Games you're playing at the years end? And are you enjoying them?

Absolver. Only Absolver, every day whenever I can find time, I am not a top tier player by my estimation, but am told by those that are that I'm getting there. 600+ hours since launch in September and with Thursday's gigantic 8 gig content dump with the new 3v3 mode, the player count making a spectacular rebound, I don't plan on stopping even with every move, style mastered- as I have plenty of competitive fighting, re-tuning of move ordering/placement, students in my school to train, and new players during the 50% sale going on until Dec. 11th. I made a blog post about why I still play, why the very small community does as well, and why the developers passion, dedication, generosity and direct one-on-one communication on discord and twitter makes me hopeful that this game will finally gain back the high concurrent playerbase it deserves.

If you're not strapped for cash, $15 dollars is a criminally low asking price for what Absolver, now, has to offer up.

Finished Nier yesterday. I thought Persona 5 will be my GOTY this year, but I'm not sure anymore. I love it and can't stop thinking about it despite its flaws. Next I'm gonna go with Wolfenstein.

Also just wrapping up playthrough C of Nier. Also didn't enjoy the game as much as the praise made me believe I would. It is completely absurd to lock the good story bits behind finishing a nearly identical second playthrough. But even then, I just found the world to be really bland and empty, the side quests to be too much filler and fetch questy, the non mission critical characters to be very boring and unmemorable, the rpg elements to be unnecessary, and the combat to be rather simplistic for a Platinum action game (especially as 9S).

The payoff in playthrough C (through ending E) is great, but I don't know that its worth getting there with the rest of the game being so mediocre. Like, I gotta wonder how many people stopped after ending A and what they thought of it; I have to imagine a majority of players stop playing a game once they see credits. By ending A, I was still pretty down on the overall experience. According to Steam achievements (which are obviously not a serious statistic but a good jumping off point) only 30% of players reached ending B and only 25-20% ending C and on. So only 25% of players saw the "good parts." Which is... not a good percentage. Either I'm being too harsh on the base game or that 25% is a very vocal minority preaching for the game.

Music is dope though.

I think that I am finally done with Nioh... 150+ hours in, I have completed every mission numerous times, have finished the game on three difficulties and almost the fourth - Way of the Wise. It is a spectacular game, but I now only have the ultra late game to look forward to. I have been grinding Amrita and am done now; I see no value in farming ethreals for ever. It is a spectacular game. I just don't know what I could possibly get in to now after such a wonderful experience...

It’s been nothing but Breath of the Wild the last couple of weeks 16 shrines done so far. Love just exploring the world!

Right now I'm working my way through Pokémon Ultra Sun on 3DS. I've put over forty hours in, but I've been taking my time and trying to fill out my Pokédex as much as possible, so I've only made it to the third island so far. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, but I can't shake the incredible sense of déja-vu I keep getting from it. I feel like Nintendo did a really bad job of marketing Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, making them appear like Black 2/White 2-style sequels when in actual fact they're much more akin to a Yellow/Crystal/Emerald/Platinum "definitive version" type deal. Based on what I've experienced so far I'd say they're definitely the best way to experience the seventh generation for a newcomer, since they've addressed the two major issues I had with original Sun and Moon (a boring indigenous Pokédex that was way too heavily skewed in favour of the first generation, and a generally rushed feel to the whole package that I suspect was due to Game Freak being forced to get new games out to mark the franchise's twentieth anniversary). As a returning player though, it's difficult to recommend them to anyone but true blue Pokémaniacs.

I'm also playing through Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception for the first time, as part of the Nathan Drake Collection on PS4. I'm currently on Chapter 12, with a progress percentage of 62%. It's a good game so far, but it takes way too long to get going in the beginning - I think it was Chapter 6 before the tutorialising stopped and I ended up in a proper gunfight. I can see why a lot of people were disappointed by it after the generation-defining experience of Uncharted 2. If I can tick this one off within the next week (which I'm pretty optimistic about), then I'll likely try and get through Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice before the end of 2017 as well. Been meaning to check that one out for a while now, and it seems like the perfect length to plug the gap between Christmas and New Year.

I bought Horizon Zero Dawn and i like to play older games alot, So i bought oblivion because thats a great choice. I will be playing Dark Souls 1 and 3.

