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MisterIceTeaPeach
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It probably would be Nier Automata or Persona 5 if I played them..... but I didn't. The games I have played this year that came out this year are Echoes, Nioh, Super Mario Odysessy, Xenoblade 2, and Sonic Mania... they were all pretty good, but I don't know if I have a favorite among them. Maybe Echoes? Maybe Xenoblade 2? Idk

Although if I do get Automata for Christmas, then I'll probably be playing that Non-Stop so I might give an update before the year ends

Edited by DarkDestr0yer61
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Persona 5. It just did everything I wanted a Persona game to do. It advanced and polished the changes that Persona 3 made to the franchise, and it brought back some elements from before 3 that made the series' connection to the mainline SMT franchise apparent. 

I enjoyed the main storyline, and it probably has my favorite Persona cast. As much as I liked Persona 4's main cast and Persona 3's side characters, Persona 5 found a better balance(Biggest black spot being Ryuji). I liked that it had a clearer message and carried through with it for the whole game. 

And it probably has one of my favorite OSTs from the last few years, which can elevate games like crazy to me. 

It just does so much right for me. It was the fastest I have ever gone from first play through to second play through for an SMT game. 

Second place is close, and it's Breath of the Wild. As good as Breath of the Wild is, there were a lot of points where I thought "Man, if they just did this, it'd be so much better". It had some rough edges, which keep it from taking the number 1 spot. But it's probably the closest Nintendo's ever gotten to reinventing the Zelda formula in a way that OoT did 20 years ago, and it's probably the best "adventure" game I've ever played, because it feels like a damn adventure. 

Then it's a bit of a jump down to Mario Odyssey at #3. Persona 5 and Zelda felt like full course meals, Mario felt like a top-tier snack. I was satisfied with the time I spent with it, but in hindsight it's probably not an experience that will stick with me nearly as much. 

#4 is Nioh. Tightest/most compelling action game I've played in a long time. But it's got some rough spots that aren't salvaged by the experience like Zelda was. 

#5 would be Echoes, Resident Evil 7 or Nier. Flawed games that do things in unique ways that made them memorable and enjoyable. 

So yeah. Persona 5 is my number 1, but I wanted to comment on my top 5.

Edited by Slumber
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 Dividing this into games I've finished and games that came out this year, So my top games I've finished in 2017: Hands down Valkyria Chronicles remastered. Such an amazing game.

Now for games that came out in 2017, well of the ones I've played, Echoes, Breath of the Wild, and Emblem Warriors.

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For once, my GotY matches with the official one: Zelda! I'd put Mario Odyssey up there too, but still Zelda as well. BotW is excellent! My only complaints are a lack of dungeons in such a huge world, and what dungeons that ARE there are a little underwhelming. The huge number of shrines to explore kinda sorta makes up for it, but imo, real dungeons are a classic Zelda staple, so to not really have much of that here was a bit of a bummer.

Also, Link tends to take too long to get back up off the ground when he's knocked down, but that's a minor nitpick. xP

Mario Odyssey is great too, my only complaint being that the trailers made the kingdoms seem way bigger than they really are. So their size ended up being a bit underwhelming. That's the fault of the marketing though, not really the game.

Edited by Anacybele
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I never really thought about ranking the games that I've played, to be completely honest, but I can certainly try it.

5: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
This game is still on my backlog. I haven't gotten very far, but from what I've played, it's very enjoyable, so I look forward to play it over the holidays. Title is weird, but the artwork is beautiful from what I've seen.

4: Fire Emblem Warriors
I only put this one above Ys VIII because I actually finished it (all story and history maps completed, didn't bother with the Anna mission). Roster could still be better (as in, less Fates characters) and the story is... eh, nothing to write home about, the gameplay is the usual Warriors fare with some interesting twists. They certainly did manage to implement FE mechanics into the Warriors formula in a way that doesn't feel intrusive and actually adds to the experience, other than bringing everything to a screeching halt (looking at you, Hyrule Warriors). So I'd say that Warriors isn't a bad game. A sort of soulless cashgrab, sure, but still an okay and fun game.

