Thoughts on Gaming in 2014

[Heroine of Winds]

Since 2014's almost coming to an end, I want to know what you guys thought about gaming this year.

Personally, I thought this year was pretty terrible due to every game released this year was either an unpolished mess or pretty underwhelming. Sure the previous years had these, but at least some games were actually worth buying without being a buggy, unplayable mess or a game that was too overhyped & ended up being pretty mediocre in the end. I just hope 2015 will be a better year & video game companies have actually learned a lesson to not rush their games out without checking them out for framerate issues or bugs first.

 

[the8thark]

I think this is in part of our age. I say our as I'm a similar age to you. Back in the past we would accept games for what they were. They were not perfect, not even close, but we bought them and we had fun. Now we complain over every little issue a game has. This is in part due to the prices. For $60-$100 we expect a well polished game and we should. I just think it's not games that have decreased in quality overall, there were as many good games in 2014 as any other year. It's just our standards have risen and we do not accept games of a quality now that we would have accepted years ago. And we too take more to be wowed than in the past as well.

This also teaches us to be wiser with our gaming dollar. Only buy the games that have less frame rate and other issues. Having the games released in other regions first helps, as they can be the guinea pigs and tell us of what issues the games have.

Nintendo did ok in 2014. And 2015 looks great for Nintendo. There were quite a few good indie games released in 2014 as well.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Not too many great Nintendo games released this year, but we got Super Smash Bros 4, so what more can I ask for.

 

[the8thark]

Not too many great Nintendo games released this year, but we got Super Smash Bros 4, so what more can I ask for.

• Hyrule Warriors
• Mario Kart 8
• Bayonetta 2
• DK Tropical Freeze
• Nes Remix 1&2
• Bravely Default
• Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
• Yoshi's New Island
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe
• Tomodachi Life
• Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
• Smash Bros WiiU/3DS
• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
• Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

That's a lot of good Nintendo games for 2014. There are more too but these are the best ones.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

• Hyrule Warriors
• Mario Kart 8
• Bayonetta 2
• DK Tropical Freeze
• Nes Remix 1&2
• Bravely Default
• Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
• Yoshi's New Island
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe
• Tomodachi Life
• Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
• Smash Bros WiiU/3DS
• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
• Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

That's a lot of good Nintendo games for 2014. There are more too but these are the best ones.

What I said was my opinion. I know what games were release this year, but the majority in that list are not games I would like to play myself.

 

[Mercedes]

Was an amazing year, very happy with it and the only victim here is definitely my bank account! Lots of great games, infact there were some absolutely brilliant games across every platform, my backlog is so large now and it doesn't look like it'll be slowing down for 2015; the Wii U and Xbox One both really hit their stride and it's looking to be a great generation for all 3 of the consoles. I think the great deals we've had recently definitely demonstrated just how good competition is in the console space too. One of the major problems I feel was games being over-hyped, games that weren't at all bad or anything but didn't live up to the hype and so left people a little dissatisfied. I loved Destiny, for example, still do, but it wasn't this game changer it was hyped up to be, it's just a very good FPS. You'd have thought the gaming media would have learnt their lesson with Brink, but nope! It is a new generation so I suppose the hype and expectations will always be higher.

Something I definitely feel has improved are the triple-A titles. I always disagreed with the complaint about their quality and creativity and felt people unfairly lumped every triple-A title in with the likes of Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed, conveniently forgetting brilliant examples of them. Definitely not hurting for choice when it comes to great examples of them now, I think.

If I had to pick some of the best games of 2014, just off the top of my head (so they might all be more recent titles and hopefully all are 2014 games). Just giving it a quick thought and I am spoiled for choice:

• Dark Souls 2 - By far one of the most fun RPG's I've played. The atmosphere and design of the world was spot on, loved the subtle story-telling, and the gameplay was perfect.
• Alien: Isolation - Best big budget horror title since... hell, I've no idea, it's been so long! Apart from a story which didn't set me alight, everything else was done amazingly, and was definitely a scary game. Whoever did the AI of this game deserves some kind of award, too.
• Far Cry 4 - It's just more of Far Cry 3, with a lot more stuff to boot. The Assassin Creed guys need to really look at this as the proper way to do a sequel; add more of what made the original so loved, take the bad stuff away, and bam, success!
• Divinity: Original Sin - The game that came out of nowhere and blew loads of PC players away. A really deep, well-made RPG in the vein of the old classics and is an amazing throwback to them. Loved playing it on co-op too.
• Wasteland 2 - I love story in my games and Wasteland 2 really delivered, along with some great, stategic gameplay and complex mechanics. Was well worth the wait, I didn't play it in Early Access just to save myself. Well played, Fargo!
• Forza Horizon 2 - I don't really like racing games, but damn I loved this one! Felt so fresh and new. And was almost the epitome of a quality product.
• Game of Thrones & Tales from the Borderlands - Any Telltale game scores high from me, these 2 certainly delivered.

And honourable mentions to Grand Theft Auto 5, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Sunset Overdrive, Halo: MCC, Shadows of Mordor, Titanfall, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Shovel Knight, and probably more! Also the insane amount of content for Payday 2 deserves a mention, I much prefer this method of releasing a game and keeping it alive with DLC than rushing a sequel out.

