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NeoGAF Games of the Year 2016 Awards

Aceofspades

Banned
If The Witcher 3 was released this year it would've crushed Uncharted 4. Search your heart, you know it to be true.

In my opinion both Bloodborne and TW3 are better than anything released this year, that doesn't take away from Uncharted because its one hell of a game. It's also nice to see TLG high up un the list, amazing game.

Well done Naughty Dog.
 
Aw, man, The Last Guardian was close to Dark Souls 3, and Titanfall 2 was even closer again to Final Fantasy XV! I would have loved TF2 to get more love, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see TLG at No. 5, I was really hoping it would end up in the top ten. It's also a fitting circle of life to see UC4 and DS3 so high, considering the inspiration Druckmann/Straley and Miyazaki have taken from ICO over the years. (I now need bad photoshop of Ueda holding Miyazaki and D&S over Pride Rock.) 2016 was a really strong year for so many unique and quality games, and there is a lot of different genres in the top 20. You did good, GAF! Thank you to timetokill, Cheesemeister, and ASilentProtagonist for all their hard work, the GOTY threads are always great reads.

The recommended list works really well, too, as I'd been considering picking up every game in my top 10 rec list at some point. (DS3, Doom, TW3:B&W, Ratchet & Clank, The Witness, Stardew Valley, Forza Horizon 3, Dishonored 2, Quadrilateral Cowboy, Battlefield 1.) That being said - and this does link back to the thread's Bloodborne/Dark Souls 3 vote count discussion from earlier - I do have a lot of Dark Souls fatigue due to the familiar retread. On the other hand, I found BB to be really refreshing change of pace in 2015, so I hope the setting of Miyazaki's next game is a bit different from DS. I'm really impressed and tempted by Hitman, too.

My affinity buddies, with obligatory half-assed non-transparent Xenoblade Chronicles affinity hearts!
qTJ4Jp5.png

 

SURGEdude

Member
Glad to see Doom did well. Replaying UC4 again I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot more than I did the first round. Good to see Titanfall 2 up there as well.
 
Great to see my top two games of the year was also the top 2 for a great many people here on GAF - good taste people!
Yet to read through the thread, but I hope there hasn't been too many salty posts about UC4 getting top spot. Its the second most voted game of the year (after overwatch) by critics and the no.1 most awarded readers choice (across all gaming sites) game of the year for a reason folks. You many have found the game 'overrated' but please be happy that other people got to enjoy it!


Look it again:
http://gotypicks.blogspot.com/2016/09/2016-game-of-year.html
 

Chac

Member
Looking over this list, I feel this year was solid but not spectacular. 2017 is going to be an unprecedented year for gaming IMO and it couldn't be happening at a better time because we're all going to need somewhere to escape to. I'd be very surprised if the top 10 next year does not include Persona 5, Mass Effect: Andromeda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nier Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7 and Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.
 

lt519

Member
Great job as always guys! Such an impressive year for gaming.

Made a lot more affinity lists this year. Recommendations were pretty obvious too, I've been planning on playing The Last Guardian and Hitman real soon.
 
Having read a bit more of the thread the disappointment some people feel about UC4 winning is palpable. That would be OK were it not for the patronizing and frankly ignorant comments about 'how' and 'why' it got top spot.
And here I was hoping the result would instill some humility into people and finally make them accept that there may be a lot of people out there who didn't share their disappointment and just be happy for their fellow gamers!
 
Looking over this list, I feel this year was solid but not spectacular. 2017 is going to be an unprecedented year for gaming IMO and it couldn't be happening at a better time because we're all going to need somewhere to escape to. I'd be very surprised if the top 10 next year does not include Persona 5, Mass Effect: Andromeda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nier Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7 and Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.
That list doesn't even include all potential candidates. Absolutely great year ahead.

I didn't vote this year but I'm not seeing anything that is worth arguing over. The people who constantly complain about Uncharted 4 obviously aren't bringing the game down so why waste your breath? Good list nonetheless.
 
