Woodling Gameblogging Awards 2020
Dec. 28th, 2020 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjorteoAs of right when this is written there are four days left in 2020, and 2020 appears to be taking that as some sort of challenge regarding how much sheer 2020 it can cram into 2020's final moments. God. This year.
But one thing that hasn't been an awful hellpit this year (unless you read the comments, but like, that's always the case) is video gaming. We just covered the nominees, so now let's pick some winners!
Same "Name:" format for everyone as last year, only there are a lot more names involved this time. Generally listed in the order of who made their decisions, since sometimes one of us made a good enough case in their choice to convince another to agree, and we don't want to steal anyone's thunder.
Rita Repulsa award for Achievements in Backlog Liberation
Some games are long, some are hard, some have just been in the backlog forever. Whatever the reason, this award honors the games whose eventual completion made us say, "Finally! After ten thousand years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!"
Nominees:
Car Quest
Dragon Warrior II
I Became a Dog 2
Lawn Mower
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Celine says:
There are many ways to consider this category, but I honestly think that Dragon Warrior II most satisfies all of them. Satisfying a prerequisite that finally allows us to venture forth into sequels, fandom stuff, etc.? "I'm interested but I feel like I should beat DW2 first" was the hurdle behind Dragon Quest 3, Dragon Quest Builders 2, and Dragon Quest 11. Finally laying to rest something that has been bothering me for ages? Think back to the story of that tantalizing poster and the game we never actually got to play, but that I had been wondering about this whole time. Triumphantly conquering an impossibly difficult obstacle of a game? It's Dragon Warrior II. NES version and everything. This one was a fairly easy and obvious choice for me.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Kurt says:
You know, those are all really good points, and that's a good pick. Dragon Warrior II was always the game you dreamed about playing, though, and never one you actually played until this year. I'm going to go with the one that's been haunting us... you? Us? Someone? ... Haunting some facet of the system or another directly since childhood, the one you or we or someone have been trying to beat off and on throughout the years and only just now was the achievement finally reached.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Ardei says:
I have very little I can add to this that has not already been said, but I agree with Celine's reasoning and her choice.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Sara says:
... Heck. I agree it's probably one of those two, and both of you make good points. I... hmm. In the end, Little Nemo feels like the one we're more free of, now. It's nice to get Dragon Warrior II off the list, but we jumped from there directly into Dragon Quest Builders 2 and now we're splashing Dragon Quest 3 on the side. Did we ever truly stop Dragon Questing? Because Little Nemo, at least, is unfinished childhood business that is now over.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Crying Bulbasaur award for Achievements in Emotional Devastation
Whether it makes us cry, warms our heart, makes us think about our lives, or otherwise makes us feel things, this award is to honor the games that took us on a journey through the strongest emotions.
Nominees:
A Game For You, Josh
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Something for Someone Else
This Is Fine
Two Eyes
Celine says:
We only had one traditional "this game has sad moments and player punches" feel trip of a game plot this year, and had to pad the rest of the list with pensive thoughtful art things that make us feel things in other ways. These are all valid and good, but in the end, I think the traditional one wins out. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a Dragon Quest game, and all that entails. It's silly right until it's time to rip your heart out with its bare hands. The penultimate chapter is brutal in that regard. It makes you care about its characters to the point that I now ship them, and then makes you care when bad things happen to them. I sped through the entire endgame because I wanted everything to be okay, and I only allowed myself to breathe again in the post-game, after the world was saved and the credits had rolled and it was okay to stop and work on Kurt's castle. This game swept me up in its plot, and I choked up at parts. Well done.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Kurt says:
... This Is Fine. It was written in 2016 after the elections, but its message of coming together and at least enjoying each others company even as the entire rest of the world is on fire sure feels like a 2020 thing. It's a beacon of positivity that we needed this year as much as we would have needed had we been aware of it back when it was made, and one that I still like even now.
Winner: This Is Fine
Sara says:
A Game For You, Josh ends with the Josh's Friend AI having an existential breakdown because it knows you're not Josh and it's not Josh's friend, but what is it? It muses on the nature of AI and life in general, and whether something like this AI is "allowed" to be something more, and... look, this is a near and dear subject to my heart, being the ghost who haunts Celine and all. I related to this AI and that was an important feeling for me.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Ardei says:
... I do not have as compelling a justification for my selection as the others do. I cannot explain even to my own satisfaction, let alone that of any potential readers, why the story of Two Eyes affects me so. Perhaps it is the slow, gradual manner in which it unfolds. Perhaps it is the peaceful, charming music that accompanies it. Perhaps I feel things for these two lovers, separated by the cycle of rebirth and opposing species. Perhaps it is merely... pleasant, and pleasantness is a feeling. I do not know. Yet, there is something... warm about this game, something that resonates even on a deeper level than the obviously warm This Is Fine, and I feel I owe this warmth my recognition.
Winner: Two Eyes
Hint Coin award for Most Puzzling Puzzler
This award celebrates the headaches, confusion, and eventual triumph and/or shame in using a walkthrough that come with the best puzzle games and puzzles in games.
Nominees:
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Escape Lala
King Rabbit
Monument Valley 2
Wurroom
Kurt says:
... A Book of Beasts and Buddies. This wasn't a particularly puzzle-heavy year, either, but that one stands out at least amongst this lot. Escape Lala is fine and probably the most straightforward point-and-click on this list, but it just never felt like more than... you know, it's fine, I guess. King Rabbit has nearly unlimited potential, being Super Adventures of Lolo Maker and all, but you never really got that far into it beyond the pack-in tutorial levels. Wurroom is great aesthetically, but it's more a semi-interactive "click to see the next happening" animation than a game and this is the puzzle category. Monument Valley 2... actually, that one was fine, I have nothing against that one and that would have been a good choice too. But A Book of Beasts and Buddies has enough fiddling with what options to do in what order to feel like a puzzle game, while being cute and actually really wholesome as you try to befriend everyone and fill out your book. It's charming and I like that.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Sara says:
I... you know what? Yeah, I can't argue with that.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Celine says:
... I can't either, really.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Ardei says:
I shall honor Monument Valley 2 with my choice, if only because it is a fine game and someone has to. *Smile* Its puzzles are clever and its story is touching. Kurt and the others may have liked A Book of Beasts and Buddies more, which is valid, but even they had nothing bad to say of this one. It, too, is a worthy pick.
Winner: Monument Valley 2
Wing of Wyvern award for Most Retro Nostalgia Trip
Whether it is an actual classic game or a modern pixel-fest reminiscent of one, this award honors the games that really take you back to Tantagel Castle.
