• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

2011 Game of the Year Media Picks Thread

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Xenoblade should overwhelmingly be Game of the Year.

It will win it next year from the American publications*

*Ones worth listening to**

**the joke here is that there are none.

EDIT: This is a dig at the gaming media, not just the American gaming media is case it comes across that way.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
It will win it next year from the American publications*

*Ones worth listening to**

**the joke here is that there are none.

EDIT: This is a dig at the gaming media, not just the American gaming media is case it comes across that way.

I'm....not sure what you're trying to say.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
I'm....not sure what you're trying to say.

Well since Xenoblade comes out next year in the Americas the American publication can award it GOTY 2012. I then realised that my message could be read that only American publications are not worth listening to so I clarified that my stance was universal.
 

Codeblue

Member
I think Skyrim should sweep up GotY 2012. You know, when it's actually finished. I really hate Bethesda for making something so great and releasing it so close to completion. To me, it would be the same as giving the award to the DotA beta.
 
There have been so many fantastic games this year when you think about it. Holy shit...

But Portal 2 was my favorite. Looking back, that game completely blew away my expectations. It pushed every boundary yet again. It's hilarious, it's engaging, and it really is cinematic.
 
Is it Skyrim's fault that the PS3 can't handle it? It's an amazing game when it's played the way it was envisioned, why shouldn't it be judged as so? The PS3 issues are a reflection on Bethesda as a company, not on Skyrim imo
 

Durante

Member
I fear we'll see a lot of whining about Skyrim, but in my opinion it's the most deserving mainstream release of the year. Yes, it has bugs, and it shouldn't have been released on one platform at all, but on PC at least it seems more stable and polished than Oblivion was at release.
 
Is it Skyrim's fault that the PS3 can't handle it? It's an amazing game when it's played the way it was envisioned, why shouldn't it be judged as so? The PS3 issues are a reflection on Bethesda as a company, not on Skyrim imo

The PS3 version has its own specific issues, yes. But across all platforms, there are other game-breaking bugs that have yet to be addressed and are killing players' enjoyment of the otherwise great game. I still can't advance the Thieves' Guild questline, for example.

Don't get me wrong; I like Skyrim, but I feel this sort of thing shouldn't simply be overlooked when looking at the overall quality of the product compared to other phenomenal games that were released this year.
 

Codeblue

Member
I fear we'll see a lot of whining about Skyrim, but in my opinion it's the most deserving mainstream release of the year. Yes, it has bugs, and it shouldn't have been released on one platform at all, but on PC at least it seems more stable and polished than Oblivion was at release.
It shouldn't have been released on any platform. We've seen betas more stable than Skyrim.
 

Derrick01

Banned
It shouldn't have been released on any platform. We've seen betas more stable than Skyrim.

That is such bullshit and you know it. On 360 and PC Skyrim is by far the most stable game at launch that Bethesda has ever put out. It's not even up for debate.
 

traveler

Not Wario
Portal 2 deserves to annihilate the competition this year. Nothing else came close to me.

People are blown away by Skyrim's open world (and rightfully so) but it's core gameplay, the combat, is absolutely terrible, (Especially having played it right after the very satisfying Dark Souls) performance issues abysmal, dragon fights anticlimatic, and second to second gameplay repetitive. Yes, there's more content to the game, but that matters little when it's all so fundamentally similar. The actual level design just doesn't compare in any way to Portal's. (And does amount of content really even deserve to merit applause? Are books, movies, albums, etc. given extra kudos for being x pages/minutes longer? And how many of you guys are actually running out of things to play with the huge amount of releases in the holiday anyway) And that's not even mentioning the fact that Portal has enjoyable dialogue and VA- a first in gaming for me.

Each of the other potential contenders fall short for me as well- Dark Souls for its terrible final levels, Arkham City for its weaknesses compared to its predecessor, (poor pacing, less focused story, weaker level design, less inventive boss battles) Uncharted 3 for being a fairly standard shooter (with, previously, terrible aiming) wrapped up in "cinematic" game design with autopilot puzzles and platforming, and Skyward Sword for its inumerable problems. (Although, don't mistake me, it's still a great game- when its good, it's amazing. Fi, a slow start, tons of padding, occasionally unresponsive motion controls, hideous graphics at times, too heavy a story early on, too light later, etc. really hurt it though) Super Mario 3D Land would actually be my runner up, if I had to pick one, in front of all the blockbuster titles being considered. It's easy, sure, but that is it's only real flaw.

