say it's anything particularly mind-blowing. The plot is awful, as is much of the writing. Lots of bugs. Too much brown. So many drab tunnel dungeons. The DLC wasn't that good. The overworld exploration, and painlessly forging a super-character who was nearly perfect at everything? That I liked. Those two factors carried the game for me.

Games which I did not like:

Bioshock Infinite. This is the game which taught me to never buy a game/season pass bundle no matter how much I liked previous works. The only thing which I like about this one is the title abbreviation: Binfinite. It makes me think of an infinite line of bins. Given how many I had to loot it raises a tiny, wry smile.

When I first entered the flying city I heard a man singing, "I'd like to die" to drums and cheers. I thought, "Blimey, I know that the game explores themes of Christian fundamentalism but surely that's a bit much?" According to google it was actually "Irene goodbye". It was only downhill from there. I don't want to vomit all over a game which a lot of people like so I'll leave it at that.

Game which I can't decide on a category for:

Dragon Age: Inquisition. I got it on release day and I still haven't managed to finish it. Considering that I've replayed both previous games that says something. I want to finish it. I will finish it. I'll probably get all of the trophies when I do, since they're mainly quest related and I'm an RPG completionist. It's that latter which holds the key: this game is very So Much Stuff(TM). So much bland, boring stuff, with a bland, awkward combat system ... until suddenly I find a nice view, or a good bit of writing, or a fun plot development, or my companions start bantering in the background. If I try and stick to the plot I don't level up much, and then I don't get to buy combat skills, which makes combat even duller. It's a good 30 hour game which looks set to take 70 hours to finish. I play for 10-15 hours and get bored, leave it for months, return, and repeat. I can't quite get a player character which I like either. Neither of the female voices are quite right, and I haven't found a dialogue response set which I like. I could try a male character but playing a reasonable female character is one of my major modern Bioware perks, and I'd have to repeat a lot of content.

The Walking Dead. The first time I played it I liked it quite a bit. It would have placed high in my ranking for that year. Lee is the kind of male character we didn't see very often, and in many ways still don't. Or my Lee was. Polite, sensible, caring, a father figure with no bombast, violence, attitude or posturing. He admitted when he didn't know the answers, he asked for help, he did his best. He looked like a normal human being instead of a steroid addict or Hollywood wannabe. He was black. Clem was great too for the same reasons. Their relationship made the game and kept me waiting for each episode despite me not caring a jot for the setting or overall plot.

Then I replayed it on my vita so I could carry my save into Walking Dead 2. Bad decision. Where I suspected the puppet-strings on my first run, I saw them plain as day on my second. There are a lot of strings. Spoiled everything. Quickly realised that I didn't like the sequel series because it couldn't replace the Lee and Clem relationship. What a mistake to make.

My favourite:
If I had to choose a favourite out of these? "I am the very model of a scientist Salarian..."

Quote is not edit. Or so I hear. [facepalm]

Frogbeast, if you don't rank them, it'll probably be impossible for Gravey to count your votes properly. Assuming he's doing it like ClockworkHouse does, first place is ten points, second place is nine, and so on, so the numbers matter.

I guess he could rank the 'likes' in the order you list them, but that might not be accurate.

This is the game which taught me to never buy a game/season pass bundle no matter how much I liked previous works.

It's funny how my reaction to Binfinite changed, midgame. I remember posting something about 'holy sh*t this is good' at about a third of the way through, and then realizing, at the halfway point, "oh god, this story is going off the rails." And it just got worse and worse after that.

The mechanical problems never bothered me much, although I imagine I'd be less tolerant of the constant, constant looting-of-trashcans on a replay, but the plot was such a Charlie Foxtrot that I doubt I'll ever touch it again.

I don't mind having mine left out of the count. Other than saying Mass Effect 2 is my favourite and Binfinite rock bottom I couldn't meaningfully rank them if my life depended upon it. When I considered doing a post I felt that my feelings were too mixed on most of them to decide which I prefer to what, and writing them up only made that clearer.

It was nice to have chance to reflect on some games which I played during the high tide of the last console generation. These, and other games which aren't on the list.