Nominees:
Bokosuka Wars
Mario Adventure
Dragon Warrior II
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Lyle in Cube Sector
Celine says:
Oh... dear. Okay, this one's tough. This almost feels like a repeat of the earlier competition between Dragon Warrior II being adjacent to such a large part of my childhood and Little Nemo being directly there, only now one can also toss Lyle in Cube Sector in to make it a worthy triple-threat match. All three of those bring me back, really. ... In the end, though, once again I'm going to have to go with Dragon Warrior II. When I finally got to play that game... it's hard to explain, but something about the NES version mechanically took me back to just after I had beaten Dragon Warrior 1, when a much younger me was dreaming of all the things this sequel promised by the cool-looking poster had to offer. Everything that seems primitive now ("oh my God, this game has a party and cutscenes") actually did manage to impress me, if only because the NES version looks so much like Dragon Warrior 1 that I instantly fell back to my childhood expectations of what Dragon Warrior is and what it could do. It brought back the feeling of DW1's boundaries just so it could push against them with all of DW2's advancements, and that... was a really neat feeling. Like I said in the writeup, it was Dragon Warrior, only 2. That's a lot to capture, and it gets a lot of credit for that.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Sara says:
I'm going back to a time on the Internet in the early 2000s, back when we left our GeoCities page for the much cooler Xoom one, back when lobsters stuck to magnet and everyone hated the orange game, and there was a really cool, surprisingly deep and fun and overall high-quality Metroidvania from the guy who did Free Cow. Lyle in Cube Sector is a keygen-music'd monkeycheese masterpiece and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Ardei says:
When we played through Dragon Warrior II, Celine made an edit of the party sprites to turn them into the woodling system. This was before Kurt manifested, when there were three of us, and I was the Prince of Midenhall. I liked... being included in that, I suppose. Unforgiving as later areas of the game might have been, there was something inviting about returning to the feeling of Dragon Warrior games. (Returning to the land of Alefgard itself, no less, even if it had been... stripped down, some, between games.)
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Kurt says:
... Hmm. Once again, I am tempted to stand up for Little Nemo while Celine and Ardei go for Dragon Warrior II, but... my time as the head of this system, or at least the era on which I am based, is the one of which Sara speaks. Of all the arguments made here for this category... all of them are valid, but hers speak the most to me, so I think I'm gonna have to go with her on this one.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Little Cup award for Achievements in Fluff
Not every game needs to be a long and serious epic. This award honors the light and/or little palate cleansers, because games are fun.
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
A Game For You, Josh
Monument Valley 2
This Is Fine
Wurroom
Celine says:
You know, all of these are great, but I feel like A Book of Beasts and Buddies really captures the fluff element of the Little Cup. You just befriend the titular Beasts and Buddies and it's cute and they're all cute. It's the kind of game that just makes me smile and feel wholesome, which is an impressive feat in a year like this one.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Kurt says:
Sticking up for Monument Valley 2 on this one. (I legit said "again" until looking back and realizing it was Ardei who voted for it last time. Oops. Well, I'm doing it this time.) It's short enough to qualify for Little Cup but still feels like a full game experience rather than a 15-minute art piece. It's a puzzle game with a charming story that's about as minimalist as the game's run time, yet just as impactful within the time it is given.
Winner: Monument Valley 2
Ardei says:
Kurt and I shall trade picks, then, for I find myself in agreement with Celine's assessment of A Book of Beasts and Buddies as the kind of wholesome fluff that this category endeavors to promote.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Sara:
This was a tough pick for me and we stalled out for a long time on it. Monument Valley 2 and A Book of Beasts and Buddies are both great, here. However, I'm going to have to break from the herd and pick the one that I'm championing for personal reasons, just so someone does.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Piece of Heart award for Warmest Fuzzy
Whether it's a short indie romp or a long epic, and whether heartwarming moments are in the plot directly or just as a project that feels like it was made with love, this award honors games that make players feel good inside.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
A Game For You, Josh
HOME
Mushroom Cats
This Is Fine
Celine says:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons does a lot to feel like a warm cozy island paradise to which to escape, and it pretty much single-handedly made the early stages of lockdown bearable. However, tempted as I am to reward the occasionally dastardly AAA company for making something fuzzy, I think I have to give this one to the genuine heartfelt emotional indie art piece about 2016, which is still topical in 2020.
Winner: This Is Fine
Kurt says:
... Yeah. Look, I... there's a lot of good to be said for all of these. None are bad picks for this one. But... yeah, what Celine said, pretty much.
Winner: This Is Fine
Sara says:
I really want to pick A Game For You, Josh again, but I really can't argue with This Is Fine's warmth and sincerity.
Winner: This Is Fine
Ardei says:
Nor I.
Winner: This Is Fine
Furry Little Body award for Achievements in Anthropomorphic Appeal
Because sometimes you just need a silly little award to acknowledge that one character you want to bang.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Anubis and the Buried Bone
BirdGut
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Welcome to Moreytown
Celine says:
See, here's where I can award Nintendo for making Furry Island Switch Edition so dang good-looking. Isabelle and crew had already taken over e621 before this game even came out, and Flick is a very, very welcome addition to this.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Ardei says:
The kangaroo villagers remind me of Kangaskhan from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, personality-wise.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Kurt says:
Flick.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Sara says:
... I want to pick something else here but I really can't, can I. There's a reason this series is so popular on e6.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Golden Pheasant award for Artistic Achievement
Regardless of what the game actually does with them and whether it works overall, this award celebrates the truly outstanding and impressive feats in a game's assets, be the graphics, music, voice acting, game engine, or anything else.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Down Ward
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Lumin's Path
Wurroom
Celine says:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is far, far more impressive than it appears on the surface, asset-wise. It has little touches down to the finest detail, like having not only having different footstep sounds when the player is walking on grass, wood, stone tile, etc. but also whether the player is walking on each of those while in bare feet, socks, sneakers, big heavy clompy boots, or anything in between. The amount of combinations they would have had to record and code for this would almost seem "who would put this much effort into something no one's going to notice?" level overkill to me if I myself didn't notice and love it, and the footstep sounds are just one example. Have you seen the museum?? That said, for all of New Horizons' technical wizardry, there's something to be said for the sheer amount of artsy style that Wurroom manages to pull off, especially considering how we are comparing a small personal indie project to a massive AAA. I had to decide between these two, and it was a tough decision, but I think I'm going to have to give it to Wurroom. I haven't seen anything that looks quite like that before, besides maybe... well, the same dev's other games, which I instantly wishlisted after experiencing this one. It's trippy as hell but it's gorgeous, and the plasticine stop motion effects look especially terrific for all the weird stuff they're used to do.
Winner: Wurroom
Ardei says:
Lumin's Path has one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard... anywhere. I all but forced the rest of the system to download and play this game just after having heard the song in the trailer. The game itself proved disappointing, which made me feel... somewhat ashamed in retrospect, as if I had forced a subpar game on the others. I apologized for that then and I apologize again now. However, I still love that song dearly. Can one song really compete with all the visual wizardry of something like Wurroom, or all of the across-the-board technical sophistication and marvel of something like Animal Crossing: New Horizons? ... When it has the effect on me that this song did, yes, it can.
