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C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:01 pm
by Falcon Critical
Another year basically done, but the winner can be only one.
My categories are quite a few, and there's even some that are new.
So without further delay, lets get this shit underway!
Hella rhymes, good times.

CATEGORIES:

:awesome GAME OF THE YEAR! :awesome
Pretty self explanatory - what game was the best!

:zoid BEST NEW CHARACTER! :zoid
Which character through voice/actions made you want to experience more.

:stare2 BEST GAMES TO WATCH :stare2
I didn't or couldn't play it, but what was the most fun to watch?

:pacbean THAT'S MODULAR! BEST MOD! :pacbean
Hey, that was a really cool idea for a mechanic! I'd like to see that in more games!

:picard BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT! :picard
What were you hyped for, but ultimately unsatisfied by?

:shibe SUCH MOMENT! MUCH INTENSE! WOW! :shibe
Wow! Such an experience! What specific moment in a videogame floored you!? (mark spoilers where appropriate)

:golf DAY LATE, DOLLAR SHORT! :golf
A game you didn't play when it came out, but you did this year... and it was awesome!

Here's a list!

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:25 pm
by Bier_Engel
Well, the only new games I've played this year were Persona 5 and Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia (and Heroes too, if mobile games count). So uh, my list is pretty biased. Oh yeah, and Dream Daddy.

GOTY: Persona 5

New Character: Futaba/Yusuke

Best Game to Watch: I'm interested in Nier, though I haven't actually watched it.

Best Mod: Mila's timewheel in FE:SoV

Biggest Disappointment: Didn't have any, since I liked both games.

Such Moment: Persona 5 when...
Spoiler :
Goro kills Akira. I got the bad ending first, so that sucked, and then when I got the good one, I was confused because it started out mostly identical, minus a social link rank up, so I knew I must have done something right that time.
This year's previous game of the year: Well, I played Nocturne (still need to beat it, got sidetracked), Fire Emblem: Fates (all sides), Tales of the Abyss, Stardew Valley, and I'm currently playing Tales of Zestiria. I feel like I'm probably missing a few more, but Tales of the Abyss is the winner here. Like, 10+ years late to that party.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:28 pm
by Delthazar
This was an amazing year for games, even though I didn't get around to playing a lot of the biggest hitters. It'll take a bit for me to settle on my GOTY picks. I probably still have a few 2017 contenders on the backlog I should check out too. I wish there were an easier way to organize my Steam library by release year.

Wild to think that Fire Emblem Heroes came out this February. Fucking hell it's been a long year.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 7:07 pm
by Falcon Critical
This time around I'm starting with the showstopper. That's right, it's...

:awesome FALCON'S 2017 GAME OF THE YEAR! :awesome

NUMBER ONE!
Butterfly Soup

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A gorgeous, happy, and genuinely heartfelt game about young Asian lesbians. The characters are all superbly written and play off each other really well. Danielle Riendeau commented that the first perspective (Diya) is 'socially terrified', which is a great way to describe her extreme social anxiety. It was a masterful choice to start from Diya's perspective, so you can see what goes on in her head and turns what could be an aloof Humphrey-esque character seen from the outside, into someone who is just genuinely afraid to speak up, even amongst friends. The counterpoint to that in Diya's head though is her EXTREME enthusiasm for food, dogs, and Min.

This game is hella fun, packed with jokes and has some really emotional moments. You can get it for as cheap as free on itch.io, there's seriously no raisin not to play this game!

NUMBER TWO!
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm

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The third and final episode isn't out yet, but I've had good fun with this game. I'm just still not entirely sure it was necessary. It is nice to meet Rachel and actually experience what Chloe had with her after Max left, and I never turn down more Life Is Strange it just hasn't done quite enough (so far) for me to 100% gush about it like I do Butterfly Soup.

NUMBER THREE!
What Remains of Edith Finch

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An interesting story filled with interesting stories. You are the last surviving Finch returning to your family home to explore the house and re-live the memories of the ways that your ancestors died. While that could be quite morbid, the fantastical elements surrounding each death and unique stories and mechanics you encounter in each sub-story are so well realised that this game is just a joy to play beginning to end. Experience the life of a young girl who became a monster and ate herself, and the uncle who locked himself in the basement for decades afraid of demons, and the brother with the magic paintbrush. Add to this the gorgeous implementation of text/subtitles interacting with the environment and the loving detail in every room and this is the pinnacle of walking simulators.

