Old Game of the Year - 2015 Edition

The numbers on the HYPE Meter for Giant Bomb's Game of the Year Deliberations keep getting higher!

With that in mind, what is your Old Game of 2015?

For me, I have two contenders:

1. Persona 3 Portable: I actually started this at the end of 2013. It took me so long to beat this game, it would have been faster if I just played it in real time. With that said, a good chunk of that game was finished earlier this year. I loved playing Persona 3: FES back in 2008, so I already knew it was a great game, but it was a lot of fun revisiting the title in a post Persona 4/Persona 4 Golden world. Also, some of the characters and themes grew on me more during the second play through. Not sure if it's me forgetting how some of that stuff connects together or if I just like the story more now than I did back then, but it was great seeing everything again.
2. Hearthstone: Uh...Not too much to say really...I just played a lot of Hearthstone.

Since I feel like writing a blog about why I stopped playing Hearthstone, in the end I feel like my Old Game of the Year has to go to Persona.

Either Half-Life or Amnesia: TDD

Installed Half-Life on a whim and have found I'm a lot worse at classic shooters than I thought I was. All my memories of this game are of tearing through it effortlessly but now I'm barely surviving each encounter and going from health pack to health pack. Still a lot of fun though, playing with the updated textures of the Steam non-Source version.

Amnesia I saw mentioned in an article about SOMA that specifically mentioned the flooded cellar section, and how they scared you with just a sound effect. Booted it up just to give it another shot - and I was under the impression they meant the "Sound effect" was just that, and couldn't hurt you but scared the hell out of you anyway. But no! It kills you dead. - and I'm still playing it off and on.

I would have to pick Half-Life between the two, just because of my history with it.

Hearthstone for sure, and maybe sc2 if that expansion ends up being worth it? Lets hope.

Hell yeah Persona 3 Portable ! This game is absolutely fantastic, always stoked to see more people play it. It is my favorite Persona game because it blends what I loved about 3 and 4 together by having the core gameplay of 4 with some improvements and the plot and characters of 3 with some additions here as well.

For me, it would have to be Final Fantasy XIV. I know Heavensward came out not too long ago, but I actually started playing the game several months before that and it just grabbed me in a way I did not expect. Reminded me of how much I enjoyed playing World of Warcraft BC and WotLK, when I would be spending weeks just playing that. Turn out FFXIV is pretty damn good !

I'm also very much enjoying Gravity Rush, even if it took me several hours getting there. I had to force my way through the early game and actually stopped playing back then because I did not enjoy it at all. But this year for some weird reason it clicked and I have been enjoying it a lot. It may be flawed in some big ways, but it has a lot of heart.

Finally, Advance Wars Days of Ruin (or Dark Conflict) is an absolutely FANTASTIC game. Never could get into the first 2 games (and it's not for lack of trying) but hot damn is this one great. Holy crap ! The gameplay is soooo good ! And the plot and characters are interesting enough to keep you going. Total surprise about that one :'D

Puyo Puyo Tetris. It's the first game I've imported since the PSP launch and I've had a ton of fun playing multiplayer with friends.

I have continued to play way more Borderlands 2 than is pobably sane or healthy.

With the new expansion and all the changes, Star Wars: The Old Republic has become mine.

Destiny? Zing.

But actually Gary's Mod. Playing Trouble in Terrorist Town has kept me endlessly amused. Also Age of Empires II on steam is still a bunch of fun.

I am one of the people who enjoyed Gravity Rush. It's not a great game, but I had a lot of fun with it nevertheless. There was something kind of majestic with the "falling with style" sort of gameplay and the game certainly had styyyyyyle. That game definitely has heart, and that can go quite a long way when done right.

I hope Gravity Rush 2 is good.

Already replayed The Banner Saga twice but I've also fallen back into Skyrim so either one really.

New Super Mario Bros Wii and New Super Mario Bros U.

I purchased a Wii U on a trip to the USA recently, and it's been great fun playing through these games with my GF. In general I never really liked the new super mario series, because the games just seemed too difficult for me. But with two players convincing eachother that we can do this, it is a lot more fun (also some things are a lot easier with two players).

