goty.cx - It's that time of last year again

[TychoCelchuuu]

The official Idle Thumb Gamse of the Year for 2013 have been posted at the illustrious goty.cx URL! So this is a topic to talk about those GOTYs, about your GOTYs, and about everyone else's GOTYs.

I'll start off with some discussion of the Thumbs GOTYs: I haven't played very many of them! The Last of Us and Republique are out because I only play games on PC, I heard middling things about Eldritch, and I haven't gotten around to State of Decay or Candy Box or The Yawhg!

So, that just leaves Spelunky. Which owns. That game is so good! But if you're anything like Jake and Sean (or maybe you are Jake or Sean, seeing as they read these forums...) you're probably fucking tired of Spelunky, and if you aren't, you probably watch Remo stream it a bunch and play it yourself. So, yes, you know the game is good and I don't know if there's much to talk about that hasn't been said a thousand times. One interesting question is to think about the daily challenge - as Lord Remo points out in his writeup, it really transforms the game into something special. That's neat because it's something that's in one sense extrinsic to the game - it's not like any of the mechanics change when you play a daily. It's just got a thin metagame attached to it in the form of the scoreboard and the one a day run. For me, I think the biggest thing this does is make Spelunky into a habit - I play it every day, no matter what. I don't know if this makes me like the game more or adds to it in some other way that makes me want to include it as a GOTY more than I would otherwise. It's a weird thing because I'm so used to thinking about games a self-contained things that don't reach out into other aspects of my life.

It reminds me a bit of VESPER.5, a game made for a game jam with the theme "ritual." The game only lets you make one move a day. The goal is to make the game into a ritual in your life. Playing the game each day is an intrinsic part of the game design and the theme of the thing. There's no divorcing the mechanics from the role it plays in your life. Is Spelunky like that? Or is the daily challenge just icing on the cake, so to speak?

I'd pontificate more but this is the GOTY thread, not the Spelunky thread. My GOTYs, in VERY APPROXIMATE order from most to least favorite but still amazing, also remember THE ORDER IS VERY APPROXIMATE. They have platforms listed because I've copied and pasted this from another place I posted my GOTYs.

• Kentucky Route Zero (PC)
• The Entertainment (PC)
• Spelunky (PC)
• Actual Sunlight (PC)
• Papers, Please (PC)
• Proteus (PC)
• Destroy Your Home (PC)
• The Swapper (PC)
• The Stanley Parable (PC)
• Battlefield 4 (360, PC, PS3, PS4, XB1)
• Gone Home (PC)
• Gunpoint (PC)
• HORSEMASTER The Game of Horse Mastery (PC)
• Room of 1000 Snakes (PC)
• Simian.interface (PC)
• Knock-knock (PC)
• Dota 2 (PC)
• Ultra Business Tycoon III (PC)
• Bubsy 3d: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective (PC)
• Monaco: What's Yours is Mine (360*, PC)
• You Will Select a Decision, No. 2: Cow Farming Activities on the Former West (PC)
• Even Cowgirls Bleed (PC)

I have yet to play Surgeon Simulator 2013 which I suspect would've snuck in there somewhere.

[elmuerte]

I like how header image of goty.cx still mentions 2011

[elmuerte]

My GOTY list would be (all PC), more or less in this order (I think).

1. Fez
2. Stanley Parable
3. Brothers
4. Gun Point
5. Saints Row 4
6. The Swapper
7. Bioshock Infinite
8. Spelunky
9. The Cave
10. Rise of the Triad

Not included are unfinished/early access games.

[Roderick]

I belieeeeeve there was already a premature GOTY2013 topic somewhere, but at the same time I'm fine with it co-existing.

[Sno]

Yes, there was.

[kaputt]

My GOTY list, in order:

1. The Last of Us

Such an amazing game, even with it's flaws. The ending is so powerful, and I liked the pacing, just in one area I've felt it would be nice to have less dudes to kill, it was a bit tiring and even anticlimactic. However, it was nice to see Naughty Dog using it's talent to tell a great story, hope they make more games with this serious tones.

2. Gone Home

The game is the reason why I'm on this forum now, and why I've started listening to Thumbs, so yeah, I quite liked it. It really surprised me, I thought it was going to be more generic horror stuff, so it was crazy good to see that kind of story portrayed in a game, it's really rare (to be honest, it's the first time I've played a game like it, but I think there might be some obscure indie titles that have the same kind of thematic). It's such a brave and unique game, really love it.

3. The Swapper

Loved the aesthetics of this game. The puzzles were really nice too. A great surprise.