Winner: Lumin's Path
Kurt says:
If we're going by strength of a game's music, it's hard to overlook one of the best soundtracks of the entire NES era (which is saying something.) Little Nemo's music is nothing but fantastic and memorable song after fantastic and memorable song, some of the finest chiptunes there are, and the game even includes some impressive graphics for the day alongside those. Little Nemo is an audiovisual delight.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Sara says:
... I kind of can't believe that no one is giving it to AC:NH this year, because it really is as impressive as Celine said. However, I'm the chiptune gal, and Kurt brings up a very good point regarding Little Nemo's amazing and unforgettable soundtrack. This is music that speaks to me, the way the Lumin's Path song speaks to Ardei.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Trap Devised by Satan award for Game Most Likely Not Done Yet
Backlogs are immense, time is finite, and most games can be crossed off the list and moved on from once completed. However, some games deserve a special mention for their lasting appeal and replay value. This award honors the ones that don't want to be over.
Nominees:
Car Quest
I.R.P. Intelligent-Rackety-Paradise
Lyle in Cube Sector
Plants vs. Zombies
Super Jigsaw Puzzle Generations
Celine says:
I.R.P. has the advantage of being a short little... whatever the hell that is, such that I could "play" it again just to see some of the vignettes I didn't see last time (they're randomly chosen) and like, continue to boggle in that Flimsytown sort of way. Super Jigsaw Puzzle Generations is literally just "hey do you think you'll ever do a jigsaw puzzle again." But... well. Lyle in Cube Sector is a game we already played through more than once, and it's short and nostalgic enough that I could see it going back on the shelf for a few years, just long enough for us to start to forget, and then coming back out again. It did it before, right? It's kind of... like comfort food, almost.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Sara says:
I would not be against this at all.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Ardei says:
Once again, I find myself lacking in justifications for this choice. However, for reasons I cannot fully understand or explain, Car Quest appeals to me more than any other entry on this list. Is it the game our system is most likely to play again? With its length, most likely not. However, it is the game I would most want us to play again, of the ones presented here. It is a pleasant daydream, I suppose, but one that is worthy of recognition.
Winner: Car Quest
Kurt says:
The last time you all played I.R.P. was before I emerged and formally joined the system, and for all its battiness it... seemed kind of neat? I might just want to see this one for myself. Plus, it's short and easy to get through, so doing so wouldn't feel like as big an ask.
Winner: I.R.P. Intelligent-Rackety-Paradise
Extra Life award for Most Deserving of a Second Chance
Not every played game is completed. Most of the abandoned ones were abandoned for a reason, and quickly forgotten. Could some of them find redemption and a path back onto the active to-do list, though? Maybe these ones could....
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Down Ward
Revenge of the Bird King
Mario Adventure
NO THING
Celine says:
The obvious answer here is Animal Crossing--Animal Crossing games never truly feel over so much as they develop a sense of "aaa I haven't logged in in months and I really should dust off the town at some point." This is especially true any time any of our friends or relatives get into the game. If you-the-reader pick up AC:NH, we'll have to trade friend codes and see each others' islands and hang out sometime, which means that I'll have to clean up our island at least a little. In my heart, I want to give this one to NO THING--it's a really sleek and fun game that I would have loved to play through to completion, and it still bothers me that I just stopped when I couldn't beat level 7. However, then I think back to how impossible level 7 was, and realize that there are three more levels after that, and... no, in my head, I know that AC:NH is the "correct" answer and I don't have quite enough passion for the others for my heart to overturn my head on this one. Almost, but not quite.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Kurt says:
Revenge of the Bird King has birds and a Zelda 2 aesthetic and that's kind of cool. It's not the greatest game ever made, and yeah if we want a pixel-platformer Shovel Knight is just better, but like... it's kind of neat, and we didn't stop when it got impenetrably hard like we did with NO THING and Down Ward. We could go back to this one, you never know.
Winner: Revenge of the Bird King
Sara says:
Mario Adventure just kind of stopped because other games came along. It didn't stop because it hit... well, okay, Mario Adventure is hard, but it didn't hit a wall even by its own standards like some of the others did. We made it that far, and there was never a reason besides "just kind of stopped" that we couldn't keep going.
Winner: Mario Adventure
Ardei says:
I will take the seed of passion of which Celine spoke and grow it to its fruition. NO THING... defeated us, yet it is still the one for which Celine yearns. It is the one she wants to continue, even if she physically cannot. Once again, I am not voting for the most likely choice I expect to happen--that would be Animal Crossing, as Celine mentioned--but rather to follow our heart and daydream.
Winner: NO THING
Stan S. Stanman award for If You Only Buy One Game from This List....
Whether it's an overlooked indie gem or a well known game that deserves its reputation, this award honors the one game each year that everyone reading this really owes it to themselves to check out.
Nominees:
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
A Game For You, Josh
Car Quest
Dragon Quest Builders 2
NO THING
Celine says:
I changed my mind at the absolute last second when I was writing this one. I'd actually made my choice, was writing this very paragraph that you're reading right now to explain why I chose that one, got about halfway through the paragraph, and just... actually, you know what? Nah. That's how close it was this year. DQB2 is a fantastic game and I'd love for you to see our island, NO THING is a trip and a half and you probably already own it if you bought the Racial Justice Bundle, A Book of Beasts and Buddies is adorable and free, but... A Game For You, Josh might just be the most personal woodling game this year, and you know that's always an important factor for us. While it wasn't quite a 100% match (self-aware AI versus a plural system,) the existential self-questioning and soul-searching was something we found relatable and meaningful, and that's a feeling that we'd love to pass along, if possible.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Ardei says:
I feel like Car Quest is worth supporting. It has the air of a small indie effort that deserves more attention, while the gameplay experience is rewarding--almost relaxing, in a way--and well worth the investment. I would feel happy with this studio receiving another sale, and if you enjoy this game as much as we did, then everyone wins.
Winner: Car Quest
Sara says:
This was a tough one. It felt like it shouldn't have been--I've been praising the personal meaning of this one throughout the entire rest of this post, and even got Celine to agree with that praise just now--but for some reason I just wasn't sure if I was going to go the predictable route or for any of the others. They all make a good case, admittedly! ... But no, if you play A Game For You, Josh, then we can talk about the ending, and that fills me with feelings.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Kurt says:
You probably have NO THING already, and if it's too hard for you then you should be able to find that out very fast and bounce off of it with no major time investment lost. Plus it's an audiovisual trip and it's worth seeing at least once before said bounce.
