I don’t have a Switch, so I can’t get on the Breath of the Wild bandwagon. I’m not sure there’s room for anyone else on that thing anyway. And I haven’t cleared the six hours from my schedule to boot up Persona 5 and get to the actual game part. I’ve played enough of Torment: Tides of Numenera to know that I probably shouldn’t be writing this list yet.
I can’t talk about my choices because I have been playing games from the last two or three years, but I somehow expected to see Cryptark on your list, Tom.
I play old games that are cheap on Steam or GOG. So I can’t comment.
I thought you had a Wii-U though? Or at least, I recall you played Xenoblade Chronicles X.
You forgot Age of Rivals. Race for the Galaxy comes pretty close, too.
My list is probably the same as it will be at the end of the year, unless I really like Absolver.
Nier keeps falling because I don’t have anything I can hold onto in my memory to remember how awesome it was.
There are two ports on my list so that’s kind of cheating. At least this year is much better than last year, when an expansion pack was my favorite game.
Prey.
Stand by. :)
Oh, right, I keep forgetting it’s on the Wii-U. But surely that’s a compromised version and I should hold out until I get a Switch (which I intend to have by the time Xenoblade Chronicles 2 comes out)?
-Tom
If you can find one… but yes if you’re getting a Switch anyway, that is the better version of the game. :)
To be clear, aside from the added portability, the Switch version of Breath of the Wild is better in roughly the same way that a $65 wine is better than a $60 wine. ;)
As someone who owns both versions and has played a bunch of hours on both I can confidently say that the Wii U version is not really inferior in any meaningful way. The Switch version has slightly better draw distance and maybe the colors are just a little brighter on the Switch version but that’s about it, they’re the same game. That being said I will never ever touch the Wii U version again, I’ve handed that off to my daughter (which sidebar I think there’s an entire conversation to be had about how this game connects with kids in a really special way) for good. The portability of the Switch version really is an amazing thing. If you’re getting a Switch this year (took me about 3 weeks of serious online and local store tracking to find one 45 minutes away) then I would wait.
I think Tekken 7 should be in Injustice’s slot- it just has much stronger gameplay, even if it doesn’t have as many bells and whistles (there’s enough there). It also had the best PC port of any fighting game ever.
I don’t have the Wii-U version, but the Switch version had the docked-mode framerate drops patched which made quite a difference to the smoothness of the game, especially in combat. I read Wii-U still has regular lower framerates like Switch used to have though. You didn’t notice that?
I didn’t notice any difference in frame rate on either machine to be honest. Prior to the patch the Switch version might have had some slight slowdown in places but nothing that affected the overall experience for me.
No matter which you play, I think Breath of the Wild is the best game of 2017 so far. This has also been a really strong year for games with a lot more to come.
Personally, I find Horizon Zero dawn to the first place amongst all the great games this year.
Tom, I hate to be a nitpicker, but the “Automata” subtitle is important! The original Nier is also really really good (it was my favorite game on 360) but it’s not the game you’re talking about. :)
Many of my best gaming experiences so far this year did not actually release this year (e.g. Ghost Trick, the latest Doom, etc), but Torment: Tides of Numenera, Prey, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Monster Slayers all rate pretty highly for me. I haven’t played as much of the former two as I’d like and while I guarantee Nier: Automata will rate way up there for me I haven’t played it at all yet - still trying to clear hard drive space to install it after my recent Steam sale purchase.
I figure I will pick up a Wii in 2020 or so, maybe get a Switch by 2030 when it is emulated decently.
It is good to hear Nintendo is getting some Far Cry sensibilities in their open world games at last.
I guess I should unmute the Pathfinder Adventures thread to see if I’m interested. Maybe I’ll try it on iOS real quick.
Antihero has been great, easily my 2017 GOTY. ;)
Meh feelings regarding my other released in 2017 game purchases for the first half of this year.
DOW3, meh.
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, meh.
Scanner Sombre, meh.
I should get around to playing Hollow Knight and PREY , I own both and they seem to get lots of praise. :)