NUMBER FOUR!
Watch Dogs 2

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What a turnaround for this franchise! After the homicidal trenchcoat Aidan Pierce in the first Watch Dogs, having a crew that are basically the modern version of the Hackers movie was a great choice. Even Wrench, who was met with dubious looks before release because of his over-the-top emoji mask turned out to actually be a great and interesting character. You know how Kojima was all "once you know why Quiet is practically naked you'll understand and it won't be a problem"? Wrench is the realisation of that sentiment. While a lot of people had a ludo-narrative dissonance between this underground group of hackers taking the fight to the man, and the fact you could literally 3D print automatic firearms and pull a Dan Ryckert using a drone to drop C4 in the middle of a nightclub, I was determined that my Marcus was not going to use lethal force. I was able to complete most missions by sitting outside the compound I was supposed to infiltrate and just use my drones to complete objectives, and I found that really satisfying.

NUMBER FIVE!
Expeditions: Viking

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I think I found this by seeing an article on rockpapershotgun, and figured I'd give it a go. This game really surprised me with interesting deep combat, and also giving me plenty of options to just shank dudes in the middle of conversation. It is a good simulation of life as a minor landholder in Viking era Scandinavia and their raids across the sea. The combat has interesting mechanics, with shields having their own HP but also skills that could tear a shield aside for a turn and it was interesting strategically since a lot of the moves you and your oppenent had access to were control/status effects more than battle, it added a strategic element to trying to cripple powerful enemies while you thinned their numbers, and mixed that in with often tricky objectives within a given battle.

NUMBER SIX!
Mass Effect Andromeda

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I didn't hate this game as much as others, I got really attached to my Sara Ryder and her motley crew. There were some mis-steps, first contact with the Kett was handled okay, Jacob getting immediately into a firefight even if you don't engage was dealt with fine, though there's a disconnect between Sara berating him for breaking first contact rules and the fact that it's a videogame so you'll want to shoot things. The first access to the Angara planet however was handled kind of like a handwave, like "oh look these aliens from across the galaxy also breathe oxygen and have a beautiful garden city, and also here's a universal translator so you can talk to them even though we've never actually heard this language before". So yes, Andromeda was a bit of a bummer for the things you wanted from a game about visiting a new cluster, but as a Mass Effect game I really quite liked it. I liked the crew, I liked the combat, I liked the exploration parts, I liked the cluster. The open world part of it also meant they did the classic "hey lets stack a bunch of useless sidequests everywhere to make this feel alive"... which just kills the pace of the game and I think that's a large part of where it falls down for a lot of people. Previous Mass Effects had you constantly moving forward, ME2 would throw you into story missions when you hadn't even explored all the planets you were able to, to keep that sense of urgency. Andromeda comparatively just crawls along unless you actively go chasing the main story, which can be hard to focus on with the constant sidequest distractions.

NUMBER SEVEN!
King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match Online

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It's a King of Fighters gacha game, and I've fallen for it hard. I managed to get into one of the strongest guilds on my server and we all talk constantly on Whatsapp so it's the kind of obsession I can really get into now that I've ditched Marvel Puzzle Quest. One of the big advantages of this game is that it's been out for a couple of years in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia regions, so we on the global servers can see what is coming and plan our teams and strategies well in advance. I see y'all here talking about Fire Emblem Heroes a lot, I've never really played any Fire Emblem so a lot of that is lost on me, but KoF is my jam, especially when I don't have to actually pull quarter circles and timing and all that stuff that keeps me out of the mainline KoF.

NUMBER EIGHT!
Divinity Original Sin 2

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The similarities to the first D:OS game were a blessing and a curse for this game. While it is one of the strategic RPGs I have the most fun with, having an interesting AP system and wild combat abilities, I kind of feel it went too far in this game. Basically everyone can teleport now two different armour stats on everyone to resist different status effects started to just kind of get in the way for me. The biggest killer of my buzz however was that it got too open in the second act, and suddenly felt like no matter where I went the enemies were 5 or more levels higher than me and just wiped the floor with my party. It ended up being frustrating enough that I just moved on, which is a shame because the combat can be really fun.

