Vidya²'s 2017 Games of the Year! Streamer Spotlight - Jinarra

Hello all,

It's 2018 now, but I still haven't finished posting our streamer spotlights for 2017 game of the year. Ha ha! Procrastination.

This time we have: Jinarra
Jinarra is one of our newer streamers, having been a longtime v2 viewer - a path that many of us have walked. As both streamer and viewer though, Jin has shown extensive and unwavering support for V2 and the community, even against the harshest adversary any could have to face: real life. I personally am glad to have him with the v2 crew, and am glad to share with you his picks for game of the year. So here they are:


GAME OF THE YEAR:
AVORION
Homepage: https://www.avorion.net/
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/445220/Avorion/ (Early Access)
GoG: Not yet.

Why: "It's addictive as butts; I spent 80 hours in one week on it. It's so good, it terrified me away from it for the foreseeable future. Avorion for replayability beats my other two choices, as a diablo-esque loot system allows for constant grinding and restarting, and a minecraft-type Seed system lets people play with you or without you."

Runner up #1:
DISGAEA 2: PC
Homepage: http://nisamerica.com/games/disgaea-2-pc
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/495280/Disgaea_2_PC__2_PC/
GoG: Unsurprisingly, NIS doesn't know GoG exists ;_;

Why: "Because I wanna be Overpowered, and having level one hundred thousand plus is do want."

Runner up #2:
RIVER CITY RANSOM: UNDERGROUND
Homepage: http://rivercityransom.com/sheet.php?p=river_city_ransom_underground
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/422810/River_City_Ransom_Underground/
GoG: https://www.gog.com/game/river_city_ransom_underground

Why: "Nostalgia done well!"


There you have them: Jin's picks for GOTY: 2017. Not only are they all available on PC, they all cost under 20 USD! If any of them seem like they're something up your alley, check them out. I personally have always been a fan of Disgaea... even if I've never managed to bring myself to play through one for more than a few hours. Someone should make me fighter, or a sunset kind of guy. Thank you all for reading, and please keep watching @ www.vidyavidya.net -Loe

Vidya²'s 2017 Games of the Year! Streamer Spotlight - Sixaxis

Hello again. After a brief break for some winter holiday or other, we're back with more of Vidya²'s picks for Game of the Year 2017.

This time: Sixaxis

Another long time streamer for V2, Sixaxis is actually a member of V2's council of four - the admins for the site and stream group. Regardless of how well we are (or aren't) doing that job, Sixaxis has been a dedicated member of V2 since the early days, and one of our go-to Nintendo fanboys experts for all the new and exciting Nintendo titles. 'Cause, you know... no third party support. HA HA! ANYWAYS, here they are: Sixaxis's picks.

GAME OF THE YEAR:

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD

Homepage: https://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/
Steam: Ha ha.
GoG: In your dreams.

Why: "Because it takes a lot of guts to try and swerve that hard from the basic formula, from little things like giving you most of the items necessary to beat the game from the beginning, to moving to a truly open world, how to make it fun to move around in it an explore, and to just let you go straight for the end at any time, but for people who want to craft and talk to people and build a village, there's exactly as much for you to do as you wish to wrangle out of the game.

The physics engine actually works, and you can cheat as much as the engine will allow and sequence break and solve puzzles in different ways, things you can and can't do just make sense, actual dynamic weather and puddles that grow and shrink in the rain, adding different weapon styles to change the flow of combat, and swapping between weapon types to make sure you're good with all of them and can exploit weakness based on weaponry of the opponent, plus the fact that I still wanna pick it up and play it almost a year later and I haven't even bought any of the extra content."

Runner up #1:

SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY

Homepage: https://supermario.nintendo.com/ Steam: Nope. GoG: Notta.

Why: "Mario Odyssey did a similar formula change [to Zelda] by adding new movement, but Sunshine did that as well and built the game around it (just like Galaxy, but that was more gravity and stuff) so it wasn't quite as novel as moving entirely away from the whole 'get the new inventory item that unlocks the new area so you can progress' idea [which BotW switched from]."