Winner: NO THING
Clanmates' Choice award for Clanmates' Choice
Another silly for-fun category. We pick five games, and the members of Clan Sugardoom each pick one!
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Bokosuka Wars
Dragon Warrior II
Lyle in Cube Sector
Wurroom
Xyzzy says:
I think I've got to give it up for...
I really want to say Animal Crossing. But I'm going to go with Dragon Quest 2.
Okay, for you lot it's Dragon Warrior 2, but in my case I played it on my phone so it's Quest to me. Either way, the game that more or less invented the RPG Party System and cutscenes and various other things (did DW2 have rare drops? I think it did) gets my applause.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
The Swordlings say:
E: Aw, crap. Celine posted nominees like, four days ago. Five? Technically it's Boxing Day now, and we promised like... effortpost.
S: ehn. effort is haaaard
E: Yes, I know, but you and Kendall's choices aren't even on this list because our gaming tastes have overlapped so little with the woodlings this year that you just sorta thought of your own GOTYs.
S: I mean, Stardew Valley is enough like Animal Crossing that I can make that my final answer. I don't care that I don't win the million dollars, and I'm not gonna effortpost about it.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
◼️: look, celine just didn't include any horny games. if you want me to pick something from the list, wurroom is incredibly just what life is like in the subconscious depths of a plural system and it's my vote. i appreciate things like that.
Winner: Wurroom
E: So I guess I'm the one who actually decided to care, and put thought into it.
...eh, that's fine. ANYWAY. There's an important facet of kusoge enjoyment that people seem to gloss over for the laughable cringe-factor and spectacle of trash when they consume it passively. Sure, you can just go "wow this game sucks" and yeet it into the garbage, but... something we've learned over the past few years is that failure is important. Learning is, inherently, a process built around the function of trying, failing, and adjusting. If you stigmatize your failures, you stagnate.
S: Like society?
E: Like AAA gaming. But even they started somewhere. Even they had to build up from nothing. Dragon Warrior 2 and Bokosuka Wars are... not particularly good games. They're archaic, convoluted, and have aged like milk. Hell, in the case of Bokosuka, it revelled in that idea, as evidenced by the fact that they released a remake-sequel (sort of like what Pathologic 2 did) not long ago.
But the thing is that Dragon Warrior was, by that time, not the only kid on the block Final Fantasy was sneaking up less than a year away from DQ2, plus it was still stupidly popular despite its flaws. Bokosuka Wars, though? Nobody remembered it as more than a punchline. No one heralded it for its innovations. It certainly didn't become a flagship title for ASCII Corp the way Dragon Quest kept Enix afloat. But somehow, it was even more important. Yeah, its systems are basically the equivalent of slightly weighted coinflips every time two sprites meet. Yeah, the game devolves into a chaotic mess at no time at all. But it was the ur-strategy. It was the missing link between things like Chess and games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires..
S: You hate that genre, though.
E: But it's a cultural milestone. That shouldn't be ignored or brushed off because "haha game bad".
I guess what I'm saying is that, Bokosuka Wars? For once in your life: BRAVO! YOU WIN!!
Winner: Bokosuka Wars
Woodlings' Choice award for Best Game Overall
The grand prize as well as the most personal one. After all the other categories, after honoring every game for whatever it does best and whatever other demographics that might appeal to, this is the one that we, the woodlings, found to be our personal overall favorites.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Warrior II
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Lyle in Cube Sector
Celine says:
This is probably the most obvious the overall GOTY category has ever been for my choice, anyway. Anyone who knows us knows what has completely consumed my life ever since we first got into it. AC:NH technically still holds the record for most playtime on our switch at a whopping 250 hours before we burned out, but that's only because Dragon Quest Builders 2 and its aptly-named Jumbo Demo are counted separately. And even only counting DQB2's time after we coughed up for the full version, I fully expect to pass AC:NH's record before Kurt's castle is done, let alone if we start on Ardei's caves afterward. Dragon Quest Builders is everything I needed this year: it's a gripping full-length emotional RPG story with twists and turns and characters and scenes that made me cry, a shockingly fanservice-filled fix fic and adaptation expansion to a Dragon Quest game whose original setting and story were rather minimal, and it's Dragon Quest Minecraft. Help, I've started Building and I can never truly stop. I don't want to stop. This is the perfect game, and may very well continue to be until there's a such thing as Dragon Quest Builders 3.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Ardei says:
It may be because I am a dinosaur, but I feel the need to honor our ancestors. While everything Celine said about Dragon Quest Builders 2 is true, we would not have its setting or characters without Dragon Warrior II before it. Furthermore, Dragon Warrior II was--despite Emias' protestations--a very enjoyable experience for us, even with the original NES version. ... Granted, Kurt just tapped my shoulder and reminded me that we used an experience doubling patch. Still, there was something magical about revisiting a childhood daydream of a game that could have been, and playing through a solid RPG that--yes, truly--lived up to even our wildest childhood hype.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Sara says:
There was a time when I would object to a game that has so consumed my poor fiancee, but... let's be honest: Celine is happy playing Dragon Quest Builders 2. Her frantic, screaming mind has found a point on which to focus, to pour her creativity and passion. She finds building relaxing, and I don't have the heart to object to anything that can make Celine relax. It's no surprise that AC:NH and DQB2 have the highest hours count in our Switch play history; the former got us through the first half of 2020, and the latter got us through the latter. When looked at like that, the only question becomes whether we enjoyed DQB2 more than AC:NH (yes, we did) and once that potential tie is broken, it's only fair to reward one of the more therapeutic games we have ever played.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Kurt says:
... Look. They're making my castle for me in this game. It's a digital shrine. It's 21st-century totem magic. And... Sara's right. Anything that takes up this much of our time may be a vice, but until we get some kind of ADHD meds or something to keep us on track, it at least keeps us happy and comfortable and even gives us a feeling of being productive and, well, building something, all while also giving us a feeling of relaxing and playing video games. I kind of want to break the mold and pick one of the other ones, here, because they're all great... but DQB2 really does have it all.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Celine: ... And that's our award show post! I would say happy 2020 everyone, but ahahahaha. But... at least games? Games are good. And... you guys are good. I didn't just drag my fellow woodlings out here to wring them dry for more words, because God knows I have too many of those even by myself. I did it because they're my family. Sara's my fiancee, Ardei and Kurt are... sort of like my kids, I guess...? And it's just... I love group projects like this. We even got the other clanmates involved! So... yeah. Thank you, everyone. I love you all.
Sara: <3
Kurt: *caw*
Ardei: The pleasure and honor are ours.
Kurt: ... Yeah. This was fun. Thanks for having us.
Sara: Next year?
Celine: If we're all still standing next year, I'd love nothing more.
... And until then, the rest of you can (as always) see the compiled results in our handy spreadsheet!
