2017 Community Game of the Year - Results on the front page!!

Eleima wrote:

And Skyrim on the Switch is so witchcraft, that it has me seriously considering buying a Switch.

I saw someone on the train the other day playing an RPG on a tablet and it was pretty nice-looking for a mobile game holy crap that's Skyrim on a Switch!

ranalin wrote:

Just curious, but how many folks have to actually finish a game to know where it compares to others that you play?

Not me. I voted Dishonored as my favourite game of 2012 after two levels. With rushed endings and limp conclusions, it's more probable that I'll like a game less after I've seen it to its finish (Dishonored again, BioShock, Jade Empire, etc). But mechanically and thematically, a few hours is enough to understand what a game is about.

Skyrim on the Switch will very likely appear on my list. And I'm not even cheating, because I'd never played it before!

Having stopped using Backloggery this year, I realize how hard it is to remember what i played earlier in the year now.

Good thing I can comb through achievements and purchase history.

ranalin wrote:

Just curious, but how many folks have to actually finish a game to know where it compares to others that you play? Like i didn't finish DoS2, but i know it's the best RPG i played all year (tbh past 2 years)

Since I finish very few games relative to some of you, it's definitely not a requirement I put on myself!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

If I list Mass Effect in spots 2-5, can I vote Witcher 3 as number one again?

I'll allow it.

Aaron D. wrote:
Eleima wrote:

So what do you want me to do, remove it, and bump up the others, or leave the rest of the listing as is? I ask, because it does impact the tallying of the points.

That's kind of you to ask. Let's just keep it simple and leave it set as is.

IMAGE(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/asyouwish9.jpg)

ranalin wrote:

Just curious, but how many folks have to actually finish a game to know where it compares to others that you play? Like i didn't finish DoS2, but i know it's the best RPG i played all year (tbh past 2 years)

I wasn't even sure I'd covered that, so I had to check back. A lot of people put games on their list, even when they haven't finished it quite yet, and it makes total sense to me. It's particularly true in the case of big RPGs or JPRGs, games that are so huge that even 10 hours of playing it, you just know you're going to love it til the end. Or as Gravey mentioned: I've only played a couple of hours of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, but I just know it's going to go on my list. Last year, I'd only played 30 minutes of ABZÜ, but there wasn't a shred of doubt in my mind that it would be on the list.

Mantid wrote:

Having stopped using Backloggery this year, I realize how hard it is to remember what i played earlier in the year now.
Good thing I can comb through achievements and purchase history.

That's what you get for falling off the Pile wagon. Come baaaaaaack!! We miss you!

Thank you for your list, Sonicator, it's been taken into account (and you're the first to vote for Nier: Automata, I was surprised, considering how much I've been hearing people talk about it).

Eleima wrote:

ABZÜ

Thank you for reminding me, played through way back in January, goes straight on my list.

I have a Witcher 3 query. For which I'll head over to Cces new goty wrangling thread laters.

ranalin wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:
doogiemac wrote:

Just confirming that I played Witcher III for the first time this year! :)

I'm near the end myself, and this is also my first playthrough. And boy, oh boy is this game good (in case you people haven't heard). I want to wait until I'm done with it to post my list, but I have a feeling it is going to be at the very top.

Just curious, but how many folks have to actually finish a game to know where it compares to others that you play? Like i didn't finish DoS2, but i know it's the best RPG i played all year (tbh past 2 years)

Personally, I like to wait until I've finished a game before considering where to put it on the list, because sometimes the game gets much better towards the end (like Journey), and sometimes it sours the whole experience (like Final Fantasy XV). That said, and while I'm still planning on finishing The Witcher III before I add it to the list, I've playing it for about 40 hours over the past two months, so I would be surprised if the remaining story beats change my opinion. You never know, though, which is why I'm waiting.

Mario_Alba wrote:

Personally, I like to wait until I've finished a game before considering where to put it on the list, because sometimes the game gets much better towards the end (like Journey), and sometimes it sours the whole experience (like Final Fantasy XV). That said, and while I'm still planning on finishing The Witcher III before I add it to the list, I've playing it for about 40 hours over the past two months, so I would be surprised if the remaining story beats change my opinion. You never know, though, which is why I'm waiting.