@ntm: I considered that, but playing the original is cheaper and I don't have to wait to play it. Plus, visually, I'm not sure I like what I've seen of the remake as much compared to the original.

Great thread.

I've been trying to play and finish Nioh, which is close to be a perfect game yet is still not my top 1, so I can finally finish up my GOTY list which is reaching around almost 30 pages of stuff that I've written down so far. It's difficult to do if you have a job but since febuary my life has been stable so far and I'm glad I can even do such a thing.

EDIT: Oh and besides I'm super anticipating the gigantic Night in the Woods update that is coming out soon. I can't wait to see what it offers. Its when I finish the game again I'm gonna finish up my GOTY list and just post the dang thing.

I played through Shadow Complex. That game is hilarious. The story is absolutely terrible and the controls are janky as hell but I had a ton of fun with it. The quasi-3D stuff was really cool and the melee animations are amazing - I was running around drop kicking guys in the face and punting robots around. The powers you unlock were also really fun but I ended up completely overpowered after like 2 hours even though I was playing on hard.

I've made it to the final dungeon of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, and I'm kinda just putting off finishing it since I know the final boss is going to kick my ass back out into the dungeon to grind again. Really enjoying the game, at the same time I cannot stop saying "this fucking game" in a very negative way.

Started Utra Moon, don't think I'm gonna be finishing it any time soon. Tutorial Island is really taking the steam out of me. I also think I'm just kinda sick of playing that same exact game with a fresh coat of paint and even more hand-holding with each iteration.

Also picked up Gravity Rush 2 in a sale and immediately remembered how much I loved the first game upon starting this one. Excited to get back to it when work lets up.

I should probably finish up BotW on master mode, Super Mario Odyssey, and then squeeze in Assassin's Creed Origins somehow.

I am playing through Risen 3 and waiting for update for Night in the Woods.

I'm having trouble putting down Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It's far from perfect, but it is so much better than I thought it would be, and I'm getting surprised by the little touches in it constantly.

Saving Zelda DLC for the Christmas break (I barely touched DLC 1 content so I'll have that to tackle also).

Other than that, Hitman's reprised elusive targets were a good reason to get back in (I bought the game about halfway through so I missed a bunch of them). Working on uncompleted challenges / escalations / professional mode is a decent way to spend an hour or two after work.

Just bought Life Is Strange: Before the Storm since it was on sale via Steam for about $12. Really wish the last episode was coming out before 12/20. I burned through the first two because they were very good, much better than anticipated. If the full game had been out earlier I would have given it consideration on a GOTY list.

Other than that I'll be playing PUBG on Xbox once it drops. I tried getting back into The Division with the 1.8 update but I'm just not feeling it.

With Cuphead going on sale I decided to pick it up. I've been enjoying my time with it so far. Every level is a visual and musical delight. With some on point movement abilities it's easy to keep up with the crazy amount of stuff bosses can send towards Cuphead. Since every boss battle doesn't take to long it never feels to bad to lose. Although that could change the closer I get to the end of the game.

I've continued to work my way through Injustice 2. I finally finished both endings for the game. I haven't had this much fun with a fighting game since Tekken 5. I absolutely love the gear that you earn while fighting.

Also went back to Everybody's Golf. Thoroughly enjoying that as well. I need to double back and finish Horizon too. I'm about 5-6 hours in. I was enjoying it, but Injustice 2 took me away.

Lastly, need to get around to Sniper Elite 4. Picked it up on Black Friday. Seems like it'll be a blast, but dang is it hard to get the hang of so far.

@deactivated-5a2da3c0c0c3a: Why not Dark Souls 2? Did you play that? I don't know if I'm in the minority, but to me, it's a better game than three. Three was merely okay, but a weak ending to the Souls games (which I am including Bloodborne), mainly for three reasons: I wasn't as into the setting, the music was not that good to me, which was less daunting/imposing sounding, and more operatic, and I really disliked many of the late game boss fights. There are definitely some good things in there and retains a lot of what makes the Souls games great, it just didn't do it for me personally.

I wouldn't skip DS2 if you haven't played it. It starts off as a little frustrating, at least it did to me, but ends up being great. I played Scholar of the First Sin on PS4. I played all the Souls games (again, including Bloodborne) back to back in order of release in 2015, DS2 is probably the second 'worst' to me, but that's not saying much. DS3 is disappointing though. Its a series I kind of regret not playing when I had the chance, as I had bought both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls on launch, but only put about ten hours into either one, thinking it was way more grind-y than it actually is.