NUMBER NINE!
TEKKEN 7

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As I mentioned in KOF'98 UM OL above, I'd kind of gone off fighting games because my fingers can't handle the quarter circles and rapid complex inputs anymore. I decided to give Tekken 7 a shot anyway since it came to PC. I've really enjoyed it, especially playing as Katarina - she's touted as a fighter for beginners, and some of her better combos are just repeated hits of a single button, so that plays and I enjoy playing as her. It's weird how playing as Katarina I can go from dancing around and spamming attempts at moves and hoping for the best, to actually watching my opponent and picking up on holes in their defense. It's like I suddenly feel what it's like to be good at a fighting game once you have the moves down to muscle memory and it becomes a game of juking and poking your oppenent looking for an opening. I'm still never going to be the one to do a 70% HP air juggle that frustrates people about Tekken, but I do feel like I can have an honest go at it and that's great.

NUMBER TEN!
XCOM 2 - War of the Chosen

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I'm not sure how sold I am on this actually. Like, the idea of boss aliens that antagonise me and new player classes was kind of cool, but I find myself actually missing the mod setup I had before this on XCOM2 - notably Guerilla War. That overhaul of the mission structure meant that the timers were removed, but once you were revealed you had only a short window to complete the objective and extract because enemies would start swarming in reinforcements. It also meant you had to physically carry alien corpses and fallen soldiers to your extraction of you wanted to do anything with them. By comparison XCOM2 going back to the old mission structure.. I don't know that I'm really feeling it. Also the new classes are so overpowered that it feels like I don't need the old ones. Photo mode is great, the fallen missions were a fun addition, but mods fucked it up for me by giving me a more tense, more different experience than this expansion.

MISSED THE CUT
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Spintires Mudrunner
Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition
Ghost Recon Wildlands

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:21 pm
by Thunderhead
Played very little that was actually new this year, so Persona 5 for everything.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:37 pm
by True Perception
Doubt I'll have much to talk about, either, but this might help y'all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_in_video_gaming

Edit: Shit, Horizon came out in February!?

I played a little Cosmic Star Heroine. Not enough to make an opinion on, though.

Ooh, I played Uncharted 4 this year! So, that can be my "Day Late, Dollar Short".

Dude, I need to play more games...

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 11:27 am
by Falcon Critical
Ooh I like that TP, I'm changing the category name!

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:03 pm
by Delthazar
Oh jeez Cosmic Star Heroine really is a 2017 release, huh. I forgot all about that. It's probably a strong contender so I feel bad for not checking it out. Kinda doubt I have time left in the year for another RPG.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:09 pm
by True Perception
Looks like I was wrong about Uncharted 4. I played it in December. But I did play:

Beyond Eyes
INSIDE
Unfinished Swan
Mercenary Kings
FEZ
FFXV (didn't play far enough in for review)
Rogue Galaxy (replayed, so doesn't count)
A King's Tale
The Order: 1886
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Knack
Sherlock Holmes: Devil's Daughter
Cosmic Star Heroine (also didn't play enough)
FF Type-0
Assassin's Creed Unity (still fairly early, but not bad)

So, in fairness, I can update my "Day Late, Dollar Short" to:

1. INSIDE
2. Murdered: Soul Suspect
3. Devil's Daughter
4. Beyond Eyes
5. Unfinished Swan

As for The Order: "I award you no points, and may Thor have mercy on your soul."

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:51 am
by Falcon Critical
:zoid BEST NEW CHARACTER! :zoid

NUMBER ONE!
Diya

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As I mentioned in GOTY above, Diya is utterly terrified of social interaction and since that's something a lot of us can relate to, it really made her stand out for me. Beyond that, she was interesting for breaking down a lot of tropes, athletic Indian women (i.e.from India) are not something that you really see in any media. Diya literally runs from her problems constantly, to the point where it's her method of escape from stressful situations. The game plays with the idea and makes jokes about social anxiety through Diya but it never feels mean, it always feels relatable and fun.

An example other than the great screenshot above, at one point it gives you the option to "talk to classmates" and like most adventure games you're like "yeah lets exhaust the options!" to which she is like "fuck that, that sounds terrifying!". Being in her head as she sorts out her feelings is a joy and even though I don't think we'd have anything to talk about I want to be her friend.

NUMBER TWO!
Rachel Amber

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After all we heard about Rachel in the original Life is Strange, I was worried that she wouldn't translate to the page, yet she was everything Chloe said she was. Playing Before the Storm really endeared me to Rachel, and it was great how they worked with the juxtaposition of this super-popular student also being a rebel who hung out with Chloe and Frank. There is still some potential for her and Frank interacting that could be poorly handled, but with what they've done so far with Chloe and Rachel's parents, I trust that they'll find a way to make that make sense... though I feel like that relationship happened much later, around her disappearance so maybe we won't see it at all. Playing BtS I totally get Chloe's feels when she told Max how much she wanted her to meet Rachel.

