[mattyb]

Well?

For me its Skyrim, even if its (really) buggy on the PS3.

[P]

Everyone seems to be saying Skyrim. I finally started playing it yesterday, so I didn't get very far yet. So far it seems like Oblivion with a shittier interface, but I'm sure it will improve, and I loved Oblivion. The skill system is at least a big improvement

For the other usual suspects... Deus Ex:HR was very good, could be that. Arkham City was good, but the change from AA was small, and the main story was too short. Portal 2 was awesome, another good candidate. I hear the new Zelda is good, and Uncharted 3, but I didn't play either.

So... If it's at least half as good as the reviews say, Skyrim. If not, probably Portal 2 with Deus Ex:HR rounding out the top three. Interesting that two of those three are available on the Mac, that's the first in a long time.

[The Final Dakar]

Nothing sums up the state of the industry than the glitchiest game of the year likely being it's best.

I have no opinion as the games I played released this year all fell short of their promise (Save BF3). Best game I played this year was Red Dead Redemption.

[Jawbone54]

I'm completely biased, so you'd think I'd go with Uncharted 3, but so far I'd put my vote in for Skyrim.

Just roaming the terrain, attacking bandits, killing elk, running from giants and mammoths...all of this is a blast in itself, much like RDR was. Throw in the countless quests, and I can see myself playing this game for much of 2012 as well. And I'm only a level 8.

That said, PS3 owners must playing Uncharted 3. I might eventually buy Skyrim for it as well, but only if patches fix the framerate issues.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I have no opinion as the games I played released this year all fell short of their promise (Save BF3).

You thought Portal 2 fell short of its promise?

[lpkmckenna]

No other game delighted as many people as Portal 2. There really is no contest.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

No other game delighted as many people as Portal 2. There really is no contest.

In a year with Skyrim, Arkham City, Uncharted 3, Deus Ex, and Zelda, there definitely is a contest.

Portal 2 got a lot of great reviews, but the concept isn't nearly as refreshing as it was when the original Portal came out.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Portal 2 got a lot of great reviews, but the concept isn't nearly as refreshing as it was when the original Portal came out.

I could say the same for Uncharted 3, Arkham City and Zelda.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

You thought Portal 2 fell short of its promise?

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

No other game delighted as many people as Portal 2. There really is no contest.

It was so delightful i forgot I played it this year.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

In a year with Skyrim, Arkham City, Uncharted 3, Deus Ex, and Zelda, there definitely is a contest.

Portal 2 got a lot of great reviews, but the concept isn't nearly as refreshing as it was when the original Portal came out.

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

I could say the same for Uncharted 3, Arkham City and Zelda.

Don't sell The Elder Scrolls V short here.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

It was so delightful i forgot I played it this year.

And yet you still remember playing Home Front.

[The Final Dakar]

That's directly related to Black Ops. It was a pretty epic failure, too.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

I could say the same for Uncharted 3, Arkham City and Zelda.

In every case, each game was bigger, better, and more ambitious. Reviewers took notice.

I've heard entire podcasts dedicated to Skyrim and have seen editorials on UC3 and Arkham City, but Portal 2 seemed to be more of a "Yeah, we knew it would be great" title rather than a "Holy crap, this game is all we hoped it would be!" The difference is mildly subtle, but it's there.

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

And yet you still remember playing Home Front.

Oooohhh, can I nominate it for GOTY?

Flamers in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

[P]

I didn't play Uncharted 3, or even the latest Zelda, but Portal 2 was significantly longer and more complex than its predecessor (the original barely even had a story) and Skyrim reevaluated some long-standing staples of TES, while Arkham City added a few gadgets and a bigger map. Maybe it was my fault for replaying AA fairly recently, but Arkham City was much more of "more of the same" than Portal 2 or Skyrim.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Just roaming the terrain, attacking bandits, killing elk, running from giants and mammoths...all of this is a blast in itself, much like RDR was. Throw in the countless quests, and I can see myself playing this game for much of 2012 as well. And I'm only a level 8.

I had one of those nights last night. You start off playing, planning to do a quest or three. You end up hunting and mining to improve weapons and level up smithing and then digress to perfecting your giant/mammoth attacks and wandering around looking for ingredients to make some potions/poisons.

I fully understand why people get 'hooked' on stuff like this, and WaW players don't seem quite so sad.

What really sets Skyrim as GOTY for me is the people who didn't rage about Elder Scrolls games before (CoD and/or BF whores usually), becoming totally engrossed and refusing invitations to play MW3 because of Skyrim. I haven't come across anyone who has played it so far that didn't like it. The standard complaint is one of time needed. Just wait until the DLC comes out!!

[angelmb]

Guys, you should keep up with the times, GOTY is…

[P]

I have played a LOT of Tiny Wings, but at some point the missions got drastically harder, and without missions to beat, it wasn't as fun.

[The Final Dakar]

Easy there, iPhone users. Your time will come, but not yet.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

I had one of those nights last night. You start off playing, planning to do a quest or three. You end up hunting and mining to improve weapons and level up smithing and then digress to perfecting your giant/mammoth attacks and wandering around looking for ingredients to make some potions/poisons.

