Never Unplaying Game of the Year 2008

Never Unplaying isn’t made up of a pool of editor’s that take weeks to critique a year’s worth of games and make a ton of awards that span thousands of games. I’m one person and play what I like and rent what I think I might like. At the end of every year, I play everything I played throughout the year and decide my personal Game of the Year. I take it pretty seriously actually.

Past Game of the Years include both new games and traditional games. Last year, my Game of the Year was Picross DS, a simple puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. Why the nod for the award? I spent most of the year playing it, and I played it every night. It stimulated my brain before sleep and I dreamt a ton more. It was, in my opinion, a perfect puzzle game. Great interface, precise controls, thousands of puzzles, downloadable content, and user generated content. The cool part is that all of Picross DS’s features are nicely wrapped up in a $20 price tag.

The 2006 Game of the Year proved that something more traditional can win people over. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess got the Game of the Year 2006 for many reasons. First and foremost, Zelda is one of my favorite series of all time. The series is so good that only two hated Zeldas come to mind: Zelda 2 for the NES and Phantom Hourglass on the DS. Twilight Princess did what fans wanted and gave us an Ocarina of Time clone, but with better art direction, story and a staggering 50 hour long adventure. It is still my favorite game in this generation so far.

With those two examples said, it’s time to announce the Game of the Year. It’s a game that very few would put on their list. It’s also not a high profile game like Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Fallout 3 or Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nope, it’s Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox 360.



Tradition rules 2008 since Vesperia is the second Tales game to be my Game of the Year. The first was the 2004 GameCube hit, Tales of Symphonia. I was still a bit green in the Japanese RPG’s back then and only having Nintendo systems at the time limited access to them outside the first party Pokemon and Mario RPG’s. Then came Namco and its juggernaut RPG and all of a sudden, a whole new genre opened for me. Sadly no one has beaten Symphonia in my eyes since, but few have come close. Three come to mind: Dragon Quest VIII, Eternal Sonata and finally Tales of Vesperia.

Tales of Vesperia starts off with a man named Yuri Lowell, an ex-knight who lives in the slummier sections of the capitol city of Zaphias. He’s the Robin Hood of games; he beats on knight collecting taxes to protect the people around him. He gets thrown in the slammer after breaking into the house of a thief of a device that supplied the slums’ water. Yuri breaks out and saves a noble girl who is friends with Yuri’s best friend. They set off finding the friend named Flynn and triggers the huge seventy-plus hour adventure of Tales of Vesperia.

Tales of Vesperia refines all the great things of the “Tales” series, from the unique battle system to the anime-inspired visuals. The game outside of battle plays like any normal JRPG, explore a world map between detailed towns and monster-filled dungeons. Inside battle though, it’s unlike most RPG’s. Namco needlessly calls it the "Evolved Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System" (EFR-LMBS for short), but its fancy name is only a name.
What it is though, is an exciting, fast-paced, and fluid battle system. The closest comparison would be that it feels like a fighting game mixed with special attacks and item usage.

Possibly the best part about the game is the cast. Most JRPG’s usually have a diverse cast to relate to, but Vesperia’s cast of characters are extremely memorable and a blast to play with. From the badass Yuri to the hot-headed Rita to the perverted Raven; the party consisted of triple-A personalities with better-than-expected voice acting. A great cast is supported by a great story, and while Vesperia’s story doesn’t break much new ground, it still satisfies thanks to the colorful characters. It’s hard to let go of the controller once a player gets knee deep into the game.


(Image from IGN.com)

Tales of Vesperia didn’t win because it was something I never saw before; it won because it took a successful formula and tweaked it for a new generation. The game looks stunning, plays well and is a blast to experience. Sadly, Vesperia is like all the games I liked in 2008; it was good, but nothing overly impressed me. Only thing I liked were games from existing franchises; from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Gears of War 2, Fable 2 and the winner: Tales of Vesperia. Though these games are great, it was hard picking a winner due to nothing feeling fresh. So don’t think of last year as a year of innovation, because there was none. It was just a fair year full of easy expectations and the same old thing.

(It's like I planned on doing it the on Inauguration Day or something)


(Image from IGN.com)

Top 20 Countdown

1/2- Disgaea DS is the first to go!
1/3- Valkyria Chronicles is next!
1/4- Civilization Revolution is out!
1/5- Wario Land is outta here!
1/6- Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is gone!
1/7- Apollo has blasted off!
1/8- Another bad play on words arrives when the Prince cannot be king in this competition!
1/9- It pains me to take out Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. It's getting harder and harder now.
1/10- Professor Layton has dropped out!
1/11- Left 4 Dead was.... left for dead?
1/12- Okami is walking with her tail between her legs.
1/13- Persona 4 is Personout! (Wow I hate myself for that)
1/14- No More Heroes is no more!
1/15- Gears of War 2 is curbstomped!
1/16- Fable 2 is gone. Only a few more!
1/17- Chrono Trigger's time has run out
1/18- Snake? Snake! SNAAAAAAAAAAAAKE! MS4 and the last PS3 game is out!
1/19- The World Ends with You's run has ended. Two are left: Brawl versus Vesperia. Almost there!
1/20- Brawl is KO'ed!

2009 Predictions

We all know that 2009 will be a tough year. A struggling economy mixed with a questionable year for games will make all developers, journalists and gamers decide some very tough decisions. Only a few days in and this year already claimed a victim with Ziff Davis' Electronic Gaming Monthly and 1UP.com.