NUMBER THREE!
Marcus Holloway

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This is how you do a protagonist in one of these games. The dude is cool and nerdy and relatable, he has a great and diverse wardrobe, and he plays off the other hackers really well. The game starts you off just joining this hacker group (in a totally over the top and silly mission, but wth) and yet it feels organic that this stunt and his responses to Dead-Sec and their schemes quickly elevates him to one of the stronger voices in the group. After Aidan Trenchcoat the mass-murderer who happens to use technology, the whole narrative shift in this game was well handled and a big part of that was in the characterisation of Marcus. I would totally play Watch Dogs 3 if it keeps this cast of characters, and this is the only open world game other than Saints Row that I could say that about. Most open world protagonists SUUUUCK. Marcus is a cool dude*.

* And not in a Dan Ryckert this guy murders tons of people and doesn't get emotional because he's a maniac but that's what society tells us is the epitome of masculinity kind of way, in the proper way where he gets emotional and has hella empathy and respect and is a stand up kind of guy... who also hacks corporations... HACK THE PLANET!

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:27 am
by Falcon Critical
:stare2 SID VICARIOUS - BEST GAME TO WATCH! :stare2

NUMBER ONE!
Doki Doki Literature Club

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What starts out as a pretty regular dating visual novel suddenly descends into complete madness and it's beautiful and terrible and captivating and experiencing it along with your favourite youtubers enhances the experience. The tropes early on are so played that I almost gave up after the first video, but with promises of crazy shit I stuck with it and holy wowzers. Definitely worth a watch (or you could play it I guess).
How I watched: [ Jesse Cox and Dodger ]

NUMBER TWO!
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

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It's kind of the Rocket League of 2017, a multiplayer game that came out of nowhere and became super popular. The main difference is that I have zero interest in playing this game, yet have had a great time watching it. One of the strengths of this game is that it's just as fun to watch people suck at the game as it is to see great plays.
How I watched:
[ GiantBomb - Murder Island ]
[ Waypoint - Breakfast and Battlegrounds ]
[ Beaglerush - Big Time Plays ]
[ Crendor - Just Sheer Hilarity ]

NUMBER THREE!
Horizon: Zero Dawn

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This one I feel like I should have played, but was interested enough in it to watch my flatmate play it instead. It's her game of the year and she gushes about how good the combat is, plus the game is just beautiful, has interesting characters and intrigue, and a photo mode where you can do great things. I feel like this game lived up to the expectations it set a few E3s ago when it first showed and wowed the audience.
How I watched: My flatmate.

MISSED THE CUT
The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker
Night in the Woods
Nier: Automata

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 5:29 am
by True Perception
See, I started watching a Let's Play of Horizon, and stopped in about thirty seconds, knowing I needed to play it myself.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:02 pm
by Falcon Critical
Oh for sure, I would play it in a heartbeat if I didn't have to sit in front of the TV to do it. I dunno, it's weird that I'm fine with Rachel playing it but I would feel weird like I was in the way playing it in the living room. I guess I'm so used to being able to just hole up in my room and play on my PC.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:05 pm
by Delthazar
Yeah, go into Horizon as cold as you can, it benefits greatly from personal discovery. More so than most games I've played in recent years. Seeing too much too early via an LP or whatever is a bad idea.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:20 pm
by Falcon Critical
I mean I've missed the boat on that, I've seen like 90% of the game watching my flatmate play it and helped her keep track of stuff like the items she needed to get that hella sick late-game armour.

:pacbean THAT'S MODULAR! BEST MOD! :pacbean

NUMBER ONE!
Sims 4 - Basemental Drugs

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Is it weird that I've wanted there to be a way to grow and smoke marijuana in the Sims for a long time? Like, when the Outdoor Retreat expansion came out and added 'muckleberries', I started trying to farm them as a weed allegory, because eating the berries made your sim 'dazed'. This mod swooped in and added growing, cultivating and smoking weed and I'm hella into it. The mod also adds some harder drugs but I haven't really experimented with their effects. It also added a 'drug dealer' perk you can choose, which does nothing for a controlled sim, but means your sims can buy drugs off that sim if they see them in the world.

