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This is the first year I can put together a full personal GOTY list. Thanks to Game Pass.

cyrribrae

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
I've always loved playing games, like all of you. But I was cheap (and poor). I grew up playing free MMOs on my crappy laptop, with the bottom panel taken off and my floor fan literally blowing dust and air into the body just to maintain a steady 20fps on Maplestory. Even after I got a console and built up a Steam backlog like all of us, I've rarely ever played 10 games in a year - let alone 10 games from THIS year. It's made GOTY kind of a pointless exercise. It's something I'll maybe check in a few years on Black Friday, when the deals finally roll in and I can pick them up for 85% off.

Game Pass has changed that. It already changed that last year, but I feel Game Pass has really fully come into its own this year. Games like your and mine GOTY (obviously. No you shut up) Outer Wilds was exactly the small indie game with a vaguely standard thumbnail that I would have UTTERLY IGNORED if I had to pay for it. But no, there it was on release for no additional money - ready for me to download and play. And my God is that a game that everyone should at least give a real chance. Gears and Outer Worlds also released day and date - and, again, were not games that I would have bought this year. DMC 5. Even most recently, Rage 2 (no.. probably not my GOTY) and Remnant.

I have finally played enough of a year's releases to even HAVE a personal Top 10 list. And it's all thanks to excellent indies, some XGS output, and Game Pass. Yay!
 
TangFei

TangFei

Banned
Aug 18, 2019
179
User Warned: Thread Whining
Another pointless gamepass thread outside of the OT, kind of reads like an ad even though I doubt it. But congrats anyway!
 
TheWorthyEdge

TheWorthyEdge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,815
This will honestly be the first time in a while that I probably won't have a top 10 list...this year just wasn't very good in my opinion. 2017 remains king.
 
Dusk Golem

Dusk Golem

Local Horror Enthusiast
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,807
It's a good service for getting easy access to a bunch of good games.

Though the game that's gonna' totally win the most game of the year awards this year isn't on Game Pass yet.

It's gonna' be Resident Evil 2.
 
Abominuz

Abominuz

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,550
Netherlands
For me it is a chance to play games i would never buy. And i must say i have been pleasantly suprised a few times. This gen i bought a xbox when the X came out. MS had no games or services to pull me in early. But with gamepass i am going to buy the next console at launch. They made a huge turnaround from the start of this gen.
 

Deleted member 8860

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,525
TheWorthyEdge said:
This will honestly be the first time in a while that I probably won't have a top 10 list...this year just wasn't very good in my opinion. 2017 remains king.
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I don't think I've ever really had a top ten (of the year) list. There were maybe three games from 2017 that I found to be outstanding and a number that were good, and 2019 is similar.

GamePass and other subscription services are nice in that they let me try games I wouldn't have otherwise bought. I've definitely found good games that way, albeit nothing outstanding.

Dusk Golem said:
It's a good service for getting easy access to a bunch of good games.

Though the game that's gonna' totally win the most game of the year awards this year isn't on Game Pass yet.

It's gonna' be Resident Evil 2.
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Not yet on RE2, but DMC V is there.
 
OP
OP
cyrribrae

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
Spaltazar said:
the one thing i don't like about microsoft™ gamepass™ is that it is almost too good!
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The Living Tribunal said:
The one thing i don't like about Gamepass is that it's almost too good.

Edit: Goddamit.
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LOL!! Too slow on the trigger.

TheWorthyEdge said:
This will honestly be the first time in a while that I probably won't have a top 10 list...this year just wasn't very good in my opinion. 2017 remains king.
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Eh. I've enjoyed the games I've played on the service. I've certainly *enjoyed* enough games to make a top 10 (not sure why we're so elitist about freaking games LOL). But this is also just a quantity thing. I don't play that many games because I don't buy that many games (and even when I do, my Steam account reminds me). For whatever psychological voodoo BS reason, I play more games with Game Pass. A big part of this is the accessibility and volume of great indie games. I love it.

I mean, end of the day, who cares, right? It's just more fun to be able to say "these are the 10 recent games I liked the most" rather than "this is the game from this year I played. Also, hey ya'll still remember that Destiny.. 1...?"
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,665
Why so many people just ignore indies if they aren't for "free"? That's kinda depressive for me (80% of what I play are indies lol)
 

aember

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,026
I used to buy just about every big game I was interested in as soon as they'd come out till I lost my job last year. Job hunting fucking sucked, got me nowhere, so I opted to study, signed up for university and now, with my much smaller funds, Game Pass is arguably the most amazing thing to happen in gaming in years in my opinion.

I'll still get the occasional bigger games (on sales or just saving up), but this service is pretty much the de facto way to play new stuff now and I absolutely love it.
 
Gamer17

Gamer17

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,399
Great happy u can play many games form ur GOTY but 80% of outlet GOTY nominees are not on Gamepass.
 
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TheWorthyEdge

TheWorthyEdge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,815
cyrribrae said:
LOL!! Too slow on the trigger.


Eh. I've enjoyed the games I've played on the service. I've certainly *enjoyed* enough games to make a top 10 (not sure why we're so elitist about freaking games LOL). But this is also just a quantity thing. I don't play that many games because I don't buy that many games (and even when I do, my Steam account reminds me). For whatever psychological voodoo BS reason, I play more games with Game Pass. A big part of this is the accessibility and volume of great indie games. I love it.

