TW2 was a blast but it was in fact very linear, plot wise. It had an open world quality but there was very little to discover. Most of the time I found myself exploring for absolutely no reason because while there was a lot of terrain to cover, there was nothing actually there. This becomes painfully obvious once you get your boat. TW2 had awesome physics, and a really clean and powerful modern engine which I agree kills Skyrim, but the game design itself was lacking... it felt more like an adventure game in the end. Skyrim really does shine with regards to game design... it's just the engine that's somewhat old...

Not suprised. Would have more meaning if more RPGs actually released though.

I guess that would depend on what is one's definition of "role playing".
I guess most people on this forum define "role playing" as creating a character from scratch and playing the game as said character, like, say, my character is going to be a male paladin Nord, who uses 1 handed weapons and light armor, and specializes in smithing".

But there's also the set character who plays a role in how the story is told and how the game progresses is intrinsically dependent on the character's decisions, beyond yes or no, do or don't options without consequences.Witcher is an example of the latter,and even though the character is essentially set at the beginning of the game, you still have options as to how you further build the set initial character: you still have specializations, skills, etc that you can choose along the way; you can make it evil, neutral, good, etc depending on your actions, with the added bonus that your decisions will affect the way the story is going to unravel.


On a side note, I wouldn't put too much stock on any of those "awards". If you think the game is the best game of the year, it is. If you don't think it is, it is not. I don't know of any of this type of awards (from the Oscars down) that are not manipulated by PR campaigns.

How is Dark Souls an RPG???

Uh, are we talking about the same game? About 60% of the TW2's content changes dramatically based on a choice you make in Act 1, you have barely seen more than half of the game in one playthrough. Not to mention the myriad of choices and actual consequences for them the game has. The plot is linear in the sense you go from one hub world to the other and the storyline is set in stone, but by that logic Skyrim is also linear because the story is set and happens in predetermined local.s Hell, I would say TW2's story is far less linear since it offers so much more choices. The RPGs elements were also better, at least every path you could take in the game was worth it, unlike Skyrim were half the skills in the game are sub-par and there's definitely an ideal character build (which is bad fore roleplaying). TW2 is definitely my RPG of the year.

As for Human Revolution I am not sure you can call it an RPG. Not like it's important anyway; it's one of those games that kinda defies classification. More like stealth-based shooter with RPG elements. Unless you don't want to use stealth, that is. Again, choices. Good game design. That's what I seek in games, not which label is on the box.

Dragon Age 2 doesn't belong on any contest but ''biggest franchise-killer of the year''. It's not THAT bad, but compared to Origins it certainly svcks.

Dark souls I can't comment, only own a PC. Heard good things about it however.

Meh imo Deus Ex:Human Revolution and Witcher 2 both kick the absolute [censored] out of Skyrim. Skyrim is a good game, it's seriously good, and you can lose more hours in it than the other two, but that doesn't change that the other two games had better aesthetics, deeper stories and better combat systems. Not to mention, the Witcher 2 has a load of different consequences based on choices you make in the campaign; something Skyrim just doesn't have to anywhere near the same extent.

but then again.. that's just my opinion..