Oh those remaining story beats very well could. 'Twas a mighty powerful second half and if anything, it pushed the game further up my list last year.
You do make a very good point, I'm sure that some people would've put Mass Effect 3 on their GOTY list before hitting the ending (it's almost perfect with the extended content though!). In the end, that's why we have the word "community" in the thread title. The point is really to have people's list, the games that they were excited about. Whether or not they finished them or not is a very personal thing, and that's why it's not a rule in the Q&A.

Bubblefuzz wrote:
Eleima wrote:

ABZÜ

Thank you for reminding me, played through way back in January, goes straight on my list.

Sweet! I gifted that one left and right in the past two sales. It's just that beautiful.

Malor wrote:
Voting will close on January 1st, 2018 (9am GMT+1, 3am EST, midnight PST).

I'd recommend sliding that back, some. People should be getting new games for Christmas, and giving them at least a couple weeks to play their new acquisitions would seem appropriate.

Honestly, it seems like the voting period should run from Jan 1 to the 31st each year. It's almost exactly 30 days too early.

I believe last year I recommended a soft-rule or self-imposed that the eligible 365 days is Christmas day prior year up to Christmas day current year. That way the items you get for Christmas can still count, especially since many of us wouldn't have enough time to complete them anyway, and dragging things out to February would probably kill some of the enthusiasm. I think timing it to this point of the year gives everyone that nice moment of reflection leading into the new year, and also helps given that there will be more free time from/at work for a lot of folks to work on our lists.

Most importantly, if this were some official awards show I'd say sure, wait until February, but it's not. We're regular folks putting together lists where we can't play everything anyway, which is why the rules also highlight any game you played the first time regardless of release year.

Moreover, December's kind of a slow news month, and it's a month that, due to the holidays in question, encourage an optimistic attitude (and given the current state of the world, people could really use that distraction right about now). So this in conjunction with the Stanta thread... I think that's better as December GWJ traditions.

escher77 wrote:

4- Nothing - Why because it would not do any of the top 3 justice to put something after them.

Come on man. This is part of why Clock had to stop doing it. Now someone's gotta figure out what the f*ck to do with this list in terms of tallying. If you only have nine games then label them 1-9, but this sh*t is for the birds.

Please keep the folks running this in mind.

ranalin wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:
doogiemac wrote:

Just confirming that I played Witcher III for the first time this year! :)

I'm near the end myself, and this is also my first playthrough. And boy, oh boy is this game good (in case you people haven't heard). I want to wait until I'm done with it to post my list, but I have a feeling it is going to be at the very top.

Just curious, but how many folks have to actually finish a game to know where it compares to others that you play? Like i didn't finish DoS2, but i know it's the best RPG i played all year (tbh past 2 years)

I prefer to finish a game myself. There are some games in prior years I put on my list without having completed, and now I either regret placing them too high or too low. Sometimes the end-game really hurts a title and other instances it really elevates it (in fact, were it not for The Last of Us' ending I'd have probably rated it lower). So it depends on game to game, but I feel like any creative work is better evaluated as a whole.

I've some playing to do in December! My top 5 is looking fairly set but I don't know what order yet, even upto no.1 so I need to push on & complete a few more games.

Great to see so many lists up so far & Eleima being so active & responsive in the thread, a worthy successor to the Clockmeister (Thanks for the hard work in previous years btw & sorry about the nickname!)

In the previous award threads, is there an easy way to find your post? Rather than manually go through each page to find it? I wouldn't mind starting to keep track of my votes in a spreadsheet.

ccesarano wrote:
escher77 wrote:

4- Nothing - Why because it would not do any of the top 3 justice to put something after them.

Come on man. This is part of why Clock had to stop doing it. Now someone's gotta figure out what the f*ck to do with this list in terms of tallying. If you only have nine games then label them 1-9, but this sh*t is for the birds.
Please keep the folks running this in mind.

That would be me. I appreciate the intent, Ccesarano, but if I have a technical problem with someone's list, I'll tell them. As it is, if someone wishes to leave a particular spot on their top ten, then that's their choice, and I tally the points accordingly (it's not that hard). As is, Escher's list is just fine and already taken into account.

Clusks wrote:

In the previous award threads, is there an easy way to find your post? Rather than manually go through each page to find it? I wouldn't mind starting to keep track of my votes in a spreadsheet.

I've been bookmarking mine year after year, because I'm cuckoo that way. Short of that, I'd suggest trying to google something along the lines of

site:www.gamerswithjobs.com "clusks" "2016 Community Game of the Year"

That query allowed me to find your 2016 post pretty easily.