Regarding Persona 3, what's the best way to play that nowadays? Is there any way to get that on a Vita or do I need to dig up my PSP when I'm back home?

Talos Principle for sure. I had to hold off on it last year because I had already spent too much on games so I waited for it to get a Steam sale.

Fallout 3

The PSP version- Persona 3 Portable- is available on PSN for the Vita, at least in the US. Whether or not that is 'the best' way to play it is up to you. If you don't mind all of the non-dungeon character control being largely reduced to point and click, then it is fine (also, it doesn't include the added content from the FES version). For me, it kind of took me out of the game a bit so I never finished it there...I plan on picking a used one up for PS2 in the future. But as far as ease or availability, yea it's the best way if you don't have a back-compat PS3 or a PS2 hooked up. ...I don't think it ever got ported to anything else outside of the PS2.

Hm. Good question; I hadn't had to think about this in a while, but at the start of this year, I played The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, and I'd say those would be it, as well as the first Witcher. I really enjoyed it, even though it took me some time to get into it, and so I played the first few hours last year, and stopped for a long time until going back a bit before The Witcher 3's release. Oh shoot! I actually have quite a few. I have to add the first Deus Ex and Invisible War, as well as System Shock 2. I'm not going to choose one, but I'd choose all those as the older games in which I really enjoyed and had never gone through before. I bought Invisible War on the original Xbox back around release, maybe a year late or so, and had the original for a long time on Steam, but didn't finish either until earlier this year.

Warframe for me, all of the Destiny talk reminded me of that game. I have played a lot of it and it is fun. It is very grindy but it is the perfect podcast game. I have not spent a cent on the game but I am considering it to get some new Warframes. It is free so anyone interested should check it out. The only thing that sucks is the build times on stuff but I guess they have to make money somehow.

I also played CS GO a lot this year, still the best multiplayer FPS around.

I have continued to play the CCGs on the market: Sol Forge, Infinity Wars, and Hearthstone this year. My favorite of them would be Infinity Wars with Sol Forge a close second.

I think it would be Shadow of Mordor. I didn't get a PS4 until this year, so I missed it last year. I really enjoyed it, and really want to see someone expand on the Nemesis system and use it in various genres.

I wanna say Deus Ex for my OGOTY because Deus Ex: Revision brought back a lot of attention to the original game again, even introducing it to people unfamiliar with any pre-Human Revolution Deus Ex game (based on what I've seen on forums and reddit). I haven't gone far in Revision because I couldn't get over the changes that one would remember when playing the original annually/bi-annually. The Revision mod certainly changes the way I've always approached certain parts of levels which I guess has it's pros and cons. My jerk reaction was the mod "sucks" but I'll be the first to admit I haven't given it a fair chance yet.

Playing the original Deus Ex with the New Vision texture mod installed provides an experience that still holds up well visually and the gameplay doesn't hold your hand in the process which isn't a bad thing. The AI is certainly kind of dated by today's standards but I would argue part of the fun is learning the AI's limitations, especially in 2015.

If anyone new to Deus Ex wants to try out the Revision mod on Steam, I would recommend playing the original first but that's just me. Pro-tip for newbies: always go for the GEP gun first, the other weapons are super easy to get on the island.

My runner up for OGOTY would be Borderlands 2. I've invested thousands upon thousands of hours on the 360 version, the only reason I stopped playing was due to bugs that caused me to lose hundreds of hours worth of character/vehicle skins, some of which you can't even get anymore. I just recently started from nothing on the PC version and it's definitely scratching that itch again I once had for the series.

For me, it is Child of Light.

Not necessarily and "old" game, more of a 2015's 2014 GOTY. I played it between Batman Arkham Knight and MGS:V, so it was a perfect palette cleanser - colorful, fun, and easy with a streamlined JRPG combat system. I always was interested in it, but never gave it a go, even after downloading it for free via Games with Gold a while back. Decided to try it and loved it. Not sure why it didn't get more praise!

There were a few other 2014 games I played more of this year, but they were all featured in my 2014 GOTY list already.

