Bordersdown Game of the Year 2015 - The Winner

[speedlolita]

Given my general apathy toward any kind of any modern video game, MGSV did nothing to keep my interest.

[J0e Musashi]

Reading this it looks like J0e went full Kanye West when he saw the results.

"Yo, Bloodborne, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but MGSV was one of the best games of all time!"

Pretty much. Bloodborne is one of the most disappointing games I've ever played. It is lacking in so many areas if you are a seasoned Souls player. It was a frankly HUGE step backwards. Considering the debate we had at the time of launch where pretty much everybody was playing it completely wrong, I don't see how so many people have voted for it.

[J0e Musashi]

Maybe players gave it ample time, understood the systems fully, but just didn't enjoy the game?

Different people like different things. Accept that fact because it's not going away.

MGSV requires some serious playtime. Well over 100 hours to properly get into it. That hasn't happened here.

[Wools]

The game is totally different to everything else out there, but wasted on 90% of those who play it simply because they won't put in the time it requires.

That's a fairly weak argument though. Just because a game has deep and complex systems does not mean it's fantastic and if people had trouble being the best at those systems, does not mean their opinion is null and void.

Gran Turismo 5 had stunning physics but people had genuine complaints about the graphics, audio, career structure, bugs, design philosophy and all manner of other criticisms. But because they could not lap Maple Valley in a GT-R as quick as myself, does it allow me to brush aside those complaints because they did not master the controls as well as I did? Of course it doesn't and the same applies for MGSV or any other game.

MGSV looks and sounds amazing, with some real advancements in the open world genre, but it has just as many valid issues.

[J0e Musashi]

That's a fairly weak argument though. Just because a game has deep and complex systems does not mean it's fantastic and if people had trouble being the best at those systems, does not mean their opinion is null and void.

Gran Turismo 5 had stunning physics but people had genuine complaints about the graphics, audio, career structure, bugs, design philosophy and all manner of other criticisms. But because they could not lap Maple Valley in a GT-R as quick as myself, does it allow me to brush aside those complaints because they did not master the controls as well as I did? Of course it doesn't and the same applies for MGSV or any other game.

MGSV looks and sounds amazing, with some real advancements in the open world genre, but it has just as many valid issues.

Its not really a weak argument though. As in the same way that everybody wrote off Gran Turismo 5 because it wasn't Gran Turismo 4, MGSV has been written off (like MGS4 before it) because it isn't MGS1-3.

Considering the reason people liked Bloodborne was because it was different and less complex (read good) than the Souls games, I think my opinion is valid in the face of such hypocrisy.

[wakka]

MGS 5 is great but it still has a lot of problems. I don't think you can brush past the fact that the game is clearly unfinished, since

->Open Spoiler<-

many story strands are never wrapped up, most prominently Eli/Liquid leaving with Salehanthropus, and the fact that the second half of the game mostly compromises retreads of levels from the first half.

The FOB stuff is good - I enjoy it and it's a really clever idea - but to me an MGS game is first and foremost about its single player campaign. MGS 5's is unfinished. And that for me lets it down significantly.

I still sank 100+ hours easily, and it's still probably my personal GOTY - but I can definitely see how others might not feel the same way. If mission 51 had actually been made, along with all the other story missions that probably should have been in there but were

->Open Spoiler<-

replaced by retreads in Extreme/Total Stealth etc

, then it would have been one of the best games ever.

It's a shame really. They could've added

->Open Spoiler<-

Extreme/Total Stealth/Subsistence options for every mission, too.

That would've been really awesome.

[nakamura]

Gran Turismo 5 was pants.

[speedlolita]

Driving 200 mph into a brick wall slightly jarred my bumper. Hardly amazing physics. GT5 was naff and Polyphony haven't recovered since. Forza is king now. :c

[Cornflakes]

MGS 5 is great but it still has a lot of problems. I don't think you can brush past the fact that the game is clearly unfinished, since

->Open Spoiler<-

many story strands are never wrapped up, most prominently Eli/Liquid leaving with Salehanthropus, and the fact that the second half of the game mostly compromises retreads of levels from the first half.

The FOB stuff is good - I enjoy it and it's a really clever idea - but to me an MGS game is first and foremost about its single player campaign. MGS 5's is unfinished. And that for me lets it down significantly.

I still sank 100+ hours easily, and it's still probably my personal GOTY - but I can definitely see how others might not feel the same way. If mission 51 had actually been made, along with all the other story missions that probably should have been in there but were

->Open Spoiler<-

replaced by retreads in Extreme/Total Stealth etc

, then it would have been one of the best games ever.

It's a shame really. They could've added

->Open Spoiler<-

Extreme/Total Stealth/Subsistence options for every mission, too.

That would've been really awesome.

My issue with MGSV:TTP is MGO. That part of the game just arrived far too late for the pc version, as in it only appeared just now. With the online part, the whole grading of the game itself, imo, changes. Despite some flaws with MGO, the whole game as a package is much better value for money than it was before.
With MGO i would say it just edges out bloodborne, but without it, bloodborne is definitely the better game.

[Neon Ignition]

After a mull, for 2016 the best category for changing from this would probably be the Best Game Not Released This Year one. Say you love F-Zero GX and play it at some point most years you're likely to vote for it most years too. The award would probably be best restricted to say 'Best Game from Last Year' award as a way of back awarding games that came out but players only got around to completing from their backlog the following year.

[Asura]

After a mull, for 2016 the best category for changing from this would probably be the Best Game Not Released This Year one. Say you love F-Zero GX and play it at some point most years you're likely to vote for it most years too. The award would probably be best restricted to say 'Best Game from Last Year' award as a way of back awarding games that came out but players only got around to completing from their backlog the following year.

You could do "best game on current gen not released this year"?

[QualityChimp]

"Best game you first started this year but it wasn't released this year"?
I'm ready to criticise the judging panel for their lack of diversity in their choices...

I get what you're saying, it's an older game that you didn't have chance to play when it first came out, rather than your favourite game of all time that you regularly replay.

As a videogame miser that rarely bought new games when last gen was current gen, let alone now next gen has become current gen, this category is especially dear to my heart, Supes!

[Neon Ignition]

It was something I mulled when scanning the backlogue. I have multiple games to do from last year that would likely never rival evergreen stuff but missed out consideration as they released late on but take too long to do in the short time they'd been out.

[Brad]

It takes time to be sure about these things but right now I think that MGSV might be the greatest videogame that has ever been made and I haven't even finished it yet (that says everything about my free time and my general apathy toward gaming at the moment, and nothing about the quality of metal gear). Didn't finish Bloodborne (and never will - finished Demon's and Dark a number of times).

[QualityChimp]

right now I think that MGSV might be the greatest videogame that has ever been made and I haven't even finished it yet

Wowzers, that's a bold claim, Brad!