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[thefil]

Quick rules for tl;dr folks: What are the best games you played for the first time in 2012 that came out before 2012?

I did this last year, and it got some really great answers. In the last couple years I started playing way more old games than current releases. Thus, when the GOTY threads come around, I find myself sad that I can't vote for my real favourites.

This isn't going to be a voting thread (there's way too many games in all of eternity), but just a place to share those experiences that you overlooked every year before this one. It would be fun if everyone could share the game from 2011 or earlier that they discovered for the first time in 2012, and what about them made them hold up despite age.

My picks:

3) Proteus
Like most games on this list, Proteus' beauty comes from a sense of discovery. The game has an elusive beauty in motion and sound that all comes together in a way that is not evoked at all in the screenshots. It's hard to say much of what this is without spoiling it, but I will say I went out into an ocean expecting death, and in looking back discovered something wonderful.

2) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
This game really brings out the spirit of adventure. Very little is told to you, and it's about the moments where you chance upon one townsperson or another. Trying to solve their conundrums with a mix and match grab bag of mask powers is charming, most so when you do not even have the power you need to finish. Of course, you don't know that, so you can easily spend hours trying a dozen hairbrained schemes in an incredibly fun attempt.

1) Planescape: Torment
What a fantastic set of dialog trees. The combat was nothing to write home about, but I ended up in it for the story. Chasing myself and my past through a variety of incredibly imaginative locales was unlike any other experience in gaming. Above all, while the question "What can change a man?" reeks of RPG melodrama and cliche, the answer discovered is surprisingly profound and reflective, worthy of discovering. I highly recommend.

 

[wutwutwut]

Does Dark Souls PC count?

 

[Ysiadmihi]

If Dark Souls PC counts, then that.

edit: lol

 

[Sojgat]

Shadows of the Damned. Really good game, amazing soundtrack.

 

[aeolist]

Alan Wake PC or Mario 3D Land

 

[Nabs]

Treasure Adventure Game (2011) (PC). This would probably be my GOTY if released this year.

 

[SerRodrik]

I'll echo Planescape Torment. Played it for the first time this year and I was blown away, and it made me super glad that I backed Project Eternity.

 

[Lancehead]

"What can change the nature of a man?"

Get it right!

My answer to question in OP: Arcanum.

After the first playthrough, I thought it was merely good - very good. After more time with the game, and more critical eye, Arcanum is one of the best cRPGs I've played.

 

[Grief.exe]

All shots downsampled.

1) Dark Souls (PC)

2) Psychonauts

3) Mirror's Edge

4) The World Ends With You

 

[Pie Lord]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It's somewhat flawed, but it's still a fantastic game. I'm hoping we hear about a sequel from Eidos by the end of 2013.

 

[jimmypython]

Dark Souls with ARTORIAS OF THE ABYSS EDITION (aka prepare to die edition)

edit: triple beaten...

 

[Iceblade]

I had great fun with Heavy Rain, even if for some red herrings and inconsistencies here and there. The game does QTEs right, not forcing you into a failure state for missing one button press, but organically dancing around it. I'm really looking forward to Cage's next game.

 

[braves01]

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - I actually had the old vanilla PS2 version laying around which I was compelled to finally play after trying out the MGS 3D demo. I beat it, then immediately bought MGS HD collection and played through everything multiple times. Glorious.

2. 999 - That 999 thread sold me on it and for once the GAF hype delivered. I think I have a soft spot for really great visual novels like this, Phoenix Wright, etc. The music in 999 was also surprisingly good.

3. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Where's my HD versions Capcom?

4. Xenoblade Chronicles - Really great even though I never finished it. My Wii's system files got corrupted after a power surge and I lost my 40 hour save. Still deciding if it's worth paying $75 to fix my Wii and hope my saves are recovered.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Super Mario 3D Land with a bullet. Or Sonic Generations. Hnnnnnnng, don't make me decide.

Spoiler

Sonic

 

[ponpo]

I don't think I've played any console games this year that weren't released this year, so by default Alundra wins. Playing it on the Vita now and it's pretty good.

Or Jubeat in arcades.

 

[hatchx]

1. Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
2. Ace Attorney (DS)
3. Mirror's Edge (PS3)

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

1) Psychonauts
Amazingly funny dialogue, and super imaginative settings.

2) Alan Wake
Very pretty, and surprisingly fun mechanics.

3) Neverwinter Nights 2
This story is way better than what I was expecting. I started it after finishing PS:T.

4) Saints Row 3
Most fun in CO-OP I have had since Borderlands (I'm yet to play Borderlands 2).

 

[Kouichi]

Persona 3. I'm not a fan of a turn-based games and I still absolutely loved my time with Persona. I even beat it in Hard. The story was interesting, the characters were all great and fun to interact with, and the music was fantastic. I enjoyed balancing my time between social links, leveling up the three stats, and Tartarus. Now I just need to beat 'The Answer'.

 

[D3RANG3D]

Treasure Adventure Game (2011) (PC). This would probably be my GOTY if released this year.

This man gets it.

