RPGWatch - Game of the Year Awards 2018

I've played The Bard's Tale Trilogy, NWN: EE, and Into the Breach. None of those were on the list. I would have voted for the Bard's Tale Trilogy. If Into the Breach were a choice, I would have said, "what is this doing here?"

Cyberpunk and Wasteland 3 I have no faith in. So I only voted for the Sinking City.

Morrandir said:

With the exception of Bound by Flames the games have been quite enjoyable.

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Come one, it was the best one, except the final boss, screw that fight. The totally awful dialogues were just the right level of "it's so bad, it's good".

They also made Faery: Legends of Avalon and worked on Of Orcs and Man with Cyanide. And two Sherlock Homes game I know nothing about…

Bound by flame was good and enjoyable overall, though that snow area with ruins had a design you wanted to pull your hair out

For the future GotY, does anybody have an interest in using a ranked voting poll? For example:

https://www.fairvote.org/create_your_own_rcv_poll

I only played following 3 games in 2018 so my pick would be:


1st Place = Pillars of Eternity 2
2nd Place = Pathfinder:Kingmaker
3rs Place = BT4

My top three picks for Most Anticipated for 2019

1st Place = Cyberpunk
2nd Place = Wasteland 3
3rd Place = Outer Worlds

rjshae said:

For the future GotY, does anybody have an interest in using a ranked voting poll? For example:

https://www.fairvote.org/create_your_own_rcv_poll

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Nope as someone always requests or asks for a rank poll every year.

Try the Codex.

Btw, how long is the poll open for?

Couchpotato said:

Nope as someone always requests or asks for a rank poll every year.

Try the Codex.

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Which is funny because you're already using a simplified ranked voting system.

rjshae said:

Which is funny because you're already using a simplified ranked voting system.

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Yep just having fun with ya but it was discussed in the past few years. Anyway my opinion is I don't need a top 50 or 100 list like the Codex that changes every year.

Ranking 1, 2 and 3 is enough in my opinion. For some it is already quite hard.

purpleblob said:

Btw, how long is the poll open for?

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Good question. Normally it runs for a week, but given that some people are still trying to get their passwords reset (as they 't no longer have an operational email account registered at RPGWatch), I'll give it another couple of days for them to join and potentially vote.

No Monster Hunter: World?

I understand that a lot of people here are really more looking for an Adventure game with an interactive story than a console action game that requires twitch reflexes… I didn't expect it to win.

But, for me, who spent more time in NWN2 designing character builds than playing, who loves min/maxing and RPG theorycraft, MHW gave me by far the most RPG stuff to think about.

I'll promise you my sorc(28) monk(1) paladin(1) roll in NWN will, with time to prebuff, destroy any PC or creature the game has. I'll bigbys fist an ancient red dragon into the ground as though it were a mere hobgoblin! You can't get past my saving throws! Anyway…

I haven't found this classic RPG interaction in any other recent game. There's nothing to think about. Even if you make me a new D&D game I already know what I'm going.

MHW is a fresh RPG system which starts off very, very simple but ends up being a balancing act where you're never satisfied. When you find a new skill gem it changes everything. It also doesn't require you to start a new character that you cannot be bothered leveling up only to realise you left off a point of STR or something so you don't have the prerequisite score for Power Attack, etc. Because all progression is done through gear you can theory craft your build then test it.

Plus, there's no industry bullshit. No locked content or DLC, season passes, etc. There are events and crossovers from other games, the new content is always free, there's no subscription fees, there's no game store, no store currency. You buy the game, you get everything and more.

And the combat is better than any RPG. I've played all the 3rd person RPGs. MHW controls better than the gothics or witchers or even dark souls.

I mean, I'm a jaded gamer who is constantly complaining about modern gaming industry bullshit and I have nothing but praise for this game. They really designed a fantastic game and it's not just the best RPG of 2018 but one of the best games ever made in general! It's an extremely well thought out system that I can't think of any way to improve. Which is rare. Because most games are terrible.

ALSO, you know, they're making it into a movie? That should be funny.

PS. We can chuck a few screenshots in this and call it a review, if you want.

IIRC MHW is mmo pretending to be singleplayercoop and about no DLC:
https://store.steampowered.com/dlc/582010/MONSTER_HUNTER_WORLD/
Currently cca 120€ to buy all "nonexisting" DLC.

I'm not saying it shouldn't have been nominated, but I don't see what exact RPGness within it would place it under anyone's top 3 RPGs.

I do know however if I bought it it'd earn an instant thumb down on steam from me. What idiot of a developer one can be to put keyboard default space = delete savegame?!