Bethesda are taking pre-orders for a vinyl box set of the Fallout 3 soundtrack and it included this interesting piece of info:

"Already a best-selling title boasting over 4.6 million units sold worldwide, Fallout 3 enjoyed a 1,163% sales boost upon the formal announcement of the upcoming release of Fallout 4 during E3 2015."

I mean I don't imagine Fallout 3 was selling tons and tons before the announcement but still, that's a neat figure.

If you count FFXIV then that would probably be my pick, even though the majority of my time with it this year has been since Heavensward launched. Warframe might be my other pick. I haven't played it as much as I did last year, but it's still my go to game when I have nothing else going on.

Although if I were to include literally everything I played this year I'd probably have to give it to Xenosaga: Episode 3. I started replaying it recently and it has held up shockingly well. In a way that makes me a little sad, as the fate of that series could have been so different if it had started out that good.

I played a lot of incredible, old classics this past year... The best of the best for me is either MGS3 or Fallout New Vegas. My runner-up would be 2014's The Talos Principle

@thiago123: Thanks! Getting it on PSN sounds good enough.

Oh! I also played through MGS3 (on 3DS). Playing it at the same time as watching Metal Gear Scanlon was fun, but it all seems a bit clunky on 3DS, not the recommended way to play that game :)

@warpr: Technical limitations aside, Persona 3 Portable is the best way to experience Persona 3 (that is if you have a Vita). The biggest downside is they took out the 3D models of characters and you can't walk around town. Instead you have static images behind the character portraits that originally appeared in the game and walking around town is replaced by moving a cursor over people and objects you would interact with in the town.

Besides that, I'd say P3P is the best version of Persona 3 in my opinion, between additional content, new social links, gameplay improvements that were introduced in Persona 4, and more. Also you aren't missing out a lot because of the 3D models or not able to physically walk around town. The graphics weren't great to begin with and most of the character emotion was communicated through the voice acting and character portraits. And once you get into the flow of the game, exploring the town and the school is basically a menu to allow you to do stuff, so having the cursor speeds things up.

I think Persona 3 is worth playing no matter how you get it though: an original PS2 copy of Persona 3/Persona 3 FES, a digital copy from PSN to play on a PS3, Persona 3 Portable for the PSP/Vita, which you can download on the PS3's PSN or the Vita itself. (To my knowledge these are available in all regions, although I'm not 100% on this)

@starvinggamer: The Talos Prinicple is sooooooo gooooooood. I wonder if they should consider it for this year's GOTY talks just because it came out after their talks started last year.

Didn' play to many older games this year, but i did like Call of Juarez Gunslinger a lot, got back into Defense Grid 2. But the best thing i did this year was starting up my PS3 which has been gathering dust ever since i bought it, and buying Ni No Kuni! EASILY the best older game i played!!

Probably Hearthstone for me. GB is going to pick Destiny without a doubt though.

Front Mission 3 (PS1) at the moment.

Been eyeing Front Mission on the DS for awhile but a complete physical copy is like $60+ so I hadn't felt the urge to grab it. Then found out, from somewhere, that there is a Front Mission game on PS1 and it was good? /shrug I don't know why I didn't look up the series or whatever. No idea. So I check ebay and its like $25 for a complete copy.

Started playing it and it seemed decent, but then as I got about 20 hours in it really started to click. I started to figure out more tricks and nuance. It's a lot like FF Tactics which I loved.I spent about 12-14 hours straight playing it yesterday.

So now I've ordered Front Mission 4 (PS2) complete because that just looks like more of this with some improvements and much better looking of course. Also ordered the original Front Mission (Super Famicom) complete. Each of them was like $10 shipped. I haven't fired up FM4 yet because its the cheese at the end of the maze for me. I reaaaaally want to try it and see how much better it looks but I'm afraid I'll abandon FM3. So I'm using it for motivation.

DOTA2 personally

My coworker got me to start playing it and now I see why it's so appealing. It feels like playing WoW except every match you go theough the whole leveling progression and there are over 100 unique characters. You also get the same feeling as Rocket League where you're just one player of a team of five. Great game, great game. Also, I hate DOTA2.

