RPG of the year?

@blueinheaven: Nothing "generic" about the Xenoblade series going by all the critical acclaim for one. They're not going to hand out high scores all around over something that is generic, plus there's a lot of artistic beauty in X. About the only faults you can justify are graphics (which are still pretty good) and lack of innovation. Things that could be said for a lot of games out there.

I think Xenoblade Chronicles X will be The Witcher 3's only real competition for RPGs this year.

Bloodborne because an awesome looking setting with the best combat in its genre is goty material. I haven't played TW3 *yet* but with its pathetic combat i wouldn't be surprised if BB is a much better game as a whole.

Dark Souls has always been on a fine line between ARPG and action game with RPG elements, but regardless of my own opinion on BB. It's safe to say that Bloodborne is mislabeled an RPG. If BB was an RPG I'd have to start considering God of War and DMC Role Playing Games, and I'd rather not do that.

It might be GOTY material, but it's not RPG of the year material.

@LegatoSkyheart: Have you played Bloodborne?

@charizard1605: no and not the Witcher 3 either.

Well Xenoblade isn't out yet, nor Bravely Second and If Persona 5 comes this year, then my vote goes for that one. I don't care about the Witcher open box style nor Bloodborne.

@skelly34: Amen.

@LegatoSkyheart: Trust me, Bloodborne is better.

Witcher 3 > Bloodborne.

If Bloodborne offered incentive to play the game after beating it once I'd probably say otherwise.

@charizard1605: I don't know. The Witcher looks more interesting than Dark Souls 3

Same.

That and more items/builds.

and better PvP.

Amazing. You can't construct a decent thread.

I do need to check it out after I finish Bloodbourne. I've heard great things.

@LegatoSkyheart: As someone who has played both, I can tell you that those impressions are incorrect.

I had more fun in the first couple of hours with Bloodborne than I've had in 15 hours of Witcher 3.

Witcher 3 is great. Bloodborne is just awesome.

I think it's going to be Persona 5 or Final Fantasy XV, but we'll see

Having now fully completed Shadowrun: Dragonfall, a highly impressive game, it appears Shadowrun: Hong Kong could indeed be valid competition for Pillars Of Eternity.

It's probably worth noting as well my friends, this game (Shadowrun) is also released for tablets, once again proof the platform can have story rich, complex gameplay and that it isn't mandatory to have shitty scamywamy pay to win titles.

A platform truly squandered.

@charizard1605: I mean, I've played both, and I can totally see why he would prefer TW3 over BB. Nothing incorrect about it.

Is SMT x Fire Emblem coming this year? Probably not game of the year but I do love both series on their own.

I will absolutely not argue opinions, yes- but they need to be opinions based on something. Without having played both of them, I don't think one should pass one game as being better than the other. I stated my opinion there- you can state yours, and, say (assuming this is true- if not, let it be a hypothetical) you like TW3 more. In that case, I won't argue with you- you've played both games and decided on which one works for you best.

Passing an opinion on both games without having played both of them first is what seems to be a little dodgy to me.

That said, viewed only from the perspective of objective parameters, what would you say TW3 does better than BB? I can think of maybe world size/scope and graphics. Personally - and of course, feel free to disagree here - I think that in every other area I can think of, the two are either matched, or Bloodborne is better.

It's just the "you're incorrect" thing that caught me off guard.

As far as what Witcher does better? World, both detail and how convincing it is. Sense of adventure. Characters and story, not to mention I'm already more invested in this universe, where Bloodborne just starts anew, and honestly I don't dig it as much. Then again, the only Souls game I liked story/character wise, was Demon's Souls. I'd give combat to Bloodborne, obviously, although I prefer the way you can go about fighting a creature in TW3. Bombs, oils, magic. There's shit like that in Bloodborne, too, but I never once felt inclined to use any of that.

As an overall package, I'm getting more enjoyment out of TW3. This can still change, because the same happened with Bloodborne.

You forgot about

Serpent of the Staglands, a game I enjoyed more than Pillars of Eternity, by having a lot less trash encounters for starters.
UnderRail, a game I havent played, but those who have have said nothing but positive stuff about it.

Yeah, that was probably poorly worded on my part. I was posting on my phone while surrounded by screaming kids at work, lol.

I'd say Bloodborne has the better world and lore. Sense of adventure though, yes, I would give that to Witcher. Same with characters, I guess, though story, again, to Bloodborne. I can understand having a preference for The Witcher's fantasy world, though, which makes you dig it more than Bloodborne's setting. Personally, I've always had a thing for dark psychological/Lovecraftian horror, and Bloodborne is right up my alley lol.

Not arguing with you or anything, btw, just basically discussing two very good games, and where we stand on each. I figure this shouldn't be a thing I have to say, but this is System Wars, and it's very easy to misconstrue the other person's intent lol.

Cool. Easily understandable if screaming kids were part of the message not coming across correctly. Nobody likes that.

I want The Witcher 3. I bet it's good fun and that the game world is something to admire. And I would bet it is a better RPG than Bloodborne is, but probably not a better action game. Still, so far it's Bloodborne far and away. Few games can match it's atmosphere and charm other than, well, Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. But i'd argue those two are also better in the RPG department. Bloodborne had the burden of being an excellent action game while incorporating plausable RPG elements. And that's all they are, plausable. Severe lack in content is a problem for a game of this scale. But overall the majority of the time playing it was really fun and rewarding. It's also a specticle and has some incredible imagery.

