What was the last truly great AAA game?

[Grauken]

Now that we have established that pre-Elden Ring Soulsborne titles were infact a niche and were never AAA games and will NOT be making it on to the poll, lets explore other suggestions.

From are only "mainstream" on game forums, where people think the majority of the dozens of millions of people playing video games are like them. Talk to normies who play games. I bet most of them have never heard of their games or have only heard of the games. You can also ask them about "metroidvania" while you're at it and feel like a real insider nerd when you get similar results.

Tetris franchise outsold anything on the drunk's list and even your grandma knows it, doesn't mean its an AAA game, same with some match-3 mobile games

I was going to edit in that I agree with you that other games on his list can be judged by the same token though.

And sales aren't a metric for what makes something AAA, so no point brining that into it. Big games flop and humble games soar. Hollywood turkeys, indie sleeper hits. The biggest game ever is arguably not AAA. It certainly doesn't look the part, and I don't know how large or how much money Mojang spend. If Demon's Souls on PS3 sold 50 million copies it would still be janky (but charming) AA product.

I can't speak on Elden Ring, haven't played it. It kind of looks rougher than Bloodbonre (their slickest game) and Sekiro (carried by sublime art direction), but I don't know anything about its budget, team size, etc.

Demon's Souls and even the first Dark Souls were seen as smaller titles, definitely, but by the time DS2 came out the franchise was handled like an AAA product and marketed the same.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

STFU about Dark Souls. It's NOT going on the poll.

 

[Spukrian]

I'm not sure how popular Prey and Dishonored actually are. What about nu Deus Ex or nu Tomb Raider?

Add all of them, please. AAA is more about how much money it cost than how much it made.

 

[Grauken]

STFU about Dark Souls. It's NOT going on the poll.

you have Doom 2016 twice btw.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Ok added a few more.

STFU about Dark Souls. It's NOT going on the poll.

you have Doom 2016 twice btw.

Whoops. Ohwell, can't delete it.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I added Half-Life: Alyx for the sake of being incloosive. Wouldn't want the PC nerds feeling left out. Also doubled the amount of votes you can make. I am a nice guy.

 

[Grauken]

I added Half-Life: Alyx for the sake of being incloosive. Wouldn't want the PC nerds feeling left out.

most of the games on your list are PC games

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I added Half-Life: Alyx for the sake of being incloosive. Wouldn't want the PC nerds feeling left out.

most of the games on your list are PC games

I wanted them to have their very own exclusive. Stop being a negative nancy.

 

[Grauken]

I added Half-Life: Alyx for the sake of being incloosive. Wouldn't want the PC nerds feeling left out.

most of the games on your list are PC games

I wanted them to have their very own exclusive. Stop being a negative nancy.

PC gamers don't care about exclusives. Also Alyx is a VR game, that's just a niche title

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Sir Crispy would you kindly ban Grauk from the thread please. We're trying to have a peaceful discussion here and he's shitting up the thread with his asbergers syndrome bullshit.

 

[Machocruz]

Yeah. Dark Souls is not mainstream. It's just a joke that video game review sites call every other game a dark souls-like game.

Game review sites are part of the echo chamber, the fish bowl. Content is largely aimed at the insider nerd/enthusiast type, using terminology and references you would only know if you'd been around awhile or had gone deep into the hobby, which probably isn't most people on every block that own a PS/Xbox/etc.; they don't know what souls-like, boomer shooter, metroidvania or any other informal terms mean. I'd be surprised if the aggregate of unique users across all dedicated game sites account for even one third of a single major platform's install base number.

It's possible my criteria of mainstream could be too limited and impractical, but when you've grown up to see games get toylines at Toys R Us, cartoons, cereals, movies, Legos sets, numerous mentions on major broadcast news shows, ice cream bars, etc., that shapes your expectations.

Well either way, these games have made their mark despite all that; way less people have played any Ultima games, but we know how important that series is.

Demon's Souls and even the first Dark Souls were seen as smaller titles, definitely, but by the time DS2 came out the franchise was handled like an AAA product and marketed the same.

Which is interesting because that game felt and looked even rougher than the original, it was like the epitome of AA to me. Namco/Bandai level marketing for Koei Tecmo level production lol

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Okay raised the votes to 6 because I also want to vote for Overwatch and Rainbow Six Siege. Those were the last multiplayer games I ever loved.

 

[Grauken]

Well either way, these games have made their mark despite all that; way less people have played any Ultima games, but we know how important that series is.

Ultima in its day was the equivalent of today's AAA games

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Can't say I like seeing Witcher 3 have more votes than Breath of the Wild. I'm adjusting my choices.

Alien Isolation would have gotten a vote from me if it was a few hours shorter. It had the perfect ending moment, but instead of rolling credits it just kept going. RE7, likewise, was fantastic throughout a decent portion of the game, but it kept going and going and became shittier as a result.

 

[Reinhardt]

Yakuza 7.

 

[Modron]

Only played 3 of these "greats." Twitcha 3, GTA V, and Nu Raider.

 

[Morenatsu.]

monster hunter is very sexy

 

[Terenty]

Where's Death Stranding?

 

[TripJack]

splinter cell chaos theory

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

splinter cell chaos theory

Too old.

Where's Death Stranding?

In your ass.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

monster hunter is very sexy

Yeah World looks great and Rise looks good on a OLED Switch screen. It's unfortunate those games are terrible.

Added some more games to the poll btw.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Let's bump up the votes for Control and Breath of the Wild and I will be more willing include your suggestions.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

This is a completely pointless poll and OT is a fag.

 

[Morenatsu.]

monster hunter is very sexy

Yeah World looks great and Rise looks good on a OLED Switch screen. It's unfortunate those games are terrible.

Added some more games to the poll btw.

uh yeah thats what i meant haha

 

[Dadd]

There are too many choices and they're distracting. Delete everything but BotW and Odyssey. Arkham clones like ghost of sushiman don't deserve a spot.