I always love reading your posts, frogbeastegg, especially when you articulate my feelings on something perfectly. Your experiences with Portal 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition are spot on with my own.

I put frogbeastegg down for Mass Effect 2 at number one. I am doing the points thing, but then I'm also doing most number ones with countbacks, total votes, median rank, and whatever else gives interesting results. This survey isn't scientific, rigorous, or comprehensive, nor any of those as much as the annual votes since it won't have near the same level of input, so I'm not going to spend a lot of energy deciphering ambiguous lists. My hope is only that this survey is quite interesting.

2008: Fallout 3 (USA, Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
While I didn't particularly care for the whole finding the father thing of the main questline, I loved being the Lone Wanderer and all the exploration and the side quest humor and the assault rifles and Dogmeat and being able to go anywhere, do anything, and live in this crazy wasteland of a world. I've played this game numerous times on both PC and Xbox with all achievements complete on 360.

2010: Mass Effect 2 (CAN, BioWare/EA)
Technically, I'm still playing this game as I'm in the midst of an insanity playthrough, but I love my (male) Shepard and Mordin and of course Garris too. I like the other characters, but these are probably my favorites. I didn't like that there are NO HANAR. Grrr! But I really love the context of the world and the storyline. Combat is also pretty fun, but I find having to constantly run around finding ammo to be extremely tedious compared to ME1. Overall, I preferred ME1 (minus the Mako) but ME2 is still one of my favorites.

2009: Dragon Age: Origins (CAN, BioWare/EA)
Played this game a lot too and got every single Xbox 360 achievement for it, and that took forever due to Bioware deciding that we all enjoy being forced to play the same storyline over and over with multiple characters. (I really don't.) At least I do enjoy the different characters and thought the interaction between them was fantastic and better than in most other games. Maybe ANY other game at the time, but there are many games I haven't yet played, so who knows. I enjoy the world that Bioware created for this game and find it great fun to learn more about it. Arguing over the motives of the different characters such as Loghain has also been fun.

2006: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (USA, Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
I thought about putting this game higher on the list as I really do love it, but I really don't like the auto-leveling enemies and found it ridiculous that one could never build up a character to be able to go back and wipe the floor with enemies that tormented you in the beginning. Suddenly, they are all super-powerful and even the most common cutthroats are decked out in daedric armor. While I'm glad that there was a complete set of daedric available to the character in the main game without having to kill a beloved NPC for it, i.e. Morrowind, having it literally EVERYWHERE as if it literally rained from the sky during storms was going too far in the other direction. Nevertheless, no one does sandbox better than Bethesda and I still am playing this game off and on. I love the colorful setting and the (ugly but) whimsical characters. Whenever I feel I want to immerse myself in a happy (yet with underlying sinisterism) place, I pull out Oblivion!

Note that my game rankings for these will change on a day-to-day basis, but since I have to stick with something for this purpose, might as well go with the above. I haven't played any of the other games on the list, so don't believe it would be fair to judge them based on hearsay.

Oh wow, I'd totally missed this thread. Need to think on it. Congrats on 10 years, Clocky!!

I'll throw in for Fallout 3 as my fave from that list. Slightly edges out Portal 2 due to the open world gameplay.

1: Portal (USA, Valve Corporation)
2: Fallout 3 (USA, Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
3: Dragon Age: Origins (CAN, BioWare/EA)
5: Mass Effect 2 (CAN, BioWare/EA)
4: Portal 2 (USA, Valve Corporation)
6: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (USA, Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Haven't played:
The Walking Dead (USA, Telltale Games)
BioShock Infinite (USA, Irrational Games/2K Games)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (CAN, BioWare/EA)
Rocket League (USA, Psyonix)

Games that would have ranked higher than their predecessors had they been available options:
Skyrim
Dragon Age 2
Fallout 4

Eleima wrote:

Oh wow, I'd totally missed this thread. Need to think on it. Congrats on 10 years, Clocky!!

It's not ten years yet for me. Sinatar ran the votes for the first four years.