@wrinklydinosaur: So, I assume you played all the DLC then? Is that content worth it? I only played through all the content of the main stuff once (minus the duo fight that unlocks in the end), but Nioh is definitely in my top ten of the year. It has a few issues, but nothing to stop it from being less than superb to me. I didn't plan on playing DLC, but it'd be a good reason to jump back in at some point if it's good. Also, totally on a side note, and hopefully it's not too spoiler-y, but when I got Bowser's stage in Odyssey, it reminded me of Nioh's The Demon King Revealed level.

I would definitely say you're in the minority there, I think most would consider 3 a better game. Also, holy cow that is a long sentence.

Starting up AC:O. Last one I loved was Black Flag and this is that team and while I also really liked syndicate I'm excited for this one especially the setting. Other than that working my way through Axiom Verge for the first time and man that game is an awesome metroid loveletter while also being different enough with some cool twists. Probably get my brother the switch physical version as he loves metroidvanias and hasn't played it yet. Good end of year times!

I'm playing through Horizon: Zero Dawn. Looking to get it done by the time the podcasts hit. It has a really strong first impression, but I'm having trouble staying motivated. I think it's mostly in the difficulty. A lot of the larger robots are such events by themselves, and it can get a little exhausting having to spend 5 to 10 minutes taking down a single enemy. I don't know if I'm fighting them too early, but the progression doesn't seem to indicate that, besides health, you would get all that more "powerful" after leveling up. idk, maybe I'm just bad at games.

I've been tackling Night in the Woods, Prey, and Metroid: Samus Returns lately. Those 3 games along with SteamWorld Dig 2 are the ones I want to try and finish by year's end, if possible (it will be tight). Night in the Woods I generally like, though I think it moves a bit slow and has some annoying gameplay things. Prey seems cool but I'm pretty early so far. Metroid is not doing it for me so far though, I'm finding it kind of bland and boring. I hope it picks up :(

Was playing a ton of AC Origins, but I have an anxiety problem that sometimes makes its way into the time I play games. I ended up not enjoying my time with it not because it was a bad game, but because I was constantly worried. I'll restart it sometime next year.

I've been playing through West of Loathing and The Evil Within 2. I can't say I really like either of them, tbh. West of Loathing starts stretching itself really thin, and Evil Within 2 feels so damn clunky that I can't get into it =(

I'd wanted to play the Wolfenstein games, but it just always managed to fall by the wayside. Hearing as much as I did about New Colossus however, I knew it was going to be something worth experiencing myself before GOTY started. So in the last few weeks I got through New Order, Old Blood and New Colossus. Really happy I did, because the hype didn't do those OMFG moments justice.

I have a huge 2017 backlog but find myself playing slightly older games anyhow.

The Flame and the Flood has been really fun and I've recently rediscovered Dragon's Dogma. Also, NBA Jam.

@tylerhendrix: I have an old copy of Secret of Mana and share the same sentiment about the visuals. I'd rather look at the original than what I've seen of the remake.

Managed to finish Wolfenstein: The New Order/The Old Blood and Virginia, and started messing around with Tannenberg. My thoughts on all of them have been pretty mixed. I liked what Wolfenstein was going for but it felt like it struggled with pacing (more so a problem with The New Order), structurally it had a kind of Half Life 2 thing going for it but it felt like I was jumping back to the headquarters too often. For Virginia I was with it until about the last third of the game and by the end kind of didn't care anymore. Tannenberg is just Verdun, like same exact gameplay, menu, graphics, etc. which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I really enjoyed Verdun, but I dislike the main mode in this one, where instead of fighting trench to trench it's capture points all over the map. It feels like every single match ends up with one side taking most of the map early on and then the next 30 or 40 minutes of the match being mostly spawn killing, even more so than in Verdun.

I forgot that the RE7 Not a Hero comes out today. I think I'm going to stop playing Far Cry Primal and play that instead, as well as the Zelda DLC after that. Far Cry is okay so far.

