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With 19% of the final vote and just 3 votes ahead of second favourite, Splatoon - Undertale is the winner of the first ever Official GBAtemp Game of the Year vote.
Don't blame us, you decided!

Undertale Review
GBAtemp GotY Final Round

 

[osm70]

To clear some confusion about undertale: It is very meta. Saving and loading the game are used as story elements.

I had very strong Zero Escape vibe.

 

[YugamiSekai]

Are you kidding me? How do you beat Splatoon AND OoT? It's just some indie!

 

[Jack_Sparrow]

Huh, i've never heard of 'Undertale'

 

[vayanui8]

Are you kidding me? How do you beat Splatoon AND OoT? It's just some indie!

That's the magic of a circlejerk unfortunately

 

[Hielkenator]

WTF is Untertale?
Never ever heard of the game till now....

 

[mightymuffy]

Undertale stood out for many reasons and I think it greatly deserved it's GOTY spot. It introduced a mechanic I've never seen done before. That is being able to spare your enemies.....

And that was it, the only thing new this offered (I've finished it twice now, the second time being because I was sure I'd missed something because of all the cerfuffle this game has got). How this game has got GOTY is beyond me, Bloodborne and Fallout 4 for starters are in a different league - I'd honestly have rather had Splatoon, and I've never bothered with that game (nor intend to)
Undertale is merely 'good' - never in a million years would I put it in even the top 10 of this years games!

Could be worse though, the guys on my messageboard voted Final Fantasy XIII-3 as last years GOTY....

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I would like to express my disappointment with each and every member of this community. I can't believe this game won over killer titles like MGS V: TPP, Fallout 4, Bloodborne or The Witcher 3. Clearly there's still lots of work to do for a cynical asshole like myself - I'll refine your tastes even if I have to bleach your tastebuds, you'll see. Don't disappoint me next year!

This.

Especially when Undertale is so overwhelmingly average ;O; Good for an indie game, absolutely average compared to worthwhile titles like Witcher 3 or Bloodborne. But hey, everyone likes wanking over niche titles I guess ;O;

 

[Daggot]

Undertale stood out for many reasons and I think it greatly deserved it's GOTY spot. It introduced a mechanic I've never seen done before. That is being able to spare your enemies. In other games, you can flee from battles, sure, but having the option to never kill anybody and talk your way through every fight was a great new concept for me. Everybody knows if you're spared everybody or killed everybody and it greatly affects their attitudes toward you. Going this way lets you learn backstories of characters that are really more in depth than you'd think, especially from an indie game. It was a fresh new experience and I loved every minute of it. Everybody that hasn't played Undertale should really give it a shot, it's GBATemp's GOTY for a reason, you know.

And that was it, the only thing new this offered (I've finished it twice now, the second time being because I was sure I'd missed something because of all the cerfuffle this game has got). How this game has got GOTY is beyond me, Bloodborne and Fallout 4 for starters are in a different league - I'd honestly have rather had Splatoon, and I've never bothered with that game (nor intend to)
Undertale is merely 'good' - never in a million years would I put it in even the top 10 of this years games!

Could be worse though, the guys on my messageboard voted Final Fantasy XIII-3 as last years GOTY....

New mechanic? I take it you guys have never played SMT? Its actually quite old. I've beaten Undertale and it is in no way a bad game but I'd never give it GOTY honestly. My first pick was Bloodborne

 

[TotalInsanity4]

The thing I find really funny and ironic is how many people online say "fuck Undertale, Tumblr likes it and it has a lot of pop culture credibility so it must be SJW garbage", and then play the game later and say that it completely deserves to be the best game of the year due to elements like cheeky writing, a great story, and retro but refreshing graphics

 

[Sakitoshi]

I would like to express my disappointment with each and every member of this community. I can't believe this game won over killer titles like MGS V: TPP, Fallout 4, Bloodborne or The Witcher 3. Clearly there's still lots of work to do for a cynical asshole like myself - I'll refine your tastes even if I have to bleach your tastebuds, you'll see. Don't disappoint me next year!

