This Old Neon Forum

I know it's early for this, but hear me out. Rather than post a thread right at the end of the year that doesn't get much attention, I thought we could spend a couple of months "pre-loading" and deliberating over our choices.

I know I've been keeping track of games that have impressed me throughout the year, so I'll post my tentative rankings now and add to them as I digest new games (and then refine them for a final list in December).

Suggested categories:

• Best game(s) of 2017.
• Best game you played in 2017 that didn't really come out in 2017.
• Biggest disappointment of 2017. (TONe GotY Razzies?)

My top 5 isn't very surprising so far. At the beginning of the year, I predicted three games that would be in this list, and those three games are in there. (The one surprise entry is Fire Emblem Heroes, of which I was quite skeptical before launch.) What was always up in the air was what order they'd be in. I'm still hammering that out, but this is where things stand so far:

1. Destiny 2 (Bungie, PS4)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, Switch)
3. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Square Enix, PS4)
4. Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems, Mobile)
5.

My 5th spot is being warmed up for Metroid: Samus Returns right now, but it's not a guarantee.

There aren't too many games that I find worthy so far.

One would be Persona 5. However, great as it may be, it's also an endurance test and I didn't have the time/patience to finish it yet.

My candidate so far would be:

Night in the Woods.

It is well written, clever and comes together nicely.
Lots of quirky ideas, fun conversations, minigames and such.
But mostly, it manages to go into some pretty dark themes involving abuse, poverty, mental illness, unemployment, alcoholism, homelessness etc. and it manages to handle them well.
You don't see that succeed all that much in videogames.
I was expecting the game to be good, but it turned out better than I expected

My favorite 2017 releases so far are:
Tales of Berseria - one of the best Tales games I've played
What Remains of Edith Finch - a short but haunting game that sticks with you

My favorite older gems I finally got to in 2017 are:
Layers of Fear - unnerving and complex...this one sticks with you too
Life is Strange - I sort of fell in love with this game steadily as I played it. I'm shocked I haven't preordered its sequel.
Tales from the Borderlands - this is, so far, the best Telltale game I've played. It was delightfully fun and hilarious. I had trouble stopping.

I do have high hopes for Evil Within 2 and Assassin's Creed: Origins. I'll chime in on those later.

Kong Wen wrote: ↑12 Sep 2017 16:32 1. Destiny 2 (Bungie, PS4)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, Switch)
3. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Square Enix, PS4)
4. Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems, Mobile)
5.

My 5th spot is being warmed up for Metroid: Samus Returns right now, but it's not a guarantee.

Oh man, that 5th spot is going to end up being a competition between Samus Returns and Picross S...!

Let's see. My "Best Games I've played in 2017" is going to be much less interesting than in previous years, since I've played far fewer games. Anyway, to start...

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, Switch)
2. Persona 5 (Atlus, PS4)
3. Bayonetta 2 (Platinum, Wii U)

Those three for sure are going to make my top 5. I predict that Wolfenstein II and Super Mario Odyssey will land somewhere in there as well (I would not be surprised to see the latter unseat Zelda for #1, given my adoration for Mario, but BotW was damn good).

Will be interested to see how it shakes out! Still a little over 3 solid months of gaming to go.

This year has been fantastic, I'll focus first on games that have released this year.

1. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - I knew this would be a big game for me this year, but I actually wasn't expecting it to be this big. I ended up spending 250 hours with the game and found almost everything it can offer. This game also defined the Switch for me, a portable console capable of running a huge game like this, and makes the experience better by allowing me to play it wherever. Looking forward to seeing what they do with the final DLC coming out.

2. Horizon Zero Dawn - This game was a good surprise for me as well, also a good parallel to Breath of the Wild. The combat system is the key stand out here, complex monsters with a complex arsenal of abilities, but all in a way that's very simple to understand. It's a game that works nice as an open world, but also as a fairly linear experience, which is nice. Up there with my top PS4 experiences.

3. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - This game almost flew under the radar for me due to it coming out on 3DS when this year is so Switch focused. After FE Fates, which was great, but I felt dropped the ball in the story and character department, Echoes was really refreshing to play. I felt the story and writing was a good step up, taking itself more seriously and involving more complex politics. I also really liked the gameplay changes in this one - exploring 3D caves, finding weapons in the environment, completing side quests, and the splitting of armies/story. I think the actual map design was a step down (probably because it's a remake of Gaiden), but there's still a lot I want to see them bring to the next FE.

4. Metroid Samus Returns - Another game where I went in expecting to like it, ended up loving it. This really felt like an evolution of the 2D Metriod games. Just the movement options Samus has and the little conveniences really makes the game feel smooth to control and move around.

5. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Of all games, I did not expect this one to be in my top 5 list. A wonderful surprise really. Made for a very unique strategy game.

Looking forward, I expect Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to make my list this year as well. Steamworld Dig 2 is also shaping up to be a good contender. And of course, all of this is without having played other great looking games like Persona 5 and Nioh.

I've played very little this year, but I've got a few I can put up that nobody else will agree with.

- Pyre - Gorgeous, unique, weird, deep, F-U-N. Does a fantasy sports game with heavy visual novel elements sound good to you? Me either! Go get it.

- Battle Garegga - Yes, it's 20 years old. Yes, this is the 2016 revision. BUT, this game is so utterly unobtainable that I'm including this on my list. This is an exquisite shooter masterpiece with obscene levels of complexity, and a bangin' soundtrack. Serious kudos need to be handed to M2 (STG division) for their immaculate port, which is loaded with extra options and modifiers, and includes a comprehensive, customizable HUD to track the obscene number of things you need to stay on top of to succeed.

- Cryptark - A roguelite profiteering party for sadists, this is, in my opinion, actually more rogue-LIKE than most. It's an action game at heart, but the calculated, strategic and varied approaches required to succeed - not to mention the constant need to adapt - raises this title way above most others its increasingly-cynical genre.

- Flinthook - another roguelite, this one more akin to Rogue Legacy, and equally outstanding. This was a GOTY contender for me since it released. Rock solid, some of the most fun I've ever had gaming.

- Wip3out Omega Collection - Can't let this one slip by. Another remake, selected because it really just isn't fair to judge these (already amazing) racers on their old iterations anymore. The original PS3 and Vita games were already some of the most well considered entries in the series, and while the ol' 4K/60FPS polish is nothing new, words really can't properly convey the transformative effects these upgrades have on the gameplay. I need a line break for this:

Wip3out Omega Collection is the most exhilarating racer I have ever played, surpassing even the original when I first fired it up in 1995.

VR GOTY: Polybius - Do you need VR to play it? Naw. Are you gonna play it out of VR? Naw. Jeff Minter gets what makes VR exciting and exploits it in the Jeff Minter way. Batshit crazy, psychedelic, wicked fun. Tempest meets race the sun and goes slaloming at 800MPH and 120FPS. You have three (or was it five?) very deliberate screens to carefully acknowledge before even seeing the main menu. Epileptics - really effing seriously - need not apply. Fun factor aside, this really is a marvel of ingenuity as pertains to the VR usage and is, so far, one of the best implemented VR experiences I've had so far. Very exciting stuff.

1. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Square Enix, PS4)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, Switch)
3. Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems, Mobile)
4. Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerilla Games, PS4)
5. Destiny 2 (Bungie, PS4)

This is an update for my tentative year-end list after I had time to wear Destiny 2 down and pending more time spent with Horizon Zero Dawn.

Should probably chime in to update that NieR Automata is immediately in the running for me and I haven't even finished it yet. GT Sport will likely get a nod as well, if the expected major content update hits when expected (mid-December).