09. Tomb Raider -- Now that's how you reboot a series! I don't know how they did it: In a time when games were starting to show the limitations of the aging consoles, Crystal Dynamics put this out and the first thought that came to my mind was: "Why do we need Next Gen, again?" So detailed, so beautiful! Everything about it was top-notch. Lara was neither too girly nor too heroic. The climbing was better than ever. The action was better than ever. The stealth was great, the hunting was great, the archeological aspects were great, the weapon customization was great; the list goes on and on. I love that the developers made it almost Metroid-like in the item and skill progression; done intentionally or not, there's something about a female lead and that style of gameplay that just hits all the right notes for me! The optional Tombs were just icing on an already sweet, sweet cake! "Ugh! I hate tombs!" Get used to it Lara! I see you raiding them for many successful years to come! Bonus points to the devs, by the way, for not exploiting the dual-gun mechanic, but instead leaving it until the very end to punctuate the origin point of one of the worlds most recognizable gaming characters! Nicely done!
I want more! I love these threads.
Tomb Raider was pretty good.
08. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds -- Just given what this game is a sequel to, it was going to make my list. As a follow up to one of my favorite Legend of Zelda's of all time, it was a shoe-in. Due to time restraints, I've only just arrived in Lorule and it doesn't look as if I'm going to finish the game before the end of the year. Doesn't matter. It still would have made this list regardless! The only difference would have been maybe a few places higher depending on just how good the rest of the game is! I love the sense of nostalgia. I love the rental system and the freedom to explore almost any dungeon in any order **finally!** and the Dark and Light world mechanics are back in play as well. The painting/wall gimmick is truly great and makes you think about solving puzzles and exploring the world(s) in totally unique ways. There's something about a 2D Zelda, it's freedom of movement and top-down perspective, that makes them more enjoyable for me to play. Wall-merging adds just enough "3D" to the puzzles to make things totally fresh, but not at all cumbersome. Speaking of 3D: it's great too of course, but I do question the art-style. I get they were going for the Super Nintendo look, but it comes across as slightly weird. Truth be told, I'm not a big fan. That's one competely insignificant blemish on an otherwise superb game, though! To me puzzle-wise and gameplay-wise, despite being retro inspired, this is one of the freshest, newest and most enjoyable Zeldas to be made in decades!
So will it be Wonderful 101 or Bioshock Infinite at #1...
07. Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness -- In a world that makes more sense, the Disgaea series games would be as anticipated and appreciated as a Persona, Final Fantasy or, at least, an Assassin's Creed game. Here are games that have great SRPG gameplay, tongue-in-cheek, crazy humor, some genuinely poignant moments, near endless replayability, incredible fan-service and the ability to manipulate almost all of the game's stats and/or parameters to make them as easy or sadistically punishing as YOU want. They are truly gamer's games, every last one, yet they are niche as niche comes! I would go as far as saying Nippon Ichi software is the next Atlus games, as their penchant for developing or bringing over incredibly unique or stylized games from Japan is uncanny. Everything that has their name on it, you know it's going to be something special. Disgaea D2 is no exception to this rule, and considering this is the direct sequel to the game that started it all 10 years ago, makes this one all the more special. Laharl, Flonne, Etna and the Prinnies are all back, looking quite a bit more animated and HD than they ever have before, with gameplay that has been refined to a near science to boot! The premise of the Disgaea games is that you are, or want to become, a Demon Overlord. Does this make you "Evil?" No, if there's one thing Nippon Ichi stresses, it's that it's all a matter of perspective. Good characters often are shadier than the demons and the actions of the Demons are almost inevitably noble and good. What's the point then? Playing as a Demon [Overlord] justifies the selfish manipulation of everything around you [stats and troops alike!], the ridiculously over-exaggerated attacks and power [Level 9,999 or an attack that does over a QUADRILLION points of damage?!] and lends to that whole "Devil May Care" irreverant sense of style to the story and game itself. These games have always been, and will always be about FUN, pure and simple, and will always have both a place in my heart and on my GOTY lists for that very reason!
