Editorial RPGWatch's Game of the Year 2008

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Fallout 3

How do you get RPG of the year? Easy, release your RPG in a year where there's very little competition. <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=105&ref=2&id=1">RPGWatch have the results of their game of the year voting</a>:
<br>
<blockquote><b>The Winner: Fallout 3</b>: There are many things that can be - and have been - said about Fallout 3. There is the whole controversy about Bethesda getting the rights to the franchise and producing the sequel - but that is now in the past. There are many positive qualities to the game and a host of minor and major issues as well. But regardless of what it may or may not say about the state of the RPG genre, one thing is clear: Fallout 3 is a blast to play, deserving of top honors, and one of the best RPG's of the past several years. The following tables shows the complete results of the voting.
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<br>
Game (Percentage)
<br>
<ol><li>Fallout 3 (19.3%)
<br>
<li>Mass Effect (10.7%)
<br>
<li>King's Bounty: The Legend (10.1%)
<br>
<li>Avernum 5 (9.1%)
<br>
<li>Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (8.1%)
<br>
<li>Mount & Blade (4.5%)
<br>
<li>Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (2.0%)
<br>
<li>Fable 2 (1.4%)</ol>
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All other games scored a percentage of less than 1%.</blockquote>
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"Deserving of top honors, and one of the best RPG's of the past several years."

 

[LCJr.]

Very little competition is right. I didn't even realize Kings Bounty was a CRPG.

 

[trais]

Fallout 3 is a blast to play, deserving of top honors, and one of the best RPG's of the past several years

Were there 2 versions of F3 available? Because the one I played sucked badly.

 

[Ion Flux]

 

[Xor]

It's sad that I consider SoZ to be the best RPG of 2008 when I don't even like Icewind Dale style RPGs.

But yeah, Fallout 3 sucks and all that.

 

[Geofferic]

What's awesome to me is that the pickings were so slim that Avernum got included and Mount & Blade got a mention.

M&B isn't even an RPG by any reasonable standard!

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

I thought the Watch had poor taste and were too compromising....now I know for sure. Fallout 3 is a fucking cesspool of terrible design, poorly thought out plot elements, and has more bullshit inconsistencies than all of modern-day Washington DC. How anybody with taste can actually think it is a good game is beyond me.

 

[kingcomrade]

MECHA TENGU LETS GO

 

[Andhaira]

Bioware must be pissed!

Now EA weill start presseuring them to make first person rpg's!!

BG3 First Person!!!

 

[youhomofo]

Whatever. All I know is I've apparently won some kind of prize for voting. For FO3 no less. Suck it.

 

[sheek]

I thought the Watch had poor taste and were too compromising....now I know for sure. Fallout 3 is a fucking cesspool of terrible design, poorly thought out plot elements, and has more bullshit inconsistencies than all of modern-day Washington DC. How anybody with taste can actually think it is a good game is beyond me.

Maybe because we're not angry nerdlings constantly, desperately trying to find the best way to suck up to Kharne/Brother None?

Fallout 3 is a fairly fun game, and it's an RPG. Not an amazing game by the standards of the 1% of RPGs ever released that are Hivemind-approved, but easily better than the majority. And this year it didn't have much competition... MotB is an expansion, not a game.

That's why Fallout won.

Learn to deal with it.

 

[ricolikesrice]

...

Fallout 3, Mass Effect and (not on the list) Drakensang were the only cRPGs in 2008 that werent utter shit and somewhat playable. Not only for 2008 but basically for the last 5 years were the only truly "great" cRPGs were VTMB and MOTB.

Out of these 3 Fallout 3 is easily the "better" cRPG given CnC&co are freaking rare in both mass effect & drakensang though i can easily see why someone would see mass effect or drakensang as the better overall game ( i d pick drakensang ).

So i somewhat agree with the list although the name "best of" is misleading - should be called "least shit of". But then you have utter crap games like sacred 2 and storms of zehir on that list too.... those 2 pearls are right next to oblivion in my personal "worst ever" list.

 

[Konjad]

Re: ...

basically for the last 5 years were the only truly "great" cRPGs were VTMB and MOTB.

You forgot Poland The Witcher.

 

[Andhaira]

What PISSES meoff is that all of these 'rpgs' are real time! Even drakensang which is based off the realms of arkania games which were TB tactical goodness with tons and tons of stats and skills (THE most hardkore crpg's EvER made period!)
andapprently its been waatereddown.

Could some germans shed light on drakensang and how it stacks with RoA of old? Did they at least keep the diseases, or hunger thirst bars?

 

[janjetina]

Re: ...

Fallout 3, Mass Effect and (not on the list) Drakensang were the only cRPGs in 2008 that werent utter shit and somewhat playable. Not only for 2008 but basically for the last 5 years were the only truly "great" cRPGs were VTMB and MOTB.

Out of these 3 Fallout 3 is easily the "better" cRPG given CnC&co are freaking rare in both mass effect & drakensang though i can easily see why someone would see mass effect or drakensang as the better overall game ( i d pick drakensang ).

So i somewhat agree with the list although the name "best of" is misleading - should be called "least shit of". But then you have utter crap games like sacred 2 and storms of zehir on that list too.... those 2 pearls are right next to oblivion in my personal "worst ever" list.

Mass Effect was utter shit. Dumbed down dialogue system, horrible real-time combat clickfest and simplistic character progression are beyond redemption.

 

[made]

Decline of the RPGWatch.

