Your contenders for GOTY?

[Dankk]

Looks like I am picking up Dishonored and The Walking Dead soon.

If you hurry, you can buy The Walking Dead for $12 off of Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Dead-O...dp/B007WWW2C8/

You have to select the "Mac Version" to get the deal, but it doesn't matter because it'll just give you a code to activate on Steam, and from there you can play it on both Mac and Windows anyway.

 

[thespyder]

I was already expecting a comment like this. :hmm:

However, if you don't pull the quote of out its context and read carefully, you'll understand what I'm saying. I haven't said that GW2 was a disappointing game, quite the contrary:

It's all good. Just wondering at how it took you 500 + hours to come to that conclusion.

It's kind of like deciding after your 500th Big Mac that you actually prefer McDonalds.

 

[gorcorps]

It's kind of like deciding after your 500th Big Mac that you actually prefer McDonalds.

pssst

the big mac is from McDs so that would make perfect sense

 

[Keeper]

I too was pretty surprised how STRONG ME3 started here.... Has not been mentioned in awhile.
I am playing it, and not seeing all the "hate" for it yet. I know I know..... Its the ending, but so far, I am liking it.

BL2 was more a rinse repeat of BL1. I dont know what I was expecting, but I know it was more.
i.e. this whole Solar Political thing in ME3; is a nice change.
D3 was a wash. GW2 is VERY good. Something is amiiss. Its called REASON TO GROUP. Nothing worse than playing a Multiplayer game by yourself. Unless my guild is on (A whoping 15 people) I may as well be in the back streets of Bora Bora...
I keep hearing lots of love for Dishonered and AC3. Have yet to play them.
So so far, ME3 is it for me.

 

[Aikouka]

I'm a bit perplexed as to why playing a game a lot means that you cannot express criticism about the game. I've played Borderlands 2 quite a bit so far, and I certainly have negative things to say about it. Essentially, these negative things don't detract enough from the experience for me to quit playing, but I do think they are worth mentioning. Also, games like Borderlands 2 or games in the MMO genre tend to prey on people that become a bit addicted to games. You know... when you find yourself saying, "Oh, I can do just one more quest/dungeon/whatever!" way too often.

As for my Game of the Yea choice, I'm not really sure. I honestly don't think Borderlands 2 is a good choice. Ultimately, Gearbox made Borderlands 2 a little too safe by keeping the formula too close to the original, and they made some aspects worse while making others better. I don't play too many games, so I really don't know of a good contender.

 

[thespyder]

I'm a bit perplexed as to why playing a game a lot means that you cannot express criticism about the game. I've played Borderlands 2 quite a bit so far, and I certainly have negative things to say about it. Essentially, these negative things don't detract enough from the experience for me to quit playing, but I do think they are worth mentioning. Also, games like Borderlands 2 or games in the MMO genre tend to prey on people that become a bit addicted to games. You know... when you find yourself saying, "Oh, I can do just one more quest/dungeon/whatever!" way too often.

the number of games that I have put 500 hours into in my 30+ years of gaming, can probably be counted on two fingers. And my time is too valuable to spend that much time on a game that I was 'Disappointed' with. So, if I got that feeling earlier than the 500 hour mark that it was disappointing, I would stop playing. And if I got to the 500 hour mark (or anything reasonably close, like oh say 100 hours) playing a game, than I could not have been that disappointed in the game.

Not to say people don't get disillusioned with a game. Just saying that is a heck of a long time to invest in a game to begin with. And kind of an odd statement that the feeling of disappointment didn't come earlier. But then each to their own.

 

[Martimus]

All of the really good games I have played this year are smaller budget Indy titles. Lots of good smaller budget games out.

 

[Blueoak]

There sure is a lot of hate around for Diablo 3. It's gotten better every patch. I've been playing it quite a bit since patch 1.0.4 and especially since patch 1.0.5. I've been averaging close to 2 legendary drops per hour these days using a fairly efficient farming set-up. PvP is around the corner, I'm interested to see how it goes.

