Witcher Up for RPG of the Year at Gamespot

Thought I'd mention that Gamespot has the Witcher as one of the five nominees for Best RPG of 2007--as I post this it's holding a lead position by a nostril over Mass Effect.

If you'd like to vote, here's the link: RPG of the Year at Gamespot

The other games are, not surprisingly considering the source: Mass Effect, Eternal Sonata, Shin Something Tenseiersonna 3 (!), and..of course, Super Paper Mario(Wii).

What a pathetic year for RPG's it must have been.

Super Paper Mario?

It looks like for some reason known only to Gamespot--and maybe their advertisers --they've arbitrarily picked a game from the PS3, a game from the Wii, 2 XBox games and one PC game to focus on for the whole of the rpg genre.

Kind of deserving of a WTF?? to me….

Anyway, TW still ahead by a nose, but the Mass Effect crowd should not be underestimated. It's a much more hyped game and apparently a pretty good one, so may the best RPG win--not counting Super Tensei Personna whatever though

I lost whatever little respect for Gamespot I had after the Gerstmann debacle.

Shin Megami Tensei is one series of games that I'd actually kinda like to try. I'm not sure how well they qualify as RPG's though.

Interestingly, GS's readers seem to agree -- IMO there are only two actual RPG's on their list, and they're splitting the votes almost evenly. The way it's set up, though, this poll tells more about GS readers' gaming platforms than anything interesting about the games.

Yeah, I agree with Prime Junta. They might as well have said "Vote for your favorite gaming platform", because there's no conceivable way someone has played more than 2 games from that list (well, there is, but I wouldn't count those people as RPG fans by any means).

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
I lost whatever little respect for Gamespot I had after the Gerstmann debacle.

Exactly--I used to troll the spot for news, but no more--I found out about the poll at The Witcher site. The idea that this is a real face-off between equals to determine which is best is obviously farcical; as you & VPeric say, it's a 'pick your platform' contest more than anything, and shows how the focus of the site has totally shifted to a casual market.

Same thing with Gamespy. Back in the late '90's it was a funny site and gave good reviews. I used to subscribe to their newsletter. Then somehow in the space of a year, everything PC disappeared except for MMO news and the occasional shooter and it became an adolescent comic strip. Now, like Gamespot it's plainly focused on being just another tool of the hype machine.

No great loss, really--though the Gamespot game database is huge and the old reviews are actually quite fair.

The Witcher is in first, followed by Mass Effect and then the rest are left in the dust. Seems like gamespot-ians do know something good when they see it.

I'm not surprised by these results. Let's take a close look at the contenders shall we. PAPER MARIO - Here is a game where you play that all around good guy plumber on yet another adventure through the throngs of nasties to save SOMEONE. Oh and here is the great thing about it YOUR PAPER WEEEEEEE isn't that fun boys and girls.

Eternal Sonata - Ok I live in asia and even I haven't heard of this one. Direct quote from the site "Eternal Sonata's superb art direction will dazzle you, but a dreamy story and exciting battles make it sing." Enough with the alliteration and the dazzling and the dreamying and the singing. I get it you made a game version of the movie "The Sound of Music" except you sing while you slash generic monsters to death. Fun for the whole family.

Shin Megami Tensei: blah blah - Once again never heard of this game. Direct quote from the review "then most certainly for the endlessly shocking pseudo suicides you're subjected to time and time again" they were saying this was a good thing. Oh yes count me in I want to pseudo kill myself over and over again in a game. Yippeee skippee my dream game has come true.

Mass Effect and Witcher - Nothing but respect for both these games.

So Gamespot might as well be saying which one is best out of Mass and Witcher.

I agree with all your guys statements about Gamespot being dead or just a hype machine. I never really went there unless I googled a game review and clicked on one of their reviews, but after all the whole Kane and Lynch thing I pass right on by and click someone else.

Funny, I find Gamespot's reviews still contain most of the information that I need. I use it as my primary game review site. Oh, and the whole Gerstmann thing had nothing to do with advertisers. Even Gerstmann himself said that Gamespot has integrity.

Eternal Sonata was actually a pretty decent jRPG. It's nothing compared to Final Fantasy, however, and in that light it's simply very average.

Don't know the rest of the lot.

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
Eternal Sonata - Ok I live in asia and even I haven't heard of this one.

Shin Megami Tensei: blah blah - Once again never heard of this game.

Yet these were the two games that you wrote most about in your posting -- including trashing one of them.

How is this better than what the reviewers are doing?

The Witcher is the best rpg game 2007 according to IGN:
http://bestof.ign.com/2007/pc/9.html

It's also the winner in category Best Orginal Score
http://bestof.ign.com/2007/pc/13.html

And runner-up in category: Best story
http://bestof.ign.com/2007/pc/16.html

I'm a little late here, but Gamespot is the past for me after the Jeff Gerstman fiasco. I have no respect for the site and of course Gerstman is going to say nicey things about it. I bet his severance is tied to that fact. Also if he wants further employment he can't exactly trash Gamespot.

Shit happens, you know.

Ive always gone to Gamespot, and most likely always will. It's not the only site I go to, but it's one of my old standbys for a number of reasons.

MotB and The Witcher both gave us the best of mainstream RPGs this year, lets hope the trend will continue to grow, we sure the hell don't need 2 more dry years.

I am getting to the point of trying to support only smaller independent sites and I am avoiding gamespot as well. As much as I hate ign/fox and that evil priick rupert murdock, who is out to destroy media, freedom of thought and democracy, I have to go to gamespy to help with Bloodlines. However I would be thrilled and overwhelmed if gamespy didn't have the Vampire world under lock and key.

Hey, Rupert is an ex Aussie; you're not allowed to say nasty things about him, only WE can!!!!

The problem for me, is that I haven't played Mass Effect, Super Paper Mario, Eternal Sonata and Shin Megami Tensei. I know (Shin) Megami Tensei series is quite famous in Japan, though. Reading reviews, I think the ideas of ES and SMT are quite interesting, too. ES…Chopin meats anime…just wow.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
Yet these were the two games that you wrote most about in your posting -- including trashing one of them.

How is this better than what the reviewers are doing?

Because I'm not a reviewer and it's sooooo much fun. Come on over to the dark side where you can be cynical all you want. The dark side is power. Luke, I'm your father…..Oh wait, had a Darth Vadar moment there