But one thing that hasn't been an awful hellpit this year (unless you read the comments, but like, that's always the case) is video gaming. We just covered the nominees, so now let's pick some winners!
Same "Name:" format for everyone as last year, only there are a lot more names involved this time. Generally listed in the order of who made their decisions, since sometimes one of us made a good enough case in their choice to convince another to agree, and we don't want to steal anyone's thunder.
Rita Repulsa award for Achievements in Backlog Liberation
Some games are long, some are hard, some have just been in the backlog forever. Whatever the reason, this award honors the games whose eventual completion made us say, "Finally! After ten thousand years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!"
Nominees:
Car Quest
Dragon Warrior II
I Became a Dog 2
Lawn Mower
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Celine says:
There are many ways to consider this category, but I honestly think that Dragon Warrior II most satisfies all of them. Satisfying a prerequisite that finally allows us to venture forth into sequels, fandom stuff, etc.? "I'm interested but I feel like I should beat DW2 first" was the hurdle behind Dragon Quest 3, Dragon Quest Builders 2, and Dragon Quest 11. Finally laying to rest something that has been bothering me for ages? Think back to the story of that tantalizing poster and the game we never actually got to play, but that I had been wondering about this whole time. Triumphantly conquering an impossibly difficult obstacle of a game? It's Dragon Warrior II. NES version and everything. This one was a fairly easy and obvious choice for me.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Kurt says:
You know, those are all really good points, and that's a good pick. Dragon Warrior II was always the game you dreamed about playing, though, and never one you actually played until this year. I'm going to go with the one that's been haunting us... you? Us? Someone? ... Haunting some facet of the system or another directly since childhood, the one you or we or someone have been trying to beat off and on throughout the years and only just now was the achievement finally reached.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Ardei says:
I have very little I can add to this that has not already been said, but I agree with Celine's reasoning and her choice.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Sara says:
... Heck. I agree it's probably one of those two, and both of you make good points. I... hmm. In the end, Little Nemo feels like the one we're more free of, now. It's nice to get Dragon Warrior II off the list, but we jumped from there directly into Dragon Quest Builders 2 and now we're splashing Dragon Quest 3 on the side. Did we ever truly stop Dragon Questing? Because Little Nemo, at least, is unfinished childhood business that is now over.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Crying Bulbasaur award for Achievements in Emotional Devastation
Whether it makes us cry, warms our heart, makes us think about our lives, or otherwise makes us feel things, this award is to honor the games that took us on a journey through the strongest emotions.
Nominees:
A Game For You, Josh
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Something for Someone Else
This Is Fine
Two Eyes
Celine says:
We only had one traditional "this game has sad moments and player punches" feel trip of a game plot this year, and had to pad the rest of the list with pensive thoughtful art things that make us feel things in other ways. These are all valid and good, but in the end, I think the traditional one wins out. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a Dragon Quest game, and all that entails. It's silly right until it's time to rip your heart out with its bare hands. The penultimate chapter is brutal in that regard. It makes you care about its characters to the point that I now ship them, and then makes you care when bad things happen to them. I sped through the entire endgame because I wanted everything to be okay, and I only allowed myself to breathe again in the post-game, after the world was saved and the credits had rolled and it was okay to stop and work on Kurt's castle. This game swept me up in its plot, and I choked up at parts. Well done.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Kurt says:
... This Is Fine. It was written in 2016 after the elections, but its message of coming together and at least enjoying each others company even as the entire rest of the world is on fire sure feels like a 2020 thing. It's a beacon of positivity that we needed this year as much as we would have needed had we been aware of it back when it was made, and one that I still like even now.
Winner: This Is Fine
Sara says:
A Game For You, Josh ends with the Josh's Friend AI having an existential breakdown because it knows you're not Josh and it's not Josh's friend, but what is it? It muses on the nature of AI and life in general, and whether something like this AI is "allowed" to be something more, and... look, this is a near and dear subject to my heart, being the ghost who haunts Celine and all. I related to this AI and that was an important feeling for me.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Ardei says:
... I do not have as compelling a justification for my selection as the others do. I cannot explain even to my own satisfaction, let alone that of any potential readers, why the story of Two Eyes affects me so. Perhaps it is the slow, gradual manner in which it unfolds. Perhaps it is the peaceful, charming music that accompanies it. Perhaps I feel things for these two lovers, separated by the cycle of rebirth and opposing species. Perhaps it is merely... pleasant, and pleasantness is a feeling. I do not know. Yet, there is something... warm about this game, something that resonates even on a deeper level than the obviously warm This Is Fine, and I feel I owe this warmth my recognition.
Winner: Two Eyes
Hint Coin award for Most Puzzling Puzzler
This award celebrates the headaches, confusion, and eventual triumph and/or shame in using a walkthrough that come with the best puzzle games and puzzles in games.
Nominees:
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Escape Lala
King Rabbit
Monument Valley 2
Wurroom
Kurt says:
... A Book of Beasts and Buddies. This wasn't a particularly puzzle-heavy year, either, but that one stands out at least amongst this lot. Escape Lala is fine and probably the most straightforward point-and-click on this list, but it just never felt like more than... you know, it's fine, I guess. King Rabbit has nearly unlimited potential, being Super Adventures of Lolo Maker and all, but you never really got that far into it beyond the pack-in tutorial levels. Wurroom is great aesthetically, but it's more a semi-interactive "click to see the next happening" animation than a game and this is the puzzle category. Monument Valley 2... actually, that one was fine, I have nothing against that one and that would have been a good choice too. But A Book of Beasts and Buddies has enough fiddling with what options to do in what order to feel like a puzzle game, while being cute and actually really wholesome as you try to befriend everyone and fill out your book. It's charming and I like that.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Sara says:
I... you know what? Yeah, I can't argue with that.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Celine says:
... I can't either, really.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Ardei says:
I shall honor Monument Valley 2 with my choice, if only because it is a fine game and someone has to. *Smile* Its puzzles are clever and its story is touching. Kurt and the others may have liked A Book of Beasts and Buddies more, which is valid, but even they had nothing bad to say of this one. It, too, is a worthy pick.
Winner: Monument Valley 2
Wing of Wyvern award for Most Retro Nostalgia Trip
Whether it is an actual classic game or a modern pixel-fest reminiscent of one, this award honors the games that really take you back to Tantagel Castle.