1. Portal - A great game with a close to perfect learning curve and interesting story stuff that is not in your face that does not outstay it's welcome

2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Haters gonna hate but this was a fantastic game (once I modded it up) that I poured hours and hours into. I loved the setting: being in Cyrodiil just walking around exploring makes this one of my all-time favorites.

3. Rocket League - I'm still playing a couple of times a week. I am awful at it but have resigned myself to being awful at it. Exploding cars are really fun!

4. Portal 2 - Too long and too in your face with its story, however still fun and has some pretty great puzzles.

5. Mass Effect 2 - Better than the first ME by a wide margin, I enjoyed the characters quite a bit. I did not like the fetch quests and non-main content very much but felt compelled to play it so I could level up though.

6. Dragon Age: Origins - The closest to a BioWare reprise of Baldur's Gate we are likely to get and the last BioWare game I am likely to play all the way through through multiple times. I loved the world building and and (most of) the mechanics. Multiple starts was very interesting and all the little touches were fantastic.

7. Dragon Age: Inquisition - One the other hand, a game doing similar stuff that is too big just outstays its welcome and makes one long for it to be over. By the end I hated everyone (except Scout Lace Harding ) and just wanted it to be over.

8. The Walking Dead - Played the first two episodes and never got back to it. I appreciated what it was trying to do but could never really care enough to play more.

9. Fallout 3 - OK, I realize I am irrational about this game. I loved it and played through it for about 80-100 hours. The world was pretty great, I was invested in the characters, I played through the eye-rolling main quest because really this is what I love about Bethesda games: exploring interesting places. But the original ending still makes me angry. As in, I am getting angry typing this sort of angry. Once I beat the game I never went back, never played a DLC, nothing. The ending made me hate it. And, yeah they patched a better ending in. Too late for me though. This game, for all its strengths, can burn.

10. BioShock Infinite - I cannot even be bothered to reflect on why this game bothers me so much. I got about 2/3rds of the way through and wish I could have that time back. Just an unpleasant game to play.

You know, tboon, if you don't like the games you can just leave them off your list.

oilypenguin wrote:

You know, tboon, if you don't like the games you can just leave them off your list.

I played them, I will rank them, man.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a crush on Scout Harding.

Doesn't **everyone** have a crush on Scout Harding? She's awesome!

I didn't romance anyone in DA:I because I wanted to romance Lace but lazydevs didn't make it an option.

tboon wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

You know, tboon, if you don't like the games you can just leave them off your list.

I played them, I will rank them, man.

Yeah, if you played them and didn't like them, rank them still, especially if you've played all ten! The community chose them, but where would you put them? If you didn't play some of them, don't try to rank those ones.

That's my preference for how this ranking should be conducted anyway, but the police aren't going to kick down anyone's door if they do it differently. Like for Robear, I'll mark him down as Fallout 3 first and Portal 2 second. The important thing is that I don't think too hard about it.

Herewith my list:

1. Portal

Not my favourite game of all time, but of the list it's pretty much the most 'perfect.' It's mechanically clever, has just enough story to motivate the player and it's the right length. Also funny in just the right amount.

2. Mass Effect 2

Not my favourite ME game, which is the original. ME1 was flawed, but so, so ambitious. ME2 dials back the ambition for achievable targets and more streamlined mechanics. It also hides its best features which leads so many people to call it a 'mediocre shooter' when you really should be using al the tools in the toolbox.

Seriously, play Vanguard at a decent difficulty level.

3. Dragon Age: Origins

As a modern interpretation of the old party based Infinity engine games this was great. The origins were stunning and I devoured my Dwarf Commoner playthrough. Yet it feels strangely cold on attempted replay and I've never managed to get far when trying again.

4. Dragon Age: Inquisition

Had a lot of fun with this. This is the game where the world of Thedas really starts to feel like place rather than a setting for a videogame. Mechanically not great, but like ME2 it has a cast of fascinating characters.

Yet, like DA:I I haven't been able to get very deep into a replay. It also feels cold, especially after The Witcher 3.

Oddly, DA2 is the one Dragon Age game I have played twice despite being the weakest by most standards.

5. Rocket League

This is a game that shines when playing with friends and the one time I managed to sync up with online buddies it was great. The rest of the time however it's the usual MP pick up group pain fest.

