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Your biggest surprises and disappointments of 2021?


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The year is about to end in ~20 days and is not seeing anything major yet to come this year.

 

Can be video game and video game-related stuff (like console/GPU stocks/related accessories, etc). Keep it civil.

 

___

 

Biggest surprises:

 

  • Guardians of the Galaxy - thinks most can agree this game went from skip to GOTY nominee. Absolute blast. 
  • It Takes Two - at first, the visual design didn't sell but the game turned out amazing. Looking forward to more Josef Fares' games.
  • Halo Infinite - got too much hate and still gets with the progression system but the game otherwise turned out great. Much better than everyone hoped it would be after all the delays and lack of campaign footage.

 

Biggest disappointments:

 

  • Back 4 Blood - yeah, that L4D killer. ? Good example of all hype but fail to deliver. Still okay co-op if you have nothing to do but still nothing special to write about it. Without GP wouldn't even bother.
  • Battlefield 2042 - the story continues with every BF game. So tiring. 
  • GTA Remastered trilogy - was looking forward to playing Vice City but ended up horrible launch riddled with bugs and mediocre upgrades.
  • Deathloop - not really a bad game but the weakest Arkane game. It is still very fun but the lack of maps and poor AI makes it too short, easy and boring fast. Just didn't have that 9-10/10 factor. 
  • Forza Horizon 5 - same as Deathloop. Not really bad but nothing major from FH4 and the game continues to throw even more stuff at you. More of a valueless car collector game with gorgeous visuals to chill for a while.

 

Let's see your biggest surprises and disappointments of 2021. :thumbsup:

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Biggest surprise

 

1. VR Gaming. While it's very hard to get into VR gaming especially here hp etc bringing forth decent headsets at a good price is great. Playing Pavlov, alyx or star wars squadron is like the first time I played wolfenstein. Pavlov is cs 1.6 so many fun game modes. 

 

The future is still 15 to 20 years away. But there is an ecosystem. Also the games are not riddles with mtx. 

 

2. Ff 14 - this game took up a ton of my time in 2021. I'd request all to play through heavensward the first expansion. It's free to play and the amount of stuff given out is mid blowing. Heavensward is one of  the best ff games I've played. Sadly it's locked behind a 50 hr grind. 

 

3. Halo Infinite - fps goty for me. The m$ stuff right now is noise since the gameplay is so good. 

 

4. Re Village was such a fun romp I'm glad I got a chance to play this at launch. 

 

Disappointments 

 

1. Most games that released this year - Seemed to be an absolutely dry year stacked jn favor for the next year. 

 

2. Evolution of ovetall game design philosophies - we don't call them nazi anymore syndrome. I think the current discourse is preventing the release of polarizing and divisive games. For ex manhunt, bully would not exist today ever. Instead every game story veering towards selling cartoonish skins. 

 

3. Gaming journalism- quality has dipped heavily here. All I see is posturing and pandering. It's not long before halo is knocked on for not representing the marginalized. 

 

 

Edited by Vip3r
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Biggest surprise-:

 

Eastward. I never expected a pixel art Indie game will become my GOTY. It has introduced a new level of respect for pixel art games in my mind, normally I used to skip most of these games.

 

Biggest disappointment-:

 

Not many, as I'm not very nitpicky in games. But have to say I was really excited for Sable and Sky the game, since they looked very similar to Journey.  Sadly both are just ok and not great. Sable in particular is a game designed just around side quests, so a bit of a bunmer.