4. Bioshock Infinite

It sure had its problems, but I can't help but love that incredibly depressive ending.

5. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

My first game on the 3DS, and it was already great. It was challenging, but at the same time very welcoming to someone who barely played any other game on the series, so there were no frustrations, really balanced game.

[JonCole]

I think I'll be ready to talk about my "real" GOTY 2013 list in about three months when I actually make it through my backlog. For now, I'm comfortable giving the temporary honor to Tomb Raider and honorable mention to Spelunky PC.

[tberton]

I like how Breckon is listed on goty.cx, but didn't write any entries.

[JonCole]

I like how Breckon is listed on goty.cx, but didn't write any entries.

 

Jake also didn't write any entries (unless I'm reading wrong?)

 

However, Jake is the VGOTY.cx himself so I don't think he gets a vote.

[Zeusthecat]

GTAV. I found it to be absolutely amazing in every area except for the story (although I did really enjoy the batshit crazy Trevor stuff).The scale, the level of detail in the world, and the high level of polish made for a very believable world that was always fun to inhabit. It is one of the few games that I am actually looking forward to obtaining 100% completion just so I can live in that world for a little bit longer.

[Bjorn]

I'm terribly at picking GOTYs, there are too many great games I don't get around to playing.  Gone Home, Spelunky, Don't Stave, Enemy Within and Gunpoint have all been highlights for me this year.   Each of those delivered a pretty radically different experience, and I would be hard pressed to hold one up above the others.

 

On the IT list, it's funny that Dark Souls made their honorable mentions for 2013.  It's also interesting how many of their GOTY list I haven't actually heard discussed on the podcast.  Like, Spelunky, the guys never talk about it. 

[Yasawas]

I didn't continue with it beyond about April but I started keeping a list of games I completed last year and was amazed to discover how much I preferred Japanese games, which was something I'd really never given any thought to, it was eight out of the first ten or something. I've been thinking about this today and my top five for last year is equally unWestern.

1. Super Mario 3D World
2. Persona 4 Golden
3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
4. Bravely Default
5. Fire Emblem: Awakening

Mario is utterly ludicrous. I thought the 3DS game was alright and that they couldn't top Galaxy 2, nothing prepared me for the shiny, lovely, polished joy of what they delivered. It's my favourite Mario 3D game, it's one of probably less than ten games in my life that I've continued playing in an effort to 100% once the credits had rolled as I can't let go and there's so much content in there. It's Pixar in game form and it's perfect.

[tberton]

Jake also didn't write any entries (unless I'm reading wrong?)

 

However, Jake is the VGOTY.cx himself so I don't think he gets a vote.

 

Jake doesn't play games though, so that makes sense.

[youmeyou]

Did Save the Date (http://paperdino.com/save-the-date/) come out in 2013? Because the more I think about it, the more I think it did a better job of making the same point that Stanley Parable was striving to make. Both are excellent but I think I was more swayed by the argument made in StD, perhaps because the ostensible game goal was more clear and the pitfalls more interesting.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Yeah, Save the Date is definitely a candidate for being a 2013 GOTY. Plus I think it's fine if we count games that came out earlier because who cares.

[melmer]

My GOTLSM (Games of the last six month because I can't really remember much before that) are, in no particular order

The Last of ’us

Guac’melee

The Room’2

Ass Creed: Bl’ck Flag

[Hermie]

My GOTLSM (Games of the last six month because I can't really remember much before that) are, in no particular order

The Last of ’us

Guac’melee

The Room’2

Ass Creed: Bl’ck Flag

 

Oh thank god I thought it was just me.

[Griddlelol]

3ds games

 

Hnnngh. If I could name "system of the year" then I'd go to the 3ds but for games my top 3 would have to be:

 

State of Decay: Such a just...fun game. I've found myself thinking about it at work, which is very rare for me. It's not deep, it's not pretty and the game play is pretty poor but it's still just fantastic. I really recommend it to anyone who has the time to play it. 

 

Gunpoint: Seriously, has everyone forgotten this game? I don't see it on any GOTY lists, but I loved it. Such a tight game, and an amusing story. It doesn't bother with explanations or exposition, it just is what it is and that's why I loved it. 

 

Fire Emblem Awakening: In terms of sheer numbers of hours spent playing something, this is up there. It's also fucking hard if you turn up the difficulty!

 

Honourable mentions in no particular order:

Last of Us, Gone Home, ALBW, Long Live the Queen, Pokémon

 

Edit: Thanks Tycho!