No, Portal 2 stands out as a masterful creation among the slight disappointment that has characterized the rest of the year's releases for me and I'm sad that other less deserving games are getting more appreciation simply by virtue of the proximity of their releases and nature of their AAA PR status. I guess I should note I have yet to finish Rayman- which feels a little off to me but is very good otherwise so far- and I have not played The Witcher 2, Rage. and BF3 on account of not having finished my new rig yet. I also haven't played MW3, out of a lack of interest, AC:R, having not played the others in the series, or Gears 3, because my 360 hasn't worked for 3 years. Lastly, I'm waiting till next year to pick up Xenoblade when it comes to America.
 

King_Moc

Banned
Probably Skyrim for me, seems difficult to get bored of it. Would have been Mario Kart if the online worked though. Portal 2, Super Mario 3D Land and Battlefield 3 all close too.

I'd love to see Gamespot give it to Kane & Lynch 2 :)
 

kswiston

Member
I might fit in time to beat Uncharted 3 and some indie titles before the GAF GOTY voting starts, but so far, Skyrim is my pick of the year. However, it's been a pretty amazing year. This will probably be the first time where I don't have to pad out my top 10 list with games I sort of liked.
 
Updated with a bunch of early GOTYs from various sites. Skyrim has taken an early lead out of the gate, with no clear challenger yet in sight.
 

Spookie

Member
I still don't understand how Skyrim gets GoTY. The combat has me put down the game everytime and that's not mentioning the 3-5 CtD I get every hour when playing it smh.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Seeing as you're ordering the standings by number of wins and then alphabetical order, it would make more sense to do just the same with the excerpts that follow - i.e. the order of the standings should match the order in which the excerpts are displayed. Currently, that would put Skyrim's at the top, followed by Portal 2, then Bastion, and so on.
 
Seeing as you're ordering the GoTY list by number of wins and then alphabetical order, it would make more sense to do just the same with the excerpts that follow.

This thing typically spans several posts. I'm not going to rearrange them every time one game passes another.
 

Acheteedo

Member
I still don't understand how Skyrim gets GoTY. The combat has me put down the game everytime and that's not mentioning the 3-5 CtD I get every hour when playing it smh.

I don't understand how people don't understand the praise that Skyrim gets. Even if you can't look past some of the negatives, you must have some idea about what makes it a GOTY contender. In the later stages of the game I'm finding that quite a few of the quests to be bugged, does this bring the game down for me? Maybe a small amount, but I'm approaching 150 hours of an incredible experience that was unmatched this year, bugs can't take that away. The game isn't entirely comprised of it's combat (which I find perfectly adequate), or those bugs you encountered, it's so much more than that.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
This thing typically spans several posts. I'm not going to rearrange them every time one game passes another.

Hitting ctrl-x and ctrl-v several times isn't hard work :)p), but I understand. Maintaining a somewhat fickle universal order could become relatively cumbersome if there are a multitude of winners.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
My gut squirms a little at the thought of GAF and the collective gaming comminity voting Skyrim it's GOTY. I get the appeal, but I'll never be on board with ambition and scope beyond your own design process. The corners Bethesda have to cut, both technically and creatively (level-scaling, loot-scaling and the like), genuinely bother me. I think the stories people can tell as a result of a game like Skyrim are fascinating, but I still feel like their design, from their large-scale process through micro-level decisions, are often fundamentally broken. But apparently I'm a giant outlier here. Playing Dark Souls and near-immediately moving onto Skyrim can't have helped my perception of the latter, I'm sure.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Its really a testament to how good Skyrim is that its winning GOTY awards even with the faults/bugs it has. Not everybody might love the game as much, but there's lots of us that do.
 

Yagharek

Member
My gut squirms a little at the thought of GAF and the collective gaming comminity voting Skyrim it's GOTY. I get the appeal, but I'll never be on board with ambition and scope beyond your own design process. The corners Bethesda have to cut, both technically and creatively (level-scaling, loot-scaling and the like), genuinely bother me. I think the stories people can tell as a result of a game like Skyrim are fascinating, but I still feel like their design, from their large-scale process through micro-level decisions, are often fundamentally broken. But apparently I'm a giant outlier here. Playing Dark Souls and near-immediately moving onto Skyrim can't have helped my perception of the latter, I'm sure.

I can't help but agree. Skyrim will win in a landslide both the popular and the "critic" awards, but it doesnt deserve to win anything until it's fixed, if ever.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Portal 2 deserves to annihilate the competition this year. Nothing else came close to me.