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Hmm... I was just wondering why there is no IVG game of the year discussion. Guess this is a decent substitute. :P

As a primarily Japanese/JRPG gamer I got my feet wet in a lot of franchises of repute this year. Here's my $0.02 on what I managed to play that released this year:

 

Surprises:

  1. Ys IX: my first Falcom game, and it seriously made me wonder if the competition is even trying to make a good traditional JRPG, with an intriguing story, surprisingly well-written characters, a good deal of variety in combat, tons of fun exploration, and much more. Heard a lot about Falcom before but the Trails series is too intimidating to get into. Excited to finish off Ys IX and play the other Ys games, including VIII which has been sitting in my Switch backlog
  2. Scarlet Nexus: surprisingly fun. I feel like it's been panned by a lot of people who were expecting a pure action game. But for someone coming more from an RPG background, the combat had a ton of interesting systems and variety.
  3. Neo: The World Ends With You: I would categorize this as less of a "surprise" and more of something I expected to be great turning out so. The transition that this franchise faced in moving from the hybrid control system on the DS to a very messy "Final Mix" definitive edition on the Switch that gave me CTS had me concerned about the fate of this long-awaited sequel. Although not a commercial success, it was I think the very game every fan of the original was clamoring for.
  4. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: Again, somewhat expectedly great, but goes above and beyond what made the main series amazing. Shu Takumi at his absolute best. The period piece setting, the lack of anachronisms, accurate depictions of racism and sexism in a T-rated visual novel, likeable characters, larger intertwining plot spanning two gigantic games almost made GAAC my game of the year, if it weren't for...
  5. Shin Megami Tensei V: This game managed to surpass the sky high expectations that fans had going into it. Although more comparisons were made to Persona than anything else in its reviews, this is, in reality, Xenoblade or Breath of the Wild meets Shin Megami Tensei. The exploration aspect of this game is nothing like the dungeons of the past SMT games. Take it from someone who loves dungeon crawlers: this is just better, in every way. The tight combat meshed with the vertical exploration and beautifully designed maps makes this my definitive GOTY.

 

Aside from this, I also finished my first Yakuza game (Like a Dragon) and loved it, played Final Fantasy VII Remake, made my way through Persona 5 Royal and got started with (but haven't yet finished) Dragon Quest 11S and Octopath Traveler. I would say Yakuza was quite the shocker. Although the battle system started to wear thin by the end of the game, everything else about LAD was top notch and would skyrocket it to my GOTY were it to have released this year. Planning to try other RGG studios games, and already picked up Y0-6 on Steam.

 

Other, non-JRPG games I loved: Metroid Dread, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania.

 

Disappointments:

  1. Tales of Arise: Please put down those pitchforks. Arise was still a great game, it really was. In fact, it's one of the only two games I platinumed so far this year. As much as I enjoyed the characters enough to keep playing, and as cool as the endgame bosses were, Arise felt lacking in every other aspect. It's a beautiful AAA JRPG with production values rarely seen outside of mainline Final Fantasy, but the game seemed a bit too... formulaic. The story was predictable, the combat boiled down to spamming the same set of optimal Artes, and overall, up until I hit the endgame, I was really forcing myself to get through the story. The deus ex machina ending also left a really bad taste in my mouth. Tales of Arise felt almost great, but in the face of everything else that this year had to offer, that just isn't enough.
  2. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: I am so bored I stopped playing. This franchise has stopped trying. Here's hoping Arceus does better, but I am not too hopeful.
Edited by Petey
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Biggest Surprises

 

Metroid Dread: not a big fan of 2D Metroid, plus the fact that modern Medroidvanias have far surpassed the design philosophy of OG Metroid games. So I did not expect to be absolutely blown away by it. I don't finish most games anymore, but with Dread I finished it and went back and 100% it. 

 

Guilty Gear Strive: again, not a big fan of animu fighters. But GG Strive was captivating from the start. Also rollback netcode means you could play online without worrying about lag, and since most fighters are switching to rollback, the future is bright for online fighting games.

 

Disappointments 

 

Just one, Bowser's Fury was only 4 hours long instead of 40.

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Biggest surprise- it takes two (a couch coop, essentially), getting the goty award.  I don't even remember when was the last time, such a game (wrt gameplay and design) received the top honors. Innovative and fresh compared to other mainstream games released in recent years. 

 

 

Kena- a aa indie title which came inside a aaa package. Everything about this game is top notch

 

Cruise n blast- switch exlusive- I predict many racers would get "influenced" by this title going forward. Racing goty for me. 