 

[Hypron]

1. Dark Souls (xbox version in feb and then PC version day 1): Apart from the horrid framerate on both platforms (it doesn't seem to like my pc... I get slowdowns pretty often in some areas of the game), I absolutely love this game. The combat system is just beautiful, you've got heaps of content (lots of weapons with their own moveset, lots of spells, lots of totally different monsters and bosses)... One of the best games I've played this gen.
2. Vanquish (xbox 360): The best TPS I've ever played. Loved every minute of it (apart from some stupid encounters on God hard).
3. Max Payne (PC): Awesome gameplay, good cutscenes, memorable characters... I really enjoyed playing this game.

Honourable mentions: Bayonetta, Max Payne 2.

 

[human onion]

Fallout: New Vegas
The writing is great and the world is great to explore. Way better than Skyrim and probably one of my favorite RPG's. Unfortunately, it is a bit too easy, but the world makes up for that completely.

 

[Derrick01]

Yakuza 4 was pretty good. I wouldn't pick it as my goty of last year or whatever it was but I would have definitely put it on my list had I played it.

I have a feeling persona 4 could end up being here too but I only bought it today so I can't say yet.

 

[JustinBB7]

Skyrim
Dead Space Series
Bulletstorm

Already put 94.5 hours into Skyrim in 2 weeks. Think I'm almost done with pretty much every quest to do.

Dead Space series surprised me a lot, loving the storyline and characters.

Bulletstorm was another surprise, thought it would just be a bunch of guys swearing, while that's still there, there are still a lot of other cool things there. Great game.

 

[Spieler Eins]

1. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - I wasn't too impressed with Galaxy 2 after the far superior SMG, but this game really pulls off the parcours-only gameplay almost perfectly and it's fun throughout.
2. WarioWare Inc. (GBA) - I've only played the Wii Warioware before that, but for some reason I thought this game was much superior. Not even sure why, I was really surprised how good this is.
3. Mario Kart 7 (3DS) - Much better balanced than the Wii game, but keeps the best tracks out of that one. About 80 hours played.

honorable mention: Pikmin 2 NPC (EU Wii)- never found the first Pikmin to be amazing, but this game was really good with it's dungeon and minor RPG additions, not too mention much bigger variety and content. Plus the Wiimote was perfect for this.

 

[Shahed]

I'd have to give it to 999 by some distance. It's easily the most memorable game I've played this year, regardless of release date

Actually now that I think about it, I should probably add Trails in the Sky, Radiant Historia, Ys Oath in Felghana and Birth By Sleep as well. 999 still comes out tops though.

As you can see, I did handheld marathon to catch up on my DS and PSP games before I sold them

 

[Hot Coldman]

stuff

(putting your blasphemy about smg2 to one side) WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania is easily the best game on Game Boy Advance. The rest of the series has done well to keep the appeal and charm of the original, but the original is yet to be beaten. Twisted comes closest, if you can find it.

I think that the genius of Minigame Mania has been lost in the last decade of minigame exploitation but for my money, it's easily one of the best things Nintendo ever did last decade. It's possibly the greatest portable game ever. It's also a precursor to the best of iOS, in a fashion, which is hilarious given it's a) 4 years old than the iPhone and b) came from Nintendo.

 

[Hours Left]

I'm hoping this will become 999: The Thread.

 

[Mr. Fix]

999 - Loved the dialogue, and character interaction.

 

[GotchaForce]

I think it was this year (maybe last) I played Link's Awakening. Oh, and Hidden In Plain Sight. Incredible party game on xbl indies.

 

[Spieler Eins]

(putting your blasphemy about smg2 to one side) WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania is easily the best game on Game Boy Advance. The rest of the series has done well to keep the appeal and charm of the original, but the original is yet to be beaten. Twisted comes closest, if you can find it.

I don't think it came out in EU and also I'm playing on the gameboy player on the cube. So I'm probably already done with this series.

 

[RionaaM]

Red Faction (the first one). It's a really good game, that somehow managed to slip by all these years. I also have the sequels in my Steam account, but haven't played them yet.

And The Witcher may be another candidate, but I'm still early in the game. If it doesn't take a turn for the worse, it may be one of the best titles I played this year.

 

[TheOGB]

Fuckin' El Shaddai

 

[Hot Coldman]

I don't think it came out in EU and also I'm playing on the gameboy player on the cube. So I'm probably already done with this series.

If you have long enough wires, playing Twisted on a GB Player is easy mode. :lol (I had to import it too, fucking sucked. :/)

 

[Deleted member 81567]

Witcher 2.

 

[TTG]

Incredible.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

ICO, by far. I played it as part of the HD collection. It's been years since I've been so invested in a game's story/outcome to such a degree. The last act of the game is so climactic (especially in comparison to the rest of the game which consists of calm/uneventful puzzle solving). It does it all with minimal dialogue, exposition and explanation.

When I

Spoiler

was controlling Ico, walking down the beach after the credits

, I was on the edge of my seat. Funny that a game almost 12 years old managed to move me more than anything since.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

Fallout New Vegas.