People are blown away by Skyrim's open world (and rightfully so) but it's core gameplay, the combat, is absolutely terrible, (Especially having played it right after the very satisfying Dark Souls) performance issues abysmal, dragon fights anticlimatic, and second to second gameplay repetitive. Yes, there's more content to the game, but that matters little when it's all so fundamentally similar. The actual level design just doesn't compare in any way to Portal's. (And does amount of content really even deserve to merit applause? Are books, movies, albums, etc. given extra kudos for being x pages/minutes longer? And how many of you guys are actually running out of things to play with the huge amount of releases in the holiday anyway) And that's not even mentioning the fact that Portal has enjoyable dialogue and VA- a first in gaming for me.

Each of the other potential contenders fall short for me as well- Dark Souls for its terrible final levels, Arkham City for its weaknesses compared to its predecessor, (poor pacing, less focused story, weaker level design, less inventive boss battles) Uncharted 3 for being a fairly standard shooter (with, previously, terrible aiming) wrapped up in "cinematic" game design with autopilot puzzles and platforming, and Skyward Sword for its inumerable problems. (Although, don't mistake me, it's still a great game- when its good, it's amazing. Fi, a slow start, tons of padding, occasionally unresponsive motion controls, hideous graphics at times, too heavy a story early on, too light later, etc. really hurt it though) Super Mario 3D Land would actually be my runner up, if I had to pick one, in front of all the blockbuster titles being considered. It's easy, sure, but that is it's only real flaw.

No, Portal 2 stands out as a masterful creation among the slight disappointment that has characterized the rest of the year's releases for me and I'm sad that other less deserving games are getting more appreciation simply by virtue of the proximity of their releases and nature of their AAA PR status. I guess I should note I have yet to finish Rayman- which feels a little off to me but is very good otherwise so far- and I have not played The Witcher 2, Rage. and BF3 on account of not having finished my new rig yet. I also haven't played MW3, out of a lack of interest, AC:R, having not played the others in the series, or Gears 3, because my 360 hasn't worked for 3 years. Lastly, I'm waiting till next year to pick up Xenoblade when it comes to America.

I still feel like the moments of genuine excitement and ownership of a space (or the exact, extreme opposite of both of the prior mentioned scenarios) a game like Dark Souls provided 90% of the time made up for the 10% of the game that didn't. Its fault weren't deep-rooted in any core design philosophy, they were abnormalities, like a pimple of the inner-thigh of a super-model. They don't really affect how I feel about the game as a whole.

But Portal 2 is certainly a worthy choice, as far as I'm concerned, sure.
 

Noshino

Member
I didn't fall in love with any of the current winners, but any of them are an understandable choice, unlike Skyrim.

Most undeserving GOTY ever.

Is it Skyrim's fault that the PS3 can't handle it? It's an amazing game when it's played the way it was envisioned, why shouldn't it be judged as so? The PS3 issues are a reflection on Bethesda as a company, not on Skyrim imo

What?

PS3 issues aside, all the versions still had bugs.

But yeah, for a second, let's ignore all the bugs.

What about the ancient combat mechanics? the janky animations? what are their excuses for that garbage?
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I didn't fall in love with any of the current winners, but any of them are an understandable choice, unlike Skyrim.

Most undeserving GOTY ever.



What?

PS3 issues aside, all the versions still had bugs.

But yeah, for a second, let's ignore all the bugs.

What about the ancient combat mechanics? the janky animations? what are their excuses for that garbage?

Ambition, apparently.
 

Riposte

Member
My gut squirms a little at the thought of GAF and the collective gaming comminity voting Skyrim it's GOTY. I get the appeal, but I'll never be on board with ambition and scope beyond your own design process. The corners Bethesda have to cut, both technically and creatively (level-scaling, loot-scaling and the like), genuinely bother me. I think the stories people can tell as a result of a game like Skyrim are fascinating, but I still feel like their design, from their large-scale process through micro-level decisions, are often fundamentally broken. But apparently I'm a giant outlier here. Playing Dark Souls and near-immediately moving onto Skyrim can't have helped my perception of the latter, I'm sure.

Skyrim will be NeoGAF's GotY
Skyrim will be one of the most criticized games of 2012
 
I wonder if Skyrim would be winning the majority of the awards if it had been released in January. It's possible it would but sometimes I feel like the games that are fresh in mind and still being played have a much better chance of winning.
 

Q8D3vil

Member
I didn't fall in love with any of the current winners, but any of them are an understandable choice, unlike Skyrim.

Most undeserving GOTY ever.



What?

PS3 issues aside, all the versions still had bugs.

But yeah, for a second, let's ignore all the bugs.