Disgea? Hmmmmm okay. Oh and you're number 8 pick is now Gamespot's GotY.
06. Shin Megami Tensei IV -- Still flabbergasted this was put out on the 3DS instead of a console, still flummoxed at how they managed to make it so good anyway! The Megami Tensei games pre-date Persona games, yet in the West, RPG gamers know Persona and mostly pass over SMT. They have their share of similarities in their battle systems and spell types, but the themes go in very different directions. Persona is almost always set around high-school students and their conflicted psyches come to life. Shin Megami, however, deals with much more "mature" themes. Good and Evil. God and Satan. Lust for Power versus the Silence of Peace. Control versus Freedom. Conflict between Societal classes. The themes go on and on. Where Persona is very story driven, SMT gives you moral choices to make and allows you to take the story in the direction you want it to go. Side with Satan? Kill God? Kill them both and mold the world in your image? Save the world or damn it? There's almost always a "Maiden" who brings about the end of the world, but as the Japanese see it, it is a time for rebirth and renewal, rather than destruction and death. Not exactly the worries of some meddlesome high-school kids. SMT IV takes a slightly different route than past games as it takes place after the world has already ended; it's future is still in your hands though.
The party you command is made up of Demons in the SMT games. Demons in these games are very different than the Western Catholic view. They include gods, goddesses, angels and demons, mythological creatures and more. There's very little distinction between which are good and which are bad, as the Japanese see them as different perspectives of cultural ideals rather than "black or white." It's these Demons, the way you Fuse them, and the skills you pick and choose for them to inherit, that fuels most of the games incredible addictiveness. Above and beyond the moral choices of the story, it's the building of the Monster Compendium that really motivates players the most. This might sound familiar. You think there are a lot of Pokemon? They don't hold a candle to the Tensei demon hordes! These two games are fundamentally the same in execution; Pokemon appeals more to kids, obviously, and SMT to adults. Pokemon has captured the world's attention time and time again. SMT does have its audience, but in my opinion it could be so much more vast than it is!
If you know me, you know the themes in this game are some that I am always intrigued by. That being said, in a year where there was a new Mario and Zelda and so many other great, great games even I am surprised this game made THIS strong an impression on me and ranked so high on my GOTY list! I have put over a hundred hours into it in my first play through. I have kept it and am planning on playing through it AGAIN in the near future. If that's not a testament to it's greatness, nothing is!
I need to give SMTIV another shot at some point. I enjoyed it, but never quite got hooked, but I was also fighting for control of the 3DS from a teenage girl who just got Pokemon Y. I really never had a chance.
I could be getting this game in the foreseeable future.
phantom_leo said:06. Shin Megami Tensei IV
Why is this game still not out in Europe? In fact why has it not even been given a release date?
Or why was the 3DS made to be region-locked?
Why Leo? Tell me please!
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Dvader said:So will it be Wonderful 101 or Bioshock Infinite at #1...
Leo will go BI.
