So what is your game of the year 2016?

[Tactician Robin]

The best game of the year for me was Fates Bravely Second. I really enjoyed the plot and characters. The game play hooked me as much as its predesessor and all the new classes brought a fresh cost of paint to an already well done class system. I just had do much fun playing this game personally to not give it the best game of the year.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Bravely Second would be my choice if Fates didn't exist. I didn't like its characters/writing much but it improved the already excellent job/battle system of Bravely Default, and I'm a sucker for FF5-likes.

[Radiant head]

1. dark souls 3

2. overwatch

3. bravely second

i still need to play the last guardian.

[maybe]

i don't think i played anything that came out this year actually

WAIT ACTUALLy i bought that telltale games batman thing for like 5 dollars

i only finished the first episode but that's my game of the year by default for being the only one i played

it's not really anything too interesting but it was kinda fun and in general i think telltale games is really good so the rest is probably good too

but yeah i don't think i've played any of the other games mentioned in this thread

Edited January 2, 2017 by unique

[Replica Model]

My game of the year is The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel even though it came out December 22nd 2015 it's close enough. :)

I was looking for a game that had a good story, something that would teach me about world building and character development because school definitely did that *sarcasm*. So once I heard that Cold Steel had that this game immediately interested me. Although, to be perfectly frank, it was VincentASM's sig that kept nagging me to go check this game out well before the game even had a US release date so all I had were trailers and the E3 presentation. Do you ever have that feeling that you will enjoy something just by looking at it? Well, I had that feeling here and you got to go with your gut feeling sometimes so I asked for it for Christmas that year and wow, this game never disappointed me for a second! It's rare to not find a single thing you dislike about a game and I honestly can't find anything wrong about it. I just loved the atmosphere of the Thors Military Academy, I actually cared to read what the NPC's had to say, the music was outstanding (I got the official OST on CD now), and the story and characters just blew me away, I never was this engrossed with a story or a cast of characters since I first played Final Fantasy VI six years ago (Towa's best girl btw! ). I would have to say this is a serious contender for my favorite game of all time, I enjoyed it that much. I came looking for a good story, honestly I was expecting something like a Tales game where it's fun and serves a purpose but it's nothing spectacular (unless it's Symphonia, Abyss, or Xillia 2), so I wasn't expecting it to be as good as I thought. Man, I can't wait to play Cold Steel II but since someone recommended I finish both Trails in the Sky FC and SC so if want to experience the full story without spoiling myself because Cold Steel II has a lot of spoilers for Sky SC as well as the Crossbell duology, so it's best that I wait until I finish both of them first. I'm on SC so it's not that far away!

[DragonFlames]

I played many games I loved in 2016, some I'm still playing. If I had to pick a favourite out of all of them, it would definitely have to be Trails of Cold Steel 2... but the ending doesn't sit right with me somehow. I can't even properly explain why.

So, here are examples of games I've gotten and played this year that would be likely candidates for 'game of the year'. This is of course all based on my personal opinions and preferences and it is in no way representative of a majority.

Fire Emblem Fates - Yes, all three paths, even though map design and unit balance-wise, Revelations may be the worst FE I've played until now. As much shit as I gave it, I still I really, really love this game (which is why the little things that bug me, BUG me).

Bravely Second - A wonderful example that turn-based RPGs aren't dead yet. They never were and never will be. The story is awesome, I enjoyed that it was more lighthearted than its predecessor (although very, VERY dark at times) and the music was excellent. Overall, it felt like an improvement over the original, especially in terms of class balance and character development.

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight - I never thought a dungeon crawler would tug at my feelings this hard. This is a really awesome game with an awesome story and I love it to death. Here's hoping for Untold III or Etrian Odyssey V getting a EU release date sometime soon!

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth - Proving once again that a Pokémon-styled game can be superior to the "original"´, although that "original" would technically be Megami Tensei. The story is awesome (I'm starting to sound like a broken record by now, but I really do mean it), the creatures (Digimon) are all in all incredibly well designed (another thing Pokémon lacks these days) and the gameplay is fantastic. If you own a PS Vita or PS4 and are a fan of monster collecting games, you owe it to yourself to get this.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse - The sequel to the already awesome Shin Megami Tensei IV does many things the original did and better, not to mention that it is superior to a certain other monster collectathon-type game *coughpokemoncough*. This game stakes its claim to belong to the original monster-collectathon franchise and it absolutely delivers on all fronts: music, story, character designs... It's all incredible. Among the improvements over the original SMTIV is most importantly the easier to navigate overworld, the 'Smirk' mechanic has been reworked and some of the monsters/demons/angels have been redesigned (among them Odin and two spoiler characters). If you have a passing interest in mythology as I do, you will have a freakin' field day with this game.

And if you have some sort of resentment towards religion, this game's got ya covered as the true final boss is LITERALLY THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN GOD *epic record scratch*!

Honorable mention goes to 7th Dragon III: Code VFD, a seemingly low budget game that delivers on all its promises.

Edited January 6, 2017 by DragonFlames

[henrymidfields]

FE Fates Conquest by default. The only other games that I played were Zelda OoT 3DS, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon DS, and Pokémon Black 2. The story actually had some really nice potential, which gave me the opportunity to write my own story for my soon-to-be resumed LP, and I am actually enjoying poking fun at Hoshido's "peace-loving" attitude. I still haven't finished it, but writing/portraying Nohr as the gallant Allied democracy (courtesy of Arthur) against the barbaric and bloodthirsty Axial dictatorship of Hoshidon't has been lots of fun.

Edited January 9, 2017 by henrymidfields

[Vaximillian]

Mine is Blazing Sword, I guess. Brought me to this series which I now immensely love.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I didn't really play many new games, honestly. I played some, but wasn't really able to keep up. From what I did play, I suppose Fire Emblem Fates was my favorite, so that's my GOTY 2016. As for games I beat for the first time in 2016 that I had never beaten before (and that didn't come out in 2016!)...Chrono Trigger is the winner, hands down.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Fire Emblem Fan