RPG Codex Game of the Year 2015 - VOTING HAS BEGUN [AUTISM ALERT]

[HotSnack]

Anime has some pretty shitty art practices like drawing eyes over the hair or having the top half of someone's face being completely blacked out, to represent someone as unimportant or is in a dark mood, as opposed to you know, just drawing a plain looking face or someone who is actually giving a dark, moody expression.

But that's what you get when most of a medium's content creators haven't taken a single life drawing class or even bothered to study the craft, instead of just copying each other in a perpetual circle jerk.

 

[AwesomeButton]

And here precisely why I can criticize PoE. I'm not holding BG1 as some ideal game which I had played when I was 16. But there are many, many things that BG1 does better than PoE. The combat (both mechanics and encounters), the itemization, ADnD character system (that's a matter of personal preference, I suppose, but I take AD&D over PoE banal and boring system every time). Even the main hub was way better.

That's ok. I criticize it for the same things, a lot. Neither do I argue that it didn't deliver on its promises from the Kickstarter. PoE's main hub sucks. My argument was not about those features, and if you have read my post, you know that.

Mate, I've read your post. Nowhere you point to only plot. And even if we are talking about plot, then PoE suffers in comparison to BG 1 from being both overly ambitious (moral dilemmas, souls, the nature of religion, etc), and not ambitious enough (not committing to all this points and developing them, not even implementing consequences at least). BG 1 story in comparison is your average FR AD&D series of modules, but at least it gives you some more personal hooks, and also more immediate sense of danger (bounty hunters plus dreams are kinda more effective than just dreams). It's inoffensive, and anyway, BG 1 isn't a storyfag game, and it doesn't position itself as such. It has other strong points though, which PoE lacks. Granted, if we take BG2 in comparison, it would be the whole other matter even if we compare their respective storylines, and not in PoE's favour. And I'm not even a big fan of BG2, I always preferred PST and Fallouts.

Here:

That's why I don't agree with the "Why should I care" and "there is no urgency" kind of arguments

I really can't offer any more help. It's basic reading comprehension.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

And here precisely why I can criticize PoE. I'm not holding BG1 as some ideal game which I had played when I was 16. But there are many, many things that BG1 does better than PoE. The combat (both mechanics and encounters), the itemization, ADnD character system (that's a matter of personal preference, I suppose, but I take AD&D over PoE banal and boring system every time). Even the main hub was way better.

That's ok. I criticize it for the same things, a lot. Neither do I argue that it didn't deliver on its promises from the Kickstarter. PoE's main hub sucks. My argument was not about those features, and if you have read my post, you know that.

Mate, I've read your post. Nowhere you point to only plot. And even if we are talking about plot, then PoE suffers in comparison to BG 1 from being both overly ambitious (moral dilemmas, souls, the nature of religion, etc), and not ambitious enough (not committing to all this points and developing them, not even implementing consequences at least). BG 1 story in comparison is your average FR AD&D series of modules, but at least it gives you some more personal hooks, and also more immediate sense of danger (bounty hunters plus dreams are kinda more effective than just dreams). It's inoffensive, and anyway, BG 1 isn't a storyfag game, and it doesn't position itself as such. It has other strong points though, which PoE lacks. Granted, if we take BG2 in comparison, it would be the whole other matter even if we compare their respective storylines, and not in PoE's favour. And I'm not even a big fan of BG2, I always preferred PST and Fallouts.

Here:

That's why I don't agree with the "Why should I care" and "there is no urgency" kind of arguments

I really can't offer any more help. It's basic reading comprehension.

Cura te ipsum.

 

[Lhynn]

Urgency isnt the problem, lack of motivation is.

Anyway, shit game, lets move on.

 

[Atlantico]

Yes, but first we need to remove Alpha Protocol from the Top 70 PC RPGs.