So really, what is the ruling on how games got counted for platform awards?

For Xbox One:
1. Rocket League (Multiplatform, Windows/PS4/X1)
2. Stranger of Sword City (Multiplatform, 360/Windows/Vita/X1)
3. NHL 17 (Multiplatform, PS4/X1)
4. The Walking Dead: Michonne (Multiplatform, Windows/OS X/PS3/PS4/360/X1/iOS/Android)
5. Raiden V (X1 Exclusive)

PS Vita
1. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (Cross-gen, PS4/PSV)
2. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (Cross-gen, PS3/PSV)
3. Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book (Cross-platform, PS3/PSV/PS4)
5. Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate (PSV Exclusive)

I don't see how a list with 4 multiplatform titles for X1 makes even the remotest sense without games like Forza or Gears.

The data for those is being updated, we're going to be doing a rerun of the data before 24 hours have passed. The way it works is, top-voted game that you could only play on that system as released that year. We tend to ignore other years when calculating this, partly because it helps streamline data entry significantly. You could think of it as "new exclusive." So for instance, Rocket League was new on XONE this year, and only XONE (as far as I can tell), so despite being released on PS4/PC previously, those platforms don't matter re: this category.

That category's data has been updated and will probably look like Rocket League, Raiden V after all is said and done. PS Vita's category is also being updated. The update should be up within 24 hours.

We COULD alter how we rank those, but: it would require extra data that we did not and have not ever collected, and it would be a change from previous years, something we give serious thought to do before doing because it affects the usefulness of year-over-year data. That said, your point has been noted and it will be something CM and I discuss as we always discuss GAF feedback to continually improve the results.



Yeah that's what I'm getting at. It makes absolutely no sense. Again I'm not sure if one of the organizers is trying to make a statement along the lines of "Xbox has no games" but this just makes no sense. It would be better to just not included an Xbox exclusive list if that is the case

There's no intent to make a statement, this is just the way we've done it for years. Please read the above.
 
Fuck! I thought voting ended on the 22nd and was trying to finish off Titanfall 2's campaign so that I could make my list. Oh well. Next year I'll keep better track of time and days.

I have no real complaints about the list. UC4 wasn't my top choice, but it was in my top 5. Glad to see TLG, Doom, TF2, and FFXV place highly. Gonna wait for Hitman PS4 to see what I've been missing.
 
Thanks to everyone involved in creating this thread. It was nice to be a part of GOTY voting last year :D

GAF's got a great taste in games.
 

Milijango

Member
Wow, I played every game in the Top 5 for once. Not the order I'd have them in, but all of them are good! Last Guardian was my #1, Overwatch my #5, and Doom/UC4/DS3 in #7-9 in that order. Didn't play Doom in time for voting, but it seems to have not needed the help.

The Last Guardian at #5 is stellar considering it was out for all of 45 days.
 
Dark Souls III (my #4), The Last Guardian (my #2) and Final Fantasy XV (my #7) are the only games from the top 10 I've played. I do want to play The Witness and Inside though.

GAF slept on Dragon Quest Builders (my #3), you should all check it out!
Also shocked at how low Pokemon Sun/Moon is, considering how many people say it's the best in the series (myself included, it was my GOTY), expected top 10 at least. I guess it's only a subset of people here that use handhelds though.
 
Just noticed World of Final Fantasy not even in the top 10 RPG list. Was that bad or just kinda mediocre? Never heard much post launch with XV stealing the spotlight. Not really a well timed release.
 
The data for those is being updated, we're going to be doing a rerun of the data before 24 hours have passed. The way it works is, top-voted game that you could only play on that system as released that year. We tend to ignore other years when calculating this, partly because it helps streamline data entry significantly. You could think of it as "new exclusive." So for instance, Rocket League was new on XONE this year, and only XONE (as far as I can tell), so despite being released on PS4/PC previously, those platforms don't matter re: this category.

