Coint and Plick 2014 - The Seventh Annual ILX Video Game Poll

considering that the (imo inferior) rockstar games GTAIV and RDR placed #2 and #1 in 2008 and 2010, i expected a stronger showing i guess? altho i guess this really really shows the ilx move away from consoles more than anything. if my guesses are correct, we still have 3 mobile games at least, and 2 pc games at least (and a console game, and... something else... possibly a console game). <-- Don't wanna play that "here is what is left" game since I know 5 of them from my ballot.

xp otm, i guess i'm most surprised bc this is the first time i didn't put the rock star game of the year on my most overrated rant thing

slash i voted for it

#7: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - PS3 - 62 pts - 6 votes - 1 top game votes - Top PS3 Exclusive

http://i.imgur.com/AYSFuR2.jpg

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Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - Studio Ghibli meets Level 5

While Level-5 did a wonderful job of concocting a worthy game, Ni No Kuni's most overt draw is in how it looks, and for that, you need to look outside of the game's developer and into the firm actually responsible for the graphics: Studio Ghibli, perhaps the most famous anime producer in the world. Ni No Kuni is unquestionably gorgeous; its stellar aesthetic transcends each and every inch of the game. You'll see a vista and think to yourself "this is the most beautiful scene in the game." Then, you’ll see something an hour later and you'll think the same thing. This happens over and over again, because Ni No Kuni looks that much better than a vast majority of games on the market. - Colin Moriarty, IGN

Ni no Kuni's combat takes place in real time, though it allows you to pause to switch between Oliver and one of the other party members or any of the familiars currently in your employ. You can run around the battlefield at will as whichever character or creature you've selected, but you still choose your actions — even the most basic attack — from a menu. While real-time combat makes for faster battles than if it were turn-based, the lack of direct control is often frustrating. Selecting "attack" brings up a five- to ten-second timer, and until it runs out, your character will continue a series of auto-attacks on the enemy. Sometimes you'll choose attack but the creature you're controlling will inexplicably just stand there for the first few seconds of the timer, letting it tick down. I was never able to work out why this happens from time to time. - Philip Kollar, Polygon

The only big ticket game I’ve played this year, and I’m not even that far in. But so far, despite some irritating battles, this is beautiful and great and pushes all my JRPG buttons. - s.clover

Not the most compelling jRPG ever, or even really of the past few years (I'd put Persona 4 Golden in this top spot easily if it had really come out in 2013), but once the game got its hooks in me (and, if it didn't for you, keep trying -- it takes a while) it was a warm bowl of chicken soup every time I booted it up. It's easy to find faults, but I was smiling my whole way through. And if that's not the point of playing video games as an adult, what the hell is? - Will M.

Visually lived up to everything you'd hope for from a Ghibli RPG, and while the plot was no great thing the battles were really fun - somehow boss battles won through patience and desperate counter-attacking with one character left never felt like a drag at all. - if

loved this, put 80 hours in before it got too hard to catch pokemons. - soda

If I'm being honest I would have made it my number 1, but it feels kinda boring to vote for GTA even though I spent an ungodly amount of time with it.

yeah, pretty much the same with me. normally i just vote honestly but it didn't seem like GTA5 would be hurting for votes

considering that the (imo inferior) rockstar games GTAIV and RDR placed #2 and #1 in 2008 and 2010, i expected a stronger showing i guess?

i only can think up like 2-3 of the final games left to place

also RDR >> GTAV imho

i still have three games left from my ballot this is weird

Interesting that Ni No Kuni showed up highly here, I got the feeling that it eventually fizzled for many people on this board.

yeah, only 2 left from my ballot.

unless i am failing at ctrl+f and/or failing at having a memory, i have 4 left and one of them is really O_o

i think i have p good guesses for the other two, as well... shutting up now

are we finishing today?

Ha, love your comment on Ni No Kuni, Will

are we finishing today?

