I think Dark Souls II is better than Bloodborne, but I guess that's just me. Bloodborne is cool but has such a narrow scope of what you can do gameplay-wise that, while it's a breath of fresh air, means I just didn't enjoy it as much as either Dark Souls. It's a fair sight better than Demon's Souls though for sure.
Always enjoy your writing. Keep it up! I always do these end-of-year things as ordered lists rather than blogs, but maybe I should do both...
(P.S. if you need a co-op partner for the chalice dungeons or DLC, hit me up in a PM here or add me on PSN: CheeseMonkey2010)
I just don't get the Arkham Knight hate...City was such a disjointed mess and Knight finally made good on a full, open world with things to do. It's easily a close second to Asylum in the series and I even enjoyed where the story went. I even liked the Batmobile. It's in my top five this year for sure. I found it to be quite good.
"Well, 2015 was certainly an improvement over 2014, wasn't it?"
Nope. Disagree with your premise. I keep hearing this statement this year but I guess nobody else likes Nintendo at all because November 2013-November 2014 is possibly the strongest year Nintendo has had in a decade.
Also, I like Dark Souls II more than Bloodborne (and I have a Platinum in Bloodborne). I feel like this year had a higher broad volume of good games, but far fewer standout obsession games for me.
Not even a passing mention to Bloodborne for best looking? I don't think it would win the category or anything but a lot of folks seem to enjoy the look of that game. They're usually terrible at that category though - back in 2010 they didn't even mention God of War III as a candidate.
EDIT: Also, as much of a Nintendo fan as I am this generation, and how good their games look in HD, I just can't abide the horrible frame rate in Woolly World. It just doesn't run smoothly. Also, every single bonus Yoshi costume looks horrible.
Phantom Menace is meh, Attack of the Clones is decent, and Revenge of the Sith is a great fucking film. I've just watched them again after not watching a Star Wars film in roughly ten years.
After reading more of these comments I am getting nostalgic for the days when I was happy just because a game had a lot of content rather than high-quality content.
Now that I've grown and experienced a variety of videogames, I prefer games with a greater focus on fewer mechanics. For that reason I have enjoyed the simplicity of Mario and Luigi RPGs from Nintendo.
Xenoblade looks like an interesting world, but I really don't want to spend hours walking through a virtual world. The battle system seems too complex, the enemies seem diverse at first (like many games they eventually turn to recolors), and the friendly party system is something I just don't care about managing. I've increasingly recognized that expansive RPGs are not my interest.
I'm totally with you with Mario & Luigi...except for this last one, which took me over 40 hours to beat and kept going FOREVER. Mario RPG, Mario & Luigi 1&3 are the best ones pace-wise.
games nerds must be way more violent than music fans and other normal people i guess
I can name a bunch of musicians that have been murdered by "fans" (John Lennon is a prominent one) and can't think of a single game designer or journalist that's been murdered by a fan. Threats of violence aren't okay, but that's a nonsense statement.
Interesting aside re: the bat vs knife argument. When it comes to personal defense, I remember reading a study that knowing basic grappling/martial arts is more effective since those using knives often end up stabbed themselves. Also you can get stabbed repeatedly and keep going with adrenaline and stuff but a bat to the right spot could be immediately incapacitating.
But long story short: don't get in these situations. Haha or bring a gun.
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