Rise of the Argonauts > all the games in that list.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

Decline of the RPGWatch.

Damn, I wanted to say that.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Maybe because we're not angry nerdlings constantly, desperately trying to find the best way to suck up to Kharne/Brother None?

u mad? Go make a thread in GD about it.

Fallout 3 is a fairly fun game

Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. That doesn't make it good. Games by their nature are fun, which is why it's a piss poor metric for objective quality. Like I said, Fallout 3 is terrible to anyone with taste. Why dick around with Bethesda's turd when I could easily play something better, something more "fun", something more worth my most valuable resource; my time?

More than 3/4ths of Fallout 3 is exploring dungeons and killing stuff in shitty as can be shooter combat. It's worse than System Shock 2, worse than Gears of War, worse than Halo, worse than Painkiller, worse than Mass Effect, worse than Metroid Prime 3, worse than Deus Ex, worse than Invisible War. Hell, Bloodlines combat was more well developed with it's stealth kills, melee combat, vampire abilities, and shooting mechanics that actually make some semblance of sense.

Dungeons are terribly designed, as is the tradition with Bethesda, and enemies are as bland and functionally equivalent as can be. Playing Metroid Prime 3 after Fallout 3 really shows how shitty Bethesda did on this aspect.

Even the production values are awful. Gears of War 1, a game two years older than it, looks better and it's "apocalyptic" aesthetic made me think more of old Fallout than Fallout 3 ever did. The writing sucks, the characters are terrible, J.J. "talentless hack" Abrams could write (or have ghostwritten for him) more consistently.

Even VD admitted that the RPG aspects are "an exotic side dish" and around "only 25%" of Fallout 3. And in those, the character system is broken, a lot of skill checks are meaningless, and player skill supersedes character skill far too much. The quests are mostly shit, three of which are mechanically brilliant, but terribly written and poorly fleshed out.

Saying this game is worth of praise for the few good things is like saying Lionheart was good; assuming you only focus on Barcelona. It's just dumb.

but easily better than the majority. And this year it didn't have much competition... MotB is an expansion, not a game.

Mass Effect trounced it on so many counts, The Witcher was in the running, Storm of Zehir at least has (likely) decent writing, Kings Bounty has a lot of praise, and Jeff Vogel is still alive. Not great competition, but it's not hard to beat something like Fallout 3.

 

[Lord_Summoner]

RPGWatch

RPGWatch

RPGWatch

 

[Volourn]

"Storm of Zehir at least has (likely) decent writing"

No.

 

[PennyAnte]

Re: ...

utter crap games like sacred 2

Sacred 2 is very buggy and flawed and in some ways pretty amateur, but it's "okay," not a total failure. It's AA rather than AAA. When they get done patching it in a year or two it may even be AA+. I have knocked it a lot myself, but I got it out of sheer boredom and lack of choice this winter, which made me stick with it, despite some of my initial frustrations. And it turns out it's not all that bad of an ARPG. I am enjoying it about as much as Titan Quest, maybe a little less.

 

[aries202]

Bethesda has always made games were you explore a lot, from Arena to Daggerfall to Morrowind, Oblivion and now Fallout 3. There's no real surprise there. And also games in which combat is the means to getting through the game.
Bethesda really did what they do best - make a (bland) rpg game with fps combat in it.

From what I've seen around the internets, Fallout 3's sidequest are rather good (as was Oblivion's) but the story is - well - not good. Or worse than Oblivion's?

 

[Karl]

It was another really shitty year for RPGs. SNAFU.
But I do remember someone posting a list of games to be released in '08 and claiming it would be a good year, even kinda the return of RPGs to the spotlight -- or something like that.
Looking back, it is hard to name a single game that really stood out in a good way. These "best RPG of the year" lists are more about sorting dreck by its stench than anything else.

M&B is old, nothing new, boring too. So are Vogels games.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

FO3 is a consolized LARP and that's it really. welcome to Bethesda's newest exploration simulation where you can play dress up and make believe all day long and not even have to worry about how fucking inane and trite the MQ is!

to be fair, i had fun playing it (if drunk and stoned, that is) but i got bored pretty feckin' quick. aside from a few good sidequests and a few great but unrealized ideas Bethesda completely missed the mark on humor, depth of quest choices and any semblance of writing for ages 15 and above.

fucking cunts. i hate how fucking cheese-dick Bethesda is as a company.

EDIT: i forgot to be on topic. FUCK YOU RPG watch for putting this above M.E. you fucking retards.

 

[racofer]

.... Hell, Bloodlines combat was more well developed with it's stealth kills, melee combat, vampire abilities, and shooting mechanics that actually make some semblance of sense....

Nothing, I say again, NOTHING, comes close to the satisfaction of stealth killing someone with the Bush Hook. You could feel the victim's neck breaking into pieces and the blade crackling their skull.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

.... Hell, Bloodlines combat was more well developed with it's stealth kills, melee combat, vampire abilities, and shooting mechanics that actually make some semblance of sense....

Nothing, I say again, NOTHING, comes close to the satisfaction of stealth killing someone with the Bush Hook. You could feel the victim's neck breaking into pieces and the blade crackling their skull.

Katana stealth kills were cool, too - with that oriental jingle and the fountain of blood from the hapless fellah's heart. Best Bloodlines playthrough ever for me was playing it with an urban ninja Malkavian (using the "Ninja" background, available in the fan-patches).