I fully understand why people get 'hooked' on stuff like this, and WaW players don't seem quite so sad.

I haven't even started mining yet. God knows how deep I'll get into it then.

Last night I...

 

ran to Rorickstead, completed an "assassinate the bandit leader" quest, lured Saadia the "traitor" out of Whiterun, and used an invisibility potion to sneak past the snow troll (after dying about 20 times total), and have been spending time with the whitebeards. I only stopped playing due to fatherly duties.

What really sets Skyrim as GOTY for me is the people who didn't rage about Elder Scrolls games before (CoD and/or BF whores usually), becoming totally engrossed and refusing invitations to play MW3 because of Skyrim. I haven't come across anyone who has played it so far that didn't like it. The standard complaint is one of time needed. Just wait until the DLC comes out!!

Fantastic point. I started Oblivion, but didn't get far into it. Last night I played Skyrim and refused two invitations from my MW3-addicted brother-in-law. I love the world.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Last night I...

 

ran to Rorickstead, completed an "assassinate the bandit leader" quest, lured Saadia the "traitor" out of Whiterun, and used an invisibility potion to sneak past the snow troll (after dying about 20 times total), and have been spending time with the whitebeards. I only stopped playing due to fatherly duties.

Did you decide to ...

 

... lure Saadia out straight away? I tried to kill the people that are after her and failed SOOOO many times.

I piss on trolls, giants, mammoths, dragons now. I haven't retried sabre toothed cats yet though.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Fantastic point. I started Oblivion, but didn't get far into it. Last night I played Skyrim and refused two invitations from my MW3-addicted brother-in-law. I love the world.

Yeah I love it too. A real escape from being Mr. Average.

[P]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Fantastic point. I started Oblivion, but didn't get far into it. Last night I played Skyrim and refused two invitations from my MW3-addicted brother-in-law. I love the world.

This is interesting, because to me, Oblivion is one of the best games in...forever. Oblivion had a silly levelling system, but that didn't get obvious until after quite a few levels, and it was honestly a prettier game than Skyrim because the environment was so much more photogenic. Oblivion could get dull with all the portals popping up, but that was fine for quite some time - maybe this quest works better, but I don't know yet. Repairing took too much time, but again, you didn't notice directly. OTOH, the Skyrim interface is a big step back (and Oblivion's interface in turn was way worse than NWN or DA:O that didn't have console controls to compromise with), and that interface is one of the first things you see.

And for all of this, I was there until after midnight yesterday, robbing a bandit's lair, considering buying a house with the gains and weighing maces against axes and swords for a future weapon...

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

Did you decide to ...

Ha...no, indeed.

 

I thought about it, decided I hated the woman and that the "assassin's" sinister voice was to throw me off. I led her straight to him and collected the bounty. I thought about killing him immediately afterward, then killing her (which I'm told would give me 2x the gold), but I'm playing the game ethically this time through.

One of the towns I visited was attacking some kind of beast en masse (maybe a troll -- I don't quite remember, as it was last week), and I joined in the fight. In the process, I accidentally killed one of the guards who got in the way, and they attacked me until I finally surrendered and spent a night in jail. Frustrating.

I've accidentally hacked several friendlies who prefer close-quarter combat, like myself.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by P 

This is interesting, because to me, Oblivion is one of the best games in...forever. Oblivion had a silly levelling system, but that didn't get obvious until after quite a few levels, and it was honestly a prettier game than Skyrim because the environment was so much more photogenic. Oblivion could get dull with all the portals popping up, but that was fine for quite some time - maybe this quest works better, but I don't know yet. Repairing took too much time, but again, you didn't notice directly. OTOH, the Skyrim interface is a big step back (and Oblivion's interface in turn was way worse than NWN or DA:O that didn't have console controls to compromise with), and that interface is one of the first things you see.

And for all of this, I was there until after midnight yesterday, robbing a bandit's lair, considering buying a house with the gains and weighing maces against axes and swords for a future weapon...

Yeah, it might say more about where I am at this stage rather than the series. I actually hated Skyrim's opening sequence, but knew that once the world opened up, I'd get a real feel for the scope of the game. I wasn't disappointed.

I haven't had much of an issue with the interface thus far. The strangest part for me is using LB to run, left analog to crouch, and so on. I didn't looked to see if I can customize the controls, and I'm already getting used to it.

[P]

After excessive gooling, I realized now that there actually ARE hotkeys in Skyrim, although very well hidden. If you put something in the favorites menu, exit the item screen, and open the favorites menu from the main interface, you can assign a key to a favorite by hovering over an item and pressing a number key. It's buggy as F when using dual weapons (you're supposed to hold shift when assigning the left-hand weapon, but it seems to not work) and when you pick up something identical to your hotkeyed weapon, but it IS there. There is even a grab function hidden in there (hold down E).

[The Final Dakar]

I think mattyb's assertion has some merit since this somehow has derailed into a secondary Skyrim thread.