05. Dragon's Crown -- All kidding aside, there's so much to love about Dragon's Crown, it's hard to even know where to start. The game is the fulfillment of one developer's dream. George Kamitani started his career working on Capcom's Dungeons and Dragons side-scrolling, beat 'em up adventures. Since that time it was his wish to make Dragon's Crown. Through many starts and stops, changing of publishers and financial backers, from console to console, back as far as the Dreamcast, he never gave up hope. That amount of passion and devotion deserves notice! The dozens upon dozens of pop-culture, movie and gaming references held within; from Disney to Heavy Metal, Biblical Art to Clash of the Titans... The imagery and design is a sight to behold. The animation is buttery smooth on a battlefield that is often filled to capacity, yet the action remains stable, constant and quick throughout. The gameplay is a multi-player mixing of Golden Axe meets a Loot game meets Muramasa meets Guardian Heroes, and on and on and on... Whether you are an Action fan, a Classic gaming fan, a Loot game fan, an Adventure game fan; If you play MMO's or Diablo... It's ALL in there! The characters show their weaponry and defensive items on their sprites; they all play entirely differently. You can be a Mage, you can be an Archer, you can be a Brawler, the game supports it all! It plays like a game from the days of my youth, yet it contains elements of genres past and present. It plays like a game from the early 90's but the looks of it could only be done on a modern system. It's nostalgia meets blu-ray, hi-def technology. It appeals to every age of my being a gamer all in one game. I could continue, but I won't. Life happens sometimes and for as much love as I have for this game, I've hardly had the chance to play through half of it! Surgeries happened, time has gone by, other games have come and gone in between, yet I sit and eagerly anticipate the time when it is just this game and me. It's the kind of thing that makes me hope for a snowstorm, where I cannot go anywhere or do anything else. Where it's just me in my PJ's, controller in hand, eyes lit up in awe, playing the day away. An unfinished game is this high on my list, up much further than some MEGA-developers pet projects. How much more can I illustrate my regard? Maybe I'll just let the game speak for itself...
^I've been ebay bidding on this one for over a month.
It makes it into my top 5 too. 
I want Dargon's Crown too. Been waiting for it to go down in price since I missed out on the collector's edition. Have been thinking about maybe getting it for the Vita though since my recent vita impulse buy. It should be a buy it once get it on both deal like with Sly.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
04. The Guided Fate Paradox -- Renya Kagurazaka is the unluckiest kid in the world. It's not that bad things happen to him, but when it comes to things like lotteries, he's never won a single one. This changes one day down at his local mall, when a cute girl beckons him over to spin the "Lottery Machine of Destiny" and he draws the winning ball. His prize? He gets to become God. Whether this is a stroke of good luck or bad is unraveled in the course of the story, and I must say, it's quite a unique one! To prove his worth to his troop of angels, Renya is tasked with changing the Fate of those who pray to God earnestly, and the way in which this is done is through the Fate Revolution Circuit. God isn't allowed direct contact with his worshippers. Instead, copies of their worlds and minds are created in this machine, and Renya (the Lord) influences them through this mechanism. He destroys the aberrations causing the subjects to be stuck in their fate and the changes that take place in the machine are then "downloaded" back to their minds. Their wishes granted, their fates changed, they continue on with their new lives. The followers are often faced with crises of Love, Faith, Perseverance and Passion among other ideals. As he grants their wishes, Renya learns what it is to be God and also grows more powerful in the process. There is purpose to everything, and it is later revealed that Renya isn't there to just answer the prayers of the worthy, but he also must try to end the eternal battle between God, the angels, Satanael and his Demon Followers. This is a task he cannot refuse; this is what he is being bred for. Should he try to run, he will be consumed by the entity known as Misery. Lucky or Unlucky? Depends on how you look at it.
Each of the followers worlds are represented as Rogue-like Dungeons with 10 floors apiece. The story takes place between floors and after worlds. The dungeons are randomized, the loot you find is too. Your level resets to One every time you enter a new follower's "Copy World" but your base stats can be boosted by using a Final Fantasy, Sphere Grid-like "Divinigram." Should you fall in a Dungeon, in typical Rogue-like style, you lose everything you were carrying. Considering some of the optional dungeons are 50, 100 and 150 floors deep, that means A LOT! You can suspend between floors if you wish, but start that file again and it is deleted! Like Demons or Dark Souls, you die, you FEEL it! The tension this creates is palpable! This tension, the randomization of loot that you can find, just wanting to see how Renya's story unfolds makes The Guided Fate Paradox one of the most addicting, rewarding and most unique Rogue games you'll ever play! For everything in the game that is typical to the Rogue genre, Nippon Ichi has added new twists to the gameplay to make it that much more challenging. Forced Scrolling dungeons, 3D rotating Worlds a-la Mario Galaxy or Shifting floors within the Dungeon layout are all in there and make this a game unlike any other! I cannot get enough of these games, simply because they don't localize enough these games, but wait, there's more!
