2015 Game of the Year

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by Indy, Dec 14, 2015.

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Which game is your GotY?

  1. Fallout 4

    22.2%
  2. Super Mario Maker

    11.1%
  3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

    11.1%
  4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

    33.3%
  5. Bloodborne

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  6. Other

    22.2%
  1. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    Which game gets your vote and why?
     
  2. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    Witcher 3 gets my vote without question. Fallout 4 looked like a challenger early on, but it has fallen off for reasons I hope to discuss at a later date.
     
  3. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    As I find time, I will be posting my reasons for why Fallout 4 just cannot win game of the year, in my opinion. Some of these posts will contain major spoilers, which I will point out in ALL CAPS prior to typing them. Read if you want, but don't blame me if you find out something you didn't want to know yet.
     
  4. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    MAJOR SPOILER ALERT RIGHT HERE!!! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS LATER IN THE GAME!!!






    Here's my number one issue with Fallout 4. The Fallout series has always been one that tells you your choices matter and that they shape the way the world around you turns out. Yet in Fallout 4, there are many situations, especially with the end of the game and what faction you choose, that prevent you from actually affecting anything. The key example is the Brotherhood of Steel.

    The Brotherhood has a great set of goals for the world and the power necessary to carry those goals out in the Commonwealth, which makes them a very attractive faction early on. They aim to exterminate all super mutants, ghouls, and synths from the game. This sounds great early on because every ghoul, super mutant, and synth you run into during the beginning stages of the game tries to kill you. But as you get to know the world better, you realize they aren't all that bad. But the Brotherhood wants them all gone. It's like if a guy came up to you and tried to recruit you to help him exterminate all rapists, pedophiles, and serial killers from the world. You would be like "Okay, yeah, this is something I can get behind and feel good about!" But then he keeps going and throws in homosexuals and the mentally handicapped and you start having second thoughts. You would either separate yourself completely from this person, or you would try to convince him why homosexual and the mentally handicapped don't belong in that same category as the others he mentioned.

    The problem with Fallout 4 is that it doesn't offer you the opportunity to try to change the person's mind. You meet and befriend Nick Valentine, a synth, and are able to develop a connection to him through his stories and the pain he feels at knowing his existence and consciousness is not his own, but someone else's from a long time ago. You accept ghouls into your settlements, and even come upon settlements entirely run by ghouls living together in peace. You even meet a Super Mutant who enjoys Shakespeare, and the Super Mutant town from New Vegas tells us that they have the ability to live peacefully.

    But the game gives you no opportunity, through speech checks based on your charisma level (like every other Fallout game), to convince Elder Maxson of the Brotherhood that there ARE Synths, Super Mutants, and Ghouls worth sparing. You don't even get the chance to overthrow him from the shadows (I'm thinking the Great Kahns in New Vegas) and replace him with a slightly more insightful and tolerant leader. You simply have to choose. Either you are for the Brotherhood, or you're not. And eventually, depending on which faction you choose, you very well could be destroying the Brotherhood in its entirety, including various characters with whom you had NO issue whatsoever, and even one of your companions, with whom you could have spent countless hours and grown to like. It's just shitty.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2015
  5. XXROCKYTOPXX

    XXROCKYTOPXX Chieftain

    The only one I've played on that list is The Witcher 3. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a game like that.
     
  6. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    Yeah, I figured we would run into a problem where most people haven't played multiple games on the list. And I'm sure no one on this site has played a game like Mario Maker. Oh well.
     
  7. XXROCKYTOPXX

    XXROCKYTOPXX Chieftain

    My 6 year old is getting a Wii U for Christmas. I can't remember which games it comes with (Super Smash Bros and some paintball game maybe?) but I'll have to check out Mario Maker.
     
  8. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    The paintball game is probably Splatoon. My brother has it. It's like an online FPS for kids. The Mario Maker game sounds cool for anyone that was big into the traditional Nintendo Mario games. I've heard building the levels is fun, but the best part is playing some of the insane levels that other, more talented builders create.
     
  9. XXROCKYTOPXX

    XXROCKYTOPXX Chieftain

    Yes, Splatoon is the name of it. We also got him Guitar Hero (dual guitar pack so we can play), Toy Box 2.0, Toy Box 3.0, and Lego Dimensions. That should keep him busy for a while.
     
  10. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    Oh yeah, I'm sure he won't know where to even start. lol

    Guitar Hero used to be my favorite. I love playing it from time to time. I got pretty good at playing on expert, though some of the songs really messed me up.
     
