As a bit of fun while we wait for the Game of the Year results, let's do a Most Disappointing Game of 2009 poll. For consistency, I've based this on the GotY choices but I'm limited to 10 options by the forum software, so a couple of outliers had to go.

Usual disclaimers apply: the choices are RPG-ish games we cover with at least one English first release in 2009.

I almost voted for "Risen" but selected "A Farewell to Dragons" Instead. The only way I can buy risen is to Download it from steam or Impulse and Pay full retail Shelf Price.

2009 was a good year for RPGs.

I know it may sound terribly wrong but of all the games on the list I was most disappointed with Risen.
I'm not saying Risen is a bad game,it's actually great.But somehow I expected more.I wasn't overhyped or anything but I was looking for a stronger gaming experience.
Maybe Divinity's "bugginess" was more disappointing but Risen was higher on my list.

Borderlands - This was a no-brainer.

Originally Posted by shaf
I almost voted for "Risen" but selected "A Farewell to Dragons" Instead. The only way I can buy risen is to Download it from steam or Impulse and Pay full retail Shelf Price.

2009 was a good year for RPGs.

Does that mean you haven't played it yet? That would have been interesting …

Originally Posted by Kostaz
I know it may sound terribly wrong but of all the games on the list I was most disappointed with Risen.
I'm not saying Risen is a bad game,it's actually great.But somehow I expected more.I wasn't overhyped or anything but I was looking for a stronger gaming experience.
Maybe Divinity's "bugginess" was more disappointing but Risen was higher on my list.

This for me. I went back and forth between Risen and Divinity II but, ultimately, I suspected Divinity II had bitten off more than it could chew (flying Dragon form and so on) so I was disappointed that even though Risen was exactly what I expected - a cautious return to G1/G2 - it just fell a little flat and the ending really sucked.

Not a bad game by any means, just to be clear.

No real disappointment this year for me.
Gave an unfair vote to Farewell to Dragons - seemed like an awesome game on paper before I read the reviews.

I went with A Farewell to Dragons. I was happy with Risen and it did not dissapoint me at all. I also wasn't expecting it to be more than what it was .

I was torn between Divinity 2 and AFTD. Divinity's tower and dragon form were a real let down. Please, get that arcade action out of my divinity.

In the end I went with AFTD because there is so much potential with that title, but it failed to deliver. The frustrating and dissapointing part of the game is that you can see a really great game in there somewhere it just needs a little more tender loving care. If they ever patch the game then I would change my vote in a heartbeat.

I'd like to write in 'the last two chapters of Risen'.

The first two were extremely enjoyable, which made it really, really, dissapointing when I couldn't bring myself to finish the game.

I voted for Dragon Age for both the "Best of" and the "Most Disappointing" awards.

Go figure.

It pains me to pick a PB game for most disappointing, but I was left with such a sour taste after forcing myself to finish what started out as a such a brilliant game, there was no other choice. Maybe an expansion ala NoTR can remedy this. I wish they would have announced this already (they have to do one right?) so I could have voted for it for most anticipated 2010.

Guess I'm pathetic, only have Drakensang and so far only put about 7 hours into it.
And the Torchlight demo.

And neither have disappointed me because I didn't expect much, heh.

Actually pleasantly surprised by Drakensang - so far doesn't seem like anything special but seems polished, I really like the skill/levelling system, and some of the characters actually have personality.

I need to do some serious game shopping soon though… guess I'll go with whatever wins game of the year first

I went with Farewell to Dragons … my expectations were not that high, but early on it looked really good so I allowed myself to get hopeful … which was then dashed.

I'll given Risen 'most disappointing ending', but I have had so much fun that I'm well past that, and I honestly like Div2 and only a bit disappointed that it didn't sustain.

Originally Posted by txa1265
I'll given Risen 'most disappointing ending', but I have had so much fun that I'm well past that,

+1

Great endings are nice, but not required to enjoy a game. The journey to get to the end is all that matters.

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
The journey to get to the end is all that matters.

I half disagree.
Especially in the case of more story driven games, bad ending can ruin the overall impression of the game and the journey in retrospect.
I really wish developers would care about endings of their games more and plan the development accordingly.
Ending should be the climax of the game, not something that leaves sour undertones when thinking back about the experience.
Imagine Planescape: Torment with botched conclusion.
Also, knowing the ending sucks hurts the journey upon replay.

In the case of Risen it wasnīt only ending though, the whole second half was half-assed story- and quest-wise. Thatīs probably a reason why I have absolutely no urge to replay the game at all. Not that it matters, with the current influx of potentially interesting titles and all, but still.

I enjoyed Risen all the way to the end. Yes the final boss battle was terrible, but that was less than 1% of the game.

I also agree that the first 2 chapters were much better than the last 2, but I still enjoyed the later parts of the game, especially the scope of some of the later dungeons.

Voted for Torchlight, of course.

I should've known better, because I HATED Fate (still think of it as the worst Diablo clone ever), but the hype got me and made me playing the demo. I think the game is awful, bad grafix, bad perspective, no story - nothing stands out, just blandness. I feel sorry for my stupid collector's ass that I will buy the game, though. Being a completist and showing that you can sell more copies physically than with the dreaded STEAM rootkit.

It is very sad that better (not great) Diablo clones, like Legend or Frater never got that much attention and tanked commercially.

Thought about voting Risen, but I didn't expect anything from the morons at Pirhana Bytes, and they didn't deliver less, so no disappointment for me.

AFTD got my vote.

After thinking about it, I think my vote is maybe a bit unfair though. Out of the games above that I have played (most of them) it is clearly the *worst* game… but that was not what the poll asked me I'm actually not sure that I'm outright disappointed with the game, since I paid only $15 for it and wasn't expecting much.

Probably should have voted for Divinity 2, since this is a game I *really* wanted to be good.. and while I've actually enjoyed the game very much, for the most part, there have also been frustrations. And right now I've actually stopped playing it after encountering a bunch of archers, at my own level, that kills me instantly from a distance. Two arrows, and I'm dead… WTF?!?

Risen, on the other hand, was great! Ending sucked, but the rest was just fine. Each to his own, but I really can't understand those complaints about the second "half" - where "half" refers to number of chapters, not playing time!!
Yes, they were quite linear.. but one of them was very short and took place inside the volcano (a quite nice dungeon) and the final one was wrapping things up. The last chapter was probably why Risen didn't get my GOTY vote, but going so far as to calling it disappointing??

The last two chapters of Risen and the endboss made me vote for it. Had the whole game been like the first two chapters it would have been GOTY for me.

Looks like people are voting without reading the title correctly.. i mean.. dragon age was the most disappointing title for most people?

Anyway, borderlands for me.