Super Metroid vs. Majora's Mask. Literally my two favorite games of all time. One of them has completely-perfect level design, controls, atmosphere, music, and no distracting narrative so you can focus on the genius gameplay. The other has completely perfect level design, controls, atmosphere, music, and one of the most beautifully simple and compelling narratives ever put into a game.

I feel like I'm having to pick between my children or something.

SirKibbleX

United States479 Posts

December 04 2015 16:21 GMT

#148

Super Metroid vs. Majora's Mask is basically a question of whether narrative should serve gameplay, or should gameplay serve narrative. I'm conflicted because I think there's room in the world of game design for both types of games. In this case, each represents the peak apex of their respective camps.

GoShox

United States1837 Posts

December 04 2015 16:27 GMT

#149

On December 04 2015 20:34 DickMcFanny wrote:Castlevania: SOTN beat DKC2, what the fork?

Eh, I don't have a problem with it. DKC2 is one of my favorite games of all time, it definitely has my favorite soundtrack of all time and playing the game or hearing the music gives me a ton of nostalgia. But SOTN is also a really really good game with an amazing soundtrack of its own.

The real injustice in this tournament is StarCraft losing, as well as Undertale winning.

SirKibbleX

United States479 Posts

December 04 2015 16:41 GMT

#150

Having played Undertale, it really is an incredible game, just from a gameplay perspective. If the game's social messages resonate with you (and they aren't particularly 'anvilicious', if you will) then it just makes it that much better.

That said I don't think you can reasonably put any game released in the last year or two in a discussion of 'greatest game ever'. Part of the discussion of 'greatest game ever' is the impact a game has on game design following its release and whether the acclaim for the game will remain for years or eventually die down. For that reason I don't think Undertale even deserves to be up for consideration. And it's definitely not as influential as almost any mainline Super Mario game, let alone one of the best.

I suspect Bioshock will remain famous in perpetuity due to the incredibly genius way the gameplay serves the narrative, but I don't think the same is true of Bioshock: Infinite. Bioshock gave people the opportunity to see the downsides of unrestrained capitalism, both in the narrative, and in the gameplay. In the early game, before you know how to play very well, every engagement demands some calculation. Will you earn enough money from fighting to justify that fight? If you get hurt badly enough and expend too much ammo, it's entirely possible you'll spend more on recovering than you earn. In this way, the game has you thinking of capitalism in a very tangible way, even outside of the narrative. If you're not good at shooter games, it's entirely possible to achieve a failure state where you can't make enough money to progress.

In Bioshock: Infinite, none of the above is true. The narrative appears to be about racism and unrestrained power, but the gameplay has next to nothing to say about those things, and is otherwise pretty generic. The intro is pretty incredible (up until about twenty minutes after the first very jarring moment of intense violence), and there are are few pretty incredible set pieces revolving around rescuing Elizabeth (from the Mechanical Bird, and from the time-travelling asylum prison) but otherwise outside of those two segments, the game is pretty bleh.

So to me, a game that is narrative-driven really has to say something incredible and have gameplay that serves the narrative goals in order to even be in the discussion as one of the 'greatest ever'.

zeo

Serbia6284 Posts

December 04 2015 16:42 GMT

#151

On December 05 2015 01:27 GoShox wrote:

Show nested quote +

I have litterally never heard of Undertale before today but I'm seeing 10/10's everywhere.... Even watching some gameplay/whatever I don't understand how it is better than Super Mario World.

edit: I mean, can it really be better than Pokemon red/blue? Really? How?

Chro

United States240 Posts

December 04 2015 17:13 GMT

#152

I'll agree on this understale game, i've never heard of it in my life yet it beat super mario world. Its gotta have a large fan base or something for it to get this far.

Plansix

United States60190 Posts

December 04 2015 17:26 GMT

#153

On December 05 2015 02:13 Chro wrote:
I'll agree on this understale game, i've never heard of it in my life yet it beat super mario world. Its gotta have a large fan base or something for it to get this far.

The people who like it really like it and think its great. I think it is a well put together game that deserves all the praise it received, but not my personal best game of all time.

The most entertaining part about this entire process is watching people lose their minds that Undertale might win over games they prefer. Very enjoyable.

DarkPlasmaBall

United States44316 Posts

December 04 2015 19:10 GMT

#154

From what's been said earlier, apparently it's just tumblr or some other group that decided to band together and basically troll this contest.

DickMcFanny

Ireland1076 Posts

December 04 2015 21:52 GMT

#155

I'm hesitant to dismiss them out of hand, perhaps it's really a masterpiece of a game. It's gotten overwhelmingly positive reviews on steam and steam users aren't the pathetic tumblr bunch.

Plansix

United States60190 Posts

December 04 2015 22:00 GMT

#156

On December 05 2015 06:52 DickMcFanny wrote:
I'm hesitant to dismiss them out of hand, perhaps it's really a masterpiece of a game. It's gotten overwhelmingly positive reviews on steam and steam users aren't the pathetic tumblr bunch.

You do know that the "tumblr people" have steam accounts, right? There is no law preventing them from having both.

Its really just a good game with compelling story and mechanics that these mythical "tumblr people that happen to play vidoe games" also like. There are plenty of "HARD CORE TRUE GAMERS" that also enjoyed it.