Edit: couldn't find your 2015 post, but here's your 2014 post.

Eleima wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:

Personally, I like to wait until I've finished a game before considering where to put it on the list, because sometimes the game gets much better towards the end (like Journey), and sometimes it sours the whole experience (like Final Fantasy XV). That said, and while I'm still planning on finishing The Witcher III before I add it to the list, I've playing it for about 40 hours over the past two months, so I would be surprised if the remaining story beats change my opinion. You never know, though, which is why I'm waiting.

Oh those remaining story beats very well could. 'Twas a mighty powerful second half and if anything, it pushed the game further up my list last year.

Good point. I'm hoping I'm happy with the ending I get, whatever it ends up being...

Eleima wrote:

That would be me. I appreciate the intent, Ccesarano, but if I have a technical problem with someone's list, I'll tell them. As it is, if someone wishes to leave a particular spot on their top ten, then that's their choice, and I tally the points accordingly (it's not that hard). As is, Escher's list is just fine and already taken into account.

Sorry to both you and Escher for the rude response.

Perhaps not rude, I'd go with "passionate". As I said, I understood your intent, but it's all good.

Clusks wrote:

In the previous award threads, is there an easy way to find your post? Rather than manually go through each page to find it? I wouldn't mind starting to keep track of my votes in a spreadsheet.

You can also look through the data spreadsheets for previous years to find yourself. I've made them available as a zip file for anyone who is curious.

I think my 2017 honorable mentions list is going to be as strong as my top 10 from prior years. Even with all the loot box shenanigans of the last couple months, 2017 has been a crazy good year for games.

As usual, I probably won't post my list until the last couple days so I can cram a few more games in over the holidays.

Thanks for the suggestions! Anyone looked back on their choices from previous years and thought, "did I really pick that?" Or is that just me?

Clusks wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions! Anyone looked back on their choices from previous years and thought, "did I really pick that?" Or is that just me?

It's not just you! I have also looked at your picks from previous years and wondered what you were thinking.

pyxistyx wrote:

:lol:

+1

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Clusks wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions! Anyone looked back on their choices from previous years and thought, "did I really pick that?" Or is that just me?

It's not just you! I have also looked at your picks from previous years and wondered what you were thinking.

Ha!

In all seriousness, every year I pretty much take umbrage with something I put in there. I'm wondering if one year I should just write something together where I correct my choices from five years ago or something.

ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Clusks wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions! Anyone looked back on their choices from previous years and thought, "did I really pick that?" Or is that just me?

It's not just you! I have also looked at your picks from previous years and wondered what you were thinking.

Ha! In all seriousness, every year I pretty much take umbrage with something I put in there. I'm wondering if one year I should just write something together where I correct my choices from five years ago or something.

That would only work if you've been keeping track of aaaaaall the games you've been playing each year. Which I have. Looking back, I would probably tweak my lists a bit, reorder, but even game I put in my top ten... I have zero regrets. They still hold up. The only regret I might have is for Crypt of the NecroDancer which didn't make my top ten in 2015 because I'd played it on my PC and it didn't click at first. Little did I know how much I would play it once it came out on iOS...

I'm not going to really go into each of them and why they are where they are, but I liked every game below and wanted to represent them in some way. I understand only the numbered list matters but if you're looking through this looking for ideas of games to check out then definitely consider some of my honorable mentions.

1. Destiny 2
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
3. Super Mario Odyssey
4. Persona 5
5. Bloodborne
6. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
7. Steamworld Dig 2
8. Player Unknown's Battlegrounds
9. Mighty Gunvolt Burst
10. Battlefield 1

Honorable Mentions:
The Surge
Nioh
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Snipperclips
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recond Wildlands
Injustice 2
Final Fantasy 12: Zodiac Age
Mario + Rabids Kingdom Battle
The Mummy Demastered
Mass Effect: Andromeda

Games as a Service
Rainbow Six Siege

Eleima, I was going to post my top 10 thinking that I didn't have anything in the backlog that would likely beat anything in my list - but then I remembered. I'm getting Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted 4 for Christmas. I'm not sure how much actual playtime I'll get with them before the deadline. I hope to play Horizon ZD before the voting deadline.

Would it be easier for you if I waited until the last minute to post my list to avoid possibly changing it. I don't want to cause you extra work.

2017 was an awful year where I had little time for new games. Most of the year I played my PSP or even GBA. Comfort games to get through tough times. So my list is going to be short.