I have a lot of work left to do on them but I can keep grinding. Or we can do 1-5 tomorrow. What do you think?

past the FF on snes (however you number it officially) i've never played a jrpg

Take your time, poly, we're in the home stretch.

goole: FFVI (III in the US) was a great one to stop with tbh

Ni No Kuni is just so beautiful. It really reminds me of the first time I ever saw a Dragon's Lair arcade cabinet and couldn't even believe that WOAH IT'S A MOVIE YOU CAN PLAY! Course in that case it turned out not to be. But this time it really is! Also welsh sidekicks deserve recognition.

(I also played, enjoyed, didn't vote for GTA. Just too many other games that deserved the votes this year).

#6: 868-HACK - iOS - 65 pts - 4 votes - 1 first place votes - Top iOS Exlusive

http://i.imgur.com/bk8UUjw.jpg

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Your objective is to pass through eight data sectors. Each houses two siphons: collect these and you can deploy them to earn cash and energy from the surrounding squares, or to gain abilities, used by expending said resources, from data nodes. Activating these, however, releases more enemies. Viruses move two spaces for every turn you take; glitches can pass through nodes to get to you. You can zap them, but each attack uses up a turn, and without judicious use of your limited resources, you’ll soon be surrounded. - Edge

I like the way the theme matched up with the pleasure of it. I liked that it felt like the apex of an awful lot of thinking about games. - Gravel

it's the classic 868-HACK dilemma - do you just start going for points and try to beat your record, or do you play cautiously, get fewer points, but have a chance to increase your streak? *bites your nails* - Karl Malone

woo - just scored a 66 single run alive in 868-hack. i parlayed an antivirus into an early game score - used score judiciously until around sector 5 when i was able to grab a debug (plus a reset) and then started popping the big score boxes + left score alone. grabbed a step before the final sector, siphoned a 8-pt box on sector 8, and then stepped all the way over to the exit. - Mordy

two weeks after announcing i disliked 868 hack i am still playing it every day - thomp

my #1

i need to grab this

is it landscape orientation?

yes, although that image is cropped

ha wow did not expect gta to be that low, DEFINITELY did not expect ni no kuni to beat it

i hadnt played either by the time voting came around, still havent played NNK, would have thrown some points to gta for sure

please dont take this the wrong way but before i take the plunge on ni no kuni, is it actually far less "cute" than the promos would lend me to believe? i got the dreaded chocobo fears from it

It's very cute, sorry.

what are the dreaded chocobo fears?

yeah isn't it a story about an eight year old trying to save his mom or something

An eight year old trying to save his mum after she apparently dies of a heart attack. Which actually was a massively difficult cut scene to sit through with an 8 year old whose grandad had a heart attack the week before, really wished I'd had some pre-warning about the content tbh. But hey, everything turned out fine in the end (in game and irl).

dreaded chocobo fears is just my own private shorthand for all the times FF games would cram some cutesy stupidity in my way and make adorable animals talk in babytalk for my "amusement"

like i have no problem with heartfelt or even vaguely saccharine storylines, just dont make me spend half my time wandering the game with some fucking half bunny that talks like henrietta pussycat from mr. rogers and wont ever stfu

in this game the half bunny talks in a deep welsh brogue

so this game is a broguelike

...

haha

slots five through one all to be taken by marvel puzzle quest then is it

ugh, i forgot about marvel puzzle quest

you guuuuuuys

plz don't let a match 3 game be #1 overall

i shouldn't judge, i guess. i've probably sunk a dozen hours into Ted Ginn Kick Return over the past month, and that is objectively one of the worst games of all time

i spent 95-145 minutes this week playing final fantasy: all the bravest and i still comfortably look down on anyone playing marvel puzzle quest

punks

haters

well keep looking down because WE'RE ALL HAVING A VERY MILDLY FUN TIME DOWN HERE

no we aren't

FF: ATB is pretty fun at times

it might not be fun but it's god's work

Love the presentation of it.

I was playing FF:ATB doing the magic finger dance over 30-or-so mages, knights, scouts, warriors, etc. and then decided what if I just lay my entire hand flat against the screen will that still work? And YES it does work!

Can't go wrong w 16-bit FF music though. I would love it if it was just a screen saver.

Ok you dicks, I bought ni no kuni after work today so if it sucks it's on you