Biggest disappointment has to go to both The Evil Within and Civilization: Beyond Earth. Both weren't terrible games, but definitely disappointing; I expected Evil Within, with Mikami at the helm, was sort of going to be the real Resident Evil 5, but felt it really suffered from terrible pacing, a boring as hell story, and various instances of it not being scary at all. It was somehow less scary than Resident Evil 4! And then what was good was marred by technical problems which didn't add difficulty, just frustration. Didn't help that Alien: Isolation made it look even worse in comparison, too. Civilization: Beyond Earth, on the other hand, was just a step down from the amazing Civilisation V; small improvements ruined by a total lack of charm and the removal of really good stuff! Why Firaxis, why do I have to keep re-doing my trade routes when I didn't have to in the last game? If you made Civ 5 in space, I'd have been happy! Will likely be vastly improved with a big expansion pack, but till then I definitely felt like I wasted my money on it.

So no real complaints for me, I've had a blast this gaming year. I own both a Wii U and Xbox One and Nintendo and Microsoft have both definitely made my purchase worthwhile, and Sony is making it very difficult not to snap up a PS4 at the prices they've been goinf down to. Also especially loved the extra attention PC gaming has been getting from the Japanese, too, we're actually getting Japanese games now, and not just from Capcom!!!!

Bring on 2015!

I hope my optimism and happiness burns!

 

[Dio]

I agree with the OP. This year has been very poor for games.
I think the best games I bought were not ones from this year. For me Hyrule Warriors was the only new game that was of interest to me and that I actually bought.
It was great fun but could have been better I won't go into that.
I was quite excited for smash but that turned out to be a disappointment giving me no reason to purchase in the end.
I'll be getting destiny for christmas so I'll see how that goes.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Well let's see what games I played this year...

Fallout New Vegas (released 2010)
Fifa 15
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare (didn't even really play this one tbh)
GTA V (released 2013)
GTA San Andreas 720p
Smash Bros 3DS

So, er, I've only played 3 games that were new this year. I don't think I'm really qualified to give my opinion, I'll give it a 6/10 though.

 

[Heroine of Winds]

I think this is in part of our age. I say our as I'm a similar age to you. Back in the past we would accept games for what they were. They were not perfect, not even close, but we bought them and we had fun. Now we complain over every little issue a game has. This is in part due to the prices. For $60-$100 we expect a well polished game and we should. I just think it's not games that have decreased in quality overall, there were as many good games in 2014 as any other year. It's just our standards have risen and we do not accept games of a quality now that we would have accepted years ago. And we too take more to be wowed than in the past as well.

This also teaches us to be wiser with our gaming dollar. Only buy the games that have less frame rate and other issues. Having the games released in other regions first helps, as they can be the guinea pigs and tell us of what issues the games have.

Nintendo did ok in 2014. And 2015 looks great for Nintendo. There were quite a few good indie games released in 2014 as well.

That's probably part of the problem then. I'm getting to a point that I'm really tired of gaming in general. I guess it's due to me getting older & seeing that gaming isn't up to snuff for me these days. And there's the prices (yeesh). No more, I've been buying less games due to either the quality of the game or how pricey it is. I'm wanting to spend my social security money for more important things & not games. I just don't see gaming the same way as I did in the 90's & 2000's.

Imo, Nintendo's been disappointing me, too. I really don't think Smash 4 didn't deserve the hype it got because I think it's a bit more disappointing than Brawl (keyword being a bit) & there's things like not advertising the Wii U at all & some of the games besides Smash (Why, Nintendo?). I seriously don't think Nintendo's any better this year because of their current line-up & from the looks of things, 2015 looks pretty underwhelming, too. :/

 

[octorok74]

I didn't think this year was too bad for games. It started strong this year and then got progressively worse and worse. Despite all the hate towards it, I quite liked Titanfall and when that got the Frontier Defense mode it brought new life to the game. Trials Fusion wasn't bad either except for those frustrating expert tracks. Dark Souls 2 was difficult in just the right way and almost always has replay value. Destiny has gotten better with the drop of the first DLC which actually adds story, but the game itself wasn't too bad and the bug fixes though still rolling out have helped greatly. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is fun and a great game showcase but that still needs some fixing. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and WiiU is fantastic and is always fun though the one bad thing is I suck at it, so yeah. I'd say the bright spot in the later half of 2014 with all the buggy games was Far Cry 4 which I experienced only one glitch with (I can't smoke from the golden pipe cause the game freezes). But that game like Mercedes said should be what Ubisoft looks to for how to make a sequel. Overall I would say 2014 was a great year for gaming. Every year has it's problems, but it's not enough to cause us to riot and stop gaming.

 

[Malia]

Honestly, I'm pretty happy with my gaming year Truth is these days I don't have a lot of time for video games 'cause of work and real life commitments, so for what I was able to get my hands on, I'm, in general, pleased!

Around the end of last year/start of the year, I was just finishing off Mario 3D World and The Legend of Zelda a Link Between Worlds. Since they crossed over into this year for me, I'll list 'em. Enjoyed both immensely.