3: Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
This is where things get tricky. I really enjoyed Echoes. I really, really did. The gameplay was amazing, the art style was beautiful (please keep Hidari as your lead character designer IntSys!), the music was godly (aside from the battle theme) and the story - while somewhat flawed - was still amazing and proof that IntSys' writers can still produce a cohesive plotline after the mess that was Fates' story. Certainly a step in the right direction for the franchise, at least in the story department in my book.
The thing that holds this game back the most is it's lack of replayability, which is this games greatest flaw. If you've played through it once, maybe twice, you have pretty much no reason to come back to it. This is where both Awakening and Fates did better, in my opinion.

These next two could very well be tied for number one, honestly.

2: Persona 5
I have long fought with myself if Persona 5 should be on top of my list. I ultimately decided to place Persona 5 on the number 2 spot, but not far behind number 1. Reason being I am massively biased towards that other game.
On to Persona 5: This game speaks to me on a personal level, not just because it's main protagonist looks like me IRL (dark hair, glasses and all), I, too, was an outcast all my life, so playing a game where your main group consists of people similar to me was amazing to behold. It made me feel for the characters, root for them when they were in trouble and I felt like I was with them the entire way from start to finish.
And that's not even getting into the incredibly fun gameplay and hours upon hours of content (my first playthrough took about 120 hours!).
The only flaw I can definitely see is that the game sometimes skips over days on end without there really being a need to, so it feels kind of restrictive at times, but honestly, I can overlook this flaw.
I wasn't a big Persona fan before picking this one up. In fact, this one was my very first Persona game, so I had no idea what I got into once I started playing. I did play Shin Megami Tensei IV and SMTIV: Apocalypse beforehand and know that Persona started as a spin-off of SMT, but that was everything. I went into this game with zero hype and zero expectations (ATLUS being a god-like publisher / developer aside), so I'd like to think that my perspective of this game is 'untainted', if you get what I mean.

1: Tales of Berseria
And here we have my personal game of the year, almost tied with my number two pick, but I still had to give it to Berseria. This game delivers a story unlike everything I've seen. The story of a girl that lost everything and tries to enact revenge on the one she deems responsible. That's the premise. It's not 'you're a hero, now go save the world', you actually play the villain's role this time. The companions you meet are incredibly colourful personages with their own desires and sorrows. There's the battle-hungry Rokurou who  in his quest for strength turned into a demon, but still retained a playful and even friendly side. Then, there's the pirate Eizen, a Malak (this game's angels, basically) cursed with ridiculously bad luck that owns a coin that only ever shows tails and he brings misfortune to anyone he meets just by being around them. On the other hand, he is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge and likes to brag a lot about it. And let us not forget about the eccentric witch Magilou (she introduces herself with 10 names, for crying out loud), who is the most enjoyable Tales of character I have seen yet. She is sassy, constantly teases others, is the butt of almost every joke and has a complete disregard for human life itself. She also has a very tragic backstory, but I won't go into that because SPOILERS! And that's not even getting into the protagonist, Velvet Crowe, who might be one of the deepest and best deveolped characters in any JRPG ever. She's definitely up there as one of my all-time favourite video game protags, to be sure.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is these characters aren't your typical heroes (they even make sure to point that out in-story), in fact most of them might even be villain archetypes and that's exactly why I like them so much. The characters have always been the biggest selling point of any Tales story and this game blew the others out of the water in this regard.
They also spiced up Tales of Zestiria's battle system, making everything flow better (even the camera in multiplayer works now!), but sometimes, the action is a little bit hard to follow, I will admit. If I would give any game a 10/10, it would definitely be this one, which is why it is my personal game of the year.

Sorry if I got a bit gushy there, but I just love these games so much.

Honorable mentions that didn't come out this year, but I've only gotten to play them recently: Nights of Azure

Edited by DragonFlames
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Ok, I have made my thoughts now. 

I only have played three games from 2017 if I include Tales of Berseria which came out this year for the west but played the JP last year. The other two were Fire Emblem Echoes and Persona 5 (which still have to finish but I'm close to the end).