 

 

Biggest disappointment- halo infinite campaign. Don't get me wrong here. The mp is good and shooting is really good in both the Campaign and MP. However, they haven't innovated when it comes to environments. The game feels repetitive after a while. Halo veterans/hardcore fans would definitely find the game appealing. However it might get stale, due to lack of different environmental biomes ( lack of deserts, swamps, jungles, urban areas etc) for newer players. Also the story is a bit convulated. They should have stuck with the linear narrative halo is known for.

 

Gta remastered trilogy- for obvious reasons

 

 

No Zelda themed switch- nothing to celebrate the 35th year of the franchise. 

 

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Biggest Surprise:- PS5 outperforming SX in most games,even by an inconsiderate margin. 
 

Biggest Disappointment:- No integration for PSplus & PSnow & Sony acting like a bitch to block upgrades to PS5 on these services. 

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Biggest surprise: Halo Infinite.

 

Wasn't expecting it to outdo Destiny 2 / Halo 5 in gameplay. Looks decent too, despite Craig reveal last year. 

 

Biggest disappointment: None. Don't get overhyped any more. Though next year Starfield could change that.

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Surprises


Psychonauts 2 - One of the best games of the year. Must play. 
 

Returnal - Personal GOTY. Enough said. 

 

Deathloop - Lot of people are divided on this… but for me, it’s easily the GOTY after Returnal. 

Creatively, it’s a masterpiece. 

 

Flight Simulator on Series X - Never expected it’d run this well on Series X. 
It doesn’t run like a half-baked version downgraded for consoles. One of the best games of the decade easily. 

 

Animal Crossing New Horizons final update - Fantastic update. Nintendo listened to fans and provided everything they asked for in the final update. 
 

 

Disappointments - 

 

Forza Horizon 5 - What @Joe Cool already said. 

 

Far cry 6 - Never buying Ubisoft open world games again 

 

Poor PS Plus monthly games and Sony not letting PS5 users take advantage of PS5 versions of the games (like Mortal Shell)

Edited by Vamos
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Surprises

Forza Horizon 5 - Never played Forza game before. Really liked this one for a while. Loved the beautiful environments, and the nice music. Performance was great too. Yes it did get boring after a while but still good.

Halo Infinite MP - Finally a Halo MP game I liked and i have tried them all. Didn't like the progression and being kicked out of the lobby after every match but overall fun.

Twelve Minutes - Came out of nowhere and quite a good game.

Disappointments

Back4Blood - Not too bad but very forgettable after the hype it got.

Halo Infinite campaign - Usual boring Halo campaign as is tradition.

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Surprises/Good:

 

RETURNal

GotG

Kena

RE Village

Improved Gamepass titles

MP with ScamGang

Free Next Gen Upgrades

Xbox BC and FPS Boost

 

Disappointments/Bad:

 

Flight Sim plagued with slow updates

PS Plus Games

Paid next gen Upgrades 

 

 

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Biggest Surprises - 

 

1) Forza Horizon 5 - I'm not a racing game player. I don't enjoy it, and am typically horrible at it. yet I loved Forza Horizon 5. It doesn't have a steep learning curve, and the game is fun

2) Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - Was blown away!! This was my very first Ratchet game. Again, I don't usually play many such animated games. So it was a really pleasant surprise

 

Other than that - not much surprises. All games that were good, I expected them to be good before-hand

 

Biggest Disappointments - 

 

1) Sony's Attitude to Remasters - This was something I was really disappointed by. Didn't expect Sony to be so greedy as to charge for a simple FPS unlock and resolution boost for PS5 versions. Ghost of Tsushima especially disappointed me (Japanese Lip Sync is not a good enough excuse to charge that amount of money). This is a far cry from the Sony of the PS3 days that I loved and supported.

 

Again that's all the disappointments I can think of for this year.

 

9 hours ago, Vip3r said:

2. Ff 14 - this game took up a ton of my time in 2021. I'd request all to play through heavensward the first expansion. It's free to play and the amount of stuff given out is mid blowing. Heavensward is one of  the best ff games I've played. Sadly it's locked behind a 50 hr grind. 