[TychoCelchuuu]

Gun Point: Seriously, has everyone forgotten this game? I don't see it on any GOTY lists, but I loved it. Such a tight game, and an amusing story. It doesn't bother with explanations or exposition, it just is what it is and that's why I loved it.

Potentially the reason you think people have forgotten it is because you've got the name wrong. It's called "Gunpoint" and not only is it on the goty.cx site, it's also on my list and Bjorn's list in this thread.

[Bjorn]

Gunpoint had a lot of flash-in-the-pan attention when it was released, but it does seem to have been overshadowed by a bunch of other games.  It achieved something I feel like few games do.  It was the perfect length.  It left me wanting more, but feeling satisfied with what I had.  There are a lot of great games that I have ended up not liking because they just wouldn't end. 

 

One thing for me this year has been my steady shift away from AAA games, in part because of length.  I have not finished either TLoU or BI.  Both of those games were good, but mechanically I got bored about 10 hours in on each of them and started playing something else. 

[eot]

Dark Souls honorable mention but no mentions on the podcast

 

Anyway, most of the games I enjoyed in 2013 didn't come out in 2013 so I'm not going to do a proper list. If I had to pick a 2013 GOTY it'd probably be The Swapper, what a tremendously well made game. Fantastic atmosphere, elegant mechanics, good puzzles and even a good ending. Personally, I would've liked a few more challenging puzzles, because at times I felt like I was plowing through the game. I would give a mention to Guacamelee as well, I think it has some problems, but I came away feeling better about it than I thought I would. I could see myself replaying it.

 

As for Gunpoint, it did nothing for me. The writing was witty but story got way too complicated for me to follow. It almost seemed like it wanted to be that convoluted for comedic effect, but it lost me. Fortunately, it was easy to skip. On paper I like the crosslink mechanic, but I never felt like I got to do very interesting things with it. Each level had a linear progression of colours, so it was always fairly obvious what to do. It's a puzzle game that never made me feel clever. I think The Swapper is much better, in every way.

[Latrine]

Honestly I thought the guys gave up on Dark Souls after that one stream they did where unfortunately an overeager reader pushed Chris through the start of the game. I was surprised to see it mentioned.

[Sno]

I'm happy to see them give FEA an honorable mention nod at least, that was my personal favorite game out of last year.

 

Anyway, most of the games I enjoyed in 2013 didn't come out in 2013 so I'm not going to do a proper list. If I had to pick a 2013 GOTY it'd probably be The Swapper, what a tremendously well made game. Fantastic atmosphere, elegant mechanics, good puzzles and even a good ending. Personally, I would've liked a few more challenging puzzles, because at times I felt like I was plowing through the game.

I bought it during the Steam winter sale and it surprised the hell out of me, it's a tremendous game.

[jmbossy]

   10. The Stanley Parable

  9/8. Gunpoint/ Rogue Legacy

     7. Papers, Please

     6. The Last of Us

5/4/3. Brothers/Gone Home/The Swapper

      2. Bioshock Infinite

      1. Kentucky Route Zero

I was having some trouble accepting this. Up until a few weeks ago I didn't even want to play this game, and Bioshock Infinite was hands down my game of the year. Atop all of that, I barely considered this game to be eligible as it has yet to be complete. With all that against it, I can't deny how amazing an experience this game has been for me. It is as thoughtful as Gone Home and Brothers, and as stoic and beautiful as The Swapper. It is a combination of everything I love about gaming and story telling all in one experience. Something I can only say about few games, the primary of which was Limbo, which is one of my favourite games this generation. Thanks to TheCineaste for insisting I play it.

[N1njaSquirrel]

In no order:

 

Dark Souls - a game that is so perfect that it's going to be hard to ever match. DaS2 is a game I am both unbelievably excited for and simultaneously dreading in fear of it ruining this beloved series of mine.

 

Goodbye Deponia - a great ending to a great trilogy of games. I want more Deponia games, the world is fantastic.

 

Papers, Please - OKOK1234

 

Bioshock Infinite - I played this when I was ill and enjoyed it.

 

The Stanley Parable - Funny stuff all the time.

 

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - My first MonHun game. Playing this with the missus was so much fun, and the grind is addictive.

 

JoJo's Bizzare Adventure All Star Battle - I bought a PS3 for this game and it was worth every penny. Excellent fighting game with a doting care over it's source material.

 

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - I have spent too long caring for villagers that don't exist.

 

Nintendoland - Best local multi fun I've had in ages. I challenge anyone to not enjoy the hell out of Sweet Days.

 

Super Mario 3D Land - Platforming Bliss

 

Rayman Legends - More Platforming Bliss