Nominees:
Bokosuka Wars
Mario Adventure
Dragon Warrior II
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Lyle in Cube Sector
Celine says:
Oh... dear. Okay, this one's tough. This almost feels like a repeat of the earlier competition between Dragon Warrior II being adjacent to such a large part of my childhood and Little Nemo being directly there, only now one can also toss Lyle in Cube Sector in to make it a worthy triple-threat match. All three of those bring me back, really. ... In the end, though, once again I'm going to have to go with Dragon Warrior II. When I finally got to play that game... it's hard to explain, but something about the NES version mechanically took me back to just after I had beaten Dragon Warrior 1, when a much younger me was dreaming of all the things this sequel promised by the cool-looking poster had to offer. Everything that seems primitive now ("oh my God, this game has a party and cutscenes") actually did manage to impress me, if only because the NES version looks so much like Dragon Warrior 1 that I instantly fell back to my childhood expectations of what Dragon Warrior is and what it could do. It brought back the feeling of DW1's boundaries just so it could push against them with all of DW2's advancements, and that... was a really neat feeling. Like I said in the writeup, it was Dragon Warrior, only 2. That's a lot to capture, and it gets a lot of credit for that.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Sara says:
I'm going back to a time on the Internet in the early 2000s, back when we left our GeoCities page for the much cooler Xoom one, back when lobsters stuck to magnet and everyone hated the orange game, and there was a really cool, surprisingly deep and fun and overall high-quality Metroidvania from the guy who did Free Cow. Lyle in Cube Sector is a keygen-music'd monkeycheese masterpiece and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Ardei says:
When we played through Dragon Warrior II, Celine made an edit of the party sprites to turn them into the woodling system. This was before Kurt manifested, when there were three of us, and I was the Prince of Midenhall. I liked... being included in that, I suppose. Unforgiving as later areas of the game might have been, there was something inviting about returning to the feeling of Dragon Warrior games. (Returning to the land of Alefgard itself, no less, even if it had been... stripped down, some, between games.)
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Kurt says:
... Hmm. Once again, I am tempted to stand up for Little Nemo while Celine and Ardei go for Dragon Warrior II, but... my time as the head of this system, or at least the era on which I am based, is the one of which Sara speaks. Of all the arguments made here for this category... all of them are valid, but hers speak the most to me, so I think I'm gonna have to go with her on this one.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Little Cup award for Achievements in Fluff
Not every game needs to be a long and serious epic. This award honors the light and/or little palate cleansers, because games are fun.
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
A Game For You, Josh
Monument Valley 2
This Is Fine
Wurroom
Celine says:
You know, all of these are great, but I feel like A Book of Beasts and Buddies really captures the fluff element of the Little Cup. You just befriend the titular Beasts and Buddies and it's cute and they're all cute. It's the kind of game that just makes me smile and feel wholesome, which is an impressive feat in a year like this one.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Kurt says:
Sticking up for Monument Valley 2 on this one. (I legit said "again" until looking back and realizing it was Ardei who voted for it last time. Oops. Well, I'm doing it this time.) It's short enough to qualify for Little Cup but still feels like a full game experience rather than a 15-minute art piece. It's a puzzle game with a charming story that's about as minimalist as the game's run time, yet just as impactful within the time it is given.
Winner: Monument Valley 2
Ardei says:
Kurt and I shall trade picks, then, for I find myself in agreement with Celine's assessment of A Book of Beasts and Buddies as the kind of wholesome fluff that this category endeavors to promote.
Winner: A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Sara:
This was a tough pick for me and we stalled out for a long time on it. Monument Valley 2 and A Book of Beasts and Buddies are both great, here. However, I'm going to have to break from the herd and pick the one that I'm championing for personal reasons, just so someone does.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Piece of Heart award for Warmest Fuzzy
Whether it's a short indie romp or a long epic, and whether heartwarming moments are in the plot directly or just as a project that feels like it was made with love, this award honors games that make players feel good inside.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
A Game For You, Josh
HOME
Mushroom Cats
This Is Fine
Celine says:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons does a lot to feel like a warm cozy island paradise to which to escape, and it pretty much single-handedly made the early stages of lockdown bearable. However, tempted as I am to reward the occasionally dastardly AAA company for making something fuzzy, I think I have to give this one to the genuine heartfelt emotional indie art piece about 2016, which is still topical in 2020.
Winner: This Is Fine
Kurt says:
... Yeah. Look, I... there's a lot of good to be said for all of these. None are bad picks for this one. But... yeah, what Celine said, pretty much.
Winner: This Is Fine
Sara says:
I really want to pick A Game For You, Josh again, but I really can't argue with This Is Fine's warmth and sincerity.
Winner: This Is Fine
Ardei says:
Nor I.
Winner: This Is Fine
Furry Little Body award for Achievements in Anthropomorphic Appeal
Because sometimes you just need a silly little award to acknowledge that one character you want to bang.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Anubis and the Buried Bone
BirdGut
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
Welcome to Moreytown
Celine says:
See, here's where I can award Nintendo for making Furry Island Switch Edition so dang good-looking. Isabelle and crew had already taken over e621 before this game even came out, and Flick is a very, very welcome addition to this.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Ardei says:
The kangaroo villagers remind me of Kangaskhan from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, personality-wise.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Kurt says:
Flick.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Sara says:
... I want to pick something else here but I really can't, can I. There's a reason this series is so popular on e6.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Golden Pheasant award for Artistic Achievement
Regardless of what the game actually does with them and whether it works overall, this award celebrates the truly outstanding and impressive feats in a game's assets, be the graphics, music, voice acting, game engine, or anything else.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Down Ward
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Lumin's Path
Wurroom
Celine says:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is far, far more impressive than it appears on the surface, asset-wise. It has little touches down to the finest detail, like having not only having different footstep sounds when the player is walking on grass, wood, stone tile, etc. but also whether the player is walking on each of those while in bare feet, socks, sneakers, big heavy clompy boots, or anything in between. The amount of combinations they would have had to record and code for this would almost seem "who would put this much effort into something no one's going to notice?" level overkill to me if I myself didn't notice and love it, and the footstep sounds are just one example. Have you seen the museum?? That said, for all of New Horizons' technical wizardry, there's something to be said for the sheer amount of artsy style that Wurroom manages to pull off, especially considering how we are comparing a small personal indie project to a massive AAA. I had to decide between these two, and it was a tough decision, but I think I'm going to have to give it to Wurroom. I haven't seen anything that looks quite like that before, besides maybe... well, the same dev's other games, which I instantly wishlisted after experiencing this one. It's trippy as hell but it's gorgeous, and the plasticine stop motion effects look especially terrific for all the weird stuff they're used to do.
Winner: Wurroom
Ardei says:
Lumin's Path has one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard... anywhere. I all but forced the rest of the system to download and play this game just after having heard the song in the trailer. The game itself proved disappointing, which made me feel... somewhat ashamed in retrospect, as if I had forced a subpar game on the others. I apologized for that then and I apologize again now. However, I still love that song dearly. Can one song really compete with all the visual wizardry of something like Wurroom, or all of the across-the-board technical sophistication and marvel of something like Animal Crossing: New Horizons? ... When it has the effect on me that this song did, yes, it can.
