2019 Community Game of the Year

Tanglebones wrote:

It's gonna be Crusader Kings 3 for me

I hope you are right about that.

So far my year has mostly been playing smaller things I missed over the past few years. I think Animal Crossing is the only game I've played that was actually released this year? Oh, and Streets of Rage I suppose, but as fun a diversion as that was it's probably an honorable mention candidate at most, because the list of games I've finally gotten around to in the first half of the year is full of HEAVY hitters, such as (roughly in the order I'd place them now):

Sayonara Wild Hearts
Gris
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Kentucky Route Zero
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Daemon x Machina

But so far there's one game that's well above all of that, and I think you all might be excited to hear about it. Folks, have you heard about this little indie darling called Final Fantasy 14? Old school gamers might recall the name, because back in the 90s and very early 2000s it actually was one of the premiere names in the world of JRPGs. And I think maybe there have been a few other releases in more recent years that were okay, but really, you'd be forgiven if you had forgotten about the series since the last truly great entry was early in the PS2 era.

But this Final Fantasy 14, man is it ever something special. All joking aside you may have heard other devotees to the game talk about how now three expansions in they game is kind of like four major Final Fantasy games laid back to back all in one, and every bit as good as they ever were in the old days. So far I'm only barely into the first expansion, so I've only fully seen the story from the base game, but even there after a bit of a slow start it definitely holds true.

Yeah, it's embedded within the gameplay constructs of an MMO, and I totally understand being reticent to dig into that mess --- it's largely what kept me from giving it an honest try until now (other that a VERY brief dalliance just after the original "A Realm Reborn" release). But while I've played a few other MMOs with slightly more modern, exciting, dynamic combat systems (Guild Wars 2 and Black Desert Online), this game is in close competition with them in that regard, and is SO much better designed in so many other ways that it's kind of mind blowing.

AAAANyyway, between that and Destiny 2's ongoing updates I could easily not get around to anything else this year. Hopefully that won't be the case though, since there's definitely a few games that have either already been released or that are coming later this year that I'd very much like to get some time with, such as:

Final Fantasy 7 Remake, although I'm kind of thinking I'd like to wait for the not so secret PC port that will likely come in early 2021 after what was a probably a one year exclusivity deal expires.
Persona 4 Golden, now that the Steam release has finally given me a chance to get back to the game.
Hades, which I believe will finally be leaving early access soon?
And of course, Cyberpunk 2077.

FF7R is at the top for me so far. I kinda hope something beats it. If not, it will have been a slightly weak year.
Last of Us 2 a close second. A fair bit below those are Dragon Quest 11 and Nioh 2.

FF7R is my top one so far as well. A Short Hike and Yakuza 0 follow close behind. I haven't finished too many other games this year so far, so I'm not sure I'll even have a full list of 10 by the time this cursed year ends.

Top of my list this year is really easy:

Baldur's Gate 2
Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear

That's right, the BG series. I decided with the imminent launch of BG3, I'm finally returning to play the series after a hiatus of about 10 years. This has always been my all time favorite game and series, but with the constant flood of new games, and the procrastination of "I'll get back to it"...I never got back to it. The launch of the Enhanced Editions and then Siege of Dragonspear naturally piqued my interest enough to purchase them but I just never actually, you know, installed and played them.

Whelp, the BG3 announcement and 2020 release date (vague as that is) was enough to start at Candlekeep in BG1. I had my nostalgia in check, my expectations managed, the bar...low.

No need. The series is still my all time favorite.

Dated graphics aside, I'm right back in there. I decided to run two separate campaigns - one with the group I traditionally run as my "canon", the other with the enhanced edition characters and a couple of NPCs I typically skipped for a goofier campaign. Sure the graphics are dated, but it doesn't matter because the artwork is hand curated. The writing is extensive and I'm still discovering new things all these years later. It's a perfect combination of novelty, nostalgia, exploration, and familiarity. Unless BG3 just blows my doors off, which I actually don't expect it to do (but do expect it to be very good), BG2 is my unapologetic game of the year and remains my all time favorite game, and Jon Irenicus remains one of the best villains to ever appear in a PC game.

I really should try to finish Baldur's Gate 2 again, but it seems to be a cursed game for me. Out of three attempts I've had one save file get saved over and another one get corrupted. The third attempt, however... that one ended with a hard drive failure!

If you finish it, all the suffering will have been worth it.

Legal question: Are remakes eligible if we played the original? I’m thinking of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning this year and another rpg remake that may come out in the near future.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Legal question: Are remakes eligible if we played the original? I’m thinking of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning this year and another rpg remake that may come out in the near future.

I would say depends on if it is a true remake or just a remaster. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is basically a completely different game. Kingdom of Amalur looks more like a remaster which doesn't make any significant changes to the game-play or story so I would vote that it doesn't count.

Never mind.

I predict the thread will be closing soon based on the above post.

I'll happily delete it at the first hint of it going that direction. There's no value in a fight; just trying to clearly restate my perspective.

My top game so far this year would be Dark Souls: Remastered, but I included it in my 'seems cool, need to play more' section, so that's out. Given that, my list will probably end up something like this:

Prey
Super Mega Baseball 3
Control
XCOM: Enemy Within
XCOM: Chimera Squad

Still to play that I assume will end up somewhere on my final list:

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Star Wars: Squadrons
Crusader Kings 3

Also, Animal Crossing might make my list, but it'll be down towards the bottom. I mostly enjoyed the time I spent with it, but certain design decisions ended up making me really sour on the game, to the point that I'd view it pretty negatively overall if it weren't for how much my daughter likes it.

I mean, I'm all for discussing all this, but I just didn't think we'd be doing this in June.

Eleima wrote:

I mean, I'm all for discussing all this, but I just didn't think we'd be doing this in June. :D

IT'S JUNE!?!?!?!

You can't even begin to imagine how hard I'm rolling my eyes right now.

Eleima wrote:

I mean, I'm all for discussing all this, but I just didn't think we'd be doing this in June. :D

There's really no need to stress about it at all -- if you like my suggestion, that's great! If not, totally cool too.

EDIT: Never mind about the rest.

You kinda ruined these threads for me, so yeah.

Vector wrote:
Eleima wrote:

I mean, I'm all for discussing all this, but I just didn't think we'd be doing this in June. :D

IT'S JUNE!?!?!?!

The glass is half full! And it only took like 5000 days.

As for 'new to me'. What about the totally hypothetical situation where I suffer from bad memory. Then I can just vote on whatever? Right!? December will be so much fun
It will make or break Command and Conquer Remasters claim for the GOTY title.

Well, since the thread has not closed I'll get mine in, I didn't think I would have much to add, but it turns out that my gaming has been pretty busy!

I have

Control
Gears Tactics
Tomb Raider (2013)

as top 3...

Cook Serve Delicious 2 and Subnautica are right behind....

Just started Jedi Fallen Order and then there's still Star Wars Squadrons, Grounded, and more to come...so see you in December!

Disco Elysium and Desperados III are fighting for the top spot.

3-5 are... open? I really like Animal Crossing, Jedi Fallen Order, Trials of Mana, Gravity Rush 2, and Mario Maker 2, but in each case something holds me back from calling it a top-5 game. Just shuffle those names and call them my 6-10 for now. More than enough is on the way to fill out that top 5.

Three of these games are 2020 releases, which is better than 2019 was doing at this point.

In case you are still following this thread and didn't know, the 2020 thread has been started.

Thank you Aristophan, I’d forgotten to do that. Come post your lists, everyone, they’re very much appreciated and hoped for!