That category's data has been updated and will probably look like Rocket League, Raiden V after all is said and done. PS Vita's category is also being updated. The update should be up within 24 hours.

We COULD alter how we rank those, but: it would require extra data that we did not and have not ever collected, and it would be a change from previous years, something we give serious thought to do before doing because it affects the usefulness of year-over-year data. That said, your point has been noted and it will be something CM and I discuss as we always discuss GAF feedback to continually improve the results.
Fair enough about the updates. The lists will look equal then.

But to your point about the "usefulness of year-over-year data," I'm not really sure how useful I feel about an Xbox "exclusive" list that only includes Raiden and Rocket League. I mean, I guess looking at a historical dataset and seeing a dip in exclusive titles that year might remind us that Play Anywhere became a "thing" that year, but otherwise I don't really see how the current platform lists fit any "usefulness" criteria. The same could be said of some of the genre categories, but I digress.

Appreciate the openness to feedback.
 
Fair enough about the updates. The lists will look equal then.

But to your point about the "usefulness of year-over-year data," I'm not really sure how useful I feel about an Xbox "exclusive" list that only includes Raiden and Rocket League. I mean, I guess looking at a historical dataset and seeing a dip in exclusive titles that year might remind us that Play Anywhere became a "thing" that year, but otherwise I don't really see how the current platform lists fit any "usefulness" criteria. The same could be said of some of the genre categories, but I digress.

Appreciate the openness to feedback.

No problem! I appreciate the passion that GAF brings to these awards every year, and while we do our best, it's tough to get it perfect. There are a ton of games and only so much time we can dedicate to looking into special cases in particular.

Re: genre, I agree -- games very infrequently fit into one genre, and naturally we haven't played all 450+ games this year to personally verify, so we have to rely on how it's categorized on places like Wikipedia, Metacritic, Giant Bomb, and various other places. The genre thing is a tricky thing to get right and we're definitely going to be reviewing it (again) moving forward.


But Digimon was on PS4 as well, Grand Kingdom too for that matter.
True enough, but for the updates to the platform winners you'll need to wait a bit. We've updated stuff like that in the data, and we'll be running more updates moving forward.
 
i think partly why p5 didn't top zelda in the anticipated list this year is because it was already out in japan. it's a small amount, but it could affect the final rankings this year. zelda has a worldwide launch and way more exposure going for it, plus it's starting to crowd persona 5's anime space a little.

horizon will do well - i assume the 4 or 5 slot. mario, zelda, p5, horizon, and mass effect will probably be the top five games unless there's a surprise like doom was this year, or one of those isn't that great (i'm looking at you, mass effect).

I mean P5 was one vote behind. No RDR2?

Dark Souls 3 was also a critical darling and available for PS4 (and everything else), but got a fraction of the votes Bloodborne got. Hmmmm.

DS3 was nearly as well received within the Souls fanbase here than Bloodborne. We had a recent DS3 vs Bloodborne thread, and Bloodborne wiped the floor with it despite being an older game.
 
Just noticed World of Final Fantasy not even in the top 10 RPG list. Was that bad or just kinda mediocre? Never heard much post launch with XV stealing the spotlight. Not really a well timed release.
It's the only "true FF" to release this year and the "Better one" so I'm surprised its not higher up
 

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Did anyone's Top 10 match GAFs Top 10?


I was 7/10 with the exception of Uncharted 4, The Witness, and Hitman.
 
Uncharted 4 winning is disappointing. Shows how strong the Sony fanbase is here at neogaf. Don't think it deserves it over Overwatch or Doom, and imo not the type of gameplay we should be rewarding,especially considering it's a poorly paced run of the mill sequel. But a message board game of the year list is not really anything to get worked up about, so it is what it is.

