Board 8 > -> Kleenex's Top 10 Games of 2011 [list] <-

(+) Yeah! (+)

Your loss

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SuperNiceDog Guru racing with motion controls: http://i52.tinypic.com/2zfiu09.gif
http://i54.tinypic.com/10729w2.gif

Portal 2 is good, but it's hard to see myself playing it a second time. It's a better first-time experience than the first, by far, but the puzzles aren't nearly as intuitive and it's got some slow parts.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I feel that way about most "puzzle" games.

Don't really see myself playing games like Portal or Braid again anytime soon.

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SuperNiceDog also has the right of way.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7760/222bj.jpg

It does slow down a bit at the halfway point, but I thought it fit in fine. Totally disagree about the puzzles being less intuitive, though (minus one particular conversion gel puzzle near the end).

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

Also time for some most anticipated games of 2012.

1. Mass Effect 3
2. Final Fantasy XIII-2
3. Diablo III
4. Soul Calibur V
5. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I realized this was a bad idea after I started making it because there isn't a whole lot I'm looking forward to next year yet, but oh well.

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

Most of those just don't interest me very much. I'd like to play Last Guardian but no PS3. Tomb Raider could be good, though.

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

Tomb Raider: The Lara Croft whining experience.

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Vote for this guy in every contest, our Guru champion: SuperNiceDog

Next year is stacked, and should be as good as this IMO. Rough top 10 for me:

1. The Last of Us
2. The Last Guardian
3. Bioshock Infinite
4. Grand Theft Auto V
5. Resident Evil: Revelations
6. Mass Effect 3
7. Final Fantasy XIII-2
8. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
9. Tomb Raider
10. Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Also Persona 4: The Golden, FFX HD. I'm sure Nintendo will be bringing more to the 3DS than Luigi's Mansion, Paper Mario and Kid Icarus, since they'll need a big hitter to keep up momentum once the Vita launches - I'd be surprised if Pokemon and Zelda aren't both planned for the near future.

While I'm sure one or two of the above titles will slip out of 2012, there will also be some titles I'm forgetting, or aren't being hyped much yet (Overstrike seems a good candidate), that turn out to be good.

I don't know about you guys, but I feel like this gen's getting real good now. Took long enough!

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Who knew the Rivalry Rumble would be so predictable? SuperNiceDog, that's who.

Portal 2 excellence.

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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."

My most anticipated is probably a lot different from most!

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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."

you should see mine!

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add the c and back away
iphonesience

hell yeah kleenex, glad to see FF13-2 on your list!

Portal 2 is awesome. I can nitpick some small things, but mainly, the only real flaw at all is the length. With how quality it is, I didn't mind the shortness at all, but when I'm picking my best of the year, it's kind of tough to decide sometimes between a game that was technically better vs. one that was not quite as good but gave me way, way more playing time.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

I don't feel like length really matters all that much. Portal 2 is short for sure, but it's not short enough that I think length should come into play when choosing a game of the year.

#1 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360/PS3/PC)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/615805-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

Not much of a surprise here, but Skyrim was pretty much always going to be my game of the year for 2011 ever since it was announced. The only things that really could have stopped it is if it was a unmitigated disaster, and thankfully that wasn’t the case!

Unlike Portal 2, Skyrim is not something I’d consider a flawless game. It’s certainly not the kind of game that’s going to appeal to everyone and I understand that. But what Skyrim does best far exceeds anything any other game does this year. The sense of adventure and wonder you get form exploring the world is an experience like no other. There’s something about getting dumped in this huge, content filled world and being told to just do whatever you want that appeals to me a ton.

At its core, Skyrim is still the same kind of game as Oblivion, but it addresses many if not all of the problems its predecessor had. The experience system has been totally overhauled and is much more intuitive. If you want to increase a skill, you use it. The more you use it, the better it gets. Easy. There’s no weird stat juggling you have to do to make sure you don’t fall behind the leveled enemies, and the perks are pretty varied though to be fair not all of them are useful. The enemy leveling is handled a lot more elegantly as well. Enemies still do level with you, but they have caps on how high they can actually go based on the area. This means you’ll still find easy and difficult dungeons that you can come back to later once you’ve gotten stronger.

Graphically it’s not a huge leap, but it’s definitely nicer. The facial features and animations are noticeably improved. They’re not perfect yet, but I think they’re more than competent enough. The environments are more varied as well and there’s height to the landscapes. Everything in Oblivion was kinda flat. It’s a very good looking game (on the PC anyway), and it’ll only look better as people start crafting mods for it (on the PC anyway).

Combat has never been an Elder Scrolls strong point, but I think it ends up feeling pretty good in Skyrim. It’s not as tactile or complex as it could be, but again, it’s a noticeable improvement over what it used to be. I also like the way magic is handled a lot better than the way it was in Oblivion. It feels a lot more useful, though Destruction ends up being kind of weak towards the end of things.

There are a couple problems with Skyrim, of course. The UI is not designed as well as it should be (on the PC anyway). I’m not sure how it plays on the console versions, but it’s a little unresponsive and difficult to navigate (on the PC anyway). There’s also the usual helping of Bethesda jankiness that everyone’s come to expect, though it’s worth noting that in the 60+ hours I’ve played the game so far, I haven’t had a single crash or major glitch, so my experience has been significantly better than other.

Skyrim didn’t have to do a lot to win me over. All I really wanted was Oblivion but better, and that’s essentially what I got, though the “but better” part ended up being a bit more than even I expected. It’s not a game I can tell everyone to go out and play because they’ll love it, but anyone who likes Bethesda games, open world games, or Elder Scrolls games will love it. It’s a game made for a particular, albeit growing, niche. But for those people, Skyrim is amazing. And I am those people.

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

I never really used bows or magic in Oblivion or Morrowind, but I did in Skyrim. I have been pretty much using everything, since it all feels a lot better.

I think one great thing about Skyrim too, is Oblivion had more "quality" quests than Morrowind, but a lot less quests in general. Skyrim manages to have quality quests, and tons of them. There is loads of content that is legitimately good, which surprised me.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

Yeah if there's one serious knock against Skyrim it's that the guild questlines are not as good as Oblivion's. Especially the Dark Brotherhood.

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

yeah but theres a lot more good quests in Skyrim to make up for it. Oblivion had those good quest lines, but then that was about it.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

I actually prefer my games to be shorter rather than longer, as far as single playthroughs are concerned. I'll take a good 5 hour game over a good 80 hour game, all things equal. I also thought Portal 2 went on for a little too long. There was some filler near the end that just dragged it out.

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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."

most games are too long. though a well-designed puzzle game - even if it's short when you know what to do - will have you get stuck on a number of the puzzles, so it takes much longer to complete. not that portal does this.

speaking of which lolder scrolls
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Shorter games forever

Also, I think the only 2012 game I care about right now is XIII-2. I'm pretty nonplussed about everything else so far.

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SuperNiceDog bested me in the Guru, fair and square: http://i.imgur.com/fe05x.png
http://i.imgur.com/stNJf.png

considering I'm generally spending $60, I personally like at least a little length.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

that's what she said LOL

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

last bump I suppose

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

xenoblade too low

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Smurf, the cream of Sonic fanboyism