[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2015: Too many massive RPGs - voting edition

Ok, here we go.

Xenoblade Chronicles X - 30 points

Man, this game. Huge seamless world full of people and life and mysteries. I haven't made it to the end of the game yet, too busy driving my mech around forever and picking up all the little blue shinies like a true Curator. Character customization in terms of mixing and matching abilities and weapons from various classes is great fun. Music is great, the whole thing just feels like it was made with so much love and care.


Undertale - 20 points

A beautiful little story, made wonderful by its cast of characters. Game gets pretty meta, can't say much more without spoiling things. Unique combat, spectacular music, and an all-around wonderful experience.


Splatoon - 20 points

Who would have ever thought i'd get really into an online shooter? One of those things where Nintendo just kept looking at a thing and asking what could make it more Funtm. Thoroughly enjoyed this game, really do need to get back to it one of these days. Also need to set up GFF Splatoon day. Maybe where MK8 used to go? Stay fresh!


Rocket League - 15 points

Car soccer! Jumps! Boosts! Flying! Incredibly tight controls and a simple concept made well leads to a game that random people can just have fun with, while leaving space for other people to get really good at. Nothing more entertaining/painful than handing your non-game-playing family the controllers and watching them struggle to get the ball going the right way.


Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - 15 points

This was the first Monster Hunter game i've found myself actually getting into, thanks to it's easy and effective online play, as well as the number of GFFers who were always willing to play. Still behind in the single player, but overall this game was a lot of fun to play with other people. Some great quality of life additions from MH3U made it that much more approachable.



So, with all of the points handed out, some Honorable Mentions / Things I Wanted To Talk About:


Game from 2015 that i finally got around to playing - Spec Ops: The Line

Played through the whole game in one sitting when i had a day off. Dang. By the end i really didn't want to be playing anymore, but i powered through. Made me feel uneasy, but that was kind of the idea. Quite the experience.


Game that i wanted to like, but... - Witcher 3

I kind of got a vibe that i could really like this game early on, but i felt a little bit like i was feeling my way around in the dark and not being taught everything i needed to know. Eventually worked out how to make grenades (and subsequently worked out how renewable things worked sort of), but there was still a lot of wondering. Last straw was when i bowed to a dude and he was like "i thought you bowed to no man" and i just went 'well how was i supposed to know that' and gave up because i felt like i wasn't welcome.


Game that is pure distilled happiness - Yoshi's Wooly World

Just like Kirby's Epic Yarn before it, something about this game gets under your skin and brings the warm fuzzy feelings into the cold, dark recesses of one's heart. Happy music, happy yoshis, and everything's just so freakin' soft and squishy. Makes me want to crawl into the screen, curl up, and take a cozy nap.


Game that devoured far more of my time than i expected - Pokemon Picross

A $40 game with a free demo, i've gone through almost everything this game has to offer. Way too easy to just sit down and chill with a few puzzles for a break at work or just before bed. The 80x80 mural puzzles (solved in 10x10 chunks) were especially cool. Also lots of using pokemon to cheat at puzzles, because even just having those 5 random squares solved for you at the start can make a huge difference. Or, you know, a cross pattern of well over 100 squares. Whatever.


Game that i played with high-schoolers - NHL 16

Hadn't bought one of these games since picking up '08 used, so figured it was about time. Thoroughly enjoying the single player Be a Pro thing on my own. Being a goalie is hard.


SPACE COWBOYS - Rebel Galaxy

Played it for an entire day before it got buried by Undertale. Super chill space boat game with lasers and broadsides and shields and perfectly cheesy country rock. Just hits all the right buttons.


Series I returned to after a long hiatus - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

I've only played about 4 hours of this so far, but conisdering my last time playing any AC game was a good 3 years ago or so, it's been wonderful to go back to that world of "wheeeee!" jumping off buildings and "excuse me sir" oops-you're-dead-now-sorry-'bout-that. A lot of reviewers' complaints about the game being the same as all the others don't matter as much when you're not obliged to play the new one every single year. Evie and Jacob are fun characters who get to banter a lot, which is also lots of fun.


Game that i'm still playing because of course - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

Heavensward expansion content is great, the music continues to be spectacular, and the world feels like a lively place. Helps that i've managed to coerce a bunch of friends into starting the game, which is pretty exciting. One heck of a lot prettier than WoW.



And that's my list! Had a good year for video games, all things considered. My enthusiasm for the coming year has been dampened slightly by the fact that Oculus is pretty much officially out of my price range at like $1000CAD, but hopefully there will be good news in that regard yet.

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