How did a game like this take the #4 spot on my GOTY list? I bet none of you have even considered getting it... but that's OK. There's something about Nippon Ichi's games. **They also do Disgaea, btw.** They are comical, they are serious, at times they can be jaw-dropping inspirational! Some of the things this game sets out to tell you are very profound. Renya is capable of miracles in this game, not because he's been given the title of "God" but because of the truthful and sincere way he looks at the world and at his duties. He's not motivated by revenge or the noble ideal of good triumphing over evil. He just wants to return home; to the simple life of a high-school student, to eat his sister's home cooking again, to go to school and see his friends. This game teaches you that the most ordinary of people can be "God-like" and capable of changing fate, but, more importantly, it gets you to appreciate even the most mundane of things. "God is in the details" as they say. Time and life is precious and you should cherish every moment. The greatest 'Evil' of all is to do nothing or to feel nothing. Renya is one of the most endearing characters you'll come across in any game this year; his angels and followers fall in love with him, and you will too, simply for the way he --IS-- so simple and humble. He convinces the most diverse cast of characters, both Angel and Devil alike, that life is what you make of it and love and faith CAN truly conquer all. If this all sounds cliche to you, I am sorry you can't believe in things like this anymore. For me, it made this game one of the MOST memorable all year and up there in the ranks of my all time favorites. Yeah. That good!
You had me until I saw the picture. I thought it was an action game.
So Saints Row 4 #3
Wonderful 101 #2
and Bioshock at #1.
10. Super Mario 3D World -- In past years, Galaxy has taken the top spot in my GOTY listings. Last year, I put New Super Mario Bros. U on my list solely for the reason of being overjoyed at seeing an HD, 2D Mario Bros. game. This year, it was an extremely tough choice to have 3D World even --MAKE-- my list. It was a three way tie for 10th place between it, Saints Row IV and Diablo 3 on the PS3. Does this seem a little odd to anyone else? D3 is a great loot game, maybe not the best in the series, but it's a gaming "pillar" nonetheless. Saints Row is an --INCREDIBLY-- fun and funny game, but its also a tiny bit sloppy and repetitive. THEY almost knocked Nintendo's biggest Wii U title of the year off my list. Is it beautiful? Yes! Is it stuffed full of clever platforming ideas? Yes! Is the Cat Suit worthy? Yes! It's nowhere in the same galaxy as Galaxy though. Galaxy had that Christmas Morning sense of wonder and color to it. It had --HUGE-- and inventive bosses. It had the clever gravity element. Even the Waggle elements added something to it. When playing 3D World, I can't help but feel confined in the stages. It feels less like a 3D platformer than Galaxy, despite the name! The perspective is also --LESS-- up close and personal than it was in Galaxy. I miss the music of Galaxy, I miss the Bosses. Even the Galaxies themselves had more of a solid theme to them than --ANY-- of the 3D worlds. It seems as if the developers said: "Crap! We need an original Mario game for the U and we need one FAST! Everyone come up with your best ideas and we'll throw something together to make them all work!" Magical Fairies it is! They'll just wave their magic wands and **POOF!** whole Worlds appear! There's nothing in 3D World like the Observatory or Starship Mario or the stories Rosalina used to tell the Luma's to make the game as endearing as the two Wii games. It also must be said, even today, Galaxy is amazing to behold. Both Galaxies made so much more of an incredible first impression on the distinctly less powerful, non-HD Wii than 3D Worlds made on the Current Gen Wii U. All of this being said, 3D Worlds is still better than most games on the market and I'm still playing it much more than I did any "New Super" game. I don't know if it's --ME-- that's changed or Nintendo, where their magic is having a lessened effect on me... either way this game has me both slightly worried for their future but also hopeful to see what they will do with a "proper" Galaxy game. Hopefully, the U will last long enough for it to be made, and, hopefully, it will be several places higher on that year's GOTY list!