NUMBER TWO!
XCOM 2 - Richards Classes

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I have gushed a whole lot about Guerilla War, but this mod came out this year and similarly changed the way I played XCOM. In the screenshot above you can see they split the minigun from the grenadier class into a new one focused on the gun itself, leaving the grenadier with a regular rifle and more focus on blowing shit up. Similarly it split snipers into scouts who excelled in leading from the front and having a few ways to return to stealth making them powerful up front. It meant you could have pistol specialists, and melee specialists as whole classes rather than hybrids of base classes. It also made your team planning more interesting because you were bringing more specialised soldiers so you could tailor your party to the mission. Then War of the Chosen came out and the new special classes just feel overpowered.

NUMBER THREE!
Fallout 4 - Wearable Weapons

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It's crazy how much immersion this simple mod added. It was an interesting implementation too, they added weapon models as static clothing items, which would then equip or unequip as you draw each weapon. I don't know why Fallout 4 didn't just have this as part of the game like the previous ones and Skyrim, but hey that's part of what mods are for - to save the day and push up immersion.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:47 pm
by True Perception
Delthazar wrote:Yeah, go into Horizon as cold as you can, it benefits greatly from personal discovery. More so than most games I've played in recent years. Seeing too much too early via an LP or whatever is a bad idea.
Mostly, it was because that intro is so gorgeous, I didn't want to spoil the obvious story depth. Hopefully, someone bought me it for Christmas...

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:22 pm
by True Perception
I've watched the first episode of Jesse and Dodger's playthrough of Doki Doki. Nothing weird yet, aside from the main character's name, and I assume the game ripped that from the active user on the computer. I actually enjoyed the first episode. The cat fighting, plus the banter from Jesse and Dooger was pretty amusing. I don't subscribe to them anymore, mostly because of the PC Master Race leaning (especially from TB), and their interests not following mine so much, but that group has good personality.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:57 pm
by Falcon Critical
True Perception wrote:I've watched the first episode of Jesse and Dodger's playthrough of Doki Doki. Nothing weird yet, aside from the main character's name, and I assume the game ripped that from the active user on the computer. I actually enjoyed the first episode. The cat fighting, plus the banter from Jesse and Dooger was pretty amusing. I don't subscribe to them anymore, mostly because of the PC Master Race leaning (especially from TB), and their interests not following mine so much, but that group has good personality.
Yeah I don't really watch TB's stuff anymore, but Jesse and Dodger are a great team on LPs. I encourage you to keep watching because it gets so weird. Also I really enjoy how into conspiracy theories that Jesse gets.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:04 am
by Falcon Critical
:picard BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT! :picard

NUMBER ONE!
FIFA 18

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Where are the women's club teams? They added 12 womens' international teams in FIFA 2016, talked a big game about how there was a lot of players playing the women's cup mode (the only mode for the women's teams)... and now 2 years later they've added 3 more teams. Sure, one of those teams is New Zealand, but they have a ton of shitty lower league mens clubs and yet don't even have the American NWSL?

Yes, they have a side-story in story mode where you play as Alex's sister, but it's a sideshow and frankly not enough. It kind of points out how lacking in women's representation they are that a side-bit about the sister has to be an international match since they don't even have any club teams. Perhaps they're hinting that they'll have the story mode following her next year, or two story modes.. but it needs to be more than that.

They could have womens' leagues, they could allow you to play womens' teams in men's leagues, they could allow you to mix and match inside individual teams... they did all the hard work with the animation and commentary, and then just dragged their heels for two years and haven't done shit with it.

I'm not buying FIFA until they pull finger and pay more than lip service.

NUMBER TWO!
Middle Earth: Shadow of War

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I wasn't going to play this game, but I was looking forward to watching others play it. Then I start seeing reviews and they're all saying "it's just kind of more of the same". I watch Jesse playing it and it's true, the best part was supposed to be the orc captains and the chaos that brings, but they're all so generic that 90% of the time Jesse just uses the same moves and defeats and recruits them. Like none of them are even really any threat to him. It invalidates all the parts where you recruit strong orcs to shift the tide of war into a situation where you don't need any of them and can probably just fight 30 of them at one time.

There has been the occasional story, like one of the PC Gamer staff wrote an article about this one orc in particular that got so strong he was legitimately scared of him, but this seems to be the exception where it should be something everyone experiences. What is the point of a nemesis system if everyone is a pushover and you're basically a Thor?