X-Com, Diablo 3, and Orcs Must Die 2 are the games I've enjoyed the most this year. Torchlight 2 didn't hold my interest very long. Borderlands 2 badly needed instanced loot in multiplayer.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

So just games I have actually played right? Hm, I think that limit's it to two from 2012; FTL and Crusader kings 2. Both good and I'd certainly call CK2 GOTY, but not sure my vote carry much weight considering the limited comparisons

How you guys find time to play so many games is beyond me. I just have 35 hrs in CK2 but feel I've barely started, I couldn't jump to another game yet..

 

[zinfamous]

Any game sites that give Diablo 3 GOTY are going to be instantly deleted from my favorites.

From pure playing time, Guild Wars 2 gets my vote. I was not impressed at all with Borderlands 2; fun for a while, but stopped playing around lvl 35... never even bothered downloading the Mechromancer class, even though I get it free.

Oh, and where have you been, sir?

I have not yet played BL 2 but I'm dying to--same with Dishonored.

But, same. being that it's my only real experience for "this year" it is Guild Wars 2. ....but I don't like the idea of an MMO winning these type of awards. :\


I was going to say Skyrim, with no competition...but I guess that was last year? shit...what the hell have I been doing? :hmm:

 

[acheron]

I think XCOM for me.

I did enjoy Diablo3 for awhile, and I'm sure I'll pick it back up when there's an expansion, but eh. Agree that the Auction House stuff crippled it.

Speaking of Crusader Kings 2, I just grabbed all the expansions/DLC from Steam during the sale. Want to give it a shot again; I kept wanting to enjoy it the first time around but not quite getting it.

 

[badb0y]

So I have beat both Dishonored and The Walking Dead and both of them were pretty good. The gameplay for The Walking Dead reminded me of Heavy Rain for the PS3 which is I really liked so that's good and the story was really good. The last Episode was depressing but I kind of felt that's how it was going to end anyways.

As for Dishonored it was fun making Corvo the way I wanted him. I didn't bother being stealthy at all I just wanted to kill everyone lol. That's what made it fun though it didn't force me onto rails and I was free to do the objective however I wanted.

Both were really good games. Now I need to get back to my backlog and the Steam sale isn't helping....

 

[Broheim]

for me it's definitely planetside 2, I just have way too much fun in that game.

 

[TechBoyJK]

FC3!

 

[Bateluer]

I wasn't overly excited by any of those titles. Like many, I was awaiting Mass Effect 3, but I feel the lousy ending and DLC parade from EA should keep any GOTY awards away from it.

 

[KentState]

I haven't played a lot of PC games this year, but I would rank them as:

BL2 - GOTY
ME3 - LDOTY (let down)
GW2 - MOTY (meh)
D3 - COTY (crap)

I spent a decent amount of time on all with the exception of ME3 which was about 30 hours of play. BL2 is just really addictive and since I didn't play the original, the experience was new for me.

BTW, does the Walking Dead game take place in Georgia as well, or a completely different setting than the TV show?

 

[shortylickens]

Not a damn thing.

Nothing at all impressed me this year. The only name I see mentioned which I could comment on is Torchlight 2. It was solid, fairly entertaining, not at all groundbreaking.

For me 2012 will be the year I was thoroughly unimpressed by movies, music, and games. Luckily my college career is going along smoothly so I dont dwell on it. I did however enjoy a number of game & movie remakes and enhancements, and also some revamped movies on blu-ray. Not a complete loss.

 

[Zenoth]

I cannot pick up a Game of the Year, for this year, really.

The "problem" is that for pretty much the whole of 2012 my gaming variety was extremely limited (not like it is a problem by itself, but it is when it comes to finding a GOYT). At the start of the year I was playing (rather "experimenting") with some Free-to-Play MMORPGs and other F2P style games. At the time (start of the year, say between January to March or so) the only "known" titles I played were games from 2009 or 2010 mostly (and that's including the F2P games I was playing too). Then, from March and beyond until maybe late summer the "variety" (or lack thereof) did not improve much and I was "stuck" with playing Mass Effect 3, various multi-player focused games such as TF2 and Bad Company 2 and then Diablo 3. From around October until now I've only been switching between old school games (from my GoG collection), Guild Wars 2 and then Diablo 3 again (back and forth from it from time to time).

