The RPS Advent Calendar Guessing Game - 2017 Edition

and_its_man 2017-12-03 04:08:54 UTC #82

knock one time for yes, two times for no, three times for both rice and pasta.

Aerothorn 2017-12-03 17:48:25 UTC #83

Well, Matt throws his first curveball. Seems like I was right in not putting this on my original list (I figured Alec had faded enough on it that it wouldn’t make it from him alone) but I guess Matt placed it high enough to get on there. It’s obnoxious because Tides of Numenera absolutely deserves a spot on any Top 24, I just didn’t think they’d go for it - the nature of the game is that it’s very good in a lot of respects but doesn’t quite come together in the end, such that it doesn’t leave the sorts of lingering memories and positive associations that its predecessor did.

vinraith 2017-12-03 17:59:05 UTC #84

I was teetering on the edge of eliminating Torment - it was the next to go if something more promising came to my attention. I’m glad nothing more promising came to my attention!

Note: I’m resisting the urge to post my usual rant about what an overrated mess of a game Planescape Torment was. Merry Christmas.

Vandelay 2017-12-03 19:48:31 UTC #85

Nice. Three for three so far. I have no doubt I will come crashing down sooner or later though.

Surprised less people picked this. The sequel to a game that is regular described as the best ever made may not have made as massive splash as some may have suspected, but it did get a really good reception. I’m still yet to pick it up myself, but I have no doubt I will at some point. I have bounced off both Pillars and Original Sin to varying degrees, which does put me off somewhat. I never particularly liked RPGs when growing up and grew to like them more during the 2000’s. I always put it down to an age thing that I started to appreciate them more when I got into my late teens, but maybe that 90’s style just isn’t for me. The focus on narrative that Torment has appeals to me more than the other two’s repetitive combat, so I’m still wanting to play it.

Aerothorn 2017-12-04 05:06:34 UTC #86

And god bless us, everyone! You’d almost certainly find Tides of Numenera the superior game (even if you probably also wouldn’t like it), since it’s mechanically sound and relatively balanced* and restrained.

*It’s actually way too easy to be good at everything/get a lot of successes, in a way that very much departs from the stated ethos of “make failure interesting,” but at least it’s not broken for any one build or approach.

vinraith 2017-12-04 13:58:54 UTC #87

You’re almost certainly right. A huge portion of my problem with Planescape: Torment is the implementation of the D&D rules and the setting, both of which were very familiar from DMing PnP games. Without any of that baggage, I could presumably enjoy this one for what it was.

Vandelay 2017-12-04 17:19:32 UTC #88

So… That was unexpected. Completely forgot that this came out on PC this year. I thought it might have been a Katharine pick at first, but Adam and Graham seemed to equally love it too.

Nice reminder of it though, as it was one I wanted to get.

BTW - my score hasn’t added up correctly…

Aerothorn 2017-12-04 17:51:37 UTC #89

URGH. It was and it wasn’t. It was a slam-dunk in terms of “how many staff loved it,” and I had it on my first list for that reason, but kicked it off because I thought they wouldn’t count it on account of the actual game coming out in 2009 and this being just a straight port of that 2009 game.

I can’t actually argue with them - it’s not like they were allowed to pick it in 2009 - but that was my logic and I’m annoyed that I didn’t pick it now. And now we know that console ports are legal in the year of their PC release!

And clearly everyone else used the same logic because NOBODY PICKED IT and boy would that have been a win for me.

vinraith 2017-12-04 20:54:55 UTC #90

Yeah, it would never have crossed my mind that this was eligible, but the saving grace is that it didn’t occur to anyone else either.

Fumarole 2017-12-04 22:39:50 UTC #91

So we’re not doing categories this year are we?

It’s fixed.

Ffrog 2017-12-04 23:06:53 UTC #92

I should really have had The Norwood Suite on my list, but I got it confused with Off Peak (which i’ve actually played) and thought it was out ages ago.

Never would have got Bayonetta though.

Aerothorn 2017-12-04 23:33:51 UTC #93

I’m starting to suspect that my original off-the-cuff list is going to be substantially more accurate than my final, obsessively-edited-and-researched list. I wish Obi-Wan had told me to turn off my targeting computer.

Aerothorn 2017-12-05 17:04:02 UTC #94

Damnit, John!

The problem with John as primary reviewer as that there are 40 games throughout the year that only he reviews, and of the 15 he really likes, he’s so effusive that there is no way to tell which one will stand the test of time. Which, I suppose, is what the Advent Calendar is for - John is here to tell us “I still love OneShot one year later!” It was on my longlist, but I filtered out every game that I thought only John played, even knowing that every year there’s a Hexcells, a game that John ranks high so as to force it onto the list.

I am also really happy to see a December game feature, since for so long they’ve been technically eligible but never actually won.

LTK 2017-12-05 17:24:13 UTC #95

Do you think that this year it will be Hidden Folks? Cause I doubt it’ll be Crosscells.

…says I, completely missing that you were referring to the calendar entry that was just posted. Well then.

This marks the first of the calendar’s games that I’ve actually played, and while the concept of OneShot is very clever, after it offered me the final choice I’d had about enough of it. It didn’t grab me enough for me to want to dig into the meta aspects, which I’m vaguely aware exist. If I had, I might have agreed with including it on the calendar, but as it is, I don’t.

MiniMatt 2017-12-05 17:27:36 UTC #96

Yep I put Kingsway in my slot for “games John really likes more than all the other games John really likes”. Without keeping on the ball it’s hard to guess which games have legs and which are passing fancies. Or maybe that’s not important - something you love for 20 hours but never touch - or talk about - again, is perhaps equally deserving a spot on the calendar as one you play week in and week out. Which makes my reliance on the “what are we playing at the weekend” posts as mediocre a strategy this year as it proved in previous years

Oh and I completely forgot Bayonetta existed. I think I had Nioh in that same mental slot of games with curiously involved combat control schemes and slightly impenetrable settings.

Kiril 2017-12-05 17:38:17 UTC #97

I thought of Oneshot but then remembered Hidden Folks and dropped from my brain and list completely. I also completely forgot that Bayonetta came out on PC this year.

Vandelay 2017-12-05 18:40:19 UTC #98

I was about to moan that this meant The Talos Principle was eligible, but not picked, only to realise that the expansion was included instead. That is acceptable.

I hope this means that Shadow Tactics gets picked, as it really deserves it (despite being absent from my guesses).

Sarfrin 2017-12-05 19:09:15 UTC #99

Those two and Nier Automata are all the same game in my head.

MiniMatt 2017-12-05 19:23:36 UTC #100

The moment I posted I realised I’d confused Nioh and Nier - yep, same in my head too

Vandelay 2017-12-06 17:09:11 UTC #101

An RTS on the RPS advent calendar? What is this madness?

This one passed me by. I know the name, but nothing more. The description from the write up sounds pretty good. Will be adding it to my want list.

This is always the nice thing about the advent calendar; even when games I haven’t guessed are picked it is still a win to find new games.