The start of this year I got to play Bravely Default on my 3DS, and you know what? I thought I got over my love for JRPGs yeeeaars ago. Apparently not, because I really, REALLY enjoyed BD--I played it to death lol in that I maxed out every class, did every sidequest, and got to the point where The Adventurer was hardly a challenge. Still, considering how much play time I put into that game, I'm gonna say it was well worth my money!

After that, Tomodachi Life had my attention for about 2 months. It eventually got eh-ish, but for the time I did have it and it was all new and shiny, it was one of the most ****ed up and funniest games I've had the pleasure of playing. Just some of those situations myself and friends would get put into, and the really dumb drama and love stories and heart breaks and lmao, ah, it was pretty good. Over on another forum, we had a thread dedicated to it where we posted screenshots of the game, and some of the stuff people posted were straight-up hilarious.

Mario Kart 8 was the next thing I got to play, and... well, I'm still playing it regularly today lol, like from the day it was released. I'm actually not that big on racing car games! Minus F Zero, I can't really stand them D: but MK, especially online play with friends, has been the source of hours of fun and laughter and butthurt. The recent DLC with Link and all the new tracks were superb too, though I swear to God everyone picks the Excite Bike track way too often lol. Gah.

Sometime after this, I got my hands on Super Smash Bros for the 3DS. Tbh, I didn't even think I would LIKE a fighting game on a handheld, but I bought it anyway because I've been Smashing since the '64, so I guess part of me felt more obligated than curious. And I ended up enjoying it. A lot. And it made me wonder more at how much I might enjoy the console version.

I was a bit skeptical about Hyrule Warriors, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I got into it. I think I spent a good couple of weeks just really playing it over and over. It's also been a great source of fun to talk about with friends; we compare weapons and times and share tips and whatnot.

Ah, and then prob the biggest thing for me all year: Super Smash Bros. Wii U. Gatdamn. If you asked any of my buddies who was the first person they thought of when you said "Smash U" they'd prob say my name lol. I'm stupidly addicted to it. I even customised my Amiibo Link into an Oni Link Amiibo! I plan to get me a Mario Amiibo so that I can customise it into an American-flag-wearing Mario xD.

Right now, I've actually gone back to play Mario Galaxy 2 some 'cause I just got the urge, you know? But what's waiting for me on my coffee table is Bayonetta 2 which my best friend sent to me as a gift. I was super-into Bayonetta on the Xbox, so I'm really looking forward to playing that!

Other things I've purchased that I've not yet had the chance to play include DragonAge: Inquisition.

So yeah, considering this is spanned out over a year, I can't say that I've played a lot of games, especially compared to how I used to game in my younger days. But what I have purchased, I've been very happy with~, and that's good because if I wasn't, then I'd be wasting my money and that's a downright ****-off lol.

 

[Moonstone]

I'm in agreement with Heroine of Winds. I bought a few games this year, but it really was a pretty boring year in gaming as far as I'm concerned. Every game that released was like almost any other game on the market right now. Sure, I bought a few I really love, but nothing impressed me. Not sure if that's because I'm an adult with little time to spend on gaming now, and few games to prove to be worth my time, or because I'm an adult who has discovered all there is to discover when it comes to gaming. I hope it's the former.

 

[Heroine of Time]

Interesting. I actually found this to be one of the best years in gaming yet. I think a major reason for this, though, is that this is the first year I had an actual job and could therefore afford to buy games that I normally would not. I purchased more games this year than I ever have in my entire life. The games weren't always necessarily the best, but there was a good amount of decent-quality games.

Unfortunately, I don't really do much of gaming outside of Nintendo, so my perspective is slightly skewed. But Mario Kart 8 was better than I imagined, since I never really enjoyed the Wii version, and Hyrule Warriors was absolutely fantastic. And with both versions of Smash Bros., I actually haven't had time to play all the wonderful games I got this year. Plus there were plenty of other titles that I haven't even gotten to play myself but would love to check out, like Bayonetta 2 or Tomodachi Life. So in general... yeah, I thought this was a great year for gaming.

 

[Isaac]

Over the past 2 years my gamings been slowing down. It began getting really slow this summer, and I hardly play at all now. It used to be I plkay all the time. My ds at school and my xbox at home. I think it's lack of hype. Luckily for me, I am 89% sure that I'm getting a 3ds for christmas, and getting pretty hyped for that, so I think it will pick up soon enough. Here's to ending 2015 on a good note.

 

[A Link In Time]

2014 was a great year to be a Wii U owner. Between Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, there was a major release for just about every genre.

The 3DS, on the other hand, had a pretty lackluster year, but the likes of Bravely Default, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and Pokémon ORAS were enough to get by.

I'm tempted to over rate how good this year was for the Xbox One because of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The system still has a lot of progress to make.

The PS4 really isn't worth it right now as its biggest release this year was The Last of Us Remastered. If you have yet to experience that game, however, get it on PS4.

The PS Vita...that thing still exists?

The PC always has a great year. A few franchises aren't as well optimized for PC, but the overwhelming majority of major game releases can be enjoyed on NE.