I mean, end of the day, who cares, right? It's just more fun to be able to say "these are the 10 recent games I liked the most" rather than "this is the game from this year I played. Also, hey ya'll still remember that Destiny.. 1...?"
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For me it is a Top 10 Games I've played of the Year. I will say Outer Wilds is probably going to be in top 3. I've gotta finish some games still like RE2 and Sekiro. Games like Kingdom Hearts 3 I probably won't put on the list just cause I don't think it deserves to be in a top 10 of the year list in my eyes. I take the list pretty seriously just because I find it a lot of fun, but I know it ultimately means nothing. Gamepass is certainly badass and I'll probably add some of the smaller games to the list of games I've played this year.
 
daninthemix

daninthemix

Member
Nov 2, 2017
5,027
Gamepass democratises gaming and I love that people are getting value from that and broadening their experiences.

Also, Gamepass threads tend to boil some people's piss for some reason, so I also get good popcorn value out of that.
 
Agamon

Agamon

Member
Aug 1, 2019
1,781
It's been a while since I've perused the Steam Fall sale, and came away with a, "meh."

Thanks to GP, my games backlog just keeps growing every week...
 
80s Old School

80s Old School

Banned
Oct 28, 2019
442
I'm loving gamepass as well. I used to buy discounted games and indies when I was bored between releases but gamepass eliminates the need for that. One thing I can say though, two things on the forum always bring out the extreme opinions this year, Death Stranding and gamepass. Both are either gods gift to gaming or a mistake. I wonder why...
 
MovieFlask

MovieFlask

Member
Nov 1, 2019
121
Maryland
Congrats! A lot of fun indie games I may have never played like the aforementioned Outer Wilds, along with Void Bastards, An Old Man's Journey, The Gardens Between, Creature in the Well and more. Glad you are getting value out of it! It's been great for me too!
 
ShinUltramanJ

ShinUltramanJ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,950
How can you build a backlog that you don't bother with, yet play lots of Game Pass games?

Am I missing something here? Do you not like the games you buy?
 
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cyrribrae

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
MovieFlask said:
Congrats! A lot of fun indie games I may have never played like the aforementioned Outer Wilds, along with Void Bastards, An Old Man's Journey, The Gardens Between, Creature in the Well and more. Glad you are getting value out of it! It's been great for me too!
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Yes!! That's totally been my experience as well. The Gardens Between is one of my favorite gaming experiences of last year, and it's not even nearly as big of a thing as say an Edith Finch (which I still haven't gotten to, and hope is still on GP) but is still lots of fun and really left an impression. Really enjoyed finishing Creature in the Well and Old Man's Journey. I would NEVER have played Afterparty. And now I've played it at release, finished it, enjoyed it. All of these are games that I had seen covered and played on Giant Bomb, but knew I would never buy. Even smaller stuff like Hue and Thomas Was Alone (granted.. I did play this when it was still just a flash game lol). Not because they're not deserving - but because I had no idea if I would like them. That's no longer a concern with Game Pass.

ShinUltramanJ said:
How can you build a backlog that you don't bother with, yet play lots of Game Pass games?

Am I missing something here? Do you not like the games you buy?
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Unfortunately, you're not far off the mark. He's the reality of my Steam backlog: I buy games because they're CHEAP, not because I want to play them. Suckered by the sale. I mean, that's why I don't even bother looking at the Steam sales nor do I jump on games even when my wishlist items are on sale. I buy into the hype a few years down the road, even though there's no one else to enjoy that experience with. I can't be the only one who's looked at some game collection - the entire AC franchise! - and think.. well it IS 85% off.. When will I ever see it this cheap again?! When will I ever play it..? BUT LIMITED TIME OFFER!! That's no longer the case. Thank goodness.

It's also a psychological thing - I own these games, so I could get back to them WHENEVER. On Game Pass, they could leave next month or the zeitgeist may fade - I should jump on these games whilst I still can. I would have NEVER played Obsidian's Outer Worlds at release in the past. Now, I can play it, and understand what people are talking about.
 
P-MAC

P-MAC

Member
Nov 15, 2017
4,479
Rosebud said:
Why so many people just ignore indies if they aren't for "free"? That's kinda depressive for me (80% of what I play are indies lol)
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It's more like 50/50 for me but the issue is there are dozens of indies released every week with very little to distinguish them. Every now and then one catches your eye as being unique and generally those are the only ones people remember enough to buy
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
What 2019 games on GP are GOTY worthy? Can't think of any tbh, but this year is pretty hard anyway when it comes down to GOTY material. Lots of very good games but not many truly outstanding games.
 
Matty H

Matty H

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,107
Yeah most years I struggle to play 10 games from the current year because that used to cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars, now for a reasonable monthly subscription I can make a top 10 out Gamepass alone.
Awesome sauce.
 
Vico

Vico

Member
Jan 3, 2018
6,423
Mr.Deadshot said:
What 2019 games on GP are GOTY worthy? Can't think of any tbh, but this year is pretty hard anyway when it comes down to GOTY material. Lots of very good games but not many truly outstanding games.
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Outer Wilds
Gears 5
Outer Worlds
Devil May Cry 5

Three of them were avalaible day one on the service. That's already pretty great for a service that is really starting to exist.

+ Other great indies (Slay the Spire, My Friend Pedro, etc.)

Other big GOTY picks will likely come later (Control, Sekiro), but yeah we're talking about games coming out in 2019 going on Game Pass in 2019.
 
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