Posts made by Mbun

@bam541 The only part of the whole thing that sat wrong with me was Jones cutting in to let us know Among Us is taking Best Multiplayer due to Fortnite being disqualified, when the vote previous to this had come down to Fortnite versus Animal Crossing. They even specifically said "Among Us is out. " before cutting to Jones announcing it won. I guess the time between the sessions gave people time to change their votes, but it was jarring as fuck and just felt like something got messed up between the chaos Fortnite caused.

Jetpack with double Uzis.

@el-shmiablo Just to be clear where I stand on TLoU Part 2, most games in 2020 probably had a better narrative, given how low of a bar we're setting here. Shade aside, a more serious answer would be Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Hades easily. Beyond that, I need to see more of 13 Sentinels, but I think that's a good one to check out as well.

@el-shmiablo said:

I think you are mistaking a vocal minority of disgruntled chuds for "a large portion" of fans.

No, you're definitely waving away criticism because of the controversy before launch, but plenty of people who went through the game also weren't happy with the direction of the narrative.

Literally no other game came even remotely close to presenting as compelling and complex a narrative as TLOU2 did.

I know you didn't play much else in 2020, so I'm just going to hard disagree instead of saying more.

@phbz said:

1. many of the allies are Blizzard fans

Looking back at that list, most of the allies are also From Software, Nintendo, Rockstar, Sony Santa Monica, Team Ico, etc. fans, so I don't think pointing that out means much unless you're going to leverage the same argument against ALL their GOTYs.

2. because in my opinion that's a silly pick for goty. I just don't see it.

No matter what wins GOTY every year, people are going to come out the woodwork wishing it was another game they're more attached to (the Uncharted 4 salt is eternal) and disagreeing with the one that won, even if they have no experience with that game and don't even know how it stacks up to their favorite. That's just GOTYs. Nobody plays everything, and everyone ends up with different affinities for and levels of attachment to different games.

@dipset You're looking at what I was saying backwards. I wasn't trying to say Souls was successful because of those qualities among a market lacking them. I'm saying I appreciate Souls games forever for the success of it allowing other games to break away from the trend of being dumbed down for the masses since Souls became THE example of the viability of big mainstream games that challenge the player achieving exceptional sales in spite of not making things a cakewalk for the player.

@phbz said:

Pretty sure I've heard Ben saying he was the one pushing for it

It was the year of Bayonetta 2, so doubt that's completely accurate.

and that he kinda regrets it.

It was the year of Bayonetta 2, so I'm sure that's completely accurate.

I love that other genres get recognition

They usually don't, least not as GOTY. They'll get thrown lesser categories, which is still just as insulting, if not more so in cases of certain categories like Best Family Game.

predatory card game

You can label any collectible card game as this. It is easier just to say you hate Hearthstone, which is fine. I think most people today do, but restrospect is easier than making decisions at the time.

@DIPSET It is pretty lame when one game sweeps lots of categories around GOTY as well as it, but it also feels appropriate sometimes. Then other times you have crap like TLoU Part 2 taking Best Narrative when a large portion of the fans of that game hate that aspect of Part 2 but it wins anyways just because most "dramatic".

As far as Modern Warfare 2 goes, I think the legacy of that game has cemented how much it deserved what it won that year, even if you're not wrong about building on the games before it, but that also applies to tons of games, even new series that built upon experience the devs got from previous unrelated games you don't think about as much.

When it comes to the addictive aspect of a game pushing it for GOTY, I think you have to lean in an analyze why it is addictive. If it is simply addictive because it is fun to play and really does what it does exceptionally well, that shouldn't be a knock against it. If it is just the kind of game you play a ton because it is easy to, but there's not much substance behind what you're doing, of course that's not as "worthy" of spotlighting.

@Phbz If you think 2014 was about fanboyism, then you haven't heard the stories about how that pick came to be. It was literally a matter of nobody wanting to pick Hearthstone, but people less into it like Jones basically going "You guys have literally been playing and discussing this game every day nonstop all year," in a if that's not GOTY what is manner.

Also, I think gatekeeping genres from major accolade status in general is a widespread problem with the gaming space. Yeah, one of the biggest digital Card Games ever maybe deserves to actually be recognized as GOTY instead of automatically disqualified for not being a graphical / technical showpiece that's likely also Action Adventure, because that's what wins GOTY 98% of the time. Even though there's so many other genres like Racing that can get snubbed every single time, even if they make the crowning achievement of their genre in a year with nothing but mediocre entries in other genres. I guess Racing games just have to figure out ways to make their player cry if they want to be GOTY huh? Fuck GOTY norms. I don't like Hearthstone, especially today, but I definitely wouldn't say 2014 Hearthstone didn't deserve to be recognized.