It's art style is unlike anything I've seen before. The guys at From Soft have incredible imaginations.

@judaspete: probably a 2016 game

Me too, but I can't freaking stand real time with pause.. These games need to be turn based in which movement, positioning etc etc actually matter instead of just having your fighters kind of block a place? I mean people need to freaking take their nostalgia glasses off and realize that Baldur's Gate 2, though a great game, had some massive balancing and mechanical problems to it based around this system.. Numerous fights were dumbed down because of the real time with pause having to completely axe out abilities and mechanics the pnp version has.. The dragon fights in that game were god damn messes and really didn't convey how complicated those fights were suppose to be in the pnp version.. AKA it was dumbed down.

@freedomfreak: Played Bloodborne?

@Blabadon: From beginning 'til finish.

@freedomfreak: Quick impressions? Do you feel bad like I do for almost instantly comparing to Dark Souls?

@Blabadon: No, because let's be real, it's a Souls game. It's just that this one seems to have a more aggressive, straight forward way of doing things. Equipment and build-wise, you know. I'm not gonna delude myself into thinking it's vastly different from other Souls games, because it isn't.

And I really like Bloodborne, although it's not my favorite Souls game. Demon's still takes the spot, with Dark Souls following it. I like it, and I'm looking forward to the DLC.

@freedomfreak: definitely is, I just really meant in terms of "man this world isn't as good as Lordran" or "the lack of ascension paths stinks"

Like the places where Miyazaki clearly wanted to forge a path in a different manner, I just wonder if it's fair I compare it to Dark Souls. The world isn't meant to have things like item sellers in it, but at the same time, I wish it did. Stuff like that.

Still, good to know you liked it. Witcher 3 treating you well?

@Blabadon: I totally get what you're saying. It's where BB felt short to me. You know, how you went around DS or DS2, you'd always be meeting interest people, they'd help you out if you wanted to. There was a sense of adventure BB just doesn't have. It feels more like getting from point A to B, and so on, in a fairly sterile way. Not much going on. The Insight stuff is cool though.

As far as TW3, I really needed an adventure, rpg like that. Haven't played that in a while, besides the Souls games, and I don't really put them in the same category. Combat is still clunky, but that world has me by its claws. I find it hard to put down, not to mention I like the side content, because it feels more like a little side-story rather than GET ME 10 PIECES OF MUTTON, BIATCH, so far that, it's definitely cool.

@freedomfreak: But it does ask you to go search for a goat lol.

@charizard1605: Obviously not all side quests will be brilliant, but they are far better than any other side quest I've come across. It feels like they actually put some thought into the motivation of the person asking you it.

The mutton thing was a reference to Nier, and at no point, has the game been as fest-questy as Nier. No game ever will. Well, maybe Dead Island..

@freedomfreak: The goat quest was in the main game :p

But yeah, on the whole, I really like how much thought was put into the context of the side quests.

@charizard1605: Don't even remember that one. Was that one on a notification board? There's so many quest you can run by.

Edit: Oh right. With the Pellar. Stupid me.

@freedomfreak: Exactly. The sense of adventure in Bloodborne is just not there. There's no middle and end as clearly as there is in Dark Souls

@freedomfreak: Yep. My reaction to that was

... Really?

The Witcher 3. Freakin' phenomenal.

I have yet to play PoE, so my opinion may change, but I doubt it.

Bloodborne

C'mon guys TW3 is a great game, but gameplay-wise its nothing to write home about. The controls are a tad bit clunky and the combat isn't the best either

I really don't see any RPG topping The Witcher 3, any time soon. It may take decades to do so!

Real time with pause combat is just something that never should have happened though it seemed like a good idea at the time. I hated the combat in POE. It also pissed me right off that they made the combat pointless (no exp) because they reckon people want to talk their way through quests because obviously that's much more exciting.

POE should have been turn based and the combat would have been 100 times more interesting and tactical. I stopped playing that game anyway because I just couldn't hack the awful voice overs.

Witcher 3 GOTY for me so far and I can't see anything on the horizon that will beat it except maybe Divinity Original Sin Enhanced. It will be interesting to see what they do with that on console. Numenara is going the pointless combat route and I think that's real time with pause as well. I'll probably skip it completely.

I disagree with the lack of a sense of adventure, given how bizarre the game gets once the game goes full lovecraft, the isolation oriented nature worked in the games favor. It was more in line with what I'd want from a horror experience with very little help to talk to, the way the dream/reality stuff works, the way frenzy/insight plays into, to fucking space aliens. It was probably the first time in the series I was genuinely curious about reading the lore items, but I've always wanted the series to be more Metroid than Castlevania.

Purely as a game the franchise has been at its best in providing mechanical satisfaction with personal triumph, which was no different in Bloodborne. Even the world design in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls always played to those strengths. Yeah they had atmosphere, but the stuff that made it cool was how it was connected, how it flowed with the games rhythm, how it made your path back to a boss easier, etc, etc, etc.

Game has two noteworthy shitty areas though, and those chalice dungeons are fucking lame. Interesting concept, lousy execution.

The more I play Witcher 3 the more bored I get...

Bloodborne doesnt feel much like a RPG, more like action/adventure. It is not much of quests or story, yes it is story there but it is very bad it is in the gameplay/fighting Bloodborne shines.