What about the ancient combat mechanics? the janky animations? what are their excuses for that garbage?

most deserving goty this generation imo beside dark soul.
 

Lakitu

st5fu
I didn't fall in love with any of the current winners, but any of them are an understandable choice, unlike Skyrim.

Most undeserving GOTY ever.



What?

PS3 issues aside, all the versions still had bugs.

But yeah, for a second, let's ignore all the bugs.

What about the ancient combat mechanics? the janky animations? what are their excuses for that garbage?

It's a matter of perspective. You don't understand why people would love Skyrim? Well, that's a shame. I've played the game for 170 hours and I've only encountered 2 or 3 minor bugs. It's going to differ for many people, but from my personal point of view, it's GOTY.

A lot of games deserve GOTY this year (Portal 2, Arkham City) to name a few, but bugs withstanding, it's ridiculous to say it's the most undeserving GOTY ever.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Ambition, apparently.

Budget, probably. I think they COULD make the game they want to. It's the old software engineering problem rearing it's ugly but perfectly sensible head again. If people are happy to put up with shitty systems, it's much cheaper to just keep maintaining the shitty systems and bolting on new features rather than investing the time and effort into completely rebuilding the system from the ground-up, retraining staff (in this case, virtually everyone on their team) and incurring a significant time penalty to the project. The most important factor, of course, is the massively inflated budget, all for a final product that will probably only make 0.00005% more money for the company in the long run.

so what I'm saying is that by rewarding this game, you're rewarding this practice. if you're ok with it, then, well, good for you, I guess. It's not unreasonable. As someone who genuinely loves games, it doesn't fit my criteria for game of the year.
 

DaBuddaDa

Member
most deserving goty this generation imo beside dark soul.

After already playing every Elder Scrolls game since Daggerfall as they've been released, Skyrim is really just more of the same, a bit more polished and a bit more streamlined. My excitement for the series has worn off completely, but I can understand why most are jizzing their pants over it. It's the same way I was when Morrowind came out.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Budget, probably. I think they COULD make the game they want to. It's the old software engineering problem rearing it's ugly but perfectly sensible head again. If people are happy to put up with shitty systems, it's much cheaper to just keep maintaining the shitty systems and bolting on new features rather than investing the time and effort into completely rebuilding the system from the ground-up, retraining staff (in this case, virtually everyone on their team) and incurring a significant time penalty to the project. The most important factor, of course, is the massively inflated budget, all for a final product that will probably only make 0.00005% more money for the company in the long run.

I'd say it's more a matter of time. 3 years to greatly revamp an engine and push out a game with the scope of Skyrim strikes me as too little.

Edit: Of course, this does tie into the matter of budgetary concerns. It's entirely possible that the game was pushed out after 3 years as Bethesda didn't see the financial sense in delaying the game further for nothing more than spit and polish.
 

Noshino

Member
It's a matter of perspective. You don't understand why people would love Skyrim? Well, that's a shame. I've played the game for 170 hours and I've only encountered 2 or 3 minor bugs. It's going to differ for many people, but from my personal point of view, it's GOTY.

A lot of games deserve GOTY this year (Portal 2, Arkham City) to name a few, but bugs withstanding, it's ridiculous to say it's the most undeserving GOTY ever.

No, I get why people love it.

I even hear it from people who don't play video games how they can go anywhere and everywhere. I get it, its all about the scope of the game, how ambitious it is.

But at what cost?

Bugs?
Shitty combat mechanics?
Janky animations?

no, I simply can't praise that
 

Lakitu

st5fu
No, I get why people love it.

I even hear it from people who don't play video games how they can go anywhere and everywhere. I get it, its all about the scope of the game, how ambitious it is.

But at what cost?

Bugs?
Shitty combat mechanics?
Janky animations?

no, I simply can't praise that

Fair enough.
 

Riposte

Member
Can I just say for moment that everything people are saying bad about Skyrim is true a hundred fold for Minecraft? Minecraft makes Skyrim look like Dark Souls.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I'd say it's more a matter of time. 3 years to greatly revamp an engine and push out a game with the scope of Skyrim strikes me as too little.

Edit Of course, this does tie into the matter of budgetary concerns.

That's what I mean. It's another head of the beast. They don't have the budget to make a product that will take exponentially longer to build and make the same amount of money Skyrim will make. It makes no financial sense.

It isn't that it's impossible to make the ideal Bethesda game, it's just that they can't do it in three years. Or at least, they can't do it in three years THE FIRST time. I'd be interested in seeing how efficient their pipeline could become with a new engine.
 
Top Bottom