And into the top 5

 

[Drudkh]

(I am an atheist, but consider myself a spiritual person)

lol, well, i can understand why you don't find things in PoE to be contradictory. For example, if science (animancy) proves that spirits/souls exist, then one really can't argue with even the most mad religious radical because the basis for what they believe in has been proven correct. Also, anyone that lives in the west can see that the idea of poking at religion isn't daring or controversial in the slightest at this point.

The more i play PoE i begin to think that even the unabashed Tolkien knock off that is Dragon Age Origins, is atleast emotionally engaging in a played out sort of way with silly endearing characters like Baldur's Gate.

 

[Doktor Best]

Well if souls are proven by science they simply become part of the reality, their existence doesnt necessarily have to be tied to some god/godlike entity. Saying gods are true because souls exist would be like saying god is true because bananas exist.

This is kinda the point of the story...

 

[Malignant Manor]

 

[Trashos]

(I am an atheist, but consider myself a spiritual person)

lol, well, i can understand why you don't find things in PoE to be contradictory. For example, if science (animancy) proves that spirits/souls exist, then one really can't argue with even the most mad religious radical because the basis for what they believe in has been proven correct. Also, anyone that lives in the west can see that the idea of poking at religion isn't daring or controversial in the slightest at this point.

The more i play PoE i begin to think that even the unabashed Tolkien knock off that is Dragon Age Origins, is atleast emotionally engaging in a played out sort of way with silly endearing characters like Baldur's Gate.

OK, a few different issues here...

First, on the "contradictory" nature of the PoE setting:
Just because human culture usually relates the existence of souls to intelligent creators of the universe/humanity, it doesn't mean there is a fundamental connection there. No matter what one believes, there is nothing fundamental stopping souls from existing without a god (if we accept that souls are possible, anyway). So I don't see the contradiction. We just have to think outside the box a bit. In PoE, souls in some living beings are just a characteristic of the way the universe works.

Second, on my use of the word "spiritual":
I am not sure if what I said makes sense in english (it is not my native). In my mother culture, we also call spiritual some things that are related to the mind, like philosophy, meditation, morality, aesthetics, and stuff like that. If it does not work like that in english, I apologise for the confusion.

Finally, on the risk of messing with religion:
I left the US more than 10 years ago, so I am not sure what the situation is there (although the news does make it seem like there are religious tensions there too). Such tensions are rising in Europe. If it went on the news here (in my country at least) that there is a video game

Spoiler

claiming that gods are man-made

, there would be havoc. And, anyway, it is not only religion they commented on, they also commented on atheism and science (and who knows what else I may have missed). You don't think that's risky?

 

[Trashos]

Iovara was lying about everything, don't believe her one bit.

Yes, THAT ambiguity was interesting. But don't you think that more could be done with Iovara? Are you completely happy with her?

People who complain about Act 2 cutscene and say it doesn't have consequences simply haven't played the game to the end. It's like reading half of Dune and saying that the Shaddam IV and Vladimir get away with killing Leto haha

Come on now, I like PoE (and I rated it an 8 in the other thread), but an ending slide does not make justice to what was set up in ActII. We are not talking about some fringe town like in Fallout here, we are talking about the biggest city of the game's universe, the central hub. A major event occured there, and not enough changed afterwards (up until the ending slides, at least). I understand the practicality of what Obsidian did there, but it was just... not good enough.

It did not destroy my enjoyment of the story, but still it was a poor moment.

 

[Irenaeus III]

But don't you think that more could be done with Iovara? Are you completely happy with her?

Yes. No, I had to make up a silly explanation (she was lying, or at least honestly mistaken) to like the story.

Come on now, I like PoE (and I rated it an 8 in the other thread), but an ending slide does not make justice to what was set up in ActII. We are not talking about some fringe town like in Fallout here, we are talking about the biggest city of the game's universe, the central hub. A major event occured there, and not enough changed afterwards (up until the ending slides, at least). I understand the practicality of what Obsidian did there, but it was just... not good enough.