That's a reason why there are less predictions for this year. This is such a difficult year that anything can happen. The 2008 predictions were fairly easy and tons of good content was on its way. This year I wouldn't be surprised if Sony merged with Tomy and became Tony with some cartoon Italian guy for the logo. This year was harder to predict, the industry has really gone in weird directions. So anything's possible, and here's my version for anything:



1) Top selling game of 2009? Wii Play. Expect Wii Sports Resort up there too.

2) Highest rated game of 2009? Killzone 2? Resident Evil 5? The Conduit? Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2? Probably not, it’ll be something smaller. That goes double to my personal Game of the Year 2009.

3) I keep thinking the PS3 will do better and the Wii to do worse, and time after time I’m wrong. So I’ll predict it again. The Wii will still sell the most but not as much as the stellar 2008 sales (Two million in one month?! Really?). The PS3 didn’t fare so well this year but I predict it’ll sell better than it did ion 2008. The 360 will remain in the middle and keep a similar trend like it has before. 2008 it went Wii, DS, 360, PSP, PS3. However in 2009, it’ll go Wii, DS, 360, PS3, PSP.

4) I put PSP in last for a reason. Expect that downward trend continuing.

5) Sony will probably discontinue the 80GB and 160 GB models for some other models again. But expect a decent price drop too.

6) In America, DSi won’t be as popular as it is in Japan. If Nintendo continues the Lite model, expect that to sell more. It’s not as casual friendly and hardcore gamers either a) Already has a Lite or b) hate the fact it has no GBA slot or c) hate it because it does not enough DSi content to factor a purchase.

7) Lots of popular studios have gone down lately. Factor-5 (Star Wars GCN games, Lair), Black Box (Need for Speed) and Free Radical (Ex-Rare employees, Timesplitters, Haze) have all closed doors. Expect more studios to shut down in this fashion.

8) The PSP is selling decently, but not much is coming out for the platform. Other than the bigger games like Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Madden 2010, don’t expect much from it.

9) I just read the latest Nintendo Power and saw Ubisoft’s new TMNT article and got a little excited, but I predict the game will not be the best it could have been. Regardless that it’s developed by Game Arts (Grandia, Super Smash Bros Brawl) and former members of Team Ninja (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden).

10) Microsoft is pretty mysterious for 2009, not much was announced for them outside Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars. Expect the poorest first party lineup from Microsoft since the 360’s launch. Like Nintendo was in 2008. Makes you wonder if Alan Wake will be focused on and actually release.

11) Nintendo needs to prove themselves this year. Their top selling games are older games like Wii Play, New Super Mario Bros and Nintendogs. New stuff needs to come out to refresh gamers, both casual and hardcore. A new Zelda will finally be announced (not released) this year and will probably be the sole hardcore game while a sole casual hit (Wii Sports Resort most likely) will sell like crazy. Sin and Punishment 2 will probably do decent but will only sell to fans on the first. Casual-wise, expect more DS “Tools” like Personal Trainer: Cooking mixed with a new Brain game. Even with a Zelda announcement, don’t expect much from them once more.

12) Let’s focus on Square-Enix. Final Fantasy XIII won’t come out in 2009 in America but will in Japan at the end of the year. Dragon Quest IX will be released in both territories in 2009 and Dragon Quest X won’t touch 2009 in either territory. Outside Star Ocean 4, don’t expect a ton this year from Square-Enix.

13) EA has redeemed themselves to core gamers. Before, EA were nothing but sports and licensed games and their quality has been degrading year after year. However in 2008, we’ve seen hit after hit from them. Great new IP’s like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge launched. Their established franchises like Burnout Paradise and Battlefield: Bad Company were impressive. EA Sports has done wonders with Madden NFL 2009, FIFA Soccer 2009, Tiger Woods 2009 All-Play and NHL 2009. EA has even been pushing Wii efforts like Boom Blox and Facebreaker KO Party. You would think they could do no wrong, but they have been tanking thanks to lack of earnings versus the spending to make these awesome games. They had to cut 10% of their workforce and close studios like Black Box. So what’s their 2009 lineup? A lot less. EA Sports will be the same as always, but not much in games like Dead Space will come out. Heck, other than Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings Conquest, Skate 2 and the 2010 Sports lineup, EA doesn’t have much of a lineup.

14) …Which sounds like it’ll happen to Sega and its Wii projects. Sega has scored publishing rights to the Conduit and Mad World while publishing The House of the Dead Overkill. These three Wii games are some of the most hardcore efforts to the Wii’s lineup. Sadly without a killer marketing strategy set up, these three games will not do well on shelves. Best case scenario would be 300,000 copies sold each. Though Sega’s fourth Wii game, Sonic and the Black Knight, will probably sell more then those three. On Sega’s 360/PS3 front: Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection will do great while Alien: Colonial Marines will do mediocre, and not much else. No other Sonic game will be released on any platform this year.

15) Now my E3 prediction. It’s back to normal and I expect Nintendo will win it this year. In 2006, Nintendo adapted to the killer show and made an excellent showing for the Wii’s debut. The next two years were the reformatted E3, and Nintendo reformatted as well. Frankly, both sucked. Now with E3 back to normal, Nintendo should too. Though I doubt most they announce won’t hit this year. Sony has done pretty well with E3 but I see the least amount of content from them. Microsoft has dominated the last E3 but expect a lamer show from them this year.

16) Lastly, my bold prediction. If Microsoft wants to continue their positive trend for their scarce 2009, they need something big. It’s a big third party exclusive. Or one that Microsoft will take over as publisher.

...And that's Never Unplaying's predictions for 2009. Not as much as last year's, but its beefier. The extra detail makes it harder for the 100% true.