My favorite of these three is Tales of Berseria simply because I enjoyed this game each minute of the main game. Tbf it's one of the easier parts with not that challenging dungeons, but the character cast, story and the music made up for it. It's the darkest Tales of game I've played, even darker than Tales of the Abyss. You feel with the protagonist who had / has to overcome a fate. There were lots of depressing... but also entertaining moments. The game did it greatly to attract the player to the story. Nothing really left to be desired tbh except that I wished a bit more deepness in the dugeons. Most are just straight forward. Even the disliked Zestiria did a better job here.

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I think my favorite game from 2017 is Splatoon 2, it's hard to choose for me though

 

edit: I just had this thought and can't believe I forgot to mention Cuphead

 

Edited by twice
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For me I would say Persona 5 is my GOTY. It's the game I have been looking forward to the most despite years of delays and I'm glad the game met my expectations once it was finally released outside of Japan. The gameplay, music and art is definitely a step up from previous Persona games. I would even say that its tied with Persona 4 as my favorite RPG game.

My only gripe with Persona 5 is that I am not a fan of the negotiation system with the Shadows in order to acquire new Personas but that might be because I'm used to Persona 4's way of handing Personas out after battle. 

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5 hours ago, Thane said:

Please do. I'd love to know more about the series and why it's good, without any spoilers, of course. I had a look on Steam and just saw a bunch of different names so I got a bit confused.

I also agree with Dusk in them being fantastic games, considering its my favorite RPG franchise. 

The series constantly builds upon itself, with its lore, characters and even its NPCs, which all constantly grow and evolve with the series (When one story event happens, all NPCs get entirely new dialog most of the time too). Events in one game can have serious ramifications for another arc, since the arcs themselves take place in different countries. 

The gameplay is fairly unique for a turn based RPG, its on a grid, with a fairly heavy focus on turn manipulation, there is also ways to customize your characters, yet they retain their unique traits that make them, them in combat. It's kind of like if you put Lunar, Live A Live and Final Fantasy X in a blender and hit the puree button, but its very much its own thing.

My only gripe is that some of the games start rather slow, but its not in a bad way since they establish things, it can just be intimidating for some, although some people do point out pacing issues at points, but thats honestly my main gripe and its a small one.   

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FE Echoes: SOV really was the best game to come out of 2017, mainly because it was a return to what made fire emblem great for me in the first place with so much more added. To start, full voice acting was something that I was not expecting but definitely appreciated. I know that a lot of people enjoy voicing the characters themselves when they play, but some of the voices that were given to characters were perfect. The art style was also refreshing, as was the way that they showed combat scenes. In my opinion, the cutscenes in echoes were the best that we have gotten in any FE game, and any game that came out this year. BOTW's cutscenes were great as well, but I like how the cutscenes of Echoes differentiated themselves from the way the game normally looked, making every cutscene seem important and something worth paying attention to. This difference is something that I feel other games lacked this year, and it's just something that I like to see in games. Those are just aesthetic preferences, though. The game itself was pretty well balanced, save for a couple levels where there could be trouble with cantors. The maps could be called empty and bland at points, but I feel that these similar maps that you would find in the countryside worked better with their emptiness, making the concepts of travel, distance and exploration stand out. In simpler terms, bigger maps feels more adventurous. The class system in Echoes was also very well designed, as tier 3 units were what I had missed the most from Radiant Dawn. The changes to healing and magic and the removal of axes also didn't really affect my enjoyment of combat that much. The only thing that I do have to complain about with the combat is the minimum 1 damage you have to take, as it kind of weakens tanks in this game when they're facing down hordes of enemies. Echoes' gameplay was not perfect, but it was intuitive and I understood their reasoning for every choice that the developers made. As for the story, Echoes had the best story by far this year. Although there was already a framework in place thanks to Gaiden, the story was fleshed out completely in Echoes. The dual lord concept was also done very well, and the progression of the plot worked wonderfully with the progression of enemy strength. The last thing I have to touch on is the soundtrack, and the only thing I have to say about that is that I've listened to the music for more time than I've spent playing the game. In the end, Echoes was a refreshing installment in the FE series that deserved more recognition than it got, with an engaging cast, powerful story, well paced combat and an almost unparalleled soundtrack. Other games this year were also great, but Echoes did two things that no other game did: beat all of my expectations and keep my attention to this day.