It did not destroy my enjoyment of the story, but still it was a poor moment.

Yes, I think the end of Act 2 could have been improved with more choices somehow (I always like more choices and consequences), but

Spoiler

Thaos going in and killing the Duke didn't spoil the story to me

since the player is supposed to pursue Thaos and not come back to New Dyrwood, while the changes that occur only in the slides are taking place. After playing tons of AoD, I discovered I love good slides. Give me more slides!

 

[Malignant Manor]

Here is a video putting the banana comment in context for people who don't know what was mentioned. There's also a page telling why he is full of shit.

 

[Ninjerk]

Is this the thread where we talk about games that are shit?

 

[V_K]

Is this the thread where we talk about games that are shit?

Haven't you just described literally every thread on the Codex?

 

[The Nameless Pun]

How are things going? Which game is first? I hope fo4 "fingers crossed"

 

[felipepepe]

1. Undertale
2. Fallout 4
3. Pillars of Eternity

 

[an Administrator]

1. Undertale
2. Fallout 4
3. Pillars of Eternity

RPGWatch poll was more impressive

 

[Onholyservicebound]

Not decline enough, we should strive for Fallout 4 on top and Witcher in place of PoE.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Here is a video putting the banana comment in context for people who don't know what was mentioned. There's also a page telling why he is full of shit.

#1. Why would anyone need a page to explain to them why Ray Comfort is wrong?

#2. Why would anyone look to a website as vacuous as RationalWiki?


As far as Pillars goes, I think it just tried to do too much. It tried to be a spiritual successor to both BG and PS:T, and that doesn't really work, because aside from the similar engines and rulesets, they're extraordinarily different games. It tried to create a world that was both new and surprising, and traditional and nostalgic. It tried to have items and abilities that were both unique and perfectly balanced. It tried to do a lot of things, and ended up not really doing any of them well. I'm saying this as someone who enjoyed PoE, but as a game that's 7.5 or 8/10, rather than the much greater product that it could have been.

 

[Malignant Manor]

#1. The Codex is not a bastion of intellectual strength and rational thought.

#2. I was lazy and didn't want to spend much time searching.

 

[Irenaeus III]

#1. The Codex is not a bastion of intellectual strength and rational thought.

Yeah, everybody should check Trash sig.

 

[Gregz]

Excellent work: http://rpgcodex.net/goty_vote.php



Now that it's part of the forum it should be easier to copy/paste the code for subsequent polls.

Once again, many thanks to whomever put in the work, I'm sure it wasn't easy.

 

[Onholyservicebound]

I'm gonna laugh my ass off when the official, more legit and traditional poll results ends up being more decline than this one.
Unless this one is just trashed along with the results, it'd be funny to at least compare them though.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Wow, this is embarrassing. I started to vote, and found out that I only have played ... two ... of the games mentioned ...

So, adamant to reduce my apparent backlog as soon as possible, I started to investigate. And it turned out, that most things on the list are nice if you have nothing better to do. According to the reactions posted. As far as I could find out by just browsing the threads and not make it into a research project. Some people like it, most people didn't play them, others think they're shit.

Anyway. Watched some youtube let's plays for the most promising ones, and I have to say: I do have a top three! :D

1. Invisible, Inc. (This was the third one. And I love it: no frills, no endless backtracking, just lots of strategic and tactic joy. And I dig the presentation.)
2. Underrail. Would be best, if it wasn't build like a single-player MMO: every action takes FAR too much time. No trading hubs. Lots of traveling where noting happens. Whatsoever. Well, except trash mobs, of course. And everything is level locked.
3. D:OS EE. Would be best, if not that EVERYTHING is both random and level locked, and at the end of the first city I lose interest because there is far too much traveling around to find uninteresting fights.

I played some predecessor games in the Enhanced Edition category, like the original Wasteland 2, but they bored me.

I didn't play POE, Fallout 4 and such. I don't feel like giving them money for decline. And I have better things to do with my time.