Alpha Protocol, every year all years.

It's definitely The Last of Us for me as someone who didn't have a PS3 last gen.

F.E.A.R combat There's only a couple of servers left but I love the maps so much good nostalgia before COD ruined the FPS genre.

Spelunky, again. I fell back in that hole. Again.

Xenoblade Chronicles.

I put about 100 hours into Bravely Default this year so that's probably it. Perhaps I should finish the damn game.

XCOM EU

Isn't the idea of ' Old game of the year' a game that wasn't released in 2015 , but got played a lot in 2015 by the crew?

If that's the case, i would say Destiny is the Old Game of the Year.

Jeff & Brad played it again, and Dan started all over after the Taken King got released.

Persona 3 FES is available on the US PSN for PS3.

Probably Grim Fandango. I always wanted to play it , and did not disappoint .

I finished Link to the Past and Super Adventure Island 2 for the first time this year. Good stuff.

Without a doubt it has to be Nier at the top for me. I played through the game (including all endings and everything needed for an S rank achievement wise) and was absolutely floored by it. Not only did I like the general look and vibe of Nier but the colorful main cast that I got attached too (with Emil being my favorite) and a great story that tugs at your heart strings at one moment and then makes you feel absolutely devastated in others. It brought me back to a time in my teens when I was super into JRPG's, I've split from the genre as the years have gone on but Nier was fantastic. The moment to moment gameplay was nothing to write home about, functional and didn't get in the way but I really liked inhabiting that world and was legitimately melancholy once I saw everything there was to see. More people should play Nier.

I feel I should also mention Alpha Protocol, it's definitely a game with some very rough edges but Chris Avellonne and the crew at Obsidian prove that without a doubt they are some of the best writers in the industry. I felt like my choices mattered and since I like to play role playing games as a mostly good guy in a big picture way but will absolutely do some real dickish things when given the chance and AP was great for that. I really liked that I could see the end of the game with very different groups of people (I ended up mostly aligning myself with Albatross with help from Mina and Heck and ultimately got revenge on everyone who wronged me from the offset). The gameplay is as mentioned VERY rough but I went stealth, pistols, and hacking and didn't have too bad of a time. My chain shot ability to get instant head shots really helps for oh shit moments and the annoying Russian Mob Boss fight.

Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Evil Within aren't as old as my other two listed games but I had a lot of fun with them as well. I played them on the 360 and I plan to at the very least to play The New Order again on my One. My masochist nature would probably make me attempt to get all the achievements again in The Evil Within but I just don't know if I can take Akumu mode again right now.

CSGO was my game of the year last year and it is again this year. Played almost 2000 hours over the past 2 years.

THE TALOS PRINCIPLE HOLY SHIT IT IS SOO GOOD. I'm an architecture student and I like solving 4x4x4 rubiks cubes so I really like the talos principle and the text story. But its definitely not for everyone.

Mark of the ninja is the best game i played.

The puzzly element is amazing, the action is kinda fun but the whole arcady action and 2d stealth is so good.

ohh wait... the best game i played was when i replayed FFVI... i really need to take notes on all the games that i played

I replayed Tales Of Symphonia earlier this year and that game is still reeallllyyy good.

I haven't really played that many old games. Pretty much everything I've played was released this year. I'll give a shutout to Akibas Trip Undead and Undressed though. Got the platinum trophy in that game and enjoyed playing through it.

When it comes to classic games that have seen rereleases this year, I'd say either System Shock 1 (Enhanced Edition) or Daggerfall.

The old game I've spent the most time with this year has been Doom Complete Collection on PS3 though.

Heavy Metal Pokemon a.k.a. Shin Megami Tensei IV. At some point I think I broke the game having fusioned so many characters together that I have a couple with no weaknesses who drain or block half of all possible attacks. And now I hear there's a sequel/reimagining coming out. Cool.

Also the older but still really good Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (try saying that five times fast). A great JRPG near the end of the PS2's lifecycle, with real-time combat instead of the turn-based action, and it's set around 1920s Japan, which doesn't get a lot of attention in video games.