I had this on my backlog for two years (bought it at launch) before buying all the DLC during a sale and sitting down and playing it. Loved all the homages to the original two Fallouts. The crashed highwayman, some returning characters from Fallout 2, the continued growth of the the NCR, Cassidy's daughter and a bunch of other things made it feel more like Fallout 3 than the Bethesda version.

Plus, when one of the characters started talking about modern philosophy, I lost my shit. It's right up their with Deus Ex's political debate between you and the bartender in Hong Kong as one of my favourite pieces of dialogue ever.

 

[alazz]

Dark Souls (PC, counts?)
Transcendental. The combat is sublime and the world is engrossing, what more can I ask for.

Divine Divinity
Thank goodness for GOG. I bought this on a whim and loved every moment of it. Reminds me a lot of Dark Souls in 2D. Unfortunately I lost my save file so I probably won't go back to it for a while, and it sucks; I had only just left the starting area after what felt like 20 hours (because I blow hard at the game).

God of War
Bought a PS2 to play MGS2 and 3, and they're great, but holy cow God of War is fantastic. I started it last night and can't get enough of it. The pacing is superb, the action strikes a good balance of complexity and simplicity (no 30-button combos, thank you; my brain can barely handle three different three-button combos) and it feels great. Watching the torrents of blood shower me while my blades eviscerate a half-dozen undead and mythical beasts is truly satisfying.

Saints Row 3
Sandbox games are a turn off, but this game rocks. Well, I haven't gone back to it in a while because it seems to boil down to samey gang wars and mini-game missions for half of my playtime now, but before it got to that point it was one of the most fun games I've played in a while. Going to go back to it over the break. I really hope it picks itself up again, but even so, it's great.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
I don't really know what to say about it, but it's a blast. Even free drives with no objective or personal goal are elating. (The weather effects and nighttime drives are thrilling.) I've never been a NFS or Burnout fan, so it came as a surprise that this would be the best game I got from the Origin hiccup (well C&C3 is really good but I had played that before).

Fallout New Vegas
Really a great game. I cannot understand how people believe it's charmless and empty. The game is full of character and enchanting areas. The vaults are well done, particularly the overgrown one; that terrified me and turned me on at the same time.

Bulletstorm
Probably my favorite shooter since UT2K4. It's really, really fun. I love the characters, story, and world. Insanely pretty, too.

I'm not sure when I played New Vegas and Bulletstorm. I bought them on the 30th and 27th of December, but I may have played them in 2012 because at that time I was finishing up RAGE.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

The only game from prior to 2012 that I bought in 2012 is Lego Star Wars. I did not like it.

 

[Degen]

Outland (PS3)

I didn't realize it was a "metroidvania" type of game before I played it. otherwise I would've bought it sooner

 

[djtiesto]

Monster World IV - finally played through this with SEGA's brand new English translation. Really great game, lots of challenging level design and tight controls, though a few parts get a tad frustrating.

Trails in the Sky - epic RPG from last year that I finally got around to playing and beating this year. It is a verrrrrry sloooooow burn but I dig what they did with the combat system and the amount of content/dialogue is mindblowing. Plus the ending has me salivating for more.

To The Moon - Steam release was this year but it actually came out last year. Cute game with classic RPG presentation, interesting storyline reminiscent of Memento and Inception (2 of my fave movies), even if it has minimal gameplay.

 

[Ragus]

Metal Gear Solid 2 and I fell in love with it.

 

[Phoenixazure]

Zero Escape: 999 - Bought it and played it just before Virtue's Last Reward. Nothing else comes to mind.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

SpaceChem

 

[Jawmuncher]

Dark Souls with ARTORIAS OF THE ABYSS EDITION (aka prepare to die edition)

edit: triple beaten...

Same (excluding dlc)
Beat it finally this year and absolutely loved it.

Aside from that Mafia 2 was another favorite of mine this year from another year.

 

[enzo_gt]

 

[Burnburn]

999. I played the Virtue's Last Reward demo and thought it was pretty good, so to get to know the whole "visual novel" genre more I decided to pick up 999. I was blown away almost immediatly, such a great game. I knew this game had a pretty passionate following and I'm one off them now!

 

[Ventilaator]

That Thief 2 was really good.

I also like how there's kind of a whole second game in there when you kick up the difficulty level. Whole new objectives!

 

[Vaati]

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- The atmosphere is just incredible. The ending is sort of "meh" but the rest of game is really well-done. I'm super excited for the spiritual successor.

Final Fantasy VII
- I think the game holds up really well. The graphics have aged but they were more than bearable. There are some outdated elements like missable items but other than that the game is great. I enjoyed the Materia system a lot more than the Esper system in VI (which I also played for the first time this year). I enjoyed the character-driven nature of the story too. My only regret is that I never recruited Yuffie or Vincent. The soundtrack is amazing.

Saints Row: The Third
- The dialog is so hilarious and the mission scenarios are a lot of fun. The customization options are plentiful (although apparently 2 has even more) and cruising around the city destroying stuff is so much fun.

 

[Anteater]

Dark Souls PS3, though the second half was weak, I still enjoyed it a lot.