And then there's the shit with "Shelob is a sexy lady now, because raisins!"

NUMBER THREE!
Wolfenstein the New Order

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After a strong advertising campaign where they took the 'controversial' stance of "FUCK NAZIS", the game was kind of meh. The combat lost a lot of its nuance - where in the first game you could sneak around and take out officers before they raised the alarm, this time they frequently placed the officer in a small room right at the back of the encounter, basically forcing you to kill everyone on your way there anyway if you were trying to be stealthy.

[ SPOILERS AHEAD ]
Then there's the story. Where the first Wolfenstein reboot had some real tension and amazing moments like being forced to sit across from Nazi officers on a train, this one just went off the deep end to full cartoon villains. I'm not saying I want nuanced and relatable Nazis, but it was just cringe inducing how over the top they were. The game then goes out of its way to make most of your allies unlikeable, and then there's the shit with your Dad. I get it, your Dad was a dick, but did he really need to be a wife beating, dog shooting, racist, Nazi helping arsehole? It's like they were thinking "well everyone should hate this guy, what's everything terrible that he can do so we make sure he's offensive to everyone?"

Then there's the BJ knowing that he's dying, but deciding that keeping it a secret from his pregnant partner is 'for her own good' so that he can just die without even telling her it's coming. I get it, that's something a hard man might think is logical, but it's not endearing and when they built up to BJ's execution I was thinking "okay, so they've been prepping us for a change in protagonist with all this" and then ... I mean it is kind of amazing how they get around it, but it still sucks.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, there's the whole "Nazism is an easy conversion for most of America" thing. I thought it was interesting but hearing the likes of Jeff Gerstmann talking about it being kinda too real made me appreciate it more. Then to find out that it's a little bit of set dressing and most of what they had to say was just in the trailers, it's basically a wet fart when it should be a cutting commentary. They leaned into it in the advertising, but then had practically nothing to say in the game itself.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:32 am
by Falcon Critical
Spoilers abound in this category! Read if you dare!

:shibe SUCH MOMENT! MUCH INTENSE! WOW! :shibe

NUMBER ONE!
What Remains of Edith Finch - The Factory Fantasy

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This one is likely to be the top of GiantBomb's list too, it's one of those stand out moments in gaming.
Spoiler :
So you're playing Edith's brother, he works at a fish cannery to make ends meet, and the job is so monotonous that he starts to daydream. He makes up a fantasy world bit by bit, represented on the screen as a thought bubble. It starts small and gets bigger and bigger as his fantasy becomes more fleshed out. Meanwhile you continue to chop fish, very quickly the actions to perform your job become muscle memory and you continue to do them, as your fantasy evolves. A couple of times I found that I had stopped chopping fish, and get my body back in motion. It's very much like daydreaming in school or work, get distracted enough and you lose track of what you're actually doing.

Anyway, eventually the fantasy becomes so powerful that you can't even see reality any more. You have become king, and walk up a red carpet to your chosen partner (king or queen) who beckons you to the throne. You as the player see that the throne is a guillotine, and are reminded of the guillotine in your actual job, which chops off the fish heads. And yet, in that moment, it makes sense and you take your throne. It is never explicit what happens to this brother of Edith, but you pretty much know. In a story of weird deaths, the way this one was presented was just breathtaking and definitely the moment of the year.
NUMBER TWO!
Wolfenstein the New Order - The Courtroom

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I had a lot of shit to talk about this game, but this one sequence was really cool... till they kind of fucked it up.
Spoiler :
You get captured by the Nazis. They decide to host a public trial. You know it's a sham, it's never going to find you innocent, but you're tied to a bed and sedated, so what can you do? Well, what you can do is break out, grab the nearest Nazi's gun and start shooting. Duck and weave around the courtroom in one of the hardest action sequences in the whole game, there's never enough health or armour, but you're deep in Nazi territory and have to survive by the skin of your teeth. After a prolonged battle, a worse-for-wear BJ stumbles out the courtroom doors into an office. Something's not right, there should be outside and probably more Nazis... but it's a calm office. Your mother sits behind the desk. You know she's dead, your father gave her up to the Nazis for being a Jew - yet here she is alive and well, sitting peacefully in a chair. BJ hugs her leg from the floor and waxes poetic about the hard lot he's had to deal with. His mother says something strange, and suddenly you're back in the courtroom tied to the bed. You are too weak to do anything. You are sentenced to death.