 

If you have not already, i recommend turning your account to paid and playing the further expansions (Not Endwalker, that can wait). AFAIK all expansions are now included in the base version of the game (Only Endwalker requires a separate purchase). Sub for 1 month and play Stormblood and Shadowbringers. Shadowbringers especially, has one of the best stories in gaming period. It makes Heavensward story look amateurish lol

 

8 hours ago, Petey said:

Surprises:

  1. Ys IX: my first Falcom game, and it seriously made me wonder if the competition is even trying to make a good traditional JRPG, with an intriguing story, surprisingly well-written characters, a good deal of variety in combat, tons of fun exploration, and much more. Heard a lot about Falcom before but the Trails series is too intimidating to get into. Excited to finish off Ys IX and play the other Ys games, including VIII which has been sitting in my Switch backlog--

 

Trails is Falcom's story based games. You should try it. Graphically nothing great, but the story puts most books to shame - especially with how much world building, intrigue and characterization goes on in there. If you don't mind graphics, you can start with Trails in the Sky 1. That will explain the entire series to you from the beginning. If you want to start later - you can start with Trails of Cold Steel 1. It's set in the world of Trails in the sky (Some 3 years after Sky I believe), but you won't miss much other than references (and some major organizations and characters will be new to you, but you will understand them later on anyway).

 

Ys is Falcom's gameplay based game.

 

You should also try Tokyo Xanadu eX+. It has a pretty nice story and gameplay. As a bonus, it's set in the modern Tokyo city. It's really fun.

 

Anyway, welcome to the world of Falcom.

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45 minutes ago, roun90 said:

Trails is Falcom's story based games. You should try it. Graphically nothing great, but the story puts most books to shame - especially with how much world building, intrigue and characterization goes on in there. If you don't mind graphics, you can start with Trails in the Sky 1. That will explain the entire series to you from the beginning. If you want to start later - you can start with Trails of Cold Steel 1. It's set in the world of Trails in the sky (Some 3 years after Sky I believe), but you won't miss much other than references (and some major organizations and characters will be new to you, but you will understand them later on anyway).

 

Yup, I have both Sky and Cold Steel 1 but sadly on Steam and I'm allergic to gaming on my laptop. :lol:

I'm gonna commit to playing either one of them next year though. That and Yakuza 0.

 

  

44 minutes ago, roun90 said:

1) Sony's Attitude to Remasters - This was something I was really disappointed by. Didn't expect Sony to be so greedy as to charge for a simple FPS unlock and resolution boost for PS5 versions. Ghost of Tsushima especially disappointed me (Japanese Lip Sync is not a good enough excuse to charge that amount of money). This is a far cry from the Sony of the PS3 days that I loved and supported.

 

I guess success gets to everyone's heads. Be it Microsoft or Nintendo last generation or Sony during the PS3.

Sadly, it seems to hurt Sony the least so they're going to keep getting away with it until the competition steps up.

Edited by Petey
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Biggest surprises: 

 

  • Valheim: This smol little crafting indie game gave me 100+ hours of fun.  There are plenty of games like this but this one just completely nailed the mix of base building, exploration, survival and crafting. 4 of my friends played and enjoyed togther and it was one of the best times I've had playing a game. 
  • Halo Infinite MP: Genuinely didn't expect to enjoy it so much. I'm not a big fan of Halo + I'm not a big fan of MP shooter + all the controversy and delays surrounding this game = This should have been a game i wouldn't touch. But I tried it out because of general hype and because it was free and ended up loving it. The gameplay feels so tight and satisfying, and there are enough tools and options available to you that you always feel like you have a chance of outdoing others. 
  • More Sony Exclusives To PC Announcements: I thought God Of War and Uncharted properties would be too hot to ever come to PC but here we are baby :wOOtjumpy:

 

I don't think I have any big disappointments tbh. I've learnt not too expect too much I guess lol. 

 

 

Edited by dylanjosh
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