1. NBA 2k18 (PS4)
- I've enjoyed the online play in NBA 2k for years now. I login 3 or 4 nights a week to play online with random people and almost always have fun. Overall the game is lousy with microtransacitons. My Career sees few improvements year over year. I don't even bother with the mode. The Switch version's low framerate meant I rarely played it on Switch. I just didn't enjoy controlling it. After all was said and done, though, I played this game more than anything else.

2. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - My favorite Mario game since 64, probably. I loved 3D Land, but this is something else.

3. Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild (Switch) - Didn't get to spend too much time with it, but I know I'll finish this long before I build up a pile on the Switch. It's that good.

4. Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (Switch) - Beautiful audio and visual skin on one of my favorite games of all time. The ability to switch between old and new is amazing. Every classic game should be remade like this.

5. Fire Emblem Echoes (3DS) - Disappointing, kind of boring. Didn't finish.

6. Splatoon 2 (Switch) - Fun, but ultimately didn't hold my interest. The online community ramped got good too quickly and matchmaking never allowed for light players like myself to dip back in and compete.

That's literally all the new games I played. I debated just going to 4 games to avoid skewing the results.

EDIT: Fixed typo

I’m usually pretty light on new games played and this year is no different.

1. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS - 448 hours in and I still love it. Winning a solo game was one of the most exilerating and tense gaming experiences I’ve had.
2. Super Mario Odyssey - Against my better judgement I bought a switch this year, mostly because of the positive buzz about this game. A very charming game and probably my favorite 3D Mario game.
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - I got this to play with my older daughter. She’s not that great but we’re having a good time with it.

I did also play Splatoon 2 but didn’t like the controls at all. I think I didn’t like the aiming with an analog stick. It just feels very imprecise.

I got Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild but never got past the tutorial portion. I just have no patience for single player games anymore.

Plus I’ve now played over 1,300 hours of Rocket League but I’m sure I voted for it last year.

So many Switch games. Could this finally be the year a non-North American game gets the GOTY? I might have been confident predicting so if the last two years hadn't been won by multiplayer games, and now along comes PUBG. Which is maybe South Korean? Or American now?

ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Clusks wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions! Anyone looked back on their choices from previous years and thought, "did I really pick that?" Or is that just me?

It's not just you! I have also looked at your picks from previous years and wondered what you were thinking.

Ha!

In all seriousness, every year I pretty much take umbrage with something I put in there. I'm wondering if one year I should just write something together where I correct my choices from five years ago or something.

When I did the Community Game of the Year: The First 10 Years, it seemed like a lot of people decided that maybe BioShock: Infinite wasn't as good as they initially thought. Duh-doy!

Might as well make a list while I'm here:

1) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

I loved this game. Maybe because I went in with low expectations. Loved the first two, for some reason didn't have any anticipation for this one at launch. Gave it a shot this year. The magic is still there. Looking forward to BL3.

2) Overwatch

It's pretty cool.

Gravey wrote:

When I did the Community Game of the Year: The First 10 Years, it seemed like a lot of people decided that maybe BioShock: Infinite wasn't as good as they initially thought. Duh-doy!

If I'm reading this list and comparing it to that one correctly, B:I was the lowest rated GOTY in the top 25 when it won. Like the winning write-up said: "Hotly anticipated and highly controversial, Bioshock Infinite was ranked on more lists than any other game but was also called out more than any other for dishonorable mention."

Doesn't sound like people changing their minds as much as B:I's win was due to lots of people thinking it was pretty good but not great. Which is totally at odds with the vocal opinions about it--those tended to be anything but middle of the road.

PUBG and, before it, Rocket League (carryover from 2016) swallowed my mind this year.

1. PUBG (PC). Far and away my game of the year. It’s not even close. Thank you to GWJ community for making my late night duo and squad round marathons the equivalent of poker night with insane friends. The game has such a perfect cadence of a slow ramp to heart-pumping action. Each 30 minute round (if you are lucky/good) is unique and the narrative you build is often memorable weeks later. So much fun.

2. FIFA 18 (PS4). Much improved from the prior year and I love the online club mode.

3. Battlefront 2 (PC and PS4). Just scratching the surface (see my addiction to PUBG above), but much deeper and bigger than Battlefront 1. I really like the space combat too. I just wish I was better at twitch based games.

It is a shame I can’t include Rocket League this year too. DocAwk...miss your craziness; you made every round you played in better...in every sense of that concept.