  11. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    Indy, I don't have to finish Fallout 4 to agree with you. That sort of thing has been creeping into Bethesda's games for a long time. They've come to making games that are 10 miles wide and 2 inches deep. And you can't really blame the medium since games like Witcher 3 (which I haven't played, but am aware of) and even Fallout: New Vegas offer much more in the way of interesting and meaningful choices. Hell, the Mass Effect series does a better job making a few decisions seem very meaningful.

    A good RPG video game is like a good novel that you help write. Fallout 4 lets you select some adjectives and plot pacing, but it doesn't let you really contribute to the narrative. Just sort of experience it.
     
  12. GahLee

    GahLee Director of Conspiracy Theories, 8th Maxim

    Got my kids the same thing. Came with Mario Kart 8, bought Mario Maker to go with it. Got them Super Smash Bros for the 3DS.
     
  13. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    Reason 2 for why Fallout 4 just cannot be my game of the year:

    MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

    In keeping with the theme of the game lacking depth, I would like to bring up side quests. Fallout 4 has a ridiculous number of side quests. You can advance to some of the highest levels you'll see in the game simply by ignoring the main quest and just doing side quests. The problem with these side quests is that they are extremely repetitive. Each faction has a certain number of side quests it wants you to do. The Brotherhood has two people, one of whom wants you to go around collecting technology, while the other wants you to "cleanse" the commonwealth. These quests are literally the same thing over and over, the only differences being the locations and the enemies. They follow the same step by step process:

    1. Receive the mission
    2. Travel to the place
    3. Clear out the enemies/find the piece of technology (which usually just means "look in the box after you clear out the last enemy")
    4. Return to the NPC for caps and experience

    These missions get old fast.

    Then you have the Railroad. They want you to locate DIA caches and place some sort of weather machine on high buildings. They follow these steps:

    1. Receive the mission
    2. Travel to the place
    3. Clear out the enemies so you can get to the cache or the spot where the weather machine goes.
    4. Return to the NPC for caps and experience

    Then you have the Minutemen. You have to help settlers that are being attacked.

    1. Receive the mission.
    2. Travel to the location.
    3. Clear out the Super Mutants/Synths/Raiders/Gunners and occasionally press A to untie the kidnapped person at the end
    4. Return to the NPC for caps and experience.

    Notice a trend? They are all the exact same shit. The only differences are the locations and the types of enemies you fight, but after doing as little as 10 of these, you start getting repetitive locations and enemies. And there are literally hundreds of these available to do. And in the case of the Minutemen ones, if you don't do them in a timely fashion after they pop up, you fail them. And the saddest part is that I didn't even list them all. The Brotherhood also offers 2 variations of these same missions, one which has you complete the same steps with a scribe accompanying you, and one which has you complete the same steps with a little cadet accompanying you. It's almost painful how shallow these missions truly are.

    An endless number of side missions is a good thing, but not if it's just the same exact mission over and over and over again. Side missions are supposed to be a great way to give you a break from the main quest and push you to explore the world a little more. I wish they had added more depth to these.
     
  14. InVolNerable

    InVolNerable Fark Master Flex

    Fallout 4 vs Skyrim Missions:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    On my phone and can't get these to show up big enough to read. What is this showing?
     
  16. InVolNerable

    InVolNerable Fark Master Flex

  17. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    I've been playing skyrim again for a week or 2 now. I've spent an embarrassing number of hours on it.
     
  18. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    Thanks. Interestingly enough, I never got that into the storyline of skyrim, and I REALLY enjoyed this fallout game early on. Might have to go back and give it another try. Is it backwards compatible?

    What's worse is that you don't even get to do all the quests on that list. At some point, you have to choose a faction, and once you do, the next main quest line missions become available, but only for the faction you chose.
     
  19. Indy

    Indy Pronoun Analyst

    The time I've spent on fallout is embarrassing for how long it's been out.

    I think I sold my copy of skyrim. Might have to pick another one up.
     
  20. InVolNerable

    InVolNerable Fark Master Flex

    Doesn't appear to be : http://majornelson.com/2015/11/09/t...ackward-compatibility-games-is-now-available/

    That list doesn't include the Dawnguard, Dragonborn, Wyrmstooth, or Falksaar quests for Skyrim either since they are DLC or Mod levels. Hopefully Fallout 4 is conducive to the modding community, because it boosts a games replay factor ten fold.
     

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