I do not own a PlayStation 3 nor a 360 myself. My cousin owns a 360 and very occasionally when I go to his place we do play some 360 games but other than that, I'm "missing" all console-related exclusives ever since this generation came out unless I happened to play or buy the PC port version. I do own a Nintendo Wii, however, but I only bought it for Skyward Sword and it's the only Wii title I own to this day. So I haven't played many different games this year specifically, but last year was quite different. To be honest I'm surprised with myself here, I'm kinda just realizing right now how bad this year was for me with gaming, but not exactly because gaming itself was really bad this year, but basically due to myself really. I just didn't "feel it" this year I guess, maybe it was my personal "down" period in gaming lately, that or maybe I didn't want to simply buy them brand new and by the time most games' prices fell a bit I wasn't interested anymore. I haven't played the likes of Walking Dead nor Max Payne 3, or even Borderlands 2 (although I have seen footage from all of them), and so on.

So really the variety of games I happened to play this year is so pathetically thin that I really have no other choice but to not pick up anything, since it wouldn't be relevant that much. But... well I guess that if I really had to go with a game released this year that I happened to play and I liked enough... out of the ones I played... I guess I'd go with Guild Wars 2. Although I don't even play GW2 on a regular basis and there's many issues with the game, but overall I do enjoy it. Yeah I think I'll try to play (buy) a bit more games next year... but not blindly so... they have to be interesting enough. Maybe I guess that's part of the problem for me this year... dunno... not sure, maybe there just wasn't anything really that interesting and the only two games I was really looking for ended up disappointing me so much that I lost interest in buying anything else following them (ME3 and Diablo 3). But I'm still not sure about that one, if that's the case though I have to admit it's probably unconscious.

 

[shortylickens]

Unrelated: Still hoping for Fallout 4 or maybe some good addons for the previous games. But realistically Bethesda is gonna milk Skyrim for a long time.

 

[OCNewbie]

I was somewhat disappointed with Borderlands 2. In many ways it improved upon BL1, but in many ways I feel like it failed to include some of the things that were at the core of what made BL1 so much fun.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I wasn't overly excited by any of those titles. Like many, I was awaiting Mass Effect 3, but I feel the lousy ending and DLC parade from EA should keep any GOTY awards away from it.

ME3 should be DOTY--- disappointment of the year.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Unrelated: Still hoping for Fallout 4 or maybe some good addons for the previous games. But realistically Bethesda is gonna milk Skyrim for a long time.

Skyrim was the one game recently that met/exceeded my expectations. None of the DLC really seemed that intriguing though, so I have not purchased them. I am concerned though that Bethesda is going to go the online route and dilute the single player experience of their new games.

 

[moonbogg]

FC3 for crying out loud!

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Honestly, this year the only game that has had GOTY caliber for me was Black Mesa. Since that's not going to win I'd have to give it to either ME3 or FC3.

Nothing else really jumped up and screamed I'm awesome to me. I've been dying to try out Walking Dead though.

 

[showb1z]

I'm not blown away by 2012 either, haven't played FC3 yet and in the midst of Mass Effect 3, but I feel like 2011 was a stronger year.

GOTY: Guild Wars 2 or Dishonored.
GW2 has it's problems, but it has kept me entertained for 500 hours so what can I say. I don't agree with everything they do, but looking forward to what Anet has planned in 2013.
Dishonored has got to be the most interesting new IP in quite some time. Reminded me of Thief, Bioshock and Half-Life 2 but how can that ever be a bad thing.
Both awesome worlds, awesome art style.

Underrated: Max Payne 3
I don't get why this game doesn't get more love. I didn't have very high hopes when I heard Rockstar were doing the next part in one of my favorite series, but I feel they made a very solid game. Bullet time is still great and the attention to detail is amazing. Story could've used a little more work.

Surprise: Alan Wake
Wow, didn't expect much of this "old xbox game", got it dirt cheap in a steam sale, but damn. Great writing, great Twin Peaks atmosphere, some interesting mechanics and just like Max Payne 3, an excellent port. Everyone buy this so they make a sequel.

Hype/Disappointment: The Walking Dead
To me this hardly qualifies as a game, it's an interactive comic book.
Very weak adventure gameplay, explicitly advertising that "your choices tailor the story" when in reality it's just smoke and mirrors, and the general unpolished feel of it all... I don't know how this won any GOTY.
Sure, the overall story and characters aren't bad, but I've seen/read/played much better than this.
Still, didn't mind playing/buying it, but don't see all the fuss.