It was great, a last hurrah, a sign that even in his mind on deathrow, all BJ knows is murdering fucking Nazis. It would have been a hell of a send-off, and it leads to BJ's execution.... until that doesn't stick and you get a new upgraded body and hey life's great again hurray! The whole head transplant thing was a good gag, but it felt like that should have been the end of BJ. Kind of ruined the moment.
NUMBER THREE!
Butterfly Soup - Diya and Min Reunite

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This one is totally a feel good moment, and I'm hella into it.
Spoiler :
Diya and Min bonded over being girls that loved baseball early in their lives, but then Min had to move away. Some years later Diya freaks out about having to do a meet-and-greet and sprints blindly away, bowling into someone... who happens to be Min. Diya had seen Min in a crowd recently, but couldn't confirm her old bestie was back from Florida. She had been trying to process her feelings after remembering some of their past interactions and questioning her sexuality around it. The two girls crash into each other and Diya gets hit head on with the feels and I'm there for it.

Yeah it's the anime trope of running into someone and somehow ending up romantically entwined rather than a mess of elbows and knees, but whatever, it works! Look at them! :awesome

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:41 pm
by True Perception
Holy shit, that was insane, Falc!

I've downloaded it. I wanna pick up where they left off. That was nuts!

Edit: I wonder: If you had the proper software to mess with those character files, could you fight for control? Change values back whenever she messed around?

I do like that the creator made the game free, unless you feel like paying for it.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:40 pm
by Falcon Critical
True Perception wrote:Holy shit, that was insane, Falc!

I've downloaded it. I wanna pick up where they left off. That was nuts!

Edit: I wonder: If you had the proper software to mess with those character files, could you fight for control? Change values back whenever she messed around?

I do like that the creator made the game free, unless you feel like paying for it.
Either Jesse and Dodger or the comments at the end of the third video talked about that, and theorised about things like re-inserting files to the game, or deleting them from a fresh game. Either way it's really well handled and definitely worth investigating.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:12 am
by Falcon Critical
:golf DAY LATE, DOLLAR SHORT! :golf

NUMBER ONE!
Titanfall 2

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I had heard a lot of good things about this game, but never actually played it when it released last year. After finally finding time I really had fun with the campaign in this game. It was the most interesting and varied campaign I've played in a shooter in years, reminding me both of SHOGO: Mobile Armour Division and Half Life 2. So if you're into either of those games, this campaign is good fun and worth a shot.

NUMBER TWO!
VA-11 HALL-A

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This game opens by saying "this is a chill experience, make yourself a beverage and take your time." It is basically true. You play as a bartender in a cyberpunk bar, and you interact with customers and regulars, doing general bartender stuff like mixing drinks and chatting with these patrons. It's a fun mix of Papers Please and Cook, Serve, Delicious - but with zero time pressure. Most of the game is just dialogue and getting to know people. It's chill and stylish and a good relaxing game.

NUMBER THREE!
Gone Home

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Another game that I had heard a lot of good things about and finally got around to playing, you are a daughter returning to your family home to find everyone gone for some raisin, and you explore the empty house to find out where and why your family went, but more so find out about your sister discovering she was gay and dealing with coming out to her friends and family. I feel like I fucked up by playing Edith Finch first, especially since I think I played both in pretty quick succession. The story in Gone Home was interesting, but the complexity and clutter of environments along with the variety of gameplay in Edith Finch probably lessened the impact here. Still an interesting game, but didn't quite grab me - either due to Edith or the amount of hype I knew coming into this game.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:37 am
by True Perception
I'm half way through a Natsuki run, but I'm starting to wonder what would happen if I focused on Sayori. It seems like the ending of the first half is set in stone, but I wonder how they steer it that way if you try to avoid it.

BTW, those character files don't actually contain stats. They contain hidden information pertaining to the company's next game. Apparently, the whole thing is a genius ARG marketing strategy for their next game. Pretty ingenious these days.

I tried wiping character files before starting a playthrough. Ayori freaks out, and wipes her own file, and then you get a game over screen with her hanging on a static-y background. Then, you're forced to reinstall, because the character files are gone, and it only ever goes to that screen. Neat scene, though.

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 2:44 am
by Falcon Critical
Interesting. I believe I saw someone say that if you go all in on Sayori her ending still happens because she's still manipulated into extreme jealousy. That's hearsay though, so grain of salt and all that.