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[Bjoern the Smexy]

Xenoblade being on any mainstream list is pretty awesome.

And Last Story, too.
Odd list.
What's Papa & Yo?
EDIT: Ah, I remember this game now.

 

[Mael]

Looking at the lists...
Well one can argue about the order but it's not aggravating like IGN's usual lists are...
Xeno being is all kind of awesome, even as a relic of another era it's good that it is there (the era when fantastic Jrpg were a dime a dozen or one was released every sigle month).
Twas my GOTY in 2011.

Last Story on the other hand, I can't play that game it seems...
I'll try to dig into it once more

 

[Alcibiades]

I actually still believe in humanity and hope they included Xeno for its own merit. I was more implying towards the big names on that list
For example, as much as I loved GW2 I do think that there is a bit of injection in the whole marketing and probably in that list too, but I come to accept that's just how the world works nowadays. Not saying it MUST be true but I am wary.

Yeah I figured you were referring to publisher influence in general regarding lists and such, which is unfortunately part of the system and has been for a while. :/

I think the influence is greater in gaming-dedicated media which oddly makes things less suspicious when non-gaming journalism covers gamers.

 

[boingball]

AC III? Finished it last week and a huge step backwards from the Enzio Trilogy. Does not belong in the Top 10.

Interesting to see that they put a Vita game in the list. (And no Mobile game)

Papo & Yo is not bad, but Journey, Unfinished Swan and Tokyo Jungle are better.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Where the fuck is Borderlands 2.

WHERE THE HELL IS BORDERLANDS 2?

WHERE?

Game is amazing, definitely my favourite shooter this year.

 

[Hours Left]

Xenoblade and The Last Story? Very interesting.

I'm not gonna complain about JRPGs getting some mainstream attention, and hopefully it will convince some more people to check them out.

 

[ii Stryker]

Everybody sleeping on Far Cry 3

So much this.

It's a much better game than AC3 or Halo4.
FC3 is my GOTY hands down!

 

[Kenshin001]

Happy to see Papo and Yo on the list and hope it encourages others to pick it up. Game wasn't perfect technically but well worth a playthrough, very imaginative and the ending was quite moving.

 

[Maxrunner]

Everybody sleeping on Far Cry 3

Just looking at the media of this game, makes me avoiding it like the plague...that main character looks horrible...

 

[HK-47]

Yes, that holds it back, but a nice list nonetheless.

Ass Creed III holds it back far more.

 

[Zaventem]

Everybody sleeping on Far Cry 3

I haven't played the game but I think it's getting avoided because they already wrote up their list a month/2 months before and it'll require "hard work" to include it.

 

[mxgt]

Walking Dead and VLR get no respect

 

[HK-47]

Walking Dead and VLR get no respect

Walking Dead is already on multiple GotY lists...

 

[Franchuzas87]

Xenoblade making number 2 makes this the best list of the year.

Haha, so true.

 

[Ikuu]

Thought GW2 was pretty bad, and Torchlight 2 wasn't what I was hoping for. Pretty much all my friends stopped playing both after two weeks.

Is Guild Wars 2 really that good?

No.

 

[Writer_Head]

Not even AC3? What games do you play? Being a bit curious.

Probably some of the other million games that are not on that list. ;D

 

[Foshy]

Papo & Yo, but no Journey or Unfinished Swan? Eh.

 

[Forkball]

Guild Wars 2 is a lot of fun. It doesn't completely redefine MMOs, but it takes conventions and does them much better. It is a very social game and there's a lot to see and do. Even if you get bored after you hit 80, you got probably 100 hours of gameplay out of it, which is more than most titles you pay $60 for.

 

[urfe]

Xenoblade goes for 5000 yen (50 bucks) used these days. I'm curious due to all the hype, but not that curious (especially if an HD version comes for WiiU.

Last Story is about 1200 yen used. Still haven't tried. Maybe in the new year.

Interesting list. I enjoyed it.

 

[RooMHM]

No Journey, check. No Walking Dead, check.
Good, back to ranking video games.

 

[Frillen]

ACIII shouldn't be there, unless you like 20 hours tutorial games.

 

[Replicant]

Assassin's Creed 3? How much did Ubisoft pay them for this nonsense?

 

[AColdDay]

I don't pay too much attention to these lists anymore since Giantbomb started releasing their GOTY discussions in podcast form and I realized how much better it is to hear the process then to debate the results.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

No Mass Effect 3? lol. Great list

 

[Malvingt2]

Xenoblade came out in 2011

Nice list. Halo 4 had to be on there. The Last Story is awesome.


No Trials Evolution?

No to all of this. Xenoblade is awesome, but it's weird finding it on a GOTY list when it came out last year here, and the year before that in Japan.

why can't people get it? Xenoblade came out in April 2012 in NA. smh..

 

[MrCookiepants]

Awful, awful list.

 

[Red Liquorice]

I played LBP demo, that's it. Yet I don't feel I've missed out on anything else on that list.

 

[GeoramA]

LBP Vita with some much deserved recognition.

Still can't take it seriously with the Journey and Walking Dead snubs.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Why are people so uppity about lists in the first place?

 

[Boerseun]

XCOM, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Guild Wars 2 (and maybe Torchlight 2) are the good picks.

Overall still much better than IGN's pathetic list.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Why are people so uppity about lists in the first place?

Probably to compensate for the fact that, let's face it, they're just not as cool as you. Now that I've answered you question, could you return the favor? I was wondering why we still got monkeys.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

I don't like MMOs but I've sunk over 100 hrs into GW2. I don't have a Wii / WiiU but all this Xenoblade / Last Story love is making me thinking of picking one up.