That's just cosmetic junk, joxer. There's nothing there anyone would want. There's nothing in game to lead you towards those things in Steam. There's no attempts at sales, etc.

Not sure what you're talking about with the delete savegame thing, but steam should keep a copy in the cloud? I actually manually back up my save file because it's saved on my PC, which wouldn't make for a very good MMORPG as it's easy to cheat.

It does fill my desire for a multiplayer RPG, though. If you're looking for an MMORPG but hate MMORPGs it's a good one. I played UO and WOW then everything sucked after that. UO was the best sandbox, WOW was the best theme park, then MMOs went rubbish after a few failed attempts to make a wow clone. I've always hated the Korean cookie cutter grindfest MMOS, too.

They are working on a full fledged expansion which I can't wait for. That's not what I'm calling DLC, though. Like, do you remember Dragon Age how the dialogue options had DLC required?! Trust me, MHW is a good guy. There is a Monster Hunter Online MMORPG and its crap.

Also, after the added the "raw mouse input" the keyboard and mouse support is awesome. It even has on screen help that changes between KB controls or mushrooms depending on which you pressed last, so u can swap around as you like.

I use KB and mouse for ranged weapons but mushrooms for melee.

I think you should spend more time playing Path of Exile if you want a game with awesome character building mechanics (and gear plays a very important part of it as well).
Also since I like you I am giving it to you for free!
Just click this link: https://www.pathofexile.com/

Yeah, I played POE in beta and again and again every expansion. I've paid money and have bought shitloads of inventory.

But, It takes a long time to reroll. In MHW you just change your armour. Plus, the combat is just spamming left click and late game combat is just a screen full of aoe fireworks. There's really no skill to it. I like to have an active part in combat. I want to actively block with my shield and counter-attack, parry, riposte, etc! I can handle RPGs that require general gaming skills and as much as I love turn based in theory, in practice they slow me down too much to bother with all the waiting for animations to finish. It still hasn't got any better than Goldbox D&D, for me. Sure, DivOS2 was almost fast enough and I can see how hard it is to make it any faster without making it look silly, but I'm a quick thinker with quick reactions and I can hold my own in any online game and most games can't keep up with ME. MHW combat just never gets old. Trying to master that Long sword takes some serious investment. So easy to learn but hard to master.

Pretty sure MHW is a twitch game and not an RPG. All the videos focus on ludicrous looking cartoon monsters and jRPG type fighting. Doesn't belong on RPGWatch imo. Does character skill determine success or player skill? If the latter, it's not a rpg, but a combat game like Dark Souls. Not saying it's not fun or worthy, just that it doesn't fit with what this site is/or at least used to be about. Of course there are 4X and strategy games that sometimes get in the lists too, so maybe we should just put every single game that claims "rpg" elements. This would include typing programs, cooking apps, etc.

Plus, any real-time system that requires you to PAUSE is flawed by design.

It's definitely player skill that matters most in MHW. Your "level", Hunter Rank, is just for show. Everyone starts with 100HP and that base amount never changes. There's a Health Boost skill for 50HP then that's it. Skills don't enter into eachothers areas so there's just that one skill for HP.

But the question is, "can I live without health boost when it gives me room for an attack boost? If I'm skillful I don't need health. But if I mess up I do." And so on and so on. You'll obsess about it! Then they'll release a new monster which has a new armour set so you swap out a part, etc, etc. It's a great RPG system. Like, in most RPGs where skill doesn't matter at all you can either be allowed to design a rubbish character or not. But the game balance has too much to account for. Is the player a fighter, mage, thief, etc? Then some areas are cakewalk for some builds while others just don't work at all. MHW does a fantastic "everything is viable" while also giving you more or less a gear puzzle to work out to try and get all the skills you want, but you'll never get them all. It's really addictive messing with builds because it's so quick and easy. Like everything in MHW. There's no legwork - it's all fast travel. Loading times are like 4 seconds on SSD.

Anyway, Yakuza 0 is on the list and player skill matters there?

Also, there's enough of a story in MHW to make a movie about, apparently.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6475714/?ref_=nv_sr_1

You play pretty much the same role as a Witcher. There's even Witcher crossover content coming!


Like, the senior citizens could probably give it a miss but if you could play Witcher3 without your arthritis getting in the way then you shouldn't miss out on MHW.

BTW, I don't like animae at all. I can see the animae sort of appeal in the videos, but the game just has good graphics. Your armor, the dragons, the landscape. They characters end with the main campaign but the gameplay goes another 400 hours after the game ends with more new content coming tomorrow.