Seeing how it was pretty much the no.1 readers choice across all the major game sites (including IGN, Eurogamer and Gamespot) Sony fanbase must be strong on all websites then. Which to be honest isn't as controversial an issue as you imply as ps4 is by far the most popular console of this gen and UC4 has sold over 8 million copies, gaining more exposure than a lot of the other goty contenders.
 

Milijango

Member
Some close damn matches here:


I wonder if there'll be enough WiiU/Switch consoles in the west for Zelda to do really well on NeoGAF. Yes if Bayonetta 2 can win anything's possible, but 2017 will have a lot of very hard hitters that are multiplatform.

Did anyone's Top 10 match GAFs Top 10?


I was 7/10 with the exception of Uncharted 4, The Witness, and Hitman.

I missed The Witness, Hitman, Titanfall 2, and FF15. I came close to picking those first three up though, probably will this year.
 

AudioEppa

Member
I only listened one in my voting. Because while there was some other games I enjoyed within 2016. In my heart there was only one that emotionally impacted me.

You know. I don't really connect with people when their favorite sports teams win championships. But I like sports. I like TV and Movies. But I'll never pay attention to the golden globe or the oscars.

When I signed up to Gaf I knew I was coming into a place unlike any other. Video Games really became a passion for me after experiencing metal gear solid. I bring up that particular game because It's where I first noticed games going in a different direction. That direction of game creators taking you out of the moment to display a visual mini movie to help enhance the story they're trying to tell. That game design has always faced criticism. For me it was the missing piece I never knew I wanted.

Within almost 20 years the gaming industry has kept progressing even further in that direction. The better technology had became to support it. Seasoned. Casual. And new born gameer alike. All share a common passion for developers that breakaway from a outdated view of what video games are supposed to be. And embrace the true freedom of creativity within a interactive medium.

People argue against cinematic game design. How it doesn't push this industry forward the right way. But they're wrong. Pushing forward in this direction isn't about replacing old game design. It's about allowing more people who never had interest in gaming, finally pick up a controller and discover that maybe it can be for them too. That's the beauty of our industry right now. New people realizing every single day. That with the right games. They can share with their friends, family and love one. That magic. That special feeling only video games can bring.

I can't express in actual talking words how heavy my heart felt when I opened up this thread.. 'Wipes tears away' It no longer feels like a place you gotta hide what kind of games you love... You know kiddo. It's not just a few of us anymore.



Gaf
giphy.gif
 

lt519

Member
Did anyone's Top 10 match GAFs Top 10?


I was 7/10 with the exception of Uncharted 4, The Witness, and Hitman.

Even more fun is finding if two people had the exact same lists. If I remember correctly last year two people did but they had a couple spots shuffled.
 
If it still works the same way it worked when I wrote it many years ago, it looks at all the votes, then calculates a "similarity score" to other users for you based on how games placed on their lists compared to yours, using a patented Durante-handwaving-it algorithm of dubious statistical rigor. It then ranks users based on that similarity score.

Wait, you did the programming for the affinity ranking?
Durante, the hero GAF doesn't deserve.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I figured Uncharted 4 would win the GOTY, here and most everywhere else. I'm not even even salty, I honestly just wish I liked the game as much as so many others do. Went from top of my most anticipated games in 2015 to not even mentioned at all. SAD!

The real surprise is Doom in 2nd and Overwatch at 3rd. Who the hell could've predicted Doom at #2 a year ago, and how did Overwatch's massive appeal not push it to the top spot?

Rest of the list is what it is. Don't really agree with the order, but there are a number of fine games on there.

Stat tracking for this this is insane. Good work to everyone involved.
____________________________________________

Similiar to how I feel. I figured UC4 would take it but I still figured the appeal Overwatch had would pull it over, as I haven't seen something quite like it in such a long time.

But eh. Not huge on the top 10 list that everything fell into, but there's certainly some solid stuff there. And then Final Fantasy XV somehow. Great work on the thread(s) as always guys.

I actually didn't read much of the goty thread in the final days due to being busy but I'll have to check out all the posts I missed.
 
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