Don't know if either of these facts are good or bad :/

 

[Deleted member 81567]

wheres walking dead?! journalistic integrity these days!!!!

 

[Square Triangle]

Papo & Yo was a big letdown

 

[LiquidSolid]

Wouldn't be my list but aside from AC3's inclusion, I can certainly respect it.

If any GOTY lists were dominated by games that weren't just part of the typical huge budget franchises, it'd be this year. Yet that won't stop AC3, BLOPS 2, Diablo 3, Hitman, ME3, RE6 and so on getting included in other lists, no matter how mediocre or terrible they were.

 

[big_erk]

Yay Guild Wars 2

I know, right.

 

[crazy monkey]

xenoblade deserves recognition.

 

[AppleSmack]

Far Cry 3 deserved to be there but outside of that this list is perfect.

Edit: Actually scratch that, they are missing Planetside 2.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Guild Wars 2 is #1, eh? Well deserved, in my opinion. It's definitely my favorite game of this year.

 

[throwawayname]

Great list.

 

[Skyzard]

Really happy to see LBP made the list and the vita version specifically mentioned!

A tiny button-cute biped voguing burlap and Clouseau costumery, who bounds through lush, gloriously absurd backdrops that look like dioramas of childhood creations as imagined with markers, stickers, pieces of felt and bits of scribbled-on cardboard. That’s LittleBigPlanet, the game that looks and plays like no other. As sidescrollers go, there’s nothing — not even the latest Mario games — that surpasses it. The Vita version offers the same genius level design punctuated by the handheld’s unique front-back touchpad controls, as well as the welcome option to design and share thousands of levels with other Vita players on the go.

Imho handheld goty - especially as it goes the extra distance with extra functionality that makes it a game that lasts.

 

[Sadist]

Xenoblade making the cut is good.

 

[spekkeh]

This list is very different from mine. Therefore it's quite obviously wrong.

Seriously, where the hell is TWD.

 

[m0t0k1]

The Last Story REALLY needs an LTTP thread.

(I hate making threads).

But I don't understand why people don't like it/it didn't take off.

I was 10 hours in, stopped for awhile with the end of year major releases, etc... got distracted. But now that I'm rocking my new Wii U, decided to dive back in. Love it. I mean, it's really well put together. It's unique, amazing voice acting/characters, fun and fast battle system, good looking for wii (better looking on Wii U, by my estimate). What gives? Anyone else start playing it recently?

(note: I also bought Xeno new when it came out, just havent gotten to it yet)

Yep it is my personal GOTY followed by Rhythm Thief. For me a game is special when i just cant put the game down. Last Story did this for me it was one of those games i finished in 2 days. normally a 25 hour game takes me about 2 months to Finnish. I did that because how awesome it was. Everything just clicked for me wanted to keep playing it. The first game that has done that since Super Mario Galaxy. Yes it isnt the perfect game. has some slowdowns but i cant be bothered by some slowdowns. Loved the characters, the combat and the story and that is what most important to me.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Great list. To all the peopple whinging, I would way rather see an imaginative game about a boy confronting abuse in a positive way than FPS # 5642 (this one has a new gun!). Farcry 3 won't mean anything to anybody 6 weeks from now, but Papo y Yo has a chance to resonate on a different level. It deserves the exposure.

I'll admit I would have rather seen Journey than Last Story, but over all I at least applaud this list for thinking outside the box even though my own would look nothing like it.

 

[Lyng]

Guild Wars 2 holds my coveted "first MMO since Lineage 2 that I failed to reach max level in" award. Perplexing choice for the top game in a mainstream list to say the least.

There is absolutely nothing mainstream about that list.

 

[benny_a]

There is absolutely nothing mainstream about that list.

He means TIME Magazine is targeted at a mainstream audience. It isn't some niche otaku blog that only likes games that has lolis in it.

 

[Rootbeer]

As an RPG fan I quite like this list, but it doesn't feel very well-rounded. I don't know how any list can leave off The Walking Dead, for starters.

Very happy to see Xenoblade and The Last Story getting recognition in the west. And a Vita title on the list!? Niiice. I really like LBPV.

 

[bomma_man]

Great that it's not just the usual suspects getting recognition for once.

I don't think it'll be too long before there is a similar divide between critical and mainstream opinion that there is in other art forms.

 

[crazyjah2003]

Yep it is my personal GOTY followed by Rhythm Thief. For me a game is special when i just cant put the game down. Last Story did this for me it was one of those games i finished in 2 days. normally a 25 hour game takes me about 2 months to Finnish. I did that because how awesome it was. Everything just clicked for me wanted to keep playing it. The first game that has done that since Super Mario Galaxy. Yes it isnt the perfect game. has some slowdowns but i cant be bothered by some slowdowns. Loved the characters, the combat and the story and that is what most important to me.

I second your opinion. Playing it, I was thinking it was not getting anywhere near enough praise from XenoGAF. I love Xenoblade as much as anyone else, but I was puzzled as to why it wasn't agreed upon that The Last Story and its brother, Pandora Tower were much better; seems like Time fell into this as well. I did not enjoy leveling up my characters and learning new skills and using them in Xenoblade at all; the Monado powers were very cool but the topple, break, stun thing didn't click with me from the beginning. I got up to

Spoiler

elevator xord

twice and quit, whereas I happily played finished and enjoyed Last Story and Pandora Tower. I'll give Xenoblade a try again at some point.