Nearly done with The Evil Within 2 and having not played the first game I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by it. The gameplay isn't anything mind blowing and the styyyyle and plot do feel a bit derivative of Silent Hill. However in a time when we will probably never see another Silent Hill game it is a competently made survival horror game in that vein. It probably wouldn't be on my list of faves this year but I've had a mostly good time with it. RE7 was kind of THE horror game to overtake this year in my opinion and I don't think Evil Within 2 quite rates.

Well, so much for Zelda's DLC. I don't like it one bit, so I probably won't finish it. I only did the Gerudo divine beast boss and everything before it just wasn't fun to me. It seems like a DLC for those that really love the shrines and want to eke out a little more challenge. It really bums me out at how bad it is in my opinion unless there's a lot more to it. I'll check, but I'm doubting it.

I wanna finish Persona 5 for GOTY spoiler avoidance purposes, but that's an at least 50 hour venture from this point and I don't have any time off till the 23rd... Other than that, plugging away with Rocket League and PUBG still, my go-to multiplayer games.

I also lost interest in Frozen Wilds (bought it because I adored Horizon) at the point where they require you to be level 50 out of nowhere to do what I presume is the last mission. It sucks because I'm only level 46 and I swear I started this DLC over the recommended level requirement of 30 or whatever it is. I don't even know how to grind my level up, let alone want to. I might just do the mission anyway to be honest.

I bought Lords of the Fallen for 5 bucks and it's so.... bland. It's a real lesson about how you can't just take parts of Dark Souls and main stream it up. The voice acting is terrible (and at least on my PC it seems they put an ungodly amount of echo behind it to partially hide it?) and the dialogue is also terrible. The enemies are boring, the map is boring. I feel 0% of the rush fighting bosses that I did in Dark Souls.

I checked a FAQ and apparently it's pretty short? I'm 4 hours in and like 40% in.

I want to be playing Assassin's Creed Origins but I sequestered my PS4 with my girlfriend so I can get through law school exams without that particular temptation hanging around. Instead I've been playing a bit of Darkest Dungeon every night to wind down (which probably tells you how stressful school is that Darkest Dungeon is calming by comparison). That game's pretty dang great.

Hollow Knight is a fine podcast game while you're just exploring. But it does require mental attention at certain bosses.

Non-2017 games: Mini Metro, Grim Dawn, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the sky.

Played through Not a Hero earlier today and while it was enjoyable, the final season pass DLC which also just came out, End of Zoe, is were the real good stuff is at. You play as Joe Baker, Jack's brother, trying to save Zoe post Ethan getting rescued, the thing that sets it apart is Joe doesn't use guns, he's a boxer, so you just punch all the molded and use spears and homemade bombs against them. It's not particularly long, maybe about an hour/hour and a half, but it's been my favorite of the season pass DLC easily.

Gravity Rush 2 I'm enjoying it, not as much as the first one but it's great for zoning out and listening to podcasts while searching for collectibles.

My SNES classic arrived today, I never had one growing up and there are 6 games on it that I've wanted to play and now have a chance to.

Finishing up Battle Chasers Nightwar. That was a better game than I thought it was gonna be. I didn't exactly know what to expect from a turn based rpg based on a comic book from the 90s, but it's way better than I even hoped. Also, all of the artwork and animations are fantastic, and im sitting here wondering why no one really even brought this game up. I know this was a stacked year, but im glad I didn't miss this.

Also, finished Children of Zodiarcs. Aside from a misstep every now and then, it was a solid game. Actually, my only real problem was the writing at times, gameplay was usually good through most of the game.

Witcher 3, finally. I enjoy it very much, even with some of the usual open-world-filler nonsense.

WELL. Not only did they put Gang Beasts out on PSN today, but Clever Endeavor also quietly pushed out Ultimate Chicken Horse. This is going to take a huge bite out of my holiday game time.

Oh, that's right. Gang Beasts. I want in on that but I feel the moment's already passed. Oh, LocoRoco 2 as well.

A new game called Spec Ops: The Line. It's kind of a bummer.

I'm trying to push through Nier because of what everyone has said about the story, but holy hell it's a slog. It just doesn't feel very fun to play. Also for people that have finished it, can I just mainline the main quest and ignore most of the side stuff? I know it fleshes out the world, but right now the world doesn't seem that interesting to me.

I... kinda don't like Mario Odyssey.

