That description is very humorous.
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That description is very humorous.
SMG is easily Wii's GOTY.
GOTY Overall? I dont know, quite frankly i dont know what i would call GOTY myself yet. Wii has finally gotten its #1 widely agreed great game, the competition has quite a few more though.
I don't understand how everyone's forgetting BioShock so quickly. Even with its difficulty problems, there's no way Mario or ME (admittedly only seen this so far; haven't played yet) seriously challenges it.
Mario seriously challenges bioshock, and I think Bioshock is better than everything else besides that so far.
Bioshock had no real blemishes to me besides the Vita-Chamber flub, and the whole 5.1 sound not mixing very well at ALL.
I think right now like my big GOTY decisions would be
Wii: SMG
360: Bioshock
PS3: Uncharted.
each of these games have been superb, but they also each had some blemishes.
Bioshock's all presentation. I love the game, but that's due to the great art design and (mostly) fantastic storytelling. However, the gameplay has some really blatant balance issues, the morality deal wound up being a complete bust, you're sent on a few too many fetch quests for my liking, and the whole thing completely fizzles out at the end.
It's still great, and I'd love to see more games take after it, but it's a bit like Silent Hill 2 (another game I love) in the sense that the less something has to do with gameplay in it, the better it is. It's kind of like the anti-Mario Galaxy, with a stunning presentation and serviceable gameplay that more or less gets the job done and lets the player focus on everything else.
while SMG is on the far other end of the spectrum
And that's why Bioshock would never get my vote. Personally, I buy games predominantly for the gameplay with the hope that it's satisfying enough to also provide sufficient replay value. The gameplay is the foundation that just can't be compromised. I respect Bioshock, and similar games that execute well in storytelling, atmosphere, and immersion, but if the gameplay falls short, it just can't win GOTY.
I don't think a game needs to be technologically superb to be a great "overall package" - or at least, I don't think it's as important as having good art direction and solid gameplay.
Why, you ask? It's easy.
Go back and play ANY older game. I dare you to go back and play any PS1 game. Most of the greats of their time are graphical messes by today's standard. For as real as Tomb Raider was in its time, it's a joke to say the same thing today. So if cutting edge visuals are criteria in any way, shape or form for a good game, good games must get outdated really, really fast. Which would kind of explain why certain people are foolish enough to pine for a FF7 remake or anything of the sort. They never got tired of the game itself, but the visual edge is ancient now, meaning the only justifiable way to consider playing it again would be a remake. That would be, as they say...sweet.
Except on my own terms, FF7's merits stand today as it did when it first came out. I'm more concerned with how poorly the gameplay has aged, or how hodgepodge certain visual directions of the game look compared to others . Even the music, despite technical improvements over 16-bit, tended towards the forgettable. Jump up a generation and FFX fares better in its staying power - a more cohesive world and great gameplay elements barring some ridiculous optional quests. You may not have cared for the look of the world, but it was a unified one. And as silly and melodramatic as the story was, it was worth playing through because the gameplay elements were quite enjoyable.
Even if you don't like FF, you could even go back and argue that 6 is the best of the bunch. Not for its at-the-time cutting edge graphics or sound, but because the developer took what they had and crafted something that, because of the sum of its parts, remains this day to be considered a great game worthy of playing through.
Which is where I'm going with this whole diatribe - if you can go back several generations and play a game in that era and still enjoy it, I doubt it has very little (if anything) to do with being on the razor's edge of technology. I don't think that means we shouldn't be pursuing it because with better technology we also get fuller realized visions of what developers are aiming for. To say it's a key component to making great games though is silly. Donkey Kong is still a great game. The first Ratchet and Clank is still a great game. Crash Bandicoot is still a great game. And I'd like to think that when the next set of consoles rolls out, this generation of great games won't be diminished in the eyes of gamers simply because they run on outmoded technology.
if FFTactics were released this year would any of you consider it for GOTY?
I agree with your point but I don't think any FF game was ever GOTY.