Winner: Lumin's Path
Kurt says:
If we're going by strength of a game's music, it's hard to overlook one of the best soundtracks of the entire NES era (which is saying something.) Little Nemo's music is nothing but fantastic and memorable song after fantastic and memorable song, some of the finest chiptunes there are, and the game even includes some impressive graphics for the day alongside those. Little Nemo is an audiovisual delight.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Sara says:
... I kind of can't believe that no one is giving it to AC:NH this year, because it really is as impressive as Celine said. However, I'm the chiptune gal, and Kurt brings up a very good point regarding Little Nemo's amazing and unforgettable soundtrack. This is music that speaks to me, the way the Lumin's Path song speaks to Ardei.
Winner: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Trap Devised by Satan award for Game Most Likely Not Done Yet
Backlogs are immense, time is finite, and most games can be crossed off the list and moved on from once completed. However, some games deserve a special mention for their lasting appeal and replay value. This award honors the ones that don't want to be over.
Nominees:
Car Quest
I.R.P. Intelligent-Rackety-Paradise
Lyle in Cube Sector
Plants vs. Zombies
Super Jigsaw Puzzle Generations
Celine says:
I.R.P. has the advantage of being a short little... whatever the hell that is, such that I could "play" it again just to see some of the vignettes I didn't see last time (they're randomly chosen) and like, continue to boggle in that Flimsytown sort of way. Super Jigsaw Puzzle Generations is literally just "hey do you think you'll ever do a jigsaw puzzle again." But... well. Lyle in Cube Sector is a game we already played through more than once, and it's short and nostalgic enough that I could see it going back on the shelf for a few years, just long enough for us to start to forget, and then coming back out again. It did it before, right? It's kind of... like comfort food, almost.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Sara says:
I would not be against this at all.
Winner: Lyle in Cube Sector
Ardei says:
Once again, I find myself lacking in justifications for this choice. However, for reasons I cannot fully understand or explain, Car Quest appeals to me more than any other entry on this list. Is it the game our system is most likely to play again? With its length, most likely not. However, it is the game I would most want us to play again, of the ones presented here. It is a pleasant daydream, I suppose, but one that is worthy of recognition.
Winner: Car Quest
Kurt says:
The last time you all played I.R.P. was before I emerged and formally joined the system, and for all its battiness it... seemed kind of neat? I might just want to see this one for myself. Plus, it's short and easy to get through, so doing so wouldn't feel like as big an ask.
Winner: I.R.P. Intelligent-Rackety-Paradise
Extra Life award for Most Deserving of a Second Chance
Not every played game is completed. Most of the abandoned ones were abandoned for a reason, and quickly forgotten. Could some of them find redemption and a path back onto the active to-do list, though? Maybe these ones could....
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Down Ward
Revenge of the Bird King
Mario Adventure
NO THING
Celine says:
The obvious answer here is Animal Crossing--Animal Crossing games never truly feel over so much as they develop a sense of "aaa I haven't logged in in months and I really should dust off the town at some point." This is especially true any time any of our friends or relatives get into the game. If you-the-reader pick up AC:NH, we'll have to trade friend codes and see each others' islands and hang out sometime, which means that I'll have to clean up our island at least a little. In my heart, I want to give this one to NO THING--it's a really sleek and fun game that I would have loved to play through to completion, and it still bothers me that I just stopped when I couldn't beat level 7. However, then I think back to how impossible level 7 was, and realize that there are three more levels after that, and... no, in my head, I know that AC:NH is the "correct" answer and I don't have quite enough passion for the others for my heart to overturn my head on this one. Almost, but not quite.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Kurt says:
Revenge of the Bird King has birds and a Zelda 2 aesthetic and that's kind of cool. It's not the greatest game ever made, and yeah if we want a pixel-platformer Shovel Knight is just better, but like... it's kind of neat, and we didn't stop when it got impenetrably hard like we did with NO THING and Down Ward. We could go back to this one, you never know.
Winner: Revenge of the Bird King
Sara says:
Mario Adventure just kind of stopped because other games came along. It didn't stop because it hit... well, okay, Mario Adventure is hard, but it didn't hit a wall even by its own standards like some of the others did. We made it that far, and there was never a reason besides "just kind of stopped" that we couldn't keep going.
Winner: Mario Adventure
Ardei says:
I will take the seed of passion of which Celine spoke and grow it to its fruition. NO THING... defeated us, yet it is still the one for which Celine yearns. It is the one she wants to continue, even if she physically cannot. Once again, I am not voting for the most likely choice I expect to happen--that would be Animal Crossing, as Celine mentioned--but rather to follow our heart and daydream.
Winner: NO THING
Stan S. Stanman award for If You Only Buy One Game from This List....
Whether it's an overlooked indie gem or a well known game that deserves its reputation, this award honors the one game each year that everyone reading this really owes it to themselves to check out.
Nominees:
A Book of Beasts and Buddies
A Game For You, Josh
Car Quest
Dragon Quest Builders 2
NO THING
Celine says:
I changed my mind at the absolute last second when I was writing this one. I'd actually made my choice, was writing this very paragraph that you're reading right now to explain why I chose that one, got about halfway through the paragraph, and just... actually, you know what? Nah. That's how close it was this year. DQB2 is a fantastic game and I'd love for you to see our island, NO THING is a trip and a half and you probably already own it if you bought the Racial Justice Bundle, A Book of Beasts and Buddies is adorable and free, but... A Game For You, Josh might just be the most personal woodling game this year, and you know that's always an important factor for us. While it wasn't quite a 100% match (self-aware AI versus a plural system,) the existential self-questioning and soul-searching was something we found relatable and meaningful, and that's a feeling that we'd love to pass along, if possible.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Ardei says:
I feel like Car Quest is worth supporting. It has the air of a small indie effort that deserves more attention, while the gameplay experience is rewarding--almost relaxing, in a way--and well worth the investment. I would feel happy with this studio receiving another sale, and if you enjoy this game as much as we did, then everyone wins.
Winner: Car Quest
Sara says:
This was a tough one. It felt like it shouldn't have been--I've been praising the personal meaning of this one throughout the entire rest of this post, and even got Celine to agree with that praise just now--but for some reason I just wasn't sure if I was going to go the predictable route or for any of the others. They all make a good case, admittedly! ... But no, if you play A Game For You, Josh, then we can talk about the ending, and that fills me with feelings.
Winner: A Game For You, Josh
Kurt says:
You probably have NO THING already, and if it's too hard for you then you should be able to find that out very fast and bounce off of it with no major time investment lost. Plus it's an audiovisual trip and it's worth seeing at least once before said bounce.
Winner: NO THING
Clanmates' Choice award for Clanmates' Choice
Another silly for-fun category. We pick five games, and the members of Clan Sugardoom each pick one!