6. BioShock Infinite

What a roller coaster of a game this was. Started out with a long boring climb, then sudden excitement, then a long boring middle section, then a strong finish. I do still want to get to Burial At Sea because I feel like I need to finish this story. But that will be when the price is right and I have the time, which is not now.

10. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Wait, what happened to 7, 8, 9? Well, I haven't played all of the games on the list, but this one I dislike so much that I can't put it higher on the list, but I feel it needs to be on it.

I really enjoyed my first 30 hours of Oblivion, despite the console UI on the PC version. The sense of wonder as you look across the world and realise you can do anything.

Then the penny dropped and I realised that you can do anything, yet everything is pretty much the same, so why bother? This is the game that was most responsible for my complete distaste for Open World games for the longest time. Until Saints Row 3 showed me the light.

Games I haven't played, but well, since this is the internet I have some thoughts anyway.

Portal 2

More Portal can't be a bad thing. Reading people's mixed reactions to it is interesting though. I don't feel in a rush to pick it up, but I will one day.

The Walking Dead

I've tried the free versions of a few of Telltale's game series and they just don't do it for me. I also don't like The Walking Dead show, so there's that.

Fallout 3

I was gifted Fallout New Vegas and I eventually put around 30 hours into it when I was bed ridden and it was one of the few games I could play on my PC, with a controller while flat on my back. It did have some interesting aspects, but it was fundamentally still Oblivion with guns and an uglier setting.

Apparently Fallout 3 is worse, so hard nope on ever playing it. I can't remember who gifted New Vegas to me, but I am still grateful for the gift. It finally cured me of the feeling that there should be something in Bethesda's open world RPGs I like.

tboon wrote:

I didn't romance anyone in DA:I because I wanted to romance Lace but lazydevs didn't make it an option. :(

With the Tresspasser DLC it sorta is

Stop it. All of you. You're causing me to consider rolling a new character in DA: Inquisition in the hope that Scout Harding could make it all better. If only that were true.

frogbeastegg wrote:

So much bland, boring stuff, with a bland, awkward combat system ... until suddenly I find a nice view, or a good bit of writing, or a fun plot development, or my companions start bantering in the background.

This. It's so bloated with mundane monotony. The lore is long-winded and uninteresting. The combat is a menial chore. If not for the nice views and the odd bit of interesting writing to inspire a shred of hope, I may actually have fallen into a deep slumber.

frogbeastegg wrote:

I can't quite get a player character which I like either.

I struggled with this, too. I could get a decent look okay, but the dialogue options were not so good, the purpose for pursuing the main goal mustered a shrug of the shoulders, and how it unfolded in the beginning just fell flat.

Yet I still think I may return one day and it will be different. It's possible. Expectations change. Tastes change. Moods change. Who knows.

RnRClown wrote:

Stop it. All of you. You're causing me to consider rolling a new character in DA: Inquisition in the hope that Scout Harding could make it all better. If only that were true.

frogbeastegg wrote:

So much bland, boring stuff, with a bland, awkward combat system ... until suddenly I find a nice view, or a good bit of writing, or a fun plot development, or my companions start bantering in the background.

This. It's so bloated with mundane monotony. The lore is long-winded and uninteresting. The combat is a menial chore. If not for the nice views and the odd bit of interesting writing to inspire a shred of hope, I may actually have fallen into a deep slumber.

frogbeastegg wrote:

I can't quite get a player character which I like either.

I struggled with this, too. I could get a decent look okay, but the dialogue options were not so good, the purpose for pursuing the main goal mustered a shrug of the shoulders, and how it unfolded in the beginning just fell flat.

Yet I still think I may return one day and it will be different. It's possible. Expectations change. Tastes change. Moods change. Who knows.

I don't like my character in DA:I. I don't like the lore or the story. The combat is thoroughly uninteresting. But I've somehow gotten carried along for over fifty hours so far on a just frequent enough drip feed of beautiful scenery and companion snark. I'm not sure I have ever enjoyed a game as much while caring so little about any of it. Maybe Darksiders comes closest.