Serra

Maybe you’re here because you’re curious what games impressed the BlueGartr staff this year, maybe you’re here because you need a last-minute gift idea, maybe you’re here because you’re stuck in an airport due to a flight delay and need a distraction from the painful reminder that you hate flying. Whatever the reason, welcome to the 2017 BlueGartr Staff Game of the Year List. As is tradition, I’ve asked the BlueGartr staff to share the games that impressed them the most over the course of this year. It was especially hard to select the best game this year thanks to the numerous phenomenal games that came out -- which is honestly not the worst problem to have.

Byrthnoth: Final Fantasy XI (PC)
Final Fantasy XI wins game of the year for a fourth consecutive year in my heart. This year, the game saw the release of new Dynamis content in spite of reduced player numbers and the NA+JP communities used server transfers to coagulate on specific servers. Although the game is very different from how it was in its youth, so are we all. I think it has aged quite well in Vana'years, and even if the faces change, you can always go home.

Kalmado: Final Fantasy XI (PC)
(Echoing Byrthnoth) While I know nothing of current endgame and what not I'm compelled to agree. For me, I knew this because I love the Soulsborne realm but returning to XI has been far greater fun than my recent beginning of Dark Souls 3.

BaneTheBrawler: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U, Switch)
FFXIV: Stormblood was pretty good, but I've been AFK from the game for most of it (only played enough to finish the 4.0 storyline; still got the level 70 duty finder stuff to do), so It's getting only an honorable mention.

Runner-Up: I thought Mass Effect Andromeda was solid, but since I never did finish it I guess I can't really rate it completely. From what I saw of it, it was generally a good game. It didn't live up to the hype of ME1/ME2/95% of ME3, but nothing really would. Still wanna go back and finish it.

GOTY: Breath of the Wild, of course. GF and I finally got a Switch a couple days ago (got a good deal, but Zelda's our only game for now), and it's good. Really good. Hits my nostalgia buttons, reminds me of OOT and Windwaker, my two favorite Zelda games, while also being something new and amazing. I can foresee it getting a little grindy, like Skyrim, but that's expected out of a Zelda game.

Addendum: I bought the Breath of the Wild DLC pass. Worth it. Loving Master Mode, further than i got in normal mode now and loving the challenge. the gadgets and other stuff are cool too.

Brill Weave: Dragon's Dogma (PS3, PS4, XB360, XB1, PC)

2017 for me was more of an example of established franchises fucking up. Valkyria Revolution and Mass Effect Andromeda are great examples of that. It was nice to see CoD go back to WWII but I'm old. My previously 20/20 eyesight now requires glasses. My reflexes are shit. Anything by Ubisoft in general can suck a dick after the Division debacle. Destiny 2 was essentially a version update imo.

I'm going with Dragon's Dogma. IDK it's either that or Fallout 4 still which wasn't a 2017 release. And get off my lawn.

Lucavi: Cuphead (XB1, PC)
Cuphead gets my game of the year simply for doing something I never considered possible from a video game: a 1930's art style complete with one of the best soundtracks I've heard from in a game. There were plenty of great games this year, but nothing beats Cuphead in terms of originality and the sheer enormity of scale of such a passion project by a small team.

Ragns: Doki Doki Literature Club (PC)
Doki Doki Literature Club: What a cute game. Even better if you have a software that tracks the files that are modified on your filesystem. Yuri 4 life especially considering she might be in the sequel/prequel?

Sonomaa: Nier Automata (PS4, PC), StarCraft 2 (PC)
Nier Automata has been one of my favorite games this year
StarCraft 2 has been what Ive played the most though, Co-Op is fab

Insanecyclone: Fate/Grand Order (Mobile), Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch)

Mobile: Fate/Grand Order.

Was never really into the Fate series that much prior to this but I waited for the NA release and it's been great. It's very grind heavy especially during events, but what game isn't, and it's pretty chill until Merlin drops. He breaks the game and is OP as fuck. I'd say check it out if have interested in altered history of historical figures gender bent(some of them) then check out Fate/Zero on Netflix.

Console/PC: Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Probably because it follows some typical JRPG cliches this game really fits well with me. Yeah the main girl has some big ol titties but it's to be expected in a JRPG. Really don't see why people get so god damn upset over cultural differences. The gameplay may seem confusing at first but once you get the hang of how to do it then it becomes great. Tedious because of how much hp mobs have but great regardless.

I didn't play a lot of games this year b/c been using with irl stuff but I know if I focused more on Persona 5 I would include it too. Only put in an hr or so after it came out in may(?) but I plan on going through it and same w/ FF15 on my time off

I did buy Breath of the Wild on Wii U when it came out in March but didn't really play it much. Thought of double dipping and buying switch version instead

6souls: Destiny 2 (PS4, XB1, PC)
I'm so middleground on the game atm, but I don't have much else to play. Save us RDR2!

Serra: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U, Switch)
I played so many exceptional games this year. Horizon Zero Dawn was an amazing new IP which hit so many high notes, Super Mario Odyssey felt like a fun and reinvigorating update to the Mario franchise, and Cuphead bounced me between anger and elation. The Destiny franchise and Granblue Fantasy continued to consume my gaming time (although the former is plagued by many flaws of late and the grind of the latter finally started to take its toll on me). However, for all the great games I played this year and all the time invested in others, none of them came close to Breath of the Wild. Breath of the Wild revolutionized the Zelda franchise and perfected the open-world experience. No matter how many hours I put into it, I keep going back to Breath of the Wild and never find myself disappointed.

Honorable Mentions: Horizon Zero Dawn, Super Mario Odyssey, Cuphead.


Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone! Here's hoping 2018 brings us another batch of amazing games!