Runner up #2:

DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN 2

Homepage: https://divinity.game/
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/435150/Divinity_Original_Sin_2/
GoG: https://www.gog.com/game/divinity_original_sin_2

Why: "Divinity 2 gets the other callout for being truly what a crpg should be about, once again."

So there you have them; Six's three picks. As expected, Nintendo won the day for him - though remember, all the V2 stream team's GOTY picks are limited to the games that came out this year that we actually got to play so it's small wonder that Six was getting a lot of use out of his Switch. I would do, if I actually was bought games for it (sale on Zelda when, Nintendo?). Add me as a friend, Six!

Thanks for reading, and please keep watching @ www.vidyavidya.net!

-Loe

Vidya²'s 2017 Games of the Year! Streamer Spotlight - Mefirst

2017 is just about at an end, and for all the other absolute shit interesting events that have occurred, it has been a pretty great year for the vidya. Indie titles have impressed, Triple A titles have actually been GOOD, and age old games once lost behind a language barrier have finally seen the light of day in the west. My backlog has never been longer... until March, when Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Yakuza 6 come out.

Aw hell, who am I kidding? It's gonna get longer next week, during the winter steam sale.

ANYWAYS!

With such a wonderful year for gaming, and with such wonderful streamers streaming (ha!), it's high time that v2 present its own Game of the Year list! Of course, no one man, woman, or robot makes up v2; we're a team, damn it! So that in mind, I've asked each streamer to list their GOTY, their runners up, and their reasons why.

...This being v2, not every streamer answered.

BUT! More than a few did. So here we go~!

Submitted for your approval: The v2 streamers' GOTY lists - 2017.

First up: Mefirst

One of the earlier streamers on v2, Mefirst was streaming long before I ever was. I remember watching his FPS streams and his indie platformer streams, and listening to his sweet, unmistakable French German voice. Here's his picks:

GAME OF THE YEAR:
DIVINITY ORIGINAL SIN 2
Homepage: https://divinity.game/
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/435150/Divinity_Original_Sin_2/
GoG: https://www.gog.com/game/divinity_original_sin_2

Why: "The best classic RPG since Baldurs Gate 2. In comparison to games like Pillars of Eternity and Tides of Numenera, it also kept the gameplay its' self fresh and did not just rely on the nostalgia factor. It shares the crown with the Witcher 3 on how a modern RPG should be like."

Runner up #1:
THE EVIL WITHIN 2 Homepage: https://theevilwithin2.bethesda.net/en Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/601430/ Why: "While the game its' self is not ground breaking, it does most things right. It’s impressive that they made the open world aspects actually work and they do not feel in conflict with the story and the rest of the gameplay. The Evil Within 2 also does a fantastic job keeping subtle horror, splatter, and a good story in balance."

Runner up #2: GET EVEN Homepage: http://www.getevengame.com/en/ Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/299950/GET_EVEN/ Why: "A game that seems to fly under everybody's radar, and I think that is quite a shame. While the sneaking and combat do not reach the levels of triple A games, Get Even should be a example to big developers and publishers on how to make a good story that keeps the player not just entertained, but also on their toes until the credits roll. Get Even does all of that without any pretentious or ham-fisted writing like a lot of other games that people consider “deep”. I am looking at you, Bioshock." So there you have Mefirst's picks for 2017 GOTY. More to come later as soon as I get off work and type it up. For the record, V2 streamer picks are limited to the games that the streamers actually got to try and play ourselves. No streamer has been paid for their opinion (as far as I know; I certainly haven't paid them), and this list is non-profit. Thanks for reading, and please keep watching @ www.vidyavidya.net! -Loe

Hello World.

This is the new and unimproved Vidya² blog site. Expect things to be posted here whenever the Streamers of V2 have something to say, or have to say something. Thank you all for your time, and your continued support of V², your video game stream.

-Loe