Foxy plz, how can you mention glitchout 4 as a goty runner up?? the bugs and glitches undermine the good aspects of the game.
Splatoon was a better candidate. fresh concept(see what I did there?), good multiplayer and the redeeming game for the poor Wii U. but don't know if worthy for gottempy (game of the gbatemp year?) TBH.
Bloodborne definitively need more love, that game is a blast and I found better than Demon's Souls(my personal favorite of the souls saga) every time I play it.

I'll say it, Bloodborne is my goty 2015.

 

[Radiobread]

I've actually not played Undertale yet, because I feel I should really play the Mother series beforehand. Anyway, it's interesting to see Undertale triumph over the bigger-budget games of today. I don't really have much of a say in this (even if I had played UT), because I'm a retro guy and I don't play modern video games.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Thats why its Goty and not Goat. A game of all time contest would be soooo different. And the winner wouldnt be witcher 3.

I also never played undertale btw.

There was one. And Undertale won it.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/bge20_vote

I don't think it's the best game ever, but it was certainly my personal GOTY, and I can see why people love it so much. I can understand that it's not for everyone, but I think it's the most unique and well-executed game this year. A lot of creativity went into it, and all the different aspects of the game were executed nearly flawlessly. Not many games manage that.

No doubt games like Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 are great games too, but they aren't really unique, they are just new additions to the giant pile that is mainstream AAA games. They're all the same to me. Which, if you like that sort of thing, is probably a good thing. They don't stand out like Undertale does though.

For me "best game ever" would probably be OoT. And it nearly won, too.

 

[FAST6191]

I don't want to live on this forum anymore.

You are not supposed to live here -- it is a hotel.

 

[ric.]

I feel like this was a pretty shitty year for games - Splatoon notwithstanding, most of the big titles people were hoping for either turned out to be glitchy messes (Fallout 4), unfinished as hell (Phantom Pain chapter 3 when), or were just delayed, like Zelda U or Starfox Zero. That's really the only reason Undertale managed to shine so brightly, and I really wouldn't have it any other way. It's a well executed game that does exactly what it sets out to do. It's got small things I'd change here and there but I'd be hard pressed to call them "flaws", it's a really solid game with memorable characters and I feel all this buzz it has generated won't be dying out anytime soon.

 

[Nikki_swap]

i thought the only reason it won its because people didnt want splatoon to win, i saw some posts about it on the voting thread.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

To clear some confusion about undertale: It is very meta. Saving and loading the game are used as story elements.

I had very strong Zero Escape vibe.

How dare you compare Undertale to a literary masterpiece like Zero Escape?!

 

[osaka35]

I would like to express my disappointment with each and every member of this community. I can't believe this game won over killer titles like MGS V: TPP, Fallout 4, Bloodborne or The Witcher 3. Clearly there's still lots of work to do for a cynical asshole like myself - I'll refine your tastes even if I have to bleach your tastebuds, you'll see. Don't disappoint me next year!

I'd say it's that newness factor. It's at peak favour right now. If it had been released at the beginning of the year, this most likely would not have played out this way. Though not everyone likes super gritty shooters (shooting magic totally still counts).

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

New mechanic? I take it you guys have never played SMT? Its actually quite old. I've beaten Undertale and it is in no way a bad game but I'd never give it GOTY honestly. My first pick was Bloodborne

Smitty's macho tightropes?
Super Mario tennis?
Sour milk team?
Super mutant turtles?
Skipping meta time?
Sinister mecha tussle?
Super Mario tots?

Don't be lazy, type the name of the game.

 

[Daggot]

I'd say it's that newness factor. It's at peak favour right now. If it had been released at the beginning of the year, this most likely would not have played out this way. Though not everyone likes super gritty shooters (shooting magic totally still counts).

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Smitty's macho tightropes?
Super Mario tennis?
Sour milk team?
Super mutant turtles?
Skipping meta time?
Sinister mecha tussle?
Super Mario tots?

Don't be lazy, type the name of the game.

Its Shin Megami Tensei man. Although it could also be argued that the SMT is more about talking your enemy down than sparing them.

 

[osm70]

How dare you compare Undertale to a literary masterpiece like Zero Escape?!

I am not saying Undertale is better than Zero Escape. It is just close second.

 

[Ericzander]

Personally I think game of the year should be Ocarina of Time. Super underrated. None of you are cultured enough to understand.

Spoiler