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In terms of games that came out this year, Persona 5 is the clear winner. It's quickly become my second-favorite Persona after Innocent Sin, having one of my favorite casts in the series, an excellent plot, refined gameplay that's actually challenging at times, and a shift back to the thematic style of older games. It's not without it's rough spots, but it's still pretty high on my list of favorite games ever regardless.

Honorable Mentions to: Pokemon Ultra Moon, Metroid: Samus Returns, .hack//G.U. Last Recode, Echoes

In terms of games that didn't come out this year but I beat this year, Furi. Furi is the rare game that actually, tangibly rewards you for learning its mechanics and boss patterns thoroughly. Outside of one boss, every fight in the game is challenging, but not BS, and even that one boss was due to a shift in control style that the player should have been given more opportunity to learn.

Honorable Mentions to: Rune Factory 4, Dishonored

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10 hours ago, Lanayru19 said:

FE Echoes: SOV really was the best game to come out of 2017, mainly because it was a return to what made fire emblem great for me in the first place with so much more added. To start, full voice acting was something that I was not expecting but definitely appreciated. I know that a lot of people enjoy voicing the characters themselves when they play, but some of the voices that were given to characters were perfect.

Yeah, forgot about the VA. Let's be honest, (English) VA is often really awfull, putting you out of the story instead of letting you in; because the VA are doing far too much. Not there. It really added something to the story, to makes it more memorable.

 

...And since I'm really forgetful, I forgot about Layton's Adventure. Katrielle is realy different from Professor Layton, but she's a good lead. Maybe not the best Layton game, but it did its job quite well, introducing a new colorful cast, and it was really fun. Can't really judge the puzzles compared to ancient games, but they did their job.

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Two very strong contenders for game of the year would be Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade chronicles II. I want to say both games are my game of the year but there are narrowly held back from reaching that status.

Mario Odyssey should be a game of the year. It plays great, it oozes with charm and Bowser never looked more amazing. Its the Mario quality you expect with the possession gimmick that adds a new spin. But Odyssey stumbles in an area I consider very important. 
The bosses in Odyssey are just pathetic. Boss battles are supposed to be a highlight but they are the low point in Odyssey. And perhaps Mario has never been about boss battles but that doesn't matter. A game of this quality should have quality boss battles and it doesn't. 

I also think there is plenty to love about Xenoblade. The story, characters, soundtrack and fight choreography appeal to my tastes very much. The world is richly varried and I'm having a lot of fun with it. They even manage to make a downright unacceptable slip in quality fun. Having your enemies shout a storm of ''THINK YE CAN TAKE ME! DUNT FORGET ME! GET HIT!'' at you that often start clipping into each other should be a massive blunder but its to funny to hold it against the game. 
But other design decisions are harder to overlook. I suspect the game might be rushed and that it led to some bad design choices not getting corrected in time. The map system is the best example. Its really the worst map system I have ever seen! and I refuse to believe the creators didn't recognize this. The sidequest are also tedious with most being boring fetchquest that refuse to end! Gather one batch of super rare ingredients that took ages to spawn and the questgiver just sends you out to go collect more. 
Having a super though boss toss you into another arena were enemies spawn that can kill you is also bad design and I very much doubt they put it in on purpose. I wonder who thought it was a good idea to have you fight 8 damage sponges who can heal themselves while you're on your own. 

So great game but far to flawed to be the best game of the year.

My actual games of the year would be Persona 5, Nier Automata and Zelda breath of the wilds. 

Persona 5 doesn't quite has the amount of high points as Odyssey and Xenoblade does but its quality is spread very consistently. Aside from the beginning being a tad slow I don't have any big criticism or questionable design choice I can point to. It was a great ride from start to finish with a great and surprisingly topical story, great characters, great gameplay, great dungeons, a great soundtrack, a great battle system and an amazing fight against the main villain. 
I view it as I do Tales of Symphonia, as an accidental impulse buy on my part that grew out to be a standard by which I will be judging every JRPG's from now on. 