I bought a Switch for it and I go between feeling pleasant enjoyment, slight boredom, irritation, and now that I'm in the end game: blinding rage.

I know the total consensus is that it's amazing so I'm probably just not the audience for a 3D Mario anymore(?) Which is an insane sentence considering Mario 64 was my introduction to gaming and remains one of my favourite games ever.

-I don't like how slow Mario moves. I don't like that you fight four variation on one boss (the rabbits) and I really don't like that you fight each variation four times over the course of the game. I absolutely hate the controls for the long jump. I don't like Cappy, he's a really dumb character. I don't like how pitifully easy it is until end game. I don't like the art style much, (some levels look great like the beach vacation and desert ones and others look pretty junky) I don't like how the game just hurls moons at you for basically just walking around. I don't like that when it gets hard I find myself fighting to control Mario/Cappy more than managing the level design. I don't like how repetitive it is, (going 2D was a great surprise the first couple of times, the 15th and 20th got pretty old)

/Ok, I admit. I'm angry, I only got to this point today so it's still fresh.

Once the difficulty in the end game ramps up, all the small irritations I had with it (but was pleasantly ignoring up to that point because the game was so easy) came right to the forefront. I was never loving the game. It was a little slow and kinda dull in places, I was in no way compelled to keep playing but I like to finish games and (like I said) it was easy and charming enough that I pressed forward hoping it would kick into gear at some point. When it finally turned the difficulty up I only found all my small issues became big issues and I ended up yelling at the tv and cutting my hand on something after punching the sofa. No game has made me angrier than Odyssey in a long time.

I'm so bummed.

(p.s. if you are one of the VERY many who love Mario Odyssey please don't take this personally. I feel like I can happily back up my claims but at the end of the day it's a matter of taste and it's different for everyone. I REALLY like that most people think this game is amazing, I'm just sad to not be among them.)

@panfoot: RE7 might be my favorite game of the year, maybe, but what I saw of the DLC didn't really interest me. Each one seemed too short for the money (even if one can argue, as a whole, it's worth it). I'm just glad at least one piece is free. I tried playing it earlier, but it wasn't available even after the update. I couldn't find it anywhere.

@bluefish: I wouldn't say I dislike either Mario or Zelda, but (and now with Metroid Prime 4 coming) they're what I got excited about when it comes to getting the console, and more or less, they both ended up being disappointing. They're not even worth cracking my top five (maybe not even top ten? [Top fifteen, okay.]) And like I said in a previous post, it hits the nail on the coffin for Zelda with the latest DLC. I think both are really good games overall, I just didn't love them.

I just finished RE7's Not a Hero free DLC. I really liked it a lot despite its only hour and a half time span. I think by now, I can say definitively that RE7 was my favorite game of the year.

Lost Legacy is dope. Gameplay wise, it's a known entity - you swing and climb on things, take cover and shoot bad guys, ridiculous "by the skin of your teeth" set pieces. You know, standard Uncharted stuff. The thing that doesn't get talked about enough is how good Naughty Dog is at creating likable characters and how naturally those characters interact with each other. It's the subtle nuances - a facial expression, a weighty pause, a hand gesture - that most other developers don't even attempt, let alone pull off that's so impressive. Also, at a time when diversity and representation are hot topics, I would have thought a game where the main protagonist is an Indian woman, and whose partner is a black woman would have been talked about more. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to be at a place when those things are no longer noteworthy, but I don't think we're there yet.

I can feel myself hurtling towards the climax, but I'm not finished with it just yet. It's a shame I don't think it will get talked about during GotY. It 's probably mostly due to genre/series fatigue and Jeff is just not a fan of the series at all.

Given family responsibilities I don’t get too many hours a week but I got some alone time last weekend and got me some gaming! Finished last of us remastered which has taken over a year, I continued playing despite being fairly fed up with the gameplay grind though by the end I look back on it being one of my favourite gaming experiences. I literally played it over such a long period of time in mirrored the seasons in the game and brought me closer to the experience of the characters.

Also finished xcom 2 now I can’t wait to get war of the chosen and start again! Love that game, I played the original countless times back in the day and I hope they make another.

I am currently playing RE7 and that has blown me away and rekindled my joy of the series. I’ve picked up resi 0 on sale as it’s the only one of the mainline series I haven’t played.