They emerged at a time when ALL the major publishers were dumbing down their Triple A games, because the perception at the time was you got the most sales for making the easiest, brainless, cinematic experiences for your player to waltz through effortlessly. To some degree this is still shown to be true and the slant still hovers on the easy side, but the important thing the Souls games did was show that there indeed remains a mass market for thoughtfully challenging games developers can tap into. That way, games that challenge the player remained a viable release strategy for the market instead of something investors and suits would choke out of it in the pursuit of better profits.

@scotty Well if they were designing around SSD, might have some of that awkward Cyberpunk on PS4 stuff where transitions break the pace sometimes because of a long load screen that wasn't planned to be there originally, but still isn't the end of the world.

@axel Not basic enough for a nonCloud Switch version though...

@scotty Seems like they focused the now current gen versions first, then once those were done started work to port the games down to last gen. Structurally, I doubt they'll end up running as bad as Cyberpunk on last gen. They just won't look as nice.

Can't really tell from a demo where the full game is going to go, but they certainly seem to have the right direction for the series going strong right now, and I don't just say that because so much of the internet is horny for the female antagonists.

Did you put this in the right place?

Traditional "Top" 10

1. Hades
2. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
3. Genshin Impact
4. Doom Eternal
5. Noita
6. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
7. XCOM: Chimera Squad
8. Deep Rock Galactic
9. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX

Spent Most Time With
*not all released in 2020

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
2. Genshin Impact
3. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
4. Hades
5. Noita
6. Final Sword
7. Pokemon Sword: Isle of Armor + Crown Tundra
8. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling
9. Super Mario 35
10. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered

Games I Need to See More Of

1. Half-Life Alyx
2. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
3. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
4. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
5. Omori
6. Sakura Wars
7. Huntdown
8. Yakuza: Like a Dragon
9. Bloodstained: Curse of The Moon 2
10. [Your Underrated Gem Here]

Reply to this post and suggest a game that released in 2020 you don't think I'm aware of that I'd be into. If I agree, I will edit your game into my post at this slot. No Early Access, Remasters, Expansions, etc. allowed. Don't get offended if I don't accept your suggestion. I'm picky.

@dipset I do recommend the first, which should be available on Steam or Playstation with the DLC bundled in now for pretty cheap. Check it out next Steam sale or whatever. Only thing you might not like about it is you can miss a jump and fall far back down to the beginning of a stage, but I like that because it adds stakes.

@DMCMaster Honestly, the Gen 3 rivals are nice too, but yeah they've really forced the niceness over time. Least SwSh has Bede though. Check out the Gen 5 games first. BW2 actually has the most interesting rival in the entire Series in my opinion. HeartGold / SoulSilver are great Remakes too if you can get your hands on those. Gen 4 is a bit hard to go back to now, but hopefully Remakes will be soonish, and hopefully they won't suck like the Gen 3 Remakes did. I personally think Pokemon XY had alot of cool stuff and great ideas going for it, but people seem to view it pretty negatively because parts feel unfinished, and it was the start of leaning too hard into Gen 1 nostalgia pandering, but you might like those games. Ignoring ORAS since they're Remakes, Sun and Moon is where I feel the Series started to freefall in quality, that it has yet to recover from. SwSh even fixed some of the problems of Sun and Moon, believe it or not.

Now if you still want a Pokemon fix, what I'd instead recommend is checking out the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Series since you've missed all of that. Switch has a different but good Remake of the first games called Rescue Team DX that'd make a good entry point. Explorers of Sky on the DS is still thought to be the best game in the Series if you can get a copy of that. Skip the WiiWare ones and Gates to Infinity as those are missteps, but if you still have a working 3DS, I can definitely recommend Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon on that, although that game is best enjoyed after all the others given it is full of references. If not PMD, there's also the upcoming New Pokemon Snap that might turn out a fun romp. There's also a wealth of interesting Main Series Romhacks out there if you're willing to dive into that world. I'd recommend the Spaceworld '97 one as a start since it features the scrapped Gen 2 beta designs, so new official Pokemon designs you might not have seen before.

Beyond the games, I can also HIGHLY recommend the Pokemon Anime. It has only gone up in quality since Gen 3 times as the games have gone down. Even though the Dub isn't ideal, due to missing the original background Soundtrack and inferior Voice Acting, that is available on Netflix. Both Sun and Moon and the new Series called Journeys in the west have great Pokemon vibes, just with different formulas than the old Anime. The movies on the other hand have been hit or miss, mostly miss, but one newer one I'd recommend is The Power of Us.

Hopefully something in there to scratch your itch.

Youtube Video