Nier Automata manages to be very unique and wacky without this leading to gameplay situations that are more awkward than special and I consider it a feat. Its the typical Bayonetta gameplay with some twist and stuck in a story that's very bizare but in a good way. Despite being weird the story gives enough big focus points so that its always clear what you're doing, even if the bigger picture flies over your heard. Like Kid Icarus its really a one of a kind experience and I value Nier for it. Nier does a very good job of tailoring its world. The desolated desert, the festival city with the creepily happy robots, the peaceful village and such all feel very distinct with different lighting and music that just fit. The same happens with the cutscenes where all the scenes are perfectly set with matching music and excellent voice acting even from the most emotionless robots. 
I also think 9S may be my favorite gaming character of 2017.

Breath of the wild is a weird pick because its very noticeably flawed like Xenoblade II is and if it were anything else I would hold those flaws against the game. But this game brought Zelda in a transitional periods so I believe there should be a certain level of acceptance to flaws. Those flaws better all be gone in the new game though or I will start holding them against the game for starting bad habits. 
It helps Zelda's case that those flaws get worse the longer the game gets on and only really became a problem when I was already done with the game. The biggest flaw of the game that its got a very rough expiration date. The shrines and the rewards generally all being the same gave me little reason to keep playing the game after I completed the story, but at the point I did all the main dungeon and defeated Ganon I was already fully satisfied with my experience.

I was always a very big fan of Wind Waker and BOTW feels like a very, very large Wind Waker with its colorful style, the ability to wield many weapons and a very expressive and likable Link. The combat is my favorite in the series and while you can exploit Lionell's pretty easily once you get the hang of it my first encounter with one was the most epic battle I ever had in a Zelda game.
Breath of the Wild should also be praised for making travel in an overly large over world feel like a fun experience. Because you can climb on everything and you can glide over large distances travel always felt like a fun activity rather than a chore. 

Zelda herself is the best one yet. Aside from Tetra who has pretty much nothing in common with the others the Zelda's are almost all these wise and stoic damsels who never engaged me. This Zelda is a cheery, childish nerd with a big feeling of insecurity which is great. Its also great how they switch around the dynamic she and Ganon usually have. This time its technically Zelda who keeps Ganon as a prisoner. 

The side characters in general are really good. The Champions needed some screentime but they all got defined personality and a good dynamic going on. Sidon is a bro and the new Gerudo chief is great as well. I heard some complaints about the story but I never really understood one. Its a big lacking but all in all its a typical Zelda story.

 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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My pick for game of the year is Xenoblade chronicles 2. The vast, explorable and greatly varied worlds are amazing to see and the great soundtrack that acompanies everything makes it even better. The cast of the game was very strong with almost every character  enjoying time in the sun and the story kept me entertained throughout. The game does have some standard anime tropes I did't care for/really dislike and the map system sucks, but everything else compensated for that nicely. I think I enjoyed the original slightly more, but its a huge step up from X in my eyes. If the series keep this quality up, then I have high hopes for the series.

The runners ups are
Nier Automata: If it was only about music, then Nier would be my game of the year. I enjoyed Xenoblade a bit more, but that doesn't make Nier any less good. The gameplay is enough to keep you entertained, but its the bleak setting and the rollercoaster of an act 3 that really makes this game stand out.

Zelda breath of the wild: I pretty much agree with the mountains of praise a lot of people have given this game. The open world of Breath of the wild is very pleasant to go through thanks to Link being such a joy to controll. Just being able to climb up everything and fly makes the journey just as good as the destination for once. That being said I did have a lot of nitpicks that I can overlook this time, but that I expect to be fixed the next time they try this.

Fire emblem Echoes: This is how every Fire Emblem remake should be done. Shadow dragon did't do enough  to expand on the original , but Echoes is a good example of a Fire Emblem game modernised. It went all out with an expended story, full voice acting, supports and updated gameplay while still maintaining all the quirks that made Gaiden the weird game that it was. 

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I haven't played any of the big games from 2017 (mostly because I don't have a Switch), but my favorite game this year is Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. It quickly became one of my favorite DS games.

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