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Bokosuka Wars
Dragon Warrior II
Lyle in Cube Sector
Wurroom
Xyzzy says:
I think I've got to give it up for...
I really want to say Animal Crossing. But I'm going to go with Dragon Quest 2.
Okay, for you lot it's Dragon Warrior 2, but in my case I played it on my phone so it's Quest to me. Either way, the game that more or less invented the RPG Party System and cutscenes and various other things (did DW2 have rare drops? I think it did) gets my applause.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
The Swordlings say:
E: Aw, crap. Celine posted nominees like, four days ago. Five? Technically it's Boxing Day now, and we promised like... effortpost.
S: ehn. effort is haaaard
E: Yes, I know, but you and Kendall's choices aren't even on this list because our gaming tastes have overlapped so little with the woodlings this year that you just sorta thought of your own GOTYs.
S: I mean, Stardew Valley is enough like Animal Crossing that I can make that my final answer. I don't care that I don't win the million dollars, and I'm not gonna effortpost about it.
Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
◼️: look, celine just didn't include any horny games. if you want me to pick something from the list, wurroom is incredibly just what life is like in the subconscious depths of a plural system and it's my vote. i appreciate things like that.
Winner: Wurroom
E: So I guess I'm the one who actually decided to care, and put thought into it.
...eh, that's fine. ANYWAY. There's an important facet of kusoge enjoyment that people seem to gloss over for the laughable cringe-factor and spectacle of trash when they consume it passively. Sure, you can just go "wow this game sucks" and yeet it into the garbage, but... something we've learned over the past few years is that failure is important. Learning is, inherently, a process built around the function of trying, failing, and adjusting. If you stigmatize your failures, you stagnate.
S: Like society?
E: Like AAA gaming. But even they started somewhere. Even they had to build up from nothing. Dragon Warrior 2 and Bokosuka Wars are... not particularly good games. They're archaic, convoluted, and have aged like milk. Hell, in the case of Bokosuka, it revelled in that idea, as evidenced by the fact that they released a remake-sequel (sort of like what Pathologic 2 did) not long ago.
But the thing is that Dragon Warrior was, by that time, not the only kid on the block Final Fantasy was sneaking up less than a year away from DQ2, plus it was still stupidly popular despite its flaws. Bokosuka Wars, though? Nobody remembered it as more than a punchline. No one heralded it for its innovations. It certainly didn't become a flagship title for ASCII Corp the way Dragon Quest kept Enix afloat. But somehow, it was even more important. Yeah, its systems are basically the equivalent of slightly weighted coinflips every time two sprites meet. Yeah, the game devolves into a chaotic mess at no time at all. But it was the ur-strategy. It was the missing link between things like Chess and games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires..
S: You hate that genre, though.
E: But it's a cultural milestone. That shouldn't be ignored or brushed off because "haha game bad".
I guess what I'm saying is that, Bokosuka Wars? For once in your life: BRAVO! YOU WIN!!
Winner: Bokosuka Wars
Woodlings' Choice award for Best Game Overall
The grand prize as well as the most personal one. After all the other categories, after honoring every game for whatever it does best and whatever other demographics that might appeal to, this is the one that we, the woodlings, found to be our personal overall favorites.
Nominees:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Warrior II
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Lyle in Cube Sector
Celine says:
This is probably the most obvious the overall GOTY category has ever been for my choice, anyway. Anyone who knows us knows what has completely consumed my life ever since we first got into it. AC:NH technically still holds the record for most playtime on our switch at a whopping 250 hours before we burned out, but that's only because Dragon Quest Builders 2 and its aptly-named Jumbo Demo are counted separately. And even only counting DQB2's time after we coughed up for the full version, I fully expect to pass AC:NH's record before Kurt's castle is done, let alone if we start on Ardei's caves afterward. Dragon Quest Builders is everything I needed this year: it's a gripping full-length emotional RPG story with twists and turns and characters and scenes that made me cry, a shockingly fanservice-filled fix fic and adaptation expansion to a Dragon Quest game whose original setting and story were rather minimal, and it's Dragon Quest Minecraft. Help, I've started Building and I can never truly stop. I don't want to stop. This is the perfect game, and may very well continue to be until there's a such thing as Dragon Quest Builders 3.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Ardei says:
It may be because I am a dinosaur, but I feel the need to honor our ancestors. While everything Celine said about Dragon Quest Builders 2 is true, we would not have its setting or characters without Dragon Warrior II before it. Furthermore, Dragon Warrior II was--despite Emias' protestations--a very enjoyable experience for us, even with the original NES version. ... Granted, Kurt just tapped my shoulder and reminded me that we used an experience doubling patch. Still, there was something magical about revisiting a childhood daydream of a game that could have been, and playing through a solid RPG that--yes, truly--lived up to even our wildest childhood hype.
Winner: Dragon Warrior II
Sara says:
There was a time when I would object to a game that has so consumed my poor fiancee, but... let's be honest: Celine is happy playing Dragon Quest Builders 2. Her frantic, screaming mind has found a point on which to focus, to pour her creativity and passion. She finds building relaxing, and I don't have the heart to object to anything that can make Celine relax. It's no surprise that AC:NH and DQB2 have the highest hours count in our Switch play history; the former got us through the first half of 2020, and the latter got us through the latter. When looked at like that, the only question becomes whether we enjoyed DQB2 more than AC:NH (yes, we did) and once that potential tie is broken, it's only fair to reward one of the more therapeutic games we have ever played.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Kurt says:
... Look. They're making my castle for me in this game. It's a digital shrine. It's 21st-century totem magic. And... Sara's right. Anything that takes up this much of our time may be a vice, but until we get some kind of ADHD meds or something to keep us on track, it at least keeps us happy and comfortable and even gives us a feeling of being productive and, well, building something, all while also giving us a feeling of relaxing and playing video games. I kind of want to break the mold and pick one of the other ones, here, because they're all great... but DQB2 really does have it all.
Winner: Dragon Quest Builders 2
Celine: ... And that's our award show post! I would say happy 2020 everyone, but ahahahaha. But... at least games? Games are good. And... you guys are good. I didn't just drag my fellow woodlings out here to wring them dry for more words, because God knows I have too many of those even by myself. I did it because they're my family. Sara's my fiancee, Ardei and Kurt are... sort of like my kids, I guess...? And it's just... I love group projects like this. We even got the other clanmates involved! So... yeah. Thank you, everyone. I love you all.
Sara: <3
Kurt: *caw*
Ardei: The pleasure and honor are ours.
Kurt: ... Yeah. This was fun. Thanks for having us.
Sara: Next year?
Celine: If we're all still standing next year, I'd love nothing